New Seth-Meyer.com

Ah, yes, now that the road season is winding down, thesis season gets into full-swing. Translation: less blogging, simpler seth-meyer.com. I’ll still be tweeting music, coffee, cycling, school, and all-around ridiculousness though. But, for now, goodbye blogging!

Top Ten of Oh Nine

I’ve been on a big new music kick the last week or two, and you all know what I love to do once things really start accumulating in my life? Make a list! So, seven months into 2009, I’m ranking my best records of the year so far:

10. Peter, Bjorn & John The Living Thing
9. The Appleseed Cast Sagarmatha
8. Neko Case Middle Cyclone
7. Cursive Mama, I’m Swollen
6. Dodos Time To Die
5. Isis Wavering Radiant
4. Certain People I Know Demo
3. Kevin Devine Brother’s Blood
2. Japandroids Post-Nothing
1. Pomegranates Everybody, Come Outside!

Possible dethroners coming out this fall: AA Bondy, Lucero, Dave Bazan, Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, Ambulette, Massive Attack, OK Go, Tegan and Sara, The Wrens (though maybe not until 2010 now for them)

September 15-19

I am very much looking forward to this week. In just a span of five days, the following happens. Records come out: Avett Brothers, Lucero. Bands play in town: My Band Owen, Bob Nanna (solo), Hey Mercedes (reunited for a night)!

If anyone wants to come along to the Beat Kitchen or the Subterranean for the shows, email me. Do it soon too because Hey Mercedes will definitely sell out.

Japandroids

Thanks a thousand times over to Travis who got me hooked on Japandroids. Just a couple guys who do this extremely raw, vivacious rock. Very much dig their release Post-Nothing and that title’s play—I assume—on all the many “post-punk”, “post-rock”, “post-[whatever]” subgenres these days. Check out “Young Hearts Spark Fire” (and all the other songs for free!) on their MySpace.

Flammable Skirt

Let’s face it: Authors aren’t known for having great web sites. Most don’t even bother with them at all. But I’m glad that Aimee Bender is at least trying to delve into other media and giving it a shot at flammableskirt.com.

Now if only they had release calendars for them, like MetaCritic’s for music. Ah, I guess you can’t have everything. But, in looking for hints on new ones from Bender, Tim O’Brien, and Melissa Bank (and of course I found nothing), I at least found a cool interview with Bank about what record her latest book would be, if it were set to music. A good dialogue about The White Stripes and Billy Collins’s influence on her too (yay poetry!) is here.