I want to dig a little deeper than stuff you can hear on the radio. I am getting paid fairly well for the time being, but it might only last until Sept. 30. In the meantime, I'm paying down my credit card debt and looking to beef up my music collect a bit. I am also planning on buying a Ipod this weekend, so need to know who to download. I have a question related to that as well, if i Ipod, is I-tunes the only compatable download service? How is I-tunes inventory?

Not really NEW new, but definitely pick up Xiu Xiu's La Forêt, regardless.

I can't suggest too many releases from this year, but I haven't found much to interest me, either.

What kind of music do you like?

On a completely blind reference, I would recommend Halou's Wiser, Lhasa's The Living Road and/or Jenifer Smith's Code Mesa.

I'm new here, so I don't know what music has been discussed lately and/or what kind of stuff you like but I thought I'd recommend Andrew Bird's "The Mysterious Production of Eggs". It's the newest thing I have but I haven't been buying a lot due to lack of funds--sigh.

Try these:

Common - Be
M.I.A. - Arular
Markus Guentner - 1981
Platinum Pied Pipers - Triple P
Coldplay - X&Y

Andrew Bird - ...Eggs

if you already have this, try:

World Leader Pretend - Punches
The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday



iTunes is okay, but you can also use realrhapsody subscription and sync with ipod, I believe, so you pay $14 a month or so, but you can download the tracks and sync with ipod at no extra charge. They are protected content though, so you cant burn them (yet...unless anyone has cracked the DRM yet???)

iTunes has a decent collection, napster is probably the best overall (although I use rhapsody).

the new sleater-kinney rules. i mean, it's really, really, great. one of the best rock records in a long time, imho.

c.

Jeez. Join the club. Sucks, donut?

Why do I keep forgetting to pick this up?

wolf parade

I've heard some interesting stuff this year from newer artists

•Jamie Lidell - Multiply
IDM producer gone soul singer. Has gotten widely mixed reactions from people, but I really like it. If possible, you should try to hear it before buying (you can hear samples at Bleep).

•Jesu - s/t
Isis-type sludge metal band that occasionally shifts into shoegazey feedback atmospherics. Pretty cool, but it took me a long time to get into (and the album itself takes quite a while to listen to).

•Wilderness - s/t
Just picked this up today on a friend's recommendation. I have mixed feelings about the vocals, but overall this seems to be a pretty cool record. As my friend described it, think Explosions in the Sky fronted by PiL-era John Lydon. It might not end up being one of my favorite releases this year, but I think it's something a lot of people on here would really like.

•Orthrelm - OV
This one's definitely not for everybody, but I love it. (I'll make a weak attempt to describe it, but you're probably better off looking up some reviews.) This album is one 45 min. long track performed by a duo - guitar and drums. Think Lightning Bolt but with less frantic drumming, and no bass (although it does manage a "full"sound). The track consists of segments of repeated riffs (sometimes only a few notes repeated for nearly 3 minutes, other times, more towards the end, the riffs are more fleshed out and change and transform much more rapidly) that slowly mutate and sometimes abruptly shift, sometimes put you in a trance and other times just rock out. It really plays with your head, and it's definitely the most interesting thing I've heard this year.

Have you heard Five? From your description, I think you might like them. No, not this 5ive, this 5ive.

Hmm. I'll try to check them out. The review I read on AMG wasn't too helpful. Do you have a preference between their two albums?

No, not really. They actually do have a couple other things -- a side project (which I actually got first) called...erm...okay, found it, Theory of Abstract Light. I would say this is the first thing to get, because it's awesome, but I ended up liking everything.

...and an EP called The Hemopheliac's Dream, which is basically just one track, which sounds like a cover of an old Pink Floyd tune (Interstellar Overdrive? IIRC) and a James Plotkin remix. I would say get this last.

Do it!

a few more recent ones that I think you might like:

Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine