Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon is one of those albums I should have embraced at the start of the year when I first got hold of it, not to mention when it was actually released several years ago. It's lovely. I wonder if it's the kind of thing I will tire of, but at present I can't get enough of the 'Carry me Ohio' track, to say nothing of the other great ones.

It would be nice to see this on somebody's 'Recently Played' list on iTunes, now that nobody seems to bother buying CDs anymore.

Freedom '90

George Michael's Listen without prejudice is a good album and is totally fine to own. You'd probably want to stop there, but no excuses need be made for owning, enjoying and actively playing that album.

It's not overtly camp, so doesn't interfere with the ABBA or Elton John quota. At the risk of generating pure disagreement, I think lyrically there is something quite honest about the album. It has undercurrents of loss, sadness, regret and heartache.

Having said this, I wouldn't want to see Faith in any rack, because if somebody thinks "I want your sex" is an appropriate phrase to sing within earshot of anybody, one probably doesn't need to get within earshot of them.

Probably more dissection of that shady 1990 - 1995 musical period needs to occur.

Electronica update

Electronica can be pretty sexy, as long as one is discerning and doesn't get too caught up in genre-warfare. It is very easy to point out blatantly obvious mistakes in this domain, so I'll try to focus this post on how you can GROW your attractiveness with a few select purchases.

In essence, it would be a good idea to get hold of these relatively recent releases:

The Field - From here we go to sublime
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Lucky Dragons - Dream island laughing language

These albums are all intriguing and compelling in different ways. They establish interesting atmospheres and moods, and play with unexpected directions and sounds.

Better yet, what these little gems will do is enable you to make connections with wonderful people. Forget what other small coincidences may crop up ("Oh my gosh, I LOVE *insert rubbish TV show or whatever here* TOO! How FUNNY!!"); if you realise one of these albums is a shared interest, you'll know you've FOUND your life partner and can start drawing up marriage contracts right now, or non-heteros can figure something else out if you live somewhere backward, like Australia, where same-sex unions are not adequately recognised.

The songs may also recall days of dancing in forests in the summertime, or dust clouds at Rainbow Serpent. Neither of those things are especially bad in my opinion, but each to their own.

Crash and burn, all the stars explode tonight

There's really nothing all that wrong with liking Courtney Love, even if some people regard her as the Yoko Ono of Nirvana. I mean let's face facts: 'Malibu' is a great song. Yes I know Billy Corgan wrote it, and members of Hole played the bulk of the instruments, but Courtney gave it the Grrrr.

And Frances Bean is endlessly fascinating.

I'd be more than happy to see a copy of Celebrity Skin in anybody's collection.

Post Rock - do not exceed the stated dose

I find the most interesting thing about Godspeed You Black Emperor are their song titles. Their pieces are dull in general, with only the occasional track that makes you go, "Finally! Something interesting." They aren't difficult, just boring. They are, in essence, a 25% efficient Tortoise, minus synths and electronics which aren't necessary to produce interesting music, but I find Tortoise infinitely more interesting with them.

Trans Am are OK but patchy - perhaps the Beach Boys of post rock to Tortoise's Beatles. Labradford occasionally show signs of excess but are generally welcome in any collection.

To Rococo Rot are better than the name suggests and their very presence signifies that the potential lover may have a superior intergalactic intellect and should be cherished, especially if their cerebral nature is counterbalanced by something akin to pre-1976 Rolling Stones, Charles Mingus, Otis Redding, or something just energy and soul.

Grizzly Bear and The Dirty Projectors

Lately I've been telling anybody who will listen that Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest and The Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca are fab albums.

Because they are.

They're fab and they're sexy. As winsome as any consumer item hatched by a Danish design studio or French fashion house (especially if the French fashion house has a Japanese designer). You know, things you can buy to make yourself more attractive within the current cultural context.

I'll admit that these albums might up the 'excess' component of your collection, but not to the point of 'vainglorious excess' I wouldn't think.

Part of the appeal is how unclear the pronunciation of each title is. You and your date can giggle over it, and speculate, which will lead to all sorts of hand holding and wonderful, shared moments.

The first song on Veckatimest is my current favourite and I think it would do many relationships a world of good to get on board.

New York City Shite

I am so over the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and frankly most of those New York art scene post-revisionist-reconstructionist-punk/rock bands can just fuck right off.

Yes there was a time when I liked them, but that time belonged firmly in my mid-twenties when I still had a lot to learn about the opposite and the same sex.

I still have a lot to learn about the opposite and the same sex, but what I certainly do know now is that these bands are essentially just stylised shite dressed up in an aesthetic that somehow got absorbed into the zeitgeist.

It seems like a handful of people tuned their guitars differently, affected a pose and a snarl, and suddenly we had this whole 'art noise' genre that was intoxicating at first, and therefore perhaps important in its own way, but frankly those CDs should now be dusty or grouped together in a place that shows some of the shame that hovers over your past like the droning fuzz of a New York City concept.

Disappointing Albums - part 1

'In Our Bedroom After the War' by Stars is a disappointing album. In fact, it stinks. They are one reason I feel like Canadian indie bands can go fuck themselves (though not Arcade Fire, they gave us Laika, they can do whatever they like).