trendaway.com

I’ve been listening to some great new records lately. Here is some information about a few of them:

Grand Archives - The Grand Archives (2008) (US) (myspace)

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) (UK) (myspace)

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (2008) (US) (myspace)

Portishead - Third (2008) (UK) (myspace)

The Envy Corps - The Envy Corps (2008) (US) (myspace)

There is too much music and not enough hours in the day.

Currently I am trying to ingest as much John Vanderslice as possible (I have no idea how I acquired Pixel Revolt, but thank God for shuffle mode). Almost daily I listen to Joseph Arthur, Nada Surf and Sufjan Stevens (check out this cool non-Sufjan-like track that he did for The Believer).

I’m fairly disappointed with Interpol’s latest [edit: I am now a fan - it was a grower!] but am surprised to be enjoying the new White Stripes album. Finally, Modeselektor’s new album “Happy Birthday” is really good and features a cool callaboration with Thom Yorke.

Here are my current picks:

Sean Lennon - “Friendly Fire” (2006) (US)

Tipper - “Relish the Trough” (2006) (UK)

Rhett Miller - “The Instigator” (2002) (US)

I found that one week wasn’t long enough to get to know three albums, so it’s not going to be weekly. It also backfired because once I got to know them, I wanted to keep listening to them. Anyway, here are my current picks:

Sondre Lerche - “Phantom Punch” (2007) (Norway)

Electrelane - “The Power Out” (2004) (England)

Jeremy Enigk - “World Waits” (2006) (US)

My new goal is to actually get to know some of the 30, 000+ songs in my iTunes library. I have over 12, 000 on my iPod and it’s ridiculous how often, while listening in Shuffle mode, I have to look at the screen to see what I’m listening to! I’ve decided to focus on about three albums a week. I’m sure I’ll already know a few songs in each album but my goal is to familiarize myself with the entire albums.

This week’s choices are:

The Crash - “Wildlife” (2002) (Finland)

Built to Spill - “Keep It Like A Secret” (1999) (US)

Tiger Lou - “The Loyal” (2006) (Sweden)