Music Wish List

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm sure there was a thread before, but I can't find it.

So, finding KRCW and NPR's treasure trove of free podcasts is threatening to be a very expensive discovery for me. They are doing an excellent job of keeping me abreast of new music that I must have. I'm holding off on purchases for now because it's almost time to renew our KCRW membership and there's a better than good chance that several of the selections I'm interested in will be acquired as membership rewards.

BTW, for a really good rundown of what was new and worth it this year, check out this episode of All Songs Considered. I can't agree with everything on that top 10 list, or the top 10 lists of the critics on the show, but it provided me with a great variety of stuff to check out.

So here's what I'm eying right now:

Tom Waits: Hard to get enough Waits, and this 3 disc collection sounds fabulous. Any hesitation I might have had evaporated when I heard that it ends with 6 consecutive spoken word tracks. *drool*

Black Angels: The band name comes from a Velvet Underground song, and the live up to their namesake. Someone on that All Songs Considered show described their new album (Passover) affectionately as, "loud and droney". It's just good old psych-rock, I ain't complaining.

Jim Noir: Trying to single handedly bring back harmonies. Directly influenced by the Beach Boys and the Beatles and not ashamed to admit it. In this world of emo, fake-punk, and prog-rock, it's refreshing.

Lilly Allen: I don't think her album's out in America yet, but her voice is incredible and dynamic. I tend to be overly picky and judgmental about female vocalists. She quickly met my standards with a great variety of sound.

TV On The Radio: This is a maybe at the moment, I need more time with it. I've heard the name floating around, and I think I've heard some of their stuff, but I just really listened to some samples yesterday and I think I like their sound.


And that's just after my first pass. I suspect my list will only grow.

Meanwhile, I know what I don't want. The Decemberists. I'm apparently missing something. I've heard several different tracks, studio versions and live versions, and I think they suck. Everyone else in the indie world is drooling all over themselves for them. They seem to be enamored with the IDEA of them and missing the fact that they sound like crap. I mean, they've got a clever angle in that all of the lyrics are based on world mythology and folk lore, and they pretend to be musically interesting by using a lot of different instruments. But in the end, they are loud and droney (and I say that with none of the affection used for Black Angels) and sound like an even more boring Green Day (I know, who knew that was even possible).