Saturday the 23rd of April
Night Shift - Playlist
1. Rounds - Four Tet
Some say that Four Tet are the Coldplay of electronic music, and they may have a point. There's nothing too shocking about this, but by jeez there are some good tunes on this album. There's something very pleasing about the way the elements of these songs coalesce into grooves. These are some meticulously constructed songs, and the beauty of it is that they don't sound slaved over or forced. 'Rounds' isn't what you'd call a difficult album, but there's enough noisy little inclusions and jazzy interludes to keep it interesting. Honestly, some of it, like 'My angel rocks back and forth', is just downright pretty. Sometimes that's enough.

2. Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas
These guys are mad. In a ranting, barking, hectoring kind of way. They spit bile and invective. In the best possible way.
Besides, any album with a song titled "The world loves us and is our bitch" deserves praise.

ps. "my love is bigger than your love, we take more drugs than a touring funk band. sing it!"

3. Messiaen - Quatour pour la fin du temps
I'm seeing if I can figure this one out. It just seems so random.

4. Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About
I haven't heard this yet, and it's got some songs I've heard referred to as classics. Listening to the first minute of "Dramamine", I'd say this could be one of them. Woah, I just got to the vocals and did someone say Built to Spill? I think Modest Mouse have really developed their own sound since this album came out. Yeah, this is good, but way less developed, as would be expected. Alright, "Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset" is pretty tops too.

5. Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union - ...Play Spit Polish
This is such a damn fine album.

6. Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears
Another one I haven't listened to before. I liked "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road", so I've got big hopes. It's not too bad either. It's probably a dirtier rocknroll record than "car wheels...", so yeah, this is pretty damn good.

7. Radiohead - Amnesiac
My opinion of this album has skyrocketed since I first heard it. It's a work of genius, pure and simple. And it sounds terrible on these tiny speakers. I'll have to listen to something else.

8. Mastodon - Leviathan
Good god this is impressive metal.

9. A Sliver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra La La Band With Choir - This is Our Punk Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather and Sing.
Despite the silly name, this is some gloriously strident music. The choir on the first track "Sow Some Lonesome Corners So Many Flowers Bloom" are all complete amateurs and it shows. But I think it's all the more moving and awesome for the flat notes, the untrained voices, the harsh harmonies. It's an audible version of what I like to think the Constellation bands are about: group action, imperfect but trying for and hopefully achieving something lasting and inspiring.
The choir comes back on the track "American Motor Over Smouldering Field" and it's amateurishness is right in your face. These people can't "sing" but the don't care. They are singing, and it's all the more awesome for the flaws.

10. Tom Waits - Live on VH1 Storytellers.