I haven’t had much time of late to write. The house project of repainting walls, painting trim, pulling up carpets, and laying down bamboo has absolutely dominated my time. That and working on my BMW, which in the past few weeks has received a full tune-up (with exception of replacing points and cleaning the carb).

Man, what a wild week. And I’m not talking about the wild you indie folk are used to, likely boozing it up and partying every night. I’m talking about the working life, the stress of the job, the busy days and exhaustion-laden nights. Going to bed at 9:30; I feel old.

I didn’t begin this show well. Stuarto had a pre-recorded spot and, given it was only my fourth show, I didn’t realize the little button up top where it said “iPod” needed to be on. This led to a little stumbling in the beginning on my part; I mumbled a few words then played several promos. After I realized the error of my ways (kudos to Stuarto), the show went off without a hitch. And it was a good one.
Lots of great tunes, many from Sweden, …

I figured with my previous show being devoted to songs that remind me of sleep, this one would be the opposite. After a few bouts of standard indie rock, things got thick and loud.

I’ve been contemplating doing something for Valentine’s Day for years, and I finally settled on something good — a massive post packed with great singles from the past. Seems fitting, being the romantic holiday can be a bit alienating for the single person. Or that the seemingly comfy nature of the 7-inch single, with two (well, typically, with an occasional three or four) great songs placed back to back and stuffed in a typically well-designed sleeve, is a bit romantic in and of itself.

Creating a music video, in my opinion, should be about creating art. There are so many intricate elements that should go into a video that are so often left forgotten or, at least, unattended. First and foremost is the song itself — a video must compliment the art to which it is expanding from audio to video. Connecting the two is extremely important. Second is theme. The best videos have some storyline, vague or distinct. Or at least something visually interesting.

2009 is a tough year to judge. I’ve checked out more albums this year than any year in the past. Well over 1,000. And there have been quite a few great ones as well. When this list began, it had 110 albums. I abandoned my top 33 and 1/3 for 45, and then said “screw it” and upped the number to an even 50. These are the top notch albums of the year, all worthy of praise.

The summer of 2003 was a hot one in eastern Washington, and my concrete bunker of an apartment contained the heat like no other. Granted, the above image wasn’t shot by yours truly until 2004, but it sure seemed hot enough to ignite even the least combustible of items. I wrapped up my undergraduate that December, which was cold as Antarctica, and upon that milestone I moved to Seattle. It was a good year for the Northwest; many of my favorite albums came from Seattle labels like …

On his fourth album under the guise The Legends, Johan Angergård surprises yet again. After three albums that each take the group in a different direction, it has become standard to expect no less from the next release, and thus it was on Over And Over. The first two singles demonstrated this aptly, drowning the listener in an all-encompassing guitar distortion that makes debut Up Against The Legends sound clean. While “Always The Same” and “Seconds Away” feature mind-numbing distortion in the guitar, the vocals are, for the …

Over And Over by The Legends came out recently on Labrador Records, but when I attempted to order it from the local record shop they noted it wouldn’t be out for another few weeks. While this is likely due to an alternate US release date, or whatever, I was happy to hear The Legends, one of Johan Angergård’s many quality Swedish groups, gave us a little teaser to pass the time.