Monkey pirate robot t-shirt. I must have it. I simply must.

When is a year-end list not a best-of list? When it’s Insound’s top 100 sellers for the year. There’s no distinction between releases in 2003 and older releases, albums or EPs or even DVDs. It’s an interesting look at what the discriminating hipster bought this year. From Mystery & Misery.

Jay Farrar has a selection of live video clips and unreleased mp3s from Terroir Blues availble on his website. After being initially very impressed with Terroir Blues, I’ve found it hasn’t held my attention over the long haul. I still think it’s more solid than Sebastapol, but as has been said many times before, he’ll probably never top Trace – not that that’s anything to be ashamed of. Thanks to LHB.

Stylus offers up their top 10 list of albums to fall asleep to. I’ve dozed off to Lazer Guided Melodies before, for sure. I’d also like to submit Circulatory System to the list – their first album is like the soundtrack to a dream. Strange, hazy and just a little bit sinister.

Find out what really goes on in those big animal suits at Flaming Lips shows. From House of Hotsauce.

Meetings abound today. But! There’s a fairly good chance I’ll be going to Seattle for a few days in February (for work). That will be exciting. I haven’t been on a plane in almost four years.

np – Beulah / When Your Heartstrings Break

It’s little secret that I’ve been fairly obsessed with the work of Steve Earle for the last while – ironically, since I decided NOT to go to his last show in Toronto this past May (which, incidentally, will rank very high on the 2003 list of regrets). Rarely does a day go by that I don’t have at least one of his albums in my CD wallet at work. I just finished reading his biography Hardcore Troubadour, by Lauren St John. I knew the basics of Earle’s life but to read the whole story in one telling… By all rights, the man should be dead – several times over, no less. The depths to which he sank in the early 90s – homeless and living only to score heroin and crack – was a hole that no one should have been able to escape. But he did, after being incarcerated and forced to go through detox for several months, and then came back to produce arguably the best work of his career.

Listening to anything from acoustic comeback record Train A Comin’ through last year’s ferociously political Jerusalem and understanding the road he took to create them emphasizes the autobiographical aspects of his songs and gives them extra emotional heft. When the man says, “Be careful what you wish for friend/ Because I’ve been to hell and now I’m back again”, you’d do well to pay attention because it’s bloody well true. There’s a terrific fan site for Steve here.

I sometimes wonder how a Chinese-Canadian kid from the suburbs of Toronto gets fixated on country-rock music, but that’s a pondering for another day.

Things aren’t looking good for Michael Jackson. Am I correct in thinking his current predicament differs from the one a decade ago in that last time, he was investigated but never charged, whereas this time they’re ready to arrest him? Make no mistake – I think the guy’s got serious issues, but part of me hopes that the allegations aren’t true, if only to prove wrong those who are always so quick to crucify celebrities and seem to take great pleasure in doing so. It’s a poor thing to take pleasure in the misfortune of others.

Download a live Low show in Italy from two weeks ago here. Link from LHB.

np – Emmylou Harris / Stumble Into Grace

24 this week – Don’t think I didn’t notice that everyone made a point of stating where Tony had been shot. “Tony’s been shot in the neck!” “Michelle, we were so sorry to hear that Tony was shot in the neck.” “Tony will need surgery for that gunshot to his neck.” Etc. Again – another strong episode, especially the last 10 minutes. Whoo. At first, I was thinking, “Wow, that Chase is a loose cannon. He plays by his own rules”. But then, I was all, “Wow, that Jack is a looser cannon. He MORE plays by his own rules.” Or something like that.

Here’s a handy list for my next jaunt to Queen Video – The Guardian’s top 40 directors in the world today. We’ll ignore the fact that I abhor their number one pick, David Lynch. Instead, rejoice that their long MIA number 37, David O Russell, finally has a new film ready for release next year – I Heart Huckabees stars Jude Law and Naomi Watts (I heart Naomi Watts), and is about “A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.” I’m laughing already.

Also from The Guardian – 60 notable Brits and Americans take the opportunity to welcome George W Bush to Great Britain.

After making his name with cult fantasy/horror films like The Evil Dead, The Evil Dead II and Darkman, Sam Raimi was probably thinking that people weren’t taking him seriously as a director and that he was becoming typecast as a b-movie auteur. So he went out and made A Simple Plan – a masterfully executed suspense about two brothers who find a bag containing millions of dollars in a crashed plane, and the calamaties that ensue when they decide to keep it. I watched it last night and it was really good. Lots of others thought so too – it got terrific reviews and Raimi got accolades as a serious director. And then, flush with his new standing as a maker of serious films, he went out and made Spider-Man.

Some new release tidbits from two of my favorite bands – first from the Luna camp – bassist Britta Philips told the mailing list that they’ll be entering the studio next month, expect to be done by end of January and that they’d like to have a new album ready for April. These projections are probably far to premature to hang a hat on, but it’s nice to have a ballpark to look forward to.

Also, Billboard reports that Wilco is back in the studio with producer Jim O’Rourke working on their new album, tenatively titled W*lco Happens. They expect to be done recording by late Spring, which probably means an Autumn release date.

Let the lists begin! Amazon has listed their 100 best albums of 2003. I refuse to make my lists before the middle of December, giving me time to a) absorb everything that qualifies and b) pick up whatever releases might prove worthy. For the record, I own 23 of Amazon’s 100 – I usually score about 30% on major year-end lists, so I guess I’m a little less hip than I was. Alas.

np – Steve Earle / Train A Comin’

Band photos last night! Genuine, honest-to-goodness band promo photos. We headed down to the apartment of a photographer friend of Brad and Five’s and drank wine, listened to Big Star and The Darkness and did silly stuff that hopefully yielded some hopefully good/interesting shots to use for… whatever. Someone out there is also writing a bio that’s hopefully more fiction than fact.

Belle & Sebastian have rated the cover of the new Big Takeover, out in the next few weeks. After shunning the media for so long, they’ve certainly dived right into things to promote Dear Catastrophe Waitress. BTO‘s interviews are always massive affairs – this one should be good.

The Cure are the latest band to get into the massive back-catalog reissue game. In addition to the Join The Dots box set of b-sides and unreleased material due out January 27, they’ll be remastering and reissuing their entire catalog with a bonus disc of unreleased material over the next year and a half. It’s enough to make the devoted fans’ mascara run with joy. Full details at Pitchfork.

After a prolonged absence, Swizzle Stick is back. Everyone go and welcome Chip back to the unreal world.

Information Leafblower and associates have offered up for your consideration their choices for the 40 best bands in America right now. I scoff at seeing the Strokes at number one, but things get more interesting from there on.

np – Beulah / Yoko

I’ve commented in the past that American independent cinema, while great filmmaking, can be pretty dour, depressing stuff. Apparently Chris Gore of Film Threat thinks so too – that’s why he’s making My Big Fat Independent Movie. I like the idea, I hope the execution measures up. While we’re at it – can anyone recommend some good indie comedies?

Film Threat has a response to Michael Medved of USA Today‘s assertion that films like Kill Bill are dragging America’s cultural standards into the toilet. And speaking of Kill Bill, I saw a commercial for it yesterday wherein all blood splatters in the fight scenes were rendered black instead of red – so Uma is fighting off the sword-wielding gangsters drenched in like, oil or tar. I understand that geysers of blood might not be appropriate for prime time television, but it was still strange to see.

100 artists and graphic designers offer up what they consider to be the greatest album covers that never were. Some are cool, others look like some kid’s Photoshop project. From House Of Hot Sauce.

Watch the video for The Shins’ “So Says I” here. Link from Slatch.

My blogroll has been hijacked. NOT HAPPY. Especially since I don’t actually KNOW any of the URLs of sites I usually visit. Shiiiiiit. I hope my old list is recoverable, I’d hate to have to rebuild the whole thing again. Update: Yeah, I’m rebuilding the whole thing again. Sigh. Update 2: And now they’ve erased everything I did as (I assume) they attempt to fix the hacking. SIGH. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.

I can’t remember the last time I bought a box of cereal with a toy in it.

np – Wheat / Per Second, Per Second, Per Second… Every Second