I would gladly listen to this on Spotify, but Spotify never works right for me, so I guess it’s back to manual-mixing through iTunes and Foobar.

I remember driving home from a friend’s house when Mumford and Sons came on the “alternative” radio station I had on. This was the first time I had heard “Little Lion Man,” and I didn’t know what Mumford and Sons was, but I remember an almost sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt, at the time, that this was folk that was poised to make a huge splash in the “alternative” scene and I certainly recognized their craftsmanship. On the other hand, it did feel like it was formulated to pull my heartstrings in a certain way that made me uncomfortable. I guess the best songs, movies and literature make you feel things without the underpinnings becoming too visible. Mumford, to my ears, felt phony and I’m not sure I could overcome that feeling even with repeated listens. And I don’t mean to suggest that Mumford is phony; every musician who’s ever written a sad song wants other people to feel how sad it is, some of them are more successful than others. Mumford’s bombast machine might just be too well-oiled for me to ever enjoy it.

I would like to know whose job it is to determine what font size each band is allocated.

(Imagine as a walk-and-talk meeting a la The West Wing.)

Graphic designer: “Dino Jr.? Tier 4.”

Another guy: “With OMD?”

Graphic designer: “Yes. Right next to Paul Oakenfold.”

This put a giant smile on my face even if it was the musical equivalent of one those SNL sketches where the joke is “look at this spot-on impression”.

I think that lists benefit from being separated like this; the unspoken rule of other lists is something like this: Source is going to release a list about hip-hop, Decibel a list about metal and Rolling Stone a list about mostly genial rock. Even though music blogs and websites are increasingly more eclectic than ever, experimental and fringe music is overlooked due to the nature of the lists themselves (often because of this eclecticism, many mainstream genres may seem underrepresented). By providing separate lists for these acts, we kind of acknowledge that music isn’t beholden to one metric of appreciation.

In other words, more lists means more spotlights being thrown on more music, which to me is the point. Now, I am going to go buy Pinkish Black on the strength of this list.

I really enjoyed Grand Magus this year. Kind of hokey riff-metal album in the same vein as Dawnbringer (which is superior I think). Also Bosse-de-Nage and Samothrace I really enjoyed. Krallice I guess would be up there. Years Past Matter was released this year right?

Just a heads-up, your link to Shut Down the Streets leads back to Tame Impala.

I totally blame Alice in Chains for “post”-grunge. That may be unfair, but I can’t help it, so I feel your pain Kevin.

Oh come on, he may not be very “rock,” but he defines independent. And yes, he’s currently on 4AD which is an indie label through and through.

That, to me, is at the core of the problem. It’s one thing to ask people to pay what they want for your material. Here, Amanda and her cohorts are getting PAID for every show they do because they feel they earned that money and they’re asking to take on fans who don’t earn a wage at all. The whole thing feels exploitative because we all KNOW Amanda Palmer is not doing this for hugs and high fives.

http://www.mememaker.net/meme/i-heard-you-like-mixtapes-so-i-made-a-mixtape-of-the-best-tracks-from-mixtapes6

Why aren’t there more MF DOOMs in the world, more Kool Keiths? Guys who are more concerned with space battles than rap battles.

One thing I will agree on, after seeing the People’s List on Pitchfork, is that we’ve arrived at too much of a critical canon. It’s important to have outliers, experimenters, freaks and weirdos.