I always imagined something like this happening to this song, then I found it indeed has happened.

Every year, my friends want to know what I listened to this year.  The truth is, it is difficult to just list ten or so albums that I thought were great.  But I am going to do just that! 

Am I predictable, or what?! But hey, I read other things besides Pitchfork :)! 

1.  The War On Drugs: Lost In Dream

2.  Aphex Twin: Syro

3.  Caribou: Our Love

4.  Real Estate: Atlas

5.  Cloud Nothings: Here and Nowhere Else

6.  Angel Olsen: Burn Your Fire For No Witness

7.  Todd Terje: It's Album Time

8.  St Vincent: Self-titled

9.  Beck: Morning Phase

10.  Ariel Pink: Pom Pom

11.  Alex G: DSU

12.  Woods: With Light and With Love

13.  Spoon: They Want My Soul

Totally underrated:

Ryan Adams: self-titled (and not just because I am a huge fan)   

Merchandise: After The End

Songs: 

1. Andy Stott: Faith In Strangers
2. FKA Twigs: Pendulum
3. Jenny Lewis: She’s Not Me
4. Ryan Adams: Gimme Something Good
5. Caribou: Our Love
6. Beck: Wave
7. Damien Jurado: Silver Timothy
8. Ariel Pink: Put Your Number In My Phone
9. Dum Dum Girls: Rimbaud Eyes
10. Azealia Banks: Chasing Time
11. Damon Albarn: Mr. Tembo
12. Spoon: Do You
13. Ricky Eat Acid: In My Dreams We Are Almost Touching
14. Jessica Lea Mayfield: I Wanna Love You
15. Bob Mould: I Don’t Know You Anymore

Some things I like about working at Amazon Fulfillment:

Our holiday display:

We have arcade games in our break room.

                        The fact that we are "peculiar" and proud of it.    

Kiva Robots.

     Keep calm and stay mindful!

Two more excellent new videos.  I always loved the Twilight Sad and the singer's accent.  This Steve Gunn guy released an amazing album this year that is one of those albums that is great for the ride home.  

Happy Hanukkah, people.

Hey, Dan Deacon is back and the world is a better place for it.  His last one was totally underrated.  

This guy released a great album this year.  

No official video to go with this great new track from Purity Ring yet.  Looking forward to a new album from them.

I've really proven a lot of people wrong about me, and I've even proven myself wrong about me.  I am now training people at my job as well as giving tours, and I am getting positive feedback from my trainees.  
I am still never late, and never absent.  The only things that will make me late or absent are circumstances that would make anyone late or absent.  

Get More: Azealia Banks, Chasing Time, Music, More Music Videos


The long-awaited full length has arrived.  

This may be the final song Pink Floyd releases.

One more really great late night performance.  Put Your Back In 2 It was one of my favorite albums from that year, and his new one is great too.  This guy is really being himself when he says "no family is safe when I sashay." 

He's saying he likes younger folks now.  

Yet another exciting late night TV performance.  

Every so often, a late night TV performance absolutely stuns me.  There were actually several this week that did that.  This one from Blood Orange, FKA Twigs performance, Father John Misty, and Prince on Saturday Night Live.

One more exciting release from this week, from that Toro Y Moi guy's other project.

Newest from Ariel Pink.

Also, gotta wonder how this guy follows up such a huge album.

I always liked this guy.  Glad he's back.

Happy Halloween.    

I don't like this holiday.  Except when the parents dress their kids up as little owls.  

I noticed a grand total of three people in costume at my workplace this week.    

New music from the ever-evolving Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear.

I went to the dentist today for the first time since 2011 and my insurance that I am getting through my new job covered it.  Hooray for being employed and having a job with insurance benefits.  Working, in general, is respectable.

New video for a track from last year's fantastic album.  Almost inspired me to start a band called the Plvaces of Wvorship.

The new one is more killer and less filler than most double-albums.

28 million views, first time I'm seeing this though.

There really hasn't been a shortage of great stuff released this year!

New video from a classic band with a (still) questionable band name.  

I don't get all these critics bashing Ryan Adams.  The new one is a good addition to his catalogue.  I am one of the people who actually liked Rock N Roll.  That was a huge part of my senior year of high school.  

Well at least it is not 9/11 today.  

I woke up today, and I felt not so great even though it is my day off.  Then I looked at the date on my watch and realized that it is 9/11.  I am a feeling person.  I'll never forget.  

Another can't-miss moment from Perfume Genius.

How about a full tour now? Come to Philadelphia!

These guys are totally hyped and edgy, but I've actually heard some things about these guys using Nazi propaganda "innocently" at some of their shows.  I don't really know how someone uses Nazi propaganda "innocently."


 It is kind of sad because I actually liked them.  In any case, it is tough being Jewish sometimes, because you never know who is going to not like that.  Another reason to stay home  and just listen to stuff and read in the comfort of my own home.  

Looking forward to a new full-length from these guys.

At first I was thinking, do I really want to hear a song that Grimes said she wrote for Rihanna, but then I started watching the video and I said WHOA!

Oh the War on Drugs made one of my favorite albums of the year.  Now they have this new video to go with it.

Sinead O'Connor is back with new stuff!

New one coming from Johnny Marr this year!

New video from last year's album!

One of the best tracks of the year!

I have recently discovered my love of 80's era Fleetwood Mac.  My previous listening had only been with their 70's output.  Tango In the Night is an amazing album.

I started a new full time job, and I worked two jobs this week.  I worked every day this week, so lazy is something I am not.  I get up at 4:30AM to get to work on time and I have yet to record a lateness for either of the jobs.

"I've seen faces of blank terror when I walk by. Sometimes from seemingly strong, macho dudes—somehow my presence confuses and ultimately scares them. There is a strange power to it that I've only recently begun to understand and embrace. After many years trying to sort out exactly what they are scared of, most of the time converting the result into personal shame, there are now moments of monstrous pride."

I always love that moment when my favorite up-and-coming bands become unstoppable.  The upcoming one from Merchandise is sure to be huge.

New music from Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and his son!

More new music! This from Chris Owens! Glad he is still making music! I was really into his old band, Girls, and was disappointed when they broke up when they still had more albums to be made!

New stuff from Interpol.  Brooding, as always.  Everyone who liked them is still going to like them and everyone who didn't like them is still not going to like them.

Another from one of my favorite albums from this year.

Oh sweet Jessie Ware is back.

RIP Bobby Womack.

I am moving yet again.  

My blog goes on hiatus sometimes! 


I found this new Coldplay video to be rather entertaining.

Great release after great release this year.  First Shamir pretty much made my month, but also loving some new Bob Mould.

Lots of bad things going on in the world, like two girls trying to kill their friend because they were trying to get "in" with a fictional (I hope) character from the internet, known as the Slenderman, but hey, at least Jack White is making new music.

Don't use the word "gay" as a pejorative, or the Slenderman will come get you.

I wondered for a while how to pronounce this artist's name.  Their newest album is quite excellent.

http://www.forvo.com/word/kemialliset_ystävät/

I'm really won over by Grand Budapest Motel and the youngsters in that movie, Saoirse (Sir-sha) Ronan and Tony Revolori.  That actually is a Mexico-shaped birthmark on her cheek. 

Always exciting to see people who you knew making it.  

A little escapism for a Thursday afternoon.

What a sweet little video from Damon Albarn!

New and notable stuff from Lana Del Rey and Pains of Being Pure At Heart.

Michael Sam finally got drafted by the St Louis Rams! He got picked a bit later than expected, but better late than never! If this guy even gets a little bit of playing time in the NFL, I'll be happy with that.

I really have to say it.  If Michael Sam doesn't get picked up by an NFL team, I am going to be angry.  Let's go, be the gay messiah!

My friend talked to Tune-Yards.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2014-05-07/music/tune-yards-nyc/

I won tickets to see Wye Oak, and it was pretty cool, even though I came down with a cold in the middle of the show.  Their new album is quality stuff.  Glad I had the opportunity to see them.  Very cool to see them end with a cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."    

I enjoyed seeing Chvrches (that is actually how they spell it!) for free in Philadelphia this past weekend.  All the electronics sounded totally elaborate and awesome in real life, so it was quite a satisfying way to spend an afternoon.  Not to mention U.S. Olympic snow boarder Shaun White showed up.

Wow apparently there were houses getting peed on and underage kids having public sex in front of young children.  I totally missed that part, but I guess Chvrches kind of make me want to have sex too, but not in public.  I wouldn't blame the bands for inducing underage drinking or encouraging young people to get drunk and pee on people's houses (especially Chvrches!).  Everyone is always looking for someone to blame.  

6 things I really love about Questlove

Current reading: Autobiography of Questlove.

1.  In his head, he writes the Rolling Stone reviews to his albums before they come out, and in general, he loves reading reviews.

2.  He claims to have had a goth friend in the first grade.

3.  He identifies as a nerd.  

4.  He had to listen to Prince in secret when he was growing up because his parents kept throwing out the albums.  

5.  He, like myself, once worked in life insurance sales.

6.  He likes the band Grizzly Bear.

I found a new Coffee House to hang out at in East Windsor yesterday, and talked to this guy named Fred Stein, who gave me all of his CD's for free, and I told him I would blog about him in some shape or form.  This guy is a good fellow, and it was a pleasure to chat with him.

http://www.fredsteinmusic.com/home.html


I've been hanging out with a group of Mormon missionaries who are really nice and not anti-intellectual.  They gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon for free.  So now I'm a Jewish guy who has the Book of Mormon in my desk drawer.  Nothing wrong or confusing about that!

David Byrne covers William Onyeabor.

I'm obsessed with this artist, Hurray For The Riff Raff.  She released a great new album this year.    

This....blog....is....still....in...action.

I am nuts.

3 odd things about me:

1.  If I know maybe 3 or 4 pieces of information about a girl I am talking to on OkCupid, I can find them through Google, and learn their life story before they even know it.  

All I need is a first name (no last name even needed, and they never give it out unless they are really desperate) and hometown and maybe one fact about them and I can find out about them before they even know I am finding out about them.  It's always a good idea to test how deep the water is before you jump in, don't you think? 

I've done this for quite a few women, who I know everything about before they even know that I know about them.  

2.  I can't stop buying dish sanitizing liquid.  Even when we have enough, I always buy another one of the $1 containers because I guess I really seem to care about using clean dishes and utensils.  I almost bought a large two-pack of sanitizing liquid the other day just for the sake of having more dish sanitizing liquid. 

3.  I check the mail too many times.  Something about me just loves checking the mail.  Then I realize that I already checked the mail today, and I still go and check it again.  



So much weirdness on one website.

There's everyone else, then there's tUnE-yArDs.

I hate to pick on a guy who has produced some of my favorite music out there, but he defends his heroin use as part of the creative process.  Still, sometimes you have to separate the music from the guys who made it.

Happy Easter to all my Christian friends.  I hope the Easter Bunny gives you some good gifts this year. See, I really know my Christian holidays!

Actually, I didn't buy my tickets yet.  Really though, it is going to be a really tight show.  Their latest album is a really tightly performed Perfect Pussy album.  Pun intended!  File under bad hipster humor.


By the way, real men don't tell.

Angry blogging.

I recently left this job that I put a lot of energy and time into, which sort of advertised itself as a "hey do you want to be able to spoil your girlfriend or impress your friends with your new Ferrari or whatever?" kind of job.  It ended up being a dud kind of job, a job for sheep.  

A sheep: a meek, unimaginative, or easily led person.    

It is a relief to be out of there, but I'm hoping that whatever I end up doing next ends up being what I need, which is something stable.  

In music news, a Wu-Tang affiliated rapper cut off his own privates the other day and jumped off a building in an attempt to end his life.  I can't really laugh at the cutting off of the privates thing, even though it is tempting to laugh at such an absurd action, because the guy was clearly down.  

There is always room in the world for Brit stuff as cool as this.  

Who on earth is Blank Realm? Why should anyone listen to this? I'm just glad someone is making music like this.  There's never too much music in the world.  


I'm feeling the feelings of the Jewish people who were enslaved in Egypt, who only had unleavened bread to eat as they left the place.  Passover food, for the most part, tastes like cardboard.  I always liked the bitter herbs though.  

Consistently good stuff from album number one.  The newest album is excellent.

Yesterday, a man decided to shoot people outside a Jewish Community Center in Kansas, in what was likely a hate crime targeted against Jews.  It turns out that two of the people he killed weren't even Jewish.  Any child could come up with this thought, but it can't be said enough. 

 Can we all just stop hating a little less?

I took my "Judaic Studies" minor off of my resume, because you never know how people are going to re-act when you tell them what you are...

I kind of miss my friends at my job, but it wasn't working for me, so I had to move on....

I am currently writing an operetta about life insurance called the Operetta of the No-Cost Benefits (and the additionally benefits you might qualify for).  It is a work in progress.

Wow, I actually left my job for real yesterday.  It really felt like I was breaking up with a girlfriend.  Most time consuming job ever.  Part of me feels relief, and part of me feels disappointment that it didn't work out.  I'm not regretting the experience because I learned a lot.  I did leave them on good terms though, which is the right way to leave a job.

I went in to an interview today and the guy didn't like my hair even though I had just got it cut, and something about my suit for some reason...the sleeves of my shirt weren't long enough or something.  I guess opinions about me differ all over.

Hey, some kid in a Pittsburgh suburb decided to randomly bring a knife to school and stab people this week, but at least there is one good thing happening in the world.  Jessica Lea Mayfield has a new one coming soon.

"You're so quiet, it's like no one is even there."

Have you ever been going through something, and wondering if anyone else is going through the same thing? I think a lot of us use the internet to try to find people who feel like we do.  

I found this video to be relevant to my life because I keep getting called "quiet" at my job.  I am quiet because I am one of the people who is doing what I am supposed to be doing.  Also, someone recently said to me "you don't talk." Is that really going to make me feel any more comfortable?

When I was in college, I spent a lot of time alone sorting through my thoughts, searching Facebook for groups of people like myself, and trying to work myself through my own pain.

My grades got remarkably better once I was moved to a quieter hall, and when I found friends who didn't drink 24/7, who were actually considerate of others.  Thank goodness for that!   And listening to Dinosaur Jr. really helped too!  

I think the worst is when people straight up say to you "you have an anxiety disorder!"  or "You're so quiet, it's like you're not even there!"

When you meet someone who is different than you or who has something that is different about them, do you just immediately point out that difference? I met someone with a lisp today who was doing my dry-cleaning, and I chatted briefly with some guy at the library who just kept talking to himself the whole time, and I didn't say anything to them about either of those things.

Ted Leo and Aimee Mann teamed up to form The Both.  Looking forward to the full-length.




Considering whether I should defect over to Prudential or not.

Just did an interview on 2 hours of sleep.  I really don't like insomnia.

2 more interviews this week.

I've been absolutely enamored with this Classixx album, Hanging Gardens, from last year.    Just discovered that they released another video. 

My brother sent me an article today from the New York Times.  I found this one particular quote really relevant to my life.  

"Job seekers are told to present one linear narrative to the world, one that can easily be read and digested as a series of clean conquests. But if you are stuck in an airport bar with a colleague after a horrible business trip, would you really want to have a drink with a person like that? No, you’d want a real human being, someone who’d experienced setback, suffering and recovery. You’d want someone with obvious holes in his résumé, who has learned the lessons that only suffering teaches, and who got back on track."

Looking forward to this album!

And this one! Definitely no shortage of albums to look forward to this year!

Just the right combination of punk grit and accessibility.  

West Side Story-style dancing, done to the music of Wye Oak? I'm liking this.

I can't keep myself from posting this one, even though I am enamored with my cleverness in my last post and don't want to move on from it.  I've got the entire album on repeat for the past couple of weeks.  Somehow listening to this just makes me feel better about life.

Why do I keep this blog again? I often feel compelled to highlight things that inspire me.  And yup, I'm a big indie rock guy, but not quite snarky enough to be considered a hipster these days (come on, don't dislike someone just because they like a band you don't like.  Dislike someone because they are a jerk), but if you knew me in college, you might have considered me a hipster.  
Of course I will listen to your Something Corporate and American Hi-Fi albums with you :P  

Is Dan a Suburban Stoner or Nice Jewish Boy? You decide!

Whoa, Walgreens actually doesn't have an apostrophe in the name of the store! I thought I made a mistake! Mistakes?! Not in my house!!! I am a tiger mom!

Y'all think I only listen to indie rock? Falso! I get down to anything from Manu Chao to classical.  I've been thinking back a lot and I have a lot of weird memories of college and these packed basements with people grinding and people just passing out from drinking too much and lots of Raggaeton.  I really hope that people are taking responsibility for themselves, their own health and safety, and looking out for their friends these days.  I don't go to dumb things and I only go to things with people I can trust.

   
No complaints or I will have to put on some bro-step music from Skrillex :P.



Oh no, it's time for Skrillex.  Get ready to dance around like a bro.  I actually gave the guy a chance.

Still waiting.

It's because I listen to Stereolab! I'll never forget this one time I got called "Stereolab" because I was wearing a Stereolab shirt.  I defend my choice of wearing that shirt, because Stereolab is really that good, but I have since brought that shirt to the Goodwill store.   
I am still waiting to hear back from the company that interviewed me the other day, but not getting my hopes up. 
I saw a kid wearing a Keep Calm and Party On shirt with all these beer graphics on it, and  I wanted to send him to the principal's office and tell him to get a different shirt because that just annoys me.   

Got called back for round two of interviews.  Always good when the first person you meet at the company likes Morrissey.  I guess working as a life insurance agent has been very disappointing.  

Will I ever find a job that is a good fit for me? Will I be able to go to my ten year high school reunion and tell everyone that I got Best New Music on Pitchforkmedia.com for my one good song that I did with my brother or for something else I wrote? I think I'd rather get Best New Music on Pitchfork than brag about how rich I became.  Stay tuned to find out. 

I'd take happiness over wealth any day.  That happiness thing comes and goes, depending on how my bowels are doing.  

I'm interviewing for another (or perhaps additional, if I can make that work) job tomorrow, and it is not insurance.  Hooray.  

Looking on the bright side.

"People who prefer indie rock are usually of the intellectual kind." - My college room mate.  

Maybe that is why they hired me!

I am a good insurance agent.  I've done so much right there, except I haven't gotten a sale.  But hey, at least I didn't do everything wrong and then quit aka most of the people there.

So to sum it up, I've done more right then I've done wrong.  How is that for positivity? 

The War On Drugs.  Still loving that band name.  So bold for them to call themselves that. 
Kind of wanting to see these guys on the same festival bill as Snoop Dogg come this June.

Still can't believe this is their band name, but I'm liking these guys! 

Something to blog about!

Apparently the Vivian Girls broke up.  I had the opportunity to interview them in 2009, and I wrote what I considered to be a very misunderstood, and somewhat rushed, review of one of their shows for Popmatters, in which a few people misconstrued something I wrote.  Anyway, this writer sums them up pretty well:  

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/9344-when-im-gone-why-vivian-girls-mattered/

Here's photos from that day. They are very cool people whose influence is actually impressive, considering the fact that they never really did anything to gather a huge following, which is part of what I talked to them about.  They just stuck to doing their thing, which is pretty awesome.  All anyone has to do is listen to their albums on a good sound system and watch the videos.  

Glad Valentine's day is over! 

I still didn't quit my job.  I seem to have this sort of luck where a tampon or diarrhea commercial always comes on when I am trying to talk to someone about serious topics, in my case, the serious topic that I talk about a lot is death.  Actually, it is all I talk about because it is my job to talk about it.  I've been laughing in death's face a lot lately.    

I think the secret to success is a Paisley tie.  Looks kind of like a bunch of microscopic organisms floating around.  Paisley would be a great baby name.  I'm totally the kind of guy who would name a child after a co-worker's tie.  No babies on the way for me though!

New stuff from the Notwist is always welcome.

"I mean, people will talk about the stereotype of gays being in the locker room ... to me, I think that it's a little stereotyped that gay people are predators. It's just very offensive."

"If you led the SEC with 11.5 sacks and 19 tackles for losses?" 

"If a gay person did that, I wouldn't call that person weak."

Some amazing stuff from Michael Sam, who could potentially become the first openly gay man to play in the NFL.