Recent Listening

Here are the recent albums that, according to Last.fm, compel me to keep hitting repeat.

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Darkly-bruised folk battle hymns. Her first album to really grab me since Stories from the City.

Radiohead: The King of Limbs
Lulling and hypnotic.

Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz
A concept album in which I have no idea what the concept is. Something vaguely apocalyptical, I figure, with all its mentions of volcanoes and ghosts. The arrangements remind me of an electronic wizard version of the controlled chaos orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks for Joanna Newsom's Ys album.

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I'm not qualified to speak for his emcee skills, but production-wise the dude knows his business behind a mixing console.

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
You've probably never heard of them.

Recent Listening

Stan Getz: Jazz Round Midnight
On those days when nothing's going right, I prefer to blame it on the bossa nova. Instant teleport to California in the early sixties, breezy scarves and pastel furniture.

Ramones: Rocket to Russia
Their best album, the perfect balance of bubblegum and violence. Face it, there's no stoppin' the cretins from hoppin'.

The Hold Steady: Stay Positive
The song "Slapped Actress" really touches a nerve. It encapsulates something generational, even if I'm not sure what. Craig Finn smashed his Replacements records over the head of Bruce Springsteen and called it art.

King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black
Apocalyptic prog rockers in an electric switchblade fight. Punk wouldn't have been necessary if these guys'd been in charge.

The Magnetic Fields: Realism
69 Love Songs is their masterpiece but this has some good cuts, like "You Must Be Out Of Your Mind." No one does droll like Stephin Merritt. I think he's got a patent pending.

Paul Simon: Paul Simon (1972)
I tend to neglect Simon's solo work, which is a mistake because what did Garfunkel ever bring to the party except cheap sentiment and a bozo wig? "Run That Body Down" is a highlight.

St Vincent: Marry Me
She tinkered these songs together out of scrap metal from a rocketship junkyard.

Dillinger Escape Plan: Ire Works
This album is physically exhausting. You need an intensive workout regimen before lowering the needle. They certainly know their way around their instruments, no denying that.

Sam Phillips: Martinis & Bikinis
A handful of well-crafted ditties. Can't stop hitting replay at the end of "Same Changes." You need a vaccine to get that guitar line out of your system.

Iron & Wine: The Shepherd's Dog
I think I'm not supposed to like this guy, according to management policy. But surely these gently rippling melodies aren't hurting anyone. "Boy with a Coin," for example. Maybe it's his unlicensed whiskerlength that raises objections.

The Stooges: Fun House
Iggy Pop speaks of discord and strife with something of an authority in his voice, eh? Nice of him to come back from the edge to tell us all about it.

Weekly playlist

Joni Mitchell: Hissing of Summer Lawns
Stevie Wonder: Talking Book
Jeff Beck: Truth
Beach Boys: Today!
Chet Baker: And Crew
Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds
Sir Douglas Quintet: Mendocino
McCoy Tyner: Fly With the Wind
My Fair Lady soundtrack
Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Gerry Mulligan: Best of (With Chet Baker)
Eric Dolphy: Outward Bounds
Miles Davis: Relaxin'

Weekly playlist

Bix Beiderbecke: Vol 1, Singin' the Blues
Can: Soundtrack
Mr Bungle: California
Van Der Graaf Generator: Still Life
Neil Diamond: Brother's Love Traveling Salvation Show
Metallica: Ride the Lightning
The Wacky World of Spike Jones
Godspeed You Black Emperor: Yanqui U.X.O.
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Goldberg Variations
AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
PJ Harvey: White Chalk
Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Apocalypse
Chet Baker: The Best of Chet Baker Sings
George Winston: Linus & Lucy - The Music of Vince Guaraldi
Billie Holiday: Lady in Satin
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses
Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingness' First Finale

Weekly playlist

Debussy: Piano Works
Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
Tom Waits: Blue Valentine
Adrian Belew: Desire Caught by the Tail
Children of Bodom: Hate Crew Deathroll
Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners
Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime
Bonzo Dog Band: Gorilla
Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf
King Crimson: Lizard
Lady Gaga: The Fame
Khachaturian: Gayane Suite
Elliott Smith: Roman Candle
Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man
Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
Flaming Lips: Embryonic

Weekly playlist

David Byrne & Brian Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Tom Waits: Glitter & Doom
Lester Young & Teddy Wilson: Pres & Teddy
Bela Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin
Yes: Relayer
Bad Brains: Rock For Light
Black Flag: In My Head
The Stooges: Fun House
Dio: Holy Diver
Iron Maiden: Powerslave
Opeth: Ghost Reveries
Tom Waits: Bone Machine
Elvis Costello: King of America
Blackalicious: Blazing Arrow
Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat
Thelonious Monk: Criss-Cross
Miles Davis: Porgy & Bess

Weekly playlist

Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun
Bernard Herrmann: the Essential Bernard Herrmann
Gentle Giant: Octopus
King Crimson: Red
Van Der Graaf Generator: Godbluff
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Super Furry Animals: Fuzzy Logic
Chopin: Grand Fantasia on Polish Airs
Air: Pocket Symphony
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
The Dukes of Stratosphear: Chips from the Chocolate Fireball

Weekly playlist

Miles Davis: Milestones
Duke Ellington: Okeh Ellington
Johnny Mercer: Capitol Collectors Series
King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
Charles Mingus: Pithecanthropus Erectus
Bernard Herrmann: From Citizen Kane To Taxi Driver
Radiohead: In Rainbows (bonus disc)
Dexter Gordon: Our Man in Paris
Porcupine Tree: The Incident
The Roots: Game Theory
Hoagy Carmichael: Ole Buttermilk Sky

Weekly playlist

Porcupine Tree: Deadwing
Charles Mingus: The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
Outkast: Aquemeni
The Mars Volta: De-Loused in the Comatorium
Thelonious Monk: Monk's Dream
Dexter Gordon: Go
Duke Ellington: Money Jungle
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook
Evaline: Postpartum Modesty
Regina Spektor: 11:11
Muse: Black Holes and Revelations
The Residents: Not Available

Weekly playlist

Curtis Mayfield: Move On Up
Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else
Gentle Giant: Three Friends
Al Green: Very Best Of
Fairport Convention: Liege & Lief
Joni Mitchell: Hejira
Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years
Public Enemy: Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black
Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star
OutKast: Stankonia
GZA: Liquid Swords
Chopin: Concerto #2 in F Minor
Shostakovich: Symphony #5
The Only Doo-Wop Collection You'll Ever Need

Weekly playlist

Captain Beefheart: Safe as Milk
Sly & the Family Stone: Greatest Hits
Small Faces: Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
David Bowie: Aladdin Sane
Lightnin' Hopkins: Aladdin Recordings
Regina Spektor: Far
Be-Bop Deluxe: Live! In the Air Age
Marvin Gaye: What's Goin' On
A Tribe Called Quest: Low End Theory
Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder
Muse: The Resistance
Can: Tago Mago
Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Ghostface Killah: Fishscale
Eric B & Rakim: Paid in Full
Run-DMC: Raising Hell

Weekly playlist

The Bonzo Dog Band: The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse
Frank Zappa: Uncle Meat
Gilbert & Sullivan: Greatest Hits
Mike Keneally: Hat
New Order: Low-Life
Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder
Van der Graaf Generator: H to He, Who Am the Only One
Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Melody Nelson
Sly & the Family Stone: There's a Riot Goin' On

Weekly playlist

Gentle Giant: In a Glass House
Mike Keneally: Wooden Smoke
Snow Patrol: Eyes Open
Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, Vol 1
The Incredible String Band: The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Frank Zappa: Freak Out
David Bowie: Diamond Dogs
Genesis: Foxtrot
Mars Volta: Octahedron
Bob Dylan: The Basement Tapes
The Kinks: Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

Weekly playlist

Talking Heads: Fear of Music
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Tarkus
Firesign Theatre: I Think We're All Bozos on this Bus
Prince: The B-Sides
Faith No More: Angel Dust
Benny Goodman: Greatest Hits
Van der Graaf Generator: Pawn Hearts
The Dead Weather
Tommy Dorsey: Sinatra, Vol 1
Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
Brian Eno: Another Green World
Ray Charles: Anthology
Brian Wilson: Smile

Weekly playlist

Public Image Ltd - Second Edition
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Peter Gabriel - (3)
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy
Marvin Gaye - Gold
REM - Reckoning
Squeeze - East Side Story
Michael Hedges - Breakfast in the Field
Julie London - Time For Love

Weekly playlist

These tunes make the day go by quicker:

Apples in Stereo: The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
Gang of Four: Entertainment!
David Bowie: Station to Station
Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
REM: Murmur
Steve Hackett: Voyage of the Acolyte
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
Jellyfish: Spilt Milk
Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain
Regina Spektor: Far
Pere Ubu: Dub Housing
Soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind