gosh this is fascinating stuff. composer who wrote the music for all those original MTV promos (think astronauts and animations) contributes a few Eno/Byrne-inspired “found vocals” songs to a terrible John Travolta movie. the label loves them and asks for a followup (The General’s Daughter 2!! YES!!), which of course never pans out but ultimately results in a solo album full of fascinating remixes of southern spiritual/blues field recordings. chris douridas has been playing this stuff on kcrw for years, and today i finally tracked it down. and not only is the whole album unbelievably good, but his cuts from the soundtrack are unreal. sadly the guy died a year after this album released. his last major work? the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider video game soundtrack. fascinating.

without anybody really asking, pitchfork once again weighed in on their top 100 tracks of 2011. and like every year, the selections alternately reflect a need to be cool and different and indie, and an immediate knee-jerk compulsion to distance themselves from those lame people who try to be cool and different and indie. and yet here i am, reading, writing about and even linking to the list. i clearly have the same love/hate relationship w/ pitchfork that they have with themselves. and who am i kidding? i bounce between beyonce and bon iver with the best of them. either way, this track topped the 2011 list. good song? of course. best song? of course not. but as a band that personifies that careful balance between indie and pop, for this list, it’s pitchfork perfect. -d

last saturday was one of my favorite days of the year. the annual holiday tapas party. 5.2 of my favorite people in the world, welcoming in the christmas season a la española: in a warm kitchen, surrounded by copious amounts of chorizo, queso manchego, olive oil and rioja. (we did add a little a lo americano to the evening. but it’s not really a christmas party without a flying polar plunge from the top of a garage into a 47 degree pool, is it?). since that night, everything feels different. it’s christmas. or hypothermia. probably a bit of both. either way, the christmas music came out in full force this morning. starting with this. -d

an otherwise exasperating day at work today was brightened by a rousing late afternoon round of Name that 90s Song (thank you rhino records Whatever! box set), during which i was reminded of what a great song this is. despite the absurd vocal looping at the end of each chorus. seriously listen to it. they hold that note for like 16 measures. ridiculous. great song tho. -d

i’ve always respected feist as a member of that exclusive club of female vocalists that i actually listen to willingly. but this. oh man. this is something different altogether. it’s impossibly good. certainly her best, and probably one of the best of year. and if you ask me, it never gets better than this opening track…-d

a great great sound from our boy shugo. it’s off the first of a pretty interesting series of EPs called ‘vicious circles’ being released by this canadian record label called hand drawn dracula. basically they take a couple of great bands, and get them to cover the crap out of each other. in volume 1, we get shugo tokumaru covering black moth super rainbow and holy f**k, black moth super rainbow covering holy f**k and shugo, and of course a great shugo cover by holy f**k. this track is the standout for me, but the entire effort is pretty solid. certainly worth the facebook like required to download the EP for free. i mean, f**k. -d

i love my job. every day is different, i’m never bored and i love the people i work with. my only beef is that after a day on the computer, the last thing i want to do is come home and tumble. but every morning i come into work, i start up chrome, i see tumblr on my startup tab, and i get this nagging feeling. i miss it. i miss sharing that old song that perfectly underscores my day. i miss discovering that new song that totally makes my day. so i’m done. with not doing it. i’m going to try to set aside a little time every day. maybe i won’t have time everyday. but hopefully if it pops up on my calendar every single day in that magic moment right after lunch and right before the after-lunch crash, i’ll be able to sustain this thing. here’s hoping. weirder things have happened. you know, like when ‘Smile’ finally got released.

i love this album, and i love the metaphor it sets up. it’s life. it’s full of insanity and turmoil and desperation and lots and lots of noise. but it’s also full of beauty and magic and uncompromising originality, all wrapped in a package that somehow both embraces and defies the epic battle the album represents from production to release. boom. -d

*this is from the absurdly exhaustive 5-disc everyone-hates-mike-love-athon that came out a little while ago. it’s actually really good. it’s just a bit much.

i still consider this guy to be one of the finest songwriters in the history of american popular music. just timeless stuff. he could have recorded this yesterday.

granted, it’s a sweet extended demo cut of an awesome, obscure and kind of weird beach boys song from an incredible double cd called Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace of a Musical Legacy, but it’s comfort music nonetheless. man could these guys sing. and brian wilson was a genius. a total weirdo, but a genius. -d

finally seeing these guys at the largo tonight. james vincent mcmorrow is opening. the creators of my two favorite albums of 2011 playing in my favorite venue in LA. i’m literally sick with anticipation. if they start the show with the riff that starts this song, i might actually die.

one more day. just one more day until…

the second (and in my opinion, better) of the two new arcade fire songs that were released this week. this one features david byrne on backing vocals, and honestly would have made a perfect addition to the original suburbs album. wonder why they waited on it…