Links, Links, Links,

Things have been a little slow on here lately.  Bloggery always seems to fall on the back-burner during the winter months.  With Blue Monday being yesterday and the fact that it's so frickin' cold that nobody in their right mind would plan a show in Winnipeg, can you really blame me?

Anyways, to catch up ...

Sadly, Woebot, the excellent music blog that is responsible for introducing me to ridiculous amounts of great British and electronic artists decided to close up shop earlier this month. However, he went out in style with an impressive feature on Jazz.  Not swing, not bop, not free-jazz or even fushion.  No, instead he decided to take on the entire genre, and did so really well.  My only beef is that I think he ends a bit early, not tackling anything much later than 1973, thus leaving out most of the ECM catalogue, Anthony Braxton (who was recently featured on Destination-Out, with a long discussion about his son Tyondai Braxton), Vijay Iyer and many other great artists who just happen to come out after that.  It's a solid introduction into North America's most significant musical creation.

Also, last week Idolator put out it's 2nd annual pop critics poll.  Collecting ballots from 452 music critics, the poll is an excellent guide to pop circa 2007.  Not surprisingly, Sounds of Silver got top spot on the album poll, while "Umbrella" took #1 on the singles poll.  The reissues poll is a different story.  Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth beats out Miles Davis' The Complete On the Corner Sessions, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation both Joy Division discs and Betty Davis' self-titled album.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the album, and bought it the day it came out, but as far as reissues go, it's only good, not great.  There is hardly anything new added and the packaging is annoying as hell.  There's no way it should be ahead on the Miles Davis record on this one, nor is it even in the same league as Unknown Pleasures.  It's kind of makes me wonder if this was the result of critics choosing something different just for the sake of it.

Geez, I never thought I would speak ill of YMG in my lifetime.  Anyways, the next two weeks sees a bunch of good new releases.  So far I can vouch for ...

Hello, Blue Roses: The Album title is changing all the time (Out Today!!)

My wife Jess and I were talking about this one the other day and decided it's a bit unfortunate that Sydney Vermont situated herself next to her man Dan Bejar for her first disc.  She's a really great artist in her own right, and risks getting lost in the fame of her partner by doing so.  The collaboration is still great to listen to though.

Vampire Weekend: S/T (out next Tuesday)

I want to have a more in depth review of this one next week.  It's the first great record of the year from a new artist in my opinion and is a wonderful companion to Talking Heads' 77 album.

Xiu Xiu: Women as Lover (out next Tuesday)

Jamie Stewart continues his one full length every year and a half pace and puts together another awesome collection of songs in Women as Lovers.  Few artists are able to make such uncomfortable music so enjoyable to listen to.  As with the Vampire Weekend record, expect more from me on this one later.

Until next time...