Tops of My Pops for 9/30/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending September 30, 2007
1. Simple Minds
2. Iron & Wine
3. Ulrich Schnauss
4. Klaxons
5. Underworld & Gabriel Yared
6. Wire
6. Cepia
6. Maps
9. Spoon
10. Beastie Boys
10. Josh Rouse

The grind to catch up with my real-time listening continues... I will pause briefly to reflect on the ongoing tidal wave of musical goodness that is 2007: fantastic albums from Iron & Wine and Klaxons enter the fray this week, upping the current tally for my year-end Top Ten to around two dozen contenders.

Worries about Sam Beam selling out on The Shepherd's Dog turn out to be entirely unfounded. While there are more instruments and more musicians and even more singers on this one, he's continuing to refine that exquisite pastoral melancholy that we all know and love.

Klaxons were this year's Mercury Prize winners for their debut Myths Of The Near Future (technically a 2006 release, but only just now making it over the Atlantic). On it they've delivered a reckless, brilliant, modern, electrifying UK rock sound the brazenly reaches across the gap between the quirky indie camp and the stadium rockers. They're hooky and perplexing as you might imagine, but there's a hot swagger to it that rivals anything Bobby Gillespie ever aspired to. Listen to "It's Not Over Yet" before you tell me I'm wrong.

Finally, I can hear you all asking: what the hell is Simple Minds doing at the top of this week's chart? Before all the Breakfast Club mega-stardom rotted their brains and begat all the sonic garbage that followed, the band released five bold, experimental and ultimately cinematic masterpieces of pop music in four short years: Empires And Dance (1980), Sons and Fascination / Sister Feelings Call (two EPs released in 1981 and later combined on CD), New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982), and Sparkle in the Rain (1984). Lo and behold, all have been remastered and the first three are now available in iTunes Plus format. I have proudly (re)purchased the 1981-82 releases and listen in awe and respect. So there.

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 9/23/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending September 23, 2007
1. Underworld
2. Spoon
3. Radiohead
3. David Bowie
5. k-os
5. Caribou
5. The Kleptones
8. Nine Inch Nails
9. Beastie Boys
9. Beck
9. Ulrich Schnauss
9. DJ Z-Trip
9. Massive Attack
9. Severed Heads
9. Johnny Cash

Absolutely nothing to say this week. Things were once again hectic at work so there wasn't time to enjoy tunes much...

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 9/16/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending September 16, 2007
1. Nine Inch Nails
2. LCD Soundsystem
3. David Bowie
3. Spoon
3. Faithless
6. Beck
6. Underworld & Gabriel Yared
6. Radiohead
9. Meat Beat Manifesto
6. Underworld

Lots of work this week; no time for play. Thus, nothing to say.

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Underworld Live @ the Fillmore Auditorium, 9/11/07

Last night was one of the musical highlights of my life: I finally got to see Underworld live.


Several years back when I was first discovering them, I heard from many different sources that they delivered an earth-shaking performance at Coachella 2003. That alone was enough to get me out to three consecutive Coachella Festivals, in hope of catching something as exciting (which I did). But still I waited for my chance to see Underworld.

The venue was originally set to be the epic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, but just a few short days before the show the promoter moved everything to the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver instead. While that was undeniably a disappointment in and of itself, the show was still incredible. Before the starting the first song, Karl Hyde apologized to the crowd and informed us that Live Nation would be sending every ticket holder a free copy of Underworld's upcoming album, Oblivion With Bells. Nice way to clear the air!

There's no way to describe it like it was, but I can tell you that as far as I'm concerned, it was two plus hours of pure bliss. My pal mrkvm captured the vibe well with a few surreal photos of a surreal experience (including the one at the top of this post). Peak moment: all 3700 audience members bouncing out of control to "Cowgirl".

Setlist:

1. Dirty Epic
2. Crocodile
3. New Train
4. Biro the Leggy (a.k.a. Beautiful Burnout)
5. Rez/Cowgirl
6. Glam Bucket
7. Two Months Off
8. Spikee
9. Nuxx
10. King of Snake
11. Pearl Girl
12. Moaner
13. Jumbo

(The less said about wretched opener Paul Oakenfold the better. He should be ashamed of himself.)

Tops of My Pops for 9/9/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending September 9, 2007
1. Stars of the Lid
2. M.I.A.
3. Bat For Lashes
4. Radiohead
5. Beck
6. Amon Tobin
6. Depeche Mode
6. Massive Attack
6. Tim Hecker
6. DJ Shadow
6. Meat Beat Manifesto

My brain is going to explode from all the great new music coming out this year. M.I.A.? Against all odds, her sophomore release is fantastic. Bat For Lashes? It will remind you of other great trailblazing female vocalists, but you've never heard anything quite like this haunting debut.

Sorry, no time to stick around and get into the exquisite details...

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 9/2/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending September 2, 2007
1. David Bowie
2. Spoon
3. Strategy
3. Josh Rouse
3. Dextro
3. Cocteau Twins
7. The Kleptones
7. Beastie Boys
7. k-os
10. Outputmessage
10. Common
10. Gang of Four
10. Mogwai
10. Beck
10. Nine Inch Nails
10. Radiohead
10. Tim Hecker

So. Far. Behind. ButStrategyandDextroarereallycool. Bye.

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives