Spent a few hours after work last night scrolling down my links page, reading and listening. So much great stuff out there. It's beautiful.

I read the Salon interview with Frank Black (courtesy of Deamous, I usually only check Salon on Fridays for Stephanie Zacharek reviews) and did my usual yay-cranky-rocker/boo-dumb-questions thing. Then I went to rockcriticsdaily and read the wicked science J.D. Considine dropped in the comments box about it. My final verdict: I wish more people could do interviews like Aidin Vaiziri does. That guy is unbelievable.

Trouble Everyday is reviewed in Pitchfork today! Stylus Album Of the Week TWO MONTHS ago! Word! For once I'm ahead of the game (does Eamon count? Radio got there before me but nobody was talking about him netwise. I checked). Curious if the guy read my review or just had the same reaction (not like my obversations were THAT profound). The comments about this being common indie sounds "distilled" seem pretty familiar.

What's on my imaginary ipod:

Hasil Adkins "Somehow You'll Find Your Way"/Afros "Hoe Cakes"/Al B. Sure "Nite And Day"/Memphis Bleek "Just Blaze, Bleek and "Free"/Ken Boothe "Is It Because I'm Black"/Chap "(I Am) Oozing Emotion"/Crash Crew "On The Radio"/Kimya Dawson "Loose Lips"/Blossom Dearie "Tea For Two"/Devin The Dude "Briar Patch"/Eminem "Just Lose It"/Funkadelic "One Nation Under A Groove"/Futon "Gay Boy"/Grandmaster Flash "White Lines"/Intelligence "Telephone Wires"/Rick James "Give It To Me Baby"/Liquid Liquid "Bellhead"/Nick Lowe "Lately I've Let Things Slide"/John Lydon Vs. Tom Synder "Interview"/Ministry "Jesus Built My Hotrod"/Ministry "Just One Fix"/Murs "Red Dots"/Nas "One On One"/Pixeltan "Get Up/Say What"/Queen "Dancer"/Rip Taylor "The Real Rip Taylor"/MTS "Dealbreaker"/Rapture "Alabama Sunshine"/TKO Posse "Your Daddy's On The Pipe"/Too Short "Whip It"/William Shatner "Common People"/Saul Williams "Twice The First Time"

There's so much good music out there (new and old) that I get a little bugged when people focus on how something sucks on their blog. It feels incredibly easy to access good stuff and ignore stuff you don't enjoy right now. Let the weak stuff fall by the wayside by exclusion.

I am starting to hate the Shins, though. I like "New Slang" but I'll never see Garden State now that I know about the scene where Natalie Portman says it will change your life (wtf?). That said, it's not like this kind of nonsense is inescapable any more. Instead of telling you why I don't think the Shins are all that, I can just drop the names of the two or three songs they've got that I can bother with (namely that one and "Girl On A Wing") and let you fill in the blanks. It's probably just my mood or something but I feel really out of the loop with the more easily disappointed. They almost seem eager to express discontent and I'm curious what context that desire comes from.