I…but…but you…and it’s…what? Jen, you hurt my heart. Why a live album? Because it’s a live album!! There are covers and unreleased songs and there’s stage banter and it’s live! I don’t know what else you need. Not only that, but it’s a live solo album which means there are different arrangements by necessity. It proves the music is mutable and that putting a song on wax is not the end of its evolution. It proves that if a song is worth singing, it’s worth exploring and doing it right. The live album, if done right, is lightning in a bottle, capturing a moment shared by a room full of people on a night. Live music is a fleeting thing, the live album is an attempt to grasp at the fleeting moment.

And as long as I’m commenting on yesterday’s posts (I’ll do one with music soon, I swear), you’ve proven a theory about Jack Johnson for me. When Sleep Through Static was released it jump right up to the freaking top of every chart applicable. I swear, all of ‘em. I was absolutely baffled because, well, most people who don’t hate Jack Johnson have a hard drive so full of various Jack Johnson tracks and Jack Johnson & Ben Harper tracks and Jack Johnson live bootlegs and songs that aren’t Jack Johnson but are attributed to him, &c. that they don’t really need to run right out and buy fourteen more songs that sound just like all the other ones on their computer, but they did! Jack Johnson is extremely frustrating to me, especially since I still get sucked into most of his songs. Even played “Banana Pancakes” at a wedding last week.

Finally, regarding Juno, I’ve not seen hard candy, but Ellen Page’s character is infinitely endearing. Or at least not a ball buster. It’s worth your time, Jen. And now I’m done saying what I should’ve said in an email. Yay for making it public!!

Like Jen, my 2007 wasn’t entirely fraught with new music. There’s too much that’s already happened that I need to catch up on, so my list has a lot of stuff that has already happened, but it’s what I did in 2007. Let’s look closer:

The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips

• 2007 will be remember as the year that I finally ‘got’ the Flaming Lips. While I didn’t really dislike the Lips, before this year I just couldn’t understand why everyone was always wetting themselves over Wayne Coyne & Co. Exposure Box listeners will remember me trying to do this towards the end of the show’s term.

Stunts - Rademacher

• I know I’ve mentioned them before this year, but I love and will continue to love these guys. Their album’s out now! Dig it for real, but also remember that they are supremely choice in a live setting. Maybe you can get pizza with them, too!

Secrets From the Future - MC Frontalot

• 2007 was likely teh n3rd13st y34r EVAR!1!!1 For me, at least. I’m convinced,however, that, with advancements in technology and the increasing acceptance of online networking, all of Western Society is nerdening up. There’s never been a riper market for MC Frontalot than right now (though some say he should have waited until after the revolution of 2012, but if you’ve got rhymes, bust ‘em).

A Grand Don’t Come for Free - The Streets

• Thinking about it now, I really can’t tell you exactly why I love this album so much, but I do. I was able to get pretty caught up in the story, and though I normally pull for a less-than-perfect ending to stories where that type of ending presents itself, I’m really glad “Empty Cans” does what it do.

Disintegration - The Cure

• Even though I already owned Three Imaginary Boys, Paris, and Wild Mood Swings, along with both singles collections and the Greatest Hits, I considered this my first real Cure album, and in many ways it is. Of course I just got Wish this week and feel pretty much the same about that one.

Carnavas - Silversun Pickups

• I’ve already apologized for underestimating this one the first time around, but I don’t think I really mentioned how it’s become one of my most listened-to albums of ‘07. I take back all the nasty things I said.

In Rainbows - Radiohead

• Though not in the way that most people did In Rainbows, I ended up listening to the bootlegs of live versions of songs that were leaked last summer. Seriously, In Rainbows was a little disappointing, but I just had to mention that I’m better than you because I’d known these songs for a year before the album was released. Good gravy I’m lame. Sorry.

Batman - Prince

• Seeing Prince perform at half-time of Super Bowl XLI may have gotten me a little obsessed. I may have ordered the Batman soundtrack that very day, and while I continue to catch flak for it (the Girl bought me the new album, Planet Earth, just to spite me) I won’t stop liking Prince.

Razorblade Suitcase - Bush

• My first Bush album, The Science of Things, has long been my favourite simply because it’s the one I got to know best. This year, however, I realized that Suitcase is much more textured without resorting to some of the electronic elements of Science. Also, the songs are better. I actually went as far as to finally complete my Bush collection with the (I’ll admit) sub-par remix album Deconstructed. May have listened to a lot of Bush this year. Nineties Rock Mondays sure helped with that.

Neon Bible - The Arcade Fire and Wincing the Night Away - The Shins

• I know these two are going to be on so many year in review lists, but they’ve earned it. Also, I’ve seen both of these bands live this year, that’s pretty kickin’, no doubt. They’re both amazing, by the way, and you have no excuse not to see them. Especially the Arcade Fire. You owe it to yourself, and your posterity. Regarding Neon Bible, “Intervention” is the reason you got those really nice headphones, or your buddy hooked up that home theater, or else it’s a complete waste of pipe organ.

So that’s pretty much my 2007. I honestly didn’t mean for this to be a list of ten. Because that cliche is much much worse than the year in review cliche. Sorry folks, I may just be lame, but maybe I’ll work on that for 2008. In the mean time I’m looking forward to new stuff from Saves the Day and Weezer, and I’ll probably get really into Dinosaur Jr. or Sonic Youth or Starland Vocal Band (not for “Afternoon Delight, and not ironically) or Pavement or something. New beginnings!!

MP3S COMING LATER….NEW YEARS PARTYING KEEPING US BUSY

MP3S ARE UP!

 The Streets - Blinded by the Light [4:43m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Prince - Partyman [3:12m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Bush - Greedy Fly [4:30m]: Play in Popup | Download

I fully intended to tell you all about the Say Hi (to your mom) show I went to last night at Kilby, but I got distracted by the Dresden Dolls website.  Seriously, it’s the website that I wish all my favourite bands had.  Most official sites are tragically neglected, and the ones that do get a lot of attention mostly get that attention from a “Fifth Beatle,” like Weezer’s Karl Koch.  I love Karl as much as the next Weezer fan, but it’s just not the same.  If you’re able to deal with purple text on a black background, then you’re in for a lot of Amanda-written content ( biography, responses to countless emails), a great collection of photographs,  lots of actual music (I especially appreciate the “You can tape if you share” attitude towards bootlegs).  There’s a noticeable effort to keep things from being hard-to-find, and a genuine appreciation for the fans.  There’s also a selection of hate mail that’s available, some of which Amanda has responded to, which is entertaining but also reminds me why I don’t participate in message boards anymore.
So, now you know what I was doing instead of reviewing last night’s show or working.  But I’m still thinking of you, gentle reader.

 Linda Ronstadt- Winter Light [3:17m]: Play in Popup | Download

Its 2007 again. Wait, it was 2007. Its that time of year again. Yeah. Weblog Awards. ‘Tis the season to cast your vote. Rather appropriate, being in November. Or not.

Cast your votes here. I’ve heard of half of the nominees. I wish there was a broader spectrum represented, though. Oh well, I didn’t nominate anyone, so I can’t complain.

Here’s the link again : http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-music-blog-1.php

Recently I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and my situation in general (its been a rough couple of weeks, and it ain’t over yet) when I did one of my record 6 hour surf-a-thons on the interweb. As LovetheMusic is something that requires a lot of my attention, and finding music is what I do, I of course ended up scouring the web for mp3 blogs. Good ones. We all know about Stereogum and Pitchfork, hypemachine and elbo.ws, and various other golden oldies. But what about the hidden treasure of music blogs? There’s tons and tons of links to mp3 blogs in the sidebars in many of these websites, and although I’d love to dedicate hours to exploring each and every one, I decided there had to a better way to find out about the kickass sites that we read and don’t mention. And, I’d love, and think that other mp3 blog authors would love to find out about them. All about finding new good stuff and a nice amount of networking. So, I’m proposing a kind of mp3 blog tag. Not only will it bring traffic to the smaller mp3 blogs we don’t know about, it will tell us all about them why they’re awesome, and help generate traffic for the participating bloggers and also, myself. Everyone wins.
If you want to participate, heres the deal:

• Write a blog post showcasing a kickass music blog that is relatively small. Or, if you don’t currently read one that is considered ’small’, or not very well-known, choose a major kickass music blog you read. I don’t really pay much attention to Stereogum. Maybe I should. Tell us why. Or perhaps one you’ve been reading for years that is consistently awesome. Tell us why. The tone and format of the posts, the kind of music they talk about, the really cool web design, the author is really sexy, whatever.
• Link to the blog, giving them a trackback on one of their posts and just a plain link to their blog. Let them know the deal, ie, ‘Hey, your turn. Write about a kickass blog.’ They’ll need to link back to you and link to the blog they’re writing about also. Also, a trackback to this post would be good, so we have a compilation of all them.
• When the rounds been going for a bit, I’m going to make a compilation of these posts and links to their respective blogs here, as a master list. It will be updated as needed, and linked to as a permanent fixture in the sidebar.
• By the way, don’t be corny. I wouldn’t expect you to. But just, don’t. Even if its a ‘check this out. I read ‘em all the time and they rock. Link here.’ Its okay.

I hope this will be fun and enjoyable. I originally was looking for a way to generate more traffic and ideas for this blog, and this idea sort of sprouted, and then bloomed into something more than just a traffic generator. Its just a good way to explore the nooks and crannies of the net and bring them to front.

Thanks in advance for participating. I’ll begin. Per the point of this post, I don’t know of a particularly small blog, so I’m going to talk about MusicIsArt in a coming post.

Love yourself,

Jen

During my morning routine today (which consists of cursing the cat as I have to hop over her every 2 feet, peeing, making a pot of coffee, and reading my feeds) I caught a post from Ed at the Old Blue Bus that made me think. And agree.

It is sort of ironic that marketing companies, from larger music labels solicit me to post reviews and even just a link on my site. LTM isn’t huge, we’re not Pitchfork Media or Stereogum. I write LTM because I like to, and one of the main reasons I do it is to showcase music that I like or Damon likes and hope that someone else will like it too. LovetheMusic = SharetheMusic = everyone’s happy. The band, the fans, me, whoever.

On the other hand, I was recently sent a CD by a band that will remain unnamed. I told the guy who sent it to me I’d try to have something up on it within a week. He’s pretty good about the music he sends me; the bands he represents are all pretty worthy.

But, the particular band that will remain unnamed, upon listening, made my stomach churn. They’re AWFUL. I did not enjoy it AT ALL. So, I refuse to post anything on it. I’m not in the habit of listening to CDs and then bashing them on LTM. We’re not exactly a ‘review’ site, although our domain names belies it. I post music I like/love, and Damon does the same.

Also, it is pretty much bullshit that the RIAA and Clearchannel and whoever else monopolizes the music market allows major record labels to send CDs to me and Ed and whoever else, expecting reviews and links and support (for free, of course, they don’t pay us. At least not me. If I’m supposed to be getting money for this, send me an email) and then they turn around and bitch about the rampant availability of mp3s on the internet. And Ed also mentioned that he couldn’t post mp3s from the albums he discussed in his post because he wasn’t allowed to. Well, hello, Major Record Label, how do you expect someone to buy the CD without listening to some of it first? We’re way poorer than you and you expect us to drop 20 bucks because we can see the album cover and someones words saying its kinda good? Fuck you. You may be richer, but I’m sure you are NOT smarter than me. I wasn’t voted the Worst Company in America by the Consumerist (RIAA) and 80 percent of the population doesn’t wish me a painful death.

The reason why mp3 blogs like mine and Ed’s exist is to bypass all the commercial bullshit you hear on the radio 4 times in ONE hour. We are here so the little bands that the big guys think won’t sell 3 million records WILL sell 3 million records and actually deserve it. We’re here to promote GOOD music and not the bubblegum crap that people listen to because they’d rather not THINK about what they’re singing along to. That’s an article for another day, though.

Happy sailings on this fine Monday. Jam until the jammin’ is through.

Love,

Jen