Just a Gwai Lo fun within prescribed limits [?]

Today I celebrate the 7th anniversary of my starting blogging, first with Blogger, then with Movable Type, then with WordPress, and now with Drupal. This year I've struggled more than any year to write something compelling, and today is no different. Today is also the 7th of the month, meaning it's time to update you on my podcast listening habits.

I unsubscribed from The Talk Show with John Gruber and Dan Benjamin, primarily because their smug nitpicking of Apple's offerings, seemingly endless discussions of the show's format (in at least one show they discuss it for a third of the episode!), the several minutes long paid commercials in the middle, weird segues into Stanley Kubrick and baseball, and my inability to tell either man's voice apart wasn't for me. 12 episodes was enough for me to get the point.

I also unsubscribed from the ChalkedUp podcast not over content, but rather because their feed was broken or missing. As far as I can tell, they're still pumping them out, I just can't get them into my iTunes directly via subscription, and when I sync it up, my iPod. I emailed them and everything. I'll re-subscribe if anybody knows how.

I added two podcasts to my list: recommended by Mason on my Facebook wall, Sound Opinions, offering record reviews and band interviews (the former remind me of Wilson & Alroy, who also sometimes disagree publicly on how good some albums are) and the Sex is Fun Radio Show. It may make me blush a little, but I'm open to the idea that I can improve in many areas and enjoy learning with my partner girlfriend.

(Mason noticed I was playing a lot of Book's Music episodes and wondered why. It's diverse and great, that's why. He knew that I'd been listening to it because he looked at my last.fm playlist. Only one other guy I know cares enough about my playlist to remark about it. Something tells me that, as cool as I think Last.fm is and how useful I find it to know what people in my circle of friends are listening to, that it's not really a big phenomenon. As, say, Facebook.)

Despite yet another hiphop recession for CBC Radio 3, it's the only way I discover great Canadian music. Like Akufen, straight outta Montreal with the chip-chop house sample-based house music. I've been playing the My Way album on repeat for pretty much the last 48 hours straight.

Legal Album of 2004: Cut Copy's Bright Like Neon Love, which also wins best album name of 2004, and finished strong in best album cover category. (The band wins for best band name also, but they sure made it hard to search for.) The album combined house beats with New Wave attitude, the first half is as thrilling as the first half of Daft Punk's Discovery without the latter's second half letdown. The lyrics are throwaway sentimental pap, but I'm only ever interested in lyrics that tell a story anyway. I heard about Cut Copy through an MP3 blog, and I felt compelled to post an MP3 of the band earlier this year.

Honorable Mention: Björk's Medúlla. Yes, I started listening to Björk again this year, and as she usual does, she flipped it on pretty much everybody with her almost all-voice album.

Best Independent-As-Fuck Album of 2004: Bea the Playa's The Critics Call You A Genius, though to be honest, this was the only independent-as-fuck album I bought all year. (Matt Haughey has a great list of 2004 independent-as-fuck albums to check out.) It's fun accoustic-guitar folk music with swearing and drug references, and I heard about her through Flickr, as she posted many a photo of herself, and clicking through to her profile, then to her website, then to her CD Baby site, then listen to a few tracks, then a purchase.

Best Illegal Album of 2004: David Browne beat me to it, but Jay-Z's and the Beatles' The Grey Album, produced by DJ Danger Mouse. I was late to appreciate it, but it seeped deeper into my consciousness after giving The Beatles (The White Album) a sustained and thorough listen. More than just a mashup, Danger Mouse did with a whole album what most rap producers these days do: he took something from the past, chopped it up, and made it new again. Most producers borrow liberally from one song to make a new song, took liberally from two albums to make an album entirely different than the originals. I've written that Jay-Z's original album sounds like the "remix" version to me.

Those that have bought a DJ's hiphop mix tape in the last 10 years know that DJ Danger Mouse did was not without precedent: rappers have long released voice-only versions of their songs (or, Jay-Z's case, whole albums) as well as instrumental versions so that DJs can produce "blends", that is playing the vocal track of one song over the instrumental track of another, creating a whole new experience. They were mashups before the kids called them mashups.

The Grey Album is my pick for the best album of 2004 overall, legal or illegal, indie or not.

Band of 2004: Interpol, who are evidently the American Tragically Hip. They and their sound were everywhere.

Radio Station of 2004: The Internet. I only really listened to KEXP this year, but until I got a laptop, listening to great new music via the Internet (via streaming radio stations and MP3 blogs) was a good enough reason for throwing all my CD's in the trash.