Ah, my poor neglected last.fm account. How I miss you. I still log in every monday in the hope that stats will magically have generated for me but it is not to be. Technical restraints mean that I just can't keep music on my computer anymore. Which is a real pity. I've been listening to a whole bunch of different stuff lately that the geek in me really wants to track. But the geek in me wants a lot of things that she can't have.

Anyway, as part of the mourning process for weekly chart updates, I feel the need…

Well, I'm in bed with a cold. Again. Stupid immune system. So while I lie here and bemoan my fate and cry out pathetically for sympathy whenever anyone passes my bedroom door, I'll do the typical "best of 2006" things. You can't criticise me for lack of originality, I'm sick, and demand sympathy.

In chronological(ish) order:

Please Come Back - (EP) - 24/01/2006

Oh how I love this EP. Discovered nestled in the second hand shelves, I took this fledgling disc under my wing, took it home, and listened to its merry music all day long. Ok, there's a chance…

Gush.

I'm having such a Ryan Adams week. I was a little worried for a while that he was going to be displaced by Augie March as my top artist (I had such an Augie March week last week). That seems like an odd thing to worry about really. I should probably be worried about the threat of terrorism, or global warming, or the selection of the team for the first ashes test. But there's so much change and uncertainty in my life at the moment that I like knowing that Ryan Adams will always be at the top of…

Why can't I be in a good mood? I'm going out tonight. For music. Tomorrow too. I'm listening to Gram Parsons. Gram. I should be happy, or excited or quietly contented. But I'm not. They're knocking down the house opposite me, or moving it slightly to the left, or something that is noisy. In what may or may not be a connected issue they are also deconstructing a large truck on the street beneath my window. Why? Who knows. I'm supposed to be studying but I've lost all ability to use words. I've made at least 10…

I'm listening to the new Deloris album (officially out on monday 30/10, but it's already trickled into JB where it was dutifully snapped up by me). I can't even wait for the end of the album to gush about its wonderfulness. It's blowing my mind. I was preparing myself to be a little disappointed because I didn't think it could live up to Fake Our Deaths, 'cos that was a seriously good album. But Ten Lives is really different, and equally wonderful in a whole host of different ways. Fake Our Deaths was very stripped back and subtle. As…

I hate my throat sometimes. I particularly hate its tendancy to get infections and cause me pain. So instead of trying to do anything productive with my down time, I'm going to lie here on the couch with my computer on my lap and write last.fm journals until I feel better, or until it's time to go to the doctor. My apologies to the world and the people who inhabit it, but I'm about to pour torrents of randomness into the internet. Am am, in short, going to behave like a normal 21 year old with nothing better to do.…

Excuse me while I freak out a little.

In about 8 months time - assuming all goes well - I graduate with a shiny engineering degree to nail to my wall. Which means that in the not too distant future I'm going to start applying for my dream job. Of course, my dream job happens to be humanitarian work in a yet to be far away country. I don't sleep too well.
And now that the time is drawing near, and one of my friends was foolish enough to point out that it might actually happen, I'm starting to…

Gah, long long week. I'm exhausted. And it's not over - I have to slog all weekend to finish a major assignment. Bah.

But there was fun stuff. On Monday I saw Okkervil River. They were seriously good. Highlight? Six words:

Will. Sheff. A. Stone. Solo. Acoustic.

Nuff Said.

It really was wonderful. And I still can't stop listening to Black Sheep Boy. I wish I could, cos I don't want to make myself sick of it, but it's all my ears want at the moment. Fortunately OR have a solid back catalogue to move on to if I…

Yay! Pete Yorn is doing a side gig in Melbourne! I was worried that he wouldn't. Sometimes it pays to be a pessimist, you get so pleasantly surprised. And now, the joy. And the listening to musicforthemorningafter. And then a little more joy.

Ain't nothing like good news on a bad day.

aka Bands and Artists who should have more listeners

I raved about a relatively obscure Melbourne band, the Daze, the other day, and the number of listeners went up by two. Not statistcally significant, I know, but if you ignore the fact that I probably had nothing to do with it, it was an awesome power rush. So I figure it's time to ramble on about some other underrated bands and artists (I'm thinking an arbitrary threshhold of less than 1000 listeners) and see if I can change the world, just that tiny little bit, for the better. Plus,…