1. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
2. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
3. Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
4. Danielson - Ships
5. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
6. Hot Chip - The Warning
7. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
8. Daedelus - Denied the Days Demise
9. The Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side
10. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
11. The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
12. Futureheads - News and Tributes
13. Juana Molina - Son
14. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
15. Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrels
16. Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You
17. Neil Young - Living With War
18. Small Sins - Small Sins
19. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
20. Neil Young - Heart of Gold [DVD]

Raconteurs? I can't stand it. I suppose I was once a pretty big White Stripes fan (White Blood Cells really blew me away when it came out, as well as their first two records), but I'm just pretty goddamn sick of that guy. I don't know why, other than the fact that I don't think he's released a decent song in the past three or four years.

And I gotta say: that new Sonic Youth album is pretty damn good, isn't it? Fairly short, more straight forward songs (for Sonic Youth at least), but I think they've made all the "noise" that any group of four people possibly ever could, and I'm enjoying the more mellow approach they seem to have taken for the past couple records.

How does the new SY compare to the last one? I liked it when it came out, but I don't think it holds up. I miss the days when their albums woud be totally different from one another. If they have stayd w/ the same formula as the last two it will be a little sad.

Rather Ripped is amazing! The past few albums have such a somber feeling but they are completely compelling to me. Do You Believe In Rapture is such a good track...

The Raconteurs were good to me upon first listen and then I bought the album... I started hating it from there. Every listen gets more and more obnoxious/boring.

A note to the general public...

Even if you don;t care for Sonic Youth, GO SEE THEM LIVE.

Holy shit, I reach musical climax every time I see them.

I find most white stripes obsessors to be quite obnoxious and to generally have fratboy style "indie" tastes (white stripes, the shins, bloc party, the killers (eeeewe)).... but then they probably like ben harper or some shit too.

not to put EVERY white stripes fan in that category (i like the older stuff, and actually just bought the self titled album, which is pretty good... but the new stuff is entirely lackluster to me).

...if jack white is your god, you could deffinately stand to get into some other interesting garage/blues/etc bands. there's PLENTY more where Jack White came from... he just had the right SCHTICK.

Matthew Barney's a great film maker, but Creammaster3 just killed me....and not in a good way. I'll go anyway.

me too.

I do like that SY record...

Still don't think I like that Danielson record and I definitely disagree with Pitchfork's fanboy rating.

I don't understand... what's with the music stuff on the basketball blog?!

Go Astros!

I figure talent is a rough mixture of practice and confidence, and while there's little doubt of Jack White's confidence, I really wonder how much 'practice' he puts in.

Now, I dont mean he needs to be cracking open the back pages of a chord book, or learning exotic scales, or reading Shakespeare...

but I do wonder if he ever allows himself the expansive space of an "I dont know" -- does he ever really suprise himself anymore? -- Do his songs still scare him shitless? -- Is there a punch clock outside the studio door?

Autopilot sounds just about right. He needs to allow himself the FREEDOM!!! of putting his hand out the goddamn window

Well, maybe I should have stated it a bit differently: He hasn't written a song that I've found interesting or exciting in three or four years. Maybe that can be explained away by personal reasons (Like changing music tastes, etc) but I also kind of think he's had it on autopilot for a while. Not saying he isn't talented, I just haven't been diggin on his stuff lately.

Come on Stoned Ranger.. seriously? Jack White hasn't written a good song in 4 years? I think that's bullshit, man. The guy is incredibyl talented - he's just going off in different directions.

yeah, jack's personae is getting a tad past overkill. don't know if i'm ready to throw in the towel as a writer just yet. youth are doing just what they are supposed to be doing, and are just as succulent as when i saw them w/neil. that chart listing shows how little some things really......