What's playing at AbPow 9/18/07

If you notice to the left, I've changed the ipod picture to reflect my pickup of a new Nano. It's a great little player, but I just wish there were cases available for it already given my track record of manhandling iPods (I've broken 2 hard drive-based iPods by dropping them, so I vowed to go flash from here on out). Anyway, here are the last several played:

"Never Leave"-Dave Derby, Dave Derby and the Norfolk Downs. Outstanding singer-songwriter record from the one-time Dambuilder and current "musical director" for comedienne Sarah Silverman. MySpace | CD Baby

"Seraphim", "Poem for the Middle Class"-The Seldon Plan, The Collective Now. As you can maybe judge from those two titles (which came up consecutively on the iPod), The Seldon Plan is an indie pop band. A very good one, though - I really enjoyed their 2005 release Making Circles, and this one is sounding quite good, too, in a Nada Surf kind of way. MySpace | CD Baby

"Abilene"-Knit Delicate, Pressed. I've already mentioned this disc, but I want to reiterate that it's really, really good.

"Hallelujah Chorus"-The Nobility, The Mezzanine. I really love this track, and this is another disc I've come to enjoy immensely; think The Decembrists if Colin Meloy could sing and if they didn't go for baroque, or David Grahame if he were less Beatle-obsessed. Formerly known as Jetpack UK. MySpace | CD Baby

"Zzzzz...."-The Twilight, Tempest in a Teapot. It's funny that this came back-to-back with The Nobility, since The Twilight is a very similar indie pop band that has released an irresistible disc. MySpace | CD Baby

"Heart of Stone"-Cyclones, Walk Fast Head Down. After all of those indie poppers, it was a nice change of pace to hear a more straightforward power pop band, and the Cyclones deliver on that score. From 2005. CD Baby | Official Site

What's playing at AbPow 9/6/07

Time to start a new feature here which might strike some as lame, but what the heck, it's my blog.

I'm going to try to at least once a day (which will probably mean once in a while when I get around to it) list the last 10 songs played on my iPod. Rather than some look into what my favorites are, the way I use my iPod almost exclusively is as thus: I have a 1000-1100 song playlist set on shuffle. This playlist is comprised of 200 tracks picked from my 21000+ song iTunes library at random, with the remaining 800-900 being albums I've added in the last two months or so. The purpose of this exercise is multifold: to give everyone a peek into a sample of my daily listening (to the extent anyone cares), and to bring out comments on discs I'm enjoying but otherwise might not blog about (or that I plan to blog about soon). So without further ado, here are the last 10 tracks that popped up on the pod:

"Instead"-Paul Starling, Ghost Waltz. I grabbed this mp3 off his site or somewhere - don't have the whole album (if someone wants to send it to me, I won't complain). RIYL: The Now People, Nelson Bragg, The Wondermints, Brian Wilson, etc. MySpace

"Outerspace"-The Millions, Disrespectfully Yours. These guys rock hard but very melodically; they're probably about as "heavy" as I'm going to listen to on a regular basis. CD Baby | MySpace

"Believe In Me"-Rooney, Calling The World. These guys are major-label types I usually don't write about, which isn't to say they aren't any good. I've enjoyed several songs from this album, especially the ELO-ish "Don't Come Around Again".

"Nightfall at Electric Park"-Great Lakes Myth Society, Compass Rose Bouquet. I only just added this one to the rotation, so I'm not ready to offer up an informed opinion. Indie pop/rock that sounds quite melodic though - Pitchfork deigned to give it a 6.5. eMusic

"Another Losing Season"-John P. Strohm, Everyday Life.

"Getaway"-Ryan Calhoun, What Are We Doing Here.

"Rollerskaters In The Park"-The Afternoons, Baby, You Know The Deal. Melodic Welsh band whose Rocket Summer was a fine 2005 release. This "new" disc is kind of a combo of Rocket Summer and some other tracks. MySpace

"I've Got Love"-The Twilight, Tempest in a Teapot. A really good indie pop disc that warrants further investigation. CD Baby | MySpace

"Miss You CA"-Dean Owens, Whisky Hearts.

"My Friend Hates Me"-P.Hux, Kiss The Monster. The latest from the Huxster. This is another random mp3 I got off his myspace back before that myspace mp3 thingy was shut down. Again, if he wants to send me a copy, I'll review it. :)

Well, this took a bit longer than I thought it would. But I'll try it again tomorrow.