Batman

go Magic!

yeah the lineup was great, unfortunately there were even more bands I wanted to see that I couldn't. The Decemberists were playing at the same time as Mos Def, The Silversun Pickups were at the same time as Explosions in the Sky, Chromeo was on during Ben Harper, and I missed pretty much every comedian besides Zach. It was still awesom ethough.

I saw Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, Devotchka, M. Ward, The Gaslight Anthem, Passion Pit, Crystal Castles, Mos Def, TV On the Radio, Of Montreal, M83, The Walkmen, The Wrens, The Dodos, Viva Voce, Deadmau5, Zach Galifianakis, Tom Morrello with Boots Riley, Ben Harper, The Fleet Foxes, St. Vincent, Gogol Bordello, Santigold, Explosions in the Sky, Girl Talk, Blitzen Trapper, The Knux, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Horse Feathers, and Deerhoof.

just went to the Sasquatch festival in the colombia river gorge up in washington. It was amazing!

Also, after having seen Passion Pit live, I've totally changed my opinion on the album. I think PP is way better as a band than as a solo project. 2nd best of 09 so far for me!

I will probably check out the new Decemberists although I prefer their shorter pop songs to their proggy epics.

one, two, three and to the fo'...

good choices Lizard, but I think Farin might have beaten us both!

caffeine!

the really hot actress from Transformers. which i didn't see. but i saw the previews.

Yeah I don't think it's really worth it. I mean, if you're smoking a pack a day that's $150 that you could be spending on something more worthwile, like mountain dew or crack-cocaine. Although I've been known to bum a free cig at a party every once in a while. And as Lizard pointed out, there are some special occasions that call for a peach swisher.

What do you mean "bout time somebody said it?" Nostalgiac baby boomers are whining about this all the time. Why should anyone be "copying heroes?" The best bands today are the ones who make their own sound. Van Zandt is just another whiny old man who's upset that people are actually being creative instead of just emulating his old rocker friends.

Jack White? Boo, Jack is an awesome guitarist. His solo in "Ball and Biscuit" is one of the best of the decade.

I didn't even hear about a new Del album. Was it an official album? What's weak about it? Also, how would you compare the new Decemberists album to their others? I still haven't given it a listen yet.

hookah...tastes delicious. I always find it funny though when someone says they won't smoke cigs but they will smoke shisha. As if adding the flavors to the tobacco makes it healthier. But the best smokeable item in the world, of course, is a grape swisher. Totally non-pretensious and totally delicious, it is a blessing to society that such a luxurious cigarillo only costs 99 cents.

all the albums I've fully listened to this year and what I think of them: animal collective - merriweather post pavillion: A+, animal collective is the best rock band since...well, the birth of rock dan deacon - bromst: A, dan is the man. this album is just as wild as his last one, but a little cleaner, and a little more mature. well done dan! cymbals eat guitars - why there are mountains: A-, a very stereotypical indie rock album, but it's been a long time since i've listened to a very stereotypical indie rock album, so this one was nice. "and the hazy sea" is pretty much everything you could want in an indie rock song, it's my favorite song of the year. doom - born like this: B+, MF DOOM is my favorite rapper ever, but this is maybe his worst official album. still pretty good though. passion pit - manners: B+/A-, this was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and it didn't quite live up to the expectations of the chunk of change EP. forget what i said about "and the hazy sea," "sleepyhead" is my favorite song of the year. prefuse 73 - everything she touched turned amphphphepahpehaph: B. can't remember the last word in the album title. prefuse 73 is pretty consistently good. japandroids - post nothing: B-. it's good but a lot of this lo-fi pop punk stuff sounds pretty similar to me. wavves - wavves: C-. a few of these songs are great, but most of them are just annoying. the thermals - now we can see: C. this was my most anticipated of 2009 and it didn't deliver at all. it was just as catchy as anything else the thermals has ever done but it had NONE of the energy. every song blends together. so yeah, i haven't really checked out a lot of stuff this year besides the stuff i was really looking forward to and a few albums that were pretty heavily hyped by pitchfork so they were kinda hard to avoid (wavves, japandroids, etc.)

by the way, Sleepyhead is my 2nd favorite song of 2008! Good call on that one Farin. If it counts, it's my 1st favorite of 2009.

Passion Pit rocks! I prefer their 2008 EP "Chunk of Change" a bit over Manners though, mostly because I want to seem really cool but also because it seemed a bit more unique. The EP wasn't meant to be heard by the masses, it was just this guy's valentine's day present to his girlfriend. But yeah, Passion Pit, they are really good. So far "Manners" is in my top 5 of 2009.

The new Eminem I've heard is terrible. I guess he just doesn't have what it takes to go back to the greatness of his first two albums

my guess for hte most recognizable rap line ever: "Oh baby you, you got what I need, but you say he just a friend, but you say he just a friend"

I personally think it's time for the music industry to stop debating whether piracy is good or bad and just accept that it's here, it's not going away, and they have to find a way to make profit other than CD sales.

Yeah the most popular music in the 60's (as far as I know) was the Beatles and motown, both of which I would consider the best music from the 60's. There was some stuff that got popular that I personally find pretty bland though, like most of the British invasion minus the Beatles. I really can't figure out a good reason to explain why top 40 radio decided to stop marketing the best music available to them. Everyone once in a while a song gets in the top 40 that's really good though. A lot of Beyonce's hits come to mind...

I usually don't say it on this site because I have a hard enough time convincing anyone that the non-mainstream music of today is good, but I think there is a pretty fair amount chart-topping music today that is high in quality.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's cool how entrancing Sigur Ros is even when they sing in a different language. Sigur Ros is actually probably the most popular band in the post-rock genre that Blind-Fitter was talking about earlier.

Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight