Holidays.

I've been out of town with spotty internet reception for the holidays. I will be posting more soon.
I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Pitchfork Top Songs of 2008 (1-50)

Here is the other half of Pitchfork Media's '100 Best Tracks of 2008' list. I will wait to post the top albums until they post the list in its entirety. You can check out (50-26) here.
In typical Pitchfork fashion, a good number of dance singles pepper the list, with a good mix of indie favorites thrown in for good measure.

Enjoy!

Pitchfork 100 Best Tracks of 2008

NPR Readers Pick Their Top Albums of 2008

It is list time. 2008 is growing to a close and 'best of' lists are popping up everywhere. To some this may be overkill, but I love it. I am currently crafting my own list, perfecting it before I unveil it on this blog. It's so hard to choose with so many excellent releases out this year. But, I will have the list out before the Christmas holidays, never fear.

NPR has released its list of reader favorites for the year. I must be an NPR listener because I agree with most of their list and own 18 of the 25 titles. But, they did omit a few of my personal favorites.

Check it out.

Death Cab for Cutie on Craig Ferguson

Death Cab for Cutie appeared on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson last night with a hilarious introduction by James Lipton from Inside the Actor's Studio. This week has been an excellent week for indie music on late night shows. Fleet Foxes were on Conan on Tuesday night, performing an excellent version of "English House." Before the Death Cab performance, viewers got to see Broken Social Scene appear on Letterman. Tonight we have Of Montreal on Letterman and the Cure on Carson Daly.

Check out this video of Death Cab performing "Cath" off of their latest album "Narrow Stairs."

Jack White Interviews Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett.

Not only is she beautiful and an excellent actress, Blanchett is also an engaging and interesting interview subject as well.

In the recent edition of Interview magazine, we get the pleasure of Cate in a well-crafted interview with White Stripes frontman Jack White. They talk about their kids, Blanchett's upbringing, and Blanchett's new job as co-artistic directer (along with her husband Andrew Upton) of the Sydney Theater Company.

Did I mention the striking photos that accompany the article?

Check it out here.

Pitchfork names 51-100 of top songs of 2008

The exalted music website Pitchfork Media has released numbers 51-100 of their top tracks of 2008, with promises that 1-50 would be coming soon. They will also be releasing their picks for the best albums of the year later this week.

My favorite track on the list, "Little Bit," an infectious dance number by Swedish songstress Lykke Li, comes in at #54.



Check it the whole list here.

"Dark Was the NIght" album benefits AIDS research

"Dark Was the Night," a double-disc album to benefit AIDS research, will be released February 17th on the Beggar's Banquet imprint. Curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National, the album features performances by Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver and Yo La Tengo, to name a few of the stellar cast of performers.

The disc will benefit the Red Hot organization, to fund research to help find a cure AIDS.

According to Billboard magazine, the tracklist for the two discs is as follows:

Disc one:
"Knotty Pine," Dirty Projectors and David Byrne
"Cello Song," the Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
"Train Song," Feist and Ben Gibbard
"Deep Blue Sea," Grizzly Bear
"So Far Around the Bend," the National
"Tightrope," Yeasayer
"Feeling Good," My Brightest Diamond
"Dark Was the Night," the Kronos Quartet
"I Was Young When I Left Home," Antony and Bryce Dessner
"Big Red Machine," Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner
"Sleepless," the Decemberists
"Die," Iron & Wine
"Service Bell," Grizzly Bear and Feist
"Blood," Sufjan Stevens

Disc two:
"Well-Alright," Spoon
"Lenin," the Arcade Fire
"Mimizan," Beirut
"El Caporal," My Morning Jacket
"Inspiration Information," Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
"With a Girl Like You," Dave Sitek
"Blood Pt. 2," Buck 65 remix featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti
"Hey, Snow White," the New Pornographers
"Gentle Hour," Yo La Tengo
"Another Saturday," Stuart Murdoch
"Happiness," Riceboy Sleeps
"Amazing Grace," Cat Power
"The Giant of Illinois," Andrew Bird
"Lua," Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch
"When the Road Runs Out," Blonde Redhead and Devestations
"Love vs. Porn," Kevin Drew