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********* Bon Iver – Bon Iver

********* Adele – 21

********* Tori Amos – Night of Hunters (The Sin Palabras instrumental is exactly the same, just without words. Just as good to hear it this way.)

********* Foster the People – Torches

********* Metric – Fantasies

********* Parachute Musical – Kill It Cut It Down

******** Wilco – The Whole Love

******** MUTEMATH – Odd Soul

******** Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials

******** Justice – Audio, Video, Disco

******** Little Dragon – Ritual Union

******** King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine

******** Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

******* Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I feel like I should enjoy Fleet Foxes and Youth Lagoon more, but they just haven’t grabbed me (yet).

Part 1 (March 11, 2011)
Part 2 (July 26, 2011)

One photo a day for a year (2012). Now that I have a phone with a data plan, I feel that I can commit to it. Jaynee’s Instagram yesterday morning inspired me to give it a try. You don’t have to start on January 1st, but I’d love to have more people join us. (I’ll keep this page updated with any changes to the project; zepfanman.com/365 redirects here.)

Headshot for Project 365

A one-page, condensed list of SPIN’s 30 Best Fall Tours:

1. Skrillex (9/2-11/12, *Skream Benga, Nero, et al)
2. Portishead (10/1-10/27)
3. Cymbals Eat Guitars (9/20-10/27)
4. Wilco (9/13-10/5)
5. Battles (10/1-11/1)
6. Kanye West and Jay-Z (10/29-12/18)
7. Feist (10/29-12/6)
8. Beirut (9/21-11/13)
9. Das Racist (9/12-11/7)
10. EMA (10/7-10/30)
11. Blink-182/My Chemical Romance (Now-10/8, *Manchester Orchestra, Matt & Kim)
12. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks (9/20-10/20)
13. The Rapture (9/22-10/21)
14. Odd Future (9/28-11/8)
15. Grouplove (Now-10/26)
16. Foo Fighters (9/14-11/6)
17. St. Vincent (10/2-11/4)
18. Neon Indian (9/15-10/21)
19. Girls (9/14-10/9)
20. Tiesto (9/15-10/8)
21. Blitzen Trapper / Dawes (10/7-11/15)
22. SBTRKT (10/25-11/5)
23. Death Cab for Cutie (9/30-10/22)
24. Yuck (9/22-10/14)
25. Arctic Monkeys (9/23-10/18)
26. Washed Out (9/13-10/17)
27. Deadmau5 (Now-11/5)
28. Foster the People (9/13-10/20)
29. Cults (9/3-10/12)
30. Gwar (10/18-11/27)

* Worthy opening acts (in my opinion).

Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others’ dreams.

- 35 Sonnets (1918, public domain)

I ran across Fernando Pessoa’s work less than a year ago while browsing the biography section of the library. The Penguin Classic’s cover photo of The Book of Disquiet drew me in, but I wasn’t prepared for the two minds of Pessoa contained within. Arguably Lisbon’s most beloved writer of all time, he invented the term “heteronym” as a way to write as an imaginary character (ultimately creating over 70 of them in his lifetime), each having his own style and voice. But aside from this unique aspect of Pessoa’s writing, the concepts he explores are what strike me most. I typically do not grasp the cadence and meaning of popular poetry; it’s a relief to read someone like Pessoa who uses simple language to describe the thoughts that pour out of him, literally as ink on paper.

Since the Rate Your Music feed doesn’t work, here is my second installment of a few albums I’ve enjoyed lately. If it’s rated a 7, that’s mainly because there are four or five tracks on the album that aren’t as good as the rest of the album – but I listen to the good tracks frequently.

******* Robyn – Robyn

********* Derik LaRon – Crash Radio ¹

********* Loscil – Endless Falls

******** Pretty Lights – Filling Up The City Skies

******** Britney Spears – Femme Fatale

******* Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math

******* Maroon 5 – Hands All Over

********* Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome

********* Dada – Live: Official Bootleg, Vol. 1

******** Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History

********* Tyler James – It Took The Fire (w/ review)

******** Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

******** Various Artists – Ghostly Swim

********* Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy

¹ Derik is not on Rate Your Music (yet), but you can follow him and his music on Twitter.

Related: A few album ratings – Part 1

Last Friday, I spent four hours at the Specialty Clinic on Barrett Ave.  I try to go in for regular sexually transmitted infection tests (STI/STDs: HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, etc.) about once a year, but this is my first attempt in Louisville. As you can imagine, this may be TMI for many of you, so proceed at your own risk. Read the rest of this entry »