miller carr gets track of the year

Thanks to the right-on Totam blog supersite, who included our own Miller Carr & the Shalants' wildly terrific "Hey" among their tracks of the year.

Scribe Aileen Tat calls the band's music a "seamless blend of surf, psychedelia, and soul." Well put, Ms. Tat.


Miller Carr & the Shalants' Passage Through Wilderness, Vol. 2, featuring "Hey" in all its loping, romantic glory, is available here.

top ten fever

End of the year means time for lists. Here's our own picks, the albums that have been keeping us warm the last twelve months:

Joe's top ten (in alphabetical order):
-Ryan Adams, Cardinology
-Breeders, Mountain Battles
-Bye Bye Blackbirds, Houses and Homes
-Miller Carr & The Shalants, Passage Through Wilderness vol. 2 (pictured)
-Dead Child, Attack
-Deerhunter, Microcastle
-Kings of Leon, Only By The Night
-The Oh Sees, The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In
-Racebannon, Acid or Blood
-Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Roll With You

Mike's top ten (ranked):
1. Marnie Stern, This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That...
2. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
3. Department of Eagles, In Ear Park
4. Blitzen Trapper, Furr
5. Brightblack Morning Light, Motion to Rejoin
6. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, We Brave Bee Stings and All
7. Future of the Left, Curses
8. Miller Carr & the Shalants, Passage Through Wilderness vol. 2 (still pictured)
9. Glasvegas, Glasvegas
10. Why?, Alopecia

Best compilation of the year (by far): The Move, Anthology 1966-1972

bye bye blackbirds leave the light on

Nice track review of our beloved Bye Bye Blackbirds' "Leave a Light On" on the keen Unpopular Culture blog. You can check the review and mp3 here.

Bye Bye Blackbirds' Houses & Homes album, featuring "Leave a Light On" alongside a clutch of other razor-sharp pop gems, is available now.

people love matt baldwin

Matt Baldwin's Paths of Iginition is definitely our sleeper hit of the year.

Now the East Bay Express names it among the Best Music of 2008. Awesome!

Paths of Iginition is available now.