John Lefsky Poop ’12

I’m listening to POOP possibles as I type this. I don’t suppose I can have an extra month so I can investigate the intriguing SHINDIG Top Ten, not one title I have heard. Guess not. OK.    Buy New or Used via Amazon 1. Ty Segall Band – SLAUGHTERHOUSE Ty released 3 records this year, all worthwhile. This one sounds like he’s been eating Hawkwind for breakfast, with a bit o’ Blue Cheer. Fuzz, hooks, phlegm.    Buy New or Used via Amazon 2. Volcano The Bear – GOLDEN RHYTHM/INK MUSIC Just out of curiosity, I Googled VTB and This Heat. SHAZAM!!!…


Recording Business Case Study – 1 song, 7.5 writers, 18+ versions

A funny/sad/ridiculous tale of how record companies often don’t know their asses from their elbows. Told with grace and humor. Let’s be clear, this is the recording industry* we are trying to protect with our constant attempts to pass internet-killing legislation. *I say “recording industry” because I think that is a different animal than the “music industry”. Unfortunately, too many people, including the uploader of this video, use the terms interchangeably. (Thanks to my friend and ex-housemate Eric, who is a high-powered entertainment lawyer in LA, for sharing this)


Tom Whalen Poop ’12

10 top   Buy New or Used via Amazon 1. Japandroids – Celebration Rock << Am I old enough to miss being young? How it felt, how it sounded? Who of us ever thought a record would ever, ever, ever again sound like this, feel like this!?    Buy New or Used via Amazon 2. Burial – Kindred EP << Burial’s embrace of long-form, mixtapeish compositions, here and on Truant/Rough Sleeper, was as unexpected as it was revelatory. The texture of this music, both physical and emotional, is simply staggering. This guy’s like the Beatles to me.    Download via Stereogum 3. Action…


Andrew Stewart Poop ’12

   Buy New or Used via Amazon 1. The Walkmen – Heaven (The evolution continues: gorgeous, dramatic, intimate-yet-epic songs about love and loss. There is a certain kind of magic here, and it’s tough to resist.)    Buy New or Used via Amazon 2. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist (Far more than the sum of its parts, this is not just a funny, inspiring, exciting R&B album – it feels important; and it rocks. Hear “Thrift Shop,” just try to not smile.)    Buy New or Used via Amazon 3. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan (The disparate pieces finally come…


Mark Rosen Poop ’12

   Buy New or Used via Amazon 1. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – Wrecking Ball Bruce’s angriest album ever is also his best since Born To Run. The Irish rebel song “Death To My Hometown” is as fierce as music got this year. Look no further than Wrecking Ball for a record to put in a time capsule to capture the economic and political landscapes of 2012. Special credit must be given to the ghosts of Mitt Romney and ‘W’ and the various “robber barons” for their inspirational roles in this record.    Buy New or Used via Amazon 2. THE dB’s – Falling…


Jim Finnigan Poop ’12

Here Are the Songs They Play at a Mid Afternoon Bingo Game 1:04 pm: In about 25 minutes, I’m going to be DJ-ing a mid afternoon bingo game, with my Poop 2012 list. The game is for the nursing home’s ambulatory residents, of which there are several dozen. I’ve probably DJ’d fifteen of these things already. It’s like being a DJ at a nightclub, except this party will take place in the activity room and nobody told them not to let in Alzheimer’s patients. 1:08: Oh Poop. They’re serving cake at this dance. That’s actually kind of great. There’d probably…


John Greak Poop ’12

Bare bones version! 2012 was a good year! I turned 38 and further settled into my role of championing everything white dudes in plaid shirts like. Yay! Can’t wait until next year and POOP List 2013: The Status Quo Apologist Strikes Back. Music! ALBUMS: 1. Japandroids – Celebration Rock 2. Sharon Van Etten – Tramp 3. Fang Island – Major 4. Cheap Girls – Giant Orange 5. Aimee Mann – Charmer 6. Ken Stringfellow – Danzig In The Moonlight 7. Titus Andronicus – Local Business 8. The Big Pink – Future This 9. Soul Asylum – Delayed Reaction 10. Taylor…


Eric Fine Poop ’12

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you by favorite records of 2012. It wasn’t easy admitting to all of these R&B records, but dammit, I am comfortable in my music skin!    Buy New or Used via Amazon 1. Kelly Hogan – I Like To Keep Myself in Pain Genres aside, her beautiful voice, slight twang, and vibrant melodies make this a winner.    Buy New or Used via Amazon 2. Best Coast – The Only Place Ah, a nice breath of fresh air. Jangly pop to soothe the soul. A real warm record.    Buy New or Used via Amazon 3….


Richard Allen Poop ’12

Favorite Things ~ 2012 ALBUMS    Buy New or Used via Amazon Mentallo & the Fixer ~ Music from the Eather (Alfa Matrix). Today’s industrial music sounds much as it did a decade ago, undeniably powerful but no longer original. This album could change all that. The hugeness of the sound – crisp production, fluctuating beats and interlocking matrixes – blows away all rhythmic competition. The album is offered in a couple different versions, the best being the limited 3-disc set. For anyone invested in the future of IDM, this is the year’s most essential release.    Buy New or Used via…


Irv Rosen Poop ’12

What I listened to in 2012 I am starting to detect a pattern here: I listen less to, and care less about, music in presidential election years. What does it mean? No idea. But listen I did:    Buy New or Used via Amazon Ry Cooder – Election Special A more timely, more explicit state of the union statement would be hard to find. Nothing subtle here.    Buy New or Used via Amazon Andy Statman – Old Brooklyn May be my favorite of the year. Bluegrass meets klezmer meets rock. Great end to end.    Buy New or Used via Amazon Bruce…


John Stewart Poop ’12

Obama got reelected. While I was not 100% happy with his first term? It was still better then what could be a disaster? Romney/Ryan. We dodged a bullet. Best Ten of 2012 (No Particular Order) Led Zeppelin Celebration Day Scott Walker Bisch Bosch Leonard Cohen Old Ideas Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel… Lana Del Rey Born to Die Mumford and Sons Babel The Lumineers The Lumineers Alabama Shakes Boys and Girls Soundgarden King Animal   Beach Boys That’s Why God Made the Radio   Honourable Mention Grimes – Visions Neil Young – Psychdelic Pill / Americana Frank Ocean – Channel…


Kevin Falahee Poop ’12

ALBUMS OF NOTE   Buy New or Used via Amazon #1 JAPANDROIDS – CELEBRATION ROCK – the kind of album I’ve waited to be written since I was old enough to love music and really, really, really like girls.   Buy New or Used via Amazon #2 KENDRICK LAMAR – good kid, m.A.A.d city – fact: suburban white kids from the east coast are infatuated with California and gangsta rap almost as much as they are with guitars and heartbreak. Almost.   Buy New or Used via Amazon #3 FANG ISLAND – MAJOR – have you ever wondered what it would sound like…


Kent B Poop ’12

Fab Four St. Etienne – Words and Music by St. Etienne* Loudon Wainwright II – Older than My old man now * Tedeschi Trucks Band – Everybody’s Talkin’ * Goat – World Music Kylie Minogue would kill for I’ve Got Your Music and DJ on St. Etienne’s latest with both its infectious beats and Sarah Cracknell’s feathery vocals somehow adding a nostalgic and emotional depth. Loudon Wainwright reminisces about mortality and generations past with a twinkle in his eye as he Remembers Sex (with Dame Edna Everage) and along with youngster Ramblin’ Jack Elliot Loudon demands a second go-around on…


Patrick Kennedy Poop ’12

2012: Another Year PoOPing MUSIC 1. Japandroids – Celebration Rock 2. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory 3. Polica – Give You The Ghost 4. Bob Mould – Silver Age 5. High on Fire – De Vermis Mysterii 7. Shearwater – Animal Joy 8. Schoolboy Q – Habits and Consequences 9. Grimes – Visions 10. Tame Impala – Lonerism MOVIES 1. Looper 2. We Need to Talk About Kevin 3. Django Unchained 4. Silver Linings Playbook 5. The Raid: Redemption 6. Moonrise Kingdom 7. The Cabin In The Woods 8. The Kid With a Bike 9. Life of Pi 10….


Are the USPS’s New International Postage Rates the Final Nail in the Coffin of Physical Media?

On January 27th the USPS will be raising postal rates. The First Class Forever stamp goes up by 1 cent. Other First Class prices also go up by 1 cent. Priority Mail goes up by 6 to 10 percent. other rates go up by similar amounts. But hidden among the run-of-the-mill price hikes there is one rate chart which is threatening to kill off international mail order sales. This is a new rate called First Class Parcel International Service (.xls) For instance, a four ounce parcel to Europe (like a single CD) goes from $6.12 to $12.75, an increase of…


Dan Wilmer Poop ’12

Twelve for 2012 Dan Wilmer, Brooklyn, NY    Buy New or Used via Amazon 1. Japandroids – Celebration Rock It’s been a long time since such a pure, primal guitar rock album connected with me on this level. The song titles tell the story here: “Adrenaline Nightshift,” “Continuous Thunder,” “The Nights of Wine and Roses,” and so on. In the park, in the gym, in the subway – these 8 songs followed me everywhere in 2012. Infectious single: “The House That Heaven Built.”    Buy New or Used via Amazon 2. The Lumineers – The Lumineers The Lumineers are a twee band…


Mike Miller Poop ’12

         1. GIANT GIANT SAND – TUCSON 2. tindersticks – the something rain 3. Lambchop – Mr. M …that’s about it. plenty of great music elsewhere (Ceu, Benjamin Biolay, Jeb Loy, Laetitia Sadier, Blundetto) but as far as new music this year that holds up through an entire listening, the above 3 stand alone. Guilty pleasure…The Allah-Las! and…if you had told me that Neil Young would release new tracks that would be nearly 20 minutes long (or longer) i would have scoffed at the idea. Those 3 tracks on Psychedelic Pill are killer. Self indulgent wanking to be sure but…


Do you like sub-bass? Hip-hop? Repetition?

A couple of days ago the top NY producer posted Just Blaze posted a collaboration with Trap scene wunderkind Baauer. It is a killer. And what an intro! I don’t know if it is for sale anywhere, but you can guarantee that DJs all over the world are ripping the track right now and will be including it in their sets tonight.


Ken Beck Poop ’10

 Buy New or Used via amazon 1. JUNIP – Fields [Mute] Jose Gonzales reforms his old band of Swedes who have a thing for 70s keys and synths that John Paul Jones must have leant them.  Buy New or Used via amazon 2. THE BESNARD LAKES – The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night [Jagjaguwar] Blissed-out, droney heaven that Kevin Shields would thoroughly approve. The album Low should have made right after “The Great Destroyer”.  Buy New or Used via amazon 3. BOB DYLAN – The Witmark Demos [Columbia] Spare, nuts & bolts versions of songs we all know, but…


Mark Zip Poop ’12

  Buy New or Used via Amazon Gaslamp Killer – Breakthrough Wacky LA Low End Theory DJ makes record. Samples include the requisite “Global” influences and bottomless sub-bass. The addition of California psych and Gonjasufi’s voice are nice bonuses and so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.   Buy New or Used via Amazon Various Artists – Subway Salsa: The Montuno Records Story I remember the first time I ventured down into the Time Square subway station and visited Record Mart. I think it was the second record store I ever visited in the city. I went back…