There is a plethora of new music being released now, just in time for KNAK 32 (May 2009). Notably, the highly anticipated debut LPs from Passion Pit and Miike Snow are available, and I’m loving them both.
Also, I highly recommend you find a way to check out Dark Night of the Soul, a collaborative project between Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and David Lynch. Due to a legal dispute with EMI, it doesn’t look like the music is going to be officially released. But you can find the music streaming on NPR, and you can find digital copies floating out in the cloud, which the artists encourage you to find. In fact, they’re selling a special art booklet as part of a package, complete with CD-R for you to burn the songs yourself.
You can listen most of the playlist for free on Lala, and I’ve included the Lala playlist below (after the jump) as well as the iTunes iMix. If you check out Lala, connect with me.
Time to release the 31st edition (April 2009) of KNAK, the latest playlist of tracks I’ve added to my listening rotation. I’m always looking for tips and recommendations on new bands or albums, so please send them my way. And if you find you’re still just listening to the same stuff you bought in high school and college, open your ears and check out the great new music that’s coming out now. I’ve done some of the virtual legwork for you, so check it out. And if you want, you can check out some of my other playlists as well.
There’s a lot of great new music out there right now. Increasingly, artists are releasing more of their music outside of full albums/EPs and that’s perfectly fine with me. It means I don’t have to wait years between releases for some of my favorite groups. Whereas EPs were often considered filler in long time gaps between major LPs, we’re seeing more of these shorter releases with quality tracks, and even standalone singles.
Here is my latest set of (mostly) new tracks I’ve added to my rotation, and I hope you find something new for you to enjoy. Note that track 5 can’t be found on iTunes or Lala, but you can get it directly from RCRD LBL.
It’s been a little while, and I figured it was about time I put out another playlist. There are a few releases from toward the end of the year, but there’s already some great new stuff out in 2009. And you can probably tell from my inclusion of two songs from the soundtrack, I ♥ Slumdog Millionaire.
After going to CES every year for the past 5 years or so, I decided to take a break and head into San Francisco to check out Macworld. Considering this is the last year that Apple will be participating, it might be the last time worth checking out (even though the organizers are pushing forward with plans for 2010). And even though the show was a fraction of the size of CES, it actually was pretty fun to walk the floor. There was a lot higher percentage of things that I was interested in seeing versus the large swath of booths in Vegas and the countless flat panel TV screens.
One of the things that is different about Macworld is that it’s open to the public. And that means companies are more than willing to sell things straight from their booths. I managed to pick up a Drobo disk array and a new Gelaskin for my MacBook. Woo hoo. One of the funnier things I saw was a complete replica of the Delorean from Back to the Future at a booth selling backup/restore software, and Steve Wozniak was on the floor hocking a tablet computer.
Since I just got my new camera this week, I brought it to the expo. This video is a very short (90 second) compilation of a few video clips and pictures I took on the floor.
It’s been quite the year! We had one of the most energizing political campaigns ever culminating in the election of Barack Obama, whose inauguration is just around the corner. The economy has had a breathtaking collapse of historic proportions…. let’s hope for a better 2009. And while pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to new seasons for my favorite sports teams. You can’t get much worse than the Mariners (last place), Husky Football (worst in the NCAA), Sonics (awful & left to OK City), and the Seahawks (disappointing). But personally, it’s been a pretty big year for me…. specifically my decision to take a professional “extended sabbatical”, which has been fantastic so far!
Since I’ve had a little more free time, I’ve been able to put out KNAK playlists more regularly… we’ll see if I can keep it up. Most of the best-of lists out there are for full albums, not individual tracks. And while I respect all of the work that goes into them, it’s rare these days that I listen to full albums anymore. There are exceptions of course, like Girl Talk’s remix extraordinaire Feed the Animals. If you haven’t gotten it yet, you should. There was a lot to choose from for my end-of-year round up of my favorite tracks. Way too many. But I’ve cut it back, and cut it back some more, and here are the 25 that will go in my personal playlist to remind me of 2008. Everybody has their own favorites, and you’ll probably be surprised at some of my choices, and even more at some of my omissions. Think that I’m smoking crack? or that I’m missing your favorite? Let me know! Keep reading →
dnak
