Take A Load Off, Annie

Hello everyone. I know I've been terribly delinquent in sharing with you my musings on music, so while I hammer away at some pressing writing projects that have distracted me from my hordes of comment-leaving fans (yes I have heard of Cloud Cult, they're pretty good), please tide yourselves over by checking out my profile of The Autons at Amplifier Magazine.

From the "Yeah John that was like a million years ago where you been?" file, I was visited upon by a nasty bugger of a stomach virus on July 3rd-4th, and while confined to bed I finally got a chance to see the movie about manic-depressive songwriting genius Daniel Johnston, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston". If you like Daniel Johnston, you've probably already seen it. So, if you don't know Daniel Johnston's music, and you want to know about one of the major influences on alt-folk and alt in general, check out this movie. It's very well done.

Another one of my favorite music-related films, "The Last Waltz" was also running on July 4th. If you've never seen this Scorsese-directed documentary of the last concert by The Band, check it out. It's no "The Song Remains the Same" ("Doesn't anybody remember laughter?!"), but it's great.

Maybe this blog needs a "Ten Great Concert Films" article. Maybe this writer needs more time in the day.

So here's my music recommendations for the week. Most of these are not new, but they are what I've been listening to lately.

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Swell Maps - Jane From Occupied Europe

Daniel Johnston - Fun

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Everybody's listening to this now, why shouldn't you?

Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could've Been (Live)

See? No swear words or abusive demands...