Favorite Music

My favorite albums. Click on the title to see more details (reviews, play lists, and samples) or to buy them.

Also: click here to see music I've been playing lately (courtesy of Last.fm)

All Time Favorites	Recent Tracks Played

Tour schedule (bands I like coming to the Bay Area):

Great Albums (in descending order)

Pink Moon
Nick Drake I should have bought this a long time ago. Sad, dreamy, folky rock.

The Good Earth
The Feelies "Hallmarks of their style are a simple, poppy briskness borne along on trebly acoustic chords, with vocals so understated as to flirt with invisibility. So innocent it's almost sinister, their even, low-key approach is often compelling, always persuasive".

OK Computer
Radiohead The best thing that's come out in the last 10 years.

The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground Almost everything else I like has some connection to this band.

The Boy with the Arab Strap
Belle & Sebastian ... " 'precious' can be a damning word, and Belle & Sebastian doesn't have the negative qualities that the word connotates -- they are private but not insular, pretty but not wimpy, they make gorgeous, delicate melodies sound full-bodied... an intimate, majestic sound that is equal parts folk-rock and '60s pop. Murdoch's gift for not only whimsy and surrealism, but also odd, unsettling lyrical detail... keeps the songs grounded in a tangible reality." [source]

Murmur
REM "As huge as they are now, R.E.M. started out with a small cult that this first album inspired; Peter Buck's chinging guitar, Michael Stipe's impassioned but incomprehensible singing, and the band's unpretentious interaction with its audience were genuinely revolutionary at the time."

Pink Flag
Wire Art punk.
"Wire's debut is the smartest record of the '77 punk explosion, a formally seamless suite of 21 songs in 35 minutes, edited to the bone and graced with allusive, thoughtful lyrics, howled by Colin Newman like political slogans. The band's crisp, precise snap gets an awful lot of mileage out of their three-and-a-half chords, and their attack never lets up."

galaxie 500.jpg (15162 bytes) Today
Galaxie 500 "Today is an obvious revision of textbook East Coast guitar bands, specifically Velvet Underground, The Feelies and Television - with a touch of Big Star's Third Album."
... and that's bad because...?

Underwater Moonlight
The Soft Boys A really ugly cover on a really great album.
"Robyn Hitchcock may have to battle to get his annual melodic Rickenbacker-soaked bulletins released over here, but the Americans know a true master of the warped guitar song when they hear one..."

Selling England by the Pound
Genesis Art Rock at its best.

Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth Long-winded guitar gods.

Bee Thousand
Guided By Voices "How many influences can you find in this picture? A Beatles harmony and a Syd Barrett musing here and there are easy to spot, but how about the pack of no-name psychedelicists and prepunk garage dwellers that only Guided by voices have ever heard of? Could be thousands."

Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel Worth it for Solsbury Hill alone.

Oh, Inverted World
The Shins "Touches of Neutral Milk Hotel's lyrical majesty and the nostalgic swirl of Echo and the Bunnymen abound. But the Shins' music--rich with acoustic guitars, flickering rhythms, and Casio-tone keyboards--is distinct and peculiar."

Slanted and Enchanted
Pavement Uneven, but worth the time.

Discipline
King Crimson Killer guitar playing.

Marquee Moon
Television The other big influence on my favorite bands.

Jason Falkner presents Author Unknown
Jason Falkner

Supermodified
Amon Tobin "Amon Tobin's off-kilter rhythms and jazzy samples create a beautiful mess on Supermodified. Feeding off Latin rhythms, downtempo beats, and wildly adventurous musical jumbles, Tobin's manic bliss never allows the songs to wander, working a sense of method into a sea of crazy atmospheres. The result is focused, enticing, and fascinating."

Doolittle
The Pixies "...The fractious combination of [Black] Francis's over-the-top but strangely relevant lyrics and vocals, and the band's unsettling melodicism reached its epitome in 1989's DOOLITTLE..."

Internal Wrangler
Clinic "Every so often a band comes along that shifts the parameters of indie music: The Smiths did it, The Fall did it, The Jesus And Mary Chain did it, and now Clinic are doing it... a debut set of original, yet compelling and familiar little gems... like a comically deranged hybrid of Kraftwerk, Stereolab and The Velvet Underground."

Knock Knock
Smog "One of the more hauntingly visionary indie-rock artists, Bill Callahan, a.k.a. Smog, writes sparse, poignant songs that shimmer with solipsistic grandeur."

Siamese Dream
Smashing Pumpkins "Marked by crisp drums, distressed vocals, and a cunning knack for volume-surprises, more angular rock fare is outclassed by the haunted slowies, particularly Spaceboy and Today (with its unconvincing whine . . . is the greatest day I've ever known')."

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=213730631&s=143441&v0=575

Great Albums (in descending order)
	Pink Moon Nick Drake	I should have bought this a long time ago. Sad, dreamy, folky rock.
	The Good Earth The Feelies	"Hallmarks of their style are a simple, poppy briskness borne along on trebly acoustic chords, with vocals so understated as to flirt with invisibility. So innocent it's almost sinister, their even, low-key approach is often compelling, always persuasive".
	OK Computer Radiohead	The best thing that's come out in the last 10 years.
	The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground	Almost everything else I like has some connection to this band.
	The Boy with the Arab Strap Belle & Sebastian	... " 'precious' can be a damning word, and Belle & Sebastian doesn't have the negative qualities that the word connotates -- they are private but not insular, pretty but not wimpy, they make gorgeous, delicate melodies sound full-bodied... an intimate, majestic sound that is equal parts folk-rock and '60s pop. Murdoch's gift for not only whimsy and surrealism, but also odd, unsettling lyrical detail... keeps the songs grounded in a tangible reality." [source]
	Murmur REM	"As huge as they are now, R.E.M. started out with a small cult that this first album inspired; Peter Buck's chinging guitar, Michael Stipe's impassioned but incomprehensible singing, and the band's unpretentious interaction with its audience were genuinely revolutionary at the time."
	Pink Flag Wire	Art punk. "Wire's debut is the smartest record of the '77 punk explosion, a formally seamless suite of 21 songs in 35 minutes, edited to the bone and graced with allusive, thoughtful lyrics, howled by Colin Newman like political slogans. The band's crisp, precise snap gets an awful lot of mileage out of their three-and-a-half chords, and their attack never lets up."
	Today Galaxie 500	"Today is an obvious revision of textbook East Coast guitar bands, specifically Velvet Underground, The Feelies and Television - with a touch of Big Star's Third Album." ... and that's bad because...?
	Underwater Moonlight The Soft Boys	A really ugly cover on a really great album. "Robyn Hitchcock may have to battle to get his annual melodic Rickenbacker-soaked bulletins released over here, but the Americans know a true master of the warped guitar song when they hear one..."
	Selling England by the Pound Genesis	Art Rock at its best.
	Daydream Nation Sonic Youth	Long-winded guitar gods.
	Bee Thousand Guided By Voices	"How many influences can you find in this picture? A Beatles harmony and a Syd Barrett musing here and there are easy to spot, but how about the pack of no-name psychedelicists and prepunk garage dwellers that only Guided by voices have ever heard of? Could be thousands."
	Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel	*Worth it for Solsbury Hill* alone.**
	Oh, Inverted World The Shins	"Touches of Neutral Milk Hotel's lyrical majesty and the nostalgic swirl of Echo and the Bunnymen abound. But the Shins' music--rich with acoustic guitars, flickering rhythms, and Casio-tone keyboards--is distinct and peculiar."
	Slanted and Enchanted Pavement	Uneven, but worth the time.
	Discipline King Crimson	Killer guitar playing.
	Marquee Moon Television	*The other* big influence on my favorite bands.**
	Jason Falkner presents Author Unknown Jason Falkner
	Supermodified Amon Tobin	"Amon Tobin's off-kilter rhythms and jazzy samples create a beautiful mess on Supermodified. Feeding off Latin rhythms, downtempo beats, and wildly adventurous musical jumbles, Tobin's manic bliss never allows the songs to wander, working a sense of method into a sea of crazy atmospheres. The result is focused, enticing, and fascinating."
	Doolittle The Pixies	"...The fractious combination of [Black] Francis's over-the-top but strangely relevant lyrics and vocals, and the band's unsettling melodicism reached its epitome in 1989's DOOLITTLE..."
	Internal Wrangler Clinic	"Every so often a band comes along that shifts the parameters of indie music: The Smiths did it, The Fall did it, The Jesus And Mary Chain did it, and now Clinic are doing it... a debut set of original, yet compelling and familiar little gems... like a comically deranged hybrid of Kraftwerk, Stereolab and The Velvet Underground."
	Knock Knock Smog	"One of the more hauntingly visionary indie-rock artists, Bill Callahan, a.k.a. Smog, writes sparse, poignant songs that shimmer with solipsistic grandeur."
	Siamese Dream Smashing Pumpkins	"Marked by crisp drums, distressed vocals, and a cunning knack for volume-surprises, more angular rock fare is outclassed by the haunted slowies, particularly Spaceboy and Today (with its unconvincing whine . . . is the greatest day I've ever known')."