I have mixes that need to go in the mail to Jon. I've been frantically busy these past couple weeks, but I'll do my best to get them out soon. I'd prefer to listen to them before sending them on--that way I get to write notes in the liner notes!--but at this point, it seems best just to copy them and send them on, and listen later when I have time to appreciate them. Sorry for the holdup.

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all! Laissez les bon temps roulez!

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presents the Broadway Bears 8 Auction. Why am I putting it here? Because of all the Hedwig fans who frequent the joint. (NB: unless you're independently wealthy or completely insane prepare for a letdown if you're thinking of making a pre-auction bid.)

Not all tribute bands are created equal. Not for the faint of heart: Nudist Priest. From the article: "Original Priest vocalist Rob Halford asked Spin magazine in June, 'What was the singer like and how big was his unit?'"

I'm not sure if it was my post in general or the Nudist Priest pic that killed the thread, but I'll try to atone by reviving it: the Village Voice's 31st (or 32nd) Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll is out.

Plenty of fodder for discussion there. The online version is fun because you can click on an album and see which critics voted for it, and you can click on each critic to see his/her whole list.

From the Personals (of Pazz & Jop, not the Voice dating section): "46-year-old recovering daily pop critic living free in Park Slope, the Land of Soy Milk and Honey, where I've somehow missed most of the year's blog-approved musical phenomena. At least now I know what to tell people to get me for my birthday. Still, if I'm honest about what I spent the most time listening to, it's there in boldface: Jazz Geek, with a side of Country Ham." -- Steve Dollar. Save age, profession & style of writing, I appear to be the same person. Bummer.

Save age, profession & style of writing, I appear to be the same person. Bummer.

Jazz Geek, with a side of Country Ham should probably be a tagline sometime this year.

Out of their top 40 albums, I own one. I hardly bought any music this year.

Huh. Smile came in at #2. Cool. And Loretta Lynn at #3.

Out of their top 40 albums, I own one. I hardly bought any music this year.

Which one? The Elliott Smith? I think you might like the Joanna Newsom.

Jen, they've got Nick Cave at #25. Mojo also rated it an instant classic. What did you hate about it?

Angus will like this lineup, I think. The Streets, Dizzee Rascal and Scissor Sisters are all in the top 40.

Bjork, Medulla. I did go through several more pages (up into the 400s or 500s) and came up with a total of 7. What's Joanna Newsom like?

There are a bunch on there that I wanted to buy, though. My coworker is going to lend me the Fiery Furnaces CD.

What's Joanna Newsom like?

She's associated with the new drifty dreamy hippy psych folk thang that's been happening out here in SF, along with Devandra Banhart and Vetiver. Jon B. is also a fan. She's got a very distinctive, rather girlish voice, which I think might be an acquired taste.

The songs are excellent though. Here's the Village Voice Review:

The Incredible String Band's cryptic whimsy and Vashti Bunyan's beautiful balladry have quietly resurfaced in a bushel of great new bands, and especially so, it seems, in the songs of such fairly uncategorizable young female Californians as Gwendolyn, Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy, and Joanna Newsom. The latter in particular has latched onto that old-world religion. Her main ax, a Lyon & Healy semi-grand harp, accompanies a high, lonesome voice halfway between indie quirk-pop and Appalachian mountain music.

Old-timey embroidery surrounds the fetching lass's photo on the cover of The Milk-Eyed Mender, an image as lyrically labored as songs such as "Clam, Crab Cockle, Cowrie" and "Peach, Plum, Pear." Lines like "Do you want to sit at my table/My fighting fame is fabled/And fortune finds me fit and able" seem to lie somewhere between Bob Dylan and the "light verse" of Jeanne Steig's Alpha Beta Chowder.

Like the equally bedazzling Nellie McKay, Newsom—who also plays in San Francisco's the Pleased and contributed outside harp to Deerhoof/Hella side project Nervous Cop—has a mind like a whip and sometimes uses her deft "inflammatory writ" as a distancing maneuver. But don't go away. She's really just a brainy nature girl at heart.

Mmm, intriguing, although "hippy psych folk" is not so much my thing lately. My main musical discoveries of 2004 were Rufus Wainwright and the Magnetic Fields. Not sure what to name that category: "effete gay pop", perhaps?

Of the top 100, I currently own 12, have downloaded tracks from seven, bought and re-sold two, and have never even heard of 18.

Also -- Whatever it's worth, I can't stand Joanna Newsom's voice. I wish I could get past it, but I can't