Have we lopped of our ears?

This is what you must be thinking. We haven’t written about our choice of tunes in absolutely ages but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been listening.

Stephen’s been listening to an unsettling amount of Mountain Goats, much to my dismay, but he has also discovered The Weepies. The Weepies remind me very much of Tim Oxley and Jodi Phillis. Lots of beautiful harmonies and sweet voices.

Stephen has also been a big fan of The Blow and we were lucky enough to see the wonderful Kaitlin perform and she was possibly the most energetic and inspiring performance I’ve seen in years. You can’t see The Blow live here in Australia again for a while but we do use and recommend Paper Television, their new album. It’s jam packed full of great tunes but don’t go past Parentheses. What makes you cry in the deli aisle?

My most recent discoveries have been Josh Ritter’s album Animal Years. He’s a strange blend between Springsteen and Josh Rouse; and that’s pretty alright by me. Track 2, Wolves, has to be one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard in a long time. Just like the chorus ‘I was singin’ without knowing the words’ well before the first time I’d heard the whole song. Track 3, Monster Ballads, is pure channeling of Springsteen and creates a beautiful sparse expansive sound. Apparently the rest of the world already knew about Josh Ritter’s as it appears from his website that he’s even done Letterman, but if you haven’t come across him yet I really urge you to check out this great album.

In other exciting news, don’t forget to buy your tickets to Yo La Tengo, who will be gracing our fair city for the first time in March. We seen them twice. The first time we drove 800km to Melbourne to see them at The Corner. The set was epic and provided fantastic opportunities to totally chill out and rest our weary eyes. The second time was even further from home, in New York City’s Battery Park, on a beautiful sunshiney day and their set couldn’t have been more perfect. If you don’t know much YLT the they have mp3’s to download on their webpage or you could check out their fantastic new album ‘I’m not affraid of you and I will beat your ass’.