I'm just sending this to you because for some reason it makes me feel less
self-conscious, since I'm just sort of going off. I just wanted to look
back on what I've gotten this summer while still telling someone who will
talk back a little.

Plus I've got to continue indoctrinating you. ;)

American Analog Set - The Golden Band
	Very, very nice. I've seen it called "ambient pop," which is fitting.
	Somewhat like Low except that they're vaguely, just a touch, psychadelic,
	and that they actually have more conventional tempi. I haven't checked,
	but I think this is about a 45's worth long. That's interesting because
	if I'm doing anything at all, the middle section just FLIES by and all
	of the sudden I notice I'm listening to the end.
	
Apples in Stereo, The - Her Wallpaper Reverie
	One of the bands in the Elephant 6 collective, which also contains
	Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel. I wanted to explore
	the E6 bands more, especially because so far I've liked the way
	they've filtered Beatlesque and Beach Boy esque pop. This is WAY
	more conventional than the albums by OTC and NMH I have; I had heard
	that it integrated its experimental tendencies better than those bands',
	but I think it's just that they don't fill so much space with sound
	upon sound, so the music's less imposing, sonically, in that way.
	I've only listened once though, since I just got this tonight.
	I think you'd like it, especially, you Beatles fan you.

Aube - Cardiac Strain
	I got this on a CDR from a guy for trading him a couple of my CDs for
	a while - but I got to keep the CDR. Japanese noise-industrial where
	all of the sounds are derived from recordings of a heart monitoring
	machine. I bet you would hate it. I think it's pretty cool, though
	the few times I've listened to it, some of the sounds did wear on
	me a little. They're just so _harsh_. But it's a good kind of pain, you
	know?

Beastie Boys - PaulŐs Boutique
	My very first rap album. I probably should have gone with something
	"more real" (read: more black, unfortunately), but this is interesting.
	Because it's the Beastie Boys it sort of fails to meet a lot of the
	expectations I had of my first rap album, but it has its own charms.
	"High Plains Drifter" loops the beginning guitar riff from an Eagles
	song, through the entire track, and that messes me up every time.
	This is growing on me, at a leisurely pace.

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
	Maybe this would please you more than _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_.
	Lots of people thought it was the best ambient-electronic-IDM release
	last year. It's very catchy, but still low-key - and it's got the
	beats you were originally missing in _SAWII_, plus nice melodies to
	boot. People seem to be unable to review this without mentioning
	"druggy." Ah, well. One of the many ways the future of electronic music
	is one of the most exciting things happening these days.

Bonnie ÔPrinceŐ Billy - I See a Darkness
	Gothicindiefolkrock. Harrowing and fragile songs about fucked up people.
	Sparse. Genuinely emotional.

Cardigans, The - First Band on the Moon
	I think I finally found something that might really offend Joel, who we've
	all long thought couldn't be offended by anything: the Cardigans' cover
	of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." I got him to really protest and make faces,
	but he says I would have to play it all the time so he couldn't avoid it,
	to really get him to be offended. Otherwise, I haven't listened to this
	yet. I think their last album is pleasurable, and insofar as they call
	themselves a "pop band," I sure wish American pop (they're Swedish) sounded
	more like this, even that goddamned "Lovefool," than like the way it does.
	But I still plan on first listening to this so no one can hear or see
	me, in case I can't resist "Lovefool" enough. I hate it when a song is
	sugary but catchy enough that you can't help it. Especially when millions
	of junior high weiners who don't know shit from shinola elect it as
	their national dance sensation. Ah, well.

Davis, Miles - Bitches Brew (Remaster)
	Fuck. N. A.

Davis, Miles - Miles Smiles
	You really owe it to yourself to get this. It's so good - everyone in
	the goddamn ensemble is a fucking asskicker. Plus with this being the
	genesis of Wynton's "Young Lions" movement music in the 80s, it would
	probably make a lot of sense to you. I plan to go back and listen to
	Wynton's _Live at Blues Alley_ again soon, because in loose spirit it
	really does seem similar to Miles' second quintet music, but MAN -
	this really has something better to it that makes Wynton seem staid.

Davis, Miles - Nefertiti
	More second quintet. Hasn't hit me as hard as _Miles Smiles_ but I
	haven't had it as long, plus it seems a little more abstract in
	places. In a couple songs the horns play pretty fixed lines, while
	the rhythm section does all the soloing. More normally cool in other
	respects; see above.

Dylan, Bob - Highway 61 Revisited
	A couple of albums before _Blonde on Blonde_. Has "Like a Rolling Stone"
	on it, but "Ballad of a Thin Man" really sticks out for me. There are
	parts on _BoB_ I think are pretty cool, but through all of "Ballad"
	I was just like "man, that's cool! man!" I wish he would have tilted
	more often toward the really surreal imagery like that; maybe he does
	in the other songs but it's not so forceful. It would help if I
	had more context, too - more obviously groundbreaking at the time, etc.

Flaming Lips, The - The Soft Bulletin
	One of the few things from this summer that hasn't really hit me yet.
	This is a big change for them - heavy orchestral arrangements, plus
	there's something different, not quite sure what, about the lyrics.
	It's really loopy, though, and since I've liked some past Lips albums
	so much I will spend some more time with this. Lots of people on the
	internet seem to think it's fucking wonderful.

Gastr del Sol - Camofleur
	I haven't listened much yet, but it seems very nice. Post-rock in the
	vein of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake, but with longer songs and more
	complicated arrangements.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#°
	An indicator of other exciting directions music is taking, unfortunately
	pretty underground ones. Three long suites, more than an hour total.
	Cinematic, eerie, ambient, haunting, etc. Thunderous at times, though
	the next EP is moreso. Starts with a gravelly voiced Native American
	narrating, sample: "We are all in the belly of this terrible machine,
	and the machine is bleeding to death." Yes, it sounds like something
	you'd say was overblown and pretentious, but it works when you hear it.
	Otherwise no vocals, except field recordings of people talking and
	such about the end of the world, breakdown of the government, etc.
	Lots of strings.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Slow Riot for New Zer0 Kanada EP
	Two roughly 15-minute tracks, so almost an album in its own right.
	Both tracks basically start out sort of searchingly, but build to
	enormous heights. The second is built around a long rant from a
	guy who went to pay a speeding ticket, and who got pissed at the
	judge. He reads his poem about the government conspiracy near the
	end, and while the poem sucks, and his reading sucks, it's really
	something to hear. In some places in the country, thinking like that
	isn't just something made up to be put on trendy avant-garde albums.

Labradford - E luxo so
Mingus, Charles - Blues & Roots
	Like it says. Blues, and roots. Swinging. Boisterous. There is much
	hollering, by all the band members. Saxes and two trombones. No
	trumpets, either. :)

Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
Nine Inch Nails - The Day the World Went Away EP
Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
Pan Sonic - A
Photek - Modus Operandi
Plastikman - artifakts [bc]
RachelŐs - Music for Egon Schiele
RachelŐs - The Sea and the Bells
Stereolab - Aluminum Tunes: Switched On Vol. 3
Wilco - Summer Teeth
Yo La Tengo - Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo - Painful
Zoviet France - Digilogue