Newsletter 12-22-08
NOTES
----------
Beginning December 25th on Lazlo’s Den, Lazlo will be counting down his top 50 albums of 2008.
12/25: albums 50-41
12/26: albums 40-31
12/29: albums 30-21
12/30: albums 20-11
12/31: albums 10-1
------------------------------
The first BlowUpRadio.com & Lazlo’s Den Free Concert of 2009 will take place on Saturday January 31st at Buddie’s Tavern (277 Johnsons Ln, Parlin (Sayreville), NJ), and feature sets from The Tea & Whiskey, Finding Fiction, and Joshua Van Ness.
------------------------------
Hey Everyone,
As has become an annual tradition, I have compiled my top albums of the year. New for 2008 is that it is no longer a top 25 album list, but now a top 50 album list.
I listen to thousands of albums every year for my internet radio station/shows, and this year in particular there were so many good albums that if I had just done a top 25 list I would have had to overlook many amazing albums. Even at 50, I know there are quite a few great albums that just didn't quite make the list"
My Top 50 albums of 2008 list is currently available in alphabetical order on both www.BlowUpRadio.com and www.LazlosDen.com, as well as below in this newsletter.
Beginning on Thursday December 25th, I will begin counting down my top 50 albums each night at 8pm ET on Lazlo's Den (which airs on BlowUpRadio.com & ThePenguinRocks.com).
12/25: albums 50-41
12/26: albums 40-31
12/29: albums 30-21
12/30: albums 20-11
12/31: albums 10-1
The entire list of the top 50 albums in numerical order will be posted on www.BlowUpRadio.com and www.LazlosDen.com after Lazlo's Den airs on 12/31.
As always, I would like to remind everyone of the following:
It is hard doing this list, for several reasons:
1. I have changed this list several times in the past week, and looking at it now, there are still changes I could make. My favorite anything tends to change regularly depending on what I'm in the mood for, so ultimately, the list below is a snapshot of what I liked from 2008 at the particular moment that I finalized the list.
2. It's totally subjective. The list below is strictly my opinion, and does my opinion mean more than anyone else's? To some, maybe, to me, I'm just another music fan making a list. I think it would be very cool to have people e-mail me with their own top 50 list of albums for 2008, so I hope some of you do that.
3. My list is only comprised of albums I've actually listened to from beginning to end. Many albums come out each year, and I get to listen to a few thousand albums in a year, so there are likely many good albums I haven't had the chance to listen to.
So take the list below for what it is, my opinion of my favorite albums of the year, at a moment in time, that I've had the opportunity to listen to.
Here is the alphabetical list
Anthony Fiumano - when strangers say hello
Beloved Binge - blender theory
BoDeans - still
The Break and Repair Method - milk the bee.
Brett Harris - yesterday's news
Brian Vander Ark - Brian Vander Ark
Counting Crows - Saturday nights and Sunday mornings
Darren Deicide - the Jersey devil is here
Deena - somewhere in blue
double-breasted - who will love you?
Dragonette - Dragonette
Echofission - the straights
Fairmont - transcendence
Finding Fiction - plastic & change
Golden Animals - free your mind and win a pony
Gregg Yeti & The Best Lights - heart palpitations of the rich & famous
The Heshers - ep2008
The Hush Now - The Hush Now
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at devil dirt
Jim Boggia - misadventures in stereo
Joshua Van Ness - DNA
KaiserCartel - march forth
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - rattlin' bones
Katy Mae - you may already be a winner
Lifeguard Nights - punch sky
Logs In The Mainstream - the ridiculous and the sublime
Mazeffect - horseshoes & hand grenades
Melissa Ferrick - goodbye youth
Mike Pek - 78
Nerve Tonic - Nerve Tonic face the galactic undead
Patti Rothberg - double standards
Paul Sanchez - exit to mystery street
The Polyjesters - kitchen radio
Portishead - third
Readymade Breakup - alive on the vine
R.E.M. - accelerate
Second Dan - bringing down Goliath
The Silent Years - the globe
Sky Cries Mary - small town
Spiraling - time travel made easy
Switches - lay down the law
T Bone Burnett - tooth of crime
Tally Hall - marvin's marvelous mechanical museum
Val Emmich - little daggers
Valient Thorr - immortalizer
various artists - blue skies daisy days (Planting Seeds Records / Keep A Breast Foundation CD)
The Verve - forth
Winter Sounds - pinebox ep
Zigman Bird - balls marie
~~~
Now it’s time for this week’s Pissed Off!
Am I the only one that gets tired of hearing holiday music over and over and over agin each year?
And let’s be honest about two things here, I say holiday music, but really it’s Christmas music. Other than Adam Sandler’s song, do you ever hear any other Hanukkah songs on the radio, or in a store?
Didn’t think so.
And secondly, there’s a reason (besides the fact that it’s nowhere near the holiday season), that you don’t hear Christmas music the rest of the year…most of it is awful and you wouldn’t want to hear it any other time of the year (and I don’t even want to hear it this time of year).
The only holiday song I ever play (on Lazlo’s Den) is The Pork Guys “fuck Christmas, fuck you” (from the cult-Christmas “classic” movie, “Alien Sex Party”. It’s 41 seconds long and has four words repeated over a punk riff. That’s all the Christmas music I ever need. Short and to the point.
And for those of you who say I am shitting on Christams, I am, but I have my reasons.
Christmas took a shit on Winter Solstice a long time ago when the church invented Christmas to fight the “pagan” holiday. Any religious historian will tell you that Christ was not born in December (more likely he was born in March or April).
But more importantly, Christmas and Hanukkah have all been crassly commercialized into being about giving gifts which totally goes against the meaning of the holidays anyway.
Santa Claus is allegedly based on Saint Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop famous for his generous gifts to the poor.
And the 8 nights of gifts in Hanukkah, well the 8 nights come from the re-dedication of a temple in Jerusalem that had been desecrated by Antiochus. They allegedly only had one night’s worth of oil to keep the flame in the temple going, but the “miracle” is that the oil lasted for 8 nights. The gift giving part only came along in response to Christmas.
So neither holiday has anything to do with spending boatloads of money to show friends and family that you care about them. That’s some bullshit invented by corporations trying to sell people shit they don’t need. But it’s become such the norm that we all conform to it, even if you aren’t religious (like myself).
This is why my friend and I many years ago created our own holiday, ACHOO, or Another Commercialized Holiday Of Overspending. I mean if we’re going to bastardize the true meaning of these holidays anyway, let’s just call it what it is.
So Merry ACHOO everyone!
~~~
That's all for this week folks.
Peace,
Lazlo
www.BlowUpRadio.com
NOTES
----------
Beginning December 25th on Lazlo’s Den, Lazlo will be counting down his top 50 albums of 2008.
12/25: albums 50-41
12/26: albums 40-31
12/29: albums 30-21
12/30: albums 20-11
12/31: albums 10-1
------------------------------
The first BlowUpRadio.com & Lazlo’s Den Free Concert of 2009 will take place on Saturday January 31st at Buddie’s Tavern (277 Johnsons Ln, Parlin (Sayreville), NJ), and feature sets from The Tea & Whiskey, Finding Fiction, and Joshua Van Ness.
------------------------------
Hey Everyone,
As has become an annual tradition, I have compiled my top albums of the year. New for 2008 is that it is no longer a top 25 album list, but now a top 50 album list.
I listen to thousands of albums every year for my internet radio station/shows, and this year in particular there were so many good albums that if I had just done a top 25 list I would have had to overlook many amazing albums. Even at 50, I know there are quite a few great albums that just didn't quite make the list"
My Top 50 albums of 2008 list is currently available in alphabetical order on both www.BlowUpRadio.com and www.LazlosDen.com, as well as below in this newsletter.
Beginning on Thursday December 25th, I will begin counting down my top 50 albums each night at 8pm ET on Lazlo's Den (which airs on BlowUpRadio.com & ThePenguinRocks.com).
12/25: albums 50-41
12/26: albums 40-31
12/29: albums 30-21
12/30: albums 20-11
12/31: albums 10-1
The entire list of the top 50 albums in numerical order will be posted on www.BlowUpRadio.com and www.LazlosDen.com after Lazlo's Den airs on 12/31.
As always, I would like to remind everyone of the following:
It is hard doing this list, for several reasons:
1. I have changed this list several times in the past week, and looking at it now, there are still changes I could make. My favorite anything tends to change regularly depending on what I'm in the mood for, so ultimately, the list below is a snapshot of what I liked from 2008 at the particular moment that I finalized the list.
2. It's totally subjective. The list below is strictly my opinion, and does my opinion mean more than anyone else's? To some, maybe, to me, I'm just another music fan making a list. I think it would be very cool to have people e-mail me with their own top 50 list of albums for 2008, so I hope some of you do that.
3. My list is only comprised of albums I've actually listened to from beginning to end. Many albums come out each year, and I get to listen to a few thousand albums in a year, so there are likely many good albums I haven't had the chance to listen to.
So take the list below for what it is, my opinion of my favorite albums of the year, at a moment in time, that I've had the opportunity to listen to.
Here is the alphabetical list
Anthony Fiumano - when strangers say hello
Beloved Binge - blender theory
BoDeans - still
The Break and Repair Method - milk the bee.
Brett Harris - yesterday's news
Brian Vander Ark - Brian Vander Ark
Counting Crows - Saturday nights and Sunday mornings
Darren Deicide - the Jersey devil is here
Deena - somewhere in blue
double-breasted - who will love you?
Dragonette - Dragonette
Echofission - the straights
Fairmont - transcendence
Finding Fiction - plastic & change
Golden Animals - free your mind and win a pony
Gregg Yeti & The Best Lights - heart palpitations of the rich & famous
The Heshers - ep2008
The Hush Now - The Hush Now
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at devil dirt
Jim Boggia - misadventures in stereo
Joshua Van Ness - DNA
KaiserCartel - march forth
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - rattlin' bones
Katy Mae - you may already be a winner
Lifeguard Nights - punch sky
Logs In The Mainstream - the ridiculous and the sublime
Mazeffect - horseshoes & hand grenades
Melissa Ferrick - goodbye youth
Mike Pek - 78
Nerve Tonic - Nerve Tonic face the galactic undead
Patti Rothberg - double standards
Paul Sanchez - exit to mystery street
The Polyjesters - kitchen radio
Portishead - third
Readymade Breakup - alive on the vine
R.E.M. - accelerate
Second Dan - bringing down Goliath
The Silent Years - the globe
Sky Cries Mary - small town
Spiraling - time travel made easy
Switches - lay down the law
T Bone Burnett - tooth of crime
Tally Hall - marvin's marvelous mechanical museum
Val Emmich - little daggers
Valient Thorr - immortalizer
various artists - blue skies daisy days (Planting Seeds Records / Keep A Breast Foundation CD)
The Verve - forth
Winter Sounds - pinebox ep
Zigman Bird - balls marie
~~~
Now it’s time for this week’s Pissed Off!
Am I the only one that gets tired of hearing holiday music over and over and over agin each year?
And let’s be honest about two things here, I say holiday music, but really it’s Christmas music. Other than Adam Sandler’s song, do you ever hear any other Hanukkah songs on the radio, or in a store?
Didn’t think so.
And secondly, there’s a reason (besides the fact that it’s nowhere near the holiday season), that you don’t hear Christmas music the rest of the year…most of it is awful and you wouldn’t want to hear it any other time of the year (and I don’t even want to hear it this time of year).
The only holiday song I ever play (on Lazlo’s Den) is The Pork Guys “fuck Christmas, fuck you” (from the cult-Christmas “classic” movie, “Alien Sex Party”. It’s 41 seconds long and has four words repeated over a punk riff. That’s all the Christmas music I ever need. Short and to the point.
And for those of you who say I am shitting on Christams, I am, but I have my reasons.
Christmas took a shit on Winter Solstice a long time ago when the church invented Christmas to fight the “pagan” holiday. Any religious historian will tell you that Christ was not born in December (more likely he was born in March or April).
But more importantly, Christmas and Hanukkah have all been crassly commercialized into being about giving gifts which totally goes against the meaning of the holidays anyway.
Santa Claus is allegedly based on Saint Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop famous for his generous gifts to the poor.
And the 8 nights of gifts in Hanukkah, well the 8 nights come from the re-dedication of a temple in Jerusalem that had been desecrated by Antiochus. They allegedly only had one night’s worth of oil to keep the flame in the temple going, but the “miracle” is that the oil lasted for 8 nights. The gift giving part only came along in response to Christmas.
So neither holiday has anything to do with spending boatloads of money to show friends and family that you care about them. That’s some bullshit invented by corporations trying to sell people shit they don’t need. But it’s become such the norm that we all conform to it, even if you aren’t religious (like myself).
This is why my friend and I many years ago created our own holiday, ACHOO, or Another Commercialized Holiday Of Overspending. I mean if we’re going to bastardize the true meaning of these holidays anyway, let’s just call it what it is.
So Merry ACHOO everyone!
~~~
That's all for this week folks.
Peace,
Lazlo
www.BlowUpRadio.com