Rhapsody in Blog is on hiatus until I can figure out what the hell I'm going to do with it. Please refer to the excellent Rhapsody Radish or thus spake drake for all of your playlist needs.

Thanks for your visitation up to this point. I guess I'm waiting for a little inspiration.

-A.

Separate Ways

After a stunning five year break after his self titled debut album, Teddy Thompson has a new full-length called Separate Ways. The son of legendary songwriters Richard and Linda Thompson, Teddy writes and sings with sincerity and earnestness. I've given the album a couple of listens and it's great - worth the wait!

The Rhapsody review has this to say:

"Once in a blue moon an album comes along and makes you go "wow!" Such is the case with Thompson's stellar Separate Ways. Thoughtful, articulate and intuitive, Thompson's songs play like fragile, atmospheric shivers of regret, but instead of getting weighed down by mournful lyrics, you are buoyed by the airy, effortless arrangements and subtle pop sensibilities." - Linda Ryan

Listen to Teddy Thompson - Separate Ways

The Sunday News (but it's not Sunday)

No, I haven't forgotten about my beloved pet project, The Sunday News. Instead of trying to make a gazillion posts for every week that I missed, here's a mondo (110-track) playlist with all the songs from December and January (excluding the all-Christmas show). Sometimes he plays too much emo and punk for my tastes but there are some nuggets of sonic goodness in there. Worth a listen!

Listen to The Sunday News, December '05 and January '06*

*See comments for track listing.

Really quick so it doesn't hurt

We're gonna do this real fast-like, see? 'Cause I'm leaving for Disney World in two hours, see? And this blog hasn't been updated in way too long.

First, get your John Denver on. You know you want to. Just click it already. It's the only decent plane song out there. It makes you cry.

Someone helpfully suggested that I must be listening to something, right? Here's what it is.

First, one of my top ten of '05 (although according to the ads at Coolfer it doesn't come out til February??), Elbow's Leaders of the Free World. "Station Approach" will change your life. ("you little sod, I love your eyes.")

Next, how's about The Go! Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike. Fun, boppy road trip music. Go play.

When you come down off the sugar high from having your third Dr. Pepper of the day from the vending machine at the office, chill with St. Etienne's new release Tales From Turnpike House. I haven't spent a large amount of time with this but it sounds good so far.

Yeah, I couldn't resist climbing onto the We Are Scientists bandwagon for this new one With Love and Squalor. It's got indie rock cred, supposedly. Probably a flash in the pan but the kids dig it.

That should tide ya'll over for a little while. Be nice to each other.

Oh, and one more thing:

Let's dump the ashtray, wipe the table clean

Listen to Josh Rouse - Streetlights

Rock and roll
You are envy, I am
So uncool
Still I want to do the best I can
Let’s meet on the corner and act like we’re old friends

We can talk about the streetlights
The people
Surrounding you
In a haze

Won’t you tell me how it feels
To be a nervous man
At the wheels
You don’t have a master plan
But you will start today
You will start today

I called you up
Cause I felt so guilty
Ended up
It was not such a pretty scene
Let’s dump the ashtray, wipe the table clean

We can talk about the streetlights
The people
Surrounding you
In a haze

Won’t you tell me how it feels
To be an famous man
At the wheel
You don’t have a master plan
But you will start today
You will start today
You will start

When all of your fear is gone
And you’re thinking that you’re strong
Enough
To make the jump up to the big big sky, sky

We can talk about the streetlights
The people
Surrounding you
It’s a strong pull
We can talk about the streetlights
The people
Going down

And you will start today
You will start today
You will start today
You will start
Today
-----
Where am I going with this? Nowhere at the moment, apparently. I gots no fire. It just makes me feel like a shmuck for not updating. We'll see what happens.

Random Thoughts

This time of year is so very strange. Everyone is trying to hurry up so they can relax. I say just relax. There's plenty of time for hurrying later. Or better yet, just forget the hurrying altogether.

Over the past several months I've been really getting into Wilco in a big way. I have to put my headphones on and queue up some tracks from Summerteeth or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and it takes time to truly understand everything that's going on in these songs. But it's so, so worth it. Every time I listen I discover something new. There is something so amazing about this band that I just never bothered trying to find. Wilco moves me. How awesome is it to drive down the road and yell the words to "Can't Stand It"?

Currently the song I'm obsessing over is Barbeque by Animal Liberation Orchestra. Normally I'm not the 'jam-band' type but this song is just about perfect.

welcome to your barbeque
where we roast all the dreams
that never came true
pig out and dream anew

Rhapsody Update

There is an optional update to Rhapsody that you can download by clicking Help > Check for Updates... in the Rhapsody application. There is a new splash screen and "quick start" screen when you start the program (which can thankfully be turned off). The best part? The same quick-Rhaplink functionality from the web version is here in the software! Thank you Real.

Oh, and there's also this. Very cool.

All this found via a Technorati search and eventually the blog at Plutinosoft.

And, OK, one more thing. The Rhapsody Web Services team blog. Bookmark that for sure.

Like a Cracker Jack box

While sifting through my inbox, I found a lovely little playlist I compiled of music from 2004 and 2005. This year I was really impressed with Hard-Fi, The Magic Numbers and Elbow (who actually made my top ten for the year, but that's another post entirely). My original name for this playlist was "TGIF," but it'll work on a Thursday as well.

Listen to the semi-new music playlist. (This link goes to the Rhapsody application)

# "Tied Up Too Tight (Album Version)" - Hard-fi
# "Welcome Home" - Idlewild
# "There's A Fire" - Longwave
# "Love Me Like You" - The Magic Numbers
# "Big Sur" - The Thrills
# "Shot Down" - Nine Black Alps
# "All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey" - The Dandy Warhols
# "All Night Disco Party" - Brakes
# "Paralyzed" - Bob Mould
# "Rock & Roll Queen (album version)" - The Subways
# "Teenage Kicks" - The Undertones
# "Forget Myself" - Elbow
# "The Purple Bottle" - Animal Collective