Donut Age: America's Donut Magazine

Acquisitons—December

Since I have fallen so very far behind with this, I'm just going to list the last couple months of iTunes library additions with a minimum of commentary. Here's the rundown for December.

  • The Hold Steady, Almost Killed Me (2004). I picked this up at their show in Louisville, about which I've already written.
  • Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand (2004) . This and the next three CDs I found used at a little record store on Bardstown Road in Louisville during a failed attempt to find Ear X-tacy before the Hold Steady show.
  • The Donnas, Spend the Night (2002).
  • Bikini Kill, Pussy Whipped (1993).
  • Various Artists, Grosse Pointe Blank Soundtrack (1997). Includes a nifty selection of mostly-80s indie-ish music (although, alas, Nena's "99 Luftballons" did not make the cut):
    • Violent Femmes, "Blister In the Sun " (1983)
    • The Clash, "Rudie Can't Fail" (1979)
    • The English Beat, "Mirror In the Bathroom" (1983)
    • Queen & David Bowie, "Under Pressure" (1981)
    • Johnny Nash , "I Can See Clearly" (1972)
    • Guns N' Roses, "Live & Let Die" (1991)
    • Faith No More, "We Care a Lot" (1985)
    • The Specials, "Pressure Drop" (1996)
    • The Jam, "Absolute Beginners" (1983)
    • The Clash, "Armagideon Time" (1980)
    • Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, "El Matador" (1997)
    • Pete Townshend, "Let My Love Open the Door" (1980)
    • Violent Femmes, "Blister 2000" (1997).
  • Gogol Bordello, Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike (2005); . To use up my downloads for the month, I turned to Robert Christgau, specifically his Pazz and Jop Dean's Lists for the past few years, and then checked to see what I could get on eMusic. This was #4 on his 2005 list and became my obsession for the next couple months. Top song: "Think Locally Fuck Globally."
  • The Mountain Goats, We Shall All Be Healed (2004). #10 on Christgau's 2004 Dean's List. When I haven't been obsessing over Gogol Bordello the past few months, I've been obsessing about The Mountain Goats. Top song: "Linda Blair was Born Innocent."
  • The Hives Veni, Vidi, Vicious (2002). #8 on Christgau's 2002 Dean's List.
  • Thunderbirds Are Now! "Open Us Up" (from Make History , 2006). Christgau rated this album an A- in the first installment of his Consumer Guide at its new home on MSN and eMusic had this as a free track, so I downloaded it.
  • John Hodgman, The Areas of My Expertise (Abridged, 2006). This 6+ hour audiobook was offered up as a free track on iTunes shortly before Christmas, just in time to relieve our 12-hour drive to New Jersey with injections of made up trivia. I've been contemplating a long post on the wisdom of Hodgman's edict: "Truth may be stranger than fiction... but it is never as strange as lies or, for that matter, as true."
  • Sufjan Stevens, "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!" (2006). Another iTunes Christmas freebie.
  • Neko Case, "Things That Scare Me" (from Blacklisted, 2001). This was (and still, I think, is) a free track on Last.fm, a site that really deserves a post to itself as it has become a crucial cog in my music-listening machinery.
  • Elf Power, "Never believe" & "The Cracks" (from Walking With the Beggar Boys, 2004). Two more free tracks from Last.fm. Elf Power are another Athens band that I managed to all but ignore while I was there.

Scorecard: 108 tracks added, 7 free.