MICHAEL SHORE - New York, USA

with the warning that I still DO listen in terms of albums - but then I'm such a luddite I only just got an iPod for the first time, as a Xmas gift, and have not lifted a finger to even try to figure out how to download stuff into it or whatever... and that there's guaranteed to be shitloads of good to great stuff I've managed to miss this past year...

1. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire (especially "Intervention" - Talking Heads meets the E Street Band at an anti-war rally and they all fly to heaven on a church organ woohoo!)
2. Wincing the Night Away by The Shins (especially "Turn On Me" - best Spector cop EVER - and "Phantom Limb" - it's about lesbian lovers, I hear? whatever, I can't figure out what the fuck the lyrics are about but who cares, it's so fucking gorgeous)
3. After Hours by Big Al Anderson (ex-NRBQ guitarist now songwriting in Nashville - every tune a gem)
4. "I Could Be Wrong" by Tim Wilson (a single track - "song of the year" - I'd send you the wave file as an attachment if I could figure out how to cut-and-paste attachments via fucking goddam aol. I'll try to forward it in a separate e-mail. did I mention what a pathetic luddite I am?)
5. The Reminder by Feist (especially "1 2 3 4" - all Apple commercials make me wanna hurl an anvil through the TV but THIS one I am always delighted to see. sexy voice, mega-hooky tune, she's real purty, and I love her totally ofay clumsy dancing...)
6. Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem (sometimes the critics are right...)
7. NRBQ - Derbytown (DVD from 1982 - my concession to older stuff you mentioned - these guys remain the best bar band available to the paying public anywhere in the known universe and their typical- night-25-years-ago still runs musical rings round just about anyone and everyone)
8. I'm Not Sentimental by Rob Kendt (smart, funny, tuneful, acerbic and then some - kind of a friendlier Tom Waits, from the pacific northwest I think)
9. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse (see #6)
10. "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (rest of album a disappointment to me but if not for Tim Wilson this'd be track of the year I guess...)