As I am constantly lagging behind in the "put stuff on this website" war these days, but I have both a bit of time and a lot of new CDs, I figure--hey! Why not put up a new list! So here is a list of my favorite albums of the season, as of 8.24.03 (the CDs that are on the top of the pile next to my stereo, and have been getting the most action lately):

War on Errorism NOFX: So I always liked NOFX, but never actually owned any of their albums--they get regular air play on the local college radio station, so I always enjoy them when they come on, but I never felt compelled to buy any CDs. But between my appreciation of Fat Mike in Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (whose most recent album Take a Break is very entertaining) and their current radio single Franco Un-American, I was sold. Primarily, I was sold by the line "I'm watching Michael Moore expose the awful truth; I'm listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth." (I'm very partial to Reagan Youth, a fantastic early 80's politico NYC punk outfit, as their guitarist Paul Bakija, ne Cripple, is my cousin. When I was, like, 10, I'd go over to Paul's house in Queens on the holidays, and I'd hang out in his very punk rock room while he made me listen to The Cramps under a red light bulb. While you may not be aware of hearing Reagan Youth, you probably have--in the Brendan Frasier vehicle Air Heads, which Comedy Central plays, like, every day, the song they spend the entire movie trying to get on the air, and play a couple times at the end of the movie, is actually Degenerated, by Reagan Youth. They are a fantastic band that you should seek out. To learn more about Reagan Youth, go here.) I picked up War on Errorism, and decided immediately that it was clearly the album of the year. Well, not so much musically (which is completely fantastic in any case, my particular favorites are Franco Un-American, Anarchy Camp, and Whoops I OD'd) but because this CD should be required purchase for, well, everyone in the United States. Especially the kids. The CD contains a 3 page manifesto about how The Republicans stole the 2000 election, about how we shouldn't "just get over it", and how we should all be really mad. Which, ya know, I still am, but this is certainly fantastic stuff for a CD purchased primarily by 16 year olds. They totally sell a film called Unprecedented , a documentary on the 2000 election, and use fantastic enhanced CD technology to show you a trailer before you get to watch all the included videos (which are great). I love NOFX now. Go out and buy this CD.

No New Rome to Burn Signal and Report: A great album that was made by my pal Christian and his band in Minnesota. They clearly harken back to the proto techno gothy likes of Joy Division, and do a fantastic job at it. I keep trying to convince Christian to go on tour and play in upstate New York, and hopefully, they'll get big enough to do so. A they get a lot of good press in Minnesota, and should be getting a lot of good press everywhere.

How to Ruin Everything Face to Face: I saw these guys recently at a big rock festival, having never heard them before, and they are superb. A Californian melodic punk trio, who do a great job supporting my theory that you really only need three instruments to do everything necessary. Bill of Goods, Why Would I Lie, and Shoot the Moon are pure rock gold.

This is It The Strokes: Ok. Yes, this band *really* got totally blitzed by overly fawny press and claims of being "the saviors of rock and roll" that didn't really pan out. But regardless of the hype, this album is actually very good. I was sold on it as a sort of "Iggy Pop by way of Lou Reed by way of Bowie" low-fi rock album, but recently, my genius wife pointed out how it sounds just like early glam rock Brian Eno (like on Here Comes the Warm Jets or Another Green World), and she is completely right. The structuring of whole songs around a single note; the droning, chantey, disembodied vocals; the use of silence as music. All totally Eno. It cracks me up. And makes for a great rock album.

If It Was You Tegan and Sara: A totally adorable pair of Canadian twins who make kind of pop-y, slightly folky, post punk rock and roll. I madly rushed across town to see them open for Ben Folds a few months ago, as I heard they were playing, like, five minutes before the show started, and was happy to do it. They made a small splash on MTV2 or something earlier in the year, with, I think, Monday, Monday, Monday, but as I don't have MTV2, I didn't get to benefit. I keep hoping that they'll make their way back to New York on tour, but they are currently in, like, Australia or something.

Inflammable Material Stiff Little Fingers: I got to visit Dublin earlier this year (let me tell you--Dublin? One attractive city. Like, the whole city looks like The Coors. It's crazy.) and felt compelled to pick up some good Irish music. This, SLF's first album, is fantastic. If you pay attention to this sort of thing, you've probably heard Alternative Ulster, which as great, as is Suspect Device and Johnny Was. Well, the whole album is great. Very solid, old school, 1979 politico punk rock.

One Beat Sleater-Kinney: One of my favorite bands ever continues to not disappoint. One Beat is a very solid collection of tunes, including the super rocking Step Aside, O2, and the best possible song about the Twin Towers destruction, Faraway. As they got a lot of good press on this album, and did a lot of promotion, I got to see them on TV a couple times, and Oh! got a lot of college radio air play. Sadly, I didn't get to see them on tour opening for Pearl Jam, as I didn't really want to see Pearl Jam so much (I've got nothing against Pearl Jam, I'm just not a huge fan) and I didn't want to pay $50.00 to drive to NYC and have bad seats to see them play for 20 minutes and not be appreciated. Maybe they'll go on tour by themselves again soon.

Title TK The Breeders: Yaa! The Breeders are back! Title TK is a much subtler album than Last Splash, and certainly didn't get the same press, but is just as good. Huffer and Son of Three are both fantastically rocking, and Off You is a great quiet, if creepy, song. It also comes equipped with a new version of Full on Idle, one of the best songs off the under appreciated Kim Deal/The Amps project from a few years back, Pacer. One of the high points of this time around is that, apparently, Kim loves Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Breeders got to be a band in The Bronze in an episode of season 7. They played the Buffy theme (originally by Nerf Herder) at their recent live gigs, and you can get a great version as a B side to the Son of Three single (which I had to import from England).

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Genesis: Unwilling and unable to shake my love of geek rock in my youth, I recently realized that I didn't own this on CD (and my vinyl copy is going to waste without a working record player), which struck me as criminal. Thus, I poked around on e-bay and got a copy for a few bucks (an old school, un re-mastered Atco pressing from the mid eighties, no doubt, in one of those inconvenient double size jewel cases). I love this album. I loved this album when I was 16. I love this album now. It is clearly one of the absolute high points of the whole prog-rock scene that was 1974, and never stops being entertaining. Totally overblown and preposterously obtuse, yet brilliant in its absolute commitment to being what it is. Intention is everything.