A few years ago I came across a fascinating, “ripping-yarn” style piece in the New York Times. It was a story about Mingering Mike, history’s most prolific recording artist, a soul singer with hundreds of albums to his name. The albums are the very definition of “rarity,” turning up only in flea markets and junk [...]

Blasts of Holy Birth, the new Lewis & Clarke record we first tipped in February, gets the big ol’ 17 Dots stamp of approval today. Sounds like Jose Gonzalez/Elliott Smith/people who ain’t afraid to cry, with a little bit of Animal Collective, too. It’s cloying and tender and all of those words, but they aren’t [...]

Yesterday I posted some of my absolute favorites of the year. Let’s move on to that shakier ground where the numbering is a bit unsure and a spot in a year-end list is probable, but by no means a sure thing.

Now that Joe and Yancey have both weighed in with some of their favorites, I thought I’d take a crack at it as well.

What, you thought I’ve been playing with my Answering Machine love? Watch this and tell me they aren’t legit:

Download the “Oklahoma” and “Silent Hotels” singles, stat!

Three extremely good new records for everyone to check out today. All highly recommended.

When I was younger, I didn’t really go in much for emo (with a few exceptions that will remain nameless…for now), so I had to find my self-pitying music elsewhere. One of the many bands that hit the spot for me was Talk Talk.

By now you have heard about the plight of internet radio (if you haven’t, check out this 17 Dots post or Save Net Radio). It’s a serious and urgent issue that will have dramatic consequences for the future of free, legal music on the web.
We also wanted to take this chance to debut a cool [...]

As eMusic’s CEO David Pakman noted in his 17 Dots post about the future of DRM-free music, eMusic is a music retailer. Our job is to provide consumers with an easy, pleasant and affordable way to help people purchase music that they like, thereby supporting the artists who create music and the labels who distribute [...]

17 Dots recently had the chance to exclusively sit down with the Arcade Fire to discuss their upcoming follow-up to Neon Bible. The band is currently weighing five different approaches, and 17 Dots brings them to you exclusively below.

Album Title
Recording Gimmick
Latest Influence
Album Theme
Review Quote
Weeklong Residency

Three Loaves, Two Fishes
Live album recorded in Red Sea
Psalms
The Second Coming… [...]

And so now the wrap-up, the back-end of my favorite music of 2006 2007 (I’m an idiot) so far. No need for pussyfooting, lets just get right to it.

New material from Nick Lowe, a live cut from Tom Waits and a double-album from Sinead O’Connor.

Ever since I bought Dr. Octagon based on a music video I saw on MTV’s AMP (it all comes back to electronic music for me, sadly), I’ve been checking out what Kool Keith has been up to every few years.

Sorry bdfstl2 (I’ll make it up to you later in the week, promise!), but the best new arrivals today are electronic in my mind – and we’ve definitely missed a couple in the past few weeks – so let’s run ‘em down!

It usually takes me months to put together my year-end best list, so coming up with two half-year bests is no easy feat. I spent much of the weekend deliberating, and decided that while I have a pretty good idea of what records are making my year so far, putting them in order is [...]

Anonymous by Tomahawk (one of Mike Patton’s numerous projects, John Stanier from Battles also drums) dropped this week. Experimental rock inspired by Native American chants and hymns doesn’t sound like it would be that far off from Patton’s other eclectic endeavors, and it isn’t. Its a decent album that seems to respect its [...]

The rest of the top ten.

The blog has been way too new arrivals heavy as of late, so here’s a longer view of what I’ve been loving. Five today, five tomorrow.

Sixteen SEVENTEEN songs, all of them great, and all of them totally free. That’s right, it’s time for the second annual Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler. Tracks by Dan Deacon, Professor Murder, Of Montreal, Menomena, William Parker, Grizzly Bear and on and on. All songs were chosen by Pitchfork and were subsequently sequenced by us (which [...]

Nice! A little bit of one of the first ambient and industrial labels ever appears on eMusic today. A short primer on the best of the crop.