From everyone at 17 Dots and eMusic, a happy new year’s eve to all of our readers. It’s been great getting to interact with everyone — one of the best things we’ve ever done here — and next year should be even better! Stay safe, everybody.
Love,
17 Dots

Just before Christmas I came across a news story that made me laugh, so forgive me for a brief foray into British politics. Nick Clegg, the new-ish leader of the Liberal Democrat party* appointed an advisor to help him connect with the needs of everyday people. And who did he choose as his commonplace person, [...]

Today’s the last day of our ‘Best of ‘07′ rollout; find out who won the User Poll (UK, your winners are here). Also, in our final Q&A, I talked to the National about the tough time they had making Boxer. Says frontman Matt Berninger: “It was taking me forever to write lyrics for this thing, [...]

It’s only December 20th, but it’s not too early to jumpstart one of my New Year’s resolutions: It’s time to put the Scanner Darkly book club discussion to bed. Let it die with dignity, no teary farewells or long goodbyes.

Today on eMusic’s Best of 2007: Numbers 20 - 11 in our User Poll (UK Users, yours is here) and an interview with another 2007 Innovator: Apparat. “My dad was in a band,” he tells Andy Battaglia, “which was a funny thing in East Germany because you were being watched and weren’t allowed to [...]

A quick note to point out the start of our Year-End user poll — 30 - 21 in the US is here, and that same batch in the UK is here. And I’d love to see the “should win/will win” picks on this one.
As for interviews: today we have one with Simone Dinnerstein, whose recording [...]

Today, find out which album our critics picked as the best record of 2007 (UK subscribers, your Top 10 is here).
Also, check out the next installment in our series of interviews with ‘2007 Innovators.’ Today’s subject: Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz. Choice quote: “Try to find me another live band that kicks our ass. Try [...]

More Italians Do It Better ish on the site today. Yes!

We’re off and running — today begins our year-end countdown with the bottom half of our staff picks (our UK critics list is here).
Also, this week begins our series of interviews with ‘2007 Innovators’ — artists across genres who had notable years in ‘07. First up: Christian Scott.
So, any predictions for our critics’ #1?

Because it’s Friday, because it’s gray, just because.

Some shout-outs to a few records that have been getting heavy play.

Just a couple of notables today.

I still haven’t started any Christmas shopping yet, and this is what always happens. I wait until the last minute and then its stressful and chaotic and I end up doing things like buying my sister a cd I want her to like, but odds are she won’t. But I love to give [...]

iTunes recently posted their year-end lists for their best-selling titles, as well as their editorial picks. While we will have to wait until next week to look at eMusic’s editorial choices, we thought it might be fun to do a title-by-title comparison of the best-sellers between the two services, with edges being handled out to [...]

Two more year-end features roll out today: The Year in Reissues by Michaelangelo Matos and Philip Sherburne’s list of the 12 Best Dance Singles of 2007. Both pieces highlight some great records that may have gotten lost in what I’m referring to as “The ‘07 Shuffle.” And with these pieces comes a question for [...]

The Everly Brothers, Nellie McKay, John Fahey and others pace an incredibly strong selection of Thursday new arrivals.

Confession time: Books are my profession and music is my obsession, but television is my most crippling addiction.

Today, Okkervil River posted a free mixtape of covers/holiday songs on their official website. It’s pretty damned great, and nine free songs at that! One thing to note: they cover “I Want to Know,” easily my favorite Fugs song (I wrote a loooooooong piece on it on my old, now-defunct, blog, but I should revisit [...]

“Guys are such creeps/ They’ll even do it with sheep,” “Guys don’t care/ They’ll stick it anywhere,” “Guys are disgusting/ They’re always lusting” = three of the best lines from “Guys Are Not Proud,” the first single from a 1980 post-punk band from Anchorage, Alaska, called the Anemic Boyfriends. The lyrics are delivered with a [...]

We got a lot of new arrivals in today and many of them come straight from our electronic distributors. Here’s a sampling of some of the best.