The Fuel I Am Running On

At this current moment I am being heavily driven by music. I will say that in the last few months I have not been in this mode. I have been disappointed by most realizes in the last year and more so by the ones I was really looking forward to. But these last couple of days I have listened to about 10 albums. Its great, I am like a well oiled machine running in perfect rhythm thanks to some old and new surprises.

Antonio Carlos Jobim / Wave - Jobim is one of the pioneers of Bossanova. When Bossanova is done well it has an incredible focused element. When it is done bad, it sounds like that stuff you hear in the elevator. This is Bossanova done well, actually beautifully.

Nellie McKay / Pretty Little Head - The pitch I was given to listen to this album was really bad. A friend said, "Its like British Pop done with a Bossanova feel." This is a really bad summation of the album, it is actually pretty good. It is a double disc so percentages wise there has to be a lot of good songs.

Mogwai / Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait - Mogwai is just amazing. This is a soundtrack for a film about Zidane. (The famous soccer player who head butted that guy in the World Cup Final) If you have ever seen Zidane play you can really imagine this being a soundtrack to him playing a game. If you haven't seen him play it is just music with amazing instrumentation.

Sufjan Stevens / Songs for Christmas - I have never been a big Christmas music fan but this album has changed that for me completely. Stevens has some great original songs about the holidays but also his take on the classics.

Clipse / Hell Hath No Fury - First off let me start off by saying this is a Hip-Hop album. I know that sounds like an outlier but I grew up listening to music like this. I will admit that some day I will have to stop listening to Hip-Hop. These guys are incredible lyricists and they have some great production behind them.

Other albums I have been listening to but will just list because I have to go to sleep.

• Joanna Newsom - Ys
• The Velvet Underground & Nico
• The Velvet Undergound
• Boards of Canada - Campfire Headphase
• Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City (Actually this one is OK)