MeFi thread on Rembetiko with some more links (including mp3s) on the blues of the Greek refugees from Turkey, especially Izmir (Smyrna), after Ataturk's victory in 1921.

Marcello Carlin closes shop again (sort of) and finishes nicely with his fifty favourites of 2003. His number one spot is an album by a band I have never heard of. But I am curious now. Does any of my readers know more?

P.S. So apparently this is a shoegazing album strongly influenced by the textures of My Bloody Valentine from Markus Schmickler with Julee Cruise singing. The snippets at Amazon sounded ok but didn't make me run to the record store.

P.P.S. The wonderful Australian music blog Worlds of Possibility sums up succinctly what I can't help of thinking about this album:

Over at chill (danke Tom) I found a link to the Noisepop Mix Tape. Each month Noisepop asks musicians what they listen to. Up to now there are mix tapes online of Oranger, Beulah, Dealership, Whysall Lane, Tussle, The Stratford 4, Creeper Lagoon and John Vanderslice. Artists I have hardly ever heard anything of. The tape of The Stratford 4 (May) could have been a tape of mine. The playlist (all songs can be streamed with Realaudio):

• Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinoceros
• Psychedelic Furs - All That Money Wants
• Spiritualized - Shine a Light
• Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
• Fugazi - Suggestion
• Sonic Youth - Sugar Kane
• Elastica - Annie
• My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
• Mogwai - Stanley Kubrick
• Love - Alone Again Or

P.S. It's not really surprising that I like the two tracks by The Stratford 4 which are on the site as well. Noisy pop psychedelia. And yes there is surely a huge Yo La Tengo influence too. So this mix tape idea is an excellent way to discover new bands. Creeper Lagoon also seem to have a taste quite close to mine.

From the wonderful extremely informative music site/blog Kingblind I got this link to a legal mp3 download of Low's John Peel Session from November 2000. Nine spiritual tracks.

Die Hinternet-Rezension von Tom Liwas Evolution Blues fängt so gut an, dass man sie eigentlich gar nicht mehr weiterlesen möchte, es kann fast nur noch bergab gehen (was es dann aber doch nicht tut):

Translation:

The beginning of the Hinternet review of Tom Liwa's Evolution Blues is so fabulous that you don't want to continue reading as it can only go down-hill (which it doesn't actually):

I Love Music thread of the day: Filing your music alphabetically - C/D?

Of course I do it for practical reasons and of course I liked the crazy idea of ordering the CDs by colour.

I started a thread on Saturday at I Love Music on a personal subject and it is still thriving:

What was the last song you wept to?

There are quite a lot of blogs out there which I enjoy reading but which are not in my freshblogs watchlist as they do not seem to provide freshblogs with correct timestamps. If your blog is in this list and the freshblogs timestamp is correct by now please feel free to tell me.

• said the gramophone: Sean from Montreal likes similar music off the beaten track as me. Four styles: Americana, indie rock, singer/songwriter and a wee bit of prog. This is his personal music weblog.
• Tangmonkey music: A lot of album reviews are by Sean again. Recently there was Wilco, The Flaming Lips, many Grateful Dead records and The New Pornographers.
• I Love Music Blog: I got a little bit bored of this by far most active music forum on the web which is available in blog form now. Probably there are too many people (far more than a thousand) posting questions now than in the earlier days when I used to know at least the names of the posters. Too many mainstream and vanity threads now for my liking. Still the best place if you have an interesting pop music subject to discuss about.
• sequential randomist: Not too much happening here lately but still some good writing on pop music. Someone who (re)discovers Wire is ahead of me anyways. I feel that I didn't yet give them the listening time they merit.
• Nude as the News: This used to be my favourite music webzine. Called after one of the greatest songs by Cat Power. Recent articles on the new Blur and Smog albums and a show by Bright Eyes.
• strangefruit: Quite calm in this part of the web too recently. But a very solid indie rock taste with a penchant for Americana.
• Fimoculous: Something like a pop culture link log. The quality of the pointers is top notch. Recent discoveries are a Murakami short story, Google stuff, Salam Pax & the NY Times and a Scorsese-Bob Dylan interview.
• planing lakes: A great name and many interesting links (incl. quotes) on pop culture and the likes.
• the null device: Out of the many high-quality aussie weblogs probably my favourite. Focus on indie rock, left-wing politics, tech stuff and movies. Very busy.
• Travelers Diagram: Another culture weblog with many nice pictures and artwork. Music wise it is the usual mix of Americana and indie rawk I have got a faible for too.

Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth has started a new free mp3 label. The name is the program: Protest Records. Up to now 5 volumes with ten tracks each are available. Artists include Cat Power, Jim O'Rourke, Glenn Kotche, Eugene Chadbourne, Mike Watt, Gary Lucas, Mudhoney, Kimya Dawson, Tom Zé, Sonic Youth and many more. So what are you waiting for? Download for peace!

• House of Love Back Together Together with the Field Mice, House of Love belong to my favourite bands from the late 80s. Both bands I only discovered later though. Never has a band captured the atmosphere of the third Velvet Underground album so well and made a whole career (more a non-career actually) out of it than the House of Love. I am not sure if Guy Chadwick et al. still have it in them. There is supposed to be a concert 26th March in Brighton.

• Fingerpicking guitar legend John Fahey would have been 64 yesterday. Wood s Lot points to some web resources.

• Traveler's Diagram offers the upbeat instrumental Georgia vs. Yo La Tengo from the forthcoming Yo La Tengo album Summer Sun.

• At EuroRanch you can stream (real audio) four songs of the new Cat Power You Are Free (I never got the Apple Quick Time full album stream link from her site I posted before to work). The tracks are -- the folky Good Woman which reminds me of Camper Van Beethoven somehow. There is a lovely children choir in the background. -- the calm Half of You. -- the haunting piano ballad Names. -- the indie rock gem which is He War.