I spend most of my weeks looking for new albums to fall in love with. I try to listen to most albums at least once. This is a big quest since there are still a ton of albums out every week. I just wait and hope for those special little albums that get me excited and keep me looking for my new favorite. It keeps me going knowing that there are new fantastic albums out every month just waiting to be discovered. There are the obvious albums to get excited about. In a couple of weeks the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack comes out. The movie looks amazingly fantastic. The trailer for the movie already made me cry. Spike Jonze is the perfect director to create a live action film out of this great children's book. And just when I didn't think it could get any better, I find out that Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs did the soundtrack. I mean, really! How could it possibly get any better? I am dying of anticipation to see the movie and hear the soundtrack! I have not even tried to listen to any tracks online. I just want to wait and hear the whole thing when it comes out. But I honestly think that I might just have to wait and experience the soundtrack for the first time while watching the movie. That is always the problem with getting a soundtrack before you see the movie. I think it is best to experience it in the theater for the first time. Then you can go back and relive it and listen to the soundtrack. I seriously can't wait!

I am also very excited about the new Place to Bury Strangers. The new album called Exploding Head is not out for a couple of months. I know it will be one of my favorites. And it really is hard to compete with their excellent, amazing debut a couple of years ago. It was my favorite of the year back in 2007. This new album will easily be in competition for the number one spot this year. It is easy to get excited about the new albums from your favorite bands. But even more exciting is the new bands that seem to come from nowhere to deilver you their fantastic debut albums. Or the bands and artists that have been working for years that finally make it into your life somehow.

I always get excited whenever there is a new Placebo album. They never let me down. I was bit by the Placebo bug many years ago, back when they just had a small little self titled album in 1996. I think I probably saw them on the cover of a magazine before I actually ever heard the album, but I quickly became a big fan. I loved anything British at the time, and especially anything that was a little bit dark and weird. Brian Moloko was an intriguing man. I have seen him live many, many times and read tons of interviews but still don't really have him completely figured out. But that just makes him all the more interesting. Like many of the other bands that I have stuck with over the years, I associate each of their albums with a time in my life. The albums sort of organize my life for me into more organized sections than I could create myself. The first self titled album came out before I had moved to San Francisco. It actually came out in July, which was the month before I moved to San Francisco from Santa Barbara -- so my new life actually did start with the very first Placebo album, but I didn't really get into it until after I had moved. I listened to it a lot over the years. Often I would listen to it between albums. It helped fill the void when there wasn't a new album by them. Highlights of the album would be "Bruise Pristine," "Lady of the Flowers" and "36 Degrees." But "I Know" is the song that gets me every time I listen to this album. It breaks my heart a little bit, but in a good way. This whole album can really do no wrong for me. The second album, Without You I'm Nothing, came out in 1998 after I had been in San Francisco for a couple of years. This was probably the height of my Placebo obsession, although it honestly has never ever gone away. This was the first tour I saw with them and I was hooked for life after this. I really couldn't get enough of this album. It was a dark and depressing one, but I can't tell you how many times I listened to the song "Without You I'm Nothing." It pretty much became the song I would always listen to after the end of any relationship. It always seems like a long song so you can go through a rollercoaster of emotions in just that one song. My other favorites on the album are "My Sweet Prince" and "Every Me Every You." I forever associate this album with my early years in San Francisco. I grew up a lot in these years but also experienced some heartache.

Sometimes I forget that bands still make videos. Back before I had MTV I was obsessed with videos and watched them whenever I got a chance. It was hard to find videos and you had to watch late night TV or be one of the lucky people with cable. It is now so easy to watch videos, but for some reason I watch them rarely. MTV doesn't really play videos anymore, but they are now so easily accessible on your phone and computer through YouTube. It is almost too easy. Maybe it is not as fun because it is so easy. Every once in a while I remember how easy it is and I easily spend hours catching up and watching videos. The next couple of weeks have some very exciting new releases. These last couple of weeks are also not so bad. New albums by Bonnie Prince Billy and Cursive and White Lies and Wavves and Tim Hecker. I also really like the new Handsome Furs. This blog is extremely short so you can spend some time watching some videos.

Here are some songs from the last couple of weeks of albums

Handsome Furs "I'm Confused" from the new album Face Control OUT NOW...



White Lies "Farewell to the Fairground" from the album To Lose My Life OUT NOW...



Cursive "Dorothy At Forty" from the album Mama I'm Swollen OUT NOW...

So last night we went down to the beautiful Cafe Du Nord to see the brilliant Patrick Wolf. Curt had never been there! So I was excited for him to see it. The bastard has only been to San Francisco once about five years ago. I missed that show and have been waiting ever since to see him live. I have loved all 3 of his albums and have been waiting patiently to hear how they sounded live. I was a little worried that he would disappoint.  It was hard to imagine him pulling off the brilliance of the albums in a live setting. But he literally blew me and everyone there away. I was expecting some over the top outfit and of course he met my expectations in this regard at least. I thought maybe some suspenders and a jaunty cap with a feather. He came out with a blue wig, shiny gold suspenders and little school boy shorts. He reminded me of a young Liza Minnelli mixed with Mccauley Culkin's version of Michael Alig. Maybe with a little Marc Almond and high school musical thrown in there. He even made a costume change half way through the show. He was joined by three young men on stage. Stand up bass, drums, and of course electronics. His violin player had gone back to England because of the "weather." The songs sounded great live and he was quite the little show man. He interacted with the crowd and told some great little stories.


He played a lot of my favorites from the first two albums. The live version of "To the Lighthouse" brought some little tears to my eyes. The highlight of the night was right before he came on stage. Five bears walked right in front of us to find their spot for the show. While a couple of them were obviously dragged to the show. The fact that they were there made me happy. It was overall a very stylish indie crowd. But its nice to know he has crossed the boundaries into bear territory. And I swear I saw George Lucas and Catherine Zeta Jones in front of me as well. The best thing about the show was how positive he was. He could have easily been a little mopey depressed emo goth on stage complaining about how horrible and tragic his life was. But he instead remained positive and optimistic. He shared not only his music with the audience but also a little bit of love. I left the show with a big smile on my face.

It was so nice for Patrick Wolf to wait until my birthday to release his new album "The Magic Position" here in the states. Or I guess I should say, that it was nice for his label to wait until the 1st of May. It has been out for a month or 2 already in the UK, so I have already spent some quality time with it. This is Patrick's 3rd album and first since his departure with the excellent label Tomlab. "The Magic Position" is if nothing else, one of the best album covers of the year. While one would think Patrick would be maturing and using more adult imagery on his albums. He has gone the opposite direction as a man child on a sort of magical merry go round, dressed like a 10 year old having his cowboy theme birthday party. Or maybe he was just planning this all along for my birthday celebration. I did have an outfit very similar to that on my tenth birthday.  Unfortunately my mom would not let me get away with that hair color until I was in high school. Whatever you may think of the album cover, there is no denying it is a unique and brave idea. Much like the music you will find inside.

I having been loving Mr. Patrick Wolf for a while now. He seriously blew me away with his first excellent album "Lycanthropy." I remember that I read a little bit about this before it came out and was very intrigued. I then got the album and was hooked immediately. I slowly spread the word of the greatness of Mr. Wolf. Of course, he is not for everyone. I carefully chose the friends to share him with. He was like my little secret obsession. His music is sort of a combination of the dramatics of Kate Bush, Xiu Xiu, and Erasure mixed with the bookish intelligence of Morrissey and Idlewild mixed with the electronicness of Aphex Twin with a bit of classical thrown in,  He does not mess around with his lyrics either. He takes himself quite seriously on the musical journey of his albums. He seems to be from a different time. A Futuristic Past, if that even makes sense.  Patrick takes you gently by the hand and forces you into his magical land of wolves and dreams.