Two things I really like about the end of the year–making comprehensive mixes of the music of the last 12 months, and giving cheap presents. This is a way for me to do both. Well, here they are–the first two products of about two weeks (off and on, mind you) of narrowing my year-end favorites [...]

With all the current NME-fueled UK hype around Babyshambles and the disappointing Arctic Monkeys, it’s sad that truly inventive, visionary artists like The Shortwave Set, and their debut album Debt Collection are overlooked. Their music is a well-organized rummage sale of antique brass and strings, high-pitched coos and harmonized vocals on a bed of post-Beta [...]