"NOW NATIVITY SCENES, MAKE ME NAUUUUUUUSEOUS..."

For reasons I''m still figuring out, I can't get enough of this song lately. Christmas-y!

YouTube: Atlas Sound, "Artificial Snow"

A little light-classic Christmas listening, for those of you who're in the mood right now: the Nutcracker Suite.

Happy holidays, everyone!

The Dead-Tree Shuffle, 12/22/2010

Got to big-up Burning Star Core in Williamette Week's year-end music whatever, got to give Bret Easton Ellis pounds in City Pages' Artist of the Year feature. Go me!

SURREAL BEYOND WORDS

David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Singing "The Little Drummer Boy." Together. No, seriously. Click here.

Oh, And

It's official. I have a new job, and I start Monday.

I know I'm behind on correspondence with some of you! Bear with me.

The Dead-Tree Shuffle, 12/08/10 Edition

In the San Antonio Current, a review of the new Jazmine Sullivan album, which I highly recommend.

In the Baltimore City Paper, my contributions to the Top Ten Local Music and Top Ten Books lists appear in today's Top Ten 2010 issue. We contributing writers didn't get to be a part of Top Ten National Music this year; the editors took a more local, less-crit approach.

For whatever it's worth, the lists I submitted are below:

LOCAL (BALTIMORE) ALBUMS:

1. Avey Tare, “Down There” (Paw Tracks) 18
2. Matmos/So Percussion, "Treasure State" (Cantaloupe) 14
3. Jonathan Badger, "Unsung Stories..." (MT6/High Horse) 12
4. Matmos/Lesser/Wobbly, "Simultaneous Quodlibet" (Important) 11
5. Dboi, "Paid In Full" (Varsity Entertainment) 10
6. M.Bassett/J. Graf, "Peradam" (Utech) 9
7. SPERMWHALES, "Bootlegs, Vol. I" (self-released) 8
8. Duce Wayne, "Punchlines & Polos" (No Label) 7
9. Solar Temple Suicides, “Sentinels of the Heliosphere” (Sleepy Records) 6
10. Twig Harper & Daniel Higgs, "Clairaudience Fellowship" (Thrill Jockey) 5

BOOKS

1. Bret Easton Ellis, Imperial Bedroom (Knopf)
2. Gary Indiana, Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold The World (Basic Books)
3. Jaron Lanier, You Are Not A Gadget (Knopf)
4. Martha Nussbaum, Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs The Humanities (Princeton University Press)
5. Ian Frazier, Travels In Siberia (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
6. Rafal Kochan, The Encyclopedia of Industrial Music, Volume 1 (Impulsy Stetoskopu)
7. Steven Amsterdam, Things We Didn't See Coming (Pantheon)
8. Miguel Syjuco, Ilustrado (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
9. Francis Wheen, Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Age of Paranoia (PublicAffairs)
10. Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story (Random House)

The Imaginations, "Santa Send Me"

Xmas Calypso Classic! Click here.

Big, bold, Voguing to Danzig props to Nodin, who is no longer using diapers or pull-ups - it's underwear all the way, now! Welcome to the Big Boy leagues, son!

Village Voice posted a Mannie Fresh mash-up/mix, in case you needed a refresher. (I totally did. For me, it was more of an introduction.)

Reminiscing about working "with" Michael Jackson, Fitty almost sounds...human. Wow.