Top Artists
1. The Go-Betweens [839]
2. Augie March [794]
3. The Middle East [342]
4. The Triffids [327]
5. Susanne Sundfor [308]
6. The Church [286]
7. Crowded House [273]
8. Halfway [267]
9. Neil Finn (& Paul Kelly) [258]
10. Ed Kuepper / Charli XCX [251]

Top Tracks
1. The Go-Betweens - Cattle and Cane [388]
2. The Triffids - Wide Open Road [238]
3. The Middle East - Land of the Bloody Unknown [151]
4. Ed Kuepper - Sleepy Head [131]
5. Ben Salter - The Coward [119]
6. Augie March - One Crowded Hour [112]
7. Lorde - Ribs [111]
8. Ed Kuepper/The Saints - Brisbane (Security City) [110]
9. The Church - Under The Milky Way [108]
10. Cass McCombs - County Line [107]

I'm back because of a tweet from a friend about dull baby boomer music he used to pretend to like. I was like that too. Now I never want to hear The Beatles ever again.

The Peep Tempel - Tales: This would probably have been one of my favourites of the year if I'd discovered it earlier. I guess it's not too late.

Halfway: Friend on facebook got tagged in some statuses about going to a Robert Forster gig. She got a setlist from the supporting band. I looked them up on Spotify. A concept album about railway workers in central Queensland? This is what I live for. Dulcify is my song of the year even though I don't understand 80% of the lyrics.

Jen Cloher ft. Tim Rogers - Stone Age Brain: This has been in my 2014 playlist for ages but I've only just noticed it properly.

Augie March: The video for Definitive History is my aesthetic. It actually makes me want to visit Melbourne. The song itself has some great lines. Make abominable children, vicious little animals / Reared up like pit bull dogs / By the ordinary Australians… 

Taylor Swift: Had to check this out after I noticed that The Quietus gave it a good review. It's pretty good for a mainstream release, but I didn't love  it. Wildest Dreams is like an improved version of LDR's Without You.

Lists: Looking at a bunch of  "best of 2014" lists and I'm unfamiliar with 80% of the stuff mentioned. I still don't like the St Vincent album. Friend and I were into FKA twigs for about a week, but it didn't seem to leave an impression. Not my scene I guess, like how we walked around the CBD for hours looking for a bar that wasn't too white and old for us. I'm too young for Double J, dammit.

Hello blog, I'm back! I have hopefully survived my final exams. Let's go.

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Neil Finn & Paul Kelly - Goin' Your Way: Not sure if live albums should count but this was one of my favourites from this year. It's even better with the video.

Best Female Artist
I hope Sia, but Iggy has a chance too. Wow, I'm usually so into this category but this year has been a bit meh. Sarah Blasko should've been nominated, but I guess she released it way too early. Maybe she dissed the Australian music industry. That tends to kill your awards/radio career.

Best Group
Anything except Sheppard, please. Man, I thought Of Monsters & Men had unbearably watered down the whole Mumford & Sons sound but this is next-level insipid. Thanks, Brisbane.

Best Independent Release
As above. Maybe Violent Soho should get it.

Best International Artist
Lorde is international now? I mean, Kimbra is from NZ but managed to get Best Female Artist back in 2011. Guess we can't get away with stealing people from them forever.

Best Male Artist
I'm not a fan but Vance Joy seems popular.

Best Pop Release
Sia or 5SOS are acceptable, though I think 5SOS will get it.

Best Rock Album
Ball Park Music - Puddinghead: This is a rock album? OK. This isn't their best but I think they deserve to get something at some point.

Best Urban Album
No real opinion from me, but I think Iggy might get it. Or maybe not, if they couldn't get her to perform.

Breakthrough Artist
5SOS obviously, you can tell that they're going for the mainstream audience this year. They're actually properly successful overseas and stuff too.

Song Of The Year
My vote goes to Chandelier. I actually like that song (7/10), and not just in the "well it's pretty good for something on Nova I guess" way. Fancy and She Looks So Perfect (5/10) would be acceptable too.

Album Of The Year
Sia? She's supported by both mainstream and jjj. I don't think Chet Faker and Dan Sultan were pushed that hard. Where the heck is Total Control?

Emma Louise: Apparently a remix of Jungle is a hit somewhere in the world. I'm not usually into remixes, but this seems to be an improvement. Mostly because I thought the original was too repetitive, and this adds a lot of textural variety to it.

Megan Washington: Saw her live at Pitt Street. Her records come nowhere close to doing her singing justice. I still don't get why they're produced the way they are. Hopefully she releases a live album one day.

Arcade Fire: Funeral turned 10 years old on the 14th. Everyone still loves it, thankfully. This is the most interesting article about it, I think. It's still one of my favourite albums.

Peter Escott: They have music in Tasmania!? This is great.

Sounds Like Sunset: Putting this here for when I need to look back at what 2014 releases I actually listened to. This is pretty decent.

Mere Women: Getting a fair bit of play on Double J. That's good.

Pitchfork: They published a bunch of lists lately. Only really looked at the singles one though. Agree with Oblivion topping the list, not sure about the rest. There are 5 songs involving Kanye in the top 100, and I think it's kind of boring to put too many songs by one artist in a list.

Linked Hey QT to my friend while we were sitting a corridor waiting for class and she decided to play it out of her phone. Thank god we were not on a train, because that would have caused a riot. It's like an inferior rehash of Barbie Girl. I guess it's so bad that it's rebellious. Still don't like it.

The Apartments: Mr Somewhere gets added to my "Ambivalent Songs About Brisbane/Queensland" playlist thanks to mention in Pig City (the book).

The Church: Starfish is really growing on me. Four stars, at least. I also like Anna Miranda.

Double J: J Files are back. Sort of listened to the Jeff Buckley one without paying much attention. I'm not really a fan, to be honest. I can handle only so much sad man music.

Kimbra: Listened to the new album a few times, felt nothing. I got tired of 90s Music. Pitchfork gave it a mildly negative review, but I know that writer actually likes Kimbra. So it really is an underwhelming album.

Taylor Swift: Initial bubblings about cultural appropriation, but then the sort of people who like to talk about that moved on to raving over Nicki Minaj. Song is acceptable, but I cringe at the lyrics. Not sure how it got to no. 1 in Australia, but I guess that's not really hard.

Nicki Minaj: The song itself starts out strong, but derails towards the end. The video does the exact opposite. Loved NGE crossovers on Tumblr. Perhaps a bit too explicit to really become popular mainstream.

Kev Carmody: Decided to give him a better listen after going through the 150 Queensand Icons list.

I really, really feel this review. Reminds me of the people moshing to How To Make Gravy in the Paul Kelly doco I saw last month. Also reminds me of when a girl in high school who sang From Little Things... at assembly and her accompanist gave up before she finished all the verses.

The Painted Ladies: Finally, I'm listening to something released this year. Except it's covers of a 1973 album by Vic Simms. Liking Ed Kuepper's take on Stranger In My Country. I've been hearing it on Double J for a while, but thought it was part of his new solo album.

Missy Higgins is releasing an album of covers. Tracklist is promising, as well as Jherek Bischoff producing. Don't know if she's intense enough to do Shark Fin Blues justice though. Amanda Palmer is doing her darndest to be considered an honourary Australian. No thank you.

Bluejuice are breaking up at the end of the year. Well, I'm glad they never made it overseas to embarrass us like Jet did. I'd always assumed they were a Brisbane band because of the upbeat, cheery annoyingness, but it turns out they're from Sydney. We can make fun of Nickelback writing the same song over and over, but if it's a local it's cool? Argh!

Megan Washington: New song My Heart Is A Wheel is very Preatures-ish. Best one from this album so far.

Angus and Julia Stone: Their new album dropped to not much fanfare, probably because I don't listen to the radio anymore. One Guardian reviewer loves it. Another (also for the Guardian, but not the Australian part!) doesn't. A lot of random people giving it 7/10.

What do I think? It's a lot better than their separate solo material. The fuller production makes it sound less monotonous than Down The Way. I don't hear anything here that will be played to death like Big Jet Plane, but I don't know if that's good or bad.

Went to Queensland on the holidays. Will mostly be talking about what I listened on the 31-hour train ride between Brisbane and Cairns.

Paul Kelly: Watched the doco last night. Really odd to see all those youths moshing and cheering to How To Make Gravy at the end. Sometimes I forget that a lot of "normal" white people grow up with this kind of music because of their parents. My one Asian friend who also likes him calls it "white privilege". Also on the train playlist: The Sunlander.

Augie March: There is now an odd video for After The Crack Up. It's grown on me a bit more. I've been playing Toorak Fires a lot too. It makes me think of Arcade Fire for some reason. I wonder why we never got a real Australian Arcade Fire expy promo'd by Triple J.

Darren Hanlon: I really need to go through his discography properly. Ends Of The City is a new favourite. "To see the city from that point on every line/ Where buildings kiss the trees". Reminds me that I have to line bash Brisbane one day.

Ed Kuepper: The Way I Made You Feel was a standout when I saw him live, and I put him on the playlist because I needed more Bris/QLD artists. Hadn't seen the video until just now, but I'd already associated the song with goods yards somehow.

Misc. Jingles: Check out the offical Queensland Day song. I unironically like the instrumental section...

Megan Washington: This version of Rich Kids is great. Meh to the rest of her material and that indie white girl image/character she's got going though. Dunno what happened with QANTAS either.

Augie March: Glad that they reformed, mostly because there might actually be a chance of seeing them live now. New song also sounds promising.

Meanwhile, I've been listening Future Seal on repeat. I don't usually go for songs longer than 6 minutes, but the lyrics of this one keep me coming back. Paul Dempsey picked it as one of his favourite Australian tracks, and I think it would've been bigger if it wasn't so long.

The Middle East: Hey, remember how I loved Land Of The Bloody Unknown? My new favourite from their album is Months. The instrumental section is gorgeous.

The Parameters: Pig City was posted by someone I follow on Tumblr. It might be the most obscure thing that someone I know has actually heard of. (I know it's legendary, but my Brisbane friends and their non-knowing were the whole reason I started this blog.)

Ed Kuepper: Finally got around to picking up a copy of ...Sings His Greatest Hits For You. Liking it so far.

Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence is decent. Nothing on it is as terrible as some of the low points on Born To Die, but there isn't anything as good as Video Games either. I think my favourite off it is The Other Woman.

Grimes: Go is so-so. It's pretty, but it doesn't really... go anywhere. Sonic equivalent of those ~soft ghetto~ tumblogs, maybe.

Australian hip-hop: Discovered last week that my friends are not aware of its existence. Ah, racial segregation.

Future Islands: Thanks to Robert Forster for recommending Seasons on Double J a while back. Great vocals.

Well, several months have passed and a whole lot of crap has happened, but I'm back. I'll finish off the 100 albums... one day. After I graduate or something. Been studying, protesting, trainspotting, and maybe writing a novel. Got a friend who actually agrees with my musical opinions, so I don't really have to vent here anymore, but I'm procrastinating.

Gigs:
Robyn Hitchcock: Saw him at the Newtown Social Club. Got to sit right up close, which was different. Enjoyed it a lot. I should go to more small shows.

ACO + Presets: Went to Timeline with a friend. Presets crowd were asleep in the first half, and classical snobs were judging in the second half. Surprised by how much I liked some of the pre-classical stuff. Never knew how much I needed to hear five pop songs played on top of Philip Glass. Would've liked some of the mash up bits to go for longer.

Neil Finn: Went with same friend. Great, but wish he'd played Private Universe. Loved the piano version of Don't Dream It's Over.

Listenings:
Kimbra: Thought 90s Music was pretty messy at first, but it grew on me. Pre-chorus of the year, I reckon. And "after all these years it just felt different". But it does sound like she wants to be sampled for a radio bumper.

Tori Amos: New album that nobody seems to care about, unfortunately. Wild Way is really the only song I'm bothering with at the moment, though rym suggests there are other good tracks too.

Ed Kuepper: New album of new versions of old songs. Brisbane Security City is pretty relevant this year. Can't believe I'd never heard it before.

Double J: Loved the Robert Forster bits last month. But the rest of the music selection seems to be declining in quality. They shouldn't be playing Jet. When it's bad, it's worse than any other station, but it's the only place that has a chance of playing something I really love.

Castanets: Why isn't You Are The Blood more popular? The Sufjan Stevens version seems to get more love, but really, they're quite similar, and the original isn't as pointlessly long.

Regurgitator: Tried getting into them after it was suggested that a piece of Brisbane infrastructure be named after them. Don't really get it to be honest. Will check again later.

The Angels: RIP Doc Neeson. Saw the tribute show on Rage, realized they were responsible for the cover of We've Got To Get Out Of This Place that my high school librarian played to signal the end of lunch.

Lana Del Rey: New album just leaked. Only listened to it once, but was disappointed that there were no upbeat tracks. West Coast and Shades Of Cool are alright, and I think it's probably a bit better than her first album.

Megan Washington: Well, I was wrong about her doing an Lana Del Rey sound. I'm a bit disappointed, really. She just sounds like she doesn't care, and I don't get why they double track her voice in recordings. Sounds like eating cold rice.

Angus & Julia Stone: They've got a new song! There is buzz because they've got a big name producer now! Still the epitome of suburban middle class white people.

Rie Fu - ROSE ALBUM
What is it? Japanese, female vocalist
How'd I find it? D Gray-man ending
Damn, why'd I put so many albums I don't have strong feelings about in this? This is neither terrible nor great, and there is probably heaps more out there like it. It was pure dumb luck that this came to be something I listened to when I was younger, and so made it into my 100 playlist. I have some residual fondness for it. I feel the same way about many things that make the charts.

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
What is it? Female, singer songwriter
How'd I find it? last.fm recs?
I'm surprised this isn't a regular on "best albums of all time" lists. Not weird enough maybe, though there's plenty of MOR rock that seems to be popular. I used to like this just for how "nice" it sounded, but now, four years later, I think I understand the lyrics and emotion. Plus, I think it's more socially acceptable to like her now.

The Whitlams - Love This City
What is it? Piano rock, adult contemporary
How'd I find it? jjj plays No Aphrodisiac when it dies
This band seems extremely bland at first listen, yet they've performed with the Sydney Symphony and Richard Tognetti (who is pretty damn cool) is a fan. Though I guess wordy piano pop is the kind of thing that audience would like. Title track and Blow Up The Pokies are great though, and the vocalist reminds me of Darren Hanlon.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains
What is it? singer-songwriter, folk
How'd I find it? Spotify recommendation
People like bringing up the low budget but this sounds pretty nice to me. Not that anybody talks about this much, which is a shame. I've thought of culling some weaker tracks and replacing them with the bonus ones so I have something that's the right length for my commute, but I don't know what to cut. Seriously, how did My Favourite Buildings not make it in the first place?

Silverchair - Young Modern
What is it? rock, pop
How'd I find it? radio
Well, this isn't as bad as I expected. It's fun-mediocre, like the later Muse albums. Straight Lines is just awful though. If You Keep Losing Sleep could be a Panic! At The Disco song (that's not a insult). I think they're from a similar time period. Wait, I take that second sentence back, this isn't fun anymore. I don't want to listen to a 7-minute song. Wanky.

God, what a week.

Lisa Mitchell - Wonder
What is it? female singer-songwriter
How'd I find it? jjj
I remember the outrage when this album won her the Australian Music Prize. For once, I think the hate is unjustified. A thing's not bad just because it isn't a gritty guitar rock album, right? Not that I don't have issues with this album. I hate the cloying, cutesy accent. It doesn't offer anything original. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but it's so, so pretty.

Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
What is it? female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? Hype Machine
Loved Video Games, enjoyed some of the other songs/demos, had high expectations for this. Never have high expectations, people. Unfortunately, this album is like wading through melted cheese. Hot, but suffocating and cheesy. Some people would love it, I did not.

The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane
What is it? summery guitar pop
How'd I find it? That bridge
I listened to this for the first time while going through the Hottest Aus Albums industry list. I didn't quite get it then, and abandoned it until sometime last year, when there was a Railpage thread on CityRail in pop culture and Streets Of Your Town was linked. Don't know why my music teacher never recommended this, though maybe that's why I'm able like this band so much. He was also less punctual than CityRail.

You Am I - Hi Fi Way
What is it? Rock, male vocalist
How'd I find it? industry list
Yeah, I like Hourly, Daily more. I think that might be because I heard it first, and listened to it on repeat while driving to Sydney. I'm yet to associate this one with anything apart from the great show I went to last year. Seeing Tim Rogers make gun shooting motions with his guitar has greatly enhanced Applecross Wing Commander for me.

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
What is it? Jangle pop, whatever that is
How'd I find it? Every hipster teenager ever
This has become one of those things that I never put on myself because it's such a damn cliche, but still appreciate when I hear it "out in the wild". I mean, if you ask me if I like The Smiths, I'd just shrug and say, "yeah, they're fine", but when I listen to this I think, "wow, this is great and should be longer!" Now I will soon completely forget about ever thinking that.

Argh I've fallen way behind schedule. Let's make this a March-April of 100 Albums?

Kate Miller-Heidke - O Vertigo!
What is it? Female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? Radio
I've always liked her voice, but I've never been 100% into everything else about her music. Always a bit too average, or overproduced. But I still followed her because I'd seen live and she was great, and she once tweeted something disparaging about Richard Kingsmill. This is her best album yet. Still a bit too glossy, but a lot more consistent.

Sia - Colour The Small One
What is it? Female vocalist, chamber pop
How'd I find it? Radio
Not really feeling the hype on this one. I love her voice, and I normally like this type of sound, but I found it hard to pay attention to. The production puts it a notch above the average acoustic "TV drama soundtrack" music. I just don't feel like getting to know a whole new album of sad-ish music. I've already got my go-to mopey music sorted out.

My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me The Workhorse
What is it? Female vocalist, chamber pop
How'd I find it? last.fm rec
Here's that favourite dramatic sad music I was talking about. It's chamber pop, but there's also some weird percussive noises that I can't quite identify, and I really like that sort of thing. I got Something Of An End for free off last.fm a few years ago, and I it was one of very few freebies that I've kept. Sometimes I miss being a melodramatic teenager.

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
What is it? Indie rock, apparently somewhat country
How'd I find it? This list
This is pretty much the only album of theirs I'm really familiar with, so when I went to see them, I expected them to be one of those soft, quiet, adult-alt type shows. Nope. Singer was shouty and energetic as hell. Hearing a different take on these songs was great.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
What is it? Indie
How'd I find it? Played on jjj
Ah, the sound of my high school years. Really only got into this album because of the cool Chrome Experiment, and so did one of my school friends, I think. Now I'm a bit older, I see why people think this one is boring. It's like they stretched the goodness out a bit thin, because all of the songs are fine, but none are truly great like in previous albums.

Unrelated, but ugh at a certain mediocre band's frontperson having a whinge about critics. They sound like those kids on Deviantart who cry about constructive criticism.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
What is it? acoustic/piano ballads
How'd I find it? cheesy tourism ad
Not bad but a bit overrated, maybe. Sometimes an artist will release an "accessible" new album to huge critical acclaim because their old stuff was great but underrated. Also, Australia will freak out about anything that gets acclaim/popularity overseas (e.g. INXS). I think the appeal is the vocal and general "sound", rather than the songwriting/composition. (The Ship Song is ok.)

Muse - Black Holes & Revelations
What is it? Space rock, apparently
How'd I find it? Friends at school liked them
I completely stopped listening to Muse after I went to the concert a few years ago. It's just not the same without the flashy lights and lasers. Critics probably hated this and the albums before it because it's not frail and indie. They'd eat it up now in this age of poptimism, because it is great stupid fun. Hell, I've got thousands of scribbles for them and I'm still having fun now.

Missy Higgins - The Sound Of White 
What is it? female singer songwriter
How'd I find it? Radio
Surely someone else out there has already made a joke about this album's title. I think they call this type of music "Lilith Fair". Which is probably sexist, but really, this album is generic. The only thing it's got going for it is her accent, and maybe The Special Two.

Asami Shimoda - Prism 
What is it? Vocaloid voice actor sings Vocaloid songs
How'd I find it? I don't remember
I like to think of Vocaloid songs as being demos for real singers, but I've never heard a human cover that improves on the original. This is about as close as it gets. The vocal is a fair bit weaker-sounding, and not much more emotive, but if I had to tell someone about one of my favourite jpop songs, I'd probably link them to this instead of the robot version.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
What is it? indie pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? Country Mile was in a fanmix
I first discovered this band when I was still into really basic, mainstream stuff, and I found them difficult back then. I gave them another go when I saw Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken topping a year chart on RYM. Now they just sound like Belle & Sebastian with an incomprehensible female vocalist. Everything's better with incomprehensible female vocalists.

This is so time-consuming.

Crowded House - Crowded House
What is it? pop rock, 80s
How'd I find it? That radio station that plays old music
The fact that they were played on that station, and people I found annoying liked them really put me off this band for a long time. But then I saw a uni friend spamming them on Spotify, so I thought I should give them a go. Thank God for that. Don't Dream It's Over is up there with Wide Open Road and Cattle & Cane, and the rest is pretty good too.

The Go-Betweens - Before Hollywood
What is it? Jangle pop, according to rym
How'd I find it? A bridge in Brisbane
I am so glad that I got into Go-Betweens after high school, and that nobody suggested them to me. It'd be a shame to associate this band with any person who could screw me over at any moment. Plus if nobody knows about this thing they can't say anything bad about it! Cattle & Cane is my number one most favourite song ever. I also quite like Two Steps Step Out and That Way.

Ai Otsuka - LOVE LETTER
What is it? J-pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? Draw With Me
This might by my favourite mainstream J-pop album. There isn't a single cringey moment on it, except maybe the child saying "koi" on the last track. Rocket Sneaker is another one of those songs I'd want as an anime opening. Also, this album seems to be evidence that Asian pop singers are just putting on the cutesy voice, because there is one fabulous jazzy alto song.

The Dismemberment Plan - Change
What is it? indie rock, kind of emo
How'd I find it? An article about the influence of Pitchfork
Hmm, I used to really like this band. Or maybe I just really liked Emergency & I, I'm not sure. This is okay, not great. There are some good lyrics here (Ellen And Ben) and Time Bomb is a great feel-crap song. Maybe I'm just not feeling this today. I'm more annoyed-angry than sad-angry at the moment.

The National - High Violet
What is it? "sad bastard melodrama", indie rock
How'd I find it? Father heard about it, probably from mX
My father said this was boring. I agreed at first, but after a lot of listens, it eventually grew on me. I was young, impressionable, and more likely to trust reviews. Another factor was that it took forever to even learn the names of the songs, so I had to keep listening through the whole thing to find my favourite ones (Conversation 16 and Bloodbuzz Ohio).

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 
What is it? Indie rock, strings, organ
How'd I find it? Video of them performing in an elevator
The appeal of Arcade Fire is the overblown melodrama, but this is just a bit too much. Church organ and complaining about religion? No wonder this is their least popular album. I only ever listen to Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, The Well And The Lighthouse, and My Body Is A Cage. That last one ought to be a future classic.

Darren Hanlon - Fingertips and Mountaintops
What is it? Male singer-songwriter, acoustic
How'd I find it? Probably in some list of Australian musicians
Does this count as twee? That's what it makes me think of. I don't have a problem with that, though some people find it annoying. Is that why there isn't much talk about this album? Well, that's a shame, because it's lovely. Lyrics are good enough that I want to grab a physical copy for the liner notes, but I can't find it anywhere.

Catcall - The Warmest Place
What is it? Female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? Mess+Noise
I remember when it was big deal that Pitchfork gave this a negative review. I'm generally ok with Pitchfork, though I do think sometimes they give good scores to mediocre albums by bands that they've hyped for a long time, and bad scores to things they overlooked. I'd have given this at least a 6. The World Is Ours is fantastic.

cosMo@暴走P - 初音ミクの消失
What is it? Vocaloid, I don't even know
How'd I find it? Brisbane Square Library
Not sure if this album is 100% Vocaloid, but if it is, it's extremely impressive. I'm sure there's a genre tag for this kind of thing, but I know nothing about electronic. Happy hardcore, maybe? There are a few songs that are stupidly fast and cheery. This is one of those albums that I want to make friends listen to just to see their reaction.

Augie March - Strange Bird
What is it? folk, rock
How'd I find it? The ubiquity of One Crowded Hour
Shit, this album is over ten years old. Lots of albums I'm listening to are, but this one just sounds fresh and not dated. Possibly because the mainstream loves folk music at the moment. Come back and ask me about this album in a month's time; I still don't know it well enough to have a strong opinion. I currently like This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers and Addle Brains.

Kanon Wakeshima - Shinsoku Dolce
What is it? Female vocalist, cello, gothic pop?
How'd I find it? Searched the "cello" tag on last.fm
I guess I don't really get the hubbub about Kyary Pamyu Pamyu because I'm used to cute/weird Japanese music with a specific aesthetic. Maybe this isn't as fun or trendy, but I think it's of a similar quality. I remember listening to Ennui Kibun a ridiculous number of times, and Sweet Ticket was the instrumental interlude in a lot of my playlists.

Kirin J Callinan - Embracism
What is it? Man with strong Aus accent sings over noises
How'd I find it? Mess+Noise
So he didn't win the Australian Music Prize. Come on, who actually expects the best album to win? To be completely honest, I think this was a bit overhyped. Not to say that it's bad, but... actually, I don't see anything better on the shortlist. Okay, okay, this is good. I like this kind of distinctive, "ugly" voice. From what I've read, he's probably better live than on record.

The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
What is it? Guitar, pop
How'd I find it? Probably one of those best Aus albums lists
I've listened to this album a lot without really "getting it". I had my Australian playlist on shuffle one day, Wide Open Road played, and despite having heard it many times before, I was completely blown away. I have no idea why that happens, but it's enough for me to occasionally give this album another go. It gets better with every listen.

Marina and The Diamonds - Electra Heart
What is it? Dance, electropop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? ONTD
Whenever I hear anything from this album, I think of the time my hipster-in-denial friend complained that hipsters were starting to like it. I don't understand why people were crying that she sold out with this; the first album really didn't sound that indie. At the risk of sounding pretentious, this isn't the kind of music I ever want to hear a whole album of, but some of the songs are fun by themselves. Radioactive is my favourite.

Sarah Blasko - What The Sea Wants The Sea Will Have
What is it? female vocalist, pop,
How'd I find it? Indooroopilly Library
This album has the nicest liner notes I've ever seen. The paper is thick and glossy, and I love the art. I don't know why this is the least popular of her albums, because it's at least as good as As Day Follows Night, if not better. Well, I like it more. Maybe it's this Robert F. Cranny doing it, he also co-wrote/produced parts of The Cat. Highlight is Queen Of Apology.

Oh man, it's the 4th already.

Moumoon - Moumoon
What is it? J-Pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? This Livejournal comm, I think
Kicking off the morning with an old J-Pop album I used to like, because I'm studying Japanese this semester. This album is completely unremarkable and has a lot of clunky key changes, but I still kinda like it as background music. Thinking something isn't good but still enjoying it is a valid opinion, and it doesn't have to be ironic.

ELECTROCUTICA - REVERSUS
What is it? electronic, idm, Vocaloid
How'd I find it? Vocaloid producer AVTechNo
And now for the complete opposite, Japanese not-quite-pop. The title track is like a futuristic O Fortuna. Most of this is pretty unpredictable, not really songs in the verse-chorus etc. style. Not on this album but by the same producer is iDolla, one of my favourite Vocaloid tracks.

Kimbra - Vows
What is it? female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? Some people I knew in school were fans
Someone on Facebook posted a song from this on the resident weeaboo's page saying it reminded her of "anime music". I'm kinda hearing it... it's a bit retro, but not to the point that it sounds dated or gimmicky. Lovely first half, second gets a bit flat until the last track, a song that is right up my street. (I don't know why the US/UK version ends with Warrior.)

The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy
What is it? chamber folk
How'd I find it? Nominated for an ARIA a few years back
Here's an album I'm not familiar with. So long, so slow, maybe it's a grower. Definitely will be adding it to my phone for further listening. Really similar to Augie March, but less poppy, more stately and beautiful. Land Of The Bloody Unknown is fantastic. Is that train guard chatter I hear in Sydney To Newcastle? I'm sold.

Nicole Atkins - Neptune City
What is it? Female vocalist, pop
How'd I find it? People compared Lana Del Rey to her on ONTD
I think this is better than Born To Die, even though it's not be as nicely produced and the singer isn't as stylish. Also, the mastering sounds a bit brickwalled, unless I just have a bad copy. I don't know why people describe this as soul, unless that's just a word that means "alto singer". Whatever, it's great to have decent songs that are actually in my range. This version of the title track goes on my phone every time I visit Brisbane.

Pixies - Doolittle 
What is it? noisy shouty alt rock
How'd I find it? High school crush's favourite album
I don't listen to this anymore. I can't fault it; it's hailed as the father of indie but it's still not even too overrated. Every song is 4-5 star quality. Future tryhards will probably wear its cover on t-shirts. I just don't want to hear the songs of high school enemies. If you've never listened to it, you really should.

Powderfinger - Odyssey Number Five
What is it? radio friendly rock
How'd I find it? Topped Hottest 100 Australian albums poll
I like My Happiness. Didn't know QR trains used to have buttons like that, and look at old Roma Steet! Oh, it leads quite nicely into The Metre too. This is better than I expect from a poll-winner. There's something a bit sterile about it that keeps me from really liking it and a lot of the songs could be shorter (ugh Thrillology), but I'd still be stoked if they name that new bus/train tunnel after the band.

You Am I - Hourly, Daily
What is it? alt rock (what does that even mean?)
How'd I find it? This list
I like that this band is more Sydney than Powderfinger is Brisbane. That's pretty important to me. I listened to this album so many times while driving to between those two cities. I don't care what the world thinks; this is a five-star album for me. "Fourteen year olds, screaming get out of my country," "We ain't going west of the city," and I smile every time I see the "470 to Circular Quay".

wowaka - SEVEN GIRLS' DISCHORD
What is it? Vocaloid pop, a bit alt rock in parts
How'd I find it? A Livejournal comm called singing_robots
Rolling Girl (track 2) and this version of World's End Dancehall (6) are the songs I would use as OP/ED if my life were an anime. This producer's style is so jagged that it makes the robot voices sound natural, which is a much better approach than putting the computer voice in the middle of an emotional piano ballad. I can't think of any Western equivalent for this, or even things to compare it to.

Megan Washington - I Believe You Liar
What is it? "Indie" female vocalist pop
How'd I find it? A song was played on Nova
Everett True's review is spot-on, I reckon. She's got a great voice, but her singing sounds unemotional. The production is like cling wrap. Still, there's some good potential there. I didn't know Rich Kids was about Brisbane until I read that review, but listening to it now, yeah, I've lived that. The guy I didn't wanna dance with was spotted busking near King George Square when I visited a year later.

Found out about this through a Reddit post. Tried gathering 100 Australian albums at first, but that turned out too homogeneous, so it'll be half Australian, half other. Non-Spotify links provided where possible.

Venetian Snares - Rossz csillag alatt született
What is it? Orchestral samples, breakcore
How'd I find it? Clicked a random genre on rym and tried the top album.
I doubt that this really is the best of the genre, just one of the more accessible. Its rating has increased a bit since I first found it, possibly due to being featured on a lot of /mu/ lists. It's the kind of sad/abrasive thing a lot of their audience like. Of course the Elgar Cello Concerto is in there. I'd love to hear this kind of thing in a game/movie soundtrack.

JYONGRI - Love Forever
What is it? Mid-2000s J-Pop, female vocalist
How'd I find it? This song was used in The World Ends With You.
Sounds super dated, though I think it did back when I first heard it in 2009 anyway (like a lot of J-Pop). This sound will probably become trendy again though, with the jelly sandals and chokers I've been seeing on the street. I struggled to stay awake for the whole album, but the linked song and other ballads still pretty good, seeing as sad piano ballads don't go out of style.

Angus & Julia Stone - Down The Way
What is it? Indie folk-pop, adult contemporary, when female vocalists imitate Bjork
How'd I find it? Everywhere on the radio in 2010!
Don't like them but glad they exist because they gave me something to argue about with my old music teacher. I've eventually come around to the everything he recommended except this. Every time I listen to this album I'm thinking, "nah, it's probably not as bad as I remembered." But this is the soundtrack of basic middle-class white people and that's nails on chalkboard for me. I keep trying anyway.

Ben Salter - The Cat
What is it? Male singer-songwriter, Australian, saxophones
How'd I find it? I don't remember exactly, but it involved this video.
I'm glad that I lived in Toowong, because it seems like lots of artsy types come from the inner-west, and I like seeing places I know in stuff. If I had friends who liked this kind of music, I'd be screaming at them to listen to this, because it's one of my favourite albums ever. It's got lush instrumentation, strong vocals, Brisbane, trains, bus numbers, and cats. Perfect.

Simon Bookish - Everything/Everything
What is it? Male singer-songwriter, art pop, chamber pop
How'd I find it? Rec'd by last.fm because I listened to Sufjan Stevens and Patrick Wolf
He has fewer Facebook likes than a generic Brisbane band I know of, how depressing. I want to throw money at this guy but this album isn't on his Bandcamp! I wanted to hear Philip Glass in pop form, and this delivers that and weirder. This is my niche. A 4.5 star review on RYM simply states, "Songs about not fucking".

St Vincent: Nah, not really feeling it. I'm over both Birth In Reverse and Digital Witness. The rest of the album is similarly dull and the "image" seems way too forced. This person explains it pretty well. This one is a bit harsh but I kinda feel the same way.

You Beauty: Jersey Flegg is currently my favourite 2014 album. Best legit free thing I've ever heard. I don't even like football.

The National: Watched the live stream, don't regret not going at all. I don't think their music suits that kind of setting, though I was a bit moved by Mr November at the end.

Neil Finn & Paul Kelly: Only just noticed that the full set is on Youtube, but I've been listening to the album on Spotify. Here's something I regret not attending. I was planning to, but I woke up late and by then it was sold out already!

Megan Washington: New single is eh. I still have hope that she may release something that I'll like as much as Sentimental Education. (Rich Kids could've been good too if the production wasn't so bland.)

Sky Ferreira: I was enjoying her album a bit at the beginning of the month, but not so much now. I think I might like the Unknown Mortal Orchestra remix of Everything Is Embarrassing more than the original.

Spotify: Jesus, I wish they'd advertise something other than condoms and alcohol, two things that I have zero interest in. Hell, I'm more interested in that train station and duck pond.

Infrastructure in Brisbane: Not really music-related, but there's a competition to name Brisbane's new tunnel, and lots of people are going for another band. I've been joking about a Powderfinger Tunnel since they built the Go-Between Bridge. Regurgitator Tunnel would be acceptable also.

Australian Compilations: Look at this link! Damn, wish I'd discovered this earlier. One of the better Australian music compilations I've seen. Dirty Jeans has a pretty average second half (the decline of jjj?) and Great Australian Songbook is just mostly tragic.

Older things I just discovered:
Augie March - Addle Brains
The Magnetic Fields - Born On A Train
Crowded House - Private Universe

Hottest 100 Vote: 
The Drones - Why Write A Letter That You’ll Never Send
Lorde - Ribs
Vampire Weekend - Step
The National - Sea Of Love
Kirin J Callinan - Embracism
Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener
Rainbow Chan - Haircut
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Janelle Monae - Q.U.E.E.N. {Ft. Erykah Badu}

In descending order of how much I like them. I think the only ones to make it will be Step, Reflektor, and Do I Wanna Know? No sure what will be No. 1. My friend and I guess it'll be Royals, Get Lucky, or Riptide.

Ooh, Warmest 100 is predicting Riptide as No. 1. I'm not surprised. It reminds me of Big Jet Plane, being an aggressively... ah, I should save that for the 26th.

Other Triple J Things: People are arguing about jjj and homogenizing again. Nothing new to me. Yeah, I don't like the station much, despite being squarely in its target demographic, and sometimes I find even Nova easier (less annoying) to listen to, but after talking with a friend, I think the problem lies with the audience. They do play some decent stuff, but the majority likes dumb crap, which is how it goes with every kind of art. Oh well. Just listen to 4ZZZ or FBi or something.

Hey, they're talking about the Dessner-Greenwood classical collaboration now, that's something good!

Things I Just Discovered:
Kimbra - The Build-Up | Is that a prepared piano? It's a shame I never noticed this song earlier; I always zone out towards the end of albums.
The Triffids - Wide Open Road | It's up there with Cattle & Cane, I think!
Midnight Oil - Power And The Passion | For some reason I was expecting something MOR, but this is pretty fun.

Top Artists:

1. The Go-Betweens [1,008]
2.  Vampire Weekend [408]
3.  You Am I [407]
4.  The National [397]
5.  Arcade Fire [388]
6.  Robyn Hitchcock [299]
7.  Kraftwerk [283]
8.  Dirty Projectors [278]
9.  Ben Salter [262]
10.  The Drones [247]