1. Mitski - First Love/Late Spring
This is the kind of big dramatic thing I like to sing to.

2. Emma Louise - West End Kids
Any song that explicitly references Brisbane immediately goes on my high rotation playlist.

3. Shiina Ringo - Marunouchi Sadistic
This might be the best JPop song I've ever heard. It's got the squeaky female vocal, the coffee-shop jazz vibe, and it seems to be about something unwholesome and dark.

4. Mitski - Your Best American Girl
This song showed the world that Asian women can do sad a hundred times better than any white man.

5. Mitski - I Bet On Losing Dogs
An anthem for people who self-sabotage because they don't believe in themselves. Also kind of how I feel about my PhD.

6. Sufjan Stevens - Say Yes To Michigan!
This song is like wrapping yourself with a warm blanket and sitting by the window on a sunny but freezing winter day.

7. Shiina Ringo - Tsumi To Batsu
Shit man.

8. Gretta Ray - Drive
I first heard this song while in a car with this guy, and the song was so at odds with the mood in the car that I realized that I really didn't like him. Thanks, random high schooler.

9. San Cisco - Awkward
The chorus plays in my head every time I have an awkward interaction at work, which is all the time.

10. Megan Washington - How To Tame Lions
I feel this, and I'm not even sure what this is.

I don't think I listened to any new albums enough to make a list of favourite 2015 albums. I can't post last.fm stats either because I've been using Apple Music and other stuff. So here are some tracks I probably played a lot.

Natalie Prass - Violently
Mostly here for that pretty, pretty bridge.

Courtney Barnett - Depreston
Hot damn, Pitchfork put this as the 9th best track of 2015. I couldn't get into the rest of the album, but I love this. For some reason, I liked to have it playing out of my phone while I was in the shower.

Lianne La Havas - Tokyo
This is almost perfectly within my voice range, and I too have been alone in Tokyo this year, metaphorically.

The Drones - Taman Shud
Like that rant in Why Write A Letter You'll Never Send, but angrier and catchier. It's rare to find a tasteful song that goes, "I don't give a fuck about..."

Grimes - Flesh Without Blood
Guitar parts make me think of mid-2000s radio pop-rock songs, e.g. Kelly Clarkson. I also really like Scream, because I have never heard good Chinese rapping before.

Susanne Sundfor - Kamikaze
"Tonight is the night we might fall together." Might.

Lana Del Rey - Terence Loves You
I don't matter to anyone.

Sufjan Stevens - Blue Bucket Of Gold
I had a lot of trouble getting into Carrie & Lowell, until I realized that it's almost Oregon: The Album. I like the idea of linking your small, personal sadness to big, permanent things like places.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Your Type
Honestly, I could pick almost anything from this album, but I'll go with this one because it's the latest single. There's a roughness to her voice in the chorus here that makes it a bit more interesting. Also worth mentioning: Let's Get Lost, When I Needed You, and Run Away With Me.

RIP Mess+Noise. Now where will I go for reviews of Australian things nobody has ever heard of?

The Singles Jukebox likes a Thai song. It actually is decent, but I'm sure it's not popular in Thailand. I watched some music video program on TV there once and I think only one song got a passing grade for me.

New Carly Rae Jepsen. Really reminds me of Taylor Swift's 1989, probably because of the similar nostalgic production. The beginning of the video screams Lana Del Rey, though I guess a lot of 1989 did that too. The controversial sax-synth noise reminds me of Midnight City, so it gets a pass from me.

Tangent: I think people get more into mainstream music as they age not just because of laziness, but because it starts sounding like the alt music of their youth.

New Lana Del Rey. It's very pretty, and I like the return to the movie score sound. The ending isn't great, but I'm guessing it'll lead on to something bigger and better on the album.

Shiina Ringo - Tsumi to Batsu (live). I've linked it before, but I'll link it again because it's still on high rotation.

fun. - Light A Roman Candle With Me. I was reminded of this song by a screenshot of Apple Music with the album cover. It was very popular in fanmixes a few years back. It's all "why isn't this a relationship?" and cute imagery. (And my voice might crack at you look for a legend, I'm looking for common ground.)

Panic! At The Disco - Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met). Yeah, I know, this band. And it has singing children in it! Gross! But there's something about that chorus that keeps bringing me back to it years after the emo kid in my homeroom played it at a birthday party.

Tegan & Sara - Superstar. Well, of course they disowned this song; they ended up getting big off having Closer on Glee. Closer is ok, but I definitely prefer this rougher sound. It almost sounds like a demo.

Natalie Prass - self titled
I'm surprised at how universally praised this is by critics, while not even cracking the top 100 of 2015 on rym. The music is beautiful, the vocals are sweet, and there's not a track that's noticeably worse than the others. But I can't go for those lyrics. I know it's a breakup album, but I can only listen to so much "why don't you love me?". The one track I've got on repeat is Violently. "And I'll break by arms 'cause they want to hold you" is the kind of thing I'm into.

Megan Washington
I haven't seen much on the internet about Insomnia. Its highs are higher than her debut. I've probably mentioned before that Sentimental Education is my favourite track of hers, and it's back on high rotation. Holy Moses is a fun singalong now that my voice is a bit higher, not to mention its lyrical relevance.

Kimbra - As You Are
I didn't give The Golden Echo as much attention as I should've because it got a fairly negative review from someone I follow, and I generally can't be bothered with long albums. I gave As You Are a go because I saw it in Kimbra's top tracks on Spotify. "Honey that hourglass got me thinkin', you ain't no friend of mine" 

The Church - Wide Open Road
The original is great, but a bit of extra jangliness and modern recording helps. According to Wikipedia, Paul Kelly has also done a cover, but there doesn't seem to be a recording. Damn.


Crowded House - Don't Stop Now
"Give me something I can cry about." Oh wait, this song is about the singer's wife driving and getting lost? Wow. I feel like it ought to be placed next to The Go-Betweens' Finding You on a mixtape. They're both about driving, getting lost, and mention lightning.

Computer died so I haven't been able to scrobble to last.fm. Guess I should note down what I've been spamming on my commute lately.

The Church - Anna Miranda
Distance alters all our words, time meanders | I don't know why I've taken to this random bonus track.

Augie March - Toorak Fires
It's rough and it really sounds like some of the lyrics haven't quite been worked out. But I'm still noticing new layers in it every time I listen.

Hachi - Panda Hero
Basically the same as Matryoshka, but with a few more layers and hooks. I think the album version sounds a bit better than the one I linked here.

rerulili - Spinal Fluid Explosion Girl
I don't like macarons, but everything else in the lyrics is uncannily perfect. It is probably possible for the arrangement to be better, and a good human singer would be preferred, but I haven't found any version that does both well.

wowaka - Unhappy Refrain
iu nara sore wa, sore wa happy | It's not that great of a song, but I need something loud and punchy to drown out the crying children on the train. I can sort of imagine it being an opening theme to my life too. That's what I think about when I'm staring out the window.

Shiina Ringo - Tsumi to Batsu
Ai shiteru hitori nakiwameite | This is about to become the song that I have on repeat while I mope on the floor of my room.

Shiina Ringo - Yattsuke Shigoto
Nani mo ii to omoenai | Wow, just typing that made me think of standing on my underground train platform.

Wowaka ft. marina - Ura-omote Lovers
I found this on Grooveshark and can't find any reference to it anywhere else. Good thing I saved it. I really prefer this arrangement by sasakure.UK (I think?). The lower key suits it well; the original was too shrieky for my taste. 

Obligatory rant about this:
Did you think I grew up and chilled out about "Best Australian ___" lists? No! Never! Yeah, I know all the top 10 has to be MOR inoffensive stuff, and that's fine. But the likes of The Saints, The Go-Betweens, The Triffids not being in the top 20 is unacceptable. What is Savage Garden doing up there?

Tori Amos
Pitchfork gave the re-release of Little Earthquakes 8.6, so I'm listening to it again. I thought it was influential enough to score higher than that. I think they gave some Oasis reissue a higher score, and that's not right.

Another Japanese list
I wouldn't ordinarily pay attention to any Rolling Stone list, but this one is a bit odd. Merzbow in the same list as Utada Hikaru? Also, interesting points about record labels not liking these kinds of lists.

Katamari Fortissimo Damacy
First: oh my god Katamari Damacy is over 10 years old now. This album is amazing and I don't know how I've only just downloaded it now. Katamari On The Rocks is hilarious in a good way, which is not something I can often say about music. Even the grumpy people at rym like it. "It's the Japanese version of Illinois" summarizes its scope.

From this list here. This was the best I could find when looking for a list of  "classic" Japanese songs. English sources that talk about J-pop mostly focus on idols or anime songs. The list is a bit outdated, but it covers a good variety of genres.

1. Southern All-Stars
tsunami (2000)
涙の海で抱かれたい　～sea Of Love～  (2003)

2. YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
firecracker (1978)
solid state survivor (1979)

3. Yumi Matsutoya
ひこうき雲 (1973)
ルージュの伝言 (1975)

4. Happy End
風をあつめて (1971)
夏なんです (1971)

5. Hibari Misora
川の流れのように (1988) - voted best Japanese song of all time in 1997
愛燦燦 (1986)

6. Tatsuro Yamashita
Ride On Time (1980)
Christmas Eve (1983)

7. Momoe Yamaguchi
さよならの向こう側 (1980)
秋桜 (1977)

8. Yosui Inoue
夢の中へ (1989)
少年時代 (1990)

9. Eiichi Ohtaki (member of Happy End)
君は天然色 (1981)
さらばシベリア鉄道 (1980)

10. Seiko Matsuda
風は秋色 (1980)
あなたに逢いたくて ～Missing You～ (1996)

11. Ryuichi Sakamoto (member of YMO)
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1983)
bibo no aozora (1996)

12. Keisuke Kuwata (member of Southern All-Stars)
明日晴れるかな (2007)
白い恋人達 (2001)

13. Motoharu Sano
Visitors (1984)
アンジェリーナ (1980)

14. Eikichi Yazawa
止まらないHA～HA (1986)
I LOVE YOU, OK (1975)

15. Flipper's Guitar
恋とマシンガン (1990) - highlight of this quarter of the list for me.
Groove Tube (1991)

16. RC Succession
I LIKE YOU (1990)
Transistor Radio (1980)

17. Kenji Sawada
時の過ぎゆくままに (1975)
勝手にしやがれ (1977)

18. Kyu Sakamoto
上を向いて歩こう (1961) - aka Sukiyaki. The only Japanese song to top the Billboard 100.
坂本九見上げてごらん夜の星を (1963)

19. The Blue Hearts
Linda Linda (1987) - heard it in Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
Train-Train (1988)

20. Miyuki Nakajima
わかれうた (1977)
地上の星 (2000)

21. Tetsuya Komura
Running to Horizon (1989)
I want you back (1989)

22. Boowy
Marionette (1987)
わがままジュリエット (1986)

23. Yutaka Ozaki
I Love You (1991)
Oh My Little Girl (1991)

24. Hikaru Utada
First Love (1999)
travelling (2001)

25. Tamio Okuda
愛のために (1994)
息子 (1995)

2015 Releases

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
This is super hyped, but I'm not totally won over yet. I like the songs that are on Spotify, so there's hope.

Courtney Barnett - Depreston
"If you've got a spare half a million, you could knock it down and start rebuilding" makes me think of my friend who is knocking down his house and splitting the lot in half. Early contender for song of the year for me. Future Australian classic, even.

Susanne Sundfor - Ten Love Songs
This is fun. Current highlight for me is Kamikaze.

The Grates - 7-Eleven
Used to hate this band. But this song was just what I needed after coming back from two weeks in Japan, which involved a lot of hanging around in convenience stores. "I light up like a NightOwl in Brisbane" gets it some points too.


Vocaloid - Because I actually heard Vocaloid songs playing in shops in Japan.

rerulili - Spinal Fluid Explosion Girl
This is it, this is my theme song. Those lyrics are on point. There should be more pop songs with jazz piano and chiptune together.

hachi - Panda Hero
Does this song have two bridges? Excellent. Covers don't hold up to the original, because I think it works better with the deadpan, robot voice. Everyone seems to think it needs to be shouted because of the rollicking backing track.

Jin - Kagerou Days
Worth watching the PV and reading the subs.


Other things

Halfway - Dulcify
Won Song of the Year at the Queensland Music Awards. Improves my opinion of QLD slightly. But they seem to have misplaced 2014 on the website.

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.