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.