Haim: Collapse Board review. Not the best review, but I agree with the sentiment. I like this paragraph because it's what I think about a lot of people I know:

"But if you’re a young person out there, like 15 or under, I’m willing to cut you a little slack. Look, I don’t deny the pleasure you get from this music, but your ability to be moved by it says more about the depth/breadth of your emotions, the thrill of being alive, than it does about Haim."

I also agree with this comment thread from the AV Club review. "generic kinda chart-pop with an indie blog backup plan" seems to be the new big thing, e.g. Lana Del Rey, Lorde.

Arcade Fire: New album is way too long. I'm sure I'll never truly love it because it's longer than my commute! I don't even want to listen to it at home. Reviewers seem to like it though.

Dismemberment Plan: Ouch. Gonna pretend they never released that.

Anna Calvi: A bit sad that I only realized that she released a new album because it was reviewed in MX. Enjoying it so far.

Melt-Banana: Hey, it's something that sounds a bit like Vocaloid songs I used to like, but critic-sanctioned!

Spotify: Recommended a song called "I Often Dream Of Trains" to me. I love it.

Triple J: Took over Dig Music. Gotta go dig up those articles about the jjj monopoly again!

ARIA Awards: I'll be missing them this year because I'm going to see the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It's probably better for my blood pressure that way, because ugh those nominees. The only band I care about is The Drones, and they won't win anything.

X Factor: Hooray for Dami Im, doing us Asians proud, I guess. Not surprising, since the audience for this kind of thing is little girls (who vote for little boys) and Asians of all ages. I hoping she wouldn't win though, since winning seems to be a career killer.

Lorde - Pure Heroine: A bit annoyed that the album stream is only available to the US. Found a way to listen to it anyway. I like the sound, but everything else is meh..  Cringey lyrics at times, but I guess she's just a kid. It's like pop music for people who think they're too good for it.  Highlight for me is "Ribs" for its interesting pace and "Lover's Spit" shout-out.

Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady: I always skip those skits tbh. I don't care. I still need to give the rest of it a few more listens.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor: Why does this song need to be so long? Everyone seems to like it. I thought it was fine until I read the lyrics. Doesn't sound much more mature than the 16 year-old mentioned above.

Spotify: Everybody is suddenly getting into Allo Darlin's "Tallulah". Yes, it's a song about leaving Brisbane. Wish fulfillment, I guess. Also, I made a friend who likes some similar stuff as me! An Asian too! She is a breath of fresh air on my Spotify Social feed.

Silverchair: Just made the front page of Reddit. I had no idea people outside Australia cared about them. "Nirvana in Pajamas". Excellent.

This is what I get for choosing advanced-level subjects as electives.

You Am I: Saw them at the Enmore in August. That was cool. Surprised that they did Berlin Chair, since they didn't in Brisbane, and I'd assumed it was like their "Creep". Tim Rogers did make a bit of a joke about "Berlin Chair Heights".

John Adams: Conducted the Sydney Symphony last Friday. Comments from the crowd indicated that they were not entirely sold on him being a conductor. I enjoyed it well enough, though I couldn't really get used to the idea of a saxophone concerto. It doesn't sound right!

Julia Holter: New album, BNM'd. I listened to it twice. It's pretty and makes for nice background music, but I'm yet to find any standout track. That comes with time, I guess.

King Krule: First thought was "British Gareth Liddiard." Then I looked him up and found that he's a weedy redhead kid five days younger than me. Shit, I've accomplished nothing with my life. (If only the album didn't sound so... overproduced?)

Rainbow Chan: "Skinny Dipping" is damn catchy. Also, omg an Asian-Australian musician.

Speedy Ortiz: Vocalist described on Triple J as sounding a bit like Fiona Apple, which was odd since the station pretty much never plays her. My first thought was Liz Phair. Seems like the kind of thing that will be forgotten before the year is finished.

The Dismemberment Plan: Two new songs! Not particularly enamoured by either though. I will still be cautiously excited about their album.

Temi Dollface: "Pata Pata" was featured on The Singles Jukebox with some Janelle Monae comparisons. I really like the video.

The National: Concert apparently sold out while I was having a breakdown on the train about forgetting my wallet. Oh well, the new album hadn't grown on me, and I'm content to wait for them to play some hipstery highbrow seated show in a concert hall.

SLQ Live!: While I was in Brisbane, I went to the little exhibition room in the State Library, where this was printed on one of the walls. It was drawn by a person I briefly went to school with. I sort of regret not suggesting Kitchen's Floor while she was asking for bands on Facebook, but oh well. Interestingly, the friend who was with me had the same thought: how many of these bands will be remembered in three years?

Small town: Kurt Sines, one of the guys on that poster, is now in a band with that kid I thought should have won the high school talent quest I ran in 2011. Good for him. They've already got 800 likes on Facebook.

Kirin J. Callinan: Melbourne loves this Sydney guy! Something about seizures, I don't know. Cool voice though, will have to give the album a few more listens.

Sarah Blasko: Forgot to talk about this last month. Being naked in a music video for a song called "All Of Me" is... naff. I'm also not sure why people think it's brave for a woman to do that. It's practically expected, isn't it?

Bliss N Eso: Speaking of Blasko, I just heard Next Frontier on jjj and thought to myself, is it really sufficient to just take someone's song and rap over it? It's pretty much unaltered, and the fact that the original song is so familiar makes it sound so awkward.

Pitchforkcore update: I took Trouble Will Find Me to Brisbane, listened to it many times, tried to muster up some melancholy, and all I felt was "eh". Yeah, I do think the good reviews are people praying for it to be a grower. On the other hand, I'm still getting some enjoyment out of Vampire Weekend's album. Wonder how Arcade Fire will fare.

Yeezus: Yeah, I don't think this album is as difficult and revolutionary as people have been saying. "Bound 2" was probably the best song I heard on the radio that week, but I think its novelty will wear off quickly.

Pixies: I've managed to avoid them for a while now, but a new song! It's alright, but nobody would care about it if it wasn't the Pixies.

Blargh, been busy with exams and I'm going to Brisbane next week.

Kraftwerk: Not in June, but I wen to Computer World and loved it for reasons outlined in every other review on the internet.  Isolating 3D glasses, technology, etc. Okay, I really loved not having to see people sip champagne in the periphery. Sydney Opera House is a awkward as hell venue for everything.

Charles Ives: Been listening to his 4th symphony while studying. It's terribly distracting, which means it must be good. Also, Richard Tognetti said it was his favorite symphony in an interview.

Witold Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto is the other classical thing on rotation. I remember earlier in the year being asked if pieces evoked visual images in my head in a music psychology experiment and answering "no" all the time. This piece would get a "yes".

The National: I'm starting to think that the good reviews for The National's album are from people not wanting to seem late to the praise party like with their previous, "grower" albums. I've listened to it a fair bit and I'm still not getting much from it, to be entirely honest. Pink Rabbits is going on my holiday playlist for it's terrifically clunky lyric, "I was a television version of a person with a broken heart."

Vampire Weekend: On the other hand, I was initially dismissive about Step, but now it's one of my favorites from the album. This band isn't very popular with the Australian critics I read, but screw them, Robert Forster covered one of their songs so they can't be that bad.

The Go-Betweens: Which brings me to this band! I was looking through a "Cityrail in Pop Culture" thread on Railpage, and one of the linked videos was "Streets Of Your Town" (which I was already familiar with). In the sidebar was "Cattle and Cane", and I've racked up like 40 plays of that in one day. Hoooly shit those meter changes. No wonder there's a bridge named after them. I'm going to listen to it on the Brisbane Airtrain and cry. I also like "Dive For Your Memory", and "Here Comes A City".

Powderfinger: I can imagine a future Brisbane having a "Powderfinger Tunnel" or something, oh boy. I still don't feel much for them, and I don't understand why they keep topping polls. I guess I was born too late for them (though I like You Am I somehow). Even so, "My Happiness" is way better than "These Days". Apparently its music video increased slinky sales.

The Church: Giving Starfish a go now. It's a bit of a difficult listen at the moment, but it takes me forever to get into things. "Under The Milky Way" is basically Lovesong but earlier, which is pretty cool.

Easybeats: This is just a note to myself to try and find one of their albums or a best-of. They were recommended to me back in 2011, with a caution of it being "very commercial-sounding". "Friday On My Mind" is great. I can't sing those "dododododo"s in the chorus.

Lorde: Spotify friends love "Tennis Court". "Swinging Party" is what Lana Del Rey's songs wish they sound like. Possible ARIA nomination?