1. Set up a browser (or browser profile) to delete all cookies on exit
   I like to configure Opera up for visiting unsafe sites, that way I can leave Firefox open with all the tabs I need for work.
2. Make sure it has all the latest security updates to prevent drive-by downloads
3. Close and relaunch the browser
4. Turn the speakers down!
5. Visit MySpace
6. Close the browser

I’ve been impatiently wondering when the first releases of 2008 from The Capstan Shafts would arrive, and just learned of all the goodies at http://www.myspace.com/capstanshafts. There are previews from both the new self-released EP Miles Per Famine and the upcoming Rainbow Quartz release Fixation Protocol. Also, there’s ordering info on getting gobs of the earlier and out-of-print Capstan Shafts releases directly from Dean. Big ups to Dan for giving me the heads-up.

You can also preview tracks from Ho-Ag’s imminent Doctor Cowboy at http://www.myspace.com/hoagsobject. I’m so pysched for this album. I’ve been wishing for a while that Ho-Ag would work with recording professionals who could capture the band better, and it sounds like I’ve gotten my wish. The samples from Doctor Cowboy are more vibrant than anything Ho-Ag has yet committed to plastic.

Slightly old news at this point, but Hallelujah the Hills have also raised their recording-quality bar with the Prepare to Qualify EP. It compiles the songs that have been trickling out from Stereogum and the like with some additional goodies; they’ve been re-mastered and sound super-fab.

And finally, I just stumbled on the Dirt Merchants site, from which you can download everything the band ever did, including the never-released The Speed At Which You Speak and several live sets. The only thing missing is a tip jar.

On January 1st, 2008 I finally finished my “not quite the best of 2006″ mixes. Yes, six. The most recent addition to make the list was The Electric Kisses, a perfect fusion of Dirt Bike Annie and The Kiss Offs, who I discovered in December 2007. The month isn’t even over, but if I made the mixes now I’d have to find a way to cram in “The Competition” from Remember That I Love You.

I can’t claim to be cool with respect to anti-folkie Kimya Dawson. I’ve had a vague sense for years that I should probably listen to her old band The Moldy Peaches, and I had a copy of Hidden Vagenda already, but it was the movie Juno that set me off on a Dawson mega-binge.

Dawson’s music is featured throughout the film, which makes perfect sense: she writes and plays exactly the music you’d expect Juno’s character to write and play. It’s usually (but not always) smart and sarcastic, and it’s longer on heart than on technical chops.

I worked my way through Dawson’s catalog in more-or-less chronological order, and I convinced myself that smidges of puerile humor and deliberatley ragged performances were an essential part of her formula — that they provided a counterpoint without which Dawson’s confessional lyrics might seem a bit too intense. Maybe they also helped to distract the picky listener from Dawson’s limited stylistic and vocal range, too.

But Remember That I Love You downplays the scatological humor considerably, and ups the competence quotient considerably. It’s not high fidelity and it doesn’t evince finicky perfectionism or anything — the harmonies on “Loose Lips” are as loose and one-take as anything else on her albums. But crucially, none of the songs sound made-up-on-the-spot, and there aren’t any how-deep-is-your-fandom endurance tests like the latter half of I’m Sorry That Sometimes I’m Mean’s “Sleep.” (I wonder if any wag reviewed that record with the phrase “…to the listener”?) A shade less spontaneity and comic relief certainly makes for Dawson’s consistent release; thanks to songs like “I Like Giants,” “12/26,” and the aforementioned “The Competition,” it’s also probably her strongest.

The upshot of all this is that The Dollyrots’ Because I’m Awesome has gotten lots of play this year, and I keep upgrading the ratings of individual tracks. First I crushed on the title song, which I think exemplifies the band’s core strength, Kelly Ogden’s nuanced vocals. Uptop she’s all bluster and bravado, but there’s a subtext of vulnerability. It’s as if somewhere inside this strong, confident personality there’s an element of the nervous gas-masked rabbit from the slightly creepy cover art, and that provides the depth that I think separates The Dollyrots from the rest of the pop-punk pack. Of course, there’s also the slamming production team of John Fields, Jacques Wait and Kenny Laguna, who collectively pull off an everything louder than everything else hat-trick: massive drums, huge guitars, and powerful vocals.

“On Our Way Out of L.A.” also caught my ear early on, not least because it mentions “the Abbey Lounge in Boston,” a locale dear to my heart. Then “My Best Friend’s Hot” and “Cat Calling” took their turn. Together they’re the flip side of the title tune; the insecurity expressed by their lyrics is belied by the exuberance of the performances. Most recently, the lion’s share of spins have been going to “A Desparate S.O.S.” a super-kinetic, paranoiac rant that’s a bit like R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” on speedballs.

So basically, nearly half the disc consists of year’s-best list candidates. And the year isn’t over yet, either.