i hate the sound of guitars

1. Big Dipper
2. Stereolab - silly reason: I was wearing my Stereolab T and it struck me that I hadn’t listened to any ‘lab in ages.
3. The Lucksmiths
4. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - inspired largely by encountering a few more of Ted Leo’s phenomenal covers, not least among them an amazing take of Barry Dworkin’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams’ll Come Through.”
5. We Versus The Shark - More new goodness from Hello Sir records to rescue the list from suspicious fogeyness
6. The Little Bicycles - can’t remember how I heard of The Little Bicycles, but they could well have been scientifically designed to be irresistable to me. They’re a coed indie-rock/pop trio with sweet melodies and a dash of punk sneer. My appetite for this sort of thing appears boundless. If I’d heard Broken Hearts and Tired Legs last year, I prolly woulda tried to cram something from it onto the already overcrowded best-of set list.
7. Be Your Own Pet - the “Get Damaged” e.p., mostly — 3 songs as good and maybe even better than anything on Get Awkward.
8. Television - more fogeyism, but inspired in this case by We Versus the Shark’s terrific “See No Evil.”
9. Superchunk
10. Bearsuit - I found these folks via some “Related if you like”-type chain on last.fm. Yup, this wilfully eclectic sometimes noisy, sometimes pretty indie rock also sounds like it could have been scientifically designed to appeal to me.

78 artists, 331 tracks.