This just in, get your own real-life, non-downloaded copy of Aaron Schroeder’s most recent CD, Black & Gold,  for just $5.99 shipped straight to your door.  I’ve only written briefly about his last album, Southern Heart In Western Skin, but it was quite amazing and is still a staple in my road trip selections, between Boston self-titled and Van Morrison’s Greatest Hits.  Anyways, I assure you it’s well worth your $6, so go get it:

Link: aaronschroeder.com

If you’re still not convinced, check out this song from the album:

MP3: Aaron Schroeder - “What We Don’t Know”

…just bought these two:

Pioneer PL-400 Turntable: original advertisement

Grado Prestige Black Cartridge: link

So… just have to get a preamp since my reciever has no phono inputs and I’m set. That is, I officially have way too many components in my stack.

Hey dad, do you still have that vinyl brush?

Heads up for some new videos at NotMTV.tv.  Highlights from Summer Camp 2005 include Keller Williams, Oteil and the Peacemakers, Groovatron, Umphrey’s McGee, Hot Buttered Rum String Band, RAQ, moe., Michael Franti and Spearhead, and Particle.  Click on the picture to head straight there.

I just caught wind of an amusing application via False45th called the Last.fm Mainstream-O-Meter. If you have a Last.fm account you can just pop in your username and it will compare your listening habits to anyone else who has listened to that artist, and then spit out your “mainstreamness.” You can check out my results here, anyone got me beat?

Sidenote, I think I’d prefer they named it “mainstreaminess,” taking a page out of Colbert’s book.

It’s been a long time since I have contributed to the Contrast Podcast.  For those who don’t know, it’s something of a meta-podcast of music bloggers.  If you take a look at the blogroll on the sidebar of the website, you can see just how extensive the list of contributers has become.  The theme of podcast #63 happens to be a song chain.  Three different podcasts were made, starting here, proceeding to here, and ending in our current episode.

If you haven’t caught on, Person A picks a song, Person B picks a song based off of the previous song, etc, etc.  The song preceeding mine was The Walker Brothers, “Deadlier Than The Male”, picked by ZB from So the wind won’t blow it all away.  While I know nothing of The Walker Brothers, whose music sounds like a theme song from a long lost James Bond movie, I do know of The Walker Brothers Pancake House, in the Chicago suburbs where I grew up.  My immediate reaction:  Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes.”

While these podcasts are always unique and interesting due to Tim’s editing and the wide variety of music and contributers, this episode is particularily fun to listen to because of everybody’s explanation of why they picked the song they did.  Without further stalling, here’s what you need:

MP3: Song Chain Part 3

Contrast Podcast iTunes Subscription: Click Here

Contrast Podcast Website: Song Chain Part 3