I missed the deadline for Pazz 'n' Jop. My favorite albums and singles were sitting in a .doc on my computer; I just never turned them in. It slipped my mind, what with last-minute shopping and time spent in airports and cringing as Mom doled out copies of SPIN to relatives (I wrote about gypsy music for the end-of-the-year issue). Then there was the consumption of too much meat and candy, which resulted in a trip to the hospital. Fortunately things have settled down, I'm back home, and the patient--not me--is recovering.

And I made my lists so I damn well better show them off (especially since years as lame as 2006 make simple top tens quite the chore.) Here's to a much better 2007. I can tell you right now, the new Brother Ali is awesome.

Albums
1. The Hold Steady Boys & Girls in America
2. TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain
3. Envelopes Demon
4. Be Your Own Pet Be Your Own Pet
5. Camera Obscura Let's Get Out of the Country
6. Yo La Tengo I Am Not Afraid Of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
7. Forro in the Dark Bonfires of Sao Joao
8. Thom Yorke The Eraser
9. Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere
10. Beirut Gulag Orkestar

Singles
1. "Ring the Alarm" - Beyonce
2. "SexyBack" - Justin Timberlake
3. "Dance Like a Monkey" - New York Dolls
4. "Ain't No Other Man" - Christina Aguilera
5. "Phenomena" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6. "Wind It Up" - Gwen Stefani
7. "Don't Know Why (You Stay)" - The Essex Green
8. "Irreplaceable" - Beyonce
9. "LDN" - Lily Allen
10. "Black Sweat" - Prince

Yes, two Beyonce songs.

I didn't want to let the holiday season slip by without posting this great video which features dancing, rapping Christmas trees. The Japanese girls inside the costumes are called Halcali, and yes, this is a Christmas song. In Japan, Christmas is a romantic holiday like Valentines Day, so the lyrics are about the joy of being with someone--and the shame of being alone--on Christmas Eve. (YouTube has a version with subtitles but I find the original plenty entertaining what with the choreography and falling feathers and such. Plus, it's a catchy little song.) The evening is celebrated with Christmas Cake, a sponge cake decorated with whipped cream and strawberries, which may explain the song's title. Or not. I once spent Christmas in Tokyo but hell if I knew what was going on. Without further ado: "Strawberry Chips."

I reckon I better take advantage of YouTube before the copyright police sue us all and we're left with a site full of amateur Jackass clips and footage of the baby doing, OMG, the cutest thing ever! First thing's first--the video for this blog's namesake. Check out Babyface Partridge's righteous indignation at being forced to categorize his music. Rawr.

And in current pop news, it's nice to see someone benefiting from the fact that a) this has been a dismal year for music and b) no one's willing to pay for it anymore. If you want to sell CDs, you better target an audience that's under 15 or over 50.

It only took five weeks of listening to Time Warner's on-hold message (and leeching weak, unreliable signals from our passwordless neighbors), but we finally have WiFi. Feels good to be back.

Settling into our Brooklyn apartment has kept me pretty busy. I spent this week merging and alphabetizing our CD collections. It's satisfying to see the library filled out (those gaps in my Luna catalogue--gone!) and we have a lot of stuff to get rid of. (How often do two people move in together and have duplicate copies of Forest for the Trees?) But such a task brings up major questions. If you have two copies of an album do you keep the attractive , liner note-accompanied, store-bought version or the promo in the cardboard sleeve which takes up less space? Do bands starting with "los" go under L? What happens when we get more CDs, which we have absolutely no room for? So much on my mind these days.

Also: I still have nightmares about that scene where Constantine Maroulis climbs over the couch.

Busy weekend. Tomorrow I'll spend the day racing around town with Brother and Sister and check out the opening of the new Smitten Kitten in the evening. Then on Sunday I'm hanging out with my fellow local rock writers on Homegrown. And at some point I'd like to get my extended 2005 music list out of the way so everyone knows just how disappointed I was with the new Broken Social Scene and New Pornographers albums. Phew.

1. "Ambulance" - Blur
2. "Let's Spend the Night Together" - David Bowie
3. "Everything Hits at Once" - Spoon
4. "Jackson Cannery" - Ben Folds Five
5. "Liquordelic" - Tipsy
6. "Get Real Paid" - Beck
7. "Sail to the Moon" - Radiohead
8. "Tick" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Garmes" - Of Montreal
10. "Narc" - Interpol

Your Pazz & Jop albums ballot was submitted as follows:

1. Hold Steady - Separation Sunday - French Kiss (25)
2. Kanye West - Late Registration - Roc-A-Fella (15)
3. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire - Arts & Crafts (15)
4. Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike - Columbia (10)
5. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Naturally - Daptone (10)
6. Darkness - One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back - Atlantic (5)
7. Ghosty - Grow Up or Sleep In - Future Farmer (5)
8. Metric - Live It Out - Last Gang (5)
9. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better - Domino/Epic (5)
10. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll - Fierce Panda (5)

Your Pazz & Jop singles ballot was submitted as follows:

1. Kanye West - Gold Digger - Roc-A-Fella
2. Go! Team - Bottle Rocket - Columbia
3. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone - RCA
4. Hold Steady - Little Hoodrat Friend - French Kiss
5. Beck - Girl - Geffen
6. Amerie - 1 Thing - Columbia
7. Will Smith - Switch - Interscope
8. Madonna - Hung Up - Warner Bros
9. The Game - Hate It or Love It - Universal
10. Hal - Play the Hits - Rough Trade

Here's my ballot for the Strib's local music poll. As you can see, my top 10 albums haven't changed in the week since I first came up with them. Amazing, no? (Here's a shot of the dance party that erupted during a set by Haunted House at Brother and Sister's Summer Camp in July.)

Albums
Atmosphere You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
The Birthday Suits Cherry Blue
The Blind Shake Rizzograph
Dessa False Hopes
Chris Koza Exit Pesce
Halloween, Alaska Two Tall to Hide
Mint Condition Livin' the Luxury Brown
STNNNG Dignified Sissy
Vicious Vicious Don't Look So Surprised
White Light Riot The Dark Is Light Enough

Songs
Brother and Sister "B-E-S-T S-I-S-T-E-R E-V-E-R"
Gay Beast "Multi-Purpose Anti-Form"
Fitzgerald "How Far North?"
Mike Gunther and His Restless Souls "No Leg to Stand On"
Vicious Vicious "Here Come Tha Police"

Live acts
The Birthday Suits
Brother and Sister
Gay Beast
The Plastic Constellations
STNNNG

This week my big brother joins in the fun. Hey hermano, we need to get you some non-Japanese music recorded within the last five years.

1. "Eight Line Poem" - David Bowie
2. "Black Cadillacs" - Modest Mouse
3. "Slow Hands" - Interpol
4. "Recycled Air" - The Postal Service
5. "Say It Ain't So" - Weezer
6. "When You Sleep" - My Bloody Valentine
7. "Lions" - Tones on Tail
8. "Nude on the Moon" - Tipsy
9. "Statecontrol" - the Hives
10. "Late" - Kanye West

Thanks to some friendly pestering on Corey Anderson's part, I'm bringing back my Friday shuffle. I spent last night frantically entering song titles into iTunes (something I'm usually too lazy to bother with) so as not to bore you with entries like "Track 7" - Kanye West. In other news, I'm a Lostoholic. I'm not sure what will happen when I run out of season one episodes, but I think it will be something akin to Charlie's heroin withdrawal.

1. "Let's Kill Ourselves" - the Ponys
2. "Road Movie to Berlin" - They Might Be Giants
3. "Police and the Private" - Metric
4. "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore" - PJ Harvey
5. "Calendar Girl" - Stars
6. "Imperial Teen" - Imperial Teen
7. "The National Anthem" - Radiohead
8. "It's the End of the World as We Know It" - REM
9. "Kissing the Lipless" - the Shins
10. "Holland, 1945" - Neutral Milk Hotel

Wow, a whole month without posts! I think that's a record for me. But as some acquaintances can attest, I've been busy, not to mention unusually stressed for someone as cool as me. Anyway, here are some things I've been meaning to tell you.

1) For wonderfully realistic fake blood, mix non-dairy creamer, red food coloring, a few drops of blue, and corn syrup. And if you cut up Fruit-by-the-Foot strips and let them soak, they'll fall apart and you've got--tada!--clotted blood. The drippy chunks look great hanging out of a zombie's mouth. I know it's a week late but earmark it for next year.

2) It's a good thing I'm not a guy because I'd never be satisfied with any woman who isn't Emily Haines*. At Metric's Ascot Room show, she gave off this uninhibited, sassy vibe that reminded me a bit of Karen O. Although with Emily, there's little chance that she'll spit beer on you. And I like that.

*I suppose I could settle for Anna Waronker, Jane Wiedlin, or Jenny Lewis. But other ladies need not apply.

3) I need a car. It would help me see shows at the Turf Club (and, really, anywhere in Minneapolis during the winter months when I don't feel like biking/bussing). Got any tips? Let me know.