Shooflypie

Last Sunday in September already... 1. No Time For Dreaming/Charles Bradley (14) - last played on 9/6/14 2. The Laws Have Changed/The New Pornographers (2) - last played on 11/1/14 3. Nuclear Daydream/Joseph Arthur (5) - last played on 1/11/15 4. I Will Be There When You Die/My Morning Jacket (8) - last played on 6/9/13 5. Hospital Beds/Cold War Kids (5) - last played on 2/24/13 6. You Are A Light/Pavement (15) - last played on 1/2/14 7. Denise/Clem Snide (18) - last played on 12/2/12 8. Ballad of Vitaly/Delta Spirit (17) - last played on 6/23/13 9. Castanets/Alejandro Escovedo (4) - last played on 10/27/14 10. Young Men Dead/The Black Angels (7) - last played on 1/4/15

Fantastic Four #235 opens on splash page of The Thing trudging through an alien landscape with a heavy piece of Kirbyesque machinery on his back. It's a great image that captures the power of the Ben Grimm and wild ideas one finds in the title. The alien landscape is, of course, Ego the Living Planet, whom we met during last issue's cliffhanger. Ben's internal monologue (rendered in thought bubbles, of course) lets us know he's been at his task a while and that he's the only person left who can do the job; if he doesn't deliver the machine to the core then he'll "let down the whole friggin' earth." The story shifts into an extended flashback as we get caught up to the point where the issue opens. The first two pages of the flashback are a recap of the previous issue. I get that every comic is potentially someone's first issue and that back in the 80s these sorts of recaps were necessary but I think devoting two story pages is excessive.

Telekinesis is a band that's really a solo artist, Michael Benjamin Lerner. I first heard of him/them before the debut album came out in 2009. KEXP was playing one or two songs off Telekinesis! and I dug them. He/they are also on Merge Records, which usually means the music is quality. The first two albums are power pop goodness and the third stays in that territory but starts to incorporate some new sounds. Telekinesis just released their/his fourth album, Ad Infinitum , on Friday, and there are a lot of synthesizers and drum machines. This is not a problem because the music is great. Anyway, I've only heard the full album twice so far (once via NPR's First Listen and once via Spotify) and purchased it a few minutes ago so I could feature it and the band this morning. If you're not familiar with the music, I highly recommend checking it out. 1. 50 Ways (32) - from 12 Straight Desperate Lines 2. Towns Chapel (8) - bonus track from Domarion 3. Gotta Get It Right Now

I almost skipped the Shuffle today because the house needs to be put back together after yesterday's Popcorn Festival guests and for the fact that I want to be able to watch the NFL starting at noon. It's before 8:30, though, so I decided why not. Without further ado, here are today's ten... 1. Hair Down/Cold War Kids (6) - last played on 3/1/15 2. Everything You've Done Wrong/Sloan (12) - last played on 3/14/15 3. Little Maiden Gin/Haley Bonar (5) - last played on 1/27/13 4. Rollercoaster/M. Ward (5) - last played on 1/18/15 5. I Need My Girl/The National (24) - last played on 7/1/15 6. Sunstroke/Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit (10) - last played on 4/7/13 7. I Was A Fool/Roman Candle (8) - last played on 8/12/11 8. Gift (Live)/Sugar (1) - debut 9. Sunship/Hospitality (7) - last played on 7/21/15 10. Aging Faces/Losing Places//Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew (8) - last played on 3/20/15

HEAVY ROTATION #26 I've been meaning to get to a Heavy Rotation for a couple weeks now and just haven't managed it. I'm a little past the prime period I listened to these albums, which was probably mid-July to mid-August, but I did play them quite a bit during that time and wanted to talk about them. Jason Isbell/Something More Than Free - I was very excited for this album to come out. For starters, Isbell's previous album, Southeastern , was one of my favorite albums of 2013 (maybe even #1?). Secondly, the two songs that came out before the album's release, "24 Frames" and the title track, were great. Finally, all the early reviews were extremely positive. The good news is that I was not disappointed in the least; in fact, this album will probably make my top ten for the year. Take "24 Frames," for instance: "You thought God was an architect, now you know/He's something like a pipe bomb ready to blow/And everything you built that&#

The cover to Fantastic Four #234 shows the FF cowering before a white silhouette of a man and asks the following questions: "Who is he?" and "What is he?" The first page brings us the answer to the first question (though not before a Shakespeare quote); he is L.R. "Skip" Collins, "who may be the most powerful man who ever lived." The second page fills us in on "Skip" a bit more - he's an average guy; he's a bit sexist, wishing his spouse would keep up on her "wifely chores"; and he has some sort of power to make his wishes come true. The first almost 7 pages are devoted to Skip and his family relationships, his work life, and how his powers came to be (not that Skip really knows about those). He flies to New York City and finally, in the last panel on pg. 7, we, or he, finally runs into Reed and Sue. The focus shifts pretty dramatically to the FF at this point. Reed and Sue combine to save first a girl and then a cr

I hope everyone is enjoying the 3 day weekend. After my 5 mile run yesterday morning, I spent most of my time reading a book, listening to music, watching TV on the internet and baseball on the TV. Oh, and I took a nice long nap. Today I'll need to do some chores but hope to incorporate everything else from yesterday and then repeat tomorrow. Anyway, let's get to today's ten... 1. Be Mine/Alabama Shakes (11) - last played on 11/9/13 2. Back To The Life/Spoon (2) - last played on 3/23/15 3. Gimme Back My Dog/Slobberbone (5) - last played on 4/9/15 4. I Want To Sing That Rock And Roll/Gillian Welch (5) - last played on 1/11/15 5. Default/Atoms For Peace (7) - last played on 12/5/13 6. Evil's Sway/Japandroids (15) - last played on 8/2/14 7. Country Mile/Camera Obscura (7) - last played on 7/31/14 8. Lady On the Water/Blitzen Trapper (5) - last played on 2/24/13 9. I've Just Seen A Face/The Beatles (5) - last played on 10/21/12 10. For Emma/Bon Iver (9) - las