Favorite music from 2013 (1 of 6)

So a slight change of plan, I'll be posting new music the next few weekends, and postpone my look at The National until we are closer to their new album in May. Eric has agreed to do a guest post of his top 10 The National tracks, and hopefully will be as big a hit as Nostra's Hip Hip Top 10 guest post.


Album: The Next Day - David Bowie



David Bowie is an artist who sticks out, always transforming and experimenting. You can’t separate Bowie the man, and Bowie the music. While I'm not one of his biggest fans, his comeback after a 10 year hiatus was a welcome return. He still has it at the age of 66. I've heard the album sleeve contains a mirror inside, which is kind of cool, and plays on his Where Are We Now? theme, and the song: If You Can See Me

Favorite tracks:
The Stars are Out Tonight (youtube version)
Where Are We Now
Love is Lost
You Feel So Lonely You Could Die
Heat




Album: Delta Machine - Depeche Mode



The album has received positive reviews, unfortunately it disappointed me as a whole. I did find one song that haunted me:

Favorite track:
The Child Inside




Album: Lost Sirens - New Order



A new-to-me song, that featured on a compilation album from 2011, and now is on an official New Order album. I really should do a career retrospective of New Order, I can feel I want to delve into their work.

Favorite track:
Hellbent (original mix)




Album: Comedown Machine - The Strokes



Loved these two tracks. The rest of the album didn't speak to me.

Favorite tracks:
Tap Out
Chances




Album: Anything in Return - Toro y Moi



Favorite track:
Rose Quartz




Readers, any thoughts on the music above? Agree with the selections, or do you have other favorite tracks? Which new albums are you listening to at the moment?

Who do I think deserves a LAMMY nomination?

So I'm not very comfortable praising myself. As with a job application, I think it is for other people to point out my strengths with quality references. To do so yourself is basically biased.

Anyhow, since LAMB members are doing For Your Consideration publicity, and if you have not yet voted, please consider Movies and Songs 365 for Best Community Builder for 2013 LAMMYs.



Why should you consider giving me a nomination for Best Community Builder?
I take pride in quality commenting and showing a genuine interest at many different blogs, and spend many hours compiling Monthly Links From The Blogosphere posts.
During The LAMMYs, I have offered a few pieces of advice to moderators Joel Burman and David, they agree with my idea of having a LAMMY promotion poster made for 2014 with the important voting date(s) on. This poster could be available at the LAMB site, and members could copy/paste it, and place it onto their sites to increase LAMMY awareness in the LAMB community. Similar to what you can see on my sidebar top right(which a friend made). I also suggested the LAMMY rules page needs tweaking for next year, maybe adding a few pictures, so the text is not so heavy to read.



This year I decided to keep a record of my LAMMY participation, so who did I vote for yesterday in nominee stage? I mostly went with sites I am a regular follower of, with a few exceptions.
I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting this. If so, I'll take it down. If you want the link for any of the below, I can provide it in the comments. Hopefully I haven't offended anyone, by snubbing them for a nomination. If so, I hope you forgive me! :)


MY NOMINEE VOTING:

Best Blog:
And So It Begins/Flixchatter/The Warning Sign/U me and Films/Velvet Cafe

Best Podcast:

Best Vlog:

Best Movie Reviewer: Cinematic Corner/The Warning Sign/1001Plus/Amiresque

Best New LAMB: The Cinematic Spectacle/Lights Camera Reaction/On Page and Screen/Lisa Thatcher/On The Screen Reviews

Best Design: Cinematic Corner/Lime Reviews/Time Well Spent/Inspired Ground/Bonjour Tristesse

Best Ratings System:

Best Classic Film Blog: The Cinematic Spectacle

Best Horror Blog: Obscurendure

Best Film Festival and Convention Coverage: Life Between Films/Bonjour Tristesse/Big Thoughts From A Small Mind/Amiresque/The Film Emporium

Best Awards Coverage: Bonjour Tristesse

Best Movie Genre Blog: Life Between Films(independent films) / Bonjour Tristesse(foreign films)

Best Movie Element Blog: Soundtrackgeek

Best Blog-a-thon/Meme: Nostra Myfilmreviews Movie Jail Race/Nostra Myfilmreviews Movie Confessions//Flixchatter Small roles Big Performances/Mettel Ray Movie Alphabet/Lime Reviews Snubathon

Best Running Feature: Surrender to the Void-auteurs piece/Nostra Myfilmreviews Monday question/Screen Insight-incredible soundtracks/Josh from The Cinematic Spectacle-Decades/Public Transportation Snob-Top 5

Funniest Writer: 3guys1movie/Dusty from Playground of Doom/Sati from Cinematic Corner

Most Knowledgeable Writer: And So It Begins/The Cinematic Spectacle/Lisa Thatcher

Best Community Builder: Gotta vote for myself in the only category I feature in :) Ruth at Flixchatter is the favorite to win the award in my opinion, her site is among the most interactive and commented on, and she is a prolific commenter all over the blogosphere. Also Nostra from Myfilmreviews, for starting and keeping those blog-a-thons going, which seem to reach out to the far corners of the blogosphere. However, the most hard-working community builders at the moment are Joel Burman and David from NeverTooEarlyMP-but they are ineligible, as they are running the 2013 LAMMYs.



Highest number of nominations I gave to:
Josh at The Cinematic Spectacle (4)
Bonjour Tristesse (4)
Nostra at Myfilmreviews (4)
Sati at Cinematic Corner (3)
Ruth at Flixchatter (3)



2013 LAMMY AWARDS NOMINATION VOTING NOW OPEN. HEAD OVER AND VOTE



GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Monthly links from the blogosphere: March

No, I haven't died...



Jessica has bad news about google reader shutting down in a few months. Calls for alternatives.

The Droid You’re Looking For amusing guest post: Films That Don’t Deliver on Their Titular Promises.

SDG provides us with his 15 Favorite Films of 2012

Aiden's poll results for best movie of 2012

Pete Turner asks, Who should direct the next Bond entry?



Sati's latest visual parallel: Skyfall + The Dark Knight

Josh's Ultimate Oscar Ballot

Mette shares 18 Movies That Make Me Wanna Move to New York



Dusty writes about Coming of Age cinema, with focus on the 80s.

Bonjour Tristesse lists the winners of 2013 Canadian Screen Awards

3guys1movie reviewed Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing (1988)




Shala's results of her blog-a-thon London In Genres

Ruth also wrote a post on visiting London through films.

Alex Withrow confesses to his Top 10 Favorite Movies as a Kid

Sarah Ward listed her 125 Favorite Movies. A bunch of them I had never even heard of.



CS shares a conversation he had with his wife about 2001: A Space Odyssey.

le0pard13 reviews Collateral, one of my favorites

Nostra gave 10/10 rating to the courtroom mini-series The Staircase (2004)



Jason reviewed Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983), my favorite classic film discovery from last year.

Niels also saw Videodrome, admits he prefers the way Network (1976) handles the subject matter

Andina listened to the soundtrack from Warm Bodies (2013)



Erin reviews under-appreciated family movie Secondhand Lions (2003)

Kyle looks at his Top 10 from 1950s. He also did top 10s of other decades.

Dan lists Top 10 Films That Visit The Movie Theatre

Ryan McNeil reflects on reaching 2000 posts

Lights Camera Reaction shares Favourite Movie Scenes of 2012, and Most Anticipated Performances of 2013




Steven tells us why he enjoyed Damsels in Distress (2011), and look out for his upcoming Auteurs piece on the director Whit Stillman.

Dan Heaton also shares his opinions this month on Damsels in Distress.



and finally....




LAMMY AWARDS ARE HERE! Remember to vote for nominees March 21 - April 3, the link to SurveyMonkey can be found at the LAMB site.

An added bonus during the submissions stage (Feb 25 - March 17) is I have discovered LAMB member blogs I wasn't even aware of. For example, soundtrackgeek, or this list of the 30 Best Italian Movies Of The New Millenium.

The music of Fleetwood Mac (7 of 7)

Album: Behind the Mask (1990)

Behind The Mask - Fleetwood Mac







Album: Time (1995)

Sooner or Later - Fleetwood Mac




These Strange Times - Fleetwood Mac





Album: Say You Will (2003)

Thrown Down - Fleetwood Mac



Running Through the Garden - Fleetwood Mac

Say You Will - Fleetwood Mac



Some enjoyable tracks here and there, but it's a pity that the cigarettes have affected Stevie Nicks' voice of late, so her vocal is not as beautiful as it once was. Of the three albums above, Say You Will (2003) is probably the strongest of them, a return to form, benefited by the return of Lindsey Buckingham.
This concludes my look at the career of Fleetwood Mac. Any thoughts on Fleetwood Mac's output 1990-2003? Did I miss any tracks you love from these albums? Would you like to see new material from the band, or should Fleetwood Mac call it a day?

Next time, stop by, when I explore the albums of The National.

The music of Fleetwood Mac (6 of 7)

Album: Tango in the Night (1987)

Little Lies - Fleetwood Mac



Isn't It Midnight - Fleetwood Mac



Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac

Mystified - Fleetwood Mac

Family Man - Fleetwood Mac

Looking Out For Love - Fleetwood Mac

Seven Wonders - Fleetwood Mac


While this album overall may be too pop-friendly and lacking in depth for some listeners, there is no denying Little Lies is a classic from the 80s. With the release of Tango in the Night, Fleetwood Mac continued the approach of Mirage (1982), creating commercial easy-listening music with hit singles, the album became the groups biggest seller since Rumours (1977). Began life as a Lindsey Buckingham solo project, but by 1985 the production had morphed into Fleetwood Mac's next album. Contains plenty of inventively catchy tunes, with a sonic edge. This would, unfortunately, see Buckingham's departure from the pop/rock group, which would arguably influence the quality of the next records to come in the early to mid 90s.

Above are my selections. "Isn't It Midnight" is a personal favorite(especially the first half of the track). Readers, any thoughts on the music?