TGIFF

man, so much music i'm having trouble keeping up...much of it fabulous:

Mekons - Natural i'll pretty much buy a new mekons record regardless, but i was interested to hear that they'd gone off and done an acoustic record or something off in a cabin in the wilds, and while i suppose you can tell, to me it just sounds like the mekons, which is a great thing. it's woodsy but it's definitely not 'freakfolk'. and it's definitely not without teeth. The Hope and the Anchor is a weird, beautiful song.
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala i'm not obsessive about this guy like some but i've enjoyed everything i've gotten. funny words and some nice disco moves on this one, too...
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature apologies for not learning how to do accents in blogger, but i think you can figure out the name regardless. not as hypnotizing as the first record immediately, but maybe that's because there's no element of surprise this time...gets grittier than the first one did though and has a few other surprises that prevent the record from drifting into the background (though it can live there if you want it to).
Magik Markers - Boss i miss some of the spazz, but i'm looking forward to spending more time with this record. it may be "surprisingly tuneful" to some, but that i was expecting, i just want it to hit me with more energy, but i think it's starting to...hope to see them live soon as they kill it.
Kevin Drew - Spirit If... i liked but almost never listen to that last Broken Social Scene album, but that "Backed Out On the..." song with Mascis hooked me and this album's been on heavy rotation recently. nothing conceptual or collective or overworked about it, just a straight-up catchy guitar indie rock record with a pleasing looseness.
Feist - Reminder speaking of that Canadian collective thing, despite a Feistly bludgeoning from the media and Apple, this record retains it's appeal and is not going away soon.

While we're on the subject of Canada, the Carolina Hurricanes have been making a living up there this week, first with a satisfying pasting (7-1) of the Leafs monday night, and then holding on to be the previously-undefeated Sens last night in Ottawa, 5-3. they are showing some real aggressiveness and speed missing last year. the defense occasionally still leaves Ward out to dry but he's been playing so solidly it usually hasn't mattered...3-1-1 is a start i can live with happily...