Don't call it a comeback...

...except, you know, that I've decided to come back and try to give this blog thing a go again.

I think I can make it work on a limited basis, so look for regular Friday posts, and we'll see how that works. (I do all my blog reading through an aggregator, which is the best way to keep tabs on sporadically-updated sites like mine.)

So, to kick things off, here are several songs that have caught my ear during my time off.

MP3: "White Wave"
(Portastatic, Bright Ideas, Merge 2005. Buy here or download here.)

Mac McCaughan's Portastatic began as a Superchunk side project, but these day's Portastatic seems more like the mothership for McCaughan's music. (Superchunk performance at SXSW not withstanding.) Although the band's output has been stylistically quite eclectic, Bright Ideas is pretty 'chunky, which is more than all right with me. "White Wave" is the song that sticks in my head the most from this album. If I had a band, I'd cover this song.

MP3: "Ruins"
(The Kingsbury Manx, The Fast Rise and Fall of the South, Yep Roc 2005. Buy here or download here.)

The Kingsbury Manx's Fast Rise and Fall of the South is a beautiful folk rock kind of album. "Ruins" isn't quite representative of the whole album, but in part I like it because of the way it peps up the overall mellow feel.

MP3: "Against Pollution" (Mountain Goats cover)
(The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, live on WKNC 1/30/05)

I linked to this previously, but I appreciate it more now that I've gotten better acquainted with the original. It's kind of odd to hear someone other than John Darnielle sing this, but Perry Wright does a great job. This was recorded before PTOADS toured with the Mountain Goats (I think) -- wonder if they played it then?

See you next week!