Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays to all of you Ohmpark readers! I’ll be dropping the rest of my year end lists next week, but here are a few stocking stuffers until then:

The Long Blondes recently broke up, but I only very recently learned it is because their guitarist suffered a stroke in June. That sucks. They did release a free anti-Christmas song at their myspace:

Long Blondes : Christmas Is Cancelled

Jambanders Umphrey’s McGee just released a free holiday EP complete with three live tracks from various performances, and you can get the whole thing here. Here is a cut from that:

Umphrey’s McGee : Greensleeves > Carol Of The Bells

Atlanta’s Black Lips have been getting into the spirit by giving away a track from their forthcoming album 200 Million Thousand, due out February 24. They are also challenging people to make as many videos for the song, “Starting Over”, in hopes of having 200 million thousand videos of it. Get all the details here.

Black Lips : Starting Over

Austin’s The Octopus Project have also given away a free song for Xmas, a Bee Gees cover. More info on that here.

The Octopus Project : I. O. I. O.

Finally, I already posted my holiday mixtape, but before it is over, here’s one more interesting Christmas song for you:

65daysofstatic : I’m Dreaming Of A White Noise Christmas

Bands I Heart: 65daysofstatic

65daysofstatic is a really great band that doesn’t get enough hype on the blogosphere, including here. Their full-length from last year was our #30 best album of 2007 and I had only mentioned them once before that, so here’s some 65daysofstatic stuff. This UK outfit is broadly a post-rock band, but they break down more genre walls then most any band you can paint with that brush. They just dropped a new video on youtube earlier this week in support of their new EP/Single, The Distant and Mechanized Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties:

“Dance Parties (Distant)”:

So they seemed to have gone post-dance-rock with this EP and these guys have the ability to conquer just about any sort of feel they want. Here’s another track from it:

65daysofstatic : The Distant and Mechanized Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties : Goodbye, 2007

Click here to read the entire post…

Ohmpark’s Top 50 Best Albums Of 2007

2007 was an incredible year of music and there were so many albums I really liked that didn’t make this list. I noticed that most of the lists I pay attention to were very similar to one another this year as opposed to last year. Also, I’ve found myself in more of a disagreeance with those lists than last year. If there is any theme to be taken out of this list, I think it’s that I feel like too many great albums were underrated by the blogosphere elites, and that they were way in love with some albums I think are overrated. This list represents my personal assertions more so than the rest of the Ohmpark crew, but I worked hard to get every one’s opinions and influences in this thing. Feel free to comment on how much you hate or love it. I feel like every album on this is an essential one from last year, so go listen to some new music:

Click here to read the entire post…

Road Trippin’

I spent my Thanksgiving holiday down in St. George Island, Florida and decided for my drive down I would catch up on my 2007 releases and listen to nothing but albums I haven’t listened to. The first album I popped in was Aceyalone‘s new Lightning Strikes. i had really enjoyed some of his older stuff, but on my first listen of this one, i thought is very under par. Hip-hop is a style I truly love, but it is so hard for me to find stuff that i really dig these days. I’m guessing I just don’t have the right exposure to the good stuff, but there has been very little this year that has floored me and that makes me sad.

Next up was the new M83 album, Digital Shades (Vol. 1). I thought it was pretty good, but I don’t think it comes anywhere close to Before The Dawn Heals Us. The biggest difference i think between the two is this album seems less aggressive and engaging, but rather hangs around in their more ambient, trancey texture stuff, which is still great. I think this would be an excellent come down album after a really crazy night of drugs.

M83 : My Own Strange Path

The next jam was Polytechnic‘s debut album Down Til Dawn. This band sounds to me like a mix between early Rolling Stones and The Sea And Cake. It was a pretty solid listen all the way through but not an album that is going to blow your mind.

Polytechnic : Running Out Of Ideas

I had been hearing some noise about 65daysofstatic and finally checked out their new album, The Destruction Of Small Ideas. Upon my first listen, I was really into it and enjoyed it thoroughly. The band does post-rock suped up with strong classical technique and much more range than I’ve come to expect from this genre. This will probably end up being one of the better post-rock albums of this year.

65daysofstatic : Wax Futures

Next up was Dan Deacon‘s Spiderman Of The Rings, which had been on my list to listen to for way too long. His experimental electronic stuff is suberb and I highly recommend checking him out if you haven’t. I’ll be blasting this album non-stop for a while and am excited to see him in Atlanta early next year.

Dan Deacon : Wham City

As I cruised through some back roads between Valdosta and Tallahassee I put in the new God Is An Astonaut, Far From Refuge. Unfortunately I missed this post-rock three piece at Echo Project, but everyone who went to see them said they were really good, so I’ve been diving into them lately. The album is a solid release for the genre that I enjoyed immensely, but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.

God Is An Astronaut : Grace Descending

Finally, I finished the journey off with what was probably the most enjoyable listen of the trip, current Wilco guitarist/badass Nels Cline‘s Draw Breath. If you were a little disappointed with the lack of adventurousness on Sky Blue Sky, this experimental jazz album is right up your alley featuring his instrumental trio called the Nels Cline Singers.

Nels Cline Singers : Caved-in Heart Blues