The Top 5
1. My Tax Return
Bling bling, y’all.
A new full length album from Seattle’s John McCaig (for these keeping track, he was the mastering engineer on the first two Miniature Airlines releases, and also hosted this site on PanicNow, back in the day). This album is filled with rich, unique sounds, including idiosyncratic processed drums and monophonic synthesis, and it’s soon to be available in lossless FLAC format, for the low low price of $8.99.
3. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon’s next novel, the follow up to the sprawling 1,000+ page epic Against the Day, is a relatively sprightly 384 page detective novel. For those keeping track, that makes it his second shortest novel, just behind the brief Crying of Lot 49 and nowhere near the massive heft of Mason & Dixon or Gravity’s Rainbow. Of course, the brevity does not guarantee the new book will be straightforward; nothing Pynchon has ever written fits that description. Fans of literature both dense and delirious should note the date August 4th on their calendar, and be at their local bookstore for this release.
4. 214 live at Broken Disco (Chop Suey, April 17th)
At the latest installment of Seattle’s best electronic music night, the main dance floor was nearly empty early in the evening, with the sole exception being one young woman in flapper-esque clothing dancing in the center of the room as a handful of heads bobbed to the beat. How can this be you ask? The simple answer is that the real party was not on the main floor, but in the so-called make-out lounge, where Seattle-based prodcuer 214 was laying down some seriously intricate, yet still groove worthy music, somewhere in the no man’s land between IDM, electro, and minimal techno. And the kids who came out that night were eating it up, myself included.
5. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Yes, I am only just now getting around to reading the Harry Potter books. And I have to say that this has been my favorite one so far. Maybe that has something to with the fact that I saw the first two movies before reading any of the books, or maybe it’s just that this book has the perfect balance of light whimsy and dark intrigue. I’m now on a deadline; I’m going to need to finish Books 4, 5 and 6 before the next movie hits theatres, as well a catch up on the other movies.
