Recommended: The Bradley Effect Podcast (#14)

I have been enjoying The Bradley Effect (#14), a wonderfully tasteful podcast found here.
If you are one of my listeners, you're sure to dig Brad's choice of tracks. I give him extra kudos for including Plump DJs feat Gary Numan "Pray for You"; I forgot how much I like that track. I need to dig out that CD from storage!
You can download The Bradley Effect (#14) here. Leave him a comment, us podcasters are short on comments!

I see that there is a new Hey Hey Honeypop! podcast out...I see that the first track is a Pale Saints selection, so I'll be listening to that on this sunny Saturday. Marianthis' podcast can be found here.

Get Your Depeche Mode Season Pass on iTunes

The first iTunes Season Music Pass will be available for our beloved Depeche Mode! The new album drops on ?? and is titled "Sounds of the Universe". Billboard has more info here.

morrissey-solo.com has a post listing Morrissey's "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" entering the UK charts at 21. The post says "That's his worst performing lead-off single since Dagenham Dave in 1995 and his second worst performing single of the decade, only "All You Need Is Me" did worse (number 24)."
By the way, Morrissey's "Dagenham Dave" is a cover of The Stangler's original. I guess that either helped the single...or wrecked it...I mean, I know some aged punks and most hate Morrissey and couple adore him. Why am I saying anything about this? Well, I grew up knowing little about Punk, then spent the 1990's hating it because shitty bands were labeled "punk"...and now I have a brother, in his 20's, who has lived a punk life-style and knows everything about the genre. He's exposed me to so many talented artists and I now have a real appreciation for what art there is in punk rock.

Weekend Wrap-up

I turned 38 last Thursday. Heading into the weekend, I was not sure how I'd feel about this aging thing. I certainly don't feel 38...more like 28. I took time off work and carved out a 4 day weekend for myself. I had lunch with a friend I grew up with (best mates since 1981). I received several texts and a few emails and I was touched to hear from so many friends and family. I wonder if all this attention is because my wife abandoned me and people are sorry. Then again, it could be the great parties and dinners I have thrown for my birthday these years past. Perhaps it's a tradition or some sort of strong impression on my friends and family after so many celebrations. I've always created a "Birthday Weekend" for myself. From age 14 to about 25, I attended the gaming convention at LAX. I think the Internet has lessened the value of game conventions for me.
Friday, I watched "The Wrestler" and discretely wiped tears the whole time. I always loved Mickey Rourke and seeing him cry is just so believable. He was a class act at the Oscars tonight, to boot.
Saturday, I stayed in and ran around Middle-Earth, with my Hobbit (Gernric, on Brandywine). I had been away from LOTRO and I was so excited to have finally made it into the Mines of Moria! Take that , Watcher. Cheers! My Kinship even had birthday wishes for me!
Today (Sunday), I spent time in Loma Linda, a town about 110 miles from San Diego. I lived there in the '90's. My close friend and his new wife hosted their first board game get-together. DG and NG hosted DK, CM and myself. Us boys ended up playing Dominion for five rounds. We had a bunch of other games lined up to play (Ra, Bang!, Dragon Land, Bohanza, Kronos, Through The Desert, Aladdin's Dragons and more) but Dominion was such a hit, we couldn't stop re-playing it! We each won one round, and I forgot who won the 5th game. If you like card games, I highly recommend Dominion.
I was surprised with a layer cake and it even read "DJ Talbot" and had some music notes and heavy frosting! Yummy! It was a great Birthday Weekend. I drove home to some great tunes. I don't get to listen to entire albums in one sitting often, so it was a treat to fully explore the new Dido "Safe Trip Home" , and then CSS "Donkey" , Kie The Vez "Non-Binary", M83 "Saturday=Youth", and Zeigeist "Jade Motel" and even some Emiliana Torrini and Juliana Hatfield "How To Walk Away". I only wish NRT was with us. Pics coming soon!

EBM/Future pop Helektro/Terror EBM Noize/total chaos

My old friend, DJ Narcolept, sent me an update detailing some new content on his Faction-6 media project. Read on:

Hello Everyone! As I am working on the new website, I thought I would bless all of you patient listeners with new content.

For this episode of Midnight Mass, we embark on a journey into the most
secretive and depraved underworlds of society. You will be led from the
most glorious heights of the human race, (EBM/Future pop) into a
gradual downward spiral through darkness and desolation,
(Helektro/Terror EBM) until our final destination, the abyss.
(Noize/total chaos)

Episode 4 of DJ Count's Midnight Mass:

1 - Beloved - VNV Nation
2 - Someday I'll Find You - Decence
3 - Faces (WHS Remix) - NamNamBulu
4 - Wonder - Culture Kulture
5 - Unter der Linden (Club Version) - Heimataerde
6 - Never Ending Lie - Supreme Court featuring Feindflug
7 - Cmon Devil - X-Fusion
8 - Dead Culture (Endzeit Mix By KrachMaschine) - Acylum
9 - No More Room In Hell - [x]-Rx
10 - Catatonic Dreams (C/A/T Rmx) - Sam
11 - 100% Eletronik - FabrikC
12 - The Rogue Pair (V.1) - C/A/T
13 - Sponge Octopus - Merzbow

Thank you for your emails and patience as Faction-6 gets rolling again. I
hope this comes as a tasty treat to hold you off for a little longer. I am looking for a mid February date to get officially back up and running.

Cheers,
DJ Narcolept
Faction-6 Program Director

Myspace:
http://myspace.com/faction6
http://myspace.com/thedjcount

iTunes users:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=153472692&s=143441

non-iTunes Users:
http://pod-serve.com/podcasts/show/faction6

non-iTunes Users RSS Feed:
http://pod-serve.com/podcasts/feed/faction6

I STILL love Morrissey

Tonight is the perfect night for repeatedly watching my boy Morrissey and his new track. I bought a scented candle just for the occasion. It's Valentine's Day Eve and I will be alone in a most Morrissey style. "Nobody wants my love"....how does this gorgeous man get it right for 20+ years?

Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris

Elegant Machinery won award at the Manifest gala

Elegant Machinery win award at Manifest Gala. Read more here.

'grats, Robert!
Elegant Machinery released the album "A Soft Exchange" on November 28th, 2008.
This is the long awaited fourth full length album from Sweden's finest when it comes to Synthpop. The album is available at:

A Different Drum (THE Source for Synthpop.

Out Of Line Mailorder: www.outoflineshop.de
Hot Stuff mailorder: www.hotstuff.se
Sound Pollution mailorder: www.soundpollution.se

The Best San Diego has to offer: Live! At the Casbah!

Show starts at 9:30, Jezebel plays at 10:30!

C**cks and Fannies? Chillcast!

It's Sunday and I had designs on this Like Sugar Blog in the past. Such ideas as "Cover Me On Friday", where I intended to post links to mp3s of cover songs and "Sunday Driver", where I would post what's on my ipod (really, my Best Buy brand mp3 media player. I'd never buy an ipod, after all.)
Well, I got nailed with a take-down letter for posting mp3s and I really don't think people care what's on my generic ipod. It's mostly podcasts of talk radio anyway!
Seriously, Anji Bee has a new podcast up. She's the singer from Lovespirals and she is the mistress (as opposed to master) of "chill out" music with a fine sense of the alternative.
Hear it here. She has the smoothest voice out there. Do you agree?

*EDIT: Title was "C**ks and Fannies? Chillcast"; corrected typo. I don't think HTML works in the title, so no strikethrough.

Infected Eye

Gross. My eye is infected or perhaps it's the eye-lid. Not sure, but my right eye is swollen and red and it looks like I got punched. It waters and runs if I pay it any attention. Shh....
So, I missed out on some things this past week (a.m. Vibe at the Casbah and L.A. Riots at On Broadway). Wahhh. It's been a good time to listen to music and stay in. I drifted back to some old stuff. The new Travis has me re-listening to the old Travis. That led me to listen to some Trash Can Sinatras which led me back to The Go Betweens.

I've been digging the new Cowboy X single "Break Me." You can listen to it on their myspace page. The video for their last single "Japanese Toy" has been completed and is also on their page.

Cloudberry Records will release a new single by Hari and Aino on February 15th. The track is titled "A Considerate Kind of Home" and can be downloaded here.

The lovely Anneli Drecker (of Bel Canto and solo fame) has posted on her blog, after what seems like years! Read it here. She's singing on Röyksopp´s new album on three tracks! Joy!

The Rainy Season

I just discovered that Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown, both of whom were in the oft-overlooked Australian band The Go Betweens (1980-1989), have a new music project. It's called The Rainy Season and myspace has two tracks to listen to.
I am really happy to have found this. The violin is so beautiful and is a huge reason I miss the Go Betweens.

Don't forget, the latest Like Sugar Mix is now available here.