it's 24th December 2007...

venus' BEST MUSIC OF 2007 in alpha order

• !!!: Myth Takes - Warp ~ MAN i wish i would've seen these guys live!

Arrested Development: Since the Last Time - Vagabond ~ SOOOO glad Speech and co. are back!

Band of Horses: Cease to Exist - Subpop ~ music that automatically makes me feel like it's a sunny day, even when they're singing about love and loss.

Battles: Mirrored - Warp ~ brilliant. almost about as close as seeing the Bays live, i think.

The Budos Band: II - Daptone ~ funky as hell, fantastic, and all live, baby.

Clutchy Hopkins: The Life of Clutchy Hopkins - Ubiquity ~ shawn lee's genius alter ego, and dare i say, even more brilliant.

Fujiya and Miyagi: Transparent Things - Deaf Dumb & Blind ~ three guys on db's (of Breakbeat Science fame) label. electronic and original.

Grand National: A Drink & A Quick Decision - Recall ~ oh sh&* these guys are fantastic.

Karizma: A Mind of Its Own - !K7 ~ just when i thought i had lost hope in dance music...

Kenna: Make Sure They See My Face - Interscope/Star Trax ~ made this jaded music lover believe again. hell, it made me LOVE AGAIN.

Long Range: Madness and Me - Beat ~ a little bit o' ORBITAL brilliance. love it.

Mark Ronson: Versions - RCA~ he's talented, young, and has a helluva band.

Meat Puppets: Rise to Your Knees - Anodyne ~ welcome baaaaaaaaaack!

Motor: Unhuman - Mute ~ oh, SHIT.

Paul Hartnoll: The Ideal Condition - ACP ~ absolutely lovely. now, how about a license agreement for virgin america?

Soulsavers: It's Not How Far You Fall, It's How You Land - Columbia ~ i swear to g.d it's MARK LANEGAN of screaming trees and oh my g.d it's good!

Tom Middleton: Lifetracks - Six Degrees ~ the brains of inland knights with an album that is close to perfection.

Ungdomskulen: Cry-Baby - Ever ~ hands down, the BEST CMJ SHOW this year. you could hear everyone concur outside the venue after the show.

Various Artists: Waveform Transmissions Vol. 1 - Waveform ~ welcome back, forest and WAVEFORM! g.d i missed you!

VHS or Beta: Bring on the Comets - Astralwerks ~ just cos they're at the end of the alphabet doesn't mean they are any less good.

VERY HONOURABLE mentions go out to two dance music veterans who i am SO glad still put out new records:

Chemical Brothers: We Are The Night - Astralwerks

Underworld: Oblivion with Bells - ATO

Music i wish i had heard before 2007

Dirt Nap: Love Songs for Short Term Friends - Anodyne

Elliott Smith: New Moon - Kill Rock Stars

Airing/Posting/Blogging of Grievances 2007

"i have a lot of problems with you people!" --- Frank Costanza, founder of festivus

in honour of FESTIVUS i would like to invite everyone who cares to to air your grievances here!

just click on comments and have at it. grievances can have any origin, be it work-related, school, home, society, politics, humanity, etc. etc.

and to get things started, i would like to offer my contribution, to which i reserve the right to add to and modify at any time!

this is how i've been disappointed this year:

• those STICK-FIGURE FAMILIES IN ACRYLIC STICKER FORM that adorn the backs of many family-type vehicles in southern california.
• SCION OWNERS who think they have way more horsepower than they really do, and/or think they are entitled to not follow the rules of the road... esp. that white one that nearly drove us off the road at the northbound harbor blvd. exit from the 91 fwy, and the dick who drove on the shoulder tonight and slipped into the space we had left open for a dude who wanted to turn left in front of us out of a strip mall...thanks to you, scion, the dude gave up and turned right into traffic. scions are my number two hated car, due to their drivers, next to CAMRYS.
• PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE ADJUSTERS suck, even tho the company in general, and their websites, rock.
• SCREEN/FILM PRODUCERS & EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS REFUSING TO COOPERATE with the screenwriters on this strike thing...
• 'ACTORS' AND 'TALENT OF SCREEN AND FILM who refuse to take a little less money out of their millions and millions of dollars so there is a little more to go around.
• HILLARY CLINTON.
• WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, for not admitting that you like barack obama way more than you like your wife. i'm not saying you love him more than your wife; i think you just like him more. i still like you, tho.
• "LET ME LET ME LET ME UPGRADE YAAAAA!" Beyoncé and DirecTV. enough said.

ok more to come!

DJ Culture 5 year Anniversary!

we went to the five year anniversary bbq for DJ CULTURE, which is the store of our friend SIMPLY JEFF. there was food, giveaways, and music, of course. SWEDISH EGIL spun a fantastic set, as usual...

it was a lot of fun. we saw some old friends we hadn't seen in a while.

representing: MARS-FM!!!

kenna @ the grove

we went to see KENNA at the grove in anaheim (not to be mistaken for the grove in l.a.). i love the tours he gets to open for, cos there is no perfect fit for this guy, and that's why i love his music so much. the SWR crowd was weird, like jaded morrissey fans or mexigoths from vice magazine or something...

kenna was fantastic, even though he played only six songs or so in 40 minutes. and, we got to meet him briefly at the merch stand after the show. such a nice guy. listen to his record! you WON'T be disappointed, unless you're a total jerk.