June Update

First off, last Monday a few friends and I celebrated the life of Jay Bennett, member of Wilco from 1994 through 2001, who died in his sleep on May 24th, 2009. Key album choices to fuel our vigil included Summerteeth, The Moonstation House Band (in which he wrote Vandervelde’s best song ‘Nothin’ No’), and of course Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Rest in peace, Jay.


As 2009 moves into midpoint, SCQ is beginning to look back at the first half of this burgeoning year with a critical eye. Those releases I’ve listened to consistently, those I’ve shrugged over, the ones I haven’t figured out yet and those I should’ve written on instead of that haphazard 90s feature. Whatever, let the old decades go. As well as catching up on a few lingering releases from this Spring, I’ve set in motion some preliminary work towards SCQ’s Top Twenty Albums of 2009. Since we still have seven months of unheard new music up for contention, this groundwork-list should (and better) look virtually useless by November. Yet if I’m serious about unveiling SCQ’s Top Twenty Albums of the 00s by year’s end, I need all the prep-time I can muster. Oh yeah, and it’s way too much fun to wait any longer.

By the way: if anyone wants to check out a rad video of Dog Day's in-store performance at Soundscapes last week, click here. Why oh why didn't I bring my own camera...