antimeria

Tardy to the party, but one of my once-favorite record labels, Definitive Jux, is shutting its doors. From artist/label-head El-P:

In 2000 starting a traditional record label made a lot of sense. But now, in 2010, less so and I find myself yearning for something else to put my energy into. I also see newer, smarter, more interesting things on the horizon for the way art and commerce intersect, and as an artist and an entrepreneur, I’m eager to see them unfold. The evolution of this industry is, in my opinion, exciting, inevitable and it would be nice to see the DEFINITIVE JUX brand be a part of it. In other words, maybe we can turn this hoopty in to a hovercraft.
[...]
I think I speak for all of us Jukies when I say I love making music for you and can’t wait to make more.

Until then, on behalf of everyone here at JUX and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Although El-P’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is the only Jux LP I’ve heard in years, this is sad news, in a nostalgic/”I’m getting old” kind of way. Aesop Rock, RJD2, El-P, Cannibal Ox, and Mr. Lif were major parts of my high school and college soundtrack, and there was a period of several years where anything with the Jux name was gold–even minor artists like Murs, Camu Tao, and Cage were putting out solid work.

HT: Neil Drumming, guest-blogging for TNC.

In no particular order, five people my age (+/- a few years) who make me feel embarrassed about my accomplishments thus far:

1. Randall Munroe (25), xkcd creator, former NASA contractor, and giver of talks to Google.
2. Ezra Klein (25), political blogger for the Post and American Prospect.
3. Jared Allen (27), all-star defensive end, hunter, and mullet connoisseur.
4. A-Trak (27), world champion turntablist, Kanye West tour DJ, and record label owner.
5. The xx (20), an incredibly- (and deservedly-) hyped band composed of kids who can’t legally drink at their US shows.

As an aside, when looking up Hot Chip’s frontman Alexis Taylor, I discovered the following:

I realize I haven’t actually written much about music lately, but here’s a list of concerts I’m excited for:

1. Dan Deacon at Ottobar
2. Cymbals Eat Guitars at Rock n Roll Hotel
3. Miike Snow and Delorean (mostly Delorean) at 9:30 Club
4. Gang Gang Dance at Ottobar
5. Japandroids and Love is All at Rock n Roll Hotel

Yes, it’s almost a month into 2010, and no, I didn’t actually write anything about the albums. Also, I didn’t capitalize the list, since it was a work in progress. You could say I dropped the ball on this one. On the other hand, I will take the time to link to the Lala album page and include a sample track from each (Update: This obviously took a lot longer than capitalization would have. So, you’re welcome). List after the jump:
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It’s late December, so it’s time for the deluge of “best albums of 2009″ posts. But since a lot of the albums I keep on repeat find their way to my end-of-year “best of” lists, I’m wanted to try a different approach–one that combines music wankery, listing  and graphs into one big nerdgasm. Onward!

My initial plan was to just take the high counts from my Last.fm charts for the last year. However, I realized that this would unfairly punish short and/or recently-released albums. Furthermore, that doesn’t really describe “obsession” as I’m used to it–the kind of constant repetition that drives my girlfriend insane (see also: Hercules and Love Affair, In Ghost Colours). So I decided to use the yearly chart as a jumping-off point, but only count the first two months after an LP initially appeared on my weekly charts. I then divided the total play count by number of tracks, and finally came up with an average for the eight-week span. The list, eight-week average and graph are after the jump. And, please–no complaints about the methodology. This isn’t 538.

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