This is just a big tease, writing more than ONCE in a month.  Don't get used to it...

I took some duplicate records to Sonic Boom before going to yoga, this evening (Sonic Boom has moved down the hill to a much more convenient location for me.  Thank you, Sonic Boom!!) thinking I would sell them for some in store credit.  Ha.  They were even good titles and not scratched, but the exchange was not worth it and even though they weren't rejecting them I still had that moment of vulnerable embarrassment that my musical tastes were awful and the paltry sum offered was in direct proportion to their dislike for my likes.  This is not true.  I know this.  But it's a familiar feeling when selling clothes or music to resale shops.  (I have a friend who has a record player and two albums.  I'll donate these duplicates to him.  He needs them more than SB, obviously.)

KEXP had their 90.3 best albums of the decade--as voted on by their loyal listeners--today.  I caught most of it and had a swell time during the last two hours as I just lay down with the lights off (this matters in Seattle what with darkness closing in around 4:30 during the early part of winter) and had moment after moment of "O!  I love that record.  I haven't listened to that in ages."  Or, "Yup.  Definitely should at least be in the top 20."  

The usual suspects showed up: Arcade Fire (#1 with Funeral), Radiohead (4 times and I couldn't agree more), Wilco, The Shins, Death Cab, Built to Spill, Beirut, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Beck, White Stripes, Spoon, Interpol, Modest Mouse... no real surprises.  There was definitely some local pride going on, too.  Many, many NW bands were acknowledged for their excellent contribution to the decade's music riches.  It was a very satsifying decade in music, that is for sure.

I have no truck with any of the bands that made it onto the whole 90.3 list... ok, that's not entirely true.  There is one band on the countdown that I do not care for, at all, and another that I can take in very small doses.  And I may not have agreed that some bands should have every album that they produced on the list, thereby knocking off other very deserving albums, but that's alright.  I don't know if I could come up with a list that actually qualifies as "the best" albums of the first decade in the 21st Century, either.  They'd just be albums that I think are the best.