What I'm listening to, as of July 31, 2011…
- Ford & Lopatin (Channel Pressure) - It's this year's Stainless Style without the hip-hop vibe. This is a superb, strange little album that evokes layers of '80s goodness without being just another flat, uninspired ripoff. Check out "Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)", which you find as a free download here.
- The Weeknd (House Of Balloons) - A bit of trip hop, a lot of dubstep, and a heaping helping of nasty language. Not normally my cup of tea, and definitely NSFW (even the album art), but cool and creepy. Oh, and you can get the entire album for free, legally, at The Weeknd's website.
- Journey (Escape) - Don't stop believin', baby! Loads of songs you know, plus a bunch of great album cuts that you may have forgotten. An early '80s stadium rock classic.
- Populous with Short Stories (Drawn In Basic) - O.K., I actually haven't listened to this one much yet, but I just loaded it up and it's chock full of short little pop ditties with a backing of old-school electronica, so I think it'll be a favorite soon.
- Junior Boys (It's All True) - The latest from the Canadian duo that's putting out some of the best electronica out there. I still think I like "Begone Dull Care" better, but any summer with a new JB album is a good one.
- The Triffids (Wide Open Road - The Best of the Triffids) - A "great lost band" from Australia in the '80s. This one is starting to grow on me, and it's worth it for the title cut alone.
- Yeasayer (Odd Blood) - This one is hard for me to describe. These guys ostensibly fall in with Animal Collective, whose Merriweather Post Pavillion frankly bored me to tears (I really gave it a try, I really did, but I don't see what all the fuss was about). Yeasayer's better. Hints of Talking Heads and plenty of synth polyrhythm make this one built for the dancefloor and the brain. "O.N.E." and "I Remember" are standouts. This one's been the soundtrack for the summer of 2011 for me.
Links you should follow
Science links
- American Malacological Society - The home page for the American Malacological Society, a society dedicated to the study and conservation of mollusks.
- Phylocode - The PhyloCode is a formal set of rules governing phylogenetic nomenclature. The very idea is causing quite a stir in the systematics community. Go see what all the fuss is about!
- The Tree of Life Home Page - A Web-based project containing information about life on Earth, linked together in the form of the evolutionary tree that connects all organisms to each other.
- CephBase - An outstanding source of information about everyone's favorite animals, the cephalopod mollusks (squids, octopuses and nautiluses).
- Genbank - A massive searchable database of DNA and protein sequences from a diversity of organisms, plus lots of other good stuff.
- The Society of Systematic Biologists Home Page - Home page for the journal Systematic Biology and the Society of Systematic Biologists.
- Phylogeny Programs - Joe Felsenstein's massive list of phylogeny programs.
- Pharyngula - PZ Myers, renowned developmental biologist, atheist and provocateur, regularly updates one of the most popular and contentious science blogs.
Other stuff...
- University of Michigan Athletics - Click and observe the latest Wolverine triumphs (or, alas, lack thereof).
- Carbondale Weather - If you're planning a visit, you'd best know what you're getting into...
- This Modern World - Tom Tomorrow is one funny guy.
- WDBX 91.1 FM - It truly is your community radio station for Southern Illinois.
- Carbondale Rocks - Stuff really does happen in Carbondale!
- The All Music Guide - Curious about a band, artist or style of music? Here's a good place to begin your research.
- Metacritic - Uses an incomprehensible formula to collapse lots of reviews into a "metascore" for movies, books, music, DVD's, games and TV shows
- The Nation - The political and cultural left is triumphant! Well, maybe not. Either way, you can read all about it here.
- Strange Maps - Just what it says...
Someday maybe I'll even do some RSS stuff on here...