Juno Soundtrack to be Released Digitally January 11th

Acting on a tip from a friend, I checked out Juno a few nights ago and was suitably impressed. Not only is it a clever and engaging film, but I was especially taken with the excellent folksy/twee soundtrack. Belle & Sebastian, The Kinks, Sonic Youth, The Velvet Underground, Cat Power, and Buddy Holly are among the artists featured, and Kimya Dawson contributes a handful of sweet gems to provide consistency. A few cuts are available below, but I highly recommend picking up the entire album.

01) "All I Want Is You" – Barry Louis Polisar
02) "Rollercoaster" – Juno Film Version - Kimya Dawson
03) "A Well Respected Man" – The Kinks
04) "Dearest" – Buddy Holly
05) "Up The Spout" – Mateo Messina
06) "Tire Swing" – Kimya Dawson
07) "Piazza, New York Catcher" – Belle & Sebastian
08) "Loose Lips" – Kimya Dawson
09) "Superstar" – Sonic Youth
10) "Sleep" – Instrumental - Kimya Dawson
11) "Expectations" – Belle & Sebastian
12) "All The Young Dudes" – Mott The Hoople
13) "So Nice So Smart" – Kimya Dawson
14) "Sea of Love" – Cat Power
15) "Tree Hugger" – Kimya Dawson and Antsy Pants
16) "I'm Sticking With You" – Velvet Underground
17) "Anyone Else but You" – The Moldy Peaches
18) "Vampire" – Antsy Pants
19) "Anyone Else But You" – Ellen Page and Michael Cera

"Tire Swing" - Kimya Dawson

- a.m.p.m.

Happy Festivus for the rest of us...

So it's christmas time and everyone is probably opening presents and getting nice and toasty with their families and bottles of spiced rum.

Spiced rum, Santas favorite. Speaking of favorites, one of my favorite groups, Belle & Sebastian has been a bit quiet since their last record The Life Presuit and they finally have released some new music just in time for the holiday. It's even holiday flavoured! Are You Coming Home From Christmas is avaibable only for the next 24 hours at Belle and Seb's website here and it's a nice little holiday diddy.

Cheers, happy holidays.

-MF Blaz

Scot Rocks

Why the hiatus, you ask? A couple of weekends ago I got out of London and embarked on an ambitious road trip around southern and central Scotland. Although I've been to Scotland (and Edinburgh) a few times already the scenery, people, and culture of this truly amazing country never cease to amaze me. And for a small place (under 80,000 square kilometres and just over 5 million people) it sure cranks out a ton of good music.
Here are some of the songs that made up my Scotland Summer Soundtrack while speeding through the idyllic countryside, drinking pints in village pubs, exploring abandoned castles and taking in the Edinburgh festival:

Mylo - Otto's Journey

Beta Band - Needles in My Eyes
Mogwai - Friend of the Night

Belle & Sebastian - Sleep the Clock Around
My Latest Novel - The Reputation of Ross Francis

Idlewild - No Emotion

Camera Obscura - Country Mile

Boards of Canada - Telephasic Workshop

The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From the Birdhouse

Arab Strap - Where We've Left Our Love

The Jesus and Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up

Ballboy - I Hate Scotland

Franz Ferdinand - Fade Together

-a.m.p.m.