Brevity this day my loyal readers. A busted keyboard and little to prattle on about means that original text is at a premium and I shan't bother with the niceties. So welcome to 2008 and enjoy two hours of some selected tracks. Like a very special after school special I hope that we can all learn a very important lesson from what just happened. And so, drugs are bad (or at least expensive), you don't need friends like that, and, of course, time is precious. Oh so precious - I wouldn't read this verbiage I spew grab the tracks and go do something for christ's sake.Lets get started.1) Sargasso Trio - Heels on FireJust about perfect. And this is the stand out track of the ol' cast. buy2) The Field - Fall From A Height (Remix)Tied and Tickled Trio - Aelita 1The much ballyhooed Swedes in rough mix with the post jazz of the trio.3) B.C. Camplight - Soy Tonto!A masterful piece of eclecticity by a man I can really identify with.buy4) Lisa Portelli - A Mon MeubleI don't know French but I know what I like.5 ) Chromeo - Fancy FootworkThe best electro-pop funk educated 2 step duo since the 80's. 6) Vampire Weekend - Oxford CommaAnd their back for a second track. Less Paul Simon more lerft field.7) The Magnetic Fields - Three-WayThe opening track on their new album is this stellar piece of heavy drenched erotic propulsuion. buy8) Enon - Mirror on You  (site not epileptic safe) Need more noise and this time with lyrics? Another opening track.buy9) The Shermans - DumbheadLet's bring it down with this jangle pop series of insults.10) David Vandervelde - Nothin' NoAnd let's bring in the fuzz with some psychedelic retrospective on the pressing interests of love.11) The Whitsundays - Sorry JamesLet us know put that to the task of age.12) Dr. Dog - Ain't It StrangeTo close this set let's get a bit of Beatles-esque revival. Oh that is nice - a balm on the frazzled soul it is. 13) Tunng - BulletsIs it a narrative, a survivalist trope on the dangers of forgetting and trying? A rumination on loss and life? A spectacular folksie sing along? yes14) Steve Dawson - Fun Machine OneGet up and jig now. An open plain and ample night clothe this track and bring the guitar a quality of lyrical fire. 15) Miss Li - I'm Sorry, He's Mine"And it started like love should. I tole him from my best friend." Doesn't get any straighter than that.16) Patrick and Eugene - Postcard From SummerisleOh that is nice piece of weird right there. Electronica can't do no wrong.17) Midnight Juggernauts - Dragonette's I Get Around (Remix) A solid bass bin kick is elemental to any good groove. The vocal samples with additional reworking takes the head bop and hand dance into pure pop infection territory.18) DJ Logic feat. Miri Ben-AriA very ambient track of Logic working with the instrumental hip hop violinist Ben-Ari. 19) Mandragora - La Cumparsita (Tango Christ Superstar)A re-working (orgaicmash-up, jazz riff, etc) of the Cumparsita with Jesus Christ Superstar's bassline. Encore!20) Hungry Marching Band - Gde Si BreThis lively outfit just did a show that I missed. My greatest regret of the year so far. Coincidentally how cool is the album name: "Portable Soundtracks for Temporary Utopias"? 21) Lou Reed - Perfect DayMr. Reed just keeps getting better and by the gods of if this track hasn't aged half as well as the rest than the geometrical growth of goodness shall soon outstrip the entire catalog of crooning whelps of the present day. Saccharine pop bullshit and all.22) Kerkko Koskinen - Sparkling ArsenicA whirlwind orchestral set of the ex-Ultra Bra-ist with the Umo Jazz Orchestra. Sounds like Yoko Kanno with a spy movie OST.23) Mariee Sioux - Wizard Flurry HomeHaunting and hurt - chills all around. But the warm instrumentation and rhythmic lyricism saves it from being a melancholic dirge or sap fest all to common in these tropes.24) Mekons - Dickie, Chalky and Nobbyoh I needed this.25) George Bush - ImagineDon't forget to register to vote people.26) Grails - Silk rdAnd this PDX track to give me a little room to breath before I go claustrophobic shit for brains insane on the closed in breathing that I feel when I think of the next 366 days.27) Emir Kusturica & No Smoking Orchestra - Who killed the D.J.Alas the song is too solid for the fog of memory to be contained in only by the original release and has spawned from the first the denizens of strange continents interjoined by oddity and inspiration.28) MC5 - Kick out the JamsJust what I needed to get the old blood sloshing around these old collapsed and bruised tubes to half aspirated ventricles and world weary capillaries. Join me now for the head long rush into what is bound to be a spectacular year.image from:Dick TracyBacking tracks:Band Of Horses - Is there a ghostBe Mine (Ocelot Mthrfckrs Remix)Pratique - Death for Blushing Roguemini mix nineDigitalism  - Idealism Xiu Xiu - I Do What I Want When I WantBlur - Country House