MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLKS! AND HOORAY FOR THE MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION LEAK! THAT WAS THE OFFICIALLY THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS TO EVER HAPPEN.

But now, a handful of music:

Stiffed-Burned Again

Here we have Burned Again, an album from Stiffed, a punk band featuring Santi White (Santogold) on vocals. My friend Jocelyn got her hands on this and shared it with me, so thanks a lot! If you enjoy Santogold, definitely check this out. Even though its more punk, her excellent voice is still easy to pinpoint.

Guided By Voices-Under The Bushes Under The Stars

Really, if you haven't heard Guided By Voices, you are really missing out. Fans of early 90's indie rock along the lines of Pavement, Beat Happening, Silver Jews and Sebadoh, you will love Guided By Voices. Plus, fans of today's "noise pop" will enjoy this, seeing as they were a bit noisy and lo-fi. Although their breakthrough album, Bee Thousand, is often seen as their best, I'm pretty confident that UTBUTS is their best work.

I have to go to work now, but I have at least 4 new albums to post later, but there could be as many as 8 or 9. We shall see!

So, I've been super busy lately, but I'll be posting some good stuff sometime before Christmas. I'll try to switch it up, instead of just posting post-punk stuff all the time. I promise!

James Chance & The Contortionists-Buy
One of the original no-wave bands. Imagine a punk band with a lead singer who also played the saxophone. Cool stuff, huh? Check this out then. Punk+Jazz=pure win.

ESG-A South Bronx Story

This almost all-female band really defines "tragically unheard". I think of them as the Velvet Underground of hip-hop, dance and post-punk: few people heard it, but those who did were very influenced by it. Considered to be part of New York's No Wave scene, ESG played a dance-punk-funk-r&b hybrid that really just needs to be heard. get this now.

Michael Ian Black-I Am A Wonderful Man

Michael Ian Black is a wonderful man and you really should have his stand up album as well as anything he has ever been involved with. You probably recognize him from those Vh1 shows, which is a good start. But get this album, find a way to see The State and Stella, two classic shows which he was a part of and then read his pieces on McSweeneys. His comedy troupe, Stella (same name as the show, I know), also features Michael Showalter and David Wain, a Clevelander who directed Wet Hot American Summer and this year's Role Models. They are performing in Cleveland at the House of Blues this Sunday and I highly recommend any Clevelander to get out for a few hours of good laughs.

Note: This is not the kind of album you want to listen to with your grandmother, unless she is like mine and is not really offended by crude humor. And no this isn't toilet humor, it's actually rather 'intelligent'