10=. Shihad, Sevendust - 14 plays
Weighing with plays apiece are Sevendust, who have popped up fairly consistently in my charts since Alpha came out, and Shihad, who are reappearing for the first time in a while, and are rumoured to have a new album coming out this year… Jon leaked the title "Beautiful Machine" already. I'm hoping it's a bit more consistent than "Love is the New Hate"… which had some stunning tracks (All The Young Fascists, Big Future, Alive, Day Will Come, None of the Above) and some filler.

8=. Rage Against the Machine, Down -…

It's time for someone around here to make some motherfuckin noise… seems awful quiet at the moment. So here's another weekly recap…

10. Saliva - 20 plays
I'm a little surprised to see these guys jumping into my top 10… they sort of snuck in the back door. I love the seriously raw rock and roll of their self-titled debut (especially 800, fantastic track!), but they've mostly gone steadily downhill from there. Insert cliche here: "I like their old stuff better than their new stuff."

9. Jimi Hendrix - 21 plays
The new JB Hi-Fi store opened downtown so someone…

There are few things that are cooler than discovering a fantastic track by one of your favourite artists that has been mysteriously confined to the status of either b-side or unreleased. So, this is the first of what will hopefully become a series profiling some of my favourite 'lost songs'. There's no real connecting theme with the songs, my ADD would never allow that, aside from the fact that they really deserve a lot more attention than they seem to have got.

MTV makes me want to smoke crack
This is one of the rare instances where it's actually possible…

It's been a while since I've done a weekly chart recap… so here goes. There's been a certain shift in my listening since getting back from Montreal… everything is a little bit more adrenalised at the moment. Anyway, before my eyes glaze over and I start waxing lyrical about that fine city and those fine Canadian girls, on with the music…

Honourable mention:
El-P
A lot of ipod listening, both Fantastic Damage and I'll Sleep When You're Dead are fantastic pieces of bleak, paranoid hip-hop. I can't get enough of Flyentology at the moment.

9=. Sevendust - 16 plays
I'm…

I haven't been to a lot of hip-hop gigs, but I just know that this one will be pretty hard to beat.

We arrived about 8:30pm - Definite and Bling were on stage at that point. Meh. They were followed by Opensouls who were pretty impressive - following very much in the tradition of New Zealand acts like Fat Freddys Drop and Shapeshifter who are really a melting pot of styles - soul, funk, dance, hip-hop etc. They did a pretty competent cover of "The Payback" by James Brown too, with different vocals.

Anyway DJ Manuel Bundy and Slave filled…

In this new journal, which might even become a series, I'm going to profile artists - looking both at my favourite albums (including a ranking, a la CM1847's "Rank the Albums" series) and also the lesser known b-sides and rarities.

First up will be Nine Inch Nails. I just got hold of the leak of My Violent Heart and holy fuck is it good - combining the rhythmic impetus of The Hand That Feeds with the gritty, noisy edge of the Downward Spiral era material. If it's anything to go by, Year Zero - which looks to be…

So last night I caught Roger Waters live at the North Harbour Stadium and I'd have to say it was the best stadium gig I think I've been to. Aside from the obvious awesomeness of hearing Dark Side of The Moon (the greatest album of all time) in its entirety as well as other Pink Floyd classics (I'm getting to that) the set-up made it even more phenomenal.

The stage was facing the main stand. When we went to our seats (which were nice and central with a good view of the stage) we were surprised we couldn't actually see…

Revolver - Parlour Games
Bang! Bang! Records
(admittedly, the link to last.fm's "Revolver" is shared with four other bands of the same name…)

Listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band recently, I was reminded of a fundamental difference between the trailblazing rock of the 70’s, and the heavily-produced rock of the current era. Modern rock is becoming increasingly derivative in an effort to sound new, with only a handful of current bands (such as Muse and The Killers) actually producing something that’s vaguely accessible. Alternative and emo bands seem to be falling over themselves in an effort…

8:00am: I wake up with a hangover, and vague recollections of a half hour walk (stumble) home from the excellent Kasabian gig at Studio.
8:02am: Back to sleep.
8:30am: My hangover has thankfully faded, and a couple of Nurofen banish it for good – remembering to save some for tomorrow morning of course.
9:30am: I arrive at the hotel where my friend James is staying while he’s over from Australia. What a happy coincidence that his cousin’s wedding is only a couple of days after the Big Day Out.
9:45am: The platform for the day is laid with a big…

In some ways, I now seem to have become a sort of music tourist. Whenever I spend time in a new city, I want to find a (good) record store and buy a CD there. I suppose they become like souvenirs, because I'll always remember a CD was purchased overseas as soon as I put it on.

On Australia's Gold Coast, which is renowned mainly for beaches and sun, I was never going to find a record store in the league of LA's Amoeba Records. Still, there was still plenty to look at including Sunflower Records in Pacific Fair (probably…