Say hello to Tim...

I was hoping to introduce Tim before he started posting, but that's why I gave him the keys to the place.

Tim and I work together, and have developed a decent bon homie over the past year. He's got the same kind of wicked humor, and likes even more jacked up music than I do.

He also doesn't pull any punches, as you can tell with the She & Him review (which I pretty much agree with. I'm pretty sure Ben Gibbard is going to beat him up for that).

If you're on Twitter (and seriously, at this point why aren't you?) you can follow Tim @timtalksnow. Or check ou this blog, Tim Talks Now.

The End Draws Nigh

I love this time of year. Crisp air, falling leaves, end of year lists.

I got about 20 albums that are drop dead fantastic this year. Telekinesis, Jigga, M. Ward, Phoenix, Spoon, Conor, etc...

But I'm sure I missed some.

This is an open invitiation to tell me what I missed, what I should've listened to over these past 10 months. Send me an email, or a tweet, or a comment here.

As always, your comments are fairplay to be reposted and mocked.

Whoa...

Sorry it's been so long since I updated.

After Merge XX, it kinda was tough getting back intot he music swing of things.

And then when I did, I didn't really have time to post. Excuses excuses.

Today is October, and strangely enough I think this marks one year of this crazy blog thingy. Way to go for me.

I got some stuff planned for the upcoming month. Stay tuned. Your RSS feeds might get overloaded this week...

To our friend Shelby on his birthday

We wanted to take a moment and wish Shelby Miller, the host of Shifted Sound, a warm and happy birthday.

Normally we don't do stuff like this (isn't that what Facebook walls are reserved for) but Shelby has been an inspiration and driving force behind The Shimmy Shake. He has turned me on to some wonderful music over the past two years, and the least I could do for the man is thank him on my blog, and wish him a happy birthday.

Shelby, you're one of a kind good sir. Thanks for all the recs (even the bad ones).

Yaaaawwwwnnn

I took the month of May off for paternity leave, and had the high minded intentions of doting on my newborn son, learning French, listening to more music, and writing more on this blog thing.

The first was accomplished.

Je suis faim is the best of my French abilities.

And I've been sitting on a ton of eMusic credits. I dunno if May wasn't a good month for music or what, but eh.

It takes hard work to find good stuff. I had gotten fat and lazy because for awhile, I was tripping over good music.

But I found some time this Sunday morning to do a little writing, a little reading, and a lot of listening. I should have two new reviews up soon. And I should have an interview with A Camp sometime this week as well.

I'm all give over here.

Merci beau coup for reading.

Two Grand In the Bank!

Quietly, yet still resonatingly, our little site here has jumped the 2,000 page view mark.

I wish this meant something, but it really doesn't.

But here's a little simple math for you. It took 106 days for us to reach the first grand.

It took 72 for the next.

I'm not sure even Ron Jeremy or Peter North could sustain that kind of performance, but considering that I pretty much duffed March, I'm fairly amazed at the residual value that the site generates. If you listened to the epic episode #150 of Shifted Sound, you heard me briefly allude to the residual everlasting value of blogs, podcasts and other electronic media.

I digress.

Thank you all for reading the site regularly. I appreciate it a ton. I don't get ads or anything but personal satisfaction out this blog. So thanks for giving me that.

You can write it off on your taxes next year.

I didn't forget about ya

Hey there!

I know, we do this dance occassionally. You've probably been checking in dutifully, only to see there are no posts. And again, I have to apologize. But I have a really good reason.

My computer died two Thursdays ago (before the Inauguration). I wasn't too worried about my music collection (I'm a huge proponent of frequent backups). But since I can't really listen to new music at work (thanks government firewall!), it really limited my ability to get new stuff. Coupled with the influx of family and all the inauguartion stuff that went with it, it was a bear.

But now I'm moving at 200 mph and getting caught up on a lot of old stuff. Today you're gonna get a glut of reviews, random thoughts, and even another giveaway.

I know. It's like my little make up present to you.

Cos I love you all.

A Grand Don't Come For Free

Woo hoo.

We did it. We've hit 1,000 visitors. I won't get into the breakdown of repeats vs multiple page loads vs unique visitors (that's for our nascent Taking on Goliath advertising department). But I will say that on the whole, I'm pretty pleased. Just to compare, my startup costs have been none, zero promotion, all done in my spare time, and I've had over 1,000 page views.

I could never do this with a print publication. Even some Xeroxed copied product would've cost me a pretty penny. And there's no way 1,000 people wouldv'e seen it or read it (not that I'm saying 1,000 people have read the blog. Cos that's just not true).

But I want to say thank you to all the people who check in their readers, or gasp, plug in The Shimmy Shake into their address bars occassionally. I try to be a faithful blogger, but it doesn't always happen. But thanks for sticking with me.

Thanks for all the comments and love. Thanks to all the bands who've been kind enough to sit through one of my torture-light amatuer interviews.

Thanks to all the hustlers. And most importantly you: the customer.

Drinks is on the house.

Teasers

Hey there and Happy New Year!

I'm sitting on some really good stuff right now. We got a pretty solid, unexpected interview coming down the pipe. And some new, never before heard music as well. But all in due time.

I'm kind of at a blank right now for new music. It seems everyone took the last two weeks off, and I've resorted to reading random blog posts and then forgetting to get the music.

And damnit, eMusic keeps wanting me to download weird country music.

But Auld Lang Syne man! Suggest something for me to listen to.

T-Shirt Giveaway

So, I'm cleaning out stuff in my bedroom, and I find two unworn shirts from two very awesome concerts this year.

And I'm thinking, "Hey, new shirts to wear!"

But I'm also thinking that I haven't worn these shirts, and I already have two dozen shirts that I find hard to wear already.

So, I decided to have a giveaway. Our first ever here at The Shimmy Shake.

These are two, brand new, unworn shirts from two very awesome bands. The first is from the Ra Ra Riot show I went to back in October. And the second is from the the Bishop Allen show I went to in November.

The Ra Ra Riot shirt is green. The Bishop Allen shirt is white. I'm not going to go into detail about what's on them. They both are American Apparel. And they are both XL (I'm not a big guy, but AA shirts cut kinda close.). If you wash and dry them, they will shrink, so if you wear a large, you might be alright after a few washes.

Interested? Good. Leave a comment on this post. It's gotta have an email address attached to the name, or I can't get in contact with you. I'm not gonna spam you or anything.

Contest ends 11:59 pm Dec 31, 2008. I'll randomly pick people the next day, post winners and send emails out. There will be a one winner for each shirt. If you have a preference, say so in the comment (then you'll only be in the drawing for that shirt. Got that?) If no preference, you'll be in the drawing for both.

Tell all your cool ass friends! Even your not cool ass friends!

Some Other Voices

I'm glad I never made any promises at the start of this blog.

Like, I never promised this wouldn't become a group blog.

Because it isn't becoming a group blog.

But I am inviting some people to pitch in occasionally.

There's something to be said for a diversity of voices. I like poppy dance music. But that excludes a lot of the rest of the spectrum of indie rock.

So, I have some friends. People I really respect, who've turned me on to some really great music. The first person you'll probably read is Georgy C. She writes way better than I do. And she has better tastes in music than I do. Expect to see her end of the year up here soon.

Second is Jeff M. Jeff's been sending us emails, and I've been posting them. So I asked Jeff to just write instead. It'll make it easier on all of us.

Finally, Zak C. should also be showing up sometime, though I don't know when. He's got an interview brewing with a graphic artist and some other stuff.

They've got the keys to the place, so there won't be any editing or me going back and touching up what they've written. I asked that they use tags to keep the place nice, but who knows.

I hope you all enjoy someone else bloviating for awhile. I'll still be writing. I'm not taking a break or anything. Just letting some other people in on the fun.

Housekeeping

I feel like I'm in the news biz again, I got plenty of copy, I'm working on two stories. I just need to the pull the trigger.

Kristin's interview is taking longer to put together than I thought (pain meds and typing don't mix kid). But it's coming.

And I have the very difficult task of putting together my Top 10, best of the year list.

And this year was tough. I mean, I can name 20 standout albums. I already have my No 1, but yeah. That still leaves 19. We'll have it all done by the end of the week, and then you can go on reading.

Thanks for the daily clicks though. We'll get more stuff up soon. I promise.