In a rare email exchange with Flax today, he wrote that "There are only a handful of artists on my 'Blind Buy Anything They Release' list these days, with a few having gotten the boot over the past few years." It should be noted that Blink-182 is among those, which is either good [he's done with them] or awful [he had them on his "Blind Buy Anything They Release" for a time - take off your pants and jacket, indeed!], depending on you perspective. So, it got me thinking about my list.

This list applies only to full-length albums - I generally only purchase an EP or a single if I'm absolutely floored by an album or, more likely, if I make an impulse buy while flipping through a record store. Being that I've only been at one record store that might stock singles and EPs (Dr. Wax - in January) in the past, oh, 37 months [it was February of 2003 when I was last in one, I'm 98 percent sure], I don't have many recent EPs or singles.

This list does not apply to "Odds n' Sods" collections, box sets, live releases, or any other crap a band might sell. I'm on full-length albums here. Also, in some circumstances, a band has reached the end of its leash, and a series of really bad reviews for a given album might dissuade me. I've italicized these artists.

Also, there are artists on the list on the basis of one great debut, or their most recent album being great. I guess they could theoretically earn their way off, but they're there for the time being.

So, the list consists of (along with consecutive albums of theirs I've purchased):
The Arcade Fire (1)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (2)
Bloc Party (1)
Neko Case (3)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (1)
The Clientele (2)
The Decemberists (3)
Dizzee Rascal (2 - I'm a sucker for hype, and grime)
The Flaming Lips (2)
Franz Ferdinand (2)
The Futureheads (1)
Grandaddy (3; I think their next one is also their last)
Interpol (2)
Jeff Mangum, or Neutral Milk Hotel belching on tape (3)
Modest Mouse (4)
The Mountain Goats (4 consecutive, 2 others)
The New Pornographers (3)
Carl "A.C." Newman (1)
Robert Pollard - solo full-lengths only, not just everything that he throws out there - I can't keep up
The Secret Machines (1)
The Shins (2)
Silver Jews (2)
Spoon (4)
The Streets (2)
The Strokes (3)
The Walkmen (2)
The White Stripes (4)
Wilco [but only things bearing the Wilco name - not all Jeff Tweedy projects; Italicized only because I tend to dislike Jeff Tweedy, and will dismiss Wilco if their work is trashed - Somehow, I don't expect that to ever happen] (6)
Wolf Parade (1)
XTC, if a new one ever exists (3 consecutive, I think)

Of these, at least six [Flaming Lips, Futureheads, Grandaddy, Secret Machines, Streets, Walkmen] have albums due out in the next three months or so. In addition, I think I'll be buying the next Fiery Furnaces album, a more conventional record than the most recent one. I think it's due in May.

Was there a point to this? Probably not. This leaves precious little room for exploration, although not really. It just means that I'm more selective with what bands I start anew - do more reading, perhaps more sampling, perhaps rely more on word-of-mouth.

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Flax wrote to me because he had an emusic.com subscription he had to use up before the free trial expired. I gave some GbV recommendations, and some other indie pop stuff. Plus The Exploding Hearts.

Me? I downloaded a full 100 songs in a 20-minute period two weeks ago.

What I downloaded, along with letter grades at this short length of exposure:
Antony and the Johnsons - I am a Bird Now - B+
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock and Roll - B+
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister - A-, but I knew that already
Belle and Sebastian - I'm Waking Up To Us EP - B, but I never feel satisfied from EPs
Neko Case - The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - incomplete, but I really like "Margaret and Pauline," and I sense the rest of it is quite good
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies - A
dntel - "This Hill" - incomplete
dntel - "This is the Dream of Evan and Chan" - B+ ; groundbreaking when it came out, but it's really just another Postal Service song - a good Postal Service song, but a Postal Service song nonetheless
Jens Lekman - You're So Silent Jens - C+, but okay
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy - Incomplete, but seemingly really good
Saturday Looks Good to Me - This Night - B

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Maybe one of these days I'll write an interesting anecdote about my life, but my life consists of work, sitting on the couch, checking email, and going to sleep. Not necessarily bad things, just not interesting things. Maybe I should start making up outrageous stories. Or maybe I should continue writing about baseball, music, and add to that "Whatever Book I'm Currently Reading." In tonight's case, that book is the sports classic Veeck - As In Wreck, the autobiography of promotional genius Bill Veeck. It's so great that I fell asleep with it against my face last night. Yes!