The Sounds That Shaped My Year: My Favorite Albums of 2013

In no particular order...

The National | Trouble Will Find Me | 4AD Records

                     Kurt Vile | Wakin' on a Pretty Daze | Matador

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Push the Sky Away | Bad Seeds Ltd.

Cass McCombs | Big Wheel and Others | Domino 

Julia Holter | Loud City Song | Domino 

Mutual Benefit | Love's Crushing Diamond | Other Music

                                

 Yo La Tengo | Fade | Matador

Bill Callahan | Dream River | Drag City

Sam Amidon | Bright Sunny South | Nonesuch Records

Foxygen | We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic | Jagjaguwar

Darkside | Psychic | Matador / Other People

Julian Lynch | Lines |  Underwater Peoples

Mikal Cronin | MCII | Merge 

Steve Gunn | Time Off | Paradise of Bachelors

Christmas in Ipoh!

Hark! We spent a memorable Christmas at the Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat in Ipoh, Malaysia.

To be tucked between tree-encrsuted, limestone karst cliffs on such a special day was a real treat.

Hot springs, steam caves, bromeliads galore, crystals, massage treatments, warm pools, flesh-munching fishies, foot reflexology paths, tea/biscuits, oh my!

In a well-manicured jungle, even the beasts are tame.

Poinsettias, resplendent and crimson.

Lovers, languid and cheerful.

Dinner back in old town Ipoh - a colonial throwback town nestled between verdant hills and raised on riches pulled from tin mines and felled forests.

A Chinese Malaysian feast to remember:

Bean sprouts plump and righteous...

... cinnamon encrusted bean curd...

....kway teow noodles in an egg-drop soup...

... and Hokkien mee noodles.

We tucked in heartily.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Much love,

Nellie, Gavin, & Developing Mouselet

Hark!