Pretty good Christmas this year, but I could still stand to have a shorter break- for whatever reason(s), home just isn't as fun as it used to be.

After a relatively quiet beginning of winter, it looks like Charlottesville's ready to reverse the trend come spring. You can read about the shows yourself, I'm not feeling too verbose at the moment.

So exams are over now, and I'll probably be burned out for the next couple of days, but after that, it's time to start working again. Who knows where it'll be, but it's a given that I'll hate whatever (read: retail) job I end up getting.

A good number of 2006 releases have begun to leak, but so far, none of them are too amazing. At the very least, Liars managed to make an album less shitty than They Were Wrong So We Drowned. Islands, for their part, could do without stilted white-guy rapping....you'll see.

Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead

Tom Vek - I Ain't Saying My Goodbyes

Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation

Wolf Parade - Shine a Light

Sufjan Stevens - The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us...etc.

The Joggers - White Madam

My Morning Jacket - Lay Low

Daft Punk - Human After All (Justice Remix)

Minotaur Shock - Hilly

Gorillaz - DARE

Before I get started on studying in earnest, I thought I'd put up 10 of the best songs from this year. I'm sure I missed more than a few good releases in 2005, but nevertheless, these tracks are boss. Time permitting, I'll do an additional 10 tomorrow, so have at it.