More News From Nowhere

In years past, Jon Pareles of The New York Times has all but christened bands like The Arcade Fire, The Black Kids and Friendly Fires as the next big thing to arise out of the five days of over 1,000 bands performing in Manhattan and Brooklyn at the 29th annual CMJ Music Marathon. This year, no clear cut favorite, although the Antlers, Surfer Blood and Cymbals Eat Guitars get special mention. The Village Voice has extensive coverage as well of the entire festival.

Uncut Magazine has gotten the jump on the "best of" lists that will be ubiquitous before long. Pared down from 25 choices, an interesting group of judges has come up with a shortlist of:

• Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
• Bob Dylan, Together Through Life
• Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
• Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
• Kings of Leon, Only By The Night
• The Low Anthem, Oh My God Charlie Darwin
• Tinariwen, Imidiwan: Companions
• Wilco, Wilco (The Album)

The Los Angeles Times reviews the Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard show from the other night at Largo. The duo performed songs from the new soundtrack to the documentary movie "One Fast Move and I'm Gone," based on Jack Kerouac's novel "Big Sur."

UPDATE! NPR broadcasts the Farrar/Gibbard Washington, DC show from the 9:30 Club on Tuesday night, October 27, beginning at 9.00pm EDT. (If you miss it, live shows are usually posted for further listening as well at All Songs Considered.)

The Times of London has posted a lengthy excerpt from David Simon's book on why he created the phenomenal TV series The Wire. We know this item isn't strictly about music, but the writing of the show was like listening to a symphony.

And finally, TNOP knows when it is up against superior forces. Sometime rock critic, novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby reveals 16,326 songs on his iPod. And counting, we suppose (the smart ass).