Now here's a pleasant surprise: Night After Night has received an honorable mention in a list of New York City's best music blogs as reckoned by Mapcidy, a fascinating interactive NYC arts and culture site. Especially given how unhappy I've been about my overall lack of activity here since last fall, it's a genuine treat to make an appearance in a list dominated by the real powerhouse pop blogs — resources I tap practically every day, like the mad-indispensible Brooklyn Vegan, Stereogum, Nah Right and Arjanwrites.

Among the other blogs mentioned, I'm impressed with the spirit of a relative newcomer cited not by Mapcidy, but rather by an anonymous commenter: Knox Road, based in New York and Washington, D.C.

Have a look at the list, do some exploring, save some bookmarks, update your blogrolls. (I plan to do some of that myself.) And sincere thanks to the folks at Mapcidy for the gracious, unexpected citation.

Playlist:

Van der Graaf Generator – ColosSaal, Aschaffenburg, Germany, January 23, 2009 (audience recording)

Nadia Sirota – First Things First (New Amsterdam)

Suffocation – Blood Oath (Nuclear Blast; out July 14)

Gioachino Rossini – La Cenerentola – Teresa Berganza, Nicola Monti, Sesto Buscantini, Mario Petri, Teatro San Carlo Naples Chorus, Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Mario Rossi (Opera d'Oro)

Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers and Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones/UMe)

The Dead – Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ, April 29, 2009 (soundboard recording)

George Frideric Handel – Ezio – Karina Gauvin, Ann Hallenberg, Sonia Prina, Marianne Andersen, Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani, Vito Priante, Il Complesso Barocco/Alan Curtis (Archiv)

Franz Schubert/Luciano Berio – Rendering; Aribert Reimann – Metamorphosen on a Minuet of Franz Schubert; Hans Werner Henze – Le fils de l'air: Erlkönig; Hans Zender – Schubert-Chöre; Kurt Schwertsik – Epilog zu Rosamunde – Bamberg Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Jonathan Nott (Tudor)

Jörg Widmann – Lied for Orchestra; Wolfgang Rihm – Erscheinung; Bruno Mantovani – Mit Ausdruck; Dieter Schnebel – Schubert-Phantasie – Bamberg Symphony Orchestra/Jonathan Nott (Tudor)

Bruno Mantovani – La Sette Chiese; Streets; Eclair de lune – IRCAM, Ensemble Intercontemporain/Susanna Mälkki (Kairos)

Tony Malaby – Paloma Recio (New World)

King Crimson -Poplar Creek Music Theatre, Hoffman Estates, IL, June 22, 1984 (DGMLive.com download)

György Ligeti – Piano Concerto; Chamber Concerto; Melodien; Mysteries of the Macabre – Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Peter Masseurs, ASKO and Schoenberg Ensembles/Reinbert le Leeuw (Teldec)

György Ligeti – Cello Concerto; Violin Concerto; Clocks and Clouds; Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel – Siegfried Palm, Frank Peter Zimmerman, Katalin Károlyi, Cappella Amsterdam, Amadinda Percussion Group, ASKO Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw (Teldec)

Unsuk Chin – Akrostichon-Wortspiel; Fantaisie méchanique; Concerto for Piano and Percussion "Doppelkonzert"; XI – Pia Komsi, Samuel Favre, Dimitris Vassilakis, Ensemble Intercontemporain/Kazushi Ono, Patrick Davin, Stefan Asbury, David Robertson (Deutsche Grammophon)

Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 4 – Miah Persson, Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer (Channel Classics)

Unsuk Chin – Rocaná; Violin Concerto – Viviane Hagner, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal/Kent Nagano (Analekta)

Mayhem – Ordo ad Chao (Season of Mist)

Marduk – Panzer Division Marduk (Regain)