Pick one: who is your favorite artist of all time who is still releasing records that you care about?

hard question. for me, the artist would have to have a 20+ year track record of music i've loved. i mean not only would they have had to be consistently active and good, but i'd have had to be a tuned-in fan for at least that long. and they've still gotta be putting out music that genuinely challenges, surprises and moves me. which narrows the field considerably.

first band i think of is the flaming lips, and i wouldn't have said that prior to embryonic. they were a favorite band of mine for the better part of a decade, but i've been steadily losing interest since 1995. nice at this stage in the game to be given something both great and totally unexpected.

and i'd like to say like michael hurley & sir richard bishop, but i came late to both, so they don't count (for me, anyway). and i'd like to say sonic youth, but they haven't put out a record i REALLY dug since washing machine.

billy childish (thee mighty caesars, headcoats, etc) & mick collins (gories, dirtbombs, etc) are long-time favorites, but i sometimes worry that both have their best years behind them. boredoms & tom waits? have liked recent stuff by both, but getting iffy...

The only band I can think of are Animal Collective, and I don't know if it's due to the backlash, but I'm surprised no one's mentioned them yet.

Plenty of artists and bands, but the award for longest running goes to Iron Maiden. Got to know the band in 1981 through their Killers album and have been hooked ever since. I lost some interest in them (and metal) around 1990 and completely lost them during the Blaze Bailey period (which, listening back, wasn't that bad a period, actually), but since the return of Dickinson and Smith I can safely pick up any new release again; they deliver. And they're still one of the best live bands out there. These old geezers, I don't know where they find the energy, but wow!