So we're halfway through 2008; what are your top 10 albums of this year, so far?

i don't think i could come up with 10 albums from this year so far i would throw my weight behind

having said that, the top ones are

for against - shade side sunny side
the lodger - life is sweet
i was a cub scout - i want you to know that there is always hope
headlights - some racing some stopping
ida - lovers prayers

hon mentions but unlikely to make my top 10 by dec:
robert forster, sarandon, the accidental, auburn lull, cut copy, daysleepers, eight legs

lol indie

1. Black Mountain – In The Future
2. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
3. Shearwater – Rook
4. The Dodos - Visiter
5. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E
6. Beach House – Devotion
7. Fleet Foxes – s/t
8. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
9. Portishead – Third
10. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

Based purely on what I've played/replayed most often this year, here is my top ten list. Alphabetical order; I could rank Portishead first because I've played that one the most by far, and after that it's a crapshoot.

Boris, Smile (Southern Lord)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig Lazarus Dig!!! (Mute)
Earth, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (Southern Lord)
Fuck Buttons, Street Horsssing (ATP)
The Gutter Twins, Saturnalia (Sub Pop)
Jamie Lidell, Jim (Warp)
M83, Saturdays = Youth (Mute)
Portishead, Third (Mercury)
The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust (Vice)
Spiritualized, Songs in A & E (Sanctuary)

In no particular order:

Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
Fleet Foxes - s/t
Vampire Weekend - s/t
Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Teenage Bottlerocket - Warning Device
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Panic! At the Disco - Pretty. Odd.
Weezer - Red Album

(I think the only definite placements on my year-end list are gonna be Kathleen, Vampire Weekend, and Girl Talk.)

hold steady (best of 2008 so far imo),dodos,mgmt,no age,vampire weekend,the fall,wolf parade,destroyer

xxpost Street Horrrsing, my bad.

i wanna listen to that Shearwater record though

I haven't been a fan of Hold Steady so far... is the new album gonna convert me? (Trying to decide whether it's worth grabbing a copy.)

if you didnt like Boys and Girls - i don't think youll like this one either

If you didn't like Boys and Girls you're forgiven as it's their weakest album. Go for Separation Sunday before you check out the new one.

Hold Steady would of made list but is not out yet so it didn't qualify. great album!

it is out in digital format i think

need to spend more time with them, but, tentatively

1. Air France - No Way Down EP
2. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind...
3. Vampire Weekend - s/t
4. Studio - Yearbook II
5. Hercules & Love Affair - s/t
6. Sebastian Tellier - Sexuality
7. No Age - Nouns
8. Animal Collective - Water Curses
9. Alex Moulton - Exodus
10. Dodos - Visiter

i think i'll add the Shearwater album to my list, i love the Mark Hollis influence.

cheap time
black and whites
...

1. Portishead - Portishead
2. Fuck Buttons - Street Horssing
3. Made Out Of Babies - The Ruiner
4. Torche - Meanderthal
5. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
6. James Blackshaw - Litany Of Echoes
7. The Roots - Rising Down
8. Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia
9. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
10. Boris - Smile

moto boy, devotchka, auburn lull, ruby suns, july skies, soda fountain rag, loveliescrushing, hari & aino, randomnumber, moscow olympics

If 2008 ended today, alphabetically:

Bruno Pronsato - Why Cant We Be Like Us
Carl Craig - Sessions LP
Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
Hercules and Love Affair - Self Titled
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Nomo - Ghost Rock
Portishead - Third
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Syclops - I've Got My Eye On You
Tape - Luminarium

yay Tape!

1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: 4th World War
2. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
3. Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
4. Raheem DeVaughn - Love Behind The Melody
5. Jonathan Richman - Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
6. My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Shark's Teeth
7. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
8. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
9. Rich Boy - Bigger Than The Mayor
10. Sloan - Parallel Play

Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07
Bison
The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
Ladytron -Velocoforo
Cheap Time
Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded
Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior
Thee Oh Sees - The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In
Black Mountain - Into the Future
Victrola Favorites (VA)

badu
cuong vu -- vu-tet
akoya afrobeat -- p.d.p.
maceo parker -- roots and grooves
gipsy.cz -- reprezent
lil mama -- voice of the young people
esperanza spalding -- esperanza
gilberto gil -- banda larga cordel
steven bernstein -- diaspora suite
issa bagayogo -- mali kounde

1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah
2. Portishead - Third
3. Kelley Polar - I Need You Told Hold on While the World is Falling
4. Vampire Weekend
5. The-Dream - Lovehate
6. Hercules & Love Affair
7. Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality
8. Nejo y Dalmata - Broke & Famous
9. Santogold
10. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

1. hercules and love affair- s/t
2. los campesinos- hold on now youngster
3. the-dream- love/hate
4. vampire weekend- s/t
5. lil wayne- tha carter III
6. hot chip- made in the dark
7. cut copy- in ghost colours
8. bun b- II trill
9. lil boosie- da beginning
10. studio- yearbook 2

(still trying to figure out how much i like: wolf parade, ponytail, be your own pet, miles benjamin anthony robinson, young dro, rich boy, air france)

I thought maybe all the good stuff from 08 had been hiding from me, but nothing on these lists interests me at all. Maybe it's just a horrible year for music.

also should find some room for gucci mane in there

fwiw i think this has been a great year for albums

1. Why? - Alopecia
2. Je Suis Animal - Self Taught Magic From A Book
3. Autechre - Quaristice
4. Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
5. El Guincho - Alegranza

Tha Carter III, James Blackshaw, No Age, Flying Lotus, Atlas Sound, all honourable mentions.

Bang on a Can--Music for Airports
King Khan--The Supreme Genius
Kelley Stoltz--Circular Sounds
Sigur Ros--Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Kurt Vile--Constant Hitmaker
Al Green--Lay It Down
Earth--The Bees Made Honey
Portishead--Third
Plants & Animals--Parc Avenue
Oneida--Preteen Weaponry

Portishead - Third
Sunset - Bright Blue Dream & The Glowing City
Beach House - Devotion
Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Magnetic Fields - Distortion

still want to hear Badu, Kurt Weisman, Shearwater

Shearwater - Rook
The Dø - A Mouthful
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Portishead - Third
Fleet Foxes - s/t
Vampire Weekend - s/t
Four Tet - Ringer EP
Why? - Alopecia
Youthmovies - Good Nature
Spiritualized - Songs In A&E

That's probably the top ten, the top two of which are most settled / secure in my esteem. Also floating around are Black Mountain, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Gutter Twins, Neil Cowley, The Blessing, Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia, Guillemots, Cadence Weapon, Hercules & Love Affair, Breeders.

A very strong year indeed thus far...

1. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
2. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
3. Barry Adamson - Back To The Cat
4. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
6. Shearwater - Rook
7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
8. Portishead - Third
9. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
10. System 7 - Phoenix
11. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
12. Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
13. The Breeders - Mountain Battles
14. The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
15. Camille - Music Hole

... with many, many others bubbling under.

forgot about ponytail.great record.

barry adamson's got a new one out? must investigate...

I thought maybe all the good stuff from 08 had been hiding from me, but nothing on these lists interests me at all. Maybe it's just a horrible year for music.

if you ain't interested in hearing ANY of the stuff mentioned on this thread you should perhaps question your interest in music, really. this year has been amazing.

1. erykah badu, new amerykah part one (4th world war)
2. mariah carey, e=mc2
3. dj apostle, the elements of bassline
4. lil' wayne, tha carter iii
5. ellen allien, boogybytes vol 4
6. ashlee simpson, bittersweet world
7. wiley, grime wave
8. akiko kiyama, 7 years
9. robert hood, fabric 39
10. trus'me, working nights

hon mentions to: bun b, estelle, the bug, roland appel, portishead, alex moulton, mlle caro & franck garcia, appleblim, the-dream, booka shade, kuniyuki takahashi, the mole, danity kane, santogold, diskjokke, lindstrøm, lil' mama, bruno pronsato

jordan sargent likes los campesinos????!!!!!!!

yes! a lot

me and passantino, wrists out the windows, ridin round london blastin los campesinos

ew

i think one of them may have been a successor of mine as editor of my uni's student mag? i worry that i may have inadvertently nurtured this shit

oh i do want to hear the gucci mane though so u get points back for that

hmmm.

thinking about it, I can't really think of anything apart perhaps from 'Mega Breakfast' by The Chap that I'd deem worthy of inclusion in a top ten list. And the Beach House record actually.

weird. last year was fucking ace as well.

I miss Be Your Own Pet from J0rdan's list.

old stuff reissued has been order of the day @ ireallylovemusic hq for most of the year.

cannonball adderley - soul zodiac (reissue)
david axelrod/electric prunes - the warner sessions
the godfathers - hit by hit (reissue)

new albums :

pama intl - love filled dub
midnight juggerbauts - dystopia
the black ghosts - mixtape
cut copy - in ghost colours
idc - overthrow the boss class
the heliocentrics - out there

want to hear : portishead/goldfrapp

ha

im all over the place on that record. part of it is that i had pretty unreasonable expectations for it since their s/t is one of my favorite of the decade. im slowly coming around to it but the lyrics esp seem kinda lazily written to me. it's missing a song like "adventure" or "thresher's flail" i think. i dont like using the "its not you its me defense" but i would recommend the record and the band to anyone and everyone (and do irl) but its just been overshadowed by other things this year. still holding out on it all the way clicking though.

xp

lex:

gucci is a must. #1 good mood rap music of the year right now, esp. the bleepy keyboard tracks ("i know why", "i might be", "ballers") on back to the traphouse. he's also got a bunch of good guest spots on that rich boy mixtape and a few joints off soulja boy's teen of the south.

also "freaky gurl" remix but you might've heard that since it's got a reeeeeally nasty kim verse

i don't think anyone in rap right now has more fun rapping than gucci

yup i love the 'freaky gurl' rmx, that was the first i heard of gucci. kim's absolutely kills, solid solid gold and so nasty

kim's verse

In no particular order:

MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
Vampire Weekend: s/t
Crystal Castles: s/t
Neon Neon: Stainless Style
Elvis Costello & The Imposters: Momofuku
Sparks: Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
Fleet Foxes: s/t
Be Your Own Pet: Get Awkward
Santogold: s/t
Ladytron: Velocifero

also ran: Young Knives, Hercules & Love Affair, Midnight Juggernauts, Wolf Parade, Gnarls Barkley

I'm intrigued by the Costello. But not enough to buy it for £14 which is all I've seen it for.

secret chiefs 3 - xaphan
meshuggah - obzen
racebannon - acid for blood
mike patton - a perfect place
sparks - exotic creatures of the deep
melvins - nude with boots
made out of babies - the ruiner
the mars volta - bedlam in goliath
earth - the bees made honey in the lion's skull
oneida - preteen weaponry

I'm way behind on listening to new music but here's my top 10 of what I have heard:

magnetic fields - distortion
goslings - occasion
breeders - mountain battles
portishead - third
fall - imperial wax solvent
be your own pet - get awkward
melvins - nude with boots
times new viking - rip it off
ladytron - velocifero
asteroid #4 - these flowers of ours

best reissue:
amebix - no sanctuary - the spiderleg recordings

segond and the fractures - agamemnon baby oh yeah
lockboxer - cherry denial
slack camomile - weakness quiescence
turvey knoller - lam blach tarpo
purply - soul hissy fit
neverminds - 69 horsefish
jumblies - too close to mall
aztec swordfish - green north diaphragm
lum bar - wrack my spine
73 combost 78 - gronigen greengage

you liked the turvey knoller album? for god's sake man, why? it was weeeeaaaaaak.

what are you talking about fool of fools, it was a stunning return to form!

it wasn't a patch on 'lickbone and sons (etd. 1864)'.

listened right through the mars volta album once, it's by far their worst, most unengaging record.

not sure I've liked any volta record on first listen. they're all growers for me.

I still prefer frances the mute overall, but I'll rep for goliath any day. it's their most direct and relentless album, and really rewards recidivists (though admittedly it does tail off a bit in the final quarter).

(xxp)

he definitely benefits from having dj muckshake producing tho'.

Frances The Mute is easily their best, I'd say Amputechture their second-best, actually. FTM is a wondrous adventure, TBIG just seems to be a complete wankrush of unthought-through frilly tech-metal.

Erykah Badu
Studio (06/07)
Portishead
Strategy (07)
H&LA
Hot Chip
Santogold

a few flawed others from liked artists but lots yet to hear and as usual i'm more about individual tracks

xp: you say that like it's a bad thing...I'd suggest you give it another go, and give in to its sheer grandiose preposterousness.

I always end up buying TMV albums almost despite my better judgement, and never actually got around to amuptechture. you may the first person I've heard sing its praises.

4 mentions of erykah so far, all placing her at no 1! good going ilx

Hey - it's not like I'm known for hating on sheer grandiose preposterousness! If anything, TBIG isn't theatrical enough - it rushes by in a one-paced flab of squealing. More bands should go down the preposterousness route, but TMV need to add a bit of variation into their by-now familiar Spanish-flavoured speed-metal.

that's a pretty reductive assessment of the record, but I take your point. personally, I've never felt they were that hot in ballad/soundscape mode, but that their strength lay in their proggy freneticism.

speaking of which, based on past form I fully expect the new cardiacs album to make it into this year's final cut, and I suspect you do too...

it's called LSD...it cannot fail :D

hey lex, is the jordin sparks album worth bothering with?

Also, TMV's proggy freneticism is their strongest suit, yes, but previously it was so much better orchestrated, measured...there was a sense that it was all building up to something (see: Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus, where after 8:44 of glorious arc-based songwriting we break through into the unimaginably awesome Con Safo section). On TBIG I don't feel the craft or the surprise. Just tedium. Might give it a relisten tho seeing as you'll rep for it.

Tentative 10:

Lil Mama – VYP: Voice of the Young People
V/A - Boogy Bytes Vol.4 mixed by Ellen Allien
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Monade - Monstre Cosmic
Ashlee Simpson - Bittersweet World
Matmos - Supreme Balloon
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Portishead - Third
Estelle - Shine
Sean O'Hagan & Jean-Pierre Muller - The Musical Paintings_Volume 1

xp: it's not a comparable beast, really. whereas frances was a prog/concept suite, this is much more a collection of discrete rock songs, more like the debut. but in terms of building towards something, the track 'goliath' should see you right...

for me, it was the crimsony outro of the first track that was the key to the kingdom.

Goliath itself has a really irritating riff, tho. TMV-by-numbers. The great thing about a band like Cardiacs is that they have a LOT of different melodic (and rhythmic, and textural) structures in their arsenal. TBIG demonstrates limitations IMO. But enough of it; I'll give it another listen before further comments.

The Fall, Imperial Wax Solvent
Goslings, Occasion
Portishead, Third
Kim Doo Soo, 10 Days Butterfly
Master Musicians of Hop Frog, Centuries Later
Andrea Belfi, Knots
Etran Finatawa, Desert Crossroads
Indian Jewelry, Free Gold!
Maninkari, Le Diable Avec Ses Chevaux
Aleph-1, s/t

xp: no argument that cardiacs are vastly superior to TMV.

hey lex, is the jordin sparks album worth bothering with?

dunno! i do have it somewhere but i've been rinsing 'no air' too much to listen to the whole thing. will rectify this soon though

No order:

Be Your Own Pet
The Doubtful Guest
Blood Ceremony
Ascend
Kelley Polar
Hercules & Love Affair
Dimension X
Diskjokke
Gnaw Their Tongues
Nick Cave

Pretty certain there's stuff I'm forgetting, will check later

Portishead - Third
Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness
Studio - Yearbook 2
Spiritualized - Songs In A&E
Goslings - Occasion
The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Wire - Object 47
Santogold - S/T
Boris - Smile

I think I've liked the Steinki compilation more than any record released this year.

^^^^ This. My two favorites so far: Steinki and Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue (I'm lol old lol). Portishead's disc is good. After that, there's a precipitous decline in quality in this year's discs. I'm hoping for better new releases in the second half of 2008.

All these people moaning that this year's rubbish, have they heard the albums other people are praising?

Well as we've already discussed, Cardiacs are due. Let me add the lovely Volcano! to that and it's already looking a lot rosier.

YEAH OK NICK I'LL GET THAT SHEARWATER ALBUM

In no order:

Erykah Badu
Hercules & Love Affair
Steinski
Portishead
Vampire Weekend
Lil Wayne
Magnetic Fields
The Hold Steady
The-Dream
Be Your Own Pet

Haha, I'm not so much meaning that, Louis, as just... there's always people, every year, who moan that each year is shite and last year was better and 1991 was even better still, and I can't say I see much difference between any two particular years you care to choose that are close together. Each year there are records I love, like, and don't give a shit about.

actually, for once, i aint complaining this year is a bad'un.
just that i, along with a few others i know, have obviously fallen off distribution lists, so not getting to hear as much new stuff as per normal.
there's loads of good stuff i would love to hear, but only so many hours in the day and so many pounds in the pocket.

Good records, bad records and indifferent records, all living together inside a piano.

The only criticism of this year is that 2007 was so awesome it's just not gonna match up.

It was? It isn't?

Yer certinleh makin' me think!

Provided you're wise enough not to take your aesthetic lead from Guardian Music or Radcliffe and Maconie, 2008's been a pearl of a year thus far.

I have little-to-no-interest in albums this year. There are good ones I am sure.

For singles it's the best year since 2002.

I don't even know what's been a single this year. I kind of assume it doesn't matter anymore.

No that was 1959.

i'm feeling more enthusiastic about albums than i have in years, but singles (or 'tracks', whatever) are always going to be more important to me. also, far far harder to put into a list, b/c while there might be about 30 albums i'm into this year so far, there are already well over 100 individual tracks

Where is DJ Martian's list of 9000 albums band?

it's a bit weird that since downloading making a list of 10 albums at the end of a year never did get any easier for me (inability to 'widen it up' unchanged). it meant i just heard a lot more average albums each year.

I think 'methods' of listening / consumption have far more influence over our perception of how many 'good albums' there have been (in relation to individual tracks or not) than number of albums consumed does.

I generally tend to use the "ears" option.

No Age: Nouns
Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark

Robert Forster: The Evangelist
My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
Opeth: Watershed
Stephen Malkmus: Real Emotional Trash
Bon Iver: For Emma...
Nada Surf: Lucky
MGMT: Orangular...
Wolf Parade: Mt. Zoomer

I think 'methods' of listening / consumption have far more influence over our perception of how many 'good albums' there have been (in relation to individual tracks or not) than number of albums consumed does

probably right, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference with me either way

plus sometimes i forget i'm not actually a music writer i just spend a lot of time on list threads with people who are

I think Matmos - "Supreme Balloon" is my #1 so far. Other things, in only a vague order and probably not exhaustively, which have had many listens and delighted me on all of them:
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Strategy - Music for Lamping
Grouper - Dragging etc
uh, maybe the Ladytron? I'm running out now

Currently looking forward to hearing Oneida, the Alex Moulton and Racebannon, and giving No Age and TNV more of a chance because I really liked their previous releases but haven't had a chance to sit down with the TNV much and really didn't care for the No Age on first listen.

I didn't know there was new randomNumber out and had forgotten about the Oneida, so I'm glad this thread exists.

in no order:

American Music Club, The Golden Age (Merge)
Kaki King, Dreaming of Revenge (Velour)
Tata Young, One Love
the Breeders, Mountain Battles (4AD)
Cece Winans, Thy Kingdom Come (EMI Gospel)
Jucifer, L'autichienne (Relapse)
Jamie Liddell, Jim (Warp)
Beach House, Devotions (Carpark)
Septic Flesh, Communion (Season of Mist)
Prostitute Disfigurement, Descendants of Depravity (Willowtip)
Origin, Antithesis (Relapse)
Morbosidad, Profana la Cruz del Nazareno (NWN)

As a non-writer (obviously), pre-internet I was reluctant to make year-end lists as it would typically take me until the next year to hear most of the albums I'd decide were the "best", as I was a lot more reliant on finding things second-hand (things I eagerly bought new tended not to live up to expectations).

Now, I'm hearing a lot more stuff at the time of release/leak, but more aware than ever of how much there is left to listen to, and have usually forgotten what last month's best album ever was (sometimes even before its physical release) in the rush to find this month's. So by the time the list season rolls round I still feel unprepared.

So, I am as unable as ever to produce a list of solid gold classics off the top of my head, but from this corny indie fuck's point of view there are a bunch of exciting new directions opening up in the music I've been listening to, and this year trying to keep up has felt fun again and less of an obligation. Looking forward to seeing what happens in the rest of the year.

El Perro Del Mar, The Dø, Elbow, Portishead, Half Man Half Biscuit, Goldfrapp...
That's all I got.

Pattern is Movement
Syclops
Shonky
Cristian Vogel (technically 2007 I think)
El Guincho

also: Meshuggah, Minilogue, Marc Romboy

Willie Nelson - Moment of Forever
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Part 1
Ponies in the Surf - See You Happy
Kath Bloom – Terror
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Adam Green - Sixes and Sevens
Dolly Parton - Backwoods Barbie
No Kids - Come Into My House
A Weather - Cove

Vampire Weekend feels like it was released 8.5 years ago, but I gotta give it props for being a solid indie pop record.

The Ruby Suns' Sea Lion has sort of surprised me how frequently it pops up in rotation. Definitely on the list for me.

Other albums I bought only within the last couple weeks, so it's tough to guage whether they're "best" or just shiny and new: Fleet Floxes, Shearwater, MGMT.

Beach House I think is good but not "best" of anything.

If I made a top ten now, it would probably look like:

1. Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song (Mercury)
2. Legless – Finding Mr. Perfect (leglesstheband.com)
3. The Tonic Rays – The Tonic Rays (thetonicrays.com ’07)
4. Woodbox Gang – Drunk As Dragons (Alternative Tentacles)
5. Rags – Rags (RPT ’06)
6. Dolly Parton – Backwoods Barbie (Dolly)
7. Teacher’s Pet – Teacher’s Pet (Smog Veil)
8. Ross Johnson – Make It Stop! The Most Of Ross Johnson (Goner)
9. Phil Vassar – Prayer Of A Common Man (Universal)
10.Steinski – What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006 Retrospective (Illegal Art)

But four of those (Ross Johnson, Rags, Teacher's Pet, Steinksi) are not primarily "new" music per se' (though all four have lots of music that was never actually on album before, and one of those came out in '06. And Tonic Rays are technically '07. So to make up for those, this would be my next five):

11. Prima J – Prima J (Geffen)
12. Final Solutions – Songs By Solutions (Goner EP ’07)
13. Montgomery Gentry – Back When I Knew It All (Columbia)
14. Ashlee Simpson – Bittersweet World (Geffen)
15. Crash Street Kids – Transatlantic Suicide (Hot City Recording Company)

Albums a few people listed above that might have an outside chance at my top ten: Lil Mama, Opeth.

Albums people listed above that I basically like, but that would definitely not have a shot at my top ten (more or less in order): Hold Steady (their worst album, sounds like to me), Kathleen Edwards, Santogold, Ting Tings, Hercules and Love Affair, Vampire Weekend, Los Campesinos!, Boris, No Age.

Still haven't heard Lil Wayne yet. Haven't decided what I think of Jay Reatard, which is never as good as I want it to be. Didn't even know there was a new Oneida album until just this second. Etc. etc. etc.

Glad to see someone else is enjoying the Jucifer album as much as I did! It may be long, but damn it's solid all the way through.

I forgot about Backwoods Barbie. That is probably near the bottom of my top 10.

El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley To The Stars
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
James Blackshaw - Litany Of Echoes
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Times New Viking - Rip It Off
Sic Alps - U.K. EZ
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Not Heal
Crystal Stilts - 12"
Rhys Chatham - Guitar Trio Is My Life
El Guincho - Alegranza

Reissues/Comps:

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
Van Duren - Are You Serious
V/A - Thank You Friends
Gas - Nah End Fern
Steinski - What Does It All Mean?
V/A - Nigeria Disco/Rock Special
Big Dipper - Supercluster
Earth, Roots, And Water - Innocent Youths
Joe Higgs - Life Of Contradiction
Jim Ford - Point Of No Return
V/A - Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli

This is all I can come up with:

The-Dream- Lovehate
Mariah- E=MC2
Rod Modell- Incense & Black Light
Marcel Dettmann- Berghain 02
Kelley Polar- I Need You to Hold On While the Sky is Falling
Justus Kohncke- Safe and Sound
Various Artists- My Favorite Things (Mule Electronic)
Janet Jackson- Discipline
Erykah Badu- New Amerykah Part One

Feels like a pretty shit year for albums so far, but I'm confident the second half of the year will make up for it.

Don't have ten yet, and I'm pretty sure that the new Bleach (only out in Japan at the moment) and possibly the new Magic Dirt (not out yet) will be on it. As of now, I just have:

Portishead "Third"
18th Dye "Amorine Queen"
Opeth "Watershed"

Oh crap, totally forgot to add Maybe It's Reno - s/t to the list. Stupid memory.

Top 25 in alphabetical order... these don't really include the more recent stuff that I haven't had time to fully digest yet (Opeth, etc).

Atlas Sound
Erykah Badu
Be Your Own Pet
Black Mountain
Bon Iver
Cut Copy
Dead Meadow
Death Cab For Cutie
Dodos
Fleet Foxes
Foals
Frightened Rabbit
The Goslings
Gutter Twins
Hercules & Love Affair
Los Campesinos!
No Age
Portishead
Ruby Suns
Spiritualized
Sun Kil Moon
Torche
Vampire Weekend
Vandermark 5
The Whigs

shearwater: rook
elbow: seldom seen kid
goldfrapp: seventh tree
portishead: third
american music club: the golden age
sun kil moon: april
kelley stoltz: circular sounds
spiritualized: songs in a&e
nick cave: dig lazarus dig

i think that's about it.

Not a single one. What a crappy year, maybe some sort of hangover from last year when there was overwhelmingly much to choose from.

Probably should check out Kelley Polar and that one baja moonship was raving about, the one with the crazy artwork

^^^^ This (last year = gr8; this year so far = not so much).

I forgot about Sun Kil Moon! That disc is good, tho it's been in my playlist rotation far less than Ghosts Of The Great Highway, even now.

things i havent made my mind up about: the beach house album, the bon iver album, the death cab album. i'm pretty sure I don't love any of them but you never know

Had slightly more of a think, was forgetting a couple of things

Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward
The Doubtful Guest - Acid Sauna
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Blood Ceremony - s/t
Hercules & Love Affair - s/t
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down In The Light
Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood
Kelley Polar - I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling
Ascend - Ample Fire Within
Diskjokke - Staying In

This is pretty much in order I guess

black and whites s/t
cheap time s/t
the pets "misdirection"

if you ain't interested in hearing ANY of the stuff mentioned on this thread you should perhaps question your interest in music

I think that's too extreme. The range of music being mentioned here isn't really that great.

(Which doesn't mean I'm not interested in anything mentioned here, but I'm close enough to it to want to respond.)

The range of music being mentioned here isn't really that great.

Seriously. You guys are all listing the same albums and they all suck.

All I really like so far that I can think of at the moment are the Drive By Truckers and Jucifer albums.

And Pierced Arrows.

don't know those 3 - wonder if they don't suck...

The range of music being mentioned here isn't really that great.

compared to what? don't understand anyone who thought last 2 years had significantly more better stuff than this year

I've listened to and liked a lot of albums this year, but the only one that I really absolutely love is Kelley Polar's. I don't know if I'm burnt out but even albums by acts I usually love (M83, Mag Fields, Cut Copy etc) aren't holding my attention.

pierced arrows = great.

juicifer and dbt's = zzzz for me.

10. breeders - mountain battles
9. born ruffians - red, yellow and blue
8. hercules & love affair - s/t
7. crystal castles - s/t
6. oxford collapse - bits
5. times new viking - rip it off
4. the spectacles - home
3. nick cave and bad seeds - dig, lazarus, dig
2. fake fictions - krakatoa
1. prairie spies - surplus enjoyment

good call on the shearwater album people. i'm listening to it now and into it

lol nick.

lolnick.

jeremy lolnick would make a good pseudonym.

compared to what?

I see an awful lot of indie rock on these lists though, which just doesn't do it for me (or when it does, I make sure not to label it indie rock). But then, I also have essentially no interest in hip-hop or "dance music," and I could add a few more major genres to that probably, so maybe I am looking for a narrow range of music? It's just that I know there's a bunch of other music out there (there has to be?) that's doing things this stuff isn't.

I don't think 2007 was so great either. I found a lot of 2006 albums to like though.

that's an honest list, i like our album more than everything else i've heard this year, except the prairie spies

good call on the shearwater album people. i'm listening to it now and into it.

I'm sort of listening to it now, too. It's at least a little better than I expected, and worth more effort on my part.

I see an awful lot of indie rock on these lists though, which just doesn't do it for me

Same for me, which is why I rarely listen to any music from this decade despite having a burning urge to find new bands to really get into and follow.

I want to find more bands like Pierced Arrows (who are basically just Dead Moon), The Sadies, Drive By Truckers, etc. etc. Basically, ROCK based rock. Not this indie pop/rock bullshit. I personally think the 00s are the worst decade for music by FAR...bar none. Nothing else even comes close.

If anyone has anything to recommend, I'm all for it. I just don't think much of the music I really love gets made anymore, or if it does, it rarely gets out of the garage.

I can even get into a lot of psychedelic music though, as long as it's based in REAL (again, by my definition) music. Plastic Crimewave Sound and early Comets on Fire would be great examples.

Will probably make my 2008 top ten (not in this order): Kleerup, Step Up 2 the Streets OST, Mariah, Erykah Badu, Spiritualized, Jerusalem and the Starbaskets, Los Campesinos!

Maybes: Hercules and the Love Affair, Elbow

Still have to listen to: Portishead, The-Dream, Kelley Polar, Lil Mama, Studio, The Raveonettes, the Drive-By Truckers

Still waiting on: Cassie, Ryan Leslie, Cortney Tidwell, Annie, Beyonce, Solange, The Juan Maclean???

Boooooo!!!: Fuck Buttons, Magnetic Fields

(and yes, Badu = my favorite)

If anyone has anything to recommend, I'm all for it. I just don't think much of the music I really love gets made anymore, or if it does, it rarely gets out of the garage.

this is the thread for you.

yeah are the juan maclean putting out an album?

I love this decade's music (far more than, say, the 90s), but -- to be fair -- I like (lol) indie. I just think this has been a substandard year, so far. But the second half of the year looks v. promising to me.

"I have finished a new album that will be coming out sometimes in the Spring/Summer of 2008. It is called . Before that, though, a 12" called Happy House is coming out on March 4, 2008"

xpost

most of the stuff i like most is by bands that will never record an album so i think my list is at 3. i would not be able to give you a list of my 10 favorite records of the year. too many.

I want... ROCK based rock. Not this indie pop/rock bullshit

There's some on my list (a lot more rocking than the mostly lethargic DBTs album from this year, too.)

Agree that most of these lists seem pathetically indie (and that the selection could be wider), but that's no surprise. And not all of them are pathetically indie.

^^^ this

I was just going to say something about not looking to the most recent DBT album for "rock".

oh whoa! i forgot mahjongg. that's def. top ten

black mountain - in the future
records i liked, more than 10:

bun b - II trill

curren$y - higher than 30,000 ft.

the fall - imperial wax solvent

she & him - vol. 1

george cartwright - a tenacious slew (could be 07? doesn't say)

guilty simpson - ode to the ghetto

lil' wayne - the carter III

mission of burma vinyl reissues

mountain goats - heretic pride

portishead - third

raveonettes - lust lust lust

vampire hands - me and you cherry red

wolf parade - at mount zoomer

various - nigeria disco funk special: the sound of the underground lagos dance floor

rank strangers - tucke des objekts, die

and the intelligence - deuteronomy if that is from this year

oh and the new erykah badu

and bonnie prince billy!

This thread made me go through my 2008 cd's thinking, 'it hasn't been a good year so far, has it?'. RONG perception. It's been great so far! So much good stuff. My picks (not limited to ten) so far, in an order too difficult to explain:

Inca Ore - Birthday Of Bless You
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
The Caretaker - Persistent Repetition Of Phrases
Cloudland Canyon - Lie in Light
Hans-Joachim Roedelius & Tim Story - Inlandish
Robert Ashley & Ensemble Mae - Tap Dancing In The Sand ( watch )
Morton Feldman - For Philip Guston (by Julia Breuer, Matthias Engler, Elmar Schrammel)
Rudi Arapahoe - Echoes From One To Another
Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
This Will Destroy You - s/t
David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music
Dahlia's Tear - Under Seven Skies
Christopher Bissonnette - In Between Words
Peter Broderick - Float
Balmorhea - Rivers Arms
John Maus - Love Is Real
Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
Royal Train - An Underwater Call
Portishead - Third

Only thing I really miss is 2008's definitive black/doom metal release, like Deathspell Omega's last year, Lurker of Chalice (who did re-release their s/t this year, but that doesn't count). Maybe the new North will take care of that?

David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

OMG NEED!!!

YA U NEED! It's four tracks clocking in at 70 minutes, very similar to Lynch's stellar 'The Air Is On Fire' (which was my record of the year 2007).

(e-mail baudelairex_at_that geemale thingy, I'll hook you up)

my top ten, in order:

1. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
2. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
3. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
4. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
5. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
6. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
7. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
8. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
9. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
10. Endless Boogie "Focus Level"

#1 is hercules and love affair.

then in no order

m83
vampire weekend
cut copy
aluminum group
atlas sound
portishead
kelley polar
kaki king
body language 6 (junior boys)

Yeah, what I've heard from that Hercules & Love Affair disc is very good.

I just got that Endless Boogie lp, it's aawesomee

Endless Boogie - Focus Level
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

Hold Steady, HMHB, Los Campesinos!, eMC, fuck all else

Oh wait, that The Do album is pretty heat, but I reserve the right to start hating it when it becomes this year's Feist.

166 new answers? Gee this thread really took off overnight, huh? Thanks guys, I'll be reading everything shortly.

Just to add a little more metal to the mix (in no particular order):

Opeth - Watershed
Death Angel - Killing Season
Testament - Formation of Damnation
Torche - Meanderthal
Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1
Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia
Blackstrap - Steal My Horses and Run
Moonspell - Night Eternal
Eluveitie - Slania
Saviours - Into Abaddon

oh yeah i like the scarlet johnannnnnsssonnonon album too.

I want to find more bands like Pierced Arrows (who are basically just Dead Moon), The Sadies, Drive By Truckers, etc. etc. Basically, ROCK based rock. Not this indie pop/rock bullshit. I personally think the 00s are the worst decade for music by FAR...bar none. Nothing else even comes close.

I think if you're talking strictly about ROCK music (esp. ROCK rock and/or garage rock), then the '00s are clearly the worst decade for that. In a lot of other genres, though -- dance, hip-hop, electronic, psych, noise, experimental -- then it's been a pretty good decade. For me at least.

I can even get into a lot of psychedelic music though, as long as it's based in REAL (again, by my definition) music. Plastic Crimewave Sound and early Comets on Fire would be great examples.

Have you heard the Boris album? The new one, Smile, is very very good, and from the above, it sounds like it'd be your sorta thing -- in a nutshell, it's a psych/rock/metal album. And it rules.

If you like Comets... do you like Six Organs? And have you heard the James Blackshaw album? Also very good, if you're into Ben Chasny's work outside of Comets.

portishead - third
jamie lidell - jim
devotchka - a mad and faithful telling
nick cave and the bad seeds - dig, lazarus, dig!!!
firewater - the golden hour
hercules and love affair - s/t
why - alopecia
four tet - ribbons EP
nine inch nails - the slip

i honestly haven't really heard all that much new stuff this year. it's all been in the past like six weeks. i've been in vinyl/old stuff mode for months now. did man man come out this year? i like that one too. apparently i should listen to air france as well. what's the deal with fleet foxes.

oh yeah! and alejandro escovedo. there's some rock-based rock. i saw him on the today show the other day. weird.

I really wanna hear from Dan, Ned and Spencer in this thread. C'mon guys.

not a good year for records I like, so far at least.

this year I am digging:

The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
Times New Viking on Matador
Wooden Shjips LP
Brothers Unconnected CD
V/A - Victrola Favorites
Sun City Girls - Live At Sit & Spin
United Bible Studies new 3" CD
El Guincho - Alegranza

nothing else that I can think of. Portishead is only OK.

if I heard them, I'm sure I would like the Grouper album and the Pierced Arrows album.

I see an awful lot of indie rock on these lists though, which just doesn't do it for me

Same for me, which is why I rarely listen to any music from this decade despite having a burning urge to find new bands to really get into and follow.

Right, because there's been no music made this decade except for indie rock.

btw, people who were asking, The Juan Maclean's album is called The Future Will Come and hypothetically comes out august/september

1. Toumani Diabate - The Mande Variations

HMHB

Shiiit, that's another one I forgot! OK that probably makes my ten

Torche - Meanderthal

This is a maybe - it's really good but not sure if I'll be listening to it come December

I like the Torche a lot too, but am also unsure whether it'll make the cut at the end of the year.

The Gnaw Their Tongues album you mentioned up there, is it Reeking, Pained and Shuddering? Great album.

Other things nobody has mentioned that could make my top ten by the end of the year:

Pyramids s/t
The Victim's Shudder - Terror Romance

So far, 289 albums have been listed.
204 of them have only been listed once.

Here are the 31 with 4 or more mentions...

1. Portishead – Third (24)
2. Hercules & Love Affair - s/t (13)
3. Vampire Weekend - s/t (12)
4. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: 4th World War (11)
5. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (8)
6. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E (7)
7= Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid (6)
7= The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent (6)
9= Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Not Heal (5)
9= Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward (5)
9= Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (5)
9= Fleet Foxes – s/t (5)
9= Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree (5)
9= Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (5)
9= Kelley Polar - I Need You Told Hold on While the World is Falling (5)
9= Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!! (5)
9= No Age - Nouns (5)
9= Shearwater – Rook (5)
9= The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (5)

And with 4 mentions each:

Black Mountain – In The Future
El Guincho - Alegranza
Goslings - Occasion
Ladytron -Velocoforo
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now Youngster
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Santogold
Studio - Yearbook II
The Dodos - Visiter
The-Dream - Lovehate
Times New Viking - Rip It Off

The Gnaw Their Tongues album you mentioned up there, is it Reeking, Pained and Shuddering? Great album.

Nope, it's 'An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood' (dude has a tremendous way with words given that it's not his first language) which Crucial Blast put out a couple of months back. I have five or six things of his now but not the one you mentioned, should chase that up

Will check that one out.

Good grief @ Mike.

Oh, I'm a VERY quick worker...

(...and also a bit under-worked this week)

01 - Air France - No Way Down EP
02 - Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
03 - John Maus - Love Is Real
04 - Sparks - Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
05 - Moto Boy - ST
06 - Crystal Castles - s/t
07 - Neon Neon - Stainless Style
08 - El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley To The Stars
09 - Sebastian Tellier - Sexuality
10 - The Raveonettes- Lust Lust Lust

That Paavoharju album's a good 'un.

"bravo!" @ 'i've got way too much time on hy hands' mike.

fascinated as to the placing of "Songs in A&E" given the negativity that the album received here and there, but other than that, a good list for reference for the rest of my year ..

xpost. doh.

I am interested in Cut Copy, No Age and The Dodos, possibly. Anything else I should investigate?

The Raveonetts disc is great. Needs more love on this thread.

I really need to hear that new Fall album. Or do I?

Not really. Mark E Smith karaoke over some hacks.

I thought the Raveonettes was 2007 since I bought it early January, but AMG sez Feb 19th! Must have picked up a promo copy or something (it was 2nd hand).

New Fall album is better than last couple of Fall albums (damning with faint praise?)

I'm surprised at the low showing for Girl Talk's Feed The Animals, as tracks from that have been dominating the weekly "most played tracks" lists on the ilXor last.fm group for the last couple of weeks:

http://www.last.fm/group/ilXor/charts&charttype=weekly&subtype=track

I guess Raveonettes came out 2008 in US, 2007 in UK. That's why I didn't list it anyway, cos I do like it.

Only albums I've heard and loved from this year are:

NIN - The Slip
Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted

The second one in particular is a feel good record, partly cos I was into Sepultura as a teenage and this is basically a modern Sepultura record.

----

How many records to you people listen to? Some people are listing about 1 a week for the year so far, so assuming 'the best' make up only a quarter of your listening then your getting a new record every 2 days!
You can't possible give them all a proper chance.

My 'best' list on my Amazon lists now numbers 29 records, and probably represents 50-70% of what I've listened to "in full" this year - my research skills and 'will consider listening to' criteria have been honed by years of over consumption. I'm not interested in hearing everything anymore, just stuff I think I will like. Which is probably bad in some ways, but in terms of my mental health and relationship with music is terrific.

EVERYONE PLEASE GIVE THAT ATLAS SOUND RECORD A CHANCE.

it's kind of a grower but d a m n.

The Seu Jorge album has just jumped into my top ten and I'm barely halfway through it.

Unsurprisingly it reminds me of Africa Brasil by Jorge Ben.

I listen to music about 4-5 hours a day at work, so about 30 albums/singles/EPs a week. But I'm usually listening to old music.

thought Hot Chip would get a bit more love. think it's as good as the 'The Warning' overall.

Hot Chip has been one of the year's disappointments for me, along with Santogold and especially Foals (easily eclipsed by White Denim, whose album I'm enjoying a lot).

Who ist White Denim?

I would love the Hot Chip record if it were a lot more like 'One Pure Thought', but I never have the urge to sit and listen to the softer tracks.

Have dug the Portishead and Autistic Daughters albums, god knows there's a whole heap of stuff I haven't heard though.

I listen to music about 4-5 hours a day at work, so about 30 albums/singles/EPs a week. But I'm usually listening to old music.

ditto.

I guess Raveonettes came out 2008 in US, 2007 in UK. That's why I didn't list it anyway, cos I do like it.

I haven't made my list yet, but this'll be on it. So that's two votes, at least. Only 3 more mentions needed for Lust Lust Lust to climb into Mike's aggregate list above.

White Denim are a sort of Rag Week Animal Collective.

Of those mentioned so far, the only one that immediately leaps out at me as being "Definite Top Ten Even In An Average-To-Good Sort Of Year" material is The Fall.

Others that I've got / heard which may also be contenders - especially if things don't improve dramatically in the next 6 months: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; Neil Diamond; Elbow; Fleet Foxes; Gnarly Barkley; Guillemots (a little surprised not to see more love for those last two, esp Guillemots); Bon Iver; Portishead; Vampire Weekend.

Surprised to see absolutely no-one's mentioned so far: Bauhaus (although not entirely surprised as it was hardly the masterpiece I'd spent the previous 25 years imagining); Johnny Dowd; Futureheads; Last Shadow Puppets; Tindersticks.

Hadn't bothered with so far, but may need to reconsider based on the consensus here: Erykah Badu; Goldfrapp; Hercules & Love Affair; Spiritualized.

"my research skills and 'will consider listening to' criteria have been honed by years of over consumption. I'm not interested in hearing everything anymore, just stuff I think I will like. Which is probably bad in some ways, but in terms of my mental health and relationship with music is terrific."

OTM

Trust me Stu, you really don't want to reconsider Spiritualized and their 1974-style soft rock.

What, not even if I wanted something to file next to that bloody Dennis Wilson double CD that I somehow managed to let myself get talked into thinking I wanted to buy?

The Guillemots album I quite like but there's something stopping me going overboard on it. It's in my Amazon lists.

"The Guillemots album I quite like but there's something stopping me going overboard on it."

The fact that it's not as good as their last one, maybe?

I missed British Sea Power out of my "Others that I've got / heard which may also be contenders" list.

How many records to you people listen to? Some people are listing about 1 a week for the year so far, so assuming 'the best' make up only a quarter of your listening then your getting a new record every 2 days!
You can't possible give them all a proper chance.

A new album every 2 days might be an under-estimate for me, between promo copies and things I buy, borrow, or download. But I listen to music for much of my working day and just about any second that I'm at home, plus often while I'm in transit (walking, driving or subway/trolley/bus-riding).

Is that not normal?

I dunno. I reacted very strongly to the first one initially, but I think I prefer the EP / mini-album overall - it's more upbeat. The album's probably too long, and a little inconsistent. The new record is shorter, more consistent, more 'now' in many ways, and has a handful of songs I really like. I'd say it was on a par with or even a little better than the debut album, but it's not got... the two or three really AMAZING songs that the mini-alb um and debut proper did have. Every time a tune comes on iTunes randomly when I'm at work, I enjoy it more than I expect.

Anyway, my Amazon lists:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albums-of-2008-part-1/lm/R3MWCGYF9TLFUQ/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albums-of-2008-part-2/lm/R2CONECE0C2NL0/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full

A new album every 2 days might be an under-estimate for me, between promo copies and things I buy, borrow, or download. But I listen to music for much of my working day and just about any second that I'm at home, plus often while I'm in transit (walking, driving or subway/trolley/bus-riding).

Is that not normal?

It's not abnormal, and it's pretty much what I do (rarely in transit tho) but it's still inevitably going to sell good music short in a lot of cases. It's not especially hard for me to liten to everything I get sent, I'm hardly Chuck Eddy or whoever, but it annoys me when I rifle through a pile of stuff and find something that I've been really enthusiastic about to other people and still haven't managed to play more than twice. The same applies to the absurd pangs of quasi-guilt I feel when I devote a lot of attention to something (eg the Jay Reatard compilation) and other things get shorter shrift.

This is precisely why I'm being ruthless about what I listen to. I didn't deliberately get into music writing - someone has always asked me if I'd be interested in writing about X for Y first, pretty much (bar DiS) - I've only ever written about music because I'm a music fan. At points I've got caught up in being 'a music journalist' and generally that's resulted in me having a pretty fucked-up time re; my relationship with music - stressing, wasting time and money, writer's block, feeling like I don't love music anymore, etc - and I'm just not prepared to do that anymore.

In no order really, and not really 10:
Boris - Smile
Sun Kil Moon - April
Cloudland Canyon - Lie In Light
Genghis Tron - Board Up The House
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Jucifer - L'Autrichienne
Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Mouth
The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Torche - Meanderthal
Autistic Daughters - Uneasy Flowers
Beach House - Devotion
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

Also good: Ida, Portishead, Times New Viking, Sic Alps, Lau Nau, and that Growing EP!

I need to listen to an album at least 10 times to know if I properly like it, and that has to be spread over at least a couple of weeks. I'll then need to go back to it later and reconsider.

I know that from experience some/most of my favourite music didn't really grab me when I first heard it.

I can often tell now after a first listen that although I didn't massively enjoy that, I know once I listen to it enough to absorb and understand it I'll probably love it.

Some kinds of music is so dense it needs repeated studying to appreciate.

and by Mouth I mean Skull. I did something equally as dumb on the 1/4 of the way through 2008 thread.

Based on play counts I have an actual fondness for Santogold, Goldfrapp, H&LA, Beach House, Kleerup, The Ting Tings, and Alphabeat, and I may have been forcing myself to like Lykke Li and Crystal Castles. Which adds up to only nine... I do like the Lil Mama disc every time I remember to play it, especially the grim-ass middle stretch between various T-Pain guest appearances but I never, well, remember to actually play it so it just sort of languishes there. Basically, there are so many albums I could have really liked but that just didn't do it for me for whatever reason (MGMT, Los Campesinos!) and other albums that are four good songs amongst some really low-quality crap (Neon Neon is totally ruined by the song with Har Mar Superstar and Vampire Weekend will never not sound like a really boring Gap commercial to me).

It's been a year for singles anyway.

Only 3 more mentions needed for Lust Lust Lust to climb into Mike's aggregate list above.

actually, it's been mentioned 6 times now - by matinee, M@tt, Snowballing, jonathan, you and me.

Surprised to see absolutely no-one's mentioned so far: Bauhaus

Not surprised at all. That album pretty much blows.

Vampire Weekend will never not sound like a really boring Gap commercial to me

Thank you, this is totally OTM.

In no order really, and not really 10:
Boris - Smile
Sun Kil Moon - April
Cloudland Canyon - Lie In Light
Genghis Tron - Board Up The House
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Jucifer - L'Autrichienne
Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Mouth
The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Torche - Meanderthal
Autistic Daughters - Uneasy Flowers
Beach House - Devotion
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

Also good: Ida, Portishead, Times New Viking, Sic Alps, Lau Nau, and that Growing EP!

jonathan that's a fantastic list, and there's enough overlap with my loves (Boris, Fuck Buttons, Earth, Raveonettes, Portishead) and likes (Sun Kil Moon, Torche, Beach House, Times New Viking) for this year, that I'll need to check out the rest of these albums. I actually haven't heard the Growing this year but I love all their other stuff. The rest I'll need to look into more closely.

I can only get to 6 at this point and most of them already mentioned (roughly in descending order of how good they are):

Vampire Weekend - s/t
Jenny Scheinman - Crossing the Field
Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams
Santogold - s/t
Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
Opeth - Watershed

Also not mentioned so far: My Morning Jacket.

The Seu Jorge album has just jumped into my top ten and I'm barely halfway through it.

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, July 3, 2008 7:40 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Unsurprisingly it reminds me of Africa Brasil by Jorge Ben.

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, July 3, 2008 7:41 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Wow, I REALLY want to hear this.

Thanks stephen! There really has been a lot good coming out this year.. You mentioned the James Blackshaw album upthread too, which I just got today. Really really great stuff.

pas/cal, james blackshaw, silver jews, destroyer, robert forster ... umm that might be it.

oh yeah, malkmus too. that one is good!

indie rock, dudes.

haven't bought it yet, but fairly certain NOMO - Ghost Rock will be one of my favorites from this year.

The Seu Jorge album has just jumped into my top ten and I'm barely halfway through it.

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, July 3, 2008 7:40 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Unsurprisingly it reminds me of Africa Brasil by Jorge Ben.

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, July 3, 2008 7:41 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Wow, I REALLY want to hear this.

-- call all destroyer, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:43 (30 minutes ago) Link

My mate MattS, who knows these kinds of things, said that Seu Jorge apparently conceived it as a kind of follow-up to Africa Brasil. Which makes sense, totally. I've only listened once, so can't tell yet, but quality wise this is pretty awesome.

Africa Brasil is a top 10 all-time record for me so this is damn exciting news. Don't think it's in the US at all yet but I will download or maybe even import.

pas/cal, james blackshaw, silver jews, destroyer, robert forster ... umm that might be it.

That Pas/Cal album's not out for a few months still, isn't it? You've heard it?

yes, there are promos floating around. it is pretty off the hook awesome.

I gotta find one of those promos... really looking forward to that album.

must concur with jeff treppell on the Blackstrap - Steal My Horses and Run. this has gotten lots of play here since early june. i would also go with::
hercules & love affair
2562 - Aerial
portishead - third
elbow - the seldom seen kid
fleet foxes
humanfly - II
torche - meanderthal
women

forgot about Sparks! haven't heard it yet.

also, Paavoharju and Earth (also on the need-to-hear list)

didn't Es put out a CD on Fonal this year?

that United Bible Studies 3" CD I listed is from 2006, oops.

pas/cal is available at darla's site now.

took them long enough

lol music

nat king cole - love is many a splendored thing

it's hard for me to say if these will endure, but these are my favorites so far (in alphabetical order):

2562 - Aerial
Agalloch - The White (EP)
Ascend - Ample Fire Within
Atlas Sound - Let the Blind lead..
Boris - Smile
Cloudland Canyon - Lie in Light
Earth - The Bees Made Honey Inside the Lion's Skull
Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
Nachtmystium - Assassins Black Meddle vol 1
Nadja - Trinity
Opeth - Watershed
Prostitute Disfigurement - Descendants of Depravity
The Drift - Memory Drawings
Torche - Meanderthal

AWESOME! So mebbe erykah badu and the fall will make top 10, and the breeders will make top 30...

screw you guys! best fucking year EVAH!

Opeth - Watershed
Black Mountain - In the Future
Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Meshuggah - obZen
Disfear - Live the Storm
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Jucifer - L'Autrichienne
Krallice - Krallice
Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner
Caina - Temporary Antennae
Lukestar - Lake Toba
Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1
Torche - Meanderthal
Ladytron - Velocifero
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrsing
Mike Patton - A Perfect Place OST
Eluveitie - Slania
The Gates of Slumber - Conqueror
Ihsahn - angL
Sahg - II

London Zoo by The Bug is an awesome album and I was pleasantly surprised to see Lex bigging it up in this morning's Grauniad.

i wanna update my list:

hold steady - stay positive
shearwater - rook
dodos - visiter
ponytail - ice cream
no age - nouns
mgmt
vampire weekend
the fall
wolf parade
destroyer
boris

London Zoo by The Bug is an awesome album and I was pleasantly surprised to see Lex bigging it up in this morning's Grauniad.

thought you'd like it! is a measure of how much good stuff's been released this year that it's only on the fringes of my top 10, which is no slight at all cuz it's quite something.

apropos of nothing, on a portishead note - i'm very impressed by third but i really haven't been able to get into it, which isn't really anything to do with the music - my issue is kind of prosaic, it's been such a gorgeous summer so far that i just can't bring myself to listen to anything that ~bleak~. wrong time of year to release it, totally. i guess i shall get into it in november or something

Any individual tracks that sticking out for people? Probably needs its own separate thread, but I'd love to see something comparative for single songs that are knocking the metaphorical wind out of people.

apropos of nothing, on a portishead note - i'm very impressed by third but i really haven't been able to get into it, which isn't really anything to do with the music - my issue is kind of prosaic, it's been such a gorgeous summer so far that i just can't bring myself to listen to anything that ~bleak~. wrong time of year to release it, totally. i guess i shall get into it in november or something

-- lex pretend, Friday, July 4, 2008 2:13 AM (Friday, July 4, 2008 2:13 AM) Bookmark Link

Yeah, in that respect and only that respect, it's kind of nice we had an extra-long winter here. It let that Portishead joint have some time to sink in before the summer came back.

Jacaszek - Treny
Machinefabriek + Stephen Vitello - Box Music
Machinefabriek - Ranonkel
Autechre - Quaristice
Aleph-1 - Aleph-1
Rameses III - Basilica
Christopher Willits & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Ocean Fire
Natural Snow Buildings / TwinSisterMoon / Isengrind - The Snowbringer Cult / Song For Laurie Bird
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
Wouter van Veldhoven - Four Simple Songs For Five Dead Bumblebees
Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion
Excepter - Debt Dept.
Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI: Ambleside

my alternate top thirteen which just means albums that got left off in the flux:

eddie floyd, eddie loves you so
the mountain goats, heretic pride
seun kuti and fela's 80, many things
pritam/sameer, race soundtrack
al green, lay it down
equilibrium, sagas
cowboys from hell, monster rodeo
the b-52's, funplex
lyrics born, everywhere at once
los tigres del norte, raices
a.r. rahman, jodhaa-akbar soundtrack
matmos, the supreme balloon
devian, ninewinged serpent

xpost

Any individual tracks sticking out for people?

I'm not sold on the whole album but "The Healer" by Erykah Badu is pretty fucking stellar.

1. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
2. Rocket Ship Love - Julian Berntzen
3. Twenty Years Erased - The Margarets
4. Konk - The Kooks
5. Join With Us - The Feeling
6. In Ghost Colours - Cut/Copy
7. Pretty.Odd - Panic! At The Disco
8. Youth Novels - Lykke Li
9. This Is Alphabeat - Alphabeat
10.Diamond Hoo Ha - Supergrass

I kind of expect Beck to enter into the Top 10 next week.

hey geir what do you think of the lil' wayne record?

Oh, wait. The Kooks = worst album of the year

segond and the fractures - agamemnon baby oh yeah
lockboxer - cherry denial
slack camomile - weakness quiescence
turvey knoller - lam blach tarpo
purply - soul hissy fit
neverminds - 69 horsefish
jumblies - too close to mall
aztec swordfish - green north diaphragm
lum bar - wrack my spine
73 combost 78 - gronigen greengage

-- Dingbod Kesterson

way to make me feel more estranged from the music seen
ok, who's list up there has music that I might like (I like Robert Wyatt, Early Genesis, Early Roxy Music, Grifters, Guided By Voices (to an extent), uhhh, Wild Honey, Lou Barlow, perfect songs for mix tapes, The Sea and Cake, Joe Jackson, Hall and Oates, Quasi, Sloan, Nada Surf, Tortoise, Nirvana...)

captain lorax, you might like the new elbow album (genesis), the shearwater album, the night marchers, king khan, the dodos, the whigs, the black angels, tommy jay, mgmt, bon iver, destroyer, stephen malkmus, deerhunter, singer, and kurt vile

New Records:
EAT SKULL: Sick to Death
ALAN + RICHARD BISHOP: Brothers Unconnected (tour CD)
VIVIAN GIRLS: Vivian Girls
GROUPER: Dead Deer
PIERCED ARROWS: Straight to the Heart
INCA ORE: Birthday of Bless You
CRYSTAL STILTS: The 12” for now and their Slumberland record for later in the year
DAN MELCHIORUND DAS MENACE: X-mas for the Crows
NO AGE: Nouns
RHYS CHATHAM: Guitar Trio is my Life!

Reissues/ Archival Recordings:
SIC ALPS: Long Way Around to a Shortcut
MINGERING MIKE: Super Gold Greatest Hits (“Coffe Cake” is the best song of the year, hands down – it’s Dave Chapelle meets strangely beautiful and very uplifting bedroom soul music from 25 years ago, holy fuck I can’t believe this isn’t being as widely hailed as Dori’s discovery of his artwork was…)
WOODEN SHJIPS: Vol. 1
ECCENTRIC SOUL: Tragar & Note Labels
BOLLYWOOD STEEL GUITAR
FAMOUS L RENFROE: Children
VICTROLA FAVORITES (or did it come out late last year? My brain is mushy now sorry)
HIGH PLACES: 03/07 – 09/07
SHADOW MUSIC OF THAILAND
ILYAS AHMED: Between 2 Skies/ Towards the Night

+ I can’t wait to hear the self-released HOSPITALS album that I pre-ordered last week and the next LOS LLAMARADA LP on S-S ought to be super great and the TYVEK record on Siltbreeze (I think it’s on Siltbreeze) and the CAUSE CO-MOTION! album on the also-revitalized Slumberland label -- meaning the early Nineties have officially returned which is great ‘cause I can’t wait to see the Grifters again, insert smiley face emoticon here.

+ Of course I love everything that Mississippi Records does; their Skip James reissue is so fine thanks to the best mastering guy on the West Coast, Tim Stollenwerk, and the upcoming releases by EVOLUTIONARY JAZZ BAND and their guitarist MARISA I FORGET HER LAST NAME are phenomenal.

+ I forget the name of it but the next LP on Sublime Frequencies of guitar-based stuff from I think Mauritania that Hisham recorded is super-amazing, maybe even better than the Group Inerane LP which was my favorite record of last year (even though I friggin misspelled it on end of year ballots -- also this next record is half-acoustic on one side which makes the electric side sound even hotter).

+ Finally, I’m curious what non-PDX folks will think of the WHITE FANG record on Marriage – super young kids really into Black Flag and the Boredoms…

FAMOUS L RENFROE: Children

You're right; this is another v. good reissue disc this year.

the wooden shjips reissue thing didn't hit me like the album. i need to keep listening

Have you guys heard Jerusalem and the Starbaskets?

http://www.myspace.com/jerusalemandthestarbasket

(just released a split with hush arbors)

i've been meaning to pick that up

oh wait, oops, wooden shjips, i was thinking wooden wand

Notwist making a surge into the top ten.

Gave the Eat Skull album a go yesterday, pretty funtimes if not top ten material

If we're including re-issues, then I'd add Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story to my list.

I like Vinicius Cantuaria's Cymbals a lot;
Ross Johnson's Make It Stop!
Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story;
Jamey Johnson's very very Waylon Jennings-esque That Lonesome Song; Chuck Prophet's even more Waylon-esque Dreaming Waylon's Dreams; and today's answer to the burning question: what happened to the Scene Is Now?--I'm Not Jim's You Are All My People. OK, the Scene Was Then, as in kinda roots-rock but very good, much better than I woulda expected.

arms 'kids aflame' is pretty good, although "whirring" still seems to be the best thing on it

I've been catching up on listening to a lot of the choices here, great stuff. But how 'bout we keep reissues here?

Reissues Thread 2008

1. Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story
2. Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI: Ambleside
3. Jacaszek - Treny
4. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
5. Portishead - Third
6. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
7. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

1. erykah badu - nu amerykah pt 1 4th world war
dwele - sketches of a man
estelle - shine
raheem devaughn - love behind the melody
gnarls barkley - the odd couple
algebra blesset - purpose
nas - untitled
mariah - e=mc2
portishead - third
wayne - tha carter III

Thanks to J0hn for informing me that Tata Young has a new album out. Listening to it now...

Don't think anyone's mentioned Danity Kane, Van Hunt, or Taio Cruz. Like them in descending order and only the first one will probably be on my top ten list. (Van Hunt's album was shelved so probably doesn't count.)

Oh, and Britta Persson's album Kill Hollywood Me is good.

INDIAN JEWELRY!!!

That record just hit me and I think it will end up being in my top ten this year.

Captain Lorax should give a try to the new Sparks album too.

Otherwise good work, guys, since my last post in this thread a lot of unheard and interesting albums have been mentioned, so perhaps in a few weeks my Top 10 for the year would look totally different.

NOZE

Did the Wooden Shjips put out an album in 2008? I liked their EP from last year.

Can't believe I forgot to put the new Panic at the Disco on my list!

wooden shjips released a singles/e.p. comp called 'volume 1'

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4296

i forgot my fav record of the year...old performance obv but first time it's been released!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BtilCAhdL._SS500_.jpg

18+ minute Eight Miles High is crazzzzzy

srsly if you wanna bro down and get nice with your posse with some brews on the deck ^^this is the joint

yeah is that one with clarence white? is it better than Untitled? part of me thinks that i have enough live byrds from that era, but then part of me thinks that is a dumb thing to think.

y
more country '08:

Greta Gaines, Whiskey Thoughts
Jeff Bates, Jeff Bates
Rebecca Lynn Howard, No Rules
Chris Knight, Hearts of Stone
Maria Muldaur, Yes We Can!

posting a few reissues over there there

yeah is that one with clarence white? is it better than Untitled? part of me thinks that i have enough live byrds from that era, but then part of me thinks that is a dumb thing to think.

-- tylerw, Tuesday, July 8, 2008 7:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

yep it's w/c white on guitar...he's a monster on this.

i don't actually know untitled....and i've not heard any boots or stuff from that era, but this is pretty damn amazing imo.

Dodos
Panda Bear
El Guincho
No Age

that's pretty much all the new releases I've bought this year

1)Yoshi Wada - “The Appointed Cloud” and “Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile”
2)Pandi Pran Nath – “Raga Cycle, Palace Theater, Paris 1972”
3)Eliane Radigue - “Chry-Ptus”
4)Gas - “Nah Und Fern”
5)Terry Riley “The Last Camel In Paris”
6)Vajra “Live”
7)Hercules & Love Affair - “Hercules & Love Affair”
8)Evangelista “Hello, Voyager”
9)Charlemagne Palestine “The Apocalypse Will Blossom”
10) Andrew Chalk & Daisuke Suzuki “The Days After”

xpost Panda Bear was last year, didn't you see the PFORK TOP 10 BEST ALBUM LIST? hahahaha

oh man I forgot about that Evangelista album, must hear ASAP.

i'm going to add david lynch's polish night music and scarlett johannson's anywhere i lay my head. :)

As of today, Miley Cyrus' Breakout.

pas/cal album has arrived, there was way too much going on in the first listen to comprehend but I assume it will be number one soon.

yayyyyy

wait, 'too much going on'?!??!?!? i always thought the album would be simple but fantastic indie pop

the sword
neon neon
phantom planet
wolf parade
no age
hot chip
the cool kids

i'd like to include black mountain, cut copy and clinic but i dont know those albums well enough yet.

it is not simple. it is indie pop. there are loads of voices from all over the place, tempo changes, stops, starts, it is understandable why it took them so long. 'dearest bernard living' is my favorite thus far. i was worried about the cherry suite since caz didn't write two of the songs but it's great. i do prefer the acoustic version of 'citizens army uniform', i think, new one is kinda rockin.

I feel like no one has heard the new Phantom Planet or else a few other people would have included it here.

I've heard that new Phantom Planet, but I think only half of the album merits attention. Its far too hit or miss for me, but I will admit to liking it a lot more than I expected to.

tbqh it was one of the worst albums i listened to this year!

sorry, bsj

I'm not scraping anywhere near ten obvious candidates yet :/
I wonder if I'll even have a list 6 months from now at this rate...

but man that Evangelista album, that's gotta be in there at least top 3. Another vote please!

Listened to that Shearwater album based on this thread but it's more Radiohead than Talk Talk. :(

No it isn't. It's not as Talk Talk as a lot of people say though, but the only bit even slightly redolent of Radiohead is the opening two chords of The Snow Leopard.

The guys voice reminds me of Radiohead. Bearing in mind that I never listen to Radiohead. I don't see ANY resemblance to Talk Talk. I've only listened once, on the way to work. I will listen again on the way home.

And I don't want any comments about fidelity.

Cos he sings in a high register? That's very lazy listening, dude.

He's far more operatic than Yorke; more like Anthony Hegarty.

Nah he's not like Antony.

I zoned out listening to this on the tube and when my brain started working agin it was like who ios this Thom Yorke type motherfucker I'm hearing?

Have you heard the new Polar Bear, Nick? (Or Marcello?)

There's a new Polar Bear???!!! No I haven't, is it in shops???

Out on Monday in Tin Angel records (what happened to Babel Label?). I will most assuredly be ordering this hurriedly.

I had no idea either till I saw it reviewed in The Guardian today.

I've stuck Held On The Tips Of Fingers on now. God I LOVE Polar Bear. More so than Acoustic Ladyland, maybe.

No love for Clark's 'Turning Dragon'?

He's far more operatic than Yorke; more like Anthony Hegarty.

saw 'em live in March, dude sounded like a karaoke Freddy Mercury. really really really bad.

upon further listening turns out the Pas/Cal album is not so good.

hi dere i can be list dork too : )

1 bruno pronsato - why can't we be more like us?
2 animal collective - water curses
3 zeigeist - the jade motel
4 v/a mixed by marcus nasty - deja vu fm february 28
5 booka shade - the sun and the neon light
6 mara trax - it got me funk
7 disfear - live the storm
8 flying lotus - los angeles
9 lil' mama - vyp: voice of the young people
10 v/a - step up 2 the streets

I have the Polar Bear.

But is it good?

Only on my first (distracted) listen, so difficult to say. There's certainly no obvious shark-jumping. It's long (14 tracks, 70ish minutes), and there are more electronics and more deployment of varied instrumentation, but still essentially bass, drums, double brass. The sleeve states "all electronics were played live". If you've heard Dim Lit then the move from that to Held On The Tips Of Fingers seems to be mirrored here too; still jazz, but a little bit further on again. One track's got quite a droning, eastern vibe to it. I'm enjoying it.

Should I buy it tonight? It's yr call. Yes or no answer.

Buy it. Although I had to get it straight from their label. London shops probably better than Amazon / Exeter shops, though.

OK, I'll get it if I see it.

In no particular order

1. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah part one (4th world war)
2. Gnarls Barkley - The odd Couple
3. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
4. Al Green--Lay It Down
5. Vampire Weekend
6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
7. Fleet Foxes – s/t
8. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
9. Portishead – Third
10. Sigur Ros--Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust

i haven't heard that many records this year.

1. Rebirth Brass Band, 25th Anniversary
2. Brian Blade & the Fellowship, Season of Changes
3. Mint Condition, E-Life
4. Blind Boys of Alabama, Down in New Orleans
5. Badu
6. Nik Barscht's Ronin, Holin

Off the top of my head:

Hold Steady
Orchestra Baobab
Vampire Weekend
Atmosphere
Al Green
The Roots
Jay Reatard
Drive-By Truckers

Update:

1. Portishead - Portishead
2. Fuck Buttons - Street Horssing
3. Lindstrom - Where You Go, I Go Too
4. Torche - Meanderthal
5. Made Out Of Babies - The Ruiner
6. Harvey Milk - Life... The Best Game In Town
7. James Blackshaw - Litany Of Echoes
8. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
9. The Roots - Rising Down
10. The Breeders - Mountain Battles

update

1. vampire weekend- s/t
2. the-dream- love/hate
3. los campesions!- hold on now youngster
4. hercules and love affair- s/t
5. cut copy- in ghost colours
6. hot chip- made in the dark
7. lil wayne- tha carter III
8. deerhunter- microcastle
9. lil boosie- da beginning
10. no age- nouns
---
11. abe vigoda- skeleton
12. the hold steady- stay positive
13. studio- yearbook 2
14. lindstrom- where you go i go too
15. rich boy- bigger than the mayor

im listing these last 5 because they'd be entrenched in my top 10 in any of the past few years. as i stated up thread (i think), this has been an extraordinary year for albums esp. indie

Shearwater
The Notwist
Polar Bear
The Do
Elbow
Portishead
Seu Jorge
Vampire Weekend
Why?
Four Tet

Rings - Black Habbit
Black Pus - Black Pus 4: All Aboard the Magic Pus
Fuck Button - Street Horrrsing
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
Dan Friel - Ghost Town
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Autechre - Quaristice
Pocahaunted - Island Diamonds

The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
The Goslings - Occasion
Bauhaus - Go Away White
Made Out Of Babies - The Ruiner
Ufomammut - Idolum
Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
Seu Jorge - America Brasil o Disco
Sons And Daughters - This Gift
Torche - Meanderthal
Kaki King - Dreaming of Revenge

While we're reviving the singles thread:

1 Erykah Badu
2 Portishead
3 Kelley Polar
4 Hercules & Love Affair
5 Calle 13
6 Solange
7 Nappy Roots
8 The-Dream
9 Jazmine Sullivan
10 Ne-Yo

1. los campesinos
2. the-dream
3. deerhunter
4. vampire weekend
5. t-pain
6. young jeezy
7. cut copy
8. hercules & love affair
9. lil boosie
10. hot chip

in a rough order...everything outside of the top 2 is still v fluid. and there's still ciara and beyonce to come! and i haven't included any mixes! aaagh.

erykah badu - new amerykah part one (4th world war)
mariah carey - e=mc2
the-dream - love/hate
young jeezy - the recession
wiley - grime wave
jazmine sullivan - fearless
lil' wayne - tha carter iii
luomo - convivial
danity kane - welcome to the dollhouse

the bug - london zoo
ne-yo - year of the gentleman
gang gang dance - saint dymphna
anja schneider - beyond the valley
solange - sol-angel and the hadley st dreams
laura marling - alas i cannot swim
kanye west - 808s and heartbreak
mlle caro & franck garcia - pain disappears
ashlee simpson - bittersweet world
kuniyuki takahashi - all these things

ear dis - welcome to floorboogie
roots manuva - slime and reason
tinchy stryder - cloud 9
portishead - third
akiko kiyama - 7 years

Lay it Down- Al Green
Oracular Spectacular- MGMT
Flying Lotus- Los Angeles
That Lucky Old Sun- Brian Wilson
The Weather Clock- July Skies
Gebel Barkal- Om
Sou- Marcelo Camelo
The Way of All Flesh- Gojira
Other Channels- The Advisory Circle
Attack & Release- Black Keys

deerhunter - microcastle
sigur ros - meo veopoefinvnqneqnne'oeknk'gfvneqpogne'on
the walkmen - you & me
of montreal - skeletal lamping
eat skull - sick to death
vampire weekend - st (i know, i'm a gay retard)
no age - nouns
SM + the jicks - real emo trash
the hold steady - stay positive
marnie stern - this is it...

overall not as strong as 07 was for me

jeezy, nyg'z, erykah, the-dream, ABN, webbie, peven everett, AZ, raheem devaughn, statik selektah,

is everyone counting the gucci mane as last year

anyway im holding a spot open for scarface's new record. i havent listened to that prodigy record yet either. and whats up with a dro record this year.

i see killer mike didnt get much traction

If people are counting The-Dream, you can probably count Gucci Mane

gucci mane should've been in my list, i think i deleted a line accidentally

1. Portishead – Third
2. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
3. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
4. Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go To
5. Torche - Meanderthal
6. Made Out Of Babies – The Ruiner
7. The Roots – Rising Down
8. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
9. Harvey Milk – Life… The Best Game In Town
10. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls

agh, lindstrom was deleted from my list too!!

This is what I've got at the moment (apologies for the formatting, I pasted this from RYM):

1
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes (2008)
2
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend (2008)
3
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down
We Brave Bee Stings and All (2008)
4
Stephen Malkmus
Real Emotional Trash (2008)
5
Santogold
Santogold (2008)
6
Opeth
Watershed (2008)
7
Pete & the Pirates
Little Death (2008)
8
Jenny Scheinman
Crossing the Field (2008)
9
Destroyer
Trouble in Dreams (2008)
10
Jenny Scheinman
Jenny Scheinman (2008)

If I could include Kevin Ayers Unfairground, which I didn't hear until this year, then that would probably be around #3.

devotchka, july skies, mogil, auburn lull, ruby suns, gareth s brown, moto boy, cocoanut groove, library tapes, lodger, regina, motifs, randomnumber, moscow olympics, rockettothesky, soda fountain rag, sound of arrows ep, stereolab, still corners ep, vapnet

As with my singles, this is extremely, extremely provisional:

1. Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman (Def Jam)
2. Poplife Sucks (N.E.W.S.)
3. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part 1: 4th World War (Motown)
4. Spoon, Daytrotter Session (http://www.daytrotter.com/article/1322/spoon)
5. Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It (Columbia)
6. Hercules and Love Affair (DFA/Mute)
7. Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador)
8. Portishead, Third (Mercury)
9. Lil’ Wayne, Tha Carter III (Cash Money)
10. Flying Lotus, Los Angeles (Warp)

Second ten: Etran Finatawa, Benga, Dave Aju, Tape, the Hold Steady, Bob Dylan, Gang Gang Dance, caUSE co-MOTION!, Girl Talk, the Muslims.

1. The-Dream - Love/Hate
2. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster/We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt 1: 4th World War
4. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07/Singles 08
5. Jerusalem and the Starbaskets - The Howling
6. Kelley Pollar - I Need You to Hold on While the Sky is Falling
7. Kleerup - s/t
8. Mariah Carey - E=MC2
9. Mahjongg - Kontpab
10. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

I should point out that my top five artists were all slated to release two albums this year.

Extremely tentative Top 25 snapshot of this random point in time, including a number of releases (asterisked) that might conceivably make more sense on a reissues ballot, if there is one, and if I made the more-or-less aribitrary decision to put them there:

1 - 10:
Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song (Mercury)
Rose Tattoo – Blood Brothers (Wacken)
Ross Johnson – Make It Stop! The Most Of Ross Johnson (Goner)*
The Knux – Remind Me In 3 Days… (Interscope)
Rick Springfield – Venus In Overdrive (New Door/Universal Music Enterprises)
The Tonic Rays – The Tonic Rays (thetonicrays.com ’07)
Woodbox Gang – Drunk As Dragons (Alternative Tentacles)
Carter’s Chord – Carter’s Chord (Show Dog Nashville)
Teacher’s Pet – Teacher’s Pet (Smog Veil)*
Prisonshake – Dirty Moons (Scat)

11 - 20
Morel – The Death Of The Paperboy (Outsider Music)
The Lizards – är-chē-ol’-ō-gy (Hypserspace)
Banastre Tarleton Band – Huzzah! Greatest Hits (Green Horse)*
(Various) – 1970s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground (Subliminal Frequencies)*
Steinski – What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006 Retrospective (Illegal Art)*
New Bloods – The Secret Life (K EP)
Girlschool – Legacy (Steamhammer/SPV/Wacken)
Trace Adkins – X (EMI)
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours (Goner)
Toby Keith – That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy (Show Dog Nashville)

21 - 25
Black Diamond Heavies – A Touch Of Someone Else’s Class (Alive)
Sonny Rollins – Road Shows Vol. 1 (Doxy)*
Final Solutions – Songs By Solutions (Goner EP ’07)
Ashlee Simpson – Bittersweet World (Geffen)
Fotheringay – 2 (Fledgling)*

1. The-Dream - Love/Hate
2. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster/We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt 1: 4th World War
4. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07/Singles 08
5. Jerusalem and the Starbaskets - The Howling
6. Kelley Pollar - I Need You to Hold on While the Sky is Falling
7. Kleerup - s/t
8. Mariah Carey - E=MC2
9. Mahjongg - Kontpab
10. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

― Tape Store, Sunday, November 2, 2008 4:09 PM (1 hour ago)

jerusalem and the starbaskets put out a full-length? i can't find it anywhere. i really like their song "i cannot radiato without you"

pretty close to the tracks list...

1. The Drones - Havilah
2. Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner
3. Shearwater - Rook
4. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
5. Parts and Labor - Receivers
6. Wolf Parade - At Mt Zoomer
7. Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
8. Hilotrons - Happymatic
9. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
10. Jaguar Love - Take Me to the Sea

Portishead, The Cure, Badu, Santogold, Mountain Goats

jerusalem and the starbaskets put out a full-length? i can't find it anywhere. i really like their song "i cannot radiato without you"

i ordered mine from their myspace a month or so ago, so they might still have some, and they also seem to have copies here:

http://www.goner-records.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3379

there's also another LP coming out on great pop supplement early next year

add au revoir borealis to my list, it is absolutely beautiful.

i'll talk to jeremy this week...i only have the lp, not a cd.

the usual disclaimers apply.

1. Hercules and Love Affair - s/t
2. Erykah Badu - the long-ass title of that record
3. Ital Tek - Cyclical
4. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
5. Luomo - Convivial
6. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
7. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
8. TV On the Radio - Dear Science
9. Autechre - Quaristice
10. The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm

not that it matters, as i don't/won't vote in the vv poll, but here goes my top 25, not necessarily in order. remember it is only november 2.

erykah badu, nuamerykah vol. 1: fourth world war
dub colossus, a town called addis
gipsy.cz, reprezent
lila downs, shake away
gilfema, gilfema +2
lil mama, voice of the young people
a.r. rahman, jodhaa-akbar soundtrack
plastilina mosh, all u need is mosh
xx teens, welcome to goon island
esperanza spalding, esperanza
various artists but mainly stew, passing strange soundtrack
eddie floyd, eddie loves you so
akoya afrobeat, p.d.p.
cuong vu, vu-tet
t.i., paper trail
george clinton and the gangsters of love, s/t
solange, sol-angel and the hadley st. dreams
tv on the radio, dear science
goldfrapp, seventh tree
kasai all-stars, in the 7th moon...
fuck the facts, disgorge mexico
of montreal, skeletal lamping
gym class heroes, the quilt

There's a lot I haven't heard that I want to hear (not necessarily on the lists above), but these are my favorites so far (a list which has hardly changed since the spring):

Boris - Smile [Japanese version]
Nejo & Dalmata - Broke and Famous [realy late 2007]
Soneros All Stars, Featuring Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso - La Timba So Yo
Henry Fiol - De Cachete

Also, Cesar Pedroso has a solo album out which I'm pretty sure will be one of my favorites once I hear the rest (two tracks I haven't heard yet).

I just got Dungen 4, which will probably bump something off my list above.

Right now I'm feeling like:

The-Dream - Love/Hate
Luomo - Convivial
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Air France - No Way Down EP
V/A: Wighnomy Brothers - Metawuffmischfelge
Young Jeezy - The Recession
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop
V/A: Fred Deakin - Presents Nu-Balearica
El Guincho - Allegranza

The albums I haven't heard that I suspect are most likely to smash this list are Taylor Swift and Ne-Yo. School of Seven Bells is just on the outside and might end up overtaking stuff in the lower stretches, too.

good list. i forgot guincho

100% agree on dream and jeezy. whats that nu-balearica comp about?

It's a bit of a 'NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL NU-BALEARIC' cash-in - lots of stuff like Reverso 68, Aeroplane, A Mountain of One, Prins Thomas, Todd Terje etc. etc.

Predictable and objectively rather samey at times (subjectively this stuff is catnip for me so I don't really notice), but there's an astonishingly high number of amazing tracks. In some ways it's more of a chance to collectively big-up a whole bunch of stuff I loved last year than a life-changing statement in and of itself.

The best track I hadn't heard before is Wallis Bird's "Counting To Sleep (Reverso 68 Remix)" (and the best track I HAD heard is probably Reverso 68's "Piece Together Part 2" - god I love them).

Re El Guincho - I'm kind of hoping it falls outside of my top ten by the end of the year. I love it but I'd be even happier if it was, say, only the thirteenth best album I had in 2008.

Let's see. Not sure it's ten yet and in no particular order but...

No Age - Nouns
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Lindstrom - Where you go I go too
Melchior Productions - No Disco Future
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Walkmen - You and Me
Air France - No Way Down
The Breeders - Mountain Battles
High Places - High Places

Prisonshake – Dirty Moons (Scat)

You just made my day Chuck.
I had no idea they had a new one.

1. Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Erykah Badu-New Amerkyah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
3. Antony & The Johnsons-Another World EP
4. Tape-Luminarium
5. Portishead-Third
6. Hercules And Love Affair-S/T
7. Bird Show-Untitled
8. Four Tet-Ringer
9. Autechre-Quaristice
10.Lucky Dragons-Dream Island Laughing Language

I don't even know if I could make a top 10 out of things I heard this year, but...

people need to quit sleeping on the bug CD

I couldn't get into a mountain of one until the other day when I had a massive hangover and it was the only thing in the pile that made any sense. how is it not on any of these lists? also liked:

landed - how little will it take?
naked on the vague - blood pressure sessions
teeth mountain
some of that destroyer album

things I need to spend more time with: endless boogie, prurient

things I still haven't heard: the ex & getatchew mekurya, indian jewelry, made in mexico, usaisamonster, growing, no age, cut copy

things I tried to listen to but stopped because it felt like homework: marnie stern, ponytail, portishead, times new viking, guns n roses, vampire weekend

If it makes you feel any better it is actually the 2nd top album on metacritic:

http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2008.shtml

As of today...although I feel like I'm forgetting something

1 Erykah Badu
2 Solange
3 The Foreign Exchange
4 Portishead
5 The-Dream
6 Robin Thicke
7 Kelley Polar
8 Nappy Roots
9 Calle 13
10 Hercules & Love Affair
11 The Bug
12 Matmos
13 Vampire Weekend
14 T.I.
15 Labelle
16 Lil Wayne
17 Ne-Yo
18 T-Pain
19 Sebastien Tellier
20 Jazmine Sullivan
21 J*Davey
22 TV on the Radio
23 Lupe Fiasco
24 Lindstrom
25 Janet Jackson

1. Made Out of Babies – The Ruiner
2. Secret Chiefs 3 – Xaphan: Book of Angels
3. Asva – What You Don’t Know is Frontier
4. Meshuggah – obZen
5. Harvey Milk – Life...the Best Game in Town
6. Mike Patton – A Perfect Place
7. Marnie Stern – This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
8. DeSalvo – Mood Poisoner
9. Melvins – Nude with Boots
10. Koenjihyakkei – Hundred Sights of Koenji

I forgot Santogold, which would be about #20 or so.

you didnt forget anything rev

here's a rough version of the top 50 I will continue to tinker with over the next month:

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: 4th World War
Young Jeezy - The Recession
Parts & Labor - Receivers
Jaguar Love - Take Me To The Sea
Robin Thicke - Something Else
Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
Pink - Funhouse
A.B.N. - It Is What It Is
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Raheem DeVaughn - Love Behind The Melody
Jonathan Richman - Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
Sloan - Parallel Play
My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Shark's Teeth
Prodigy - Product Of The 80s
Sheek Louch - Silverback Gorilla
T.I. - Paper Trail
Walter Becker - Circus Money

The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
Rich Boy - Bigger Than The Mayor
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
John Legend - Evolver
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
T-Pain - Thr33 Ringz
Termanology - Politics As Usual
Ne-Yo - Year Of The Gentleman
Grand Buffet - King Vision
Blake Leyh - X-Ray Yankee Zulu Tango

The B-52s - Funplex
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Dan Friel - Ghost Town
Jazmine Sullivan - Fearless
Nas - Untitled
Statik Selektah - Stick 2 The Script
Dwele - Sketches Of A Man
Prodigy - H.N.I.C. 2
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious

various artists - The Wire: " … and all the pieces matter"
Firewater - The Golden Hour
Foxboro Hottubs - Stop Drop And Roll!!
Slim - Love's Crazy
The Roots - Rising Down
AZ - Undeniable
Apollo Sunshine - Shall Noise Upon
The Pretenders - Break Up The Concrete
Little Feat - Join The Band
The Alchemist - The Cutting Room Floor Vol. II

Top 20 I submitted in a couple of places

1 Be Your Own Pet ‘Get Awkward’ (XL)
2 The Doubtful Guest ‘Acid Sauna’ (Planet Mu)
3 Blood Ceremony ‘Blood Ceremony’ (Rise Above)
4 Silver Jews ‘Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea’ (Drag City)
5 Billy Bao ‘Dialectics Of Shit’ (Parts Unknown)
6 Hercules & Love Affair ‘Hercules & Love Affair’ (DFA)
7 Geoffrey Oi!Cott ‘The Good, The Bad & The Googly’ (Boss Tuneage)
8 RTX ‘JJ Got LIve RATX’ (Drag City)
9 Jex Thoth ‘Jex Thoth’ (I Hate)
10 Fucked Up ‘The Chemistry Of Common Life’ (Matador)
11 Gnaw Their Tongues 'An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood' (Crucial Blast)
12 Half Man Half Biscuit 'CSI: Ambleside' (Probe Plu)
13 Volcano! 'Paperwork' (Leaf)
14 Krallice ‘Krallice’ (Profound Lore)
15 Harvey Milk 'Life... The Best Game In Town' (Hydra Head)
16 Lords ‘Everyone Is People’ (Gringo)
17 Racebannon 'Acid Or Blood' (Southern)
18 Koushik ‘Outside My Window’ (Stones Throw)
19 Black Mountain ‘In The Future’ (Jagjaguwar)
20 Dimension X ‘Dimension X’ (KML)

Top Twenty:

The-Dream - Love/Hate
Luomo - Convivial
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
V/A: Wighnomy Brothers - Metawuffmischfelge
Air France - No Way Down (UK Version)
DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman
Young Jeezy - The Recession
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop

Trus'me - Working Nights
Lee Jones - Electronic Frank
Taylor Swift - Fearless
El Guincho - Alegranza!
V/A: Fred Deakin - Nu-Balearica
School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
Move D & Benjamin Brunn - Songs From The Beehive
TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
Noze - Songs on the Rocks
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

Brightblack Morning Light - Motion To Rejoin
Alex Moulton - Exodus
Dungen - 4
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Air France- No Way Down
Endless Boogie - Focus Level
D. Lissvik - 7Trx + Intermission
Hercules and Love Affair - S/T
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Trusme - Working Nights

also loved:

The Juan Maclean - Happy House 12"
TV on the Radio - Dear, Science,,
Sea and Cake- Car Alarm
Jacques Renault - RVNG EP"
Boris - Smile
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
VA- After Dark (Italians Do It Better 3x12")
Voodoo Chili - Titans EP
Chaz Jankel - Get Myself Together 12"
Betty Botox - Mmm Betty
VA - Computer Incarnations for World Peace 2
Clinic - Do It!
Morten Sorensen - Start Something 12"
MIA - Paper Planes DFA mix 12"

albums that come to mind:

free agents brass band, 'we made it through that water'
rebirth brass band '25th anniversary'
seun kuti, 'many things'
blind boys of alabama, 'down in new orleans'
raphael saadiq, 'the way i see it'
brian blade & the fellowship, 'season of changes'
mint condition, 'e-life'
parts & labor, 'recever'

what is this "ragged wood" and is it as boring as their self-titled?

"Ragged Wood" is a song from the self-titled.

Tim, is that DJ Sprinkles out/coming out in 2008?

a "no particular order, off the top of my head stuck at work on thanksgiving" selection

Times New Viking - Rip It Off
Oneida - Preteen Weaponry
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
El Guincho - Alegranza
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Lil Wayne - Carter III
Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X
Indian Jewelry - Free Gold

tie for 10th place - Sic Alps, No Age, High Places, Hercules, TV on the Radio, Vivian Girls, Nu-Balerica, Endless Boogie ...

still need to hear new Dungen and Brightblack. and psyched for that Dan Lissvik record if I can get my hands on it.

los campesinos! - hold on now youngster
the-dream - love/hate
vampire weekend - s/t
deerhunter - microcastle/weird era cont
young jeezy - the recession
kanye west - 808s & heartbreak
t-pain - thr33 ringz
cut copy - in ghost colours
hercules & love affair - s/t
jay reatard - matador singles 08

lil boosie - da beginning
hot chip - made in the dark
tv on the radio - dear science
alex moulton - exodus
lil wayne - tha carter III
ne-yo - year of the gentleman
los campesinos! - we are beautiful, we are doomed
air france - no way down
the game - l.a.x.
lindstrom - where you go i go too

1. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
2. Jacaszek - Treny
3. Scott Tuma - Not for nobody
4. Shed - Shedding the Past
5. High Places -
6. Fleet Foxes - s/t
7. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
8. Bruno Pronsato - Why Cant We Be Like Us
9. Grouper - Dragging a dead deer up a hill
10. Zdzislaw Piernik & Piotr Zabrodzki - Namanga
11. Air France - No Way Down Ep
12. Clark - Turning Dragon
13. Four Tet - Ringer Ep
14. Death Vessel - Nothing is good enough for us
15. Tape - Luminarium

^^are you the motel de moka guy??

forgot about that Grouper album, that's a good one too

guess I need to hear Air France huh

young jeezy - the recession
esham - sacrificial lambz
doap nixon - it's been a long time
t-rock - roaches n da ashtray
rip one - epitome
cut copy - in ghost colors
reks - gray hairs
king magnetic - the co-$ign
catalyst - fuck the radio
some atl mixtape ish
i dunno was mood muzik 3 this year???

that gorilla zoe dj noize mixtape

1. Los Campesinos – Hold On Now, Youngster
2. Half Man Half Biscuit – CSI: Ambleside
3. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
4. Royce Da 5’9” – The Bar Exam 2
5. Los Campesinos – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
6. Elzhi- The Preface
7. Corb Lund – Horse Soldier Horse Soldier
8. Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It
9. Ballboy – I Worked On The Ships
10. eMC – The Show

dom what the fuck is a los campesinos?? the only ish i heard off your list is raphael saadiq (decent) and emc (got played out in a week & a half for me). you heard any of mine??

actually my boy played me that elzhi and i was sleepin

need 2 check 4 the royce

dom what the fuck is a los campesinos??

― dat dude delmar (and what), Thursday, 27 November 2008 21:57 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Welsh sugar rush indie band consisting of seven vegans who used to refuse MySpace friend requests from people if they found their profile misogynistic.

^^^best track on the album in my opinion

EMC isn't a great album, I get that, but I just find it massively comforting. I said it elsewhere, it just reminds me of a kinda legends' sports match, all the highspots being formed at half the speed and yeah you're cutting them a lot of slack because of what they did before, but you gotta show love.

Royce probably isn't the 4th best album of the year, but I've not enjoyed one artist more in the 08. That verse on "Motown 25" on the Elzhi album, man...

I actually dl'd the Esham album after you repped for it on here as well... I dunno, I liked it, but I think I would have gone gaga for it if I was 16. I think I was listening to shit like Molotov back then, it would have filed alongside well.

Heard enough of the Cut Copy at a friend's house, not really my thing. The rest I'll have to do the Myspace run on at some point.

you'll be feelin this --- catalyst - fuck the radio

heres 1 of the joints off that

http://artwork.datpiff.com/mc11e259/Catalyst_Fuck_The_Radio-front-large.jpg
11-STYLIN ON YOU _PROD. THE CATALYST http://www.zshare.net/audio/5193791919590f39/

lol raz b diss

btw los campesinos youtube vid sucked major dick

i've liked lots of music this year but these are the main ones i got really in to and that lasted more than a week or so of serious listening

sic alps - us ez
nick cave & bad seeds - dig lazarus dig
the dutchess and the duke - she's the dutchess, he's the duke
harvey milk - life ... the best game in town
prairie spies - surplus enjoyment
the spectacles - home
wilderness - (k)no(w)here

other stuff i liked: fucked up, krallice, oh sees, flying lotus, gang gang dance, excepter, born ruffians, deerhoof, elf power/vic chesnutt

oh and guys don't forget my band's album is eligible for all your top ten list

ethan i think that reks album is hot too -- way better than dudes like skyzoo imo

its too bad i just realized the nyg'z was october of last year, was all ready to vote for it (tho i guess like half of it was more than a year old already anyway -- giantz ta this came out in like '04)

the-dream
erykah badu
q-tip
speedknot mobstaz
rebirth brass band
young jeezy
frankie knuckles "the gift" mix
gucci mane
webbie
peven everett

im excited about the scarface -- thats still coming out this year right??

and hon. mention for NYG'z

slight changes from the last time i posted in this thread lol

Props for choosing the Corb Lund album. Has this just came out in the UK or something? It was released in 2007 here in Canada.

(numerous xposts by the way)

We are no good at this.

As usual, our list goes to 11 and is in no particular order.

Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Santogold - s/t
Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
Okkervil River - The Stand Insalubrious
Julie Ocean - Long Gone and Nearly There
Jim Noir - s/t
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Blackblack - s/t
Army Navy - s/t
The Kills - Midnight Boom

Honorable mention:

All-Girl Summer Fun Band, Antietam, Beck, Eagles of Death Metal, Earlimart, Envelopes, Girl Talk, Islands, Jay Reatard, Jolie Holland, Los Campesinos! (X2), Love Is All, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, Mogwai, Mount Eerie w/Julie Doiron & Fred Squire, Nada Surf, No Age, School of Seven Bells, Shannon McArdle, Sigur Ros, Silver Jews, The Last Shadow Puppets
The Notwist, The Ting Tings, The Uglysuit, Vetiver, Vivian Girls, Wire

i've only heard one track off the army navy but it's great - need to get the whole lp

OK, The Stand Insalubrious is a pretty hilarious auto-complete error, no?

Also , I can't believe we forgot Deerhunter _and_ Deerhoof.

INPO:

Grouper - 'Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill'
The Chap - 'Mega Breakfast'
Paavoharju – 'Laulu Laakson Kukista'
Mount Eerie (et al) - 'Lost Wisdom' (under 25 minutes, but sublime)
Deerhoof - 'Offend Maggie'
7L & Esoteric – ‘..present Esoteric –vs- Japan: Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo’
Lucky Dragons – ‘Dream Island Laughing Language’
Gang Gang Dance – ‘Saint Dymphna’
John Baker - 'The John Baker Tapes Vols 1 & 2'
The Just Joans – ‘Hey Boy…You’re Oh So Sensitive’

I would put in the Telepathe record, but my "copy" appears to vary in tracklisting from the official tracklist, and the album technically comes out in 2009. But it is quite wonderous.

Crap, we also forgot the Future Clouds and Radar which is pretty excellent (I told you we're no good at this).

for against - shade side sunny side
de rosa - appendices 2008
arms - kids aflame
presets - apocalypso
yellow moon band - travels into several remote nations...
the hussy's - super pro
cause co-motion - it's time
friendly fires - s/t
manhattan love suicides - burnt out landscapes
cut off your hands - you and i

the graham day & the gaolers album will probably knock one of those out after i've heard it, on the strength of the EP and single that preceded it

is the new deerhoof more or less lol indie than their debut?

did you mean deerhunter? 'cause the new deerhoof is way less indie that the man the king the girl

The new Drhf rocks and swings, and is a joy. Much better than Friend Opportunity.

i think i meant deerhunter. and i've only heard the 1st one. i can probably find another thread 2 discuss~~

1. Morgan Geist - Double Night Time
2. Belong - Colorloss

then a bunch of stuff i only sort of like

Their aren't nearly as many consensus favorites this year as we had last year.

i don't think there are any consensus favorites this year. that's why i'm eager to see what wins the pazz and jop poll.

^^are you the motel de moka guy??

― ♪☺♫☻ (gr8080), Thursday, 27 November 2008 21:40 (Yesterday)

I am. But I'm not a guy, my name is Julia. How you guess?

top 25 incl. reissues -- will undoubtedly change but this is what i'm thinking maybe:

1 SIC ALPS: US E-Z (Siltbreeze)
2 VIVIAN GIRLS: Vivian Girls (In the Red)
3 WOODEN SHJIPS: Vol 1 (Holy Mountain)
4 GROUPER: Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill (Type)
5 NODZZZ: Nodzzz (What's Yr Rupture)
6 CRYSTAL STILTS: Alight of Night (Siltbreeze)
7 EAT SKULL: Sick to Death (Siltbreeze)
8 MINGERING MIKE: Super Gold Greatest Hits (Emusic)
9 DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE: X-mas for the Crows (Dagerman)
10 FAMOUS L RENFROE: Children (Big Legal Mess/ Fat Possum)
11 PIERCED ARROWS Straight for the Heart (Tombstone)
12 VARIOUS: VICTROLA FAVORITES (Dust to Digital)
13 JOLIE HOLLAND: The Living and the Dead (Anti-)
14 BLANK DOGS: On Two Sides (Troubleman)
15 VARIOUS: FIGHT ON YOUR TIME AIN'T LONG (Mississippi)
16 LOS LLAMARADA: Take the Sky (S-S)
17 ZOMES: Zomes (Holy Mountain)
18 THE RANK STRANGER: Purgatory (self-released CD-R -- no label)
19 VARIOUS: 1970s ALGERIAN PROTO-RAI UNDERGROUND (Sublime Frequencies)
20 CAUSE CO-MOTION!: It's Time! (Slumberland)
21 ILYAS AHMED: Between 2 Skies/ Towards the Night (Digitalis)
22 ALAN + RICHARD BISHOP: Present the Brothers Unconnected (tour CD, on Abduction)
23 INCA ORE: Birthday of Bless You (Not Not Fun)
24 RAVEONETTES: Lust Lust Lust (Vice)
25 SIC ALPS: Long Way Around to a Shortcut (Animal Disguise)

i really do wonder if people love that vivian girls record because they've heard black tambourine, or because they haven't...

i really do wonder if you really do wonder that

i stopped

gonna have to revise mine eventually, every new person that posts lists something I forgot (which is a good sign I guess)

Eat Skull is DEF. in my top ten

The list I posted isn't definitive. I'll probably end up eliminating fleet foxes at all and substitute with the Middle East or perhaps even the Vetiver record. As I said elsewhere I have a love-hate relationship with them fleet foxes, it all depends of how I feel about them when the time comes.

My top 4 picks are definitley staying in there though.

just got the Kanye with lots of other stuff I need to catch up on, but as of now, something like this:

1. Los Campesinos -- Hold On Now, Youngster
2. Raphael Saadiq -- the Way I See It
3. Hold Steady -- Stay Positive
4. Drive-By Truckers -- Brighter Than Creation's Dark
5. Orchestra Baobab -- Made in Dakar
6. Kimya Dawson -- Alphabutt
7. Vampire Weekend -- Vampire Weekend
8. Jay Reatard -- Matador Singles
9. Lil Wayne -- Carter III
10. Roots -- Rising Down

Should somebody (preferably the people who also manage the polls) start the annual albums and songs nomination threads? I think we're ready for it. No reason to wait as long as we did last year, I think.

Hi Moka- I'm not a very bloggy dude but I like your blog. I found out about Air France through you and that's one of my favorites of the year!

So thanks.

People are sleeping on Kleerup and Mahjongg, I think?

you can still stream mahjongg, btw: krecs.com/mahjongg/kontpab

someone voted for the esoterrorist!!

Kleerup is mad boring.

I used to be bros with mahjhonng but haven't heard the new one. How is it?

Yeah, the Kleerup record is mad boring. "With Every Heartbeat" classic 4 life tho.

Not enough Carter III on these lists why?

its way overrated

01 - Air France - No Way Down EP
02 - Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
03 - of Montreal - skeletal lamping
04 - Dungen - 4
05 - John Maus - Love Is Real
06 - Sparks - Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
07 - Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
08 - Larkin Grim - Parplar
09 - Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlandia
10 - Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna

Eat Skull is DEF. in my top ten

FROM others, either

Hey ♪☺♫☻ (gr8080), glad to know you like the blog and that I helped introduce air france to you... it took me awhile to take ahold of them because I usually ignore hyperbolic bands on the blogosphere. I usually wait for the hype to die down and I pick the ones that survive it. Air France is a case in point, they're really good... I'll end up dropping them from my year end list because it's an ep though and I don't have enough of those this year to make a decent list.

I usually ignore hyperbolic bands on the blogosphere. I usually wait for the hype to die down and I pick the ones that survive it.

^^^^^

Been listening to my records again and I've finally sketched my top 10 list:

1. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
2. Jacaszek - Treny
3. Scott Tuma - Not for nobody
4. Shed - Shedding the Past
5. Tape - Luminarium
6. Fleet Foxes - s/t
7. Bruno Pronsato - Why Cant We Be Like Us
8. Grouper - Dragging a dead deer up a hill
9. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
10. Zdzislaw Piernik & Piotr Zabrodzki - Namanga

I usually make a top 12 album list because I really like that number. This is were it gets tricky for me because I have 17 albums in consideration for those two positions but they're so good I can't decide for either one of them. :(

Clark - Turning Dragon
Vetiver - Thing of the Past
Death Vessel - Nothing is good enough for us
Dungen - 4
Middle East - The Recordings of the Middle East
Keiji Haino - The 21st Century Hard-y-Guide-y Man: Koitsukara Usetaitameno Hakarigoto
Li Jianhong - San Sheng Shi
Vajra - Live
High Places - s/t
william parker - double sunrise over neptune
li jianhong - san sheng shi
sean mccann - flutter oasis
astro echo the echo from the purple dawn
datashock & shivers - vol IV
nasa - bummer daze
natural snow buildings - laurie bird

i like your list moka. i guess when you look at mine it's apparent why.

stephan mathieu - radioland (die schacatel)
bruno pronsato - why can't we be like us (hello? repeat)
idea fire company - the island of taste (swill radio)
tape - luminarium (hapna)
flying lotus - los angeles (warp)
move d & benjamin brunn - songs from the beehive (smallville)
natural snow buildings - the snowbringer cult (students of decay)
head of wantastiquet - mortange (ecstatic yod)
kurt vile - the constant hitmaker (gulcher)
mountains - mountains mountains mountains (catsup plate)

found populating a list of albums very difficult this year. there's a lot of stuff i've enjoyed the few times i've listened to it but never bothered going back to... the curse of ipod listening.

Still pondering my list - won't be till mid-December when I figure it out, I guess - but it's good to see so much love for Jacaszek! That's a wonderful album, esp. on headphones.

i can never do this. i usually have three solid favourites and fifty more i like a lot. this year it's just two: Kelley Polar and Lindstrom.

@resolved: Thanks. Have to admit I still haven't heard half of your list, will have to take a listen, are they ranked in order of favorites? Also are those the same Mountains that released 'Sewn' on Apestaartje two years ago? I love that one.

Props for choosing the Corb Lund album. Has this just came out in the UK or something? It was released in 2007 here in Canada.

― everything, Friday, 28 November 2008 00:06 (19 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It came out late November 07 in the UK, which sneaks it onto an 08 list by my reckoning. Is there anything else like this out there, rootsy zingy Canadian throwback country?

someone voted for the esoterrorist!!

― deej, Friday, November 28, 2008 12:44 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

update ur rolodex hes the esoterraSMACKYA now

1/ lambchop - 'ohio'
2/ the bug - 'london zoo'
3/ half man half biscuit - 'csi: ambleside'
4/ vampire weekend - s/t
5/ the fall - 'imperial wax solvent'

Most of my music purchases and listening is backcatalogue, so my current-year favorites are always poor indicator of what will endure.

Au Revoir Borealis - Dark Enough For Stars
(Dream pop that crosses shoegaze with a mournful high-western sound.)
Bug - London Zoo
(Brooding, angry post-dancehall. A go-to album for grimacing during the morning commute.)
Grace Jones - Hurricane
(Mezzanine meets a Laswell production. Song for song, the equal of her Compass Point classics.)
Haltya - Book of Nature
(Finnish freeform psy borrowing liberally from late 70s funk and disco. Super Fun.)
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
(Playlists save us from the unsuccessful slower balladry/filler.)
Matmos - Supreme Balloon
(Putting away the samplers for a analogue tribute to Wendy Carlos and 80s videogames.)
Myra Davies - Cities & Girls
(Finally, another spoken word collaboration with Gudrun Gut)
Portishead - Third
(I think we're all giving this one extra credit due to our emotional attachment)
Señor Coconut - Around The World
(Same schtick, this time he covers Trio, Daft Funk, Prince, and Eurythmics)
Zeigeist - The Jade Motel
(An atmospheric distillation of 80's electro pop. The reappearance of web-only tracks has unfairly harmed its reception.)

Autistic Daughters
Portishead
Lau Nau
Grouper
Gang Gang Dance
School of Seven Bells
Evangelista

...but there's a whopping great bunch of stuff that I haven't heard yet...

LOL @ Lindstrom lovers calling kleerup 'boring'

(p.s. for those who want to listen, someone uploaded that album to imeem)

Moka: very very loose order of favourites. i just got the mountains last week so...
yeah it's the same Mountains. they just signed to Kranky. one of them released a solo lp on Type this year too, which has its moments.

Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now Youngster
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: 4th World War
Young Jeezy - the Recession
the Bug - London Zoo
Portishead - Third
Hercules & Love Affair - s/t
Bun B - II Trill
Dave Aju - Open Wide
El Guincho - Alegranza
the Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

is anyone digging this Gaslight Anthem record? it sounds like springsteen and glasvegas take an emo bath. i can't decide if that's good or bad yet (through 3 songs)

(I think we're all giving this one extra credit due to our emotional attachment)

Why shouldn't one give an album extra credit due to emotional attachment?

best record of the year, two-way tie between

Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

these have also got a lot of love and a lot of playing from me...

The Asteroid No.4 - These Flowers Of Ours
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
Bishi - Nights at the Circus
Je Suis Animal - Self Taught Magic From A Book

but granted there's a lot of stuff I just haven't heard this year... also there's a lot of stuff I bought that I really liked and played a lot when I got it, but wore off quite quickly. And the two records at the top have just been so persistently hanging around in my CD player that they've wiped everything else from my memory.

Reading this whole thread makes me realise how far away I've got from the general ILM hivemind, though. Only 2 other people digging on SVIIB and not one other mention of Fantasy Black Channel - but guess that's coz Louis got himself suggest banned.

oh ya that Late of the Pier record is very good indeed - consider this the second mention. I have no idea who school of seven bells are.

louis? as in just got offed? banned?! nooooooooooo!

:| Yes, it's true, LJ hit the big 50.

School of Seven Bells = Benjamin Curtis from Secret Machines and Ally and Claudia Deheza from On! Air! Library! doing a whole album of beautiful wispy textured ethereo-electro-nugaze nuggets. There should be a lot more love for it on this forum.

I know that LOTP only get flack/ignoration on this forum because of the context - teenage MySpace electro as championed by the second most hated magazine in Britain, but everyone I've played them for without telling them who it was has been OMG WTF this is GRATE. So context and the hivemind mess everything up again...

xp well, that's just depressing. it's clearly part of a widespread anti-cardiacs conspiracy.

ya mike t on the late of the pier thread otm in that they are quite like klaxons/mgmt/foals but GOOD. will check out school of seven bells - sounds great.

also want to mention love for the Simon Bookish, Max Tundra and Herbert records - they were all just released recently but i am digging them.

School of Seven Bells - yes to what Kate said. Lemme save you a google Roz:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=c65lmkyLKxg

Also, uh... http://www.myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells

Especially recommend Chain and Connjur on that page...

That Simon Bookish album is totally a grower. It's very chewy, sticks in yr head. Found myself singing Alsatian Dog in the Tesco Disco Metro the other night.

Only 2 other people digging on SVIIB

I'll rep for the SVIIB album. One of the better things I've heard this year. I'll place it top ten for the year, probably.

FWIW, School of Seven Bells will probably be in my year-end list.

i listened to the opening track on the school of seven bells album and it sounds like engima crossed with cranberries. not really what i was expecting based on the comments upthread. is it all like that??

Hahaha, no not really, but I know what you're getting at there, that track has got a bit of a cloddish beat going on. The best tracks are much better than that. Dunno what page other people were on, but I was thinking about the vox on that album more in terms of folks like Linda Perhacs rather than old Dolores Dingleberry.

No, it's not all like that. Keep going with the album, it gets better.

MB, Alpinisms is my favourite vaguely "shoegazer" album since The Underground Lovers' Cold Feeling nine years ago.

i'm really loving the school of 7 bells stuff on their myspace! esp 'prince of peace'...

I think this Growing album is gonna have to be a late entry!

Also Kelley Polar, and Ne-Yo, Vampire Weekend but for this year I seemed to mainly catch up on last year....

xpost Yeah "Prince of Peace" is probably my favourite but the whole album is good.

Really digging the School of Seven Bells record! This is why I like these end of year threads.

OH NO NOW THE HIVEMIND LIKES THE SAME THINGS AS KATE WHAT?

YOU'VE BEEN CO-OPTED

fuck i think i like that album too :-/

Kate et al, thanks for the pointer to Alpinisms. It probably displaced something else from my year's list. The Deheza sisters (of SoSB) sometimes sound like they're emulating autotune, and I haven't decided whether or not that's a great thing...

SoSB is similar in conception to last year's A Sunny Day in Glasgow album (a definite sleeper): electro-inflected nu-gaze with identical twin sister vocalists singing in unison: there can't be many of these about. ASDiG is noisier and draws in more influences, while SoSB has more inviting production.

i got the grouper album based on this thread, again not quite what i was expecting but pretty nice in parts - very similar to movietone/empress kind of thing with flashes of damon & naomi..

Is there anything else like this out there, rootsy zingy Canadian throwback country?

― Peter "One Dart" Manley (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Friday, 28 November 2008 19:19 (3 days ago) Permalink

Tough question since most of Corb's competition are either dusty'n'dull alt-country or roughed-up Eagles clones. Neither of which are zingy, which I think is the key thing here. That said, there are a few you could try - Carolyn Mark, Luther Wright (both of whom have recorded with various bands, as well as solo and together. More than them, I'd recommend Ray Condo and the Ricochets. He died a couple of years ago unfortunately but his albums are still around. There are a few great clips of Ray Condo on Youtube. Like this one:

I just asked my friend who's way more of an expert on rootsy, zingy Canadian country and she gave me the following:

- Ridley Bent (his 1st album Blam!, esp.)
- The Sadies
- Elliott Brood
- D. Rangers
- Old Reliable
- Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir
- Cuff the Duke

On the classical/jazz side what has anyone out there been hearing? I've got about five cds on each side that I wanna be checking out.

count me in on the school of 7 bells love that has blossomed from this thread.

am i the only person that played the morgan geist album every day since it cam out? it beats the whiny kelley polar album into a cocked hat

Is Growing good? They're playing down the street from where I live this weekend.

I didn't enjoy their live set at ATP New York, and I like their albums mostly.

A GIANT YAY TO THE SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS LOVE!!!

Yes, I completely get the ASDIG comparisons - discovered them about the same time, too.

Maybe they need their own thread, as I couldn't get no conversations started on the Secret Machines threads.

electro-inflected nu-gaze with identical twin sister vocalists singing in unison: there can't be many of these about.

Take out the identical, but this was actually my very first band, back in the dawn of time...

k8 is so far removed from the ilm hivemind that she CREATES A NEW ONE!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/rockindie/release/images/rap_headless_silence_140.jpg
Don't know if anyone else is into 'em, but I'm lovin the hell out of the Headless Heroes album, The Silence of Love. Alela Diane is the best new-to-me voice of the year, alongside Rachel Unthank. It's a covers album, doing mostly 'lost' indie tracks. Including early '70s folk song, The North Wind Blew South:

A droney/shoegazey cover of I Am Kloot's To You:

And a stripped-down, countryfied version of JAMC's Just Like Honey:

On the classical/jazz side what has anyone out there been hearing?

friend who hosts a jazz radio show offers the following (i have heard none of these, fwiw):

BILL FRISELL- HISTORY/ MYSTERY
MIRIAM ALTER- WHERE IS THERE
FRANK KIMBROUGH- AIR
JOE LOVANO- SYMPHONIA
DONALD BROWN- FROM PAST TO FUTURE
MICHALE MOORE/FRED HERSCH- THIS WE KNOW
VASSILIS TSABROPOULOUS/ANJA LECHNER/ U.T. GANDHI- MELOS
HERBIE HANCOCK: THE JONI LETTERS (2007)
PAUL BLEY- SOLO IN MONDSEE
The New Carla Bley- name escapes me
TED NASH- MANCINI PROJECT
WYCLIFFE GORDON AND ERIC REED- WE 2
ANAT COHEN- POETICA
ENRICO RAVA/ STEFANO BOLLANI: THE THIRD MAN

I haven't heard a lot of new stuff this year but I think this might be it:

j.s. bach / sofia gubaidulina - violin concertos / in tempus praesens (anne-sophie mutter, et al.)
matthias pintscher - en sourdine / tenebrae / reflections on narcissus
tangele - the pulse of yiddish tango
helena tulve - lijnen
portishead - third
per nørgård - string quartets nos. 7-10 (kroger quartet)
fennesz - black sea
ricardo villalobos - vasco ep
arve henriksen - cartography
helmut lachenmann - grido / reigen seliger geister / gran torso (arditti quartet)

or something.

Vassilis Tsabropoulos/Anja Lechner/U.T. Ghandi

Thanks for the heads up on this, tipsy mothra. “Chants, Hymns and Dances” was awesome.

Is Growing good? They're playing down the street from where I live this weekend.
— billstevejim, Tuesday, 2 December 2008 21:41 (Yesterday) Permalink

I didn't enjoy their live set at ATP New York, and I like their albums mostly.
— ilxor, Wednesday, 3 December 2008 04:46 (13 hours ago) Permalink

seconding this, their recent albums are good guitar drone/electronic zone-out music but their live show bored the piss outta me

I'm digging that new pretenders, chrissie hynde doing stripped down rockabilly + c&w is always alright

tru, it's not in my top 10 but it is good.

i think the only new jazz album i've heard this year is Brian Blade but it's great.

That Michael Moore & Fred Hersch thing sounds intriguing.