Halfway Through 2010: Favorite Albums of the Year (So Far)

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

Favorite albums of the year so far?

Just posted this on my humble tumblr this morning:

My favorite new music of the new decade thus far; alphabetical, with two notes.

Across Tundras - Old World Wanderer
Cathedral - The Guessing Game
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Live at Hollywood High*
The Flight of Sleipnir - Lore
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Propellor Time
Mugstar - Sun, Broken…
The National - High Violet
Ratt - Infestation
Samsara Blues Experiment - Long Distance Trip
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones
Ufomammut -Eve
The Velvet Underground - The Professor’s Tapes**
Voice of the Seven Thunders - Voice of the Seven Thunders

*This is the first complete version of a ‘78 show that has been previously released in dribs and drabs. It smokes, reminding me why I loved Costello so much at one point.

**This is a bootleg of five VU shows that have been available before as recordings made from radio broadcasts of these exact tapes. Needless to say, the audio quality is definitely improved, making great performances sound good instead of just passable.

Seconding Propellor Time and The Professor Tapes, adding Elisa Randazzo's "Bruises & Butterflies," the Rangda album everyone on ILM is nuts about ...

No order:

Extra Life
Slices
Konono No.1
Lean Left
Optimo's Fabric mix
Lindstrom & Christabelle
Rangda
Black Breath
Dry Rot

Voice of the Seven Thunders - Voice of the Seven Thunders

^oh and this!

vampire weekend
hot chip
lcd soundsystem
the fall

Voice of the Seven Thunders - Voice of the Seven Thunders
White Fence
Forest Swords
Golden Triangle
Peter Brotzmann - Woodcuts
Guinea Worms
Jimi Hendrix
Thee Oh Sees
the Fall
Dead Luke
Acid Mothers Temple - In O to Infinity
Konono # 1
v/a - Brazilian Fuzz Bananas...etc.
Puffy Areolas
Hanoi Janes
El Jesus de Magico

It's been a strong year so far, already a lot more albums I love than there was last year.

1.The Chap-Well Done Europe
2.LCD Soundsystem-This is Happening
3.Hot Chip-One Life Stand
4.Janelle Monae-The ArchAndroid
5.Owen Pallett-Heartland
6.The Fall-Your Future Our Clutter
7.Ted Leo & the Pharmacists-The Brutalist Bricks
8.Gorillaz-Plastic Beach
9.Robyn-Body Talk (Part One)
10.Erykah Badu-New Amerykah Part Two
11Goldfrapp-Head First
12.Everybody Was in the French Resistance..Now!-Fixin' the Charts
13.Groove Armada-Black Light
14.Lindstrom & Christabelle-Real Life is no Cool
15.Fyfe Dangefield-Fly Yellow Moon

Looking forward to hearing the new Scissor Sisters, Kylie, Big Boi, M.I.A and The Dream albums in the next month.

To make it a perfect year I'd really love new albums by The Avalanches and D'angelo, but that's not looking likely especially in D'angelo's case.

01. Spoon, Transference
02. Peter Wolf, Midnight Souvenirs
03. Drive-By Truckers, The Big To-Do
04. Soulfly, Omen
05. T.A.M.I. Show DVD
06. Yeasayer, Odd Blood
07. Minus the Bear, Omni
08. Darkthrone, Circle the Wagons
09. Dr. Dog, Shame, Shame
10. The Bird & the Bee, Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates

Honorable Mention
Black Keys, Brothers
The Fall, Your Future Our Clutter
Goldfrapp, Head First
Jimi Hendrix, Valleys of Neptune
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
Jónsi, Go
Marina & the Diamonds, The Family Jewels
Overkill, Ironbound
Pretenders, Live in London
Voice of the Seven Thunders, s/t

"Exile on Main Street" has been the best reissue (I really love the first six bonus tracks).

Pantha du Prince - Black Noise

that's it

So far I really like:

Sleigh Bells - Treats
Midlake - The Courage of Others
Ellen Allien - Dust

and about half of Vampire Weekend - Contra

Oh, and I just got The Tallest Man on Earth - Wild Hunt, which will probably be moving onto the "really like" list.

Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
Marina & the Diamonds - The Family Jewels
Daddy Yankee - Mundial

Maybe: Pantha du Prince - Black Noise

Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle Vol. 2
Alcest - Écailles de Lune
The Besnard Lakes - Are the Roaring Night
Ratt - Infestation
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Goldfrapp - Head First
Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Yakuza - Of Seismic Consequence
Robyn - Body Talk (Part One)
Cathedral - The Guessing Game

Rangda - False Flag
The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter
Tonetta - 777

of the very little i've heard, stuff i really love:

High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
Nice Face - Immer Etwas
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (maybe?)
Ariel Pink - Before Today
Funerot - And Then You Fucking Die, Man

curious about (lazy): fall, tyvek, cathedral, nachtmystium, rangda, konono #1

disappointed by recent: oh sees, puffy areolas, hot chip

i'm sure i'm forgetting a ton of shit

quadron
efdemin

LCD Soundsystem
Big Krit - KRIT wuz here
Delorean - Subiza
Onra - Long Distance
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
The Bird and the Bee - Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall and John Oates
Erykah Badu

Need to listen to more, not sure: Broken Social Scene
Should check out, love the "singles": Ariel Pink, Gayngs
Will be on there fo sho based on what's been released: Big Boi

The Hold Steady.

so far . . . LCD Soundsystem. imagine Sleigh Bells will be high up on my list when I listen to it more. besides that, I've mostly stuff that came out before this year, and the new stuff i've heard is kinda middling

*i've mostly heard

Spoon
Radio Dept.
Scout Niblett
Harvey Milk
Rene Hell-Porcelain Opera/Rogue Camera
Actress-Splazsh/Machine And Voice
White Fence
Avi Buffalo
James Blake-The Bells Sketch
James Murphy/VA-Greenberg OST
Autechre-Move Of Ten
Total Abuse-Mutt
Madlib-Madlib Medicine Show No. 5: The History Of The Loop Digga 1990-2000
Young Jazz Rebels-Slave Riot
Bird Show-Bird Show Band
The Allison Cameron Band-S/T
Sightings-City Of Straw

goddam, keep forgetting to track down the new harvey milk

contenderizer why didn't you like puffy areolas?

top 5

northern portrait - criminal art lovers
standard fare - the noyelle beat
outrageous cherry - seemingly solid reality
title tracks - it was easy
besnard lakes - the besnard lakes are the roaring night

Yeah I think the Puffy Areolas lp is awesome.

puffy areolas seem like they'd be cool live (haven't seen em), and the basic sound is awesome - but after a few spins i realized that they don't yet have the tunes or riffs to back the sound up. so unless i was in the perfect mood for it, it quickly came to sound like a bunch of undifferentiated grinding and yelling. all the bits sound cool at first, but there's nothing memorable to hang on to in the long run. i'm not saying it's a bad album, but i got tired of it quickly. it's too abstract for me, and not pop enough, because i'm stupid like that. kept getting bored & irritated before it ended.

ugly truth: sold the lp back w/out using the download card (ow).

Boris - Variations

oh yeah and melvins - the bride screamed murder

you should have waited on this thread for about two more weeks (i need the time).

Four Tet
LCD Soundsystem
Pantha Du Prince
Caribou
Spoon
Owen Pallett
Laura Marling
Lindstrom & Christabelle
Steve Mason
Vampire Weekend

I'm almost certainly forgetting a few more. A good year thus far.

Massive Attack
Pawel
Joanna Newsom
Voice of the Seven Thunders
Polar Bear

Gonzales - Pianist Envy

Owen Pallett
Black Keys
Paul Cary
Midlake
Harvey Milk
The National
Liars
Tallest Man on Earth

and quite possibly this new Punch Brothers record, which I am impressed by on first listen

I've been probably more out of it than usual but this is my most played on itunes for 2010 stuff:

Konono No1
LCD Soundsystem
Immer 3
Tonetta 777
Optimo - Fabric 52
Die Antwoord
Danny Wang

man, listening to new music and thinking about what album that came out in the last six months is your favourite can make you feel so retarded sometimes.

true, true

I keep everything purchased in any given year in a pile separate from the rest of the filed away collection. Well, two piles, actually; one for 'new' stuff released in that year and another for back catalogue stuff. To remind me that this stuff is recent purchases and I ought to listen to it before it gets put away and forgotten about.

The new stuff pile is bigger than the back catalogue pile so far this year.

2. Mock & Toof - Tuning Echoes

I thought Future Islands' "In Evening Air" would get some love here. It's by far my favorite album of the year. It's a bit of a grower - I only started loving this after 4-5 spins, but damn does it blow me away now! The singer's voice can be a detriment to some (in some of the songs he sounds a little like Tom Waits, not that I'm complaining).

Some of the other albums I've been listening to almost non-stop:

Fredrik - Trilogy
Yellow Swans - Going Places
Eluvium - Smiles
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
Caribou - Swim

man, listening to new music and thinking about what album that came out in the last six months is your favourite can make you feel so retarded sometimes.

― teflon donk (samosa gibreel)

But if you're thinking too much about it you're doing it wrong. These sort of recaps should be a quick flashback of the albums you've listened to the most in the past months. If you don't remember them it's ok.

I think the new album by (ex-freestyle singer) salsera India is pretty good, maybe the best she's done (though I confess I've never been completely satisfied with anything she's done):

http://www.myspace.com/india

May have some crossover appeal. The production and some aspects of the arrangements (etc.) put it on the pop side of salsa, but it's definitely still salsa. There are three English language covers ("Smile" the Charlie Chaplin one, "Crying" the Roy Orbison one, and Teddy Pendergrass's "Turn Out the Lights." I'm not big on English-language salsa, but I think these work, and India doesn't sound ridiculous singing in English or anything like that.)

I'm just in street team mode at the moment I guess.

Stuff that comes immediately to mind:

Four Tet
Caribou
Sade
Pantha du Prince
Lindstrom & Christabelle
Eyrkah Badu
Janelle Monae
Yeasayer
The Fall
Flying Lotus
Rangda

Stuff that's great that hasn't been mentioned enough:

Guido
Javelin
Gil Scott-Heron
Jamie Lidell
Ted Leo/Pharmacists

last year i don't think i even liked enough albums to come up with a top 10. this year is great already and i'm really looking forward to a bunch of records in the next couple months.

flying lotus
lcd soundsystem
badu
james blake, cmyk
the inbetweens, quantum cowboy
four tet (this one is growing on me)

Stuff that comes immediately to mind:

Four Tet
Caribou
Sade
Pantha du Prince
Lindstrom & Christabelle
Eyrkah Badu
Janelle Monae
Yeasayer
The Fall
Flying Lotus
Rangda

― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor)

Adding a few to my list:

The-Dream
These New Puritans
Gonjasufi
The Knife/Mt. Sims/Planningtorock
Sleigh Bells
Madlib (clearly there's a lot to sort through, but his releases this year are endlessly fascinating...)

Rangda

still really want to check this one out, tbh

Live teaser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JakvyyNmo4A

15 albums with the best chances of winding up on my year-end list, at this point. (Left out a few other reissues that I'd almost definitely disqualify; included a few '09 albums that I might decide not to):

1. Bob Seger – Never Mind the Bullets Here's Early Bob Seger (Myonga CD-R reissue)
2. Joe Cuba – El Alcalde Del Barrio (Fania reissue)
3. Bigg Robb – Jerri Curl Muzic (Over25Sound/Robbmusic ‘09)
4. Jace Everett – Red Revelations (Western Boys/Hump Head)
5. (Various) – Fire In My Bones: Raw + Rare + Otherworldly African-American Gospel [1944-2007] (Tompkins Square reissue ’09)
6. Shakin’ Street – 21st Century Love Channel (Pervade Productions ’09)
7. Ke$ha – Animal (RCA)
8. Jamey Johnson – The Guitar Song (Mercury)
9. Colt Ford – Chicken And Biscuits (Average Joe’s)
10. Traband – Domasa (Indies Scope)
11. Laura Bell Bundy – Achin’ & Shakin’ (Mercury)
12. Luther Lackey – Preacher’s Wife (Ecko)
13. Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Buried Behind The Barn (Alternative Tentacles reissue)
14. Chely Wright – Lifted Off The Ground (Vanguard)
15. Shinyribs – Well After Awhile (Nine Mile)

Trying to comprehend how an "early Bob Seger" reissue would qualify for a 2010 best-of...

Why shouldn't it? (Just because Myonga technically sent it out in mid December?)

Bob Seger Reissue News

Because it's not really "fair" (lol?) to compare a reissue of early Seger to the stuff coming out in 2010. It's kinda like including the Bob Dylan bootleg in this recent poll; sure, it's not been previously "released" but it's basically a reissue:

Best Album Rated 10.0 by Pitchfork Media Upon Its Initial Release

But then, there are a few reissues in your best-of list so who am I to debate...

Ikonika - Contact Love Want Have
Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
Caribou - Swim
Delorean - Subiza
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
Toro y Moi - Causers Of This
CocoRosie - Grey Oceans
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Crookers - Tons Of Friends

Ikonika - Contact Love Want Have

^ must hear!

dream
efdemin
emeralds
steve mason

Why shouldn't it?

Because it's not new? (Maybe if it had a ton of bonus tracks I would count it.) I've never understood your mixing reissues in with new releases in your EOY lists, not that it matters. That even goes for Fania reissues.

if i counted re-issues i'd probably include the Tiger Bay Deluxe Edition (altho most of the bonus tracks aren't much cop really)

I also wonder how many times reissues get to count? If an album was reissued five years ago and it's reissued again this year, could that still count? Or only with new material? Or only if it was remastered in a way that brought out some details you missed before? To me, reissues are basically the same as something that already came out before, even if you get to hear something you never noticed before (or have a couple bonus tracks, alternate takes, etc.)

Well, if it matters, that Seger stuff has actually never been compiled before -- not even on vinyl. Some of it never appeared on albums in the first place. And technically, it still hasn't: That's far from an official release; it's a CD-R put together by somebody on ILM -- so if you really want to be list enforcers, complain about that! (I tend not to count reissues of music that has always been widely available -- even the Joe Cuba, I'm on the fence about; kind of doubt it'd make my Pazz & Jop ballot. The gospel one -- super obscure crate-digger stuff -- could, though it came out last year so maybe not. The Slim Cessna record might not even technically be a reissue, since it's alternate recordings of some songs on their previous albums, which albums I've never heard. So it's new to me. And, uh, it's my list! End of year, which reissues would make it would depend on how many albums of new music I thought really deserved to be voted for. I'd rather vote for old music I really loved, that I played constantly through the year, than new stuff that I thought was way more marginal. Last year I voted for the Death album on Drag City, for instance, and a best-of by this German guy named Benny who'd never heard of before. But I'm not totally consistent; my rules probably change from year to year.)

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster

This was released last November iirc.

yup

xp Also frequently ignore technical release dates, especially for albums that came out late the year before, or ones that I didn't even hear about until a year later. (See: The Pazz & Jop "year of impact" rule, which make sense even more now that so many stupid publications start publishing best-of lists around Thanksgiving.)

Memory Tapes and Neon Indian last year too but i always include stuff from last year that i didn't get round to in time esp. if after September xp

Beach House
Omar Souleyman
Sleigh Bells

and more than likely Big Boi when I hear the whole thing

Well, if it matters, that Seger stuff has actually never been compiled before -- not even on vinyl.

I'll let you go with a warning this time. (Actually, I thought that was more of a straightforward reissue than what you've now explained.)

I haven't heard this "68 boogaloo/Latin soul/salsa reissue, but you might like it:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23988.10?QX7SIZbg;;208

Dead Luke - American Haircut
Mark McGuire - Between The Family
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here
Mark McGuire - Vacation Days
Kurt Vile - Square Shells ep
Rangda - False Flag
James Ferraro - Last American Hero
Puffy Areolas - In The Army 1981
Young Governor - Call Me When The Cat Dies 7"
The Psychedelic Schafferson Jetplane
Magic Lantern - Showstopper 7"
No Balls - Come Clean
Broken Water - Whet
Bitters - East General
The Fall - Our Future Your Clutter
Guinea Worms - Sorcerers Of Madness (4rd Year In A Row!)
Nerve City - s/t
Voice Of The Seven Thunders
Besnard Lakes

Really want/need to hear the Emeralds release.

Might check out that bugalu set; thanks Rudi. As for this:

If an album was reissued five years ago and it's reissued again this year, could that still count?

I'd say one metric I use is how useful the album is. If it's mainly music I already own, why would I need it again? So in that case, I wouldn't even consider it. If that sounds subjective, well, so is everything else about these lists. (And my definition of "reissues," btw, doesn't just mean reissued whole albums, which I would almost never consider, since they've always existed -- like, this year, ones by Pylon and Katrina & The Waves wouldn't even be in the running. It's way more likely to be older tracks anthologized in a brand new way, and like I said, probably ones that'd be real difficult to find otherwise.)

Titus Andronicus
Avi Buffalo
Hot Chip
Lindstrom & Christabelle
The Hold Steady
Will go with xhukk's nom of myonga's Seger CDR which is phenomenal
Gonjasufi
Male Bonding
Anais Mitchell
Husky Rescue
Eliza Doolittle

I want Husky Rescue to sound like Husker Du. will I be disappointed?

Quite.

Top 14, cos 4 are reissues. And I wanna assure everyone that I'd never vote for that DMX in a real poll cos it's totally redundant, but I don't have his previous best-of. Probably wouldn't vote for the Fela either, but same deal.

Ke$ha--Animal
DMX--The Best of DMX (REISSUE)
Diana Reyes--Amame, Besame
WASP--Babylon ('09)
Grong Grong--To Hell 'n' Back ('09 REISSUE)
Frightened Rabbit--The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Fela Kuti--Koola Lobitos/The '69 L.A. Sessions (REISSUE)
The Like--Release Me
Marvin Sapp--Here I Am
Drive-By Truckers--The Big To-Do
Various Artists--Fire In My Bones: Raw, Rare & Otherworldly African-American Gospel (1944-2007) ('09 REISSUE)
Vampire Weekend--Contra
Mary J. Blige--Stronger With Each Tear ('09)
David Bowie--A Reality Tour

I would probably consider voting for Grong Grong if I liked it enough, but it doesn't really hold my attention quite enough to wind up one of my favorites for the year. It is good, though. (Same with Endtables, Tutu and the Pirates, Chin Chin, Raymilland, Method Actors...It's been an excellent year for 30-year-old indie music I never heard before.)

I'm just going by a couple listens on Myspace, but it speaks to some previously untapped sickness in my soul. Hypnotic riffs and clatter, so I'll probably end up buying it. It's good summer jam music, somehow.

xhuxk, this Bigg Robb album is really good.

I know!

Kvelertak - Kvelertak

Amazing mix of styles - heavy on the groove, black metal bridges, a bit of 80s hardcore, all sung in Norwegian. Great, great debut.

X-post to xhuxk ... The Chin Chin reissue bafflingly leaves off the best thing they did, the Stop! You're Crying EP. Had that back in the day, and was always under the impression they were a one-single band. Was faintly astonished when a whole album of the stuff turned up this year.

New albums haven't meant anything to me since the Husker Du/Replacements days, but I love this new one by some guy who goes under the name of the Beach Fossils. I've played it four times this morning while printing and cutting out songlists for the year-end CD I give my students. I almost want to start over so I can get a Beach Fossils song on there.

this is my, probably, very surprising Top 20 so far for 2010:

1. Guideo - Anidea
2. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
3. Four Tet - There is Love in You
4. Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1
5. Hot Chip - One Life Stand
6. Sennen - Age of Denial
7. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
8. The National - High Violet
9. Delays - Star Tiger Star Ariel
10. Brendan Perry - Ark
11. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two
12. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
13. Spoon - Transference
14. Vampire Weekend - Contra
15. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme
16. The Drums - s/t
17. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
18. Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
19. Beach House - Teen Dream
20. ceo - White Magic

I've only heard about 15 new albums so far. Of which top 10 might be:

Four Tet
Laura Marling
Guido
Ruby Suns
Prins Thomas
Goldfrapp
Gabriella Cilmi
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Gorillaz
Ke$ha

Guess I'm not surprised that no one has the Cibelle album here but I'm kind of sad, I think it's very brilliant. Also, since it's me, Ike Reilly, Allison Moorer, Markus Lautenberg Mumur, a few others.

Just picked up The-Dream's album yesterday and, predictably, it has rocketed into my top ten-ish albums of the year. Who knows where it'll end up after dozens of plays -- we'll see!

So many...

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate
Avett Brothers
Ron Basejam
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Chieftains & Ry Cooder
Cocorosie
Delphic
Diskjokke
The Fall
Four Tet
Gayngs
Hot Chip
Imagined Village
Jackie Leven
Lindstrom & Christabelle
Laura Marling
Owen Pallett
Pantha Du Prince
Quadron
Sade
Gil Scott-Heron
Laura Veirs
Paul Weller

Guess I'm not surprised that no one has the Cibelle album here but I'm kind of sad, I think it's very brilliant

i love it too! and i only knew about it because you posted it in here.

Love that there's someone else whose favorite album this year is Anidea

I'd like to thank the people who recommended Four Tet, because that album is charming.

Four Tet's my favorite of the year, thus far.

Alasdair Roberts' new one is knocking my socks off. If you're into British folk, you need it.

What, there's a new one already!? Take it easy, Alasdair, Spoils is still delivering the goods, dude

Kind of agree, though I think the new one is made up of traditional folk songs?

yeah, this one is all traditional covers. some nice female backing vocals, great arrangements.

oh man i LOVE when he does traditional stuff
yet another ali roberts album to buy...

tbh I've only heard two of his albums, but they are good uns.

i recommend hearing all of them
love that guy

the Professor Tapes
African Pearls: Pont Sur Le Congo
Johnny Cash - American VI
Elizabeth Cook - Welder
VW - contra
the fall - YF/OC
spoon - transference
kesha - animal

Voice of the Seven Thunders
Black Francis - The Golem
Beach House - Teen Dream
Pigeons - Here We Go Magic
Yeasayer - Odd Blood
All Kinds of People Love Burt Bacharach
Javelin - No Más
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig
Ray Wylie Hubbard - A) Enlightenment, B) Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C)

should read:

Here We Go Magic - Pigeons

Robyn
Nachtmystium

agree with the praise for Alasdair Roberts

Beach House "Teen Dream" is turning out to be my favorite album of the year, something I wouldn't have predicted

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
Japanther - Rock'n'Roll Ice-Cream
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Jagga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Los Campesinios! - Romance is Boring
Husky Rescue - Ship of Light
Massive Attack - Heligoland
White Hinterland - Kairos
The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
The Fall - Your Future, Our Clutter
Sade - Soldier of Love
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
Tindersticks - Falling Down a Mountain

Something along the lines of...

Lindstrom & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool
The Magnetic Fields - Realism
Quasi - American Gong
Four Tet - There Is Love in You
Ariel Pink - Before Today
Moon Duo - Escape
The Knife - Tomorrow, in a Year

Lots of OK/competent stuff after that.

This Cibelle album is slack as her last one, but still with some interesting sounds here and there. I think much of it comes down to my simply not liking the sound of her singing in English.

(I'm only on track 6 but I'm not expecting anything to come along and change my mind.)

lol, liking the second half a little better. . .

I think something about her phrasing bothers me in English, feels off emotionally, but sounds fine in Portuguese. (Whether it would sound okay in Portuguese if I understood that language, I obviously can't say.)

the Avi Buffalo album is really growing on me. it merits a mention.

This "Braid My Hair" song is really awful, my god.

Marshall Allen - Matthew Shipp - Joe Morris - Night Logic
Khaled Abdul Rahman - Khalediat 2010

I said Khaled Abdul Rahman. This album goes down so smooth.

Second best Bollywood album I've heard this year: soundtrack to "It's a Wonderful Afterlife," with excellent Desi-fied covers of "Stayin' Alive" and the theme to "The A-Team". (First best: "My Name Is Khan" soundtrack.)

And I love you _Rudi_ but I hope you will re-think yr opposition to Cibelle, she is not bad but in fact awesome in any language.

where da cave at, matt?

good lord who knows. had no time to write because of moving, crisis of writing confidence, early midlife crisis, manic depression, etc. mostly solved though, so i'm thinking i have to re-up that bitch.

yow!

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Sleigh Bells - Treats

whatever happened to ksh?

ILX2 NEW USERNAME TRANSLATOR COMPENDIUM

right here d00d

A lot of releases have waned. Here are the releases still on rotation at Chez Sanpaku:

Beach House - Teen Dream
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
Delphic - Acolyte
Trentemøller - Into The Great Wide Yonder
va - Radio Rothko mix by Deadbeat
va - Dub Goes Wild (freely distributed 3 CD DL)
Bounty (?) - iamamiwhoami promotional videos/dls.

Top 20 albums to date, going solely by play counts:

Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Return of Chico Dusty
Caribou, Swim
The Chemical Brothers, Further
The-Dream, Love King
Flying Lotus, Cosmogramma
Four Tet, There Is Love in You
jj, jj no. 3
Kelis, Flesh Tone
The Knife, Tomorrow, in a Year
Lindstrøm and Christabelle, Real Life Is No Cool
Janelle Monáe, The ArchAndroid
Pantha du Prince, Black Noise
Rangda, False Flag
Sade, Soldier of Love
School of Seven Bells, Disconnect from Desire
Spoon, Transference
These New Puritans, Hidden
Trans Am, Thing
Yeasayer, Odd Blood

zero metal records?

Man. Matt C. Good dude.

Lots of stuff I like this year. Too self-conscious to post about it sober. But for instance, I really like Owen Pallett's jaunt. And the Chap. And Janelle Monae. And Lindstrom and Christabelle. And Ariel Pink.

So y'know.

Owen's record is quite good

Aboombong - Asynchronic
Alessandro Bosetti - Zwölfzungen
The Books - Way Out
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers

I was enjoying the Books album too but it faded for me. Haven't felt the desire to listen to it in about a month.

Maybe you'd like the Alessandro Bosetti: http://cookshop.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/zwolfzungen/

Mathew Jonson - Agents of Time
Lindstrom & Christabelle - Real Life is No Cool
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik
Shed - The Traveller
Robert Hood - Omega
Efdemin - Chicago

dream
efdemin
emeralds
steve mason

― WEB SHERIFF (LOLK), Friday, June 25, 2010 9:23 AM (2 months ago)

&
swans
no age
disappears
abe vigoda
school of seven bells
lindstrøm+christabelle

In no order.

Aphrodite - Kylie Minogue
This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
Body Talk pt. 1 - Robyn
Body Talk pt. 2 - Robyn
Black City - Matthew Dear
Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty - Big Boi
Cerulean - Baths
Black Noise - Pantha du Prince
Crazy For You - Best Coast
Heartland - Owen Pallett
Warm Slime - Thee Oh Sees
Teen Dream - Beach House
Night Work - Scissor Sisters
Halcyon Digest - Deerhunter
Barking - Underworld

Just listened to a stream of the upcoming Abe Vigoda album.

Jesus. What the hell happened?

It's that good, huh?

yeah its p good

It sounds like The Killers. Without hooks. Terrible.

not really familiar with the killers output but if theyre doing post-punk with ravey synths then i'll have to check em out

School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire
Ikonia - Contact, Love, Want, Have
Mrs Jynx - Shark Carousel
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Kelis - Flesh Tone
Time And Space Machine - Set Phazer To Stun
Diskjokke - En Fin Tid
Ellen Allien - Dust
Chemical Brothers - Further

dunno what to put in the number 10 spot though - could be Four Tet or Flying Lotus or Emeralds, really.

swans
salem
the body
rangda
w. voigt
endless boogie
lindstrom & christabelle
deer tick
harlem
scout niblett
gate
loscil

Mrs Jynx - Shark Carousel
I thought The Standoffish Cat was dull, in spite of its awesome title and album art, but I guess I should give the new one a chance.

here are 10 i like

oneohtrix point never - returnal
beach house - teen dream
flying lotus - cosmogramma
yeasayer - odd blood
pantha du prince - black noise
mi ami - steal your face
gil scott-heron - i'm new here
caribou - swim
woods - at echo lake
dj nate - da trak genious

Beach House "Teen Dream" is turning out to be my favorite album of the year, something I wouldn't have predicted

i always thought it would turn out cosmogramma but i dunno teen dream is really f. good

dj nate - da trak genious

this is amaaaaazing

there should be a thread on chicago juke really

^seconded (both points) - it is sort of interesting that Nate has been the first of these nu-skool juke types to get compiled (certainly in the UK but most of this stuff has barely even been put on like mixtapes right?) while being not that typical and (as I understand it) hated by a lot of older ppl in the scene

The DJ Roc album is great as well but I've not played that as much yet

yeah i really don't know a huge amount about juke, just bits and bobs picked up over the years (and obv i know how HUGE it is for the night slugs gang), didn't know that about nate. fwiw while i like the dj roc and dj rashad stuff that planet mu are compiling too, it's that dj nate album that's really really hooked me.

MY FAVES OFF TOP OF MY HEAD:

Easy Star Allstars - Dubber Side Of The Moon
Autechre - Oversteps/Move Of Ten
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Big Boi - Luscious Leftfoot
Gil-Scott Heron - I'm New Here
Of Montreal - False Priest
Darkstar - North
Sigh - Scenes From Hell
Ost & Kjex
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh

I like the opening track on DJ Roc's album that samples Junior Reed's One Blood. I feel sorry for Reed because I guess he was seen as being essentially ok, if a bit worthy in the UK until he added the 'ragga' bit to the Soup Dragons' I'm Free... which, let's face it, probably even Bounty Killer or Ninjaman couldn't have recovered from.

Salem
Swans
Liars
Big Boi
Gnaw Their Tongues
The Body
Lindstrom and Christabelle
Fly Lo
Cathedral
Gayngs

starting to think about this a little and here's the prelims to beat

Big Boi
Guido
Yelawolf
The-Dream
Tonetta
Reggie Watts
Owen Pallett
Carolina Chocolate Drops

what's that last one

what's reggie watts up to? last i heard he'd mostly abandoned music on some standup ish

carolina choc drops - genuine negro jig:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWM_ca8o6-I

Reggie Watts - Why Shit So Crazy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0cp3eK9hI0

looking forward to hearing abigail washburn's new album too

fwiw, the reggie track is off the album; it's about 50/50 "stand up" and music

lost my interest.

The new Sword album kicks serious ass.

Think I'd add Alphabeat to that list up there.

Top ten singles is gonna be a bit harder.

Isn't the second Alphabeat from 2009? Did it get released in the states?

o i c It was issued in the UK this year. Still no US release, though. 'Murca can't handle the Alphabeats!

my singles are something like

15 rihanna - rude boy
14 lady gaga - alejandro
13 lil b - insane
12 netsky - moving with you
11 yg - toot it and boot it
10 vampire weekend - giving up the gun
09 panda vuitton ft young l & gata - dead fresh
08 young l - big money
07 ariel pink - round and round
06 taylor swift - mine
05 rick ross ft styles p - bmf
04 waka flocka flame - hard in da paint
03 ciara ft ludacris - ride
02 erykah badu - window seat
01 young jeezy ft plies - lose my mind

actually i would switch out "insane" with "the age of information" and throw that in the top 10 but oh well

oh and "teenage dream"

this is why i hate doing these lists

Things I like that, predictably, a lot of other people like too:

Arcade Fire
Big Boi
Erykah Badu
The Chemical Brothers
Gayngs
Jamie Lidell
Lindstrøm & Christabelle
Perfume Genius
School of Seven Bells
Scissor Sisters
Vampire Weekend
Yeasayer

Things that are probably just me (and maybe a few other BRILLIANT folks):

The Concretes
Fan Death
Ghost Society
Giana Factory
K-X-P
Kahimi Karie
Marina & The Diamonds
Mixylodian
The Naked and Famous
Quadron (*in on a technicality by getting a US release in 2010)
Teddybears
Thieves Like Us

alphabeat is terrible white people music for terrible white people imo

I know it looks like the Janelle Monáe album is missing, but it's not. Despite a few INSANE KILLER tracks, I can't really get with the album as a whole. xp

I didn't realise Fan Death had an album out, that's inattentive of me.

xxp The second one is, for sure. The far superior first one is great white people music for everybody to love.

my top ten is like

yelawolf
kelis
lindstrom & christabelle
earl sweatshirt
janelle monae
corrine bailey rae
something else
something else
something else
something else

i have like ten records that might be in those last four slots but the ones above that are top ten for sure

all the maybe top tens are pretty good-not-brilliant rap stuff or pretty good-they've done better or big boi who is both

is the chembros really that good? like, i keep hearing that but the idea of checking for them in 2010 is too :/ for me to do it

I like the new Chem Bros, but I'm kind of having a soft spot for that sort of thing at the moment. It is actually WAAAAAAYYYYYY better than anything they've done since about Surrender if that puts your mind more at ease about checking it out.

"Galvanize" is my MOST favorite Chem Bros single ever, and this album sounds nothing at all like that. It's a completely different animal altogether, yet is absolutely stunning.

I didn't realise Fan Death had an album out, that's inattentive of me.

Likewise. Excited!

Some albums I've liked in no order:

Vampire Weekend – Contra
Big Boi – Sir Lucius Left Foot…
The-Dream – Love King
Against Me! – White Crosses
Rick Ross – Teflon Don
Four Tet – There is Love In You
Merle Haggard – I Am What I Am
LCD Soundystem – This is Happening
M.I.A.- MAYA
Drive-By Truckers – The Big To-Do
Curren$y – Pilot Talk
Shabazz Palaces – EP’s
Jayce Everett – Red Revelations
Tracy Thorn - Love & Its Opposite
Elizabeth Cook - Welder
Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite
Laurie Anderson – Homeland
Lindstrøm & Christabelle – Real Life is No Cool
Sam Amidon – I See The Sign

Ariel Pink
Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik
Emeralds
Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal
Earl Sweatshirt and any other Odd Future stuff that got released this year
Dead Fader

ag - evertyhing's berri
curren$y - pilot talk
starlito - renaissance gangster
earl sweatshirt - earl
j stalin - prenuptial agreement
rick ross - teflon don
jacka & laroo - never be the same
big k.r.i.t - krit wuz here
yelawolf - trunk muzik
roc marciano - marcberg
gucci mane - mr zone 6

Vampire Weekend – Contra
Big Boi – Sir Lucius Left Foot…
The-Dream – Love King
Against Me! – White Crosses
Rick Ross – Teflon Don
Four Tet – There is Love In You
Merle Haggard – I Am What I Am
LCD Soundystem – This is Happening
M.I.A.- MAYA
Drive-By Truckers – The Big To-Do
Curren$y – Pilot Talk
Shabazz Palaces – EP’s
Jayce Everett – Red Revelations
Tracy Thorn - Love & Its Opposite
Elizabeth Cook - Welder
Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite
Laurie Anderson – Homeland
Lindstrøm & Christabelle – Real Life is No Cool
Sam Amidon – I See The Sign

This is a pretty good list. I've not heard 5-6 of these yet, but pretty much everything I have heard belongs here.

xxxp proud to be a terrible white person

i should really listen to that merle haggard, huh?

My copy of the Haggard CD got stuck in my CD changer, and now I can't get it out and can't get the player to open! So there goes his shot at my top ten. (Honestly doubt he'd have come close anyway, though he might skim the bottom of my Nashville Scene country list.) Anyway, if I were to file a P&J ballot today, it'd probably look something like this (though some will get shuffled later).

1. Bob Seger – Never Mind the Bullets Here's Early Bob Seger (Myonga CD-R reissue)
2. Bigg Robb – Jerri Curl Muzic (Over25Sound)
3. Jace Everett – Red Revelations (Western Boys/Hump Head)
4. Traband – Domasa (Indies Scope)
5. Luther Lackey – Preacher’s Wife (Ecko)
6. Ke$ha – Animal (RCA)
7. Jamey Johnson – The Guitar Song (Mercury)
8. Flynnville Train – Redemption (Evolution)
9. Laura Bell Bundy – Achin’ & Shakin’ (Mercury)
10. Coati Mundi – Dancing For The Cabana Code In The Land Of Boo-Hoo (Rong)

there's a coati mundi album!

oh shit

I think: "Who is Coati Mundi?" And then I read: Mundi has worked with assorted musical groups and artists including Ralfi Pagan, Joe Bataan, Vernon Reid, N'Dea Davenport, Nona Hendryx, Tito Puente, Manny Oquendo & Conjunto Libre, Hall & Oates and Machito. (along with the Kid Creole thing) Hall & Oates and all that Latin primo music? I'd better check this out. I swear 2010 has been an excpetionally good year for new music, from many different direcitons. (I know xhuxk generally says every year is a good year for music, and maybe if I heard as much music as he does--though not necessarily the same music--I would agree.) There are still maybe a half dozen forthcoming (or very recently released) albums I'm looking forward to checking out.

he was in Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band too

10 off the top of my head

owen p
menomena
ariel pink
caribou
beach house
eluvium
thomas fehlmann
curren$y
tyler the creator (apparently i'm the only one who likes this better than earl? i must be emo...)
delorean

still gotta hear: yelawolf, rick ross, vampire weekend, bunch of other crap

Here's a Top 12, and my illustrious blog'll give you more yakking and genre lists and links to reviews. I get the feeling I really need to hear Curren$y. Has anybody heard Vols. 2 and 3 of that Soweto comp?

Cathedral--The Guessing Game (Nuclear Blast)
Ke$ha--Animal (RCA)
Diana Reyes--Amame, Besame (EMI Latin)
WASP--Babylon (Demolition ‘09)
Sleigh Bells--Treats (Mom + Pop)
Frightened Rabbit--The Winter of Mixed Drinks (Fatcat)
Sho Baraka--Lions & Liars (Reach)
Groove Armada--Black Light (Cooking Vinyl)
Drive-By Truckers--The Big To-Do (New West)
Various Artists--Next Stop Soweto: Township Sounds from the Golden Age of Mbaqanga (Strut REISSUE)
Vampire Weekend--Contra (XL)
Henry Threadgill Zooid--This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 (Pi '09)

This is so boring, but as it gets closer to the end of the year it's looking more and more like The Fall, which really keeps growing on me. Wish it could be something more exciting, but there you go...

It's an album that keeps on revealing yet withholds as much, and is as suggestive of mystery as on first listen. (A worthy addition to hospital art as well - cd Denton Welch, Dennis Potter, that Peep Round the Twist essay by K Amis.)

Kelis and Hey Colossus other standouts. Slayer v enjoyable. Wish I'd heard the Guinea Worms, as well.

Slayer. My sense of time is fucked, anything past a month ago -*hand waves* the past.

The Roots - How I Got Over
Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
Japanther - Rock'n'Roll Ice Cream
Lindstrøm & Christabelle – Real Life is No Cool
Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Robyn - Body Talk parts 1&2
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
Sleigh Bells--Treats
Laurie Anderson – Homeland
The Fall - Your Future, Our Clutter
White Hinterland - Kairo
School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire
Club 8 - The People's Record

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

I have cooled on this album like a winter storm.

I can't help but feel like the Lindstrom and Christabelle album is 09 but I may include it in my top 10 of 10 nonetheless

the new DAWNBRINGER album is pretty good

So, you guys who write for various publications, or who vote in P&J, Pfork or whichever year-end lists... how often do you really start thinking about (and ranking) your favorite albums of the year? Do you keep a running notepad or anything, compose it over a few days' or weeks' time, or just sit down and bang it out in 20 minutes? I found myself thinking today about how I'd place things were I to make a list today. And I don't even write anyplace. Weird...?

i usually keep running tally that i rejigger whenever it comes to mind... in advance of the p&j ballot i'll start replaying albums

singles are more rash for me

i guess this would be my p&j ballot atm? aside from the titus album (personal top 10 of all time for me) the gucci tape (top 2 or 3 gucci mixtape for me which puts it in very rarified air personally) & the vampire weekend album, all shit b/w 4 & 10 could fall anywhere in that spectrum in any order and i'd be like "sure"

10 rick ross - teflon don
09 male bonding - nothing hurts
08 hot chip - one life stand
07 lcd soundsystem - this is happening
06 erykah badu - new amerykah
05 against me! - white crosses
04 the-dream - love king
03 vampire weekend - contra
02 gucci mane - mr. zone 6
01 titus andronicus - the monitor

feel like there's a bunch of major label stuff coming out that could really alter/fill out my ballot, if some of them actually come out

- ciara
- jeezy
- taylor
- diddy
- kanye
- waka
- my chem
- ne-yo (you never know)
- t-pain

i think i've spent more time listening to non-current year music this year than any year since i started listening to music frequently

i think i might make my singles list my 10 favorite lines from gucci's "first song back"

emeralds
actress
oneohtrix point never
blondes
caribou
ost & kjex
elektro guzzi
diskjokke
roll the dice
ariel pink
superpitcher
pawel
lindstrom & christabelle (more so in 09 tho i suppose)
the knife/mt sims/planningtorock
lovefingers - concentration vol 1
thomas hammann & gerd janson - live at robert johnson vol 4

stoked to hear this optimo fabric thing, that could make it's way on there pretty soon too

My top ten would mostly be these, off the top of my head, no order stated or implied:

Four Tet
Caribou
Underworld
Robyn
Big Boi
Janelle
The-Dream
Kelis
Erykah
Lindstrom & Christabelle

feel like there's a bunch of major label stuff coming out that could really alter/fill out my ballot, if some of them actually come out

- ciara
- jeezy
- taylor
- diddy
- kanye
- waka
- my chem
- ne-yo (you never know)
- t-pain

This applies to me also ^^ (minus a couple).

Emeralds, Deerhunter, Andrew Cedermark, Caribou, The Fall, Mulatu Astake, Black Dice, Candy Claws, Guido, Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx, Janelle Monae, Owen Pallett, Swans, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Schubert, Bartok and Enrique Eglesias.

I don't understand horizontal lists.

Top ten at the moment, in alpha order:

Across Tundras - Old World Wanderer
Cathedral - The Guessing Game
Christian Mistress - Agony and Opium
Quest For Fire - Lights From Paradise
Samsara Blues Experiment - Long Distance Trip
Swans - My Mother Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
The Sword - Warp Riders
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones
Voice Of The Seven Thunders - Voice Of The Seven Thunders
v/a - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria

It's a little same-y, but the Grass Widow stuff is definitely growing on me.

the new GW album is quite a bit better than their last two records, which i thought were just ok

my favourites so far...

Vampire Weekend - 'Contra'
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - 'Before Today'
Tonetta777- 'Tonetta777'
Hot Chip - 'One Life Stand'
LCD Soundsystem - 'This Is Happening'
The Fall - 'Our Future Your Clutter'
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Superpitcher - 'Kilimanjaro'
Lindstrom and Christabelle - 'Real Life Is No Cool'
Avi Buffalo - 'Avi Buffalo'
Liars - 'Sisterworld'
Shit Robot - 'From the Cradle to the Rave'

WAKA

A few things have changed since my last list:

Sleigh Bells - Treats
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme
Magic Kids - Memphis
Mose Allison - The Way of the World
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Midlake - The Courage of Others
Ellen Allien - Dust
Mary Halvorson Quintet - Saturn Sings

Thank you thread for recommending Earl Sweatshirt.

In no particular order:

Onra - Long Distance
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
Gucci Mane - Mr Zone 6
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Leftfoot
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah part II
Chromeo - Business Casual
Delorean - Subiza
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Big KRIT - KRIT wuz here
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise

2010 - i've seen better years in music.

Love the Javiera Mena record. Get it now.

There's nothing on the new Javiera Mena as immediately great as "Al Siguiente Nivel" from the first album, but I think it's overall a better record.

some of my favorite albums this year

Rangda - False Flag
The Bitters - East General
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Young Governor - Call Me When The Cat Dies 7"
Pospulenn - Sun People Sleepwalker
Puffy Aerolas - In The Army 1981
Sun City Girls - Funeral Mariachi
Magic Lantern - Platoon
Expo '70 - Where Does Your Mind Go?
Soft Moon - Parallels 7"
The Fall - Our Future Your Clutter
Umberto - Prophecy Of The Black Widow
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Variations For Oud & Synthesizer 7"
Fabulous Diamonds - II
Rene Hell - Porcelain Opera
Superpitcher - Kilimanjaro
Brother Raven - VSS-30
Maserati - Pyramid Of The Sun
Broken Water - Whet
Nerve City - Recordings
Majeure - Timespan Remixes
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love Is A Stream

good list dude

my favourite album of this year is purling hiss' hissteria

I was doing an okay job of keeping up with new music this year but now realize I haven't heard anything new since about mid-September. That feels like a lifetime of music in this day and age.

Isan's Glow In The Dark Safari Set.

Also love bits of the Sean Carey album.

Oh, and Gold Panda

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5281/5209277409_89d22f958c_z.jpg

Everything we've bought this year, from this year.

(Everything we've bought this year from other years - http://www.flickr.com/photos/njsouthall/5209275899/)

cds

Aye. We loves 'em.

they're the hep new thing.

oh man, if i'd only bought that many cds in 2010, i'd be a whoooooole lot richer :/

v. good selection!

Mortgages make you more discerning.

who says i don't have a mortgage?

okay.... i dont

Mortgages make you more discerning.

disproven by what some of those cds are smh

hahaha lex

i think nick's taste is 90% great (aligns VERY closely w/ my own) but i see no use for she & him, foals, ash, menomena O_O

mouthy, how is that Deutsche Electronische Music comp?

OK, here are mine:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5212109790_cba041eba8_z_d.jpg

Enlargeable here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miketd/5212109790/sizes/l/in/photostream/

yay alphabetical order

some really good stuff in there & nothing terribly "objectionable" (unless of course we ask lex)

i overlap less w/ you, think i have ~10 of those?

XP: Did you not fancy the fourth Disco Discharge album from this year, Pink Pounders? There are some fucking bangers on that one...

Nice. Mike, I think you would like Timbuktu Tarab by Khaira Arby that's one of my faves of the year

xpost: Ah, you spotted the ONE omission from the pile! I do indeed have Pink Pounders, but it is currently in Another Place. (Julius Brown's "Party", oh the MEMORIES...)

xpost: Noted, thanks curmudgeon.

Wow, that Khaira Arby album is fucking OUTSTANDING. Just when you think you're maxed out on Mali, someone comes along and out-Oumous Oumou! Total diva, totally made my Saturday evening.

Tis indeed a fine party CD.

Some Brooklyn group the Sway Machinery (led by a klezmer guy) just got Khaira to guest on their new cd, and she's the star of that (I don't like the Sway singer's vocals). But yep her cd is great and she was impressive live as well. I think her one hour show at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in DC is video streaming in their archives.

my favourite album of this year is purling hiss' hissteria

wait, i thought purling hiss' 2010 disc was called public service announcement. it's one of my favorites of 2010, assuming it is from 2010.

he released two lps last month, on two different labels. hissteria is really rocking awesome shit much like the first one, and is out on richie records. public service announcement is more murky and poppy, also kinda drab and corny if you ask me. but not out of line with other woodsist releases. ilx poster contenderizer loves them both but i think psa is kind of shit. definitely check out hissteria or the debut, though

i get the "drab" criticism, but that doesn't ruin the disc for me. i like those pop songs floating under that stormcloud of noise and feedback.

I'm going with these so far:

Wild Nothing Gemini (Captured Tracks)
Matthew Dear Black City (Ghostly International)
The Fresh & Onlys August in My Mind (Captured Tracks)
Royal Baths Litanies (Woodsist)
White Fence White Fence (Make A Mess)
Tim Cohen Laugh Tracks (Captured Tracks)
Rangers Suburban Tours (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Demdike Stare Liberation through Hearing (Modern Love)
Le Révélateur Motion Flares (Root Strata)
The Fresh & Onlys Play It Strange (In the Red)

xp - rly don't mean to be a hater at all esp since this is one of my favourite bands going right now -- but there are like a billion bands out there doing pop songs floating under stormclouds of noise these days and only ONE (two if you count birds of maya) capable of the stratospheric rocking out & endless guitar solos & massive fuzz of the other two purling hiss lps. just weird and frustrating that they chose to put out the one dud of their catalogue (imo) on a hip label and now that's what everyone's going to hear

also i find the riffs cheesy as hell

but there are like a billion bands out there doing pop songs floating under stormclouds of noise these days

good pop songs? most of the bands i hear that are supposed to be doing this type of stuff are 90% noise/atmospherics and 10% songcraft/hooks. but public service announcement seems much more of a 50/50 proposition, which to me seems pretty rare these days. but if you have other bands doing this well, i'm anxious to sample them.

i kind of take back my last comment, upon reflection. two acts i've heard this year, besides purling hiss, who pair noise and good pop songs/hooks are u.s. girls and dirty beaches.

cool bands

by all means continue to enjoy the record, just don't skip the other two

checking out hissteria now.

interestingly, my rock guitar teacher liked a dirty beaches song (sweet 17), but pointed out that -- aside from a noisy breakdown created by electronics -- the guitar line was just two notes (E dropping periodicially, for just two ticks at a time, to A). amazes me how some cool songs can be constructed on simple foundations (tho i suspect the electronic noise parts are hard to compose and play). by contrast, another song we're working on -- boston's amanda -- has a lot of interesting little things going on instrumentally, but it lacks a certain "vibe" that's compelling to me.

that dirty beaches was like 'baby did a bad bad thing' crossed with suicide

not sure if i like it

i am crazy about that band. all vibe, mind you, but still. . .

also some super-cool videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkgG4vCYFTw&feature=related

holy shit dirty beaches is awesome, thx!

still listening to parts of the Linkin Park album daily. Whiney otm

the guitar line was just two notes (E A dropping periodicially, for just two ticks at a time, to A G)

fixed. geez.

still listening to parts of the Linkin Park album daily. Whiney otm

you've done this with every linkin park album -- admit it

i love most of their singles, but this is the first album of theirs ive actually bought iirc. will hopefully go back and buy the rest of them now

i'm going to be bummed if Last Train to Paris isn't the album of the year, since I've fallen in love with pretty much every leak

lol

i'm gonna be kinda bummed if it's not top 5-ish for me

leaks are all awesome of course

will prob be good but if you are expecting it to be record of the year get real

will prob be like press play at best: good album, maybe like 10 that are better this year. not expecting it to be as good as press play.

i could see last train to paris being album of the year, but only cuz almost nothing else has really leaped out and demanded ALBUM OF 2010 status - it's weird, i haven't been actively disappointed by any album this year, but they all seem to be worthy #5 albums of the year rather than #1. partly i guess cuz the albums i've caned most have been by established artists so there's a bit of comparing-to-their-past-work going on as well, and on that basis it seems ludicrous to award eg love king my top spot.

which is how ciara currently holds it, and by some distance.

i haven't been actively disappointed by any album this year

uhhhh obv this is not true, kind of meant more a general "haven't been disappointed by music this year" thing. i need to caffeinate brb

Alessandro Bosetti - Zwölfzungen
Aboombong - Asynchronic
Monster Rally - Color Sky / Palm Reader
Wild Nothing - Gemini
Nils Frahm and Anne Muller – 7fingers
Tony Conrad / C. Spencer Yeh / Michael F. Duch - Musculus Trapezius
Kenny Graham And His Satellites - Moondog And Suncat Suites
Graffiti 6 - Colours
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
John Roberts - Glass Eights
Nicolas Jaar - Marks < Angles
Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Kim Myhr - Stems and Cages

IlXor - the Foals is very good, the Menomena is awesome, and the others you name are my wife's!

The Deutsche compilation is wicked, and has cost me a lot of money on albums I've picked up off the back of it.

Lex, Lex, Lex...

Ciara and DiddyDirty Money-Last Train are not available officially in the US till December 14th

Enjoying the Warpaint album a lot, although I find it too similar to White Magic.

the keri hilson album isn't out til 21 dec, either (though i'm not envisaging it being my album of the year) (though having said that the latest single is fucking wicked)

Realistically any poll out now was finalised in early November, meaning votes probably were submitted at the end of October... Even doing poll submissions now I find it difficult to really decide what I think of any albums I've only heard in the past month or so. Albums that come out at this end of the year are prone to being over- or underrated as a result I think - at least, that's certainly true with my own poll rankings.

oh yeah, it's hard to know what to do about that apart from trust yr critical instinct - like, i absolutely love the jazmine sullivan album but for some reason felt wary about putting it into my top 10 ballot based on a few days' listening. of course it's easier in cases where you've heard half the album already eg ciara.

(i think i made a mistake leaving jazmine off my ballot actually. it really is a great album.)

Include it next year!

nah it becomes a lindstrøm & christabelle situation then - kicked that off ballot under "it was 2009" rationale just to make room

i'll put jazmine on my ilx and p&j ballots though!

Graffiti 6 - Colours

I'm glad someone else around here is into this. "Stare Into the Sun" and "Annie You Save Me" are great singles, but "Free" may be the best song on the album.

listening to the jazmine sullivan now, amazing

it's soooo frustrating that an album as inventive and full of ideas as well as trad r&b values like the jazmine sullivan one will get like 1% of the critical attention of janelle monáe's (let alone kanye's)

hope somebody has the decency & good sense to murder me and carefully dispose of the body if i ever get frustrated about something like that tbh

i think it's perfectly normal to get frustrated over why some albums get coverage over others?

I've been keeping a rolling list of albums I like on RYM, but no one album this year has really knocked me over. Songs? Yes. Album? No. I guess the closest one would be the SVIIB album, but it's still weak in spots.

some of the arrangements & productions are a bit corny but her voice is amazing, its always kinda breathy but really strong when it needs to be really belt w/o compromising on its sexy timbre

hope somebody has the decency & good sense to murder me and carefully dispose of the body if i ever get frustrated about something like that tbh

no it is massively annoying! the number of ppl this weekend i've heard this weekend discussing kanye's "masterpiece" aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh i want to kill you

it's obvious why this album is not object of much critical attention, it's not oustandingly fresh or modern sounding some of the more sweeping arrangements don't work out that well. this is p disingenuous coming form me because i dont know anything about rn'b but i feel like this is an album for people already sold on the genre. obv monae has a million times more crossover appeal

lol

Love Me Back received positive reviews from music critics. Allmusic writer Andy Kellman gave it 4½ out of 5 stars and wrote that it "sprawls and stuns in equal measure".[15] Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Maerz complimented the album's ballads and called Sullivan "the best kind of R&B paradox: the vulnerable diva".[16] Maura Johnston of Spin wrote that she "has too much spunk to just wallow", calling her "both feisty and classy".[20] Michael Cragg of The Guardian praised her vocal versatility, stating "Sullivan's vocals sound lived-in, cracking and fraying on the stately '10 Seconds' and deftly wrapping themselves around the beat on the sample-heavy, Missy Elliott-produced 'Holding You Down'".[17] Jon Pareles of The New York Times noted her voice as "narrow and jagged, with more grain and more tears as she applies gospel dynamics to her venting".[18] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani found that the album "fails to reprise many of its predecessor's themes or explore any overarching new ones", but ultimately commended its production and Sullivan's "supple voice".[19]

Trentemoller - Into the Great Wide Yonder
Big Boi - Chico Dusty etc
Bonobo - Black Sands
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik
Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
Underworld - Barking
Massive Atteck - Heligoland
N*E*R*D - Nothin

arty pretentious young ppl prefer arty pretentious young person to R&B traditionalist, no one surprised

i mean what is the pt in comparing janelle monae w/ jazmine? they both have totally diff audiences & sounds

jazmine sullivan was on npr this morning.

i'm not sure whose argument that helps.

it's obvious why this album is not object of much critical attention, it's not oustandingly fresh or modern sounding

and janelle's retro rock'n'roll is?

and u know what i mean, it's not about getting positive capsule reviews, it's about capturing something of the critical discourse. getting talked about. being seen as Important.

and janelle's retro rock'n'roll is?

The way she goes about it? Yes, I'd think so. I mean, critics love concepts, and her whole "thing" is a tantalizing concept from head to toe.

it's weird, i haven't been actively disappointed by any album this year, but they all seem to be worthy #5 albums of the year rather than #1.

Yes. It bothers me, as much as I like those albums, that Soto top ten veterans like Big Boi or also-rans like Vampire Weekend will finish high.

critics love concepts

yeah this is the fucking problem isn't it! say you've got a CONCEPT about SCI-FI and critics will just lap that shit up without thinking about it or asking themselves what precisely makes a bs concept so much greater than non-concept love songs anyway. BECAUSE THEY ARE DUMB.

Maura Johnston of Spin wrote that she "has too much spunk to just wallow"

I read this as "has too much spunk to just swallow" because I am a bad person

Anyway, I'm trying to come up with a Top 20 metal albums of the year and wound up with 135 candidates to pick from. Wanna see 'em? (No, shrugs ILM.) Here you go.

xps lex - i get you, all im saying is this is not worth your or my frustrations, my man

xp wait, agalloch didn't make yr top 135?

x-post --The late release time for the Jazmine Sullivan won't help it either (especially in getting attention from a media world more interested in artsy concept albums that might appeal to indie rock types; although those Sullivan reviews and the NPR piece suggest that there's some interest in her. Of course those same outlets highlighted Monae earlier in the year)

Sullivan has a larger radio presence in the US than Monae but that doesn't matter as much in critics polls

it's soooo frustrating that an album as inventive and full of ideas as well as trad r&b values like the jazmine sullivan one will get like 1% of the critical attention of janelle monáe's (let alone kanye's)

I totally forgot to put monae on my 50 album list and momentary felt bad because I do quite like it, but then thought that me ranking her 39 or something probably isn't the kind of critical adulation she'd relying on right now. I haven't heard NEW JAZMINE yet but hope to love it.

In general I reckon it's not so much specifically that critics like to ignore trad R&B values, but that critics don't see the point of trad R&B values in the absence of some context or approach that frames them as somehow oppositional - and hence worthy of writing about. Comparing Jazmine and Janelle can only be a broad-brushstroke dichotomous exercise, but I'd be interested in a comparison of, say, Jazmine's critical reception to that of Jill Scott's first album.

tim, is this your 50 album list for pfrk, or...?

Yeah.

cool. really wish pfrk would post individual writers' lists, like it has a couple times before.

yeah, that would be great

most of them vote in pazz & jop, if that's any solace to you nerds

*cries*

*inconsolable*

the pfork 50-album ballot is literally the ONLY good thing they do - hate having to shear it down to a pissy little 10 everywhere else.

i'm surprised janelle even made your top 50 tim, i thought you were lukewarm on it!

actually a 20-album ballot and 100-track ballot would be ideal.

stuff copied over from the "11 days into" version of this thread (plus some, half sorted):

sun city girls - funeral mariachi
the ex & getachew mekuria - moa anbessa
ofwgkta - earl/rolling papers/bastard/blackenedwhite (rather than break them out by artist)
black breath - heavy breathing
christian mistress - agony & opium
sun araw - on patrol/off duty
high on fire - snakes for the divine
purling hiss - hissteria/public service announcement
big boi - sir lucious left foot: son of chico dusty
e-40 - revenue retrievin: night shift/day shift
the dream - love king
lindstrom & christabelle - real life is no cool
funerot - and then you fucking die, man
various - shangaan electro: new wave dance music from africa
demdike stare - liberation through hearing/forest of evil/voices of dust
bongripper - satan worshipping doom
nerve city - sleepwalker/nerve city
zola jesus - stridulum/valusia
nachtmystium - addicts: black meddle II
actress - machine and voice/splazsh
a frames - 333
tonetta 777 - s/t
mark mcguire - living with yourself
timmy's organism - rise of the green gorilla
thee oh sees - warm slime
shit and shine - bass puppy 12"
sleigh bells - treats
ariel pink - before today

yeah, and kanye, can't deny

but that critics don't see the point of trad R&B values in the absence of some context or approach that frames them as somehow oppositional - and hence worthy of writing about

again this is EXACTLY THE PROBLEM! this is such a dumb way to think, like actually is-your-iq-that-low stupid, and yet it's RIFE in the critical landscape.

eh, i'm willing to grant that some people might prefer and attach special value to the novel, challenging and/or convention-defying without assuming that they must therefore be stupid.

nah it's just that they attach special value to a different set of conventions, but fool themselves into thinking that they're being ~challenging~

like, isn't the janelle album totally conventional by the standards of "arty" sci-fi shit?

if jazmine was framed as coming out of a difft context wouldn't she be seen as "convention-defying"?

what the hell are you even on about?

that's rhetorical btw. i'm sure your answer is all well outraged and all that.

well, it's a given that "challenging" is in the eye of the beholder, right? and in that sense, sure, framing helps. the janelle album has an obvious hook for people into slightly off-center pop, but that's hardly a bad thing. don't now enough about the jazmine record to make any comparisons. i just wanted to stick up for those who tend to seek out that which seems appealingly unusual. it's hardly the greatest fault of taste or intellect.

when is the roots/legend record out?

two months ago?

i'm surprised janelle even made your top 50 tim, i thought you were lukewarm on it!

I was and am. But I've probably only heard about 70 albums this year so coming in around 39 (actually just glanced at my list again and it would probably more like 45) = lukewarm. There's parts of it I really like I guess.

Even hearing 70 albums this year seems ridiculously excessive to me. I suppose it's not for most critics. But then I use up a lot of listening time with non-album funky.

again this is EXACTLY THE PROBLEM! this is such a dumb way to think, like actually is-your-iq-that-low stupid, and yet it's RIFE in the critical landscape.

Well yeah I meant that it's a problem. Certainly quite often at least. Sometimes something breaking with convention is a good thing but - and I think this is what you're getting at lex - the notion of what a "break with convention" is gets ossified, and codified around notions of genre-transcendence or eclecticism for its own sake. We already thrashed out all these issues in the actual monelle thread though I think?

The reason I raised Jill Scott is that at the beginning of the 00s the entire of traditionalist organic R&B was such a big thing for so many critics, again usually framed in oppositionalist terms, like it was kneejerk brave for anyone not to be Destiny's Child. I hated that whole critical line at the time and as a result had a tendency to turn my heart against a lot of that stuff prematurely, something I've only begun to get over/past in the last few years or so.

But of course one of the pernicious and cunning (as in "law of unintended consequences") aspects of the rise of post-Dilla culture is that just being traditionalist organic R&B, even in an anti-mainstream sense, isn't enough to excite critics anymore. Monelle's success is in some ways simply a more outsidery equivalent to the kind of discursive/musical shifts that result in stuff like the Bilal album or the New Amerykahs. At that point it gets very difficult to tease out the positive developments from the negative. Except in the general sense of mourning how every critical enthusiasm has its attendant dark side of ignorance and indifference.

lex, I think you ridiculously exaggerate the role the whole sci-fi concept album bullshit plays in creating The ArchAndroid's appeal. For me the appeal is primarily musical. I'm not a critic though. Maybe critics really do love that concept stuff, but I'm not convinced. I think they probably just talk about it because (a) everyone else is talking about it and (b) it's easier than talking about how the music sounds and feels.

I've checked out some of the Jazmine Sullivan and I don't hear it as very close to what Janelle Monae is doing at all, so I don't see the point in harping on the comparison.

Playing Fuego's La Musica Del Futuro in the background and wondering if I should add it to my personal best albums list for the year. For something that doesn't quite make the cut, I've listened to it a lot; but it definitely sags severely at certain points.

Incidentally, when I was talking recently to someone about current music that I like and I mentioned Janelle Monae, he said something like: "Oh, is that the woman who's the new James Brown?" "Tightrope" is a great single, but I think it's too bad that is the sound and image she's presented over and over again on TV, since it's pretty misleading as to what the overall album sounds like. (I do think she overdoes the James Brown schtick in general.)

hey um isnt jazmine sullivan way way way closer to jill scott than destiny's child? why does this thread turn jazmine into the one who gives me an onerous eat-your-veggies style rhetorical vibe while janelle, whatever her faults, seems breezy & kinda fun?

this is i should note a purely rhetoric-based judgement -- i havent heard JS's album yet

I listened to the clips on Amazon and, yeah...Jazmine is Jill Scott in this equation. LEX HAS BECOME TEH OLDS

hey um isnt jazmine sullivan way way way closer to jill scott than destiny's child?

This is what i was saying?

since when was jill scott a negative comparison?! janelle could do with being a lot more like her, particularly w/r/t ability to convey emotion

and jazmine's most comparable to mary j blige, keyshia cole, faith evans, lauryn hill, obviously, and i'm sure she's very aware of that and proud of it, BUT i think jazmine has an odd playful streak to her arrangements and songwriting that sits at odds with the all-serious-raw-emotion-all-the-time of mary j et al - it reminds me of solange more than janelle though - and that makes her a pretty singular figure within her traditionalist lineage.

This is what i was saying?

― Tim F, Monday, November 29, 2010 6:49 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh i misunderstood then. i mean dont get me wrong, i like jill scott, & a lot more than i like janelle monae

but hey look, lex wants the theater kid to portray emotion -- reverse rockism yo (or just rockism straight up)

conveying emotion = rockism?!

'faster' is one of my favorite songs this year so dismissing janelle as being unable to convey 'emotion' is just like ... why isnt jazmine playing her own instruments?? ... type stupid to me

i wish you'd stop acting as though "popism" and "rockism" mean anything any more - idk why it's me who always gets accused of one or the other. i don't care, they're meaningless terms

janelle is obvi not trying to convey emotion in the matter of a traditional R&B singer. sometimes the vibe on her album gets a little too "Lets do the time warp" to me but it also works pretty often too

i've already written like 1500 words on why the janelle album mostly doesn't work, but suffice to say that it's not just trad r&b singers who need to convey emotion, or just the sense of a song, and that even theatre kids should be expected to do this, and indeed there are plenty who do

im glad youve determined this record definitively conveys no emotion.

good!

i actually expanded on that here http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2667

Good that their are music critics around to prove I am not experiencing what I'm experiencing.

*there*

(Guilty typing at work typos.)

Maybe some listeners are just too emotionally dense to get certain types of emotional expressiveness?

'faster' is one of my favorite songs this year so dismissing janelle as being unable to convey 'emotion' is just like ... why isnt jazmine playing her own instruments?? ... type stupid to me

yeah "faster" is awes, I should have separated it out for my songs list in retrospect.

I still think this debate gets way too "this is like THIS" at times - one of the reasons I invoked badu above is that I know lex loves her and yet her last two records get rock crit praise on pretty similar terms to The Archandroid. Obv Erykah ain't a theatre kid but pretty much everything else holds true.

Lex would of course have no difficulty immediately drawing several distinctions between erykah and janelle - my point is not to conflate them but to say that it's in those sorts of distinctions (or indeed the distinctions between jazmine and jill) that we really start to talk about how these records work and what about their critics reception is right or wrong, rather than in more crusade-like battles for or against bold iconoclasts or keepers of R&B's eternal hollerin' flame.

janelle rox, jill scott sux, u r all gay

forgot to mention, in the above list, that liars sisterworld is really fucking great. their best since they were wrong so we drowned, imo.

Try as I might, I cannot cross the line between admiring and loving the Janelle Monae album. Although I do fucking adore "Tightrope".

Is there one for 2011?

There is. Search for "favorite albums 2011" and you'll find it.