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

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.