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.
― DJ Mencap, Thursday, 3 July 2008 13:49 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 July 2008 13:56 (sixteen years ago) link
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 - stl, Thursday, 3 July 2008 13:59 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― mei, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:00 (sixteen years ago) link
and by Mouth I mean Skull. I did something equally as dumb on the 1/4 of the way through 2008 thread.
― jonathan - stl, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:10 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Keaney Tong, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:10 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― stephen, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:24 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― stephen, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:28 (sixteen years ago) link
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 PrideAlso 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.
― stephen, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― o. nate, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Also not mentioned so far: My Morning Jacket.
― stephen, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:40 (sixteen years ago) link
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 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― jonathan - stl, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
pas/cal, james blackshaw, silver jews, destroyer, robert forster ... umm that might be it.
― tylerw, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:48 (sixteen years ago) link
oh yeah, malkmus too. that one is good!
― tylerw, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:57 (sixteen years ago) link
indie rock, dudes.
haven't bought it yet, but fairly certain NOMO - Ghost Rock will be one of my favorites from this year.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:58 (sixteen years ago) link
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 LinkUnsurprisingly it reminds me of Africa Brasil by Jorge Ben.-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, July 3, 2008 7:41 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark LinkWow, I REALLY want to hear this.-- call all destroyer, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:43 (30 minutes ago) Link
-- 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.
― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 July 2008 19:16 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 3 July 2008 19:31 (sixteen years ago) link
That Pas/Cal album's not out for a few months still, isn't it? You've heard it?
― pgwp, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:00 (sixteen years ago) link
yes, there are promos floating around. it is pretty off the hook awesome.
― tylerw, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:03 (sixteen years ago) link
I gotta find one of those promos... really looking forward to that album.
― pgwp, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:12 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― drone/a/sore, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― sleeve, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:25 (sixteen years ago) link
pas/cal is available at darla's site now.
― keythkeyth, Friday, 4 July 2008 01:36 (sixteen years ago) link
took them long enough
― Tape Store, Friday, 4 July 2008 01:41 (sixteen years ago) link
lol music
nat king cole - love is many a splendored thing
― usic, Friday, 4 July 2008 01:46 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― rockapads, Friday, 4 July 2008 02:10 (sixteen years ago) link
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!
― Drugs A. Money, Friday, 4 July 2008 02:28 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― A. Begrand, Friday, 4 July 2008 03:08 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 4 July 2008 08:05 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― Zeno, Friday, 4 July 2008 08:13 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― lex pretend, Friday, 4 July 2008 09:13 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Cunga, Saturday, 5 July 2008 02:16 (sixteen years ago) link
-- 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.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 5 July 2008 08:26 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― nickinko, Sunday, 6 July 2008 09:39 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― Dimension 5ive, Sunday, 6 July 2008 13:43 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Hatch, Sunday, 6 July 2008 19:44 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 6 July 2008 20:03 (sixteen years ago) link
hey geir what do you think of the lil' wayne record?
― kamerad, Sunday, 6 July 2008 21:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, wait. The Kooks = worst album of the year
― Tape Store, Monday, 7 July 2008 00:54 (sixteen years ago) link
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...)
― CaptainLorax, Monday, 7 July 2008 02:14 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― kamerad, Monday, 7 July 2008 05:59 (sixteen years ago) link
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…
― Mike McGooney-gal, Monday, 7 July 2008 06:06 (sixteen years ago) link
FAMOUS L RENFROE: Children
You're right; this is another v. good reissue disc this year.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 7 July 2008 06:11 (sixteen years ago) link
the wooden shjips reissue thing didn't hit me like the album. i need to keep listening
― kamerad, Monday, 7 July 2008 06:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Have you guys heard Jerusalem and the Starbaskets?
― Tape Store, Monday, 7 July 2008 06:24 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.myspace.com/jerusalemandthestarbasket
(just released a split with hush arbors)
― Tape Store, Monday, 7 July 2008 06:25 (sixteen years ago) link
i've been meaning to pick that up
― electricsound, Monday, 7 July 2008 06:25 (sixteen years ago) link