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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOU'VE BEEN CO-OPTED

fuck i think i like that album too :-/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

or something.

Vassilis Tsabropoulos/Anja Lechner/U.T. Ghandi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That Michael Moore & Fred Hersch thing sounds intriguing.

ANAT COHEN- POETICA

This is wrong. Poetica came out with Noir (the better album, btw) last year. Her 2008 album was Notes From the Village. Which was pretty good, actually.

The Myriam Alter was good, too.

Hi there ywbs! Yeah I really like Helena Tulve, she has a fairly singular sound...

What I'd like to check on the classical side but have yet to:

- Chris Newman - Piano Sonatas (remember being really intrigued by a piece of his I heard in a concert a couple of years ago - its like a collage of cut ups that managed to sound frighteningly cohesive, so its almost as if he was thinking in a cut up language in the first place)
- Klaus Lang - Flow.state on ed.rz - his string quartet ('Sei Jaku') is probably a mid-way between Lachenmann concrete instrumental with a shiny Cage-ian surface.
- Ferneyhough music for voices on METIER.
- Mark Cauvin double CD of works for solo double bass - esp looking to hear the perfs of works by Fernando Grillo (primarily an instrumentalist writing for his own instrument played by someone else is something you don't hear everyday), but you get Scelsi/Berio/Xenakis, plus a couple of others I don't know...I'm not too sure what can go wrong.

Thanks for that list tipsy I will try and have a look. On the jazz side only been reading about releases for the last couple of months or so, but some of what I'd be keen on:

- Joe Maneri 'Peace Concert' - A first time issue from '64
- Ornette Coleman - Croydon concert - a first time issue from '65, its the trio with Izenson/Moffett as heard on the 'Golden Circle' discs
- Patricia Barber released a new album this year right?
- Braxton - Moscow '08, in a quartet/quintet can't remember, post Arista his 'development' is probably best looked at in these small ensembles

hey julio. re: helena tulve, I fell in love with her music upon hearing "sula," which is a collection of chamber works featuring the eponymous piece, an awe-inspiring rendition of a melting iceberg for large orchestra and didgeridoo (!). so my expectations were unreasonably high when "lijnen" came out and I couldn't help but be a little disappointed at first. but yeah, it's tremendously solid and deepens with every spin, if only because her architectural know-how is flawless and her emphasis on winds is quite unique. also, check out that pintscher disc if you're interested. on the surface, he doesn't seem to be adding much to the tone & timbre fuckery of the european post-serial tradition, but there's a real sense of uncompromising mystery and, dare I say, poetry to his vision that draws me back. and I think this year's kairos release makes the strongest case for him as a significant contemporary composer.

there's also a kurtag 80th birthday celebration 2-disc set on some hungarian label that I haven't had the chance to hear. it features some of his latest material, reportedly less miniaturistic and purely gestural than usual. I'm a big fan, so I ought to get around to it asap...

I haven't checked out either the newman, lang, ferneyhough or cauvin, but thanks for the suggestions. I'll be on the lookout.

also, this is belated, but thanks for drawing my attention to richard barrett. something finally clicked a while ago and I've been counting him among my faves ever since.

oh and there are two other recordings I regret not having heard:

jonathan harvey's "body mandala / timepieces / tranquil abiding / white as jasmine / toward a pure land" and a recording of george benjamin's first mini-opera, "into the little hill."

Never been too interested in the Pintscher pieces I've come across -- but I'll give it a go and report back.

Haven't heard much Kurtag in ages so that's another one, if I can track.

I'm also interested in Dieter Schnebel's 'Music for Mobile Musicians'. His writing for voices is pretty unique so I'll be looking at the instrumental side of things soon I hope.

Melchior Productions - No Disco Future

^^^this one is kinda cool from the couple songs i checked on earbuds blog -- anyone else into this album?

in the equivalent 2007 thread i'm sure

o didnt realize it was that old -- someone listed it in this thread which was why i mentioned it

well, it did come out late in 2007 (november?), but it made a fair few lists regardless

pains of being pure at heart album leaked, though i suppose it is officially 2009, never really appreciated them but this is quite good.

I listened to a lot less music this year; still heard upwards of two hundred albums and way too many singles, but I guess I feel less connected. It felt like a really weak year...? But I guess that has more to do with me than with the music.
Plus, since everything was on muxtape or youtube or emailed or on tv or whatever, I don't have hard copies of much of this stuff so it feels that much more ephemeral.

My _very_ provisional list of top 11 albums and singles with possible alternates:

Singles -
Florida and T-Pain - Low
Cherryholmes - Don't Believe
Lil' Wayne - Lollipop
Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor
T Pain - Chopped and Screwed
David Banner w/Chris Brown and Yung Joc - Get Like Me
Outkast w/Raekwon - Royal Flush
Estelle - Wait A Minute
Eluveitie - Inis Mona
T Pain, Chris Brown, Lil Mama - Shawty Get Loose
Bun B, David Banner, MJG - You're Everything

also:
Lykke Li - Let It Fall
TI - Ready For Whatever
TI - Let My Beat Pound
Cherryholmes - Goodbye
Anthony David - Stop Playin'
Santogold - Shove It
Beyonce - Single Ladies
Lil' Wayne - A Milli
Lil' Wayne - Mrs. Officer
Ludacris - One More Drink
Erykah Badu - Honey
Santogold - Light's Out
Santogold - You'll Find a Way
Devin the Dude - Can't Make It Home
Sheek Louch - Good Love
Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction
Mariah Carey w/ T Pain - Migrate
The Menahan Street Band - Make the Road by Walking
RZA - You Can't Stop Me Now
Raphael Saadiq - 100 Yard Dash
Brandy - Right Here
John Legend w/Andre 3K - Green Light
Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
Webbie - Independent

Albums -
Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Cherryholmes - Cherryholmes III: Don't Believe
Anthony David - Acey Duecy
Al Green - Lay It Down
RZA - Digi Snacks
Dengue Fever - Venus on Earth
Ratat - LP3
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Janelle Monae - Metropolis
Braid Soundtrack
Polk Miller and The Old South Quartette - S/t

also:
Curren$y - Higher Than 30K Feet
Hercules and Love Affair - s/t
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
Nomo - Ghost Rock
Dizzee Rascal - Maths and English
Santogold - Santogold
T Pain - Thre33 Ringz
Otis Taylor - Recapturing the Banjo
Estelle - Shine
Asher Roth - The Greenhouse effect
Devin the Dude - Landing Gear
Eluvietie - Slania
Lil Wayne - The Carter III
Mariah Carey - E=MC2
Britney - Circus

i made a mix of my fave songs of the year:

http://fortune5thousand.blogspot.com/

"low," seriously??

what a generic x boring song -- i dont think even tape store reps for that

'low' is a pretty monster pop hit. i would go for 'in the ayer', personally, but i really enjoyed 'low's ubiquity

just fyi "ubiquity" does not have positive connotations

SHAWTY GOT LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOWWWWW

what about it did you enjoy lex pretend

I listened to Low pretty obsessively for December and January and have avoided it ever since, but I'm not going to pretend like those months never happened.