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

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

i wanna update my list:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

xpost

Any individual tracks sticking out for people?

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

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

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

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

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

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

-- Dingbod Kesterson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FAMOUS L RENFROE: Children

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

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

Have you guys heard Jerusalem and the Starbaskets?

http://www.myspace.com/jerusalemandthestarbasket

(just released a split with hush arbors)

i've been meaning to pick that up

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

Notwist making a surge into the top ten.

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

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

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

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

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

Reissues Thread 2008

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

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

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

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

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

INDIAN JEWELRY!!!

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

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

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

NOZE

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

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

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

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

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

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

18+ minute Eight Miles High is crazzzzzy

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

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

y
more country '08:

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

posting a few reissues over there there

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

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

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

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

Dodos
Panda Bear
El Guincho
No Age

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

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

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

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

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

As of today, Miley Cyrus' Breakout.

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

yayyyyy