Yes, you only get one pick for 2008

[bobsticks]

You can't have riffage without a fag in the middle wanking it up

Oh Good Lord, so I can type "felching with a gerbil" or "KKK" and that's fine but any word with the sequence of "f-a-g" is unacceptable? Folks that have an alternative lifestyle and play the guitar must be outraged and confused at the same time.

[Swish]

Hmmm, I'm looking at my 2008 stuff and nothing is jumping out at me as essential. Lots of goodness to be sure but no absolute must-haves IMO.

I was all set to order the latest Bonnie 'Prince' Billy based on your post from June 5th in which you proclaimed 'As for best of '08 my current so-far-favorite is this' and showed a picture of the LP. So what happened over the last few weeks? Not sounding so great any longer? A bit too accessible, sort of like that Rogue Wave record from last year? Inquiring minds want to know!

Swish - looking for some fresh toons.

[Slosh]

I was all set to order the latest Bonnie 'Prince' Billy based on your post from June 5th in which you proclaimed 'As for best of '08 my current so-far-favorite is this' and showed a picture of the LP. So what happened over the last few weeks? Not sounding so great any longer? A bit too accessible, sort of like that Rogue Wave record from last year? Inquiring minds want to know!

Swish - looking for some fresh toons.

No, it's still my favorite of '08 (so far) but it's not something everybody should go out and grab asaFp. Accessible is kind of a relative word when it comes to Oldham. I like the new Old 97s too, which I would consider a more accessible album in the alt-country genre.

I just haven't been floored by anything new this year like I was with The Shepherd's Dog just last year (came outta nowhere based on their previous albums) or Armchair Apocrypha the year before.

Of course, that doesn't mean most of the '08 albums I have aren't worth buying. Maybe I'm just becoming a little too jaded.

NP: (SACD)

[Swish]

Of course, that doesn't mean most of the '08 albums I have aren't worth buying. Maybe I'm just becoming a little too jaded.

I get the same way. I sometimes get excited about a new cd but that seems to wear off so quickly, or I just find many new releases mundane, same old, same old. Then again I have so much good music to listen to but so many other things are challenging me for my time, so much of it just sits collecting dust. Our favorite place to chill in the summertime is our back patio. I recently bought really nice, and dirt cheap, outdoor speakers on e-bay to replace the overpriced pieces of junk I had for a number of years. I put 5 cds in the carousel player and get our favorite beer or other libations and sit out there for a couple hours in the evening. It always surprises me how good so many cds I have in my collection...and how rarely I get to listen to some of them. My wife continually asks 'Why haven't I heard this one?' and such. Maybe I should stop buying new stuff until I get better acquainted with what I already have. Nah.

Swish

[bobsticks]

Of course, that doesn't mean most of the '08 albums I have aren't worth buying. Maybe I'm just becoming a little too jaded.

Don't you say this every year?

Just got back from the audioshack with a gaggle of goodies. "Rooks" is spinning right now and I must say it's been awhile since I've listened to a collection of modern tunes that displayed so many characteristics of, well, real, thought-provoking music. Dynamics?-yes; PRaT?-yes. It is a slower paced affair and that's fine as it serves well to show off some of the special flourishes and thoughts within.

Right now I'm a bit captivated.

As an aside, I can't imagine this sounding as good on anything less than a fullrange system. There is some deep bass extension on occasion.

[Davey]

I just haven't been floored by anything new this year like I was with The Shepherd's Dog just last year (came outta nowhere based on their previous albums) or Armchair Apocrypha the year before.

Wow, you must've really got an advance copy since most of us only got it last year!



I think the Caribou Andorra CD probably turned out to be my favorite from last year over time, though John Vanderslice Emerald City may have taken over as favorite by now. I do like the Shepherd's Dog a lot, but it seems a little samey to me and has never left a real strong impression. Lately been listening to a lot of ambient stuff, Brian Eno's On Land right now. Always amazing to revisit that old friend. And that mid 90s dark classic from Robert Rich and B.Lustmord called Stalker. Great stuff.

But wound up listening to some Neil Young yesterday. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Wow, could use a few new records like that about now to shake it up in the rock world. What a frackin' great record! Well, except for the two songs between Down By The River and Cowgirl, but the rest is gold. I guess we sometimes forget that even the old classics weren't really perfect, often with a couple filler songs to get it up to LP length

edit: btw, saw your lonesome sea np and was reminded that it sure has been a long time. I don't think they have a label here yet so not sure of the new record status. Might get a EU release first. Apparently they now have a SFA connection too (not my words below) ....


Since its rerelease, The Lonesome Sea has been steadily garnering praise-filled reviews from the indie-music press abroad, but it has yet to achieve a significant commercial release here in the States. Some four years after the album’s initial release—and in the process of finalizing the group’s sophomore album—Robbins has mixed feelings about their first recording.

“It felt a little bit more classic rock-y than I wanted it to be,” Robbins says. “So this time around I was a little more conscious of that, and tried to avoid the conservativeness of the last album.”

And if there is one thing their soon-to-be-released album All You Need To Sleep isn’t, it’s conservative. While keeping the group’s haunting, dreamy and dark sound, the new album reveals a depth and attention to detail that was either absent or greatly muddied in their earlier work. What’s more, the songs greatly expand on the Hellsayers’ previous experimentation with dramatic shifts in melody and mood.

“It’s way more dynamic,” Cole says. “It’s not as flat-lined as the first record.”

But it might not have worked out that way. The album’s early mixes were, as Robbins says, “really boring.” Thankfully, the Hellsayers were able to call in a few high-profile friends to put an edge back on the recording. In essence, the band split the album between two producers: Wales-based indie stars Super Furry Animals and Mitch Easter, who is perhaps best known for his work with REM. While the remixed versions may surprise some longtime listeners, for a self-admitted “control freak,” Robbins seems surprisingly happy to relax expectations for what the band should sound like.

“It’s kind of nice to turn something into someone else’s hands, but it’s kind of scary, too,” he admits. “When I got the Super Furry Animals mixes, there were things that bothered me about them at first; they were so left field from what I’ve done. By the end of one of our songs it sounds like Madonna circa 1985. But one night I was listening to them and I thought, ‘You know, it’s just kind of fate.’ You’re able to separate yourself from it. It’s kind of grown on me.”

[Slosh]

Wow, you must've really got an advance copy since most of us only got it last year!

Oh yeah, you're right. I did hear the leaked version really early on in '07 in my defense though. Okay, so make that The Spell, which I can now definitively say is my favorite BHP album. In fact . . . . .

NP:

[Auricauricle]

Try this out....

You won't be soory.

Trust me: I went to Holiday Inn

[Swish]

Try this out....

You won't be soory.

Trust me: I went to Holiday Inn

...hearing some of it. I know this is Ravi's daughter but I didn't know she was a sitar player. I listened to some of this on Amazon and it's definitely not one I would want in my collection. Not saying it's bad, I just don't dig sitar music with Enya-style vocals.

Swish - thanks, but no thanks

[Stone]

I think you (this is a recommendation for nobody, it is certainly not for everyone) might like this, knowing your penchant for noises and blips:



Machinefabriek + Stephen Vitiello - Box Music

An accidental meeting via e mail gave rise to this unlikely pairing in the spirit of exchange that was revitalised in the 1980’s with the advent of “cassette culture”. In the new millenium, this spirit of exchange has become the norm, with file exchanges taking place throughout the digital/experimental scene at a furious, indicriminate rate, birthing projects, collaborations and collusions the world over. However, this exchange system, although effective, has become somewhat jaded and cliched..and, well..a little too easy..step forward Stephen Vitiello and Machinfabriek who decided to take a more novel approach, harking back to the happenings and provocations of the 1960’s radical arts ensemble, FLUXUS, a gathering of disparate, inventive, and highly active folk who used the common, and everyday object as the central axis of their creativity, both audibly and visually.
Both artists here decided to send each other a box of objects, and challenged each other to create music with them. These largely un-musical components, rice, chocolate sprinkles, plastic bags, egg cutters, etc, make for a complex and challenging listen, and the interest of any serious auditor should be piqued right away.
The net result of all of this artsy posturing is a highly engaging listen, that combines digital atmospherics with often strange and otherworldly sonic manifestations brought about by the use and abuse of the gathered objects. Each piece has a title that is basically an inventory of the objects used, so get ready for “Bells, Book, Tin Foil, Buttons” , which is actually, strangely evocative and compelling, a beautiful and restrained piece of minimalism; we then have pieces like “Field Recordings, Rock, Speaker”, that pulse and crackle with rich, and sonorous ambience. I made my way quickly to “Chocolate Sprinkles, Tape, Egg Cutter, Rice, Plastic Bag”..a title that doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, yet is so technically brilliant, and edgy, that I find myself smiling at it’s ingenuity. I’m sure a host of similar projects will now be born, but Vitiello and Machinefabriek have come up with one of the finest recordings of food and kitchen implements this side of the 20th century. Creative, intriguing, and highly immersive..an absolute winner.

[nobody]

See...this is why I ask for only one. Now, the list I'm gonna shop for from this list is already up to 3 or 4 anyway.

[Auricauricle]

...hearing some of it. I know this is Ravi's daughter but I didn't know she was a sitar player. I listened to some of this on Amazon and it's definitely not one I would want in my collection. Not saying it's bad, I just don't dig sitar music with Enya-style vocals.

Sitars are something of an acquired taste, Swishy, Old Boy...You have to close your eyes and connect with the instrument. You have to use the Force....

(Ahem!) As far as Enya-style vocals go, I quite disagree. Enya had her own, Irish-Celtic thing going. Anushka (I think) has found her own muse and is quite a distinct entity from the 90's clap-trap (apologies to E....)

[Auricauricle]

I think you (this is a recommendation for nobody, it is certainly not for everyone) might like this, knowing your penchant for noises and blips:



Machinefabriek + Stephen Vitiello - Box Music

Just listened to a bit of Machinefabriek re your recommendation. This is the kind of music that I find particularly compelling and wonderful. Goes back to sitting in a dark room with Ligeti on the phonograph. Refrigerators hummed eerily during low-barometric-pressure days and the saw mill accross town made a low-intensity sound that was nearly a presence, informing me (even now) that a thunderstorm was approaching. Call me a loon, but listening to certain sounds is quite disconcertingly delicious....I'm glad that people with enough talent are able and willing to reproduce these tone paintings and sonic landscapes....

[ForeverAutumn]

Oh Good Lord, so I can type "felching with a gerbil" or "KKK" and that's fine but any word with the sequence of "f-a-g" is unacceptable? Folks that have an alternative lifestyle and play the guitar must be outraged and confused at the same time.

Just wait until we try to discuss the next Donald ***an release.

[nobody]

Thanks guys. I went to the shop to pick a couple of these up, but they only had one I wanted to grab off the list, so I picked up the new Alejandro Escovedo, which I am enjoying right now, very nice. Anyone else remember The Nuns?

I ordered a couple of the others, Machinefabriek + Stephen Vitiello and Sigur Ros, plus the new Robin Saville solo thing (one of the guys from ISAN). Was gonna order Eli "Paperboy" Reed too, but I couldn't find a single store that sold all of them. That one's top of my next purchase list though. Eventually probably grab Shearwater as well after all the praise here. Ali Farka Toure has me intrigued; I like some African stuff. Already got the new REM, and not top 5 for me from them, but still decent. Damnit people, now you're spending my next two paychecks!

[MindGoneHaywire]

Tough question. I was going to say Melody Gardot...and that's still a good answer...but I just heard the new Sloan album. I've never heard anything by them, I don't think. Good rec.

[MindGoneHaywire]

Scratch that. I just heard the greatest thing I've heard in years. I haven't heard anything this great since Las Vegas Grind. Five out of four stars.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:jjftxzwhldje

http://www.amazon.com/Boogie-Present...5150828&sr=1-1

Bob Hite was the singer in Canned Heat, died young, apparently had one monster of a collection of old blues & R&B 78s. The good stuff. The crazy stuff. And someone from Belgium who calls himself Dr. Boogie selected a few from his collection & had it put out as a comp.

If I only get one pick for the next 10 years, this is it.

[Slosh]

I intended to give Rook a proper-no-distractions spin today but it put me to sleep. Next time I have a bout of insomnia I'll know what to do.

[Spancticles]

portishead third
its like nothing theyve ever done before
like the opposite of
bark psychosis codename dustsucker

[MissSuki]

I love the Alejandro Escovedo album. And I've seen him twice in the last few months and thought his show was kick-ass as well.

I've heard the new Okkervil River (the Stand Ins, I think it is called) and I'd like to hear it a few more times, but I think this will be one of my favorites of the year.

And I love Brit pop, so I am playing the Kooks album "Konk" a lot.

[Mr MidFi]

MissSuki: Just curious, but don't I know you from somewhere else?

~ mr_go

[Davey]

MissSuki: Just curious, but don't I know you from somewhere else?

~ mr_go

A few drinks and you're chatting up the ladies and telling them to stop by Rave Recs, eh? I like that mid-fi style, Mr Go. And Miss Suki, definitely like the sound of that around here. With our luck, probably just our old buddy 3Lock, cross-dressing again

[Mr MidFi]

Well, I guess it's possible that there are two people named Suki out there on the intar-tubes who happen to like the new Alejandro Escovedo.

Want to hear an amazing irony? You know that Whiskeytown song with the guest vocal by Alejandro Escovedo?...Yep, it just finished playing. That iTunes shuffle gnome, he knows what I need to hear!

N (no longer) P: "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart" from the Strangers' Almanac disc

[MissSuki]

Why, Mr MidFi, I wasn't sure that you would recognize me out of context as it were. If I had recommended the new Dr. Dog as well you would have known for sure! I check in on this board from time to time to see what y'all are listening to. You come highly recommended by Mr MidFi.

PS - Is anyone listening to The Airborne Toxic Event?

[Mr MidFi]

Why, Mr MidFi, I wasn't sure that you would recognize me out of context as it were. If I had recommended the new Dr. Dog as well you would have known for sure! I check in on this board from time to time to see what y'all are listening to. You come highly recommended by Mr MidFi.

PS - Is anyone listening to The Airborne Toxic Event?

I've only heard "Sometime Around Midnight". How's the rest sounding?
And welcome to our mad little world, btw. Lurking is a lonely way to go...glad you spoke up!

NP: "Andy Warhol's Dead (but I'm Not)" by EIEIO