Yes, you only get one pick for 2008

[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: