I don't necessarily think anyone's opinion of Fleet Foxes will have much to do with how they feel about those other bands. Those are just the easiest touchstones for their sound, but they're superficial comparisons.

Yeah I know, I'm still gonna check it out, just sayin'.

so i've been too busy being out living it up in the real world to be boarding very much lately, so i'm hella missing out on shit this year.

help me obi somb kenobi, you're my only hope.

1A. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns: Just a staggeringly great album about smalltowns, the prairies, and the people who dwell within.
1B. m83 - Saturdays = Youth: This changes on an almost daily basis. Some days, I think The RAA's stripped-down songs are just perfect, and, on other days, it's the epic scope of m83's 80s-infused soundscapes that get me going. Also, I'm starting to think "Kim and Jessie" (Along with its absolutely perfect video) is the single of the year.
3. Sun Kil Moon - April: There's quite a gap from #1A and #1B and #3, but that's not a knock on SKM, just a comment on how good those two albums are. I need to give this more time and listens, and I think the coming fall season will suit it much better than the summertime. 'Lost Verses' is still one of the songs of the year, though.
4. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers: This one really floored me just this past week. I was in love with the lead single, already, and decided to give the whole album a shot and it's really great, alternating from stomping twangy country rockers to beautiful, string-soaked ballads.
5. Boris - Smile: I still haven't heard the American version, is it that different from the Japanese one? This is a difficult disc to listen to, because it takes a real investment as it is long, and dense, and challenging. But, it's also really good.
6. Lykke Li - Youth Novels: I just never seem to be in the mood to listen to this charming little pop album. You would think the summertime would be the perfect time for some pop music, but there's something chilly in Lykke Li's music that makes me think I'll be enjoying this more often come October, November.
7. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree: At one point, I had this album's three singles #1, 2, and 3 of 2008. They're still all arguably Top 10 material, but I need to give some more time to the non-single tracks. I really like this one, though, after no really enjoying any Goldfrapp in the past.
8. Sigur Ros - Med Sum I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust: Starts off sounding like a completely different Sigur Ros than anyone's ever heard before, but by #4 or 5, they go back to what they know: beautiful, building orchestral epics. Still a great album, but it's a little uneven because those first couple tracks set you up for a completely different album.
9. Constantines - Kensington Heights: There's a four-song stretch on this album, from 'Trans-Canada' to 'Time Can Be Overcome' which I would take over just about any other four-track stretch on anything this year. Unfortunately, for all the moments of brilliance ('Trans-Canada' is one of the best songs of the year, and 'Shower of Stones' sounds like nothing I've ever heard out of this band before), there are too many middling tracks where it's Constantines-by-number. Still, those moments of brilliance are enough to get them firmly into the Top 10 at this point.
10. Coldplay - Viva La Vida: I like that Coldplay are now heading in slightly new territory, with long two-part songs, Brian Eno-created sonic landscapes, and a lead single that sounds like a great lost Mike and the Mechanics song.

man, I'm always in the mood to listen to Lykke Li

my top 25 as of the end of June, alphabetical order:

Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (Kranky)
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War (Motown)
Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward (Ecstatic Peace)
Black Mountain - In The Future (Jagjaguwar)
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (Modular)
Dead Meadow - Old Growth (Matador)
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs (Atlantic)
The Dodos - Visiter (Frenchkiss)
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
Foals - Antidotes (Sub Pop)
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (Fat Cat)
The Goslings - Occasion (Not Not Fun)
Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (Sub Pop)
Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair (DFA/Mute)
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster (Arts & Crafts)
No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
Portishead - Third (Mercury)
Ruby Suns - Sea Lion (Sub Pop)
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E (Fontana Int'l)
Sun Kil Moon - April (Caldo Verde)
Torche - Meanderthal (Hydra Head)
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)
Vandermark 5 - Beat Reader (Atavistic)
The Whigs - Mission Control (ATO)

I've heard a lot of great albums this year, but I just might have to go with my gut and say Lykke Li is my favourite of the lot. Despite its imperfections (two spoken word pieces), I can't ignore the fact her music has defined my year since the beginning of January.

These are the ones that stand out most for me at this point:

Jacaszek - Treny: A gorgeous ambient/'post-classical' construction of seemingly endless depth and breathtaking beauty. At points it reminds me of what The Disintegration Tapes might have been like when they were young and healthy and decay was only nibbling at the edges.
Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Cipher: Dark, strange post-punk-country that preaches a brutal gospel, cavorting merrily under the bloody eye of a malevolent god. "Jesus Is In My Body" is absolutely terrifying.
Syclops - I've Got My Eye On You: Effortlessly tweaked electronic funk courtesy of the genius Maurice Fulton.
Bruno Pronsato - Why Can't We Be Like Us?: Post-Ricardo maximalist minimal that has enough unexpected turns and blind alleys to get lost in for days.

Checking this out tonight.

No order to these:

M83 - Saturdays=Youth
Atlas Sound - Let The Blah blah blah
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Sun Kil Moon - April
{{{Sunset}}} - Bright Blue Dream
{{{Sunset}}} - The Glowing City
Peter Broderick - Float
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
No Age - Nouns
Women - S/T
Fleet Foxes - S/T
Religious Knives - It's After Dark
Johnson&Jonson - Powders&Oils
HEALTH - S/T

I have a post on here somewhere with like 6 mp3s, or just hit the website http://theraa.com/, I hope you dig it!

OK, so tomorrow I leave for the Marshall Islands. The land of dial-up internet, slow postal service and no record stores. Effectively, what I have heard so far this year... will be what I hear this year (Although when TV on the Radio and The Streets leaks I'll probably have my computer download over the course of a few days). So, if the year ended today (and it essentially has for me... I'd say this):

1) Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2) m83 - Saturdays = Youth
3) Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State - MRVSS
4) The Wire - ...And All The Pieces Matter (5 Year of Music from the Wire)
5) No Age - Nouns
6) Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
7) Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
8) Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Graves
9) Subtle - ExitingArm
10) The Kills - Midnight Boom


HM: Women - Women, Dan Friel - Ghost Town, Portishead - Third, Quiet Village - Silent Movie, and Sun Kil Moon - April

I am sure I could do a top twenty... but I am feeling lazy. And the list will most likely change over the next four months, but alas, there it is. Only the top four is any real sort of "for sure" thing.

UPDATED:

1. Sunset - The Glowing City
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant/ST
4. Sun Kil Moon - April
5. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
6. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
7. Vampire Weekend
8. Ruby Suns - Sea Lion
9. Sigur Ros - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
10. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

Honorable Mention: Dead Confederate EP (possibly my favorite thing all year, but an EP)_

I guess if I were to rank them today, here's sort of what this would all look like or something....

1. Frightened Rabbit -- Midnight Organ Fight

and then ten eleven others in no particular order.....

~ Hold Steady -- Stay Positive
~ Phantom Planet -- Raise the Dead
~ Titus Andronicus -- The Airing of Grievances
~ Boris -- Smile
~ Weezer -- Weezer
~ R.E.M. -- Accelerate
~ Frustration -- Relax
~ Clinic -- Do It!
~ M83 -- Saturdays = Youth
~ Abe Vigoda -- Skeleton
~ Albert Hammond, Jr. -- Como Te Llama?

This is very good.

bardo pond - 'batholith'
no age - 'nouns'
boris - 'smile'
valet - 'naked acid'
burning star core - 'challenger'
grouper - 'dragging a dead deer up a hill'
times new viking - 'rip it off'
blank dogs - 'on two sides'
birds of maya 'volume 1'
mount eerie - 'black wooden ceiling opening'

right now it stands
1.) frightened rabbit - mof
2,) Walkmen - you and me
3.) cut copy - igc
4.) m83 - s=y
5.) sigur ros - kijahfjhasnflanflknasdklnfa

TOP 10 NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

Radiohead- In Rainbows
The Roots- Rising Down
Elzhi- Europass (Probably will change to "THE PREFACE" soon enough)
Portishead- Third
Erykah Badu- New Amerykah Pt.1
Nomak- Recalm
Beck- Modern Guilt
9th Wonder & Buckshot- The Formula
Reks- Grey Hairs
Shawn Jackson- First Of All...

oasis dig out your soul

updated list:

1. Motorpsycho - Little Lucid Moments
2. Nadja - Skin Turns To Glass
3. The Durutti Column - Sunlight to Blue... Blue to Blackness
4. Ben Reynolds - Two Wings
5. Oneida - Preteen Weaponry
6. LSD Pond - LSD Pond
7. Cloudland Canyon - Lie In Light
8. Fuzz Against Junk - Netti Netti
9. Collections Of Colonies Of Bees - Birds
10. Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
11. Kemialliset Ystävät - Harmaa Laguuni
12. {{{Sunset}}} - The Glowing City
13. VA - African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds from Benin & Togo 70s
14. Valet - Naked Acid
15. {{{Sunset}}} - Bright Blue Dream
16. Torche - Meanderthal
17. VA - Impala Eardrums: A Radium Sampler
18. Mount Eerie - Black Wooden Ceiling Opening
19. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness
20. Shit And Shine - Cherry
21. Suishou No Fune - Prayer For Chibi
22. Black Mountain - In The Future
23. Dead Meadow - Old Growth

newgrass you should get on that Harvey Milk

the BIPPP compilation is the best assembling of various artists I've heard all year

I have it, not a huge fan.

but it rocks!

Digging this. The lack of samples gives it a thick vibe.

this is slowly making my pick the more i listen to it.

Probably the last one I do before year end

1 Laura Marling Alas I Cannot Swim
2 Portishead Third
3 British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music?
4 Fleet Foxes Ragged Wood
5 Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
6 Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
7 Mystery Jets 21
8 Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight
9 Make Model Products of Kin
10 The Ruby Suns Sea Lion
11 Johnny Foreigner Waited Up Til It Was Light
12 Envelopes Here Comes The Wind
13 Late of The Pier Fantasy Black Channel
14 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours
15 Johnny Flynn A Larum
16 The Bug London Zoo
17 Paul Steel Moon Rock
18 The Long Blondes "Couples"
19 Times New Viking Rip It Off
20 Surrounded The Nautilus Years
21 Neon Neon Stainless Style
22 That Was The Week s/t
23 Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
24 Pete and The Pirates Little Death
25 Lykke Li Youth Novels
26 Youthmovies Good Nature
27 The Tallest Man on Earth Shallow Graves
28 Pete Molinari A Virtual Landslide
29 These New Puritans Beat Pyramid
30 Hot Chip Made In The Dark


Fairly good albums from Foals, Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos!, Sons and Daughters, Black Mountain, MGMT, Lightspeed Champion, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Duke Spirit, Supergrass, School Of Language and Scarlett Johansson as well.

5 worst IMO

The Whip X Marks Destination
Fuck Buttons Street Horrsing
Trouble over Tokyo Pyramides
Does It Offend You, Yeah? You Have No Idea...

This is good, then? I thought the singles I heard were decent...

Yeah, much stronger album than I expected. I talked about it in the Klaxons' thread the other day but I think that link is dead now.

Yes. Fantastic album.

FUCK whoever told me to get the mae shi or whoever put out that ball-sauce Hilllyh. terrible album

I'm loving this album. Don't Haunt This Place is one of the best songs I've heard in a while. Thanks for the rec.

TOP 10 HIP-HOP NO ORDER..
THE ROOTS- RISING DOWN
ELZHI- EUROPASS
NOMAK- RECALM
9TH WONDER & BUCKSHOT- THE FORMULA
REKS- GREY HAIRS
SHAWN JACKSON- FIRST OF ALL
TORAE- DAILY CONVERSATION
GUILTY SIMPSON- ODE TO THE GHETTO
JAZZ LIBERATORZ- CLIN D'OEIL
RODDY ROD- THE BLUNT PARK SESSIONS

TOP 10 NON HIP-HOP NO ORDER
ERYKAH BADU- NEW AMERYKAH PT.1
PORTISHEAD- THIRD
RADIOHEAD- IN RAINBOWS
BECK- MODERN GUILT
THE DODOS- VISITER
FLYING LOTUS- LOS ANGELES
CUT COPY- IN GHOST COLOURS
GNARLS BARKLEY- THE ODD COUPLE
DEERHUNTER- MICROCASTLE
HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR- HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR

fuck you, haid. usually you're pretty cool, but i'm sorry. the mae shi rules all of us. hlllyh is like overdosing on pixie sticks, trying to jerk off, finding out the world is burning and finishing off anyways. i mean, that shit gets me sweaty just listening to it. other than alopecia, i'd trade any other album for this one.

Feed the Animals is one of the year's best. Sounds better and better with each listen. The criticisms in its thread about it being unoriginal and the giant list of other mash-up artists were ridiculous.

otm.

girl talk obviously fights the uphill battle of being cast aside as novelty, but it's really a pretty astounding ARTISTIC achievement. it's a really deep album, with lots to reveal upon repeat listens, and it continues to sound fresh. really sounds better with each listen, and i would definitely rank it ahead of night ripper at this point.

The albums I've really dug this year... a year in which I've admittedly been listening to far less new music than usual:

1. Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight (mortal lock for my AoY...)

Then some others...

Weezer - Weezer
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colors
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Li'l Wayne - Tha Carter III
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Not totally in love with a lot of stuff this year... but there's still a lot of time to dig through stuff

Looking forward to getting more into Bon Iver, The Walkmen, Hercules and Love Affair. Passing listens of all three have sounded good.

Honestly though, everything other than that Frightened Rabbit album just kind of sounds weak to me right now. I'm sure it's just a phase, but it's been hard to shake.

Fleet Foxes
The Whigs
The Hold Steady
The Walkmen
Conor Oberst

So this is good? I've always had a little soft spot for Bright Eyes, but never was a real big fan. Maybe I'll have to check this out, though.

Black Crowes ( why do I get a perverse thrill talking up this record where said talk almost always meets withering disdain? Answered my own question - never mind.)
Titus Andronicus
The Walkmen
Lil Wayne

is the Sons and Daughters rec released this year? I like that a lot, too.

Never liked his early stuff but then I loved "Wide Awake..", was let down by his last album but I'm really digging the new one. I said it in another thread but the first 3 songs are the best first 3 songs to an album I've heard in a while, whatever that means. It hits a rough patch about half way in but gains momentum back at the end.

You're welcome! The more people who give this a listen the better. Astounding to think they're still unsigned.

and people are jocking that M83, it is a good album though

and that coldplay? in anyones top 35? interesting.

best new, original band of 2008 on my radar Apes And Androids

http://myspace.com/apesandandroids

I keep playing their debut Rock Opera "Blood Moon" everyday at work. It's so addictive and it sounds pretty much like nothing else I've ever heard. Much like Kaddisfly's "Set Sail the Prairie" from 2007, I could easily see myself playing it over 100 times before the end of the year. It's just that good, and gets better and better with more play.

I grew up in Alberta. This album is stellar.

Thank you.

Best album so far for me this year....Meet Glen Campbell - its all cover versions, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Tom Petty, Velvets, U2, Lennon, Jackson Browne, The Replacements...its bloody fantastic!

it's been a really good year so far.

1. the hold steady: stay positive
2. nick cave and the bad seeds: dig!!! lazarus dig!!!
3. black mountain: black mountain
4. portishead: third
5. elbow: the seldom seen kid
6. the last shadow puppets: the age of the understatement
7. my morning jacket: evil urges
8. mystery jets: twenty one
9. kasey chambers & shane nicholson: rattlin' bones
10. beck: modern guilt

apologies in particular to: long blondes, the silents, vampire weekend.

i expect it to change quite a bit. haven't had enough time to full absorb the conor, but i'm loving it. same goes for mercury rev. the okkervil isn't quite grabbing me at the moment, but i expect it to - it's the words that sucker me in every time; a little phrase that i feel the urge to revisit, and the next thing i know i'm completely sucked in. the quality of the walkmen leak is too horrible for words, so i'm looking forward to hearing the proper thing.

hanging to hear kings of leon. and mogwai. and the cure. and i'm sure a heap of others.

Here is a better rip: http://rapidshare.com/files/133442723/You___Me.rar.html

This is in somewhat of an order. I really need to wait till the end of the year to definitively put these in correct order and listen to them enough times. favorite tracks are in brackets

1. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (16 songs of pure bliss, except for a few bad ones like, "Xxzxcuzx Me". I think this will stay number one on my list all year) ["Courtship Dating," "Vanished," "Magic Spells," "
2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend ["A-Punk," "Campus," "I Stand Corrected," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"]
3. Santogold - Santogold (How this album has not exploded into mainstream is beyond me. I've even heard at least three of these songs on television commercials, which is actually really irritating. Based on this album, I'd say Santogold isn't the new M.I.A., she might actually be better) ["L.E.S. Artistes," "Lights Out," "Shove It," "I'm A Lady"]
4. Why? - Alopecia ["These Few Presidents," "Good Friday," "The Vowels, Pt. 2," "The Hollows"]
5. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours ["Lights & Music," "So Haunted," "Out There On The Ice," "Hearts On Fire"]
6. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges ["I'm Amazed," "Smokin' From Shootin'," "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream (Pt. 1)," "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream (Pt. 2)"]
7. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer ["Language City," "The Grey Estates," "Soldier's Grin," "Call It A Ritual"]
8. Beck - Modern Guilt ["Gamma Ray," "Chemtrails," "Profanity Prayers"]
9. Lykke Li - Youth Novels (This could have been my number one if every song were as amazing as the three I'm going to mention. Still a great album though.) ["I'm Good, I'm Gone," "A Little Bit," "Breaking It Up"]
10. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals ["Play Your Part, Pt. 1," "Set It Off"]
11. Foals - Antidotes (Ya. I liked it. Commence the flaming) ["Balloons," "Olympic Airways," "Electric Bloom"]
12. The Black Ghosts - The Black Ghosts ["I Want Nothing," "Full Moon," "The Repetition Kills You"]
13. Mystery Jets - Twenty-One ["Young Love," "Veiled In Grey," "Flakes"]
14. The Kills - Midnight Boom (The thing I love about this album is the diversity from the very Yeah Yeah Yeahs-like "Tape Song" to my personal favorite "Getting Down") ["Getting Down," "Black Balloon," "U.R.A Fever," "Tape Song"]
15. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple ["Surprise," "Neighbors," "Who's Gonna Save My Soul," "Going On"]
16. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (By the end of this album, it had lost some of my interest, but, all in all, it's a great album that begins very strong) ["The Modern Leper," "Good Arms vs. Bad Arms," "The Twist"]
17. The Black Keys - Attack & Release ["Strange Times," "Remember When (Side ," "Things Ain't Like They Used To Be"]
18. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark ["Ready For The Floor," "Hold On," "We’re Looking for a Lot of Love"]
19. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (mostly for the song "Skinny Love," holy shit that song is awesome. Vernon's voice is truly a remarkable thing to hear and the fact that it was recorded completely in isolation can almost be heard in the loneliness some of these songs emanate.) ["Skinny Love," "Flume," "For Emma"]
20. Neon Neon - Stainless Style ["I Lust You," "Belfast," "Steal Your Girl"]

Honorable Mention:

- Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords (the only reason this isn't at around number nine on my list is that, even though the songs are awesome, it is a comedy album and there are no new songs on it other than the 22 second "Au Revoir") ["Robots," "Inner City Pressure," "Business Time," "Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenocerous (Featuring Rhymenocerous And The Hiphopapoatumus)"]

- The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (I honestly haven't listened to enough of this album to rank it yet, but it sounds awesome so far.)

is 2008 really a good year? i think it kindof sucks compared to 2007..

anyway my top 11 albums for this year so far :

flying lotus - los angeles
hercules and love affair - ST
fleet foxes - fleet foxes
autechre - quaristice
air france - no way down ep
vampire weekend - ST
grouper - dragging a dead dear up a hill
paavoharju - laulu laakson kukista
bonnie 'prince' billy - lie down in the light
spiritualized - songs in a & e
the dodos - visiter