good album. surprised i haven't heard more people talking about it.

i wrote this elsewhere, pasted it a few other places, so why not here...

2008 rules. got into a lot of new bands and different things than my usual.

1. Jacaszek - Treny
it's a weird start, but a spectacular one, i practically got hit by a train on this no-name guy that i wandered into on a whim. Second album by the Polish composer titled after the nationally famous series of poems mourning the loss of a young daughter (look it up on Wikipedia, it's actually pretty interesting), Boomkat went completely nuts off the hype train (like they would) for this one, and i previewed a copy expecting its melancholy bent to be endless, repetitive, dragging, and far too advanced to appreciate on any level lower than post-everything. what i got was one of the most beautiful albums i've ever heard. violin, cello, static, and soft electronics a-la-burial make up his songs about lament and loss and i sat there alternately transfixed and involuntary mumbling amazement by it all. put out by Miasmah label, which i thought was too small for me to get a copy without paying stupid money, but it's still available through amazon. if you've had any interest in burial, polmo polpo, arvo part, or amute, you need need need to hear this.

2. Bruno Pronsato - Why Cant We Be Like Us

Minimal is such a strong word, because it implies mostly boring things, like hawtin's purposefully sterile strain, but here's how this is different: Steven Ford (his real name and a portland native) is primarily a percussionist and even used to drum for a heavy metal band, so when he took two years to make this, he wasnt making a german club smorgasborg, but a sort of throttled techno with surprising blood and interplay between his beats, the live percussion, snatches of vocals, and piano. thats not to say he's completely unconventional, he does take his time to get to where he is, and it can miss, but he is talented in that the build is not the placeholder. aside from a couple of flubs, his tracks maintain interest from the get go and only get more exciting as time goes on. despite the missteps, this album is number 2 because what works does so staggeringly well. precise, lethal, and tense in sound, it's surprisingly human and erratic in execution. clips and samples get cut off shorter... they misstep and stumble, and develop problems as they go on, or at least appear to. they rarely start as they end, and cant be predicted. one of the most exciting and visually inspirational techno albums i've heard.

3. Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
4. Portishead - Third
5. Autechre - Quaristice

i wrote sometime terminally, almost embarassingly long about this one somewhere else, and i only say that because this one had me reeling in excitement enough to do it, but i'll spare you. if we know autechre we know where we stand on them, but i am really loving how a group has lasted 15 years with surprisingly few dents in relevance, originality, and quality.

6. Clark - Turning Dragon
7. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

i've made three people listen to this album so far and they've all been reminded of madvillain at some point. dont let the "hiphop instrumentals on warp" make you think this is a parallel prefuse. he may go there for brief moments, but this is thicker, less digitized, and frankly a lot more beautiful. hard to think of anyone as "ignored" when it's someones debut album second album, first on the warp label, and it's getting decent attention, but it's certainly flying under a few radars.

8. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
9. Onur Ozer - Kasimir
10. M83 - Saturadays = Youth

Pink Floyd's "Momentary Lapse of Reason" made me hate the 80s at an unfortunately VERY early age. i wont get into it but every 80s album was seen through those glasses and subsequently had to crawl out of a very big hole to be anything but contemptible.yet this album somehow corrals all those sentiments and other nuances i've felt about the time and puts in the parallel of growing pains with new technology mirroring the growing pains of being a teenager, and all of a sudden the messy enthusiasm and overzealousness becomes instantly charming and i embrace it more than i could have predicted after being warned in advance of an un-ironic 80s album from M83. an album that goes big, gets naive, and reaches desperately for transcendent connections, understood as being the only meaningful sensation, by being as emotionally exposed and shameless as possible. it comes complete with especially terrible spoken 'poetry' of prematurely jaded youth thats as understandable as it is painful to hear, and i feel i have to cheer it on so it can grow up and cobble the raw beginnings into something complete and brilliant.
except that anthony gonzalez is 27 now, so while he *can* look back and reflect that frustrated passion to the last synth, he can also write songs that comes from four studio albums of experience, restraint (being a funny idea for M83 but it's there), and knowing what works and what doesnt, so what results is expertly controlled nostalgia that plays like a reissue of the greatest album of its time.

11. Jamie Lidell - Jim
12. Our Sleepless Forest - Our Sleepless Forest

i'm not even sure where these guys are on the map. they could be a myspace band or have a small label... i dont know. i was just given this and over the course of a couple weeks slowly got into their super-infused-with-everything instrumentals that never pushed too hard or drowned itself out. there was rhythm in the noise and melody hanging on. check out a track called "white bird" it's a highlight and also gives a great idea of what they do.

13. Ellen Allien - Sool

while ellen's been doing whatever the hell she wants for awhile, i think thrills was the first fumbling step towards a clean sound with lush implications that sool is getting ever closer to, and it's starting to sound really great. "caress" and "zauber" are big highlights for me.

14. Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior

has a unique sound that's clean and achingly sharp. i've been inadvertently blurting out how amazing it feels lots of times while playing it. it's just bliss for the ears on a proper system.

15. James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes

bookended by two rambling and pointless piano excursions, that same rambling doesnt seem nearly as directionless when done over multiple acoustic guitars. an understated complexity that slowly burns its way into consciousness, this album got into regular rotation after being vaguely confused about it for two weeks

16. Claro Intelecto - Metanarrative
17. Sonny J - Disastro

if i still believed in guilty pleasures this would be reasonably close to being it. i was 11 and it was 1996 when i got my first boombox. i got into electronic music. i dont think i can be blamed too badly if astralwerks was my drug of choice at the time. there was a point where i would guess that everyone but the optimists saw where big beat and fatboy slim was going with his parade of obnoxious frat-party-isms. SO I GUESS this is that "coulda-been" direction the optimists were seeing instead. big dumb fatboy beats of old with go team's modern sugar high. it's a nostalgic trip i wasnt expecting and wouldnt think could be pulled off very well but this is pretty infectious

18. Klive - Sweaty Psalms
19. Frakkur - Songs for the Little Boy
20. Anja Schneider - Beyond The Valley

notables:

Syclops - I've Got My Eye on You
Ratatat - LP3
Gnarls Barkley - Odd Couple
2562 - Aerial
Dday One - Heavy Migration
Loco Dice - 7 Dunham Place
NIN - The Slip
Beck - Modern Guilt

Nice list....few of my faves in there. You know Half Hawaii is Steven Ford and Sammy Dee, right?


I think I've been a bit harsh on this one because of what went before. I got to see him play it out on Friday and in that context you feel its full force. I don’t think Ill ever have as much affection for it as Body Riddle but I see it in a different light now. It felt a bit sterile on its winter leak but in the dilated furnace of the Corsica Studios it hit the spot.


Edit: It just occurred to me, largely on account of your selections, are you named after my all-time favourite Underworld track?
For the uninitiated:

Underworld - Rez

Turning Dragon is the first Clark I've heard and I was blown away by it. Maybe it had something to do with me only really listening to more ambient and melodic styles of electronica prior to this, but the sheer force of that album - to me - was something else. Sounds like I need to check out some of his previous stuff.

FL's Los Angeles should be right up there with BOC's Geogaddi, Burial's 2 albums and Tim Hecker's Harmony in UV as one of the decade's best electronica albums. It's the best thing Warp's released in years methinks - just so incredibly detailed and lush..

Don't get me wrong, Its a nice album, but I dont even thinks its his best let alone being mentioned in that company.

update:

1. Cryptacize - Dig that Treasure
2. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
3. Fleet Foxes - s/t
4. Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
5. NOMO - Ghost Rock
6. Beach House - Devotion
7. No Age - Nouns
8. Singer - Unhistories
9. Man Man - Rabbit Habits
10. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
11. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down in the Light
12. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (EP)
13. Subtle - ExitingARM
14. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
15. Animal Collective - Water Curses (EP)
16. Mika Miko - 666!
17. Shearwater - Rook
18. Autechre - Quaristice
19. Dodos - Visiter
20. Why? - Alopecia


Surprised Cryptacize has hung on this long. Really liking Ponytail and Abe Vigoda right now, but I could see them wearing on me later on. Singer album is nice, but kinda just makes me wish there was a new US Maple album. I wrote off that Mika Miko comp early on, but it has seriously grown on me for such a seemingly simple, amateurish collection of songs.

I like that Clark album mentioned above (it's currently my #23), but it just kinda reinforces my feelings that electronic music is in a major slump right now. Autechre keeps carrying the torch, and last year's Pole was really good, but I can't remember the last time an electronic album really blew me away. Confield? Idiology? Thought for Food (if it counts)? It's definitely been a while.

Have you heard the new Matmos?

Along with Supreme Balloon the Clark one, I've been enjoying 2562, Barry Lynn, Black Dog, Lindsrom (pretty special) and M83 (if that counts) as far as electronica goes.

Oh, and the Bruno Prosanto (sp?) is very good also.

Yeah, years from now popular culture archavists will look back with a sense of bewilderment at the inexplicable malaise that afflicted electronic musicians of the mid-to-late noughties. Maybe it’s a terminal decline....I predict we'll see Villalobos in a skiffle band by Christmas.

*headslap*

things must have gotten turned around in my memory. crap. that's embarassing.
underworld is my favorite band ever, so it's good to see a fellow fan. i have/know almost everything there is about them, including the best live version of rez...
and i thought it was in the early 00's that electronic music was having its crisis. it all seems rather fun right now.

Me too. Im just a congenital sarcast.

The Underworld love has forced me to stick my toe in...

I guess I must list a few tops of the year then, eh?

{{{Sunset}}} and Quinn Walker's dual dual releases have probably been the most played this year...

White Denim are sickly off the radar...

Paavorhaju is great, as is Jacaszek the new Dr. Dog album is awesome. Tallest Man on Earth has some magic... I think The Islands record was wayy underrated. The new Lackthereof is really great, and Rickolus was another one of my favorite discoveries this year...

New Primal Scream is rad, Mercury Rev sounds crazyweirdgood but needs more listens.. Portishead & Spiritualized were pretty good, Wolf Parade has been played a bought despite me not really being sold.

I'm really liking The Accidental record... dude from Tunng and... others? New Oneida is tight...

oh, and bonnie prince billy's release was very nice.

and High Places have probably my most anticipated release in the near future..

oh, did Alopecia come out this year? that one is brilliant...

the sigur ros was a snooze fest & the dodos are awful....

im sure im missin a lot but thats all for now.

{{{Sunset}}} - The Glowing City is amazing.

Glad to see some love for this on the board.

1 - Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
2 - The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
3 - Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
4 - The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
5 - M83 - Saturdays = Youth
6 - Sam Roberts - Love at the End of the World
7 - Islands - Arm's Way
8 - British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music
9 - R.E.M. - Accelerate
10 - Nick Cave & Bad Seeds - Dig! Lazarus, Dig!
11 - Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim
12 - The Walkmen - You and Me
13 - Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
14 - The Futureheads - This is Not the World
15 - Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
16 - The Black Keys - Attack and Release
17 - Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead
18 - Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
19 - The Dodos - Visiter
20 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
21 - Constantines - Kensington Heights
22 - Sloan - Parallel Play
23 - Coldplay - Viva la Vida
24 - MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
25 - White Denim - Workout Holiday
26 - Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
27 - Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
28 - Hot Chip - Made In the Dark
29 - Mystery Jets - Twenty One
30 - Los Campesinos - Hold on Now Youngster

I just find electronic dance music to be dull and repetitive, but I've generally felt like I'm in the minority in that respect.

And I feel like that's what most electronic music is now - if it's not Black Dice-type noise, then it's retro '80s/early '90s dance stuff or dubstep, which to me somehow feels like the ugly, slower, more boring, inbred offspring of drum'n'bass/jungle which was already pretty ugly and boring. And then there's the pretty/droney stuff which can be nice but is certainly far from exciting.

I forgot that all of these came out this year and how much I really love them. I will have to continue to revise my Best Of list.

I haven't attempted to make a new top ten in a few months. But I know the new Walkmen is getting lots of spins on my iPod/car stereo/soon to be turntable lately. Love that album. I'm probably in the minority.

1. Deerhunter - Microcastle
2. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
3. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave
4. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
5. Ladyhawk - Shots

Very close runners-up:

Grand Archives - s/t
Shearwater - Rook
Dodos - Visiter
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those...

I don't know whether many people mentioned this b/c quite frankly I can't be arsed to look through 500+ posts. Although I did use the search function which told me only one of you mentioned Blood On the Wall, so that one.

That's my personal favourite, followed by Envelopes - Here Comes the Wind. There's a lot I've not really listened to properly though so maybe come December it will change.

probably because no one knows how the fuck to pronounce it...

1. Earth - Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
2. Sun Kil Moon - April
3. El Guincho - Alegranza!
4. Times New Viking - Rip It Off
5. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

I'd forgotten about the Sun Kil Moon, great album. I was going to post a tentative list, but going through a few pages of this thread made me realize I have too much still to listen to before I can make a halfway decent list.

WORLD BURNS TO DEATH - Graveyard of Utopia

havent bought a lot of new music. going through it


wanna hear 2nd killer mike shit

Shearwater - Rook
The Dutchess and the Duke - She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke
No Age - Nouns
The Constantines - Kensington Heights
The Duke Spirit - Neptune

Here are my favorites thus far. Don't think I've posted in this thread yet.

01. Sun Kil Moon, April
02. No Age, Nouns
03. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
04. Paul Westerberg, 49:00
05. Cheap Time
06. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
07. Spiritualized, Songs In A & E
08. Johnny Flynn, A Larum
09. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
10. Portishead, Third

1. Deathconsciousness (Have a Nice Life)
2. Krallice (Krallice)
3. Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1 (Nachtmystium)
4. Life...The Best Game in Town (Harvey Milk)
5. Board up the House (Genghis Tron)
6. On Two Sides (Blank Dogs)
7. Street Horrrsing (Fuck Buttons)
8. Stay Positive (The Hold Steady)
9. Weezer (Weezer)
10. April (Sun Kil Moon)

11. The Carter III (Lil' Wayne)
12. Cheveu (Cheveu)
13. Dream Code (The Pink Noise)
14. The Sistrum (Factums)
15. Smile [US] (Boris)

as per usual not gonna list til I have a clear top one. Great content I know. Still, digging some of these lists. Wanna get flying lotus and allien in. Have syclops pon de way for 8.50, so pretty excited about that. I like the tron and byop because feeling the energy. Best release of the year is clearly Shining which doesn't count so gutted about that.

I really need to sort out some sort of order for my AOTY otherwise I'll be hopelessly unorganised come year end (when I'll be properly busy).

I'm likeing Michaels one, though. Top 5 is nice apart from the Deathconciousness which I didn't really get.

HELL YEAH. I don't care if we're the only ones with this way up there in our year-end lists. WE'RE RIGHT AND EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG.

that Amanda Palmer album is creeping up..I'm now convinced it's a solid 4-star record.

Something like that. Can't exactly figure out yet why I like it so much, but it certainly strikes me - and has since first listen - as compellingly different from the usual thing. So much to it, I don't see how it could be anywhere but #1.

the forthcoming gang gang dance is aoty. heard it today- don't say i didnt warn you.

don't. or at least download it first. it's incredibly crafted and incredibly boring- real disappointment, considering what she's done in the past.

flying lotus is a cracker though. limited edition warp eps look good- second has a martyn remix of 'robertaflack'.

they're on resonant. didn't think anybody would mention them but it's a great album.

so's that onur ozur one you mentioned but it's last year, innit?

Wait, you're just saying that Allien is boring right? Because I'm with ya there. Flying Lotus' record is awesome.

yeah, totally. if you ever get the chance to see flylo live don't pass it up- he's even better in the flesh.

there's some of his set from sonar here- it's worth checking, though i don't think it reaches the point where he was dropping 'archangel' over hard house tunes.

I've heard some really interesting things about the new Gang Gang Dance, but I've never listened to any of their old stuff.

What's a good place to start?

just with this one. i've never been that into them, but the promos of the new one just came out and they're mind-blowing. it's like all the potential they've shown has finally been realised- the record does everything and goes everywhere (i mean track 4 is this lush my bloody valentine type number, then track five hits and tinchy stryder's on it) but it manages to feel coherant. and amazing.

I think God's Money is a really good album. One of the best of '05, IMO. I saw them touring for that and opening for Animal Collective, and they were a lot more fun than AC. I like the s/t, too, but it might be a little too messy and amateurish for most people.

Really looking forward to the new one.

I've been a lurker for 2+ years now and figured i's pop my post cherry here:

1. Wolf Parade-At Mount Zoomer
2. Fleet Foxes- S/T
3. M83- Saturdays =Youth
4. Mountain Goats- Heretic Pride
5. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band- S/T
6. My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges
7. Frightened Rabbit- Midnight Organ Flight
8. The Hold Steady- Stay Positive
9. The Walkmen- You and Me
10. Portishead- Third

HM:
No Age-Nouns
Beck -Modern Guilt
Neon Neon
Dr. Dog-Fate
BSS presents...Brendan Canning
Destroyer-Trouble in Dreams

Destined for Top 10:
TV On the Radio-Dear Science
The Streets- Everything is Borrowed
Sasha- Invol2ver

In all honesty, the best thing I've heard this year is a new, 4-song Von Bondies EP I bought at a festival, almost as an afterthought. It surprised the hell out of me...I don't even know if it's on iTunes.

What a crude, sexually obscene reference... It makes me want to vomit with rage. just JK-ing

post-cherry is my favorite genre

my faves so far:

Sun Kil Moon - April
The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Constantines - Kensington Heights
The Black Keys - Attack & Release
The Dodos - Visiter
Crescent Moon is in Big Trouble - EP
King Khan - The Supreme Genius Of
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
M83 - Saturday's Youth
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig
Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Why? - Alopecia
Clinic - Do It!
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
The Futureheads - This Is Not The World
Doomtree - Doomtree
Dr. Dog - Fate
Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us...
Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
White Denim - Workout Holiday
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
Matt Mays and El Torpedo - Terminal Romance
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Cheap Time - Cheap Time

This is currently edging out SKM's April as my favorite of the year. Will Oldham doesn't get enough praise for building up the body of work that he has. From Palace's debut to Lie Down, he's been as consistent quality as anyone in music. Over 15+ years, there's not a single bum record in there. He can do stark, dark and quiet, and he can do rollicking, upbeat and joyful. I've already bought 6 copies of this record and am giving it to all sorts of people. Beat that, Kozelek.

oh shit... that one's on my list too

prolly not top 10, but def on there

That was kinda my impetus to post. I read your list and thought, I like all this stuff and BPB's would fit in here real real well.

hehe, nice

i'm sure that's hardly the only one i left off anyway