“Varied and cool, kind of straddles all sorts of eras to my ears. If you asked me the release date for this album, I'd be in a tough spot.” - Vivian Darkbloom

#77.




Few Nolder - New Folder
(648 Points, 14 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Altsounds Review: "'New Folder' is the debut album of Few Nolder, on Planet Mu. It features a lot of “experimenting” with “off-kilter micro house” (other wise known as minimal). I must say though, this album contains some real electronic gems.

We all know now that when Planet Mu releases something, more often than not, it is of high quality, and Few Nolder's effort is certainly in that bracket. The first track “No Mo” has been released in 2008 as a 12” single, and by most accounts, has sold out. I can see why. It is a real slow builder of a track, with a lovely, wobbly,deep, understated bass-line that builds and builds into a beautiful dub delayed synth release. It really is a monster of a track and I am sure that since its release it has been turning dance floors inside out across Europe.

Electronic music, especially good minimal, has the ability to be powerful, emotional and very very clever, while only concentrating on a few elements. Few Nolder ensures that the elements he uses are emotive, clear, and deep. "No Mo" is one of my own personal favourite tracks that I have heard from the Planet Mu stables.

Few Nolder then moves through Minimal House, into Electronica, and then into some nice stuttered vocal-led House with “Pillow”, “El Snig” and “Fluttery”, before he turns things up a proper notch in the middle section of the album."

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: James D (#2)

Amazon Link

“well that was fun.” - Simakos

#76.




M. Ward - Hold Time
(664 Points, 17 Votes)

US Chart Position: #31

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Bigger arrangements; same folk, rock'n'roll, and Americana roots. With mixing and assistance from Saddle Creek mainstay Mike Mogis, plus strings by Peter Broderick (Horse Feathers, Efterklang), Ward keeps his voice sounding lo-fi even when the production is Phil Spector-sized. "Never Had Nobody Like You" alludes to The Dark Side of the Moon while basically rewriting The Music Man's "Till There Was You" as a stomping glam-rock duet with Deschanel. Ward could've stopped writing "Stars of Leo" early and called it "I Get So High", but to his credit he keeps going; the cascading guitars, vivid verses, and multi-layered percussion make it one of the album's best tracks (though it's not actually "above" the name-checked "Sea of Love"). However, orchestration and vocal overdubs aren't enough to save acoustic strummer "Jailbird" from dying in its cage, despite some twangy, lyrical lead guitar work.

God is the perfect subject for a songwriter of Ward's aspirations toward timelessness. Shuffling guitar hoedown "Fisher of Men" extends one of Jesus' favorite metaphors, while the organ-kissed surfer-folk wisdom of stripped-down "Blake's View" is touching and beautifully phrased, its potentially grating reference to Blake perhaps a way for Ward to distance himself from the song's reassuring sentiments even while offering us comfort in them (pretty close to Transfiguration's "Dead Man", though). "If you're trying to sing an old song/ You're getting all the words wrong," he sings, crediting Paul, whether the Apostle or the Beatle, on strings plus banjo acid-rocker "Epistemology". Grandaddy's Jason Lytle fits well enough into the Wall of Sound on bouncy, clever "To Save Me". Suggested alternate title: "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands (So Would It Kill the Motherfucker to Answer a Guy's Prayers?)".

Covers are another way Ward sets Hold Time out of time. One of them sure goes on forever, anyway: a ponderous rendition of country classic "Oh Lonesome Me" with awkward call and response vocals featuring an out-of-place Lucinda Williams. Buddy Holly's "Rave On" matches up nicely with Ward's simple-is-good philosophy, and this laid-back remake is sonically detailed enough (another Deschanel guest spot) to justify itself-- it has nothing on Transfiguration's irony-free cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance", though. Meanwhile, Ward's instrumental take on Billie Holiday-sung jazz standard "I'm a Fool to Want You" is a smoldering guitar showcase recalling Neil Young's Dead Man soundtrack work or the solos of Giant Sand's Howe Gelb, who released Ward's debut a decade ago.

Memory is the world's greatest liar. So it's possible that Ward's past albums seem a cut or two above Hold Time only through the rose-tinted lens of hindsight-- sort of like how we've come to romanticize the Old West, say, or previous eras of rock'n'roll. But the new one, although steeped in American music tradition, could use some more of the pioneering spirit that got us here. Hold Time is an enjoyable, well-constructed album, and as good a place as any for newcomers to start-- it just doesn't hold many surprises. If it all seems too familiar to you, too impersonal, try the back catalog. As memory turns to myth, some myths are worth remembering. Not only John Henry, but Prometheus, too." (6.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "Transistor Radio" (#39 of 2005), "Post-War" (#1 of 2006)

Ranked Highest By: tennisclay, Hans Christian Anderson, Alright Still (#6)

Amazon Link

Still makes me scratch my head even now that this happened.

M. Ward falls 75 spots from 06. I'm sure he's disappointed.

his love was a poison cup and we drank it up, lol

“Sounds massively promising” - James D

#75.




Martyn - Great Lengths
(669 Points, 12 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Like many dubstep artists, Martyn came to the genre from drum'n'bass, but he crossed over only comparatively recently. His first records, released in 2005 and 2006 for Marcus Intalex's Revolve:r label, clearly drew from the same spring that a decade before had fed the lush atmospherics of Alex Reece and LTJ Bukem. (It's not all so tranquil; "Nxt 2 U", for Play:musik, sounded like a tech-step rework of Konono No. 1, and hinted at a growing interest in unconventional rhythms and textures.) By 2007's "Broken" (Revolve:r), Martyn had slowed to dubstep's tempo, but he left many of his usual elements-- drifting pads, rapidfire percussive patterns-- intact. The effect was like watching as the spokes of a moving car's wheels seem to flicker backwards and forwards, buoyant, weightless and hovering in place. This, clearly, was Martyn's groove.

With the foundation of his own label, 3024, in 2007, Martyn confirmed his arrival as one of dubstep's distinctive new voices, a reputation he has reinforced across further singles and remixes of Scuba, TRG, Shut Up and Dance, among others. He has simultaneously resisted settling too comfortably into any one sound or scene; he and gauzy hip-hopper Flying Lotus have traded remixes, and he even delved into unadulterated house music on a remix for Detroit's Ican.

Great Lengths is accordingly diverse, but it's also remarkably coherent. Most of its tracks fall within dubstep's stomping ground, clocking somewhere between 130 and 140 BPM and heaving with swing; it's underscored by a powerful bass presence that seems to stretch to infinity. But Martyn also pauses to explore other tempos and cadences: the churning "Seventy Four" is a plodding, dub-techno dirge, while "Elden St." marries 2-step syncopations to techno's steady 4/4 under cover of misty keys and fragmented soul vocals. The ambient interludes "Bridge" and "Brilliant Orange", meanwhile, suggest an affinity for moody soundtrack music. Neither is particularly memorable on its own, but they serve a useful purpose as a kind of mood glue, helping give the album its sense of flow. And Detroit techno's plangent chords carry across almost everything here, including the most broken, driving rhythms.

This isn't Burial: Martyn is much more obviously a student of the dance floor. His rhythms are more cleanly drawn than Burial's, his sounds more pronounced. But a similar moodiness prevails, making this an album that ought to appeal to a wide swathe of listeners, including plenty who might not care about dubstep in the abstract. Even comparatively sprightly cuts like "Little Things" are awash in melancholic strings, and almost every track is driven by fat, stacked chords moving in formation. He's fond of chords voiced like the sampled rave stabs of yore-- blocky, fixed-interval things that lend an odd modal shiver as they go crab-walking up and down the scales. He makes even more out of dub's glancing tone clusters, which mark syncopated time while nervous counterpoints and nimble bass lines fill in the rest of the spectrum. And Martyn's bass is itself a thing to behold: it envelops without ever overpowering, suggesting at once the anchor and the play in the line leading from it." (7.5)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: +marios+ (#2)

Also Ranked By: Bruegel, vurt (#5)

Amazon Link

i liked their first album, but never tried out the second lp due to the 'meh' type reaction most critics had. so i'm curious, how does this compare to the s/t, iyo?

I got PM's from a poster here in 06 for daring to call that album boring.

The year-end poll is the highlight of the SOMB year. But the highlight of that highlight would have to be the SOMB quotes for the albums.

“Anyone successfully get "The Crying Light" by antony yet?” - cdvaught in the "2008 Salmon" thread (in what is the only non list "discussion" of this album I can find on the SOMB)

#74




Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
(674 Points, 16 Votes)

US Chart Position: #65

UK Chart Position: #18

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "On The Crying Light, Hegarty is fascinated with those steps-- the transitions and overlaps between birth and life, life and death, this world and the next. "From your skin I am born again," he sings in "One Dove", an ode to a bird from "the other side" that comes to "bring me some peace." Later, "Aeon" depicts eternity as a baby boy born to take care of his father, as time melts generations together. Similar concepts dot every song. With deft touch, Hegarty repeatedly uses words like "womb," "grave," and "light," and he returns to primal metaphors-- water as life, dust as death, the earth as a place of both burial and growth. "I'm only a child/ Born upon a grave," he insists in "Kiss My Name", nearly encapsulating the entire album in one potent declarative.

Though easier to summarize, these ideas are no less complex than those on I Am A Bird Now. In fact, they're larger and more universal than that album's New York-tinted perspective. But they have also inspired Hegarty to craft simpler, subtler songs. Simultaneously sparse and rich, The Crying Light mines maximum intensity from a relatively minimal mix of basic melodies, pithy lyrics, and understated arrangements. It may be difficult to believe that an album crediting four arrangers and upwards of two dozen musicians could sound minimal. But the way Hegarty selects their contributions is more about precision than volume, more about carefully-chosen moments than multiple voices. Take the dark cello that closes "Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground", the soft horn flourish in the middle of "Epilepsy Is Dancing", the fingersnap-like clicks at the end of "The Crying Light". These elements hint at fuller, busier versions of these songs. Maybe Hegarty did record more fleshed-out takes and then erased portions, letting their echoes float in the limbo that he sings about. Whatever his process, Hegarty's use of orchestration for accent and emphasis creates undeniable power, the kind that increased sonic density likely would have lacked." (8.6)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "I Am A Bird Now" (#33 of 2005)

Ranked Highest By: stignasty, Tim, The Luscious Phil (#5)

Amazon Link

With a few years hindsight, I'm not sure if it now makes more or less sense than it did at the time. 2006 feels like one of the weak years of the decade. And some of the favorites of that year were pretty polarizing: Hold Steady, The Knife, Joanna Newsom, TVOTR, Liars, Destroyer, Hot Chip. This was also the year that Crash won the Best Picture Oscar, so something was definitely up that year.

There was this thread http://www.soundopinions.org/forum/index.p...2&hl=antony

Lol at that quote though.

“Catchy, defiant, catchy, loud, and catchy.” - caley

#73




The Thermals - Now We Can See
(675 Points, 10 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "So how does a poppy punk band follow up such a feat in the cautiously optimistic early days of the Obama administration? After proving they could take on "topics that matter" while maintaining their thrilling musical simplicity, it would have been a disappointment to see them revert to the gleefully grimy garage-punk of their early albums, on which Harris simply used his lyrical prowess to breathlessly catalog sexual power struggles. But not only does our new president mean that we have (hopefully) outgrown the need for an album like TBTBTM, but the band is also too joyously silly and powerfully spazzy to get stuck solely in the often dowdy realm of "important" political songwriting. The compromise, then, is Now We Can See, a concept album of sorts from the perspective of the dead that acts as a denouement to the last Thermals' record. It's an album that looks at life not as something to urgently struggle through, but as something that has already passed, something that our narrator finally has some perspective on.

And this is why Harris is such an admirable songwriting talent: He writes about universal subjects with a sharply specific eye, and he has the imagination to transcend his own point of view to write from a character's perspective that there's no way he could share. Cramming in as many syllables as his thrifty, tightly coiled melodies will allow, Harris announces the collection's themes and tone with album opener "When I Died", singing, "Busted and wrecked/ Justly infected/ My body beyond repair/ Had no objection, sir/ My only questions were/ 'Where do I go and will I know when I'm there?'/ But I really couldn't say that I cared."

Now We Can See is full of the regret you would expect from the recently deceased, but it's also rife with acceptance and relief. For every track like "We Were Sick", the incendiary, three-chord rant against the selfishness of the living and our indifference and contribution to the ecological crisis, there's a track like "I Let It Go", which is practically giddy in its liberation, celebrating the release of death. Now We Can See is bursting with clear-headed explorations of the ways that fear and neuroses hold us back from truly living (as on "When I Was Afraid"), winkingly clinical examinations of the rote machinations that consume our lives (like "Liquid In, Liquid Out"), and tales of the savagery at the basis of modern existence (like the title track or "When We Were Alive"). Maybe these are pretty heady topics after all." (7.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "The Body, The Blood, The Machine" (#58 of 2006)

Ranked Highest By: stignasty, no magnets (#3)

Also Ranked By: without_opinion (#4)

Amazon Link

surprised to see that one so high...

i love The Thermals but it didn't quite make my top 40 if i recall... if it did it was very near the bottom.

I bought the first album but not this one. Dl'ed it, though, and you're not missing much.

“a sunny day in glasgow have sort of nailed part of what made loveless so great

according to those itunes samples” - yes

#72.




A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
(690 Points, 14 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Twin sisters Robin and Lauren Daniels don't have remarkable voices, but they blend well with both each other and Ashes Grammar's unhurried pop. If there's a real complaint to be lobbed at Ashes Grammar it's that the sisters' voices are too often buried, and their mushmouth-y Liz Fraser-timbres too willingly blended into the pooled sonics. If SDIG didn't imbue so much of Ashes Grammar with a terse rhythmic presence, many of these songs would easily be swept into the ether.

Ashes Grammar is not for those who need their pop music spit-shined and robust. Instead, SDIG form their hooks stealthily, letting acoustic guitars and a steady patter rise from the ambient beginnings of "Starting at a Disadvantage" or repeating phrases amidst the disparate stretches of "Nitetime Rainbows". "Close Chorus" offers big, breaking hooks only after four minutes of morning chatter.

Ashes Grammar draws you in by offering outstanding moments in strange contexts; you'll re-listen to hear specific pieces even though you're unable to remember exactly when and how they occur. Ashes Grammar often feels like the result of a band who took Martha Reeves & the Vandellas' "Come and Get These Memories" in the most abstract, art-damaged way possible: nostalgic, jigsaw pop music from a group of writers strong enough to keep you humming and courageous enough to make you guess." (8.3)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Cinnamon P. (#1)

Also Ranked By: idolatry (#5)

Amazon Link

Awesome album. Gets better with every listen.

“the lyrics are dark as fuck.” - the dude

#71.




Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
(705 Points, 9 Votes, Two #1 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #3

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "From any other band, such a precise return to ground already covered might seem cynical, but these guys have never been anything but honest, and there seems to be a genuine desire not to let their deceased colleague's words go to waste. "Peeled Apples" opens the album with a colossal kick to the head as a queasy bassline is joined by pounding drums and sandpaper guitar to back Bradfield's righteous shout. He's always had a talent for torturing the words Edwards and Wire provided him into durable melodies, and it's no different here. This song, "Marlon J.D." and the hidden track, "Bag Lady", are musically the most hard-hitting things this band has done since 1994. "Marlon" opens with the walloping couplet, "He stood like a statue/ As he was beaten across the face," and runs through an absurdly catchy verse from there.

It's not all bone-crushing hard rock, though. The title track has a clear-eyed rock jangle to pair with its heavy crunch, and "Facing Page: Top Left" is as gentle and quiet as the Manics get, bathing its verses about the beauty regime in acoustic guitar and a splattering of piano. "Doors Closing Slowly" rather awkwardly ends with a passage from The Virgin Suicides, one of a few cracks in the album's armor. The biggest is "William's Last Words", sung by Nicky Wire instead of Bradfield, as if to remind us why Bradfield is the band's lead singer. At just over four minutes, it's by far the album's longest song, and also its least memorable by any musical measure, though I imagine that, for the band, working on that one was emotional because of its lyrics, which essentially read like a goodbye to the band from Edwards.

Even if it were the desperate or cynical move some people have claimed it is, there's no denying that purging Edwards' old lyric folder has helped the band create its best album in a decade. Quite simply, they haven't sounded so focused or so purposeful in a long, long time, and they are at their best with a sense of purpose underpinning their music. The charge that it sounds like The Holy Bible's little brother is accurate, but I'd argue that this isn't a bad thing at all, and I hope they find a way to build on the momentum they've created here. The little brother of Everything Must Go would be welcome, too." (7.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: spiritofeden, hinsey21 (#1)

Amazon Link

“Man I really wanted to hate this Album when I heard that this was their "sellout" album, but fuck if it isn't growing on me fast” - nobodies

#70.




The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
(710 Points, 11 Votes)

US Chart Position: #16

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "I and Love and You is a crucial album for the band. One of the biggest grassroots success stories of the decade, they spent years self-releasing albums and self-promoting shows to gradually growing audiences, eventually signing to North Carolina indie label Ramseur before moving up to Sony/BMG/Columbia Records. For their major-label debut, the trio (which includes brothers Scott and Seth and unrelated bass player Bob Crawford) worked with producer Rick Rubin, whose involvement gives the album added critical and commercial cache. With a large and loyal fanbase, they could be as big as Dave Matthews and bring string-band rootsiness to the mainstream. Or not. One thing is for sure: After I and Love and You, they can no longer go back to being the Avett Brothers they once were.

As a major-label debut, the album plays to one set of their strengths while ignoring others. The Avetts continue to emphasize bold melodic lines, emphatic performances, and lyrics whose self-criticism is so magnanimous it becomes a form of self-praise. "And It Spread" moves from gentle to raucous the way more pedestrian bands do quiet-loud, and "January Wedding" is so delicate it nearly blows away in its own breeziness. These songs draw less from the celebratory energy of Mignonette and Emotionalism-- rambling albums whose spirited imperfections made them all the more endearing-- and more from the recent Gleam EPs, which showcased a calmer, more polite acoustic craftsmanship. That trend may predate Rubin's involvement, but here it sounds like a product of the Beard's approach to Americana, which is unerringly clean, sparse, and tasteful." (5.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Elemeno P.T., elcorazon (#2)

Also Ranked By: August West (#5)

Amazon Link

Glad to see Antony on the Johnsons here. Great album, and I think he is really much more comfortable in his voice, and look forward to more from him as an artist.

M.Ward winning album of the year back in 2006? I rememeber that, and I still think its a travesty.

Great list so far, great to see Thermals making it on.

Completely disagree with this. Though the s/t is good and has some great singles, Everything Goes Wrong is so consistent from start to end, and I really enjoyed how they upped the punk influences here. I think maybe people were disapointed because they didn't show a huge amount of "growth", but did these critics not listen to Can't Get Over You? Or I Have No Fun? Or When I'm Gone? Great songs all.

“It's a bit blasphemous, but this is going to end up being my favourite Isis album.” - Saskadelphia

#69.




Isis - Wavering Radiant
(715 Points, 15 Votes)

US Chart Position: #98

UK Chart Position: #190

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "That solidity comes at the start: "Hall of the Dead" may be the lushest, most astutely crafted opener in the Isis discography. Fans of their earlier work will welcome the jerky first riff, but soon the grind of Celestial (2001) or the Mosquito Control EP (1998) fades away, leaving the track bobbing in sludge. Harris doesn't take it lying down, drawing menace and beauty in equal parts from his kit. Turner works similar wonders-- his clearer-than-ever voice stands out at times over the murky compositions while blending into the loud, surrounding dark at others. Not that you can understand everything he says. On the first track, the pattern of bellows and roars calls to mind Nancy and Lee's "Some Velvet Morning", except Turner makes it a one-man duet. The brawny thump of "Stone to Wake a Serpent" has him belting in both his clean and hoarse styles, too, and though the words are unintelligible, the multiple personalities of his voice nicely mirror the guitar's many incarnations on that track-- crunchy explosions of fuzz, depressed twangs, banshee shrieks.

Track for track, Wavering Radiant is the smartest and richest record in Isis' catalog: Here they manage not just to build on, but also to inventively weld together, their past work into one interlocking whole. Naysayers who cast off In the Absence of Truth as too subdued ought to don their headphones again: There was a sense of fastidious craft and atmosphere that may take repeated spins to sink in. And the same goes for the far superior Wavering Radiant. Easily the band's most accessible effort, hipsters and headbangers will likely agree it's also their most intricately imagined. To luxuriate in the details, to fully receive the melodies and tones and the bewildering interplay of every element, Isis demand not merely active, not athletic, but something like Olympic listening." (8.5)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "Panopticon" (#27 of 2004)

Ranked Highest By: wakingrufus (#3)

Amazon Link

Glad to see 'Aim and Ignite' place, one of the genuinely catchy and unashamedly pop albums of the year. 'Light a Roman Candle' is fucking glorious, like peak Zombies or Beach Boys.

“album plays like v103 in the year 2020” - Undercooked Sausage

#68.




Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night
(732 Points, 10 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #66

Charting Singles: "Bad Habits" (#71)

Pitchfork Review: "Take "Help Somebody", for example: Maxwell begs the listener to show love, turning such feelings into a moral imperative, tension ratcheting with a gradual build, musically searching for release that never comes, a long hopeless cry to force logic to intrude over irrational feeling. Maxwell's power is least effective when he loses this composed structure; "Stop the World" reaches for raw, unrehearsed expression, but without organization, it feels listless. By contrast "Fistful of Tears" is anchored by a Prince-inflected quarter-note harmony waltz; not coincidentally, it's also the album's most immediately affecting track.

Although Maxwell has always seemed preternaturally mature, there is something new here, a depth of emotion appropriate for this level of heartbreak. "Pretty Wings", the lead single and album centerpiece, doesn't work in simple binaries or reductive ideas; it lays out a fair yet confused examination of a relationship's fall. Maxwell even acknowledges his own mistakes after an indictment of his partner's, creating a realization of loss and all of the intricate personal responses that implies. But what is truly powerful is that it is just as musically complex as a relationship's disintegration is emotionally. Maxwell's patience allows him to effectively write such paens to devotion; it is as if he wanted to catalog every aspect of this very human breakdown, identify each strand to create a song that fully captures, laid bare, the complex emotional terrain that wells up during such an exceptionally difficult and human experience. This level of detail carries with it a lived-in feeling, a convincing truthfulness simply because the emotions are too specific to be anything but real. Music this effective is difficult, and only someone as passionate about music as they are the human heart could so successfully produce work that reflects well on both." (7.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: madrox (#1)

Also Ranked By: boobs (#2), stphone (#5)

Amazon Link

Great record.

“Pitchfork will give them a review that sounds like a 6/7 but the score will be 5.3 simply for the band being from the UK. They probably won't review it until 2011 anyhow.” - Mitchell

#67.




Fanfarlo - Reservoir
(749 Points, 14 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

allmusic Review: "For anyone who's paid the least attention to the tasteful, tuneful, nebulously rootsy strain of indie rock that was in ascendance throughout the mid- to late 2000s, Fanfarlo's debut album will sound instantly and inescapably familiar. The London-based quintet favor a genial affect, moderate tempos, and a blend of orchestral (violin, trumpet) and folksy (mandolin, accordion, harmonica, saw) instrumentation akin to acts such as the National and Grizzly Bear, while vocalist Simon Balthazar's broad, heartfelt crooning invites immediate comparisons to Beirut's Zach Condon. Most of all, it must be said, the band display an undeniable similarity to the Arcade Fire, with whom they share all of the above-mentioned qualities as well as a distinctly earnest, quietly dramatic, emotional fervor. If anything, the imitation is a slightly pale one -- even at its most impassioned, their brand of chamber pop bombast is never as potent and unrestrained as that Montreal outfit -- but if they're unlikely to inspire unbridled passion in most listeners, the familiarity of their sound should breed plenty of contentment. Fanfarlo are at their best when their lush but occasionally dreary instrumental efforts are focused around a strong, simple melody, as is frequently the case here -- on pop-leaning cuts like "Fire Escape," "Finish Line," and "Harold T. Wilkins," and particularly on the sweet, piano-led ballad "If It Is Growing." That said, the most striking thing here may be the opener, "I'm a Pilot," which impresses as much with its hypnotically slow, chugging rhythm (provided by foot stomps and sleigh bells) as with Balthazar's typically wailed (and particularly Win Butler-ish) vocal turn." (3/5)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: superhersh2002 (#1)

Amazon Link

Reading this reminds me of how much music I completely passed up/missed out on this year. There's always the next decade I suppose.

“90% of the posts in this thread are reactions to Dan Deacon and not to Bromst itself. So this thread is useless and this album deserves better.” - juvenal

#66.




Dan Deacon - Bromst
(793 Points, 14 Votes)

US Chart Position: #199

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "As for community? Deacon's still fond of massed shouting, and the overlapping exhortations of electronically processed cartoon vocals-- and all the pounding of toms and ecstatic chanting can leave much of Bromst feeling like the pagan rituals of some woodland filled with chubby, bespectacled Deacon-gnomes.

But those small changes manage, strangely enough, to change everything-- including the question of the happy crowd. Spiderman felt grainy, cheap, and primary-colored, an overload of cartoon buzz and bodies dancing. The denser, more sedate sound of Bromst shoots off in the opposite direction; it makes Deacon's music feel almost solipsistic, like it's ceased to come out of speakers and now lives deep inside your brain. If Spiderman was for dancing on sticky floors, Bromst feels better suited to sleeping, or contemplating the sublime, or anything else that happens mostly between your ears. As it closes, with the gorgeous "Get Older"-- building from malfunctioning-modem synths into dreamy sheets of buzz on an achy major-seventh chord-- it actually begins to resemble the heavy, romantic sound of acts like M83, or Pluxus, or shoegazer bands, or the 8-bit "chiptune" programmers Deacon shares some kinship with. These are people who make music for getting lost inside your own head.

What makes this change worthwhile is the complexity of Deacon's project. Most of us could have been forgiven, after a cursory listen to Spiderman, for not noticing that Deacon was conservatory-trained. But as Bromst rushes steadily by, mostly avoiding the big crowd-pleasing breakdowns and exclamations of its predecessor, the clearer production lets you sink into the minutae of it-- say, the Steve Reich-style rhythms of different mallet or drum patterns overlapping one another. The music becomes something like a natural process: one clean, simple sweep, but built from an insane complexity of detail. And there's enough to un-knot in there to make this a terrific step for Deacon-- out from the sticky basements into a space where he can try to tackle the sublime." (8.5)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Shackleton's Great Adventure, Drinky (#3)

Also Ranked By: Man Is Matter (#4), stephen thomas erlewine (#5)

Amazon Link

Cool, Few Nolder - New Folder.

I've been doing a few night shifts over the last couple of months and to pass away the hours of working on my own, I tend to listen to a whole bunch of music. Well, I played this loads. Corny I know, but this album made working a week of nights seem like not such a bad thing. It's a good piece of music!

Definitely. For me it's one of those records where each song sounds better than the next, your favorite being the one you're listening to that very second.

Girls used basically the same tools on this record as the previous, but things are a bit darker, and faster (and there are more songs). It's less pop, but the hooks are there and they come fast. The only reason I can see fans of the s/t not liking this one is that they lament Cassie singing about fucking boys instead of winning their hearts.

This list already pales in comparison to a certain other list I've seen this year.

Every time there's a few albums that give me hope, something like fun. or Dan Deacon or whatever crush my hopes. Glad Dam-Funk and New Folder managed to place at all though.

But the presentation is top-notch as usual. Love the quotes at the top of every post.

5 or 6 months from now when I reflect on my favorite albums from '09 I think the Wild Beasts album will end up my second or third favorite.

I guess to answer you more directly, I'm not sure which one I prefer, but I haven't listened to the first one much since Everything Goes Wrong came out.




Hearty lols at these.

That is it for tonight as I need to spend the rest of the evening preparing for starting the singles list tomorrow.

The remainder up to #41 will either be completed tomorrow if there is time after I get through what I want with the singles or will be done in the morning on Wednesday and the top 40 with blurbs will follow in the afternoon.


Just a reminder as well that I need all blurbs back to me by Wednesday at noon (CST). I've gotten a handful back already and they are looking good so far. I do have two album blurbs that are up for grabs, one from a certain independent rock band that released an album with a trippy cover and the other is from a band that recently became an independent rock band that has been around forever. Let me know if you want more info or would like to claim either one of them.

assuming I'm right on the picks you should say that they recently became an indie rock band AGAIN.


edit: and no, I don't give a fuck about either one, so I don't really want to blurb. Unless you want a list about why the other band sucks now, and a paragraph rant about a certain boarder.

One of them has been taken, so I'll just come out and say that the other one is Animal Collective (as it is not really a surprise that MPP made the list). If someone wants to write a blurb for that one, PM me to let me know.

EDIT: Both blurbs are accounted for. We should be in could shape unless anyone flakes out, but as this point I don't think I'll know that until they are due. Thanks everyone.

New Folder, Martyn and Maxwell should all be higher imo but really I'm just happy to see them in the list at all. Nice going, SOMB.

same here, for whatever reason. finally listening to it now, and it's sounding just as good as radio scarecrow.
"skin clock" is a jam, and that closing ambient track is just sublime.

Glad to hear that.

Reflect on..

Would have been even higher If you'd like actually voted for it

ballbusting aside, there's some great stuff in here already

Linas Strockis
Marc Richter
Ken Downie
Martin Dust
Richard Dust
Damon G. Riddick
Martijn Deykers

Somb salutes you

What does smh mean? Some Mothers Havem?

I wish. its internet-acronym speak for "scratchin' my head".

@andystripes

i always thought it was shake my head

You were always correct.

Pitchfork included Fanfarlo on their readers poll for "albums looking forward to in 2010" or something like that, so a review is probably coming soon. I still really love this album.

wtf? it's not like the US release is 2010?? i don't get it...