So we're... blah blah blah... of the way through 2009; what records are worth listening to so far?

hi marc

calstars - I guess check out the Memory Tapes stuff.

i found that atlas sound was a bit of a slog, the first one's got all that wonderful creepy atmospheric children's music while the new one seemed like a lot of boring indie with a couple amazing pop tunes thrown in. i only listened to it like once though, i'll check it out again.

logos is a really boring album, i'm not gonna lie. boringness is a trend i've noticed in a lot of the new music i've been listening to. the thing about logos, though, is that it is awesome as hell on top of being boring. it's great music to go to sleep to. or wake up to.

that crazy cousinz mix is proving to be a pretty great introduction to the genre. from my vantage point-basically having absolutely no previous knowledge of uk funky besides an odd dj night here and there-it seems pretty heavily loaded with great melodies and jams. a lot of these songs are surprisingly unrepetitive, like the hooks just keep on coming. it's all weird to me though, it's familiar sounding in a weird way, like something i heard a lot of as a child or something.

albums:

the-dream - love vs money
think about life - family
dirty projectors - bitte orca
dj quik & kurupt - blaqkout
nadja - the bungled and the botched
white denim - fits
lil boosie - superbad
tv ghost - cold fish
electrik red - how to be a lady vol. 1
clues - s/t

not-albums:

destroyer - bay of pigs ep
the bitters - wooden glove 12"
red mass - radio radio 12"
gucci mane - burr russia
ultrathin - endless sumer ii c-20

I really love the Dirty Projectors, but that album would be sooo much better if the drumming wasn't so rigid and shy. Put Grizzly Bear's drummer in there instead and we'd see a big difference.

ya it's pretty calculated. but so is everything on the album besides his vocals and guitaring, but i think that's a big part of what i like about it; it's really mechanical and moves in really clearly defined, intentional strokes. and then his singing is really care-free, sounds almost improvised at times.

my lengthy list of records i have really dug this yr

outrageous cherry - universal malcontents
section 25 - nature + degree
hatcham social - you dig the tunnel, i'll hide the soil
coloma - love's recurring dream
desolation wilderness - new universe
wye oak - the knot
paper moon - only during thunderstorms
we were promised jetpacks - these four walls
future of the left - travels with myself and another
the joy formidable - a balloon called moaning
st vincent - actor
telekinesis - telekinesis!
speck mountain - some sweet relief
pull tiger tail - paws.
cut off your hands - you and i
it hugs back - inside your guitar
new rhodes - everybody loves a scene
engineers - three fact fader
sky larkin - the golden spike
camera obscura - my maudlin career
cheval sombre - cheval sombre
saint jude's infirmary - this has been the death of us
the hussy's - japanese graffiti
for against - never been
raveonettes - in and out of control
headlights - wildlife
spc eco - 3d
at swim two birds - before you left
juan maclean - the future will come
annie - don't stop
my sad captains - here and elsewhere
burning hearts - aboa sleeping
golden silvers - true romance
starless & bible black - shape of the shape
elusive parallelograms - and everything changes
the pains of being pure at heart s/t
woolfy - if you know what's good for ya!!
emma tricca - minor white
fanfarlo - reservoir
grammatics - s/t
cave - psychic psummer
seeland - tomorrow today
thee oh sees - help
the bats - the guilty office
dreamdate - patience
asobi seksu - hush
deep cut - my thoughts light fires
liechtenstein - survival strategies in a modern world
thee oh sees - help
gofaster>> - a modern education (MLP)
the boxer rebellion - union
blackbud - s/t
the beautiful few - the nights you did your hair
vivian girls - everything goes wrong
de rosa - prevention
the durutti column - love in the time of recession
sad day for puppets - unknown colours
the legends - over and over
socialist leisure party - tactical pop for coffee cadets (MLP)
dolly rocker movement - a purple journey into the mod machine
the lea shores - s/t
idlewild - post electric blues
the drums - summertime (MLP)
grand salvo - soil creatures
the innits - on the fence

haha that's as long as the "albums i've listened to at least once this year" list i've been keeping. that future of the left will probably be on my list in a week, i'm loving it more every time i listen to it.

^i would not like to try to document a similar list, it would be... longer

I think I tend to underrate the Crazy Cousinz mixes a bit because I knew 99% of the tracks beforehand, whereas the Ministry of Sound comp (surprisingly) introduced me to heaps of amazing tracks I didn't know.

tim i have a rap recommendation 4 u (covered briefly on autogoon) but im trying to find which would be the best album example of a rather prolific producer

^^same here

xp

Stuff I like from this year roughly in order:

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Nellie McKay - Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People Lazers Do
Destroyer - Bay of Pigs EP

crazy cousinz vol. 2 : http://www.mediafire.com/?5tgm1zrnzkz

With the understanding that these lists say more about demographics and personal history than objective quality, here's what I heard at least several times:

Superb:

Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street
Fedaden - Broader (melodic IDM)
The Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning

Good for its genre:

Ebtekar/Mashayehki - Ornamentalism
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
jj - jj N° 2
My Toys Like Me - Where We Are
Zoot Woman - Things Are What They Used to Be
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
Cortney Tidwell - Boys
Horrors - Primary Colors
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions - Through the Devil Softly
Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why

Won't mind hearing again:

Pati Yang - Faith, Hope & Fury
Little Boots - Hands
The Juan MacLean - The Future will Come
Julianna Barwick - Florine
Delorean - Ayrton Senna EP
The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
Regina - Puutarhatrilogia

Will probably delete:

Fischerspooner - Entertainment
Tim Exile - Listening Tree
Client - Command

Singles for special mention not on the above releases:

Delphic - "Counterpoint"
Lily Allen - "Fuck You"
Phoenix - "Lisztomania (Classixx Version)"

My lists never settle down till at least 2-3 years after the year in question...

hey alex you're great

hey k3v, you're great too. apropos of nothing in particular. but it's 6 am and i'm spreading the love.

Pati Yang - Faith, Hope & Fury

derelict : you found this on cd? i was promised this by certain people but as yet, the promise has yet to be fulfilled, and i've wondered whether its worthy of my hassling.

the best

Fever Ray

very good

The XX
Here We Go Magic
Cass McCombs
Flaming Lips
Sonic Youth

good

Super Furry Animals
Micachu and the Shapes
Girls

yet to hear

Bill Callaghan
David Kitt
Dirty Projectors
Ducktails
Broadcast/Focus Group
Lindstrom/Christabelle

xp mark e:

The Pati Yang is AFAIK unavailable through legitimate channels in the Americas. Much more to my taste than the FlyKKiller band she runs with her husband/producer.

2 more 2009 titles that excel for their genre, witch will probably be missed in year-end tallies:

Engineers - Three Fact Fader gazy dreampop from Manchester
Emmon - Closet Wanderings Emma Nylén's 2nd solo album remains slavishly mid-80s electropop, but she's tops at it.

Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels
Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard, Em Are I
Schwervon!, Low Blow
Hazel Rickard, Windfall
Julie Doiron, I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Falk & die Wiese, Appointments
Kevin Blechdom, Gentlemania
Huggabroomstik, The Alternate Huggabroomstik
Toby Goodshank, Johnny’s Democracy
Prewar Yardsale, M104
Patrick Wolf, The Bachelor
Der Nino aus Wien, Down in Albern/The Ocelot Show
Stahlberger, Rägebogesiedlig
Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs
John Houx, John Houx's Green Period
David Tattersal, Happy For A While
Maher Halal Shash Baz, C’est la dernière chanson
Bill Callahan, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Sarsaparilla, Ebb
A Orillas Del Magdalena - Coastal Cumbias From Colombia's Discos Fuentes LP
Schwervon!, Low Blow

One that's flying bizarrely under the radar:

Gareth Sager (aka, the guy from The Pop Group, Rip Rig and Panic, etc.)
"Slick Slack Music"

Kind of a lot take all at one sitting, but parts are amazing. "So Fired Up" = one of my top tracks of the year.

Would like to see some updates on this thread

definitely forgetting stuff:

LPs:
fever ray, duh
el perro del mar - love is not pop
tama sumo - panorama bar 02 (and the two singles)
redshape - the dance paradox
lindstrom and prins II
shackleton - three eps
meanderthals - desire lines
dam funk - toeachizown
jon hassell - last night the moon came...
STL - dub techno explorations
moritz von oswald trio - vertical ascent
pill - 4180 the prescription
black meteoric star
john daly - sea and sky
most likely lindstrom & christabelle, but i haven't listened enough yet to be sure

singles/eps:
baby ford - gravy train; tin of worms
omar-s - still serious nic
odd machine - phase in
pepe bradock - swimsuit issue
cio d'or - die faser
santiago salazar - la minoria
margaret dygas - invisible circles
lawrence - jill
burger/voigt - wand aus klang remixes
andre lodemann - coming home
sally shapiro - miracle
walter jones - i'll keep on loving you
osborne - hovercrafting
woofy vs projections - neeve
matt john - radio self
tensnake - in the end (i want you to cry)
burial & four tet - moth
pantha du prince - behind the stars
floating points - love me like this; vacuum EP
chaton - +91 ahead session 3
even tuell - workshop 07
linkwood family - firecracker eps
kassem mosse - workshop 08
giorgio gigli - observation document

okay, i'm getting lazy...

various things on permanent vacation, underground quality, and sandwell district; singles by mark e, peter van hoesen, audion; remixes by baby ford, pepe bradock, aeroplane, idjut boys

as someone who likes pill & not really any other rap, can u explain why it is that hes the artist you're drawn to? seriously not trying to start an argument or say youre wrong, im just curious bcuz he seems to me to be a pretty standard -- good, but standard -- style of g rap.

basically pure ignorance. i haven't really spent time on the rap thread(s) partially due to laziness cause i'd have to get caught up on the conversation, but mostly because i already spend too much time on ILM. i also like gucci mane's the movie 3 mixtape (but haven't listened to it enough to know how much i like it) and was lukewarm on dj quik and kurupt's blaqkout. if you have any recommendations based on that i'd appreciate it.

can't speak for karl but of this year's hyped rappers, he's the one who fits best into the classic hip-hop storytelling/gritty ghetto narrative set. plus he enunciates! i think he has a superb grasp of how to push emotional buttons. i also realised this much more after finally listening to 4075 today, which is even better than 4180, where i could understand your "standard" criticism more.

ha xp

anyway i have to get myself together a top 5 to vote on...i have a top 6 set in stone, so one misses out.

1. electrik red
2. taylor swift
3. the-dream
4. dj quik & kurupt
=5. rihanna
=5. mariah carey

it's been a terrific year for albums i think; the rest, i mentally class by genre -

MOODY NIGHT MUSIC: The xx, Fever Ray
HIP-HOP: Gucci Mane, UGK, Marco Polo & Torae, Pill, Lil' Wayne, Kid Sister
BANGING TECHNO: Redshape, Etienne Jaumet, Omar-S, Black Meteoric Star
PUNK ROCK GUITARS: Demi Lovato, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
BALEARIC/DISCO: Meanderthals, The Juan Maclean
FEMALE SINGER SONGWRITER: Eleni Mandell, Cortney Tidwell
HEAVY BASS: Dâm-Funk, Shackleton, Toddla T
SUNDRY R&B: Maxwell, Jamie Foxx, Ciara

^^would recommend all of the above with barely any reservations

I don't know Elani Mandell. Worth checking out?

definitely. LA songwriter, really smoky voice; i like her when she's being sultry and moody rather than delicate and cute. kevin, shipley and myself have been repping for her on her thread, we all seem to like about 2/3 of the album each but it's a different 2/3 for each person.

(her album from 2001, thrill, is really amazing though)

What do you feel about the "new" Courtney Love, or Neko Case? (the two singer-songwriters from this year that I've loved)

(Also, Alela Diane to a lesser extent.)

not a ton of stuff on youtube but here's the single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slP1SEnfX6E

XP OH SHIT i forgot courtney!!! fuck, there goes my neat wrapped-up 30-albums-of-the-year. how did i do that?!

neko, gave it a couple of tries, went in one ear and out the other - don't think it's a patch on blacklisted and didn't feel the one track that everyone recommended

did the courtney actually get released?

I kinda want to make a list of the female singer-songwriter stuff I've loved this decade. There's just so much of it. And it's all been really good. (Maybe a thread?)

i don't think the courtney did get released. actually i'm sure it didn't, if it had then there'd have been inescapable kerfuffle.

that thread might be good, i've been sorely unimpressed with a lot of the female singer-songwriter stuff i've heard this decade compared with the artists i grew up on.

Had to produce a list of that kind recently. Was surprised how easy it was to come up with twenty records, all of which I really love.

Do the thread.

Supposedly that Courtney Love album is due out January 1st now.

Songs Are Like Tattoos: Female Singer-Songwriter Rolling Thread

can't speak for karl but of this year's hyped rappers, he's the one who fits best into the classic hip-hop storytelling/gritty ghetto narrative set. plus he enunciates! i think he has a superb grasp of how to push emotional buttons.

^this is exactly how i feel and why he's more than just a standard g rapper.

What do you feel about the "new" Courtney Love, or Neko Case? (the two singer-songwriters from this year that I've loved)

― Mordy, Monday, November 23, 2009 5:38 PM (1 hour ago)

like the neko a lot (though i almost never get all the way through, get sort of restless by the end), only listened to that vourtney leak a couple times but "pacific coast highway" is fantastic

The Eleni Mandell seems (to this newcomer) a departure from her past work, because its more of a chorus-trading band collaboration with her new guitarist Jeremi Drake. I've only heard snippets, and like the atmosphere perhaps more than the lyrical content, but this context works better for me than acoustic crooning...

MOODY NIGHT MUSIC: The xx, Fever Ray

Do not group these together ever again, it is a false compliment to the former and a huge disservice to the latter.

Both albums have good songs, but enough bad songs to ruin them. They can be grouped together in that respect.

Fuck Buttons is a seriously high new entry in my annual esteem. And Califone.

that thread might be good, i've been sorely unimpressed with a lot of the female singer-songwriter stuff i've heard this decade compared with the artists i grew up on.

― lex pretend, Monday, November 23, 2009 10:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ditto :(

having searched my hard drive for "2009" I'm seeing the following:

more great drone / new new age (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/oct/26/new-wave-new-age) / 'god we LOVE tangerine dream' stuff:
stellar om source, alliance and ocean woman
oneohtrix point never, zones without people
and *especially* infinity window, artificial midnight and skyramps, days of thunder

a++:
fever ray, fever ray
moritz von oswald trio, vertical ascent
william basinski, 92982

also liked:
arthur russell, the sleeping bag sessions
matias aguayo, 14 tracks deep inside matias aguayo and ay ay ay
maudlin of the well, part the second
nomo, invisible cities
oliver huntemann, h-3
redshape, the dance paradox
sunn o))), monoliths & dimensions
vladislav delay, tummaa .. had only half-listened but watching this: http://vimeo.com/7202755 led to a second chance.

releases by a place to bury strangers and the field were disappointments .. failure in both cases to follow up a promising+flawed debut with something really original. the xx album made for a pleasurable quiet-night listen.

reissues:
saint etienne, foxbase alpha (or beta, now?)
the feelies, crazy rhythms (which has prompted lots of welcome looking-back-on i.e. here: http://zonestyxtravelcard.blogspot.com/2009/11/crazy-rhythms.html and I've seen more too)
apparently there are a bunch of radiohead reissues, which I might be interested in.

Is the basinski really worth checking out? I loved disintegration loops