TOP 10 NOW: \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\shawty got poll poll poll poll poll poll poll (part II: 2008 ALBUMS)/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

He's obviously a great songwriter but I feel like his voice holds back the material sometimes, and I don't feel the same way about The-Dream or R. Les or any of the other songwriters-turned-artists who can't really sing.

really? r-les is so far beneath the other two it's not even funny

a hoy hoy, the thread is moving fast and things are getting disconnected, that is all. Plus there seem to be two (three?) seperate conversations happening at once.

given that understatement is such an important part of ne-yo's overall aesthetic, i think ne-yo's understated voice is pretty much perfect for it

otm

i would sort of agree, but there's far greater potential for emotional resonance with ne-yo - some of those songs just ring so true, whereas there's always this (v appealing) element of theatricality with the-dream

― lex pretend, Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:23 PM Bookmark

Yeah, Ne-Yo's worldview is a lot more grounded obv. There's no way a pre-fame Dream's life was anything like what is portrayed on his record, but the fantasy apect of it is a large part of the appeal.

i know. i dunno why i posted that comment actually. listening to the ne-yo now, let's hope its as good as you guys waxing lyrical are saying it is.

i would sort of agree, but there's far greater potential for emotional resonance with ne-yo - some of those songs just ring so true, whereas there's always this (v appealing) element of theatricality with the-dream

^^this was a slightly cack-handed way of saying that i get far more weepy/emo/sentimental when listening to ne-yo than the-dream

songs which will be your dream date vs songs which will be your best friend

Studio got 5 #1s a couple of years ago and that propelled them way up into the top 10. Some albums must have got a lot of votes, considering Los Campesinos only got to #25 with three aesthetically bankrupt people voting them #1.

The-Dream isn't trying to get weepy or emo or sentimental, he's trying to get punanny.

Even the song about the girl that broke his heart is about how good the sexin' is with his rebound chick.

dream date!

the girls whose hearts the-dream breaks are all at home listening to ne-yo's album on repeat

^^^how I break it down to an extent

I tried writing about the LC! but no matter what I said, it pretty much looked like a long version of 'i'm white btw'. It's just perfect for a rubbish student indie fake-vegetarian wanting to hear something, well, joyful.

I'm only 4 tracks into the Ne-Yo on spotify so I can't really form anymore of an opinion other than enjoyment.

Did The-Dream's Love/Hate suffer from a weird release date or what? I'm surprised I haven't seen it on any list. Didn't see it listed on this year or last years P&J or anywhere else other than a couple personal list... I figured it would get more love.

It did suffer a weird release date (late December '07), but I think it's only really CANON on ilm.

Lex/Tuomas I want to know what you thought about Earth & Torche!

24 - Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up The Hill
126.5 points, 10 votes
108 in P&J, 37 in p4k

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8756/1104962ct2.jpg

Finally got the new one today...So amazing. Like, one of the best things I've heard all year. Its been a long time since I've been able to just sit down and let an album wash over me, but this has done it. "Stuck" in particular just makes me swoon. The melodies on this are amazing! I just ordered the re-release of the split with Inca Ore from Aquarius. Can't wait.

― jonathan - stl

I want to say something about how this album unfolds it's pleasures like a flower, at about the same speed, without it sounding dirty.

Possibly the most gorgously intimate and non "produced" sounding thing I've heard all year too. She might as well be in the room.

― fandango

that is one creepy freaking cover.

a little late to the party here, but i want to say i basically agree with lex 100% on everything w/r/t YOTG, especially this

'closer' is very great but i don't feel it's particularly representative of YOGH. 'single' and 'mad' are, but i think the album's heart is in the more delicate, thoughtful second half - 'part of the list', 'back to what you know', 'lie to me'.

― lex pretend, Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:10 PM (32 minutes ago)

lex and i agree that 'single' and 'mad' are the two best songs here, but it's important to really engage with the second half of the album, which doesn't have as many knockouts but is essential to recognizing the album's true character

i also second his recommendation of matos' idolator post, it's wonderful

Album cover is interesting... what/who does it sound like?

It's a creepy album too.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!! Grouper!!!! My no2 pick!!!

That song is probably the poppiest think Liz Harris has done, I think that song might appeal to 4ad/Mazzy Star fans?

Review from Foxy Digitalis. it got 10/10

Grouper "Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill"
Type

On her 3rd outing as Grouper, Liz Harris strides forward with her most fully realized album to date. Where previous efforts were more or less focused on the creation of ambient spaces that masked the underlying song structures of each of Harris?s pieces, ?Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill? finds her striking a fine balance point between the two creating an amazing cycle of dreamy melancholic pop songs. The twelve down tempo cuts on this album envelope the listener in a swirling fog of sound; acting as a transportation device to those quite hours in the morning where the fog and chill of night are just starting to lift and one can begin to see the first rays of light glistening off the dew. Those beautifully still hours when the world slips momentarily into silence while shifting between night and day. There?s a sense of sadness that pervades these songs, but Harris manages to circumnavigate the tendency many may have to bog the listener down in a mire of despair, but instead offers up a more contemplative atmosphere.

Each song is simply and carefully arranged for acoustic guitar, electric guitar and voice. Many of the pieces maintain but a single pattern over which Harris lays her wonderful and soothing voice encouraging the listener to drift off. There is almost a mantra-like quality to each of the songs with its reliance on repetition and sustained mood. Beginning with the brief instrumental ?Disengaged? the album moves into full on dreamsong mode with ?Heavy Water/I?d Rather be Sleeping?. This piece works to set the tone for the whole record, the first part invoking more atmosphere or a dreamscape, while ?I?d Rather be Sleeping? is a straight up and engrossing song structure based around a very simple chord progression on acoustic guitar and a yearning to return to sleep. As the album moves along the songs switch between acoustic and mildly effected electric guitar all the while continuing along the intoxicating path established at the onset of the recording. While each song is an absolute joy to behold, the space is established in such a way that each function more or less as part of a whole and differentiating one from another really becomes rather unnecessary, one just yearns for the woozy effect of those breathy vocals as they eventual gather the listener up into an almost euphoric state of being.

?Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill? is really a testament to the power of simplicity within song, and is one of those great records that will require continued listening for many years to come, especially when moments of reflection and contemplation are needed. This is an amazing album that will most likely remain a highlight release for the year. 10/10 -- Cory Card (18 June, 2008)

My no2 pick in this poll. Well chuffed to see it place.

Maybe calling it a "creepy" album is a misstatement. It's more of a "creeper" album.

oh ok now im sold

Yay for Grouper, but isn't it called Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, rather than 'dear' and 'the hill'?

xpost, yes it is.

when i finish checking out the dream (ok, loving this a lot more than ne-yo on initial reactionz), i will check out that grouper, it sounds right up my street.

I feel bad contributing to this thread little more than 'ok, i need to listen to that. and that. and this. and then i listened to this and liked it. and then i listened to this and liked it. etc.'

Woah the grouper sounds good, even if its combination of shoegazer wispiness and strumming is a bit LOL2008.

Where the hell are all these records being talked about? I don't remember ever having heard of that one.

i wrote this a few nights ago re los camp!... and it's a little unpolished cuz i was up against deadline but it's basically how i feel about them

Los Campesinos!, an indie rock band of college kids from Cardiff, Wales, released two full albums in 2008. The first, Hold On Now, Youngster..., is one of the best and most fully realized indie debuts of the decade. At the surface, the album is just a sugar-rush indie album with twee leanings (see: awful doodles on the album cover), but at its core it reveals a band that features a few of the most singular and inventive minds in contemporary indie.

At the forefront is lyricist and vocalist Gareth Campesinos! (all band members have stage last names on the Ramones tip), a post-LiveJournal lyricist who is more in touch with our generation of Internet over-sharing and blog verbosity than maybe anyone in music. Some find Gareth's screeds and harsh singing voice melodramatic and overly silly. But that's because the idea that teen drama is simultaneously silly and dead-serious emo is basically the point of Los Campesinos!

Gareth's humor and wit are unmatched, and he takes on our generation's ridiculous histrionics by lovingly mocking himself ("And I spent the last seven years/ Perched on the edge of my bed/ Scratching 'I am incredibly sincere' into my forearms") as much as he does others (actual song name example: "This is How You Spell 'Hahaha, We Destroyed the Hopes and the Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics'").

The whole thing -- wordy titles, snarky lyrics, great pop hooks -- is very Fall Out Boy, if Pete Wentz's major influences were Pavement and Yo La Tengo. But, similar to when Fall Out Boy cut through the garbage-sludge of Nickelback and Audioslave with "Sugar, We're Going Down," Los Campesinos! have positioned themselves as the antidote to contemporary British indie, the anti-Glasvegas/Bloc Party/Kaiser Chiefs, etc.

emil.y loads of good albums could have been higher if you had voted!

rest is boring interview w bassist xp to myself

I feel bad contributing to this thread little more than 'ok, i need to listen to that. and that. and this. and then i listened to this and liked it. and then i listened to this and liked it. etc.'

no don't be, it's good to know that people are checking things out...

i had never heard of grouper at all before, and that is a freaky cover, but the review makes me want to check it out.

basically i see what's v hatable w/ them that im surprised that i love them so (i was a #1) and are surprised when other ppl do (lol passantino) but i also get what is so incredible about them but it basically boils down to "i identify with lyrics" (i am white and sometimes emo btw) and i like indie rock with great hooks (" i am white btw")

everyone keeps talking about the dream? but its not been listed has it or have i missed something?

I love Fall Out Boy, so it's probably intellectually dishonest of me to continue to avoid Los Campesinos based on all of the "i am white btw" associations alone.

x-post, The-Dream is so gonna make it onto the list, it's riot time if not.

yeah the-dream is gonna place really high

i hate fall out boy anyway, and even more so for effectively ending ashlee simpson's career via impregnating her :(

the only diff b/w los camp! and fall out boy is that the former came up in the 90s and the latter in the 80s - of course a comparison to fall out boy is high complement imo

the child, lest we forget, is named bronx mowgli wentz

kinda wish dom wasn't banned from this thread as he's the only person i know on ilx who likes both fall out boy and lc!

Hold On Now Youngster was my #1 as well, but I guess you all knew that, considering I've spent so much of the thread being such a LC! stan.

dom, if you're reading, plz evaluate my claim

what do you guys who like fall out boy think of their first few records?

i haven't heard anything before cork tree

w00t for Grouper, my vote weighed in. Hauntingly beautiful.