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

what kind of stuff is that, kamerad? pop/noise/folk...?

Wish I knew what types of bands/albums they were, what they sounded like, as a lady who hasn't followed newmusic with any intentfor at least four years...

pop. chamber/baroque stuff, kind of somewhere between kevin ayers and scott walker, if that appeals

Vieux Farka Toure
Amadou & Mariam
Rokia Traore

"Happy House" by the Juan Maclean!

last year dude

xpost: I know

Theophilus London - This Charming Mixtape

refuse to listen to this

Way to take a stand. That'll learn 'em.

Wow just listened to the Mount Kimbie EP... thought i wasn't going to like it because RA did, but i really really do; black is white, etc.

Gonna give a shout out to the Sharon Van Etten record on Language of Stone. Real good folky singer-songwriter stuff. It's called Because I Was In Love. One of my favorites of the year, for sure.

I haven't heard a big/exciting/anything new release in at least a few weeks, maybe even a month. Has nothing come out lately?

maxwell

You're the second person to give me that answer to that question today. Guess I'll check it out.

On the psychedelic side of things, Cave "Pschic Psummer" and Oneida "Rated O" are ruling. I've only just gotten a copy of the new Group Doueh record on Sublime Frequencies "Treeg Salaam, but it is incredible. Love his wah wah technique, the second side is the jam that keeps on giving.

The new Blues Control is their best yet, as well.

The new Ayelet Rose Gottlieb album, "Upto Here | From Here" is really great. It's basically a recorded version of this Valentine's Day show she did in NYC last year, which I completely loved, so I'm thrilled that I can finally listen to it again. A bunch of amazing compositions, Avishai Cohen is tremendous on the trumpet, and Ayelet still has the sexiest voice in the world at this very moment. I highly highly highly recommend. Particularly "Sweep Streets," and "Pomegranate Man."

Avishai Cohen is tremendous on the trumpet

Really? On the trumpet? Never knew he playes trumpet as well...

I have to second Trip Maker's praise for the new Oneida. I've been a stan for some time, but Rated O is on some next level shit. Each disc stands well on its own and every time I listen to one of them, I have a new favorite. Just great, great stuff.

Yeah! "Luxury Travel" has been my favorite this week.

The new Ayelet Rose Gottlieb album, "Upto Here | From Here" is really great.

Oh wow, I will have to check that out.

Avishai Cohen is tremendous on the trumpet

Really? On the trumpet? Never knew he playes trumpet as well...

― t**t, Tuesday, July 21, 2009 8:16 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

there are two different jazz dudes named avishai cohen

I'm listening to these clips and it sounds more conventionally jazzy than Mayim Rabim, or just less experimental in general. Would you say that's the case? I like her vocals enough that I'd be willing to give it a shot, I think. It's not as though I'm not too broke to actually buy anything right now though.

Hey, Mordy--which sounds a little too casually familiar in tone--you should check out the jazzy new Shiina Ringo album, the only thing I have to really recommend from this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK3QX5ouT1M&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AyuwatJ&view=videos

soisong - xAj3z

Xp I'd say the new album is definitely much less experimental than Mayim Rabim, but her voice really is just incredible and gorgeous, and there are really some amazing vocal moments that could've been off Mayim Rabim. I'm loving it so far, but I only just heard it for the first time last night.

Shiina Ringo sounds crazy! Do you like Jewlia Eisenberg, btw? I keep hearing rumors that she's recording...

new Shiina Ringo = pretty awesome

Do you like Jewlia Eisenberg, btw?

Don't know her. I've seen her name mentioned here before (possibly by you) but I can't remember if I've looked into her.

She does really interesting vocal stuff - her group is called Charming Hostess, and my fave album by her is Trilectic.

That all sounds familiar. I will have to check to see if I ever checked into it.

Hmmm, sounds interesting. I don't go too much for straight East European Jewish traditional music, klezmer, and the like, but with all these twists it is a little easier to get interested in.

when I read my writing style in threads like this I have to shudder, but still, this thread needs more posts, 1998-2002 Charming Hostess was my favorite bay area live band and I hope there's a well-recorded concert from that time burned to a CDR somewhere waiting to be taken off the shelf and released

Charming Hostess

They're really so great. I heard them play a show at Tonic a few years ago, and there were about 20 people in the whole club. I went with a bunch of friends and we actually shouted requests out at them. They seemed pretty shocked to be getting requests. (We really wanted to hear Fortress Moscow.)

Incidentlally, Mordy, just to be clear I don't necessarily want to suggest Shiina Ringo sounds much like Ayelet! For one thing, she's not nearly as solid and reliable technically as a vocalist. I just think she is someone you might like based on various things you've mentioned. (But there is some use of jazz on this new CD, even if its jazz in the service of pop aims rather than something like Mayim Rabim which is closer to what I think of as actual jazz (even if it is jazz + other things).

My halfway list, what a weird years its been. The stuff I like is all over the place.

1. Mastodon - Crack the Skye (Reprise)
2. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
3. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
4. Dinosaur Jr - Farm (Jagjaguwar)
5. Wilco - Wilco (the album) (Nonesuch)
6. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (Domino)
7. Coalesce - Ox (Relapse)
8. Sonic Youth - The Eternal (Matador)
9. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Slumberland)
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! (Interscope)
11. Kylesa - Static Tensions (Prosthetic)
12. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)
13. Nomo - Invisible Cities (Ubiquity)
14. Handsome Furs - Face Control (Sub Pop)
15. Isis - Wavering Radiant (Ipecac)
16. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (Capitol)
17. Wooden Shjips - Dos (Holy Mountain)
18. Tombs - Winter Hours (Relapse)
19. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer (Jagjaguwar)
20. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (Warp)
21. Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand (Vice)
22. K'naan - Troubadour (A&M)
23. Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II (Eskimo)
24. The-Dream - Love vs. Money (Radio Killa/Def Jam)
25. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns (Astralwerks)

Honorable Mentions:
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Domino)
Cobalt - Gin (Profound Lore)
Glasvegas - Glasvegas (Columbia)
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South (Merge)
Obits - I Blame You (Sub Pop)
Morrissey - Years of Refusal (Attack/Lost Highway)
Fever Ray - Fever Ray (Rabid)
Mos Def - The Ecstatic (Downtown)
Silversun Pickups - Swoon (Dangerbird)
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (ANTI-)
Dan Deacon - Bromst (Carpark)

1 the-dream - love vs money
2 james blackshaw - the glass bead game
3 dj quik + kurupt - blaqkout
4 yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz!
5 electrik red - how to be a lady, vol. 1
6 ugk - ugk 4 life
7 dirty projectors - bitte orca
8 ryan leslie - ryan leslie
9 neko case - middle cyclone
10 antony and the johnsons - the crying light
11 lily allen - it's not me, it's you
12 eleni mandell - tiny waist
13 ciara - fantasy ride
14 maxwell - BLACKsummer'snight
15 death - ...for the whole world to see
16 freeway - month of madness
17 animal collective - mpp
18 ppp - abundance
19 dj paul - scale-a-ton
20 DOOM - born like this

i read ilm, if u couldnt tell u_u

my top ten so far this year:

outrageous cherry - universal malcontents
section 25 - nature + degree
hatcham social - you dig the tunnel i'll hide the soil
coloma - love's recurring dream
thieves like us - play music
cut off your hands - you + i
seeland - tomorrow today
my sad captains - here & elsewhere
the bats - the guilty office
it hugs back - inside your guitar

1 the-dream - love vs money
2 phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix
3 electrik red - how to be a lady vol. 1
4 yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz!
5 green day - 21st century breakdown
6 jay reatard - watch me fall
7 the juan maclean - the future will come
8 pill - 4180: the prescription
9 dj quik & kurupt - blaqkout
10 discovery - lp
11 major lazer - guns don't kill people, lazer's do
12 ryan leslie - ryan leslie
13 ciara - fantasy ride
14 dirty projectors - bitte orca
15 ugk - ugk 4 life
16 junior boys - begone dull care
17 javelin - jamz n jemz
18 gucci mane - writing on the wall
19 rick ross - deeper than rap
20 lil boosie - thug passion

camera obscura would go in there too

came around to that ross, huh?

http://images.paraorkut.com/img/pics/images/s/summer_sun_shine-3070.jpg

12 eleni mandell - tiny waist artificial fire

'watch me fall', album of the year. also really enjoyed 'yesterday and today' by the field and the fever ray record. not much else

1. grizzly bear - veckatimest
1. dirty projectors - bitte orca
2. the-dream - love vs money
3. the bitters - wooden glove 12"
4. white denim - fits
5. discovery - lp
5. major lazer - guns don't kill people, lazers do
6. sunset rubdown - dragonslayer
7. rick ross - deeper than rap

fever ray still tops for me. here we go magic record is good too. bubbling under - super furry animals and major swellings. lots of stuff i havent given a proper listen too though like the yeah yeah yeah's, major lazer....

oh wait the phoenix record is good but not a patch on the last one

songs

here we go magic - tunnelvision
animal collective - brothersport
grizzly bear - all we ask
major lazer - keep it goin' loud ft nina sky & ricky blaze
dirty projectors - useful chamber
rick ross - all i really want ft. the-dream
best coast - the sun was high (so was i)
tyvek - frustration rock
atlas sound - walkabout ft panda bear
discovery - it's not my fault (it's my fault)

it's been a really good year so far, halfway and my list is looking alot better than last year's.

john scofield, piety street
bad plus, for all i care
ugk, ugk 4 life
dirty projectors, bitte orca
tbc brass band, modern times
maxwell, blacksummer's night

songz aka where the big singles at
1. Drake - "Best I Ever Had'
2. Goapele - "Milk and Honey"
3. House of House - "Rushing to Paradise (Walkin' These Streets)"
4. Jamie Foxx feat. T Pain - "Blame It"
5. Lily Allen - "The Fear"
6. Mariah Carey - "Obsessed"
7. Free Energy - "Dream City"
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero"
9. The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing"
10. Jeremih - "Birthday Sex"

i support this list

Bachelorette- My Electric Family
Jay Reatard- Watch me Fall
Fever Ray- Fever Ray
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amedeus
Sunn O)))- Monoliths and Dimensions

Nothing else comes to mind.