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

(And I don't mean like Fever Ray or Future of the Left which are clearly extensions of previous artists.)

electrik red

discovery

lee fields & the expressions

added:

strange boys
bloody mary
the legends

Also, it's Future of the Left's second album.

xposts

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
LSD March - Under Milk Wood
Giuseppe Lelasi - Aix
Gudrun Gut - Apples, Pears & Deer in Poland EP
The Intelligence - Fake Surfers
Micachu and The Shapes - Jewellry
Fabio Orsi/Valerio Cosi - Thoughts Melt In the Air
Moritz von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent
Sonic Youth - The Eternal

is it fair to say that if i found micachu to be unbearably awful live then i won't like the record? does she try to actually sing on record?

omar otm wrt strange boys what a wonderful album!

will have to hear this gudrun gut ep

add cass mccombs - 'catacombs' and michachu and the shapes - 'jewellry' to my list

xxxpost K3vin I think if you couldn't stomach her live it's probably not super different on the record...but the record is GREAT if you can clear that hurdle. Anyway for me at least her voice isn't in that dealbreaker category w/ like Joanna Newsom or the Of Montreal guy...just sounds like she's having fun w/ what she's got..,.

The Gudrun Gut EP has me v. juiced for another full-length...very much on the same vein as the last LP w/ the retarted, on-the-one, sort of polka thing going on. So hot, also has kind of a Fizheuer Zieheur vibe happening with vaguely Slavic, little horn or string stuff

"in" same vein

xxxpost K3vin I think if you couldn't stomach her live it's probably not super different on the record...but the record is GREAT if you can clear that hurdle. Anyway for me at least her voice isn't in that dealbreaker category w/ like Joanna Newsom or the Of Montreal guy...just sounds like she's having fun w/ what she's got..,.

― Hadrian VIII, Monday, July 27, 2009 10:29 AM (8 hours ago)

o____0

kevin barnes can sing!!! well! yeah i don't think i'm going to check them out, i don't have the patience for someone who's in a band of this profile but hasn't bothered learning how to sing and thinks blasting me with awful, pointless noise in the middle of her songs is a good idea. someone next to me at the siren fest said something about how "she makes her own intsruments herself!" as if that were a good thing, lol no

she brings my inner lex out where i wanna hate on her for neglecting to learn to dress herself, on top of everything else

blasting me with awful, pointless noise in the middle of her songs is a good idea

you have listened to skeletal lamping right?

"i'm learning to troll"

anyway i think micachu is alright but all that just seems underwritten to me. also the childish aesthetic really puts me off. if she can write a good song then she should write a real song not some 1:20 thing with a toy guitar and a xylophone

are you trying to tell me that there aren't blasts of pointless noise in skeletal lamping?

and i like twee stuff like architecture in helsinki and the boy least likely to but to see her being celebrated by people as some sort of like raw, outsider, underground pop musician (and she makes grime mixtapes!!) makes me roll my damn eyes

i'm saying you and i have talked about it before and also, no, imo there arent

xp

jordan pretty otm about micachu

has anyone heard the zola jesus lp on sacred bones yet? went back to new amsterdam yesterday and was surprised at how nice it was. think i'd just reduced her to being rester + some soundalikes.

― the heart is a lonely hamster (schlump), Sunday, July 26, 2009 3:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The Spoils is the only thing i've heard by her, and I think she has actual songwriting talent. too bad the production makes it kind of unlistenable

Kool Keith - Livin astro

Brilliant song and video, but it's from 10 years ago unfortunately.

my 10 albums so far
Dinosaur Jr
Phoenix
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Animal Collective
DOOM
Future Of The Left
Handsome Furs
Silversun Pickups
Junior Boys
Rick Ross

replace silversun pickups with Black Dice

ok and replace handsome furs with SUNN 0)))

'vulture' from the micachu album is the most addictive track ive heard this year. i really like the album, its a fun record, dont know anything about her. so i guess i havent been turned off by the hype. is there hype? i just came across the music on a radio show.

Micachu is the worst fucking thing ever.

The only thing that came out this year that I've been listening to is the new Bob Dylan album. Not very au courant of me.

there seems to be a strong chance that i wont even have a top 10 by the end of 2009.
also, due to an ongoing loss of interest caused by real life gubbins, i've no desire to hear most of the stuff listed so far.
[i've come to realise my head gets into this type of groove once in a while - but these days it seems to happen more and more often!?]
in fact, the only albums on the horizon that i reckon are good for me are the forthcoming soulsavers album, and flykllr (if it gets the all clear).

The only thing that came out this year that I've been listening to is the new Bob Dylan album. Not very au courant of me.

― o. nate, Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:36 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

I'm amazed at how this album just seemed to disappear after it came out.

How is it, o. nate? I'm guessing it's really good if you keep listening to it. :-)

How is it, o. nate? I'm guessing it's really good if you keep listening to it. :-)

Yeah, it's pretty good. I find it easier to just throw on while cooking dinner or something than his previous couple of albums were - those seemed a bit heavier.

Have there been any good debut albums this year?
astra - the weirding

That Micachu record is outstanding and I've yet to hear a single criticism of it that isn't either _______ or ________ or both.

Just because people are making the same criticisms doesn't mean those points aren't valid.

clark - totems flare (crank it up)
john tilbury & polwechsel - field
dino jr. - farm

"The songs are too short", "the girl can't sing" and "random bursts of noise" are pretty shaky reasons for a record's dismissal. You could dismiss "Another Green World" on the same ground.

There are things to dislike about it... that at least four songs sound exactly like "Tequila". I played the record for Ben Jacobs when he was staying with me, and he said, "it's awesome, but I can't listen to it. Her Surrey accent horrifies me."

Anyway, I love it. And I'm sad the Telepathe record got slept on. When it came out I read a lot of "don't like Williamsburg, don't like Nylon, don't like Sitek", but the sound of that record is terrifying and amazing.

Cosign on the Micachu record; it's just so much fun, the criticisms seem very mealy-mouthed and off-base. I think she's got a great voice for what she's doing.

Got around to checking out that Hatcham Social record last night... and again this morning... and earlier this afternoon... and again here shortly. Lovin' it.

"The songs are too short", "the girl can't sing" and "random bursts of noise" are pretty shaky reasons for a record's dismissal. You could dismiss "Another Green World" on the same ground.

uhh, two of these complaints certainly wouldn't make any sense leveled at Another Green World...

well, call Eno a girl all you want, but I won't tolerate anyone accusing Another Green World of having "random bursts of noise."

anyway, carry on, i haven't heard Micachu.

Granted the only exposure I've had to Micachu was an NPR video podcast, but she struck me as someone that spent way more time developing her carefully crafted "aww shucks, I just woke up from bed and wrote this silly lil' song" image than she did in actually developing an engaging tune.

a few of these were already mentioned, but worth repeating:

Albums

Fever Ray
Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent
John Daly - Sea and Sky
Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
El Perro del Mar - Love is Not Pop
Lindstrom & Prins - II
Yagya - Rigning

EPs

Giorgio Gigli - Observation Document
Even Tuell - Workshop 07
Donnacha Costello - While in Exile EP and Tragedy of Commons EP
Baby Ford - Gravy Train
Andre Lodemann - Coming Home
Sally Shapiro - Miracle
Burial & Four Tet - Moth
Chaton - +91 Ahead Session 3

To add to my list above, stuff I've added since my arbitrary cut-off date.

Oneida - Rated O (this would probably rank in the top 5, easily)
Maxwell - BLACKsummer'snight
Bowerbirds - Upper Air

Got around to checking out that Hatcham Social record last night... and again this morning... and earlier this afternoon... and again here shortly. Lovin' it.

yay! i think this record has been sadly slept on thus far

Heh, and I'm listening to it again right now

Thanks to everyone who mentioned Hatcham Social (which was totally off my radar). Great little album.

Albums I'm Looking Forward to:
Mariah Carey
Rooney
Yo La Tengo
Julian Casablancas
Cassie
Drake
Kris Allen
Jay Reatard
The Avalanches
Os Mutantes
Scarlett Johansson/Pete Yorn
Imogen Heap
D'Angelo
Christina Milian
Mission of Burma