Favorite Albums You Haven't Seen In The Critics' Polls 08

Yes, the Lone album definitely. I also liked Pas Chic Chic, Julian Cope and Death in the Neighbourhood.

I was hoping to see some r'n'b, rap, blues, soul, reggaton, salsa, dancehall, roots reggae, jazz and multiple types of afropop here not just indie. I'll add some more later. Here's a few things-- Concha Buika, Blind Boys of Alabama, John Buitte, Calle 13.

Sharron Kraus - "The Fox's Wedding"
Silver Summit - "Silver Summit"

Jamey Johnson- That Lonesome Song

basically just albums that my friends put out that no one cares about because they aren't famous

^^^

Joan As Policewoman-To Survive

Jeezy

some faves I haven't seen on any mags'/prominent sites' lists yet:

Parts & Labor - Receivers
Jaguar Love - Take Me To The Sea
Robin Thicke - Something Else
Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
Pink - Funhouse
A.B.N. - It Is What It Is
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
Raheem DeVaughn - Love Behind The Melody
Jonathan Richman - Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
Sloan - Parallel Play
Prodigy - Product Of The 80s
Sheek Louch - Silverback Gorilla
Walter Becker - Circus Money
Rich Boy - Bigger Than The Mayor
Grand Buffet - King Vision
Blake Leyh - X-Ray Yankee Zulu Tango
The B-52s - Funplex

Shed - Shedding The Past

Hasn't been in any lists at all and probably won't be but it's marvellous from start to finish.

white denim - exposion
paper route gangstaz w/ diplo - fear and loathing in huntsvegas mixtape
the cool kids - bake sale ep
harlem - free drugs;)

Jamie Lidell - Jim.... Great album.

Clark - Turning Dragon

The Bug - London Zoo

^ I carped about this in t'other thread and someone pointed out it's #2 on metacritic.

a mountain of one - collected works

baffled about lack of mention of this one. is it just that anyone who cared, cared in 2007? it had a 2008 US release.

Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness

All of them

Robert Forster - The Evangelist

O T M re: Robert Forster!!

and two of my other faves:
Vikki Jackman - Whispering Pages
Jonas Reinhardt s/t

Is the Annie album in all the lists again?

Dungen thirded.

yea i was pleasantly surprised with the jonas reinhardt s/t on kranky. also, i couldn't stop listening to arp's 'in light' this year

Dub Colossus, A Town Called Addis; any of my jazz or Latin or world faves; XX Teens, Welcome to Goon Island

^^ yes--i forgot about Arp!

15 Great Albums from 2008 that will unfortunately NOT be on many Best of 2008 Lists

Adoration - Sleepwalking
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/adoration__uk_/sleepwalking/
Influenced by Clan of Xymox and The Cure circa disintegration - atmospherical dreamy music from London

http://www.myspace.com/adorationuk

Emily Bezar - Exchange
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/emily_bezar/exchange/
America's answer to Kate Bush - art-rock music with expressive female vocals

http://cdbaby.com/cd/ebezar5
http://www.myspace.com/emilybezar

Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin - Holon
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nik_bartsch%E2%80%99s_ronin/holon/
minimalist groove electronic jazz soundscapes from Switzerland

http://www.myspace.com/nikbaertschsronin

Brave - Monuments
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/brave/monuments/
sublime art-rock music from USA with lush female vocals

http://www.myspace.com/braveband

Burst - Lazarus Bird
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/burst/lazarus_bird/
one of the best produced rock albums of 2008 - multi-dimensional brilliance from Sweden. Fans of Cave In - Jupiter will love this album.

http://www.myspace.com/burstrelapse

Elephant9 - Dodovoodoo
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/elephant9/dodovoodoo/
powerful jazz-fusion rock from Norway

http://www.myspace.com/elephant9theband

Folk & Røvere - Lysrædd
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/folk_and_rovere/lysraedd/
burial influences plus trip-hop soundscape music from Norway - glacial grooves

http://www.myspace.com/folkogrovere

Guapo - Elixirs
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/guapo/elixirs/
avant progressive rock from England - more spatial and varied than their previous albums

http://www.myspace.com/guapoband

Mar de Grises - Draining the Waterheart
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/mar_de_grises/draining_the_waterheart/
death-doom metal with post-metal atmospherics from Chile - superbly produced album - one of the top tier metal albums of 2008

http://www.myspace.com/mardegrises2

Metus - Deliverance
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/metus/deliverance/
ethereal music from Poland
slowcore dreamy ambient gothic atmospheric art-rock, piano, violins, deep gothic vocals - would appeal to Swans 90s era and Beyond Dawn fans

http://www.myspace.com/metuspl

Mothlite - The Flax of Reverie
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/mothlite/the_flax_of_reverie/
progressive art rock from England, the production on this album is sublime - would appeal to Talk Talk and Beta Band fans

from their myspace page: stated influences
The Underneath | Tin Drum | Night of the Hunter | Music from the Penguin Cafe | White Light from the Mouth of Infinity | The Magic Mountain | Spirit of Eden | Laughing Stock | Hounds of Love | Turangalîla-Symphonie | Big Science | La Planete Sauvage | Lodger | Tarka the Otter | Delusion of the Fury | Feel Flows | Songs from the Big Chair | Love's Secret Domain | Blue Jay Way

http://www.myspace.com/mothlite

Orakle - Tourments and Pedition
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/orakle/tourments_and_perdition/
France's answer to Arcturus - avant progressive melodic black metal - the vocalist does the best Garm [of Arcturus] impersonation ever

http://www.myspace.com/orakleband

Setna - Cycle I
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/setna/cycle_i/
absolutely stunning music ! from France one of the very best albums of 2008 - fans of Comus will enjoy this - trippy psychedelic music

http://www.myspace.com/setnasesame

Trincaria - Travel Now Journey Infinitely
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/trinacria/travel_now_journey_infinitely/
noise rock meets shoegazer metal from this Norwegian collective, the title track Part VI: Travel Now Journey Infinitely - is pure orgasmic in it's build up and release - would appeal to My Bloody Valentine and Neurosis fans. Some metal purists just didn't know what to make of this album, it left them rather confused.

http://www.myspace.com/trinacriamusic

Virus - The Black Flux
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/virus_f3/the_black_flux/
complex experimental rock music from Norway - in the 70s this would have been labeled "rock in opposition"

http://www.myspace.com/czral

a mountain of one - collected works

i am pretty sure this was 2007. good album though.

thanx for those djmartian,

Peter Rehberg - Work for GV 2004 - 2008

gets a mention from me.

I don't think it officially came out in the US in 2007 but that doesn't mean much anymore

xpost

amazon.com sez 2008... no wiki entry for them?

Audio CD (June 3, 2008)
# Original Release Date: October 8, 2007
# Number of Discs: 1
# Label: Mountain Records
# ASIN: B000UYT8RC

check that second line...Original Release Date: October 8, 2007

it was 2007 in the UK

this wasn't really a "favorite album" per se but i thought born ruffian's "red yellow and blue" was a more successful version of vampire weekend's sound and no one really seemed to care ... might be the lack of obvious afropop signifiers for writers to latch on to?

Come on curmudgeon, reggaeton and salsa mostly suck this year as we've sort of been discussing all year on the appropriate rolling thread. Unless you count those two new Cesar Pedroso albums as salsa (one of them not under his name) in which case it would be nice to see some recognition for them, but it's not too surprising.

I'll second Boris's Smile.

A couple different records on Type:

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill (<<<especially this)
Koen Holtkamp - Field Rituals

London Zoo made #9 on the Mojo list but should be more widely known.

Really? That seems astonishingly high for Mojo of all publications.

the bug is number 2 on metacritic 2008 albums - so is already highly praised by the critical mainstream

2 London Zoo by The Bug
http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2008.shtml

Both GGD and the Bug are in the Fact 20 Album List.

Fact Magazine - Top 20
http://tinyurl.com/69ffhp

Confluence, by Manual (Jonas Munk), is his loveliest/floaty-est ambient work yet. Probably has a good shot at recognition on ambient-specialist lists, but I doubt it will show up in any more generalist lists (if there's a token spot for ambient processed guitar work, it will surely go to Fennesz).

these lists are mostly indie-centric so most of my own will be absent, but a favourite album which i haven't seen many people repping for even within its genre is anja schneider's beyond the valley - really exquisitely done minimal techno. it doesn't "move the scene forward" or "switch the game up" or anything which would make it canon- or crossover-friendly, but i love its frosted prettiness - it's full of character and REALLY heavy on melody. 'maki' is probably my favourite on it.

Paavoharju first best album whose title I can neither pronounce nor remember.

I haven't seen any of my favorite albums on critics' poll lists so far. Eventually I'll maybe see Jamey Johnson (from my top ten) one or two, and I'll almost definitely wind up seeing James McMurtry and Ne-Yo (from my top 20) on a couple. Taylor Swift will probably wind up in my top 30, and she already made Blender's list, at least. Lil Wayne and Hold Steady and Robyn might make my top 50. But it's way easier to list those than to the list all the ones that haven't made any poll lists.

Is the Annie album in all the lists again?

no and not just because it's not being released until early next year now (i'll be surprised if it gets listed by many this time next year). it's in my 08 top 10 tho.

what about Strategy's 'Music For Lamping'? i haven't heard it yet but 'Future Rock' is really good.

Whaa? I didn't even know there was a new Strategy!

It's coming out again or is it a new album you are talking about?
x-post

xp (Both Santogold albums somewhere around 50 for me too; Kathleen Edwards a little below that; a handful or two more that I've seen on poll lists likely somewhere in my top 100. But mainly, if anything, I'm kind of amazed that people here don't disagree with random consensus lists way more than they do.)

yea really there are fewer similarities than differences in opinion

I didn't hear the whole Born Ruffians album but the Four Tet remix of "I Need a Life" sounded completely Graceland to me (it's the dude's voice, very Paul Simon-like). And no, for the last time, Vampire Weekend sounds nothing at all like Graceland, thanks and good night.

that strategy was collected older works i thought??

Is there already a thread where people get to complain about critics polls/magazine best-ofs appearing in November and early December, with deadlines in September and October? How is that a year-end issue?

I love the holidays more than most people I know, but there's enough going on that I can wait for my year-end issues until at least MLK Weekend. In fact, it's usually mid-January before I get around to reading all that crap anyway.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis

Robert Forster seconded, thirded, whatevs. BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR, DOGGS. What the fuck is a Fleet Foxes?

Did Forster not even make the Mojo list?

Forster again.

Shannon McArdle- Summer of the Whore

Only scanned through everything, but have scandalously yet to see a mention of the excellent Roots Manuva album.

Hey DJ Martian: Travel Now Journey Infinitely is by Trinacria (correct spelling) -- it's a supergroup made of members of Enslaved and Fe-mail, and it is indeed kick-ass. Also, I will second the idea that Guapo's record is pretty good but only about #50 for me, Santogold below that because meh. When she told us that she was DEFINITELY NOT R&B I stopped caring as much.

I predict that Erykah Badu will not place as highly anywhere as she would here or if there was an Idolator poll, where she might make top 10. Also, Willie Nelson ain't showing up anywhere, either with or without Wynton; are hipsters just over poor ol' Willie, or did I just miss his placements?

Also: TRICKY!!! I love that record!!! But I'm not surprised that Brits have decided to be over him!!!

Boris - Smile
Jamie Lidell - Jim.... Great album.

Great albums both, and will make my top ten for the year.

that new breeders album "mountain battles" is pretty damn great

Nomo - Ghost Rock

The Cheap Time debut is a lot more inspired than the Vivian Girls. "London Zoo" and Cheap Time are the only albums this year that I always seem to listen to start-to-finish. More garage rock: "We have you surrounded" is the best thing the Dirtbombs have done. I like Thee Oh Sees wall-of-noise pop on "Master's Bedroom" better than anything else Dwyer's done yet. And I like it better than the Raveonetts, Magnetic Fields and whoever else did that sound this year.

good call on the dirtbombs...i want to get that album, but haven't scrounged up the cash yet, plus the computers in the shop...I saw them at the Blind Pig a couple of weeks ago though...one of the best gig I've ever been to.

are hipsters just over poor ol' Willie, or did I just miss his placements?

Probably has something to do with him releasing 2 or 3 albums year for the past few years.

Atmosphere, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (Rhymesayers)

What can I say? It's playing in my head constantly nearly a year later, has more great songs than any of my other favorites from this year (i.e. less that I skip), and still strikes me as beautiful, poignant, and funny.

Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI: Ambleside

David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

But oddly not in the order it appears on the finished CD. When I downloaded it, the track-order I got (hard to believe it was random) was so much better:

Life Is Long
I Feel My Stuff
Everything That Happens
The River
The Lighthouse
Strange Overtones
Home
My Big Nurse
One Fine Day
Wanted for Life
Poor Boy

^yes

not to the tracklist, but the record

Come on curmudgeon, reggaeton and salsa mostly suck this year as we've sort of been discussing all year on the appropriate rolling thread. Unless you count those two new Cesar Pedroso albums as salsa (one of them not under his name) in which case it would be nice to see some recognition for them, but it's not too surprising.

RS, I'm always dreaming and hoping that someone else who never bothers with the Rolling thread will appear on these general interest threads naming off Spanish language stuff that will dazzle us both.

yeah, the tape album's great (xp)
the tenniscoats and secai record is one of my top two or three, kinda a slow burner but beautiful. if the record they made with tape was 08 not 07 then that'd be in there too.

marnie stern!

Tobias Froberg-Turn Heads
Correcto-s/t (Domino)

After my disappointment with The Secret Migration I didn't pay much attention to Mercury Rev's Snowflake Midnight when it came out in Sep. It's kind of sleepy but sounds great right now as the temperature plunges outside from 48 to 12 degrees, and rain will turn to snow, appropriately enough, around midnight.