Just kidding. It’s albums. Two sets: First the newer artists, then the old ones. There’s a lot of great music out there. I have no idea if it’s popular or on a big label, or if it sells, or if the band is even still going, but here it is in no particular order:
Starling Electric – Clouded Staircase (very Robert Pollard-y, but without the stuff that makes most people not like Robert Pollard)
J. Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues / Cancer and Delirium (Rec. if you like Iron & Wine)
Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain
Frontier Ruckus – The Orion Songbook
Flying Lotus – Los Angeles / LAEP1 / LAEP2 / LAEP3
The Grand Archives
The Middle East – The Recordings Of The Middle East
Vampire Weekend (Hyped, but still so good)
Santogold – maybe my favorite of the year
We Are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery (This is the music Molly Ringwald would have playing during her big John Hughes scenes if the 80s were now… or something)
Walkmen – You & Me
The Tallest Man On Earth – Shallow Graves
Slow Runner – Mermaids
The Morning Benders- Talking Through Tin Cans / Bedroom Covers
Machinefabriek – Soccer
Deadbeat – Roots & Wire
Dark Dark Dark – Snow Magic
Dark Captain Light Captain – Miracle Kicker
Daniel Martin Moore – Stray Age
Bohren & der Club of Gore – Dolores
Longwave – Secrets Are Sinister
The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement (Arctic Monkeys guy doing 60s-ish pop with strings.)
King Khan and The Shrines – The Supreme Genius of King Khan and The Shrines
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Lightspeed Champion – Falling Of The Lavender Bridge
Department Of Eagles – In Ear Park
Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
(and as if two albums weren’t enough he also did the next one ->)
Atlas Sound – Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
The Dodos – Visiter
The Submarines – Honeysuckle Weeks
No Age – Nouns
Fleet Foxes –
MGMT Oracular Spectacular/Time To Pretend
Peter Bjorn & John – Seaside Rock (Instrumentals)
Doug Walker – Fear Together
The old guys:
Bauhaus – Go Away White
Paul Westerberg – 49:00
Ryan Adams – Cardinology
Robert Pollard Is Off To Business
Tim Finn – The Conversation
Death in June – Rule of Thirds
Conor Oberst
Robert Forster – The Evangelist
NIN -The Slip / Ghosts
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist – the Hard Sell / The Hard Sell Encore
Albert Hammond Jr. – ¿Cómo Te Llama?
Jon Brion – Synecdoche, New York
AC/DC – Black Ice
John Zorn – The Dreamers
Jay Bennett – Whatever Happened I Apologize
The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
The Fireman – Electric Arguments (I hated the last Paul McCartney album. Amazingly, this one with Youth (Killing Joke, Primal Scream) is pretty damn good).
Elvis Costello – Momofuku
What I didn’t like: Portishead – Third
Radiohead – as usual. It’s been a decade since I’ve liked a record of theirs.
Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
Reissues:
Gas – Box set
Robyn Hitchcock – 10 CDs in 2 box sets
New Order (who cares about the glitches)
Replacements
And one form 2007 I didn’t really listen to until recently that I love a lot now:
The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour
Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Shugo Tokumaru – Exit
Mates of State – Re-Arrange Us
TV on the Radio – Dear Science
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Sigur Ros РMe̡ Su̡ I Eyrum Vi̡ Spilum Endalaust
Deerhunter – Microcastle
The Bowerbirds – Hymns for the Dark Horse
The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
Sprengjuh̦llin РSprengjuh̦llin
Spiritualized – Songs in A&E
Walkmen – You & Me
Plush – Fed
Bonnie Prince Billy – Lie Down in the Light
Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Momofuku
Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood Soundtrack
A Few Songs
That’s Not My Name – The Ting Tings
Whatever – Gnarls Barkley
Highly Suspicious – My Morning Jacket
Human – The Killers
Robocop – Kanye West
If I Were a Boy – Beyonce
Whatever You Like – T.I.
Spit At Stars – Jack Penate
Hey Mauer, where did you get Deerhunter’s Weird Era Cont.?
Things that Go Bump — Bottom smelly
Aspenholes — Slope
Grasping at Straws — Tasty Beverage
I could make up names forever. I am nowhere near as far-ranging and alert in my knowledge of this last year’s music, but… I liked the Radiohead; I’ve pretty much liked everything they’ve done. Santogold, TV On the Radio, The Submarines — yup, great. I’d add just a couple, off the top of my head:
Army Navy — Army Navy
Dr. Dog — Fate
Chris Letcher — Frieze
Jeff – got that one off the web from one of the many excellent MP3 blogs out there. Not that I would advise anyone to do this, but you can do google blog searches for reloda, pasa musica, sad songs for dirty lovers and the very excellent the passion of indie music, which constantly presents me with bands I’ve never heard of at all, and which are often very good. Indie ducky was also very good for a while, but has been static lately.
the los campesinos album is pretty good. i liked the walkmen album as well. have not yet listened to the new tv on the radio or the new hold steady. but i must confess that i am now officially old, as i have no idea who the majority of the names in the posts above are.
okay, the mates of state and santogold are quite good as well. the bon iver album is next.
okay, let me make a list as well. in no particular order:
the magnetic fields, distortion
nick cave and the bad seeds, dig, lazarus, dig
los campesinos, hold on now, youngster
the walkmen, me & you
portishead, third
vampire weekend, vampire weekend
beck, modern guilt
steinski, what does it all mean?
destroyer, trouble in dreams
that’s nine. to be added to later. perhaps some of these will get bumped.
Here are some of my faves from this year (minus a few already mentioned). I know, it’s a pretty weak list. And some are late-2007, I think. I’m behind as well as old.
Tim Gane & Sean O’Hagan, La Vie D’Artiste soundtrack
Eric Matthews, Imagination Stage
Sea & Cake, Car Alarm
Aimee Mann, @#%&*! Smilers
Sean McCoombs, Dropping the Writ
Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple
Moby, Last Night
David Holmes, The Holy Pictures
Reissue (long awaited):
Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue
Why haven’t I ever listened to this before?:
The Kinks, The Village Green Preservation Society
Biggest swindle:
El Ten Eleven, These Promises are Being Videotaped
By the way, mauer, thanks for your list!
Yeah, thanks to all of you guys. John, I hadn’t even realized Holmes had put that album out.
I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote Sean McCoombs. Thinking of Diddy, I guess. Should be Cass McCombs.
By the way, I’ll throw some old-guy love to the new James and the new Lindsey Buckingham discs. They are very well crafted. Also, perhaps it was released in 2007, but no one has mentioned Elbow’s very excellent The Seldom Seen Kid.
If anybody wants any of the music I listed here or above, I’ll be happy to send you a holiday gift. Just send me your address (find me at Hamline University, Theatre Arts) via e-mail.
Likewise, I should also put together some discs for folks here that might be interested. And I agree on the James and the Lindsay Buckingham albums: Both are quite good. Elbow is on several best of lists I’ve seen on line, though I’ve not heard it.
okay, after a week of heavy listening, here’s a new set of lists.
here are 13 of my favourite albums, in no particular order, except that the king khan compilation is my #1.
albums:
king khan and the shrines: the supreme genius of king khan and the shrines
the magnetic fields: distortion
nick cave and the bad seeds, dig, lazarus, dig!!
fleet foxes: fleet foxes
cloud cult: feel good ghosts
los campesinos: hold on now, youngster!
vampire weekend: vampire weekend
bon iver: for emma, forever ago
the walkmen: me & you
portishead: third
mgmt: oracular spectacular
the submarines: honeysuckle weeks
tv on the radio: dear science
best re-issue/compilation:
steinski (and double dee): what does it all mean?
(the king khan is also a compilation of material from the last few years, but we’ll let that slide.)
some songs i really liked:
hercules and affair: blind
bon iver: flume
beck: walls
destroyer: shooting rockets (from the desk of night’s ape)
the magnetic fields: zombie boy
cloud cult: tornado lessons
nick cave and the bad seeds: dig, lazarus, dig!!
the submarines: you, me and the bourgeoise
i was looking forward to and was disappointed by:
the new supergrass album
the hyped album the extent of whose hype confuses me:
lil wayne: tha carter III
the album i liked a lot on first listen but not so much after:
santogold: santogold
the albums i’m still waiting to listen to:
the hold steady: stay positive
amadou and mariam: welcome to mali
since i subscribed to rhapsody (yay rhapsody) i decided i’d listen to all the music you guys seem so happy about, all of which is entirely and completely new to me, from the top. so far i like frontier ruckus, the orion songbook. i wonder, however, if all the albums in these lists will be of the drippy college radio ilk.
i would like to recommend joshua redmann’s compass. also, anat cohen, notes from the village, vijay iyer, tragicomic, and alex cline, continuation. k’naan is good.
I like that Elvis fellow.