so... we are half way through 2009...

[wmgaretjax]

everyone else is doing it... how are things looking this year for you?

my 15 favorites right now in generally ranked order:

1. Sore Eros - Second Chants
2. Paul Wirkus and Ekkehard Ehlers - Ballds
3. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
4. Kreng - L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu
5. City Center - S/T
6. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
7. Keith Fullerton Whitman - Dreamhouse Variations
8. Blackout Beach - Skin of Evil
9. William Fowler Collins - Perdition Hill Radio
10. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
11. SND - Atavism
12. Yellow Tears - The Pissmop LP
13. Tim Hecker - Imaginary Country
14. Cold Cave - Cremations
15. Faust - C’est Com...Com...Complique

[pancakespancakes]

Ah hell... I'll post my latest too.

1.“Merriweather Post Pavillion” Animal Collective
2.“Veckatimest” Grizzly Bear
3.“Bitte Orca” The Dirty Projectors
4.“Primary Colours” The Horrors
5.“Farm” Dinosaur Jr.
6.“Bromst” Dan Deacon
7.“Yesterday & Today” The Field
8.“The Eternal” Sonic Youth
9.“Here We Go Magic” Here We Go Magic
10.“Choral” Mountains
11.“Little Hells” Marissa Nadler
12.“Signal Morning” Circulatory System
13.“City Center” City Center
14.“The Floodlight Collective” Lotus Plaza
15.“Hospice” The Antlers
16.“Cryptomnesia” Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
17.“It’s Blitz!” Yeah Yeah Yeahs
18.“Monoliths & Dimensions” Sunn O)))
19.“Beacons of Ancestorship” Tortoise
20.“Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” Phoenix
21.“God is Saying This to You…” Kurt Vile
22.“Tentacles” Crystal Antlers
23.“Wavvves” Wavves
24.“Black Cascade” Wolves in the Throne Room
25.“Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free” Akron/Family


I'll have to thank you for that City Center, Jared. I don't think I've told you yet but I've got myself really addicted to it, it's great. And I haven't seen or heard about it anywhere else.

[Boourns]

1. St. Vincent - Actor
2. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
3. Asobi Seksu - Hush
4. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
5. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
6. Emmy the Great - First Love
7. Metric - Fantasies
8. Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
9. Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind
10. The Bird & the Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
11. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
13. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

Haven't heard enough:
Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Marissa Nadler - Little Hells
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Royksopp - Junior
Howling Bells - Radio Wars

Meh:
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
White Lies - To Lose My Life
Peter Bjorn & John - Living Thing
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight Franz Ferdinand
Conor Oberst & tl;dr

[wmgaretjax]

I'll have to thank you for that City Center, Jared. I don't think I've told you yet but I've got myself really addicted to it, it's great. And I haven't seen or heard about it anywhere else.

Yeah, it's a really charming record. I hope it gets more recognition by the end of the year.

[kreutz2112]

1. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
2. Royksopp - Junior

that's all I got.

[bug on your lip]

everyone else is doing it... how are things looking this year for you?

my 15 favorites right now in generally ranked order:

1. Sore Eros - Second Chants
2. Paul Wirkus and Ekkehard Ehlers - Ballds
3. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
4. Kreng - L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu
5. City Center - S/T
6. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
7. Keith Fullerton Whitman - Dreamhouse Variations
8. Blackout Beach - Skin of Evil
9. William Fowler Collins - Perdition Hill Radio
10. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
11. SND - Atavism
12. Yellow Tears - The Pissmop LP
13. Tim Hecker - Imaginary Country
14. Cold Cave - Cremations
15. Faust - C’est Com...Com...Complique

How many of those are real bands?

[wmgaretjax]

How many of those are real bands?

i'll never tell.

[pancakespancakes]

That Sore Eros is pretty great too, and interesting that it's your favorite of the year, I should probably give myself another listen...

[TallGuyCM]

Merriweather, then
Veckatimest, then
Bromst, then
The Eternal, then
Bitte Orca.

My entire list is on my other comp. that's kinda fucked from viruses at the moment so I don't have access to it.

[bug on your lip]

we may have to stage an intervention with Boourns regarding Asobi Seksu at #3

[TallGuyCM]

^ Agreed.

[Boourns]

Yeah, I'm surprised it isn't the number one of 2009, but it's been a surprisingly good year.

[pancakespancakes]

Marissa Nadler - Little Hells

I can't reccomend this one enough! You will love it. It's very addicting. Doesn't sound good as in the summertime, though, I guess.

[TallGuyCM]

Am I the only one who found the Bat For Lashes album rather dull?

[wmgaretjax]

That Sore Eros is pretty great too, and interesting that it's your favorite of the year, I should probably give myself another listen...

I don't think it's groundbreaking or anything, just really fantastic songs... I've just enjoyed that record more than anything else this year. It might get bumped, but it's hung out there for a few months now.

[Boourns]

Do live albums and compilations count? If so, Dark Was the Night and the Asobi Seksu acoustic cd were ace.

LA should get a Dark Was the Night gig like NYC got.

[wmgaretjax]

Am I the only one who found the Bat For Lashes album rather dull?

I feel that way about 75% of it. The 3-4 songs that are great, are really fucking incredible. The rest falls flat for me. I'm hoping for a home run for her next one. She certainly has the potential.

[Boourns]

Am I the only one who found the Bat For Lashes album rather dull?

Yes.

[PassiveTheory]

Nope. I thought it was disappointingly mediocre.

Just copied and pasted this from my facebook note:

1. Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
Rating: ****1/4
Recommended songs: "While You Wait For The Others", "Two Weeks", "All We Ask"

2. Wilco (the Album) by Wilco
Rating: ****
Recommended songs: "You Never Know", "I'll Fight", "Bull Black Nova"

3. Rules by The Whitest Boy Alive
Rating: ****
Recommended songs: "Courage", "1517", "Gravity"

4. Bitte Orca by The Dirty Projectors
Rating: ****
Recommended songs: "Stillness is the Move", "Useful Chamber", "Temecula Sunrise"

5. Begone Dull Care by Junior Boys
Rating: ****
Recommended songs: "Parallel Lines", "Sneak A Picture", "Hazel"

6. My Maudlin Career by Camera Obscura
Rating: ****
Recommended songs: "My Maudlin Career", "The Sweetest Thing", "James"

7. The Crying Light by Antony and the Johnsons
Rating: ****
Recommended songs: "Kiss My Name", "Epilepsy is Dancing", "Another World"

8. Further Complications by Jarvis Cocker
Rating: ***3/4
Recommended Songs: "Further Complications", "I Never Said I Was Deep", "Leftovers"

9. Dark Night of the Soul by Sparklehorse, Dangermouse and David Lynch
Rating: ***3/4
Recommended Songs: "Just War" (ft./ Gruff Rhys), "Revenge" (ft./ Wayne Coyne), "Insane Lullabye" (ft./ James Mercer)

10. I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day by Julie Doiron
Rating: ***3/4
Recommended Songs: "Consolation Prize", "Je Le Savais", "Heavy Snow"

11. Take My Breath Away by Gui Boratto
Rating: ***1/2
Recommended Songs: "Azurra", "Opus 17"

12. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand by Franz Ferdinand
Rating: ***1/2
Recommended Songs: "No You Girls", "What She Came For"

13. Miike Snow by Miike Snow
Rating: ***1/2
Recommended Songs: "Animal", "Burial"

14. Junior by Royksopp
Rating: ***
Recommended Songs: "The Girl And The Robot", "Happy Up Here"

15. Wait For Me by Moby
Rating: **1/2
Recommended Songs: "Pale Horses", "Shot In The Back Of The Head"

Albums that will probably make the top 25 cut at the end of the year... Or might not... But who I havent listened enough to:

- Actor by St. Vincent
- Hush by Asobi Seksu
- Sounds of the Universe by Depeche Mode
- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
- Yesterday and Today by The Field
- Far by Regina Spektor
- Years of Refusal by Morrissey
- The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
etc.

Albums that won't:

- The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists
- The Spirit of Apollo by NASA
- Two Suns by Bat For Lashes
- Primary Colors by The Horrors
- Fist of God by MSTRKRFT
- It's Blitz by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Octahedron by The Mars Volta
- Wavvvvvvvvvvves by Wavves

[bballarl]

1. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2. Dirty Projectors
3. Magnolia Electric Co.
4. Phoenix
5. Grizzly Bear

[wmgaretjax]

1. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Fuck me. I guess I need to give this album another chance.

The phoenix album is so good in the first half... But I never make it through. I need to make myself the next time I put it on.

[PassiveTheory]

The phoenix album is so good in the first half... But I never make it through. I need to make myself the next time I put it on.

I think I have the same problem with it. That and I've never really sat with it, like some of the other albums on my list.

[bug on your lip]

i burnt out on Pains of Being Pure at Heart...
Grizzly Bear gets stronger with every listen tho

new Phoenix is hard for me... i keep thinking things like.. shit "Rally" is better than every single song off the new album...or.. "Napolean Says" is better than every single song off the new album...etc

[bballarl]

Fuck me. I guess I need to give this album another chance.

The phoenix album is so good in the first half... But I never make it through. I need to make myself the next time I put it on.

You probably won't get anything new from it beyond the fact that it works nicely as a summertime album.

I have it ranked so high because it keeps with my well-documented pop/jangle/distortion obsessions. It is incredibly addictive to me for those reasons. Given your well-documented obsessions, it probably doesn't get you in the same way.

[bballarl]

I think I have the same problem with it. That and I've never really sat with it, like some of the other albums on my list.

Part of what I really like about the Phoenix record is the production. There is something bizarre about it...its very much constructed and polished and immobile, but it works and still breathes despite this fact. I didn't do a very good job describing it, but that is part of what I found so interesting about it.

[TallGuyCM]

I wasn't crazy about it, but then again I'm not very pop-oriented.

[Alchemy]

1. Grizzly Bear
2. Dirty Projectors
3. Animal Collective
4. Phoenix
5. The Horrors

[pancakespancakes]

I really don't get TPOBPAH. They sounded so exceedingly average to me, and I was a bit surprised they were getting a good deal of attention. I listened to it twice in a 2-month span and that's it, now I don't even remember what it sounded like. All I remember is... "average." But I think it could be worth another try, I'll have to redownload it.

Edit: Speaking of summertime albums though, Wavvves has become a great soundtrack to my beachtime adventures, he's suddenly making me quite proud to be a San Diegan. I do miss Nathan's old band though, Fantastic Magic. But I'm starting to grow into this album, I used to have a lot of hard feeling towards it.

[wmgaretjax]

You probably won't get anything new from it beyond the fact that it works nicely as a summertime album.

I have it ranked so high because it keeps with my well-documented pop/jangle/distortion obsessions. It is incredibly addictive to me for those reasons. Given your well-documented obsessions, it probably doesn't get you in the same way.

Nevertheless, I'm gonna give it another full go. I didn't really give it my full attention.

[bballarl]

Pancakes: there isn't much to get. It's catchy, addictive pop music. The lyrics are shitty but because of the type of music it works. Very much face value stuff. I mean that as a positive.