Sunday, January 18, 2009

lo tech noise


Dunkirk from Pete Ashton on Vimeo.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Top 10 Albums of 2008

As submitted to Melophobe for this list.

1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down in the Light
- His best since "Master and Everyone"

2. Baby Dee - Safe Inside the Day
- Transgendered is the new gay

3. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
- Best revisionist 80s prom ever

4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
- Aussie electropop is the new French house

5. Shearwater - Rook
- Better than step-sister Okkervil River of late

6. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
- PLZ TO HAS MOAR FUZZ DRONE

7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
- Reverb-drenched Seattle alt-country is the new fuzz-drenched Seattle grunge

8. Deerhunter - Microcastle
- Walks that fine line between heroin and music

9. Portishead - Third
- Either I liked "Out of Season" better or I expected less from it

10. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best
- Malawian mash-up mixtape FTW!!!

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Honorable Mentions:

Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules And Love Affair
- "Blind" aside, I just can't keep a straight face while listening to this album

Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
- I liked them more before I read their Wikipedia article

Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life
- If I were in middle school, these guys would be at #1

of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
- Kevin Barnes, dredged in sex and glitter, deep fried

Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
- A sad Finnish circus drowning in a sea of static

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
- Kids these days (and their acid)

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
- The fact that he steps on my artistic toes is no reason to hate

Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
- Badly Drawn Boy meets Architecture in Helsinki. For drinks. In Japan.

Four Tet - Ringer
- The Orbital fan in me can't get enough of this EP

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
- It's nice to know that street preacher rant rock still has a home

TV on the Radio - Dear Science
- Each album is poppier than the last, and I can't say that I mind

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
- "On the Road" ... again

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
- I just hope Part Two doesn't take another five years

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
- Fittingly enough, a perfect winter driving companion

Beach House - Devotion
- More of the same, but it's a good same

Marnie Stern - This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
- What the hell is this, Deerhoof for the masses? Nice

Suzie Magnion - The Other Side Of The Mountain
- Turns out she didn't much need the other half of George

diskJokke - Staying In
- Would make a fantastic video game soundtrack

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
- Paul Simon did a better job of white boy Afropop, methinks

El Guincho - Alegranza
- It is really, really hard to stop moving while this album is playing

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
- Hey look, the endangered straight-ahead indie-rock band!