one month in and...

there have been more than a few really good albums put out already...these two are especially good

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Great band, great album.  In my opinion, they are the most important band making music right now.  They are pushing music forward, doing something different....that can't be said for many current bands right now.

Check it.

last.fm tags:  experimental, indie, freak folk, indie rock, folk

The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules

Fun, fun, fun.  This is a great party album and a great headphones record all rolled into one.

Check it.

last.fm tags:  indie, indie pop, electronic, norwegian, electronica

Modern American Music

This post is about Andrew Jackson Jihad.  They ARE American music right now.  I'd say more but i would rather you just download and listen to 'em...start with candy cigarettes or people who can eat people.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Candy Cigarettes and Cap Guns

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Issue Problems

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad/Ghost Mice Split

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Home Style (Recordings)

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Holey Man, Holy War (Demo I)

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Demo II

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Demo III

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad/Partners in 818 Split 7"

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad/French Quarter Split Mixtape

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad/Flaspar/Golden Boots Split

Check it

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Live @ KXLU studios

Check it

last.fm tags:  folk punk, acoustic, plan-it-x, folk, punk

If you like it, go buy it, see 'em live, buy a shirt, or whatever....just support the band!

last post about last year's best (for now)

here are the rest of my favorite albums from '08....until i discover something that i like more...

Randy Newman - Harps and Angels

Randy Newman is one of the greatest songwriters ever.  This album is classic Randy Newman too, sardonic, witty lyrics against a backdrop of his unmistakable piano playing and singing.  This album is great.

Check it

last.fm tags:  singer-songwriter, pop, piano, soundtrack, rock

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

I didn't really like this album when i first heard it but, like all of the music that i get into, it kept finding its way into my ears.  The more you listen the more you hear, this album is really layered and the fact that Kevin Barnes does it all himself just makes it that much more impressive.  

Check it

last.fm tags:  indie, indie pop, indie rock, alternative, elephant 6

Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins

This is a good album from one of my favorite bands around right now.  Great songwriting, nice arrangements, and Will Sheff's distinctive voice.

Check it

last.fm tags:  indie, folk, indie rock, alt-country, alternative

Fennesz - Black Sea

Fennesz create a truly interesting sonic landscape from start to finish.

Check it

last.fm tags:  ambient, experimental, electronic, glitch, electronica

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down In the Light

Great album.  Give it a listen is you like depressing, folky songwriters.

Check it

last.fm tags:  folk, singer-songwriter, alt-country, indie, americana

Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

David Berman can do no wrong.

Check it

last.fm tags:  indie, lo-fi, indie rock, alt-country, folk

TV on the Radio - Dear Science

These guys are the worst live band I've ever seen....and i've given them multiple chances...but they are absolute masters of the studio.  they use the studio like another instrument and they do it well.  These guys know how to produce an album.

Check it

last.fm tags:  indie, indie rock, experimental, alternative, rock

Fleet Foxes - s/t

This album has been getting a lot of fluff lately on blogs and whatnot and it is all deserving.  they harmonize as well as any other band out right now and they write really good songs.  should it be #1?  not for me, but i do really like it and i can see how it can be for other people.

Check it

last.fm tags:  folk, indie, indie rock, folk rock, lo-fi

The best of '08 list (subject to change at any time):

1. Lambchop - OH (ohio)

2. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - s/t

3. Randy Newman - Harps and Angels

4. Nico Muhly - Mothertongue

5. Gary Wilson - Lisa Wants to Talk to You

6. Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me

7. Nobunny - Love Visions

8. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

9. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

10. Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down

11. Fleet Foxes - s/t

12. Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too

13. Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

14. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down in the Light

15. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins

16. Fennesz - Black Sea

17. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

18. James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes

19. Sigur Ros - Meo seo i eyrum vio spilum endalaust

20 - Women - s/t

If you like it, go buy it, see 'em live, buy a shirt, or whatever....just support the band!

best reissues of '08

These are my two favorite reissues from '08 (that i know of)..

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

This is definitely my favorite reissue this year.  To be fair though, i knew that Warren Zevon's album was great before the reissue, i had never heard this album before a month or two ago.  The bonus disc is unreleased music that was going to be his second solo album before he drowned in '83.  The Dennis Wilson Swim Team will reign supreme.    

Check Pacific Ocean Blue

Check the bonus disc

last.fm tags:  pop, rock, california, classic rock, surf

Warren Zevon - s/t

Warren Zevon is great.  Last year they reissued "Excitable Boy" with a bunch of bonus tracks and, now, this year, they reissue his self-titled album with a whole extra disc of bonus material....I hope they keep reissuing Zevon's old stuff.  Hopefully, they'll reissue Zevon's first album "Wanted Dead or Alive" next.  

Check disc 1

Check disc 2 (bonus material)

last.fm tags:  singer-songwriter, rock, classic rock, folk, alternative

every now and then....

i was gonna post some of my all time favorites but there are still some more albums from '08 that i absolutely love and want to post so:

Lindstrom - Where I Go You Go Too

I, usually, don't listen to a lot of electronic music so I'm certainly no expert on it.  But I have loved this album since the first time I listened to it at 7 a.m. one morning when I was making my way over the train that was taking me to work.  To me, this is a serene, blissful, soothing album that elicits nothing but a giant smile.  This album just puts me in the mood I need to be in before the day begins and I'm pissed off, stressed out, and my normal unpleasant self.

Check it.

last.fm tags:  electronic, space disco, minimal, norwegian, electronica

Women - s/t

 This is another album that caught me by surprise.  I hadn't heard much about this band and wasn't really that into it on my first listen but, for some reason, it keeps finding its way into the rotation and now its here.  So Check it.

last.fm tags:  noise pop, lo-fi, noise, shoegaze, canadian

one for Linda, Cindy, Lisa, and Mary

this is my Gary Wilson post. He's great. You're welcome.

Gary Wilson - Lisa Wants to Talk to You (2008)

Check it.

Gary Wilson - You Think You Really Know Me (1977)

Check it.

Gary Wilson - Mary Had Brown Hair (2004)

Check it.

Gary Wilson - Forgotten Lovers (2003)

Check it.

Gary Wilson - Invasion of Privacy 7" (1980)

Check it.

Gary Wilson - This is Why I Wear My Wedding Gown 7" (1978)

Check it.

last.fm tags: outsider, experimental, punk, indie, avant-garde

last year was a good year for music

More of my favorite albums from last year: 

Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down

This is just good pop music.  Really catchy.  It's impossible not to be happy when listening to this album.  Check it.

last.fm tags:  folk, indie, twee, folk rock, indie folk

  

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

I don't know how Stephen Malkmus keeps writing songs like this.  This album is the balls.  Check it.

last.fm tags:  indie rock, indie, alternative, lo-fi

If you like it, go buy it, see 'em live, buy a shirt, or whatever....just support the band!

2 more just as good albums from '08

Two more of my favorites from last year (it's late and I don't feel like typing much):

Nico Muhly - Mothertongue

A really, really well done album.  This is my favorite experimental album of the year, hands down.  Check it.

last.fm tags:  contemporary classical, experimental, minimalism, instrumental, composers

Nobunny - Love Visions

This is the most fun album I've heard in a long, long time.  These guys are the best garage band around right now (except for maybe King Khan & the BBQ Show).  Check it.

last.fm tags:  garage rock, lo-fi, rock, garage punk, punk 

If you like it, go buy it, see 'em live, buy a shirt, or whatever....just support the band!

My favorite albums of 2008

If the download links don't work, the addresses are in the comments too.

New year, new blahg.  So for my first post I figured I'd post a couple of my favorite albums from last year.  I probably won't have a solid list of my favorites until around June or July but, for now, these are my top two....

Lambchop - OH (Ohio)

This was, easily, the best thing I discovered in 2008, other than the ShamWOW.  Kurt Wagner really has a way with words.  This album is chock full clever lyrical turns and interesting musical arrangements.  It's unique and new but its also very familiar, you could swear you've heard it before.  There's never a time when I don't want to listen to this album.  Check it.

last.fm tags:  alt-country, indie, americana, alternative, singer-songwriter

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - s/t

I just found this album about a week ago and was obsessed with it as soon as I heard the first notes of the albums opening track "Buriedfed".  I've heard Robinson described as "Brooklyn's biggest drunk", usually too drunk to even play a coherent show.  This just makes me like him even more.  I've also heard him compared to Bob Dylan which (seriously?!?) is a little bit early to say.  I don't hear it in his writing.  Robinson seems to use his music and writing as a therapeutic exercise to tackle his own demons where Dylan never really got that personal with his writing, at least in all of the Dylan I've heard.  Anyway, this is a really well done album from beginning to end and it is worthy of repeated listens.  Check it.

last.fm tags:  freak folk, experimental folk, folk-rock, folk, modern folk

If you like it, go buy it, see 'em live, buy a shirt, or whatever...just support the band!