We have another top ten albums of 2008 list for you. I'm stoked as it's from our super pal Oost who we ran our previous blog, Versus with. He's my fave go to guy for new bands. 10. Ladyhawk [Shots] chances are you won't like them until you see them live Ladyhawk - Night You're Beautiful 9. Crystal Stilts [Crystal Stilts] psych you can dance [...]
Tis the season, ladies and gents, for culminating retrospectives of all sorts. In the interests of joining in the critic/blogger holiday spirit, I've spent the last month combing through the albums I listened to in 2008 in an effort to fashion a list of my own. And after a lot of quality time spent with my iPod and record player, this is what I came up with. The whole megillah is going to be divided up into six sections so I can do this without creating a single post the length of War and Peace . [...]
From Wikipedia ... Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, as well as many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations and Greece. It is based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society. Contemporary Boxing Day in Australia and Canada is a "shopping holiday" associated with after-Christmas sales. It is usually celebrated on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day... Boxing Day dates back to the century in which the primary practice of giving gifts to employees or [...]
i had no intention of making any kind of best of 2008 list, preferring instead to let my last.fm listening data speak for itself. but every single person/publication's best albums of 2008 list i've read so far has pissed me off. sure, several albums i loved this year have rightfully popped up on nearly everybody's list... but i've been amazed to find that some of my favorites aren't on anybody's list. take for example the top 25 albums lists of each pitchfork staff member -- which amounts to some 40 people -- published last [...]
DOWNLOAD: Jill Sobule - Jesus was a Dreidel Spinner (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The Kinks - Father Christmas (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The Mendoza Line - 31 Candles (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Silver Jews - Punks in the Beerlight (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The Hot Latkes Klezmer Band - Durme (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The Get Up Kids - Holiday (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Metronome - Hanukkah Girl (MP3) [...]
These are the records I, who just so happens to be a person I respect quite highly for his great taste in all art, felt were the top 10 records of this year. The records were determined through a scientific process that involved a mouse in a maze being chased by a ferret, throwing watermelons off a bridge, and of course seeing which records were played the most via my iPod. The last point played a bigger role that the other two. Close but not quite in the ten: All Get Out [...]
Notice the careful word choice here. We're not so much cheerleading those songs that fall under the textbook definition of actual "singles"; rather, we prefer approaching this whole inexact science of "best-of-ology" with open minds and even more open (opener?) ears. Which is to say this: the following represents our favorite songs from 2008. Tops. Period. Fully subjective, fully filtered through our own personal tastes, and fully responsible for rocking EAR FARM's world in 2008. So let's do this thing, shall we? Scroll down to view/listen to the full countdown of EAR FARM's Top Songs Of 2008. [...]
In Latin, they used to say, De gustibus non est disputandum . Roughly translated it means, I'm right and you're wrong. No really, it translates to There's no accounting for taste . Since this blog is a one person show, this list was created in a vacuum. The only debates that happened putting this list together went on inside my head, and since my tastes lean toward pop, this list reflects just that. As far as how this year compares with previous years, there wasn't one record that jumped out at me a screamed best record of the [...]
![Top 50 Albums of 2008 [Picks 21-30]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1412588_lg.jpg)
We're knee deep into the top 25 albums of 2008 and this batch features two bands from Alive Records - Left Lane Cruiser and Hacienda. The Rural Alberta Advantage was arguably our biggest surprise of the year, building buzz with nothing more than their music - no label, no publicist. The Morning Benders and Sam Champion were both in our live session studio, so make sure to check out those tracks if you have a few extra seconds. 21. The Morning Benders – Talking Through Tin Cans ( our review ) [...]
------------------------------ -- 40. Kristoffer Ragnstam - Wrong Side of the Room We all knew that it was only a matter of time before a Swedish pop artist made this list, and I will also admit that Kristoffer Ragnstam will not be the last before this year's best-of concludes. I first took notice of Ragnstam when he released a great single in " Breakfast by the Mattress ", a sly effort that saw his practical use of fast-paced indie-pop flourish with irresistible melodies and gleeful hooks. Accessibly enjoyable melodies and hooks [...]
friday marked the end of my 3rd year using last.fm. as i mentioned last year , i've been capturing my complete artist and song charts on 12/12 each year to track how my listening habits change over time. in addition to tracking the progression of my overall charts , i also note the top songs and artists of each 12 month period. so here are the 5 artists and songs that i listened to the most from 12/12/07 to 12/12/08... top 5 artists -- 2008 1) destroyer (911 plays) 2) silver jews [...]
It's part three of our 2008 music recap series. We're almost done talking about how great 2008 is, and we can only hope 2009 treats us 3/4ths as good. Yes, 3/4ths as good. At this point, you may consider yourself a 2008 expert, but listen in just to make sure you didn't miss anything important. Wouldn't want anything to slip by, would you? Podcast blah blah blah. Blah blah podcast. The Needle Drop 12-13-08 Playlist: Dosh - "Don't Wait For [...]
1. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue - "Foxes Mate For Life" Somehow two things can sometimes come into existence at the same time. Like babies who look the same and also happen to be named the same name. But when this happens, one wins, right? VHS beat Beta, Madonna beat Cyndi Lauper, and unbelievably, Vampire Weekend beat Born Ruffians. Both their big debuts kind of offer to fill the same kind of role of "clear new vision and singular charming, moving new musical voice." But it's [...]
mp3: the stairs - black and brown blues about 6 months ago , i put up a few tracks from the stairs unreleased album, the unnatural bridge , in which the band cover the silver jews album the natural bridge in its entirety. i mentioned then that i'd been wanting to get my hands on the full album for some time and a few days later a fellow joos fan was nice enough to email me the full album, track by track. i guess i got wrapped up listening to all [...]
When EAR FARM considered our impending move and relaunch at the end of 2007, we decided to switch from a scrolling blog format to a more magazine-y layout that would allow for us to highlight a "cover star"/ Band of the Week each week. In doing so we have featured 43 bands over the course of 2008, ranging from the lo-fi jangly noise pop of Throw Me The Statue to the blistering thrash of Goes Cube . We've had relative unknowns (such as The Laughing and Bombadil ), interviews with indie-rock legends (see [...]
The release of the long awaited Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses this weekend got me thinking about albums that we had to wait a long time for, but were also wholly worth the wait once we finally got to hear them. When you really think about it there aren't too many of these. Sure there are a lot of bands that had huge gaps between good albums, but very few went on long hiatuses and managed to
In 2006 he took his band, The Silver Jews, on their first tour ever despite the fact that they'd been releasing music for a decade and a half. In 2007 a documentary called The Silver Jew was released chronicling the 3 days the band spent in Israel on that tour. In 2008 pitchfork.tv put that documentary up in their "one week only slot". It's viewable until Friday. Watch it here. Or watch this video of someone belly dancing to "Random Rules".
the leather canary
Winnie Cooper
War on Radio
EAR FARM
the bat and the bird
BrooklynVegan
BUZZGRINDER
the finest kiss
HearYa: An Indie Music Blog
rose quartz
Obscure Sound
The Needle Drop
Said the Gramophone
Pop Tarts Suck Toasted
Thrill Pier
Stream: Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Americana
