Tagged: yearendlists

Album #16: Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes I still think they are the most un-Seattle sounding Seattle band ever but over the course of 2008 I really grew to love Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut. Obviously the melodies and harmonies get most of the attention (and deservedly so) but I find the atmosphere created by the band to be the most remarkable thing about the album (in that respect it sits alongside Deserter's Songs very nicely). This is music I could just lay back in [...]

Fleet Foxes at Sasquatch ::: Photo by Josh Hopefully you're not all voted out for the year because starting now you can lend your vote to a couple of locally based best-of polls for album of the year. KEXP's Top 90.3 Albums of 2008 voting is now open. You get ten unordered choices. Choose wisely ! While the KEXP list is for all albums, local, national and international, the Three Imaginary Girls poll that went live today is just for Best Northwest Releases of 2008 . You get five ordered choices [...]

This is the time of year that I scour the blogs finding all kinds of music I missed on people's end of the year lists.  Getting gifts at Christmas is fine sure, but the year end lists are the real reason I love the end of the year.  Here's all but the top 10 songs from It All Started with Carbon Monoxide 's top 50 songs of the year list.  I'll update this post with the final part once they post it.  There's some great songs on that list that shouldn't be overlooked. Top 50 Songs of [...]

Album #18: Do You Like Rock Music? by British Sea Power Produced at the famous Hotel2Tango in Montreal with Howard Bilerman, DYLRM? marries the early rambunctious BSP with the more orchestral elements from their second album. The result? A big sounding record that ebbs and flows just the right amount. And in Atom, BSP finally, FINALLY got as punchy as some of their early work. Download: British Sea Power - Atom British Sea Power - Waving Flags [...]

• British Sea Power - Waving Flags

Good news today for Evan Birdsong, the man behind the tangtrastic Blackbird Harmony: Hardwood Exits (which we quite glowingly reviewed back in October) has made the slowcoustic blog's year-end top 25... Continue reading "Blackbird Harmony Gets Some Year-End List Love (OK, From Some Blog We've Never Heard Of )." >

• Blackbird Harmony - Picture of You

What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We're happy to announce 80 '08 (and Heartbreak) , Idolator's year-end overview—and yes, you'll want to bookmark this post, which we'll update with the full list as it progresses, between now and Dec. 31. That list (or, depending on when you read this, a bunch of empty numbers) is below the jump. 80. Andrew W.K., "McLaughlin Groove" [...]

Since he's left the television game behind him, Roger Ebert has been straight killing it with the written word.?? Whether it's his remembrances of Gene Siskel or his advice for young film critics or his angle on newspapers getting small while the news remains big, he is constantly churning out watercooler pieces week after week. The only thing that sorta miffs me about his list is that he lumps them all together, which is fine and good.?? But he does justify it. "I am violating the age-old custom that film critics announce [...]

Album #18: Seventh Tree by Goldfrapp I see this album getting a lot of "meh" reviews all over the place and I don't get it. With Seventh Tree , Goldfrapp proved they can do beautiful, pastoral music as well as anyone (especially on the gorgeous opener, Clowns). Despite the stylisic u-turn from their previous record, Goldfrapp also created some of the years finest pop singles in A&E and Caravan Girl. But the real highlight is that voice: absolutely stunning. Watch: Goldfrapp - Caravan Girl [...]

So last year (like every year) I listed my 50 favorite albums of the year, but (like every year) it is an inexact art/science that just begs for revision with the passing of time. So here's my 50 favorite albums of 2007 one year removed from the initial 2007 best of list . 50. Lewis & Clarke - Blasts Of Holy Birth ( La Societe Expedtionnaire ) Originally #48 on the list. Read the full post here . 49. Shining - Grindstone [...]

Album #19: Cardinology by Ryan Adams & The Cardinals I must admit I am a bit worried that Cardinology is another really safe record from Ryan Adams & The Cardinals; this band can absolutely melt your brain live yet you would never know it from Cardinology . Yet despite its lack of heavy guitar workouts, Cardinology is another collection of Ryan Adams songs that I will be listening to for years. From Cobwebs' insistent rhythm to Born Into A Light's acoustic jangle, there are lots of brilliant [...]

Album #20: In The Future by Black Mountain Channelling the heavy guitar sounds of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Black Mountain are an unashamedly riff-heavy guitar band and on In The Future they shed any restraints other bands might place on their compositions (Bright Lights runs for 16 minutes!). After their accomplished debut, In The Future finds Black Mountain really hitting their stride. I challenge you to find a more appropriate band name. Download: Black Mountain - Tyrants [...]

Album #21: Nouns by No Age It's late and this post is late so this is going to be short. You know that record that isn't completely breaking new ground yet still has the potential to shift the music scene? No Age made that record this year. Nouns is simply brilliant. Download: No Age - Eraser No Age - Teen Creeps * Song #21: Earthquake [...]

I've reviewed several books on the blog this year, and read many, many more. During the summer, I was averaging two or three novels a week. My visit to Transallegheny only fed my bookworm addiction. Most of the books I read in 2008 were classics, but there were a few noteworthy new releases. Following are my top 10 favorites of the year with some quotes from my reviews. Click on the book titles to read the full review. Muruch's Top 10 Books of 2008 1 [...]

Album #22: Soft Airplane by Chad VanGaalen Despite winning Canada's Hottest "Band" award , I still feel that Chad VanGaalen is criminally underrated. He is one of Canada's more diverse and accomplished young songwriters as evidenced by the superb Soft Airplane . Each song is completely different from the song that precedes it and its only serious flaw is its superfluous and rather dull final track. Plus, any album with Willow Tree on it is going to rate highly. Download: Chad VanGaalen [...]

• Chad VanGaalen - City of Electric Light

For some reason or another Will ( soundaslanguage.com ), James ( getoveryourselfbklyn.com ), and I decided it would be a good idea to share our favorite albums of 1998 with all of you. Since none of us seemed to be decisive enough to come up with only 10, we decided to go with as many as we could come up with (or 20). Now I'm sure I missed something totally obvious, but my CD's are in boxes in my garage so I didn't have the opportunity to thumb through 'em like I would have wanted to. So for [...]

Album # 23: Missiles by The Dears The Dears more or less imploded over the past couple years leaving only lead singer Murray Lightburn and his wife Natalia Yanchak soldiering on. Missiles is the first missive from this new version of the band and it definitely takes its time. As I said previously , the record is almost slow motion but once I let it wash over me a few times I emerged confident that The Dears will continue to make amazing music. And Disclaimer [...]

December means year end lists.  Lots of lists.  An avalanche of lists conoting the best in culture whether it be books , movies , music , or anything else that can be judged into a neat little list.  For some, it's also the time of year when you scratch your heads and say "never heard of that one?"  Still two excellent resources if you're into year end lists can be found at Fimoculous , who attempts to compile every single year end list, and Largehearted Boy , who obsessively compiles every music and book related [...]

Album #24: Saturdays = Youth by M83 Earlier this year, Amanda and I trekked down to Melbourne and then drove the Great Ocean Road. Along the way, as we wound our way through sheep-dotted fields and along cliff-hugging curves, we played M83's Saturdays = Youth . Whenever I hear the record now, I'm instantly taken back to that incredible drive. Beyond that, this is a big, beautiful pop record that sounds like it should be soundtracking some 1980s John Hughes film that was never made. [...]

Album #25: The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai Many other bands try, but few manage to create albums with the intensity and scope of Mogwai. The Hawk Is Howling is filled with the trademark Mogwai sounds: the lengthy instrumentals (I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead) and the short bursts of sonic assault (Batcat). It may be Mogwai-by-numbers but The Hawk Is Howling still manages to be an engaging and, at times, destructive listen. Download: Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud [...]

I subscribed to Uncut for almost a decade (we finally parted ways this summer, though I still have every CD) and while many issues went unread in recent years, I got to know their editors' tastes pretty well. Unlike NME , which is obsessed with hyping the next Oasis, Uncut has a predilection for bands they deem authentically, unquestionably American, which means lots of coverage of nu-folkies like Fleet Foxes and bar bands like Hold Steady, but never hip-hop. So with that in mind, I don't see many surprises on the mag's Top 20 list. [...]