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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on Oct 7, 2007 16:09:44 GMT -5
For me it's a toss-up between the new Beirut album and the new iliketrains album. Of course, it's early days for both, but the more I hear Elegies... the more I realise that its lack of immediacy is a strength. In many ways the tracks build like short slabs of Sigur Ros, but although Dave Martin's vocals could never be described as beautiful, he doesn't have the abstract whimsy of 'Hopelandic' weighing him down, leaving the songs with a better sense of place and meaning. Nice to see the good reviews rolling in.
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Post by luke on Oct 11, 2007 8:05:39 GMT -5
Well, Radiohead sort of came in and had the final say on this.
But if there's an album that'll end up as a "toss-up" for me, it'll be Strawberry Jam.
Need to listen to that Band of Horses soon, I keep forgetting.
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Post by Ampage on Oct 11, 2007 20:59:42 GMT -5
UNDERTHEBLACKLIGHT
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layla
Streetcorner Musician
Posts: 56
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Post by layla on Oct 11, 2007 23:30:47 GMT -5
many releases from old faves this year.
in no order:
Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Les Savy Fav - Lets Stay Friends
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Justice
M.I.A. - Kala
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Tegan & Sara - The Con
and the 10th spot I'll leave blank for now
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Post by wayved on Oct 12, 2007 1:36:48 GMT -5
ROBERT POLLARD! COAST TO COAST CARPET OF LOVE!
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Post by wayved on Oct 12, 2007 1:38:41 GMT -5
That new Band of Horses album is good too.....
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Oct 12, 2007 14:46:14 GMT -5
Man, that new Radiohead record is soooo good.
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Post by samplestiltskin on Oct 12, 2007 14:50:43 GMT -5
Totally became my "Portland" anthem album. Every time I move I look back in retrospect and find that certain albums define my experience in the city. I'm thinking In Rainbows will probably end up being a crucial track on the soundtrack.  Although I can't wait till it actually gets released hard copy, because it won't let me really save it into iTunes and it's a pain in the butt to sit and double-click on every track to listen to the whole thing. |
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Post by ScottsyII on Oct 17, 2007 9:17:40 GMT -5
Fucking love this new Radiohead album. It came out of the blue for me, really... wasn't even expecting to list them as one of my favourites of the year, but I am sitting here on the last track of it again, in awe, again...
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Oct 19, 2007 11:05:49 GMT -5
"House of Cards" is going to be my pick for best song of the year so far. I don't know if the new Radiohead will get the top position on my favs list, but it will be in the top ten. This has been such a good year for music releases.
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Post by maarts on Oct 21, 2007 4:50:08 GMT -5
Indeed, I really like the new Radiohead- thanks Kool for sharing! Hadn't been able to listen to it properly until last week.
My favourite album this year now shapes up to be the new Working For A Nuclear Free City.
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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on Oct 21, 2007 5:34:28 GMT -5
The Radiohead album has insinuated itself into my top 5.
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Oct 22, 2007 9:20:13 GMT -5
Working for a Nuclear Free City's album is fantastic!! Their band name is pretty bad ass too.
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Post by ScottsyII on Oct 22, 2007 13:29:20 GMT -5
Ok, so I know this is all way too late and probably off topic... but I never really posted much last year about anything, and now that I am getting back into this and have more time on my hands to do so (I always was thinking of everyone here - just was too busy in my non - online life)... anyways, I posted this on Kats Timezone and felt it was semi - relevant here and since only a few people go there, I'd give it wider circulation...
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Ok, so I'll do the albums of last year (now that this one is getting close to its end....hahahahahahaha) here and will post a more detailed list / review on my site when I get to work on it.... I'm just too anxious to spit out my thoughts on said albums....
So without any further ado, here is... Scottsy's Top Ten Albums of 2006!
10. 10,000 Days - Tool Its possible that Tool may have distanced themselves from their fanbase with this - it sounds closer than ever to an "A Perfect Circle" album than any other Tool album has - but for my mind it still has the requisite amount of aggressive drumming, soft / loud dynamics and mystical meandering to qualify as a Tool release of good calibre. Honestly not scaling the olympian heights of lateralus or Aenema, but without a doubt a favourite of last year for me. And perfect for drowning out any remaining Elmo songs after spending time with my daughter....
9. Come Clarity - In Flames I've been a fan of this band for some time and what attracts me to them is their mixture of hard riffs, uncompromising intensity and just how downright pissed off and aggressive the lead vocalist can sound - then he can turn around on a dime and sound soothing and calming. And as aggressive and foreboding as some of the lyrics can be, I could only take an uplifting message from tracks such as "Take This Life". There's definitely a more vulnerable underbellow on show in "Come Clarity" and not only does it help break the aggression, and put the faster songs into sharper relief - but it also makes for one hell of an entertaining lesson. The best Birthday present my Cousin ever sent me...
8. Pearl Jam (Self Titled) Yep. Best damn PJ album since Yield. Without a shred of a Doubt. The songwriting doesn't sound lazy, the riffs rock and Ed's shouting again with conviction - its not altogether perfect - some tracks meander just a little too reminiscently of Binauaral and But fuck! Life Wasted kicks the thing into gear and World Wide Suicide reminds of the kinda crunching stuff Do the Evolution was made of. It was fun the whole way through, and you didn't have to wade through tedium to get to the good bits, unlike their last two releases - back in form!
7. Moo! You Bloody Choir - Augie March These guys had a big 2006 - a great album released, and a Triple J hottest 100 no.1 song to boot! This was a fine recording, full of the pensive vocals and storytelling I love from Augie March - some of which reminds me of, and is almost as good as, their debut album "Sunset Studies". "The Cold Acre" sends a shiver down my spine every time i hear it, and "Clockwork" is slowly mounting broodiness at its Sunset Studies best. The songs are shorter, less expansive than either Strange Bird or Sunset Studies, but the guys have hit upon some killer melodies and tunes, with typically odd instrumentation and stellar performances which come together in one very fine and refined album.
6. 4 - Gerling We've come to know them as a fairly eclectic group - their albums are littered with rockers right next to electronic gibberish, followed by something spacey... but this album kinda planted their feet on the ground a bit... more garage rock - ish and full of pounding rock rhythms than dancefloor thumping, and far less ether... still the melodies in Auf Weiderseihn are gorgeous and the sentiment hits the right spot. They aren't gentle or refined, they're noisy and and messy sounding but that is what gives this some charm - its a dirty rock record. And great for that reason.
5. Desert Lights - Something for Kate I'm not really sure what reactions back home in Australia this album had... its not like the last two. There is more of a swagger to the material in alot of places, but in between some of the more bouncing along material is the Heartfelt sentiment we know and love from this band. There is the Urban yearning of "his is the Life for Me" and "Impossible" - the kinds of songs we've loved Something for Kate for writing since "Elsewhere for Eight Minutes".But then you've got tracks like "Cigarettes and Suitcases" and "oh Kamakaze" which remind of their lighter lyrically but more rocking out moments in their earlier albums - perhaps with more comprehensible lyrics than some of those earlier attempts. Nonetheless, a keeper this album was, and a constant rotation in my changer still.
4. Nervous Flashlights - The Fauves This is more of a posthumous award for this album, having only lobbed on my doorstep in the last couple of months. It's vintage Fauves - ironic tales to make you laugh, a sense of failed ambitions, and a big "Fuck You Johnny Howard" anthem in 'I'll work When I'm Dead". Still this album recalls some of my favourite Fauves material, and feels alot like the more melancholic "Lazy Highways" "Down All Day" , "in Jim Fix and I'm Dead" all echoe a certain ambivalence to the world, a searching, yearning element. The best Fauves album in years.
3. Uninvited Like the Clouds - The Church Ahhh, again, this band never puts a foot wrong. This is an album to get lost in, to soak up and purely enjoy. From the first few bars of "Block" you get the sense this is going to be a vintage Church album. And it doesn't disappoint. Not for a second. They're firing on all cylinders - the production sounds great, tasteful and not overbearing, which was the biggest flaw on Forget Yourself. The melodies are shining bright and honed perfectly... there's darkness "Space Needle","Block" "Song to Go", there's meandering wistfulness Pure Chance" then there's unbridled ecstasy "Unified Feild". This has to be one of their best albums and one that I still listen to with about the same enthusiasm as the first time I played it.
2. Doubt Seeds - Bluebottle Kiss Bluebottle Kiss returns toits roots and moves ahead all at the same time? Impossible? Definitely not impossible. The previous two Bluebottle Kiss albums had a more studio honed, produced sound - yet this is a return to the Rawness that made "Patient" great. The songwriting is all there - Scrub the Mist is as gorgeous a piece as this band has ever put out, "A Little Bit of Light" has that wonderful, dreamy yearning quality I love about Bluebottle Kiss, "The Women Were an Army" revives the storytelling incorporated in the lyrics. Between that you have intense burning indie rock fire, and even some horns and a jazzy swagger to some of the music - eclectic. Powerful, enduring and Beautiful. One amazing album.
1. Synchestra - Devin Townsend Ironically this was the first CD I bought last year and the last disc I ever bought in Australia... but that has nothing to do with why it was my favourite album of last year. From the very first bars of "Let it Roll" you get the sense that something special, awesome and all - encompassing is just opening up. And then, as the tracks unfold, and you enter Townsend's world of melodic metal, tinged with quieter, accoustic moments you are taken aback and its almost like a musical cleansing, if I can be wanky enough to say that for a moment. It pulls together many themes I was feeling last year, especially songs like "Let it Roll", "Babysong" (with its lyrics "why don't you have a baby, why don't you have a child, babies are cute and part of humanity's charm") and "A Simple Lullaby". The music is crushing, soothing, grinding and enlightening all at once. And he even takes time to have some fun with "Vampolka / Vampira" and "Notes from Africa". This is a big album, made to go lots of places, sound progressive and say alot.
For me, it just encompasses every feeling from what was THE biggest year of my life. The year I got married, had a baby and moved all the way to the other side of the world. That's, uhh, pretty much a big year. And in time I will look back on that year and this album will be its soundtrack.
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Post by luke on Nov 28, 2007 9:42:49 GMT -5
I don't stand by this, and was kind of drunk when I made it, but I'm probably never going to get around to making another one, so here goes:
20. LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
19. Kings of Leon- Because of the Times
18. Okkerville River- The Stage Names
17. UGK- Underground Kingz
16. Kevin Drew- Spirit If
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Is Is EP
14. The Rosebuds- Night of the Furies
13. Clutch- From Beale Street to Oblivion
12. Thurston Moore- Trees Outside the Academy
11. Mice Parade- s/t
10. Beirut- The Flying Club Cup
09. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?
08. Ween- La Cucaracha
07. Les Savy Sav- Let's Stay Friends
06. !!!- Myth Takes
05. Black Lips- Good Bad Not Evil
04. Apostle of Hustle- National Anthem of Nowhere
03. Spoon- Ga ga ga ga ga
02. Animal Collective- Strawberry Jam
01. Radiohead- In Rainbows
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