2008 Round Up Pt. 4

More worthy releases from last year that we missed.

Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone/Devin Hoff/Ches Smith
Calling All Portraits
(2008, Skykap)

Calling All Portraits is worthy of much more than I am able to say in this little space. In fact, the album is probably the instigator to the writers block I’ve had for the past couple weeks. Consisting of a veritable who’s who of the Brooklyn improve/free jazz scene, Calling All Portraits is a nimble, engaging whirlwind of a record that could only come from talent such as this. The instrumentation is as follows: Halvorson on guitar, Pavone on viola (I think), Hoff on bass and Smith on drums. Each band member takes turns leading the rest of the crew for thick ride that is equal parts composed and improvised, dealing in both free jazz and chamber classical, and all without any of fatty, unlistenable chunks that usually accompany such music. A real tour de force and probably my favourite jazz album of last year.

Murcof
The Versailles Sessions
(12.2008, Leaf)

Culled from compositions prepared specifically for a festival in Versailles in 2007, Murcof makes a bit of a departure from his patented electronics with six tracks composed solely with 17th century baroque instruments. Pitched as unique project to be consumed in-between ‘proper’ releases, The Versailles Sessions certainly holds its own as another monument to Murcof’s eclectic, powerful musicianship. Dark and brooding with a sense of an ancient world twisted into the present, The Versailles Sessions morph with a fluid ease that can only be attributed to inspiration. A beautifully dynamic disc with surprising replay value.

Arve Henriksen
Cartography
(10.2008, ECM Records)

Rune Grammofon mainstay and Supersilent co-founder, has wandered from his home label for his fourth solo release with ECM. I don’t have any background on the label change, but it doesn’t really seem to matter since the already highly esteemed Norwegian trumpeter has created such a devastatingly gorgeous release with Cartography. Extremely measured and soulful with the kind of soul that seem to only be available to the trumpet, Henriksen builds on the shoulders of his prior work with heartbreaking trumpet lines that are often accompanied by vocal specters that float and intertwine with the instrumentation. Cartography is simply gorgeous and worthy of a much better equipped write up. Probably tied with Calling All Portraits as jazz album of 2008.

-Mr. Thistle

2008 Round Up Pt. 3

Three more releases that require a closer look.

Thee Oh Sees
The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
(04.2008, Tomlab)

I blame this 2008 omission on Wooly Mammal. After listening to the record, his basic sentiment was ‘meh’ and you know what? I listen to way too much music to be bogged down by some meh-worthy album. However, I kept seeing the record lauded all over the place and finally decided that I needed to find out for myself and thank goodness I did. The Master’s Bedroom is a garage psych bliss fest! Awesome hooks underscored by a generally bombastic guitars the twist and warp like vibrant specter. Thee Oh Sees got weighed down a little too much by lo-fi tag; no, this is pure, adulterated rock music at its grimy best.


Love Is All
A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
(11.2008, What’s Your Rupture?)

A perfect return to form after a three year hiatus, Love Is All delivers their second album filled with the same sugary Swedish charm that we fell for with their debut. It only took a couple plays before the anthemic, hook-heavy nature of A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night was vying for my soul (just like any good pop album). So, yeah, beware because there is a good chance that you won’t be able shake this album once you’ve heard it, AKA, the album provokes binge listening and will most likely end with a call to a local addiction hotline. Pure audio candy.


Sic Alps
U.S. Ez
(07.2008, Siltbreeze)

Sharing members with my adorably effed up lo-fi troupe of 2008, The Hospitals, Sic Alps produced an album that inhabited the lighter end of the Siltbreeze’s feedback-conscious community and turned out stronger for it. On U.S. Ez, Sic Alps must’ve busted out large portions the ceiling they were recording in because there’s plenty of sunshine shining through these tracks. Sure, there are some squealing amps and light fuzz that crops up here and there, but U.S. Ez is more interested in untainted song craft. That is the heart of the album – a collection of beautifully left-of-center pop songs to relax and sip lemonade to. It would be interesting to see if a more celebrated lo-fi band like Times New Viking would sound even close to this good if they stripped back their songs like this. Whether successful or not, there isn’t a chance it could be as good as U.S. Ez.

-Mr. Thistle

2008 Round Up Pt. 2

More shotgun blasts of worthy releases from last year that we never got around to when they were initially released, but are all most definitely worth your time.

Birchville Cat Motel
Four Freckled Constellation
(02.2008, Conspiracy Records)

Now that Birchville Cat Motel has moved beyond his beloved moniker to analog only recordings as Our Love Will Destroy The World, Four Freckled Constellation stands as one of the few releases by the New Zealander pressed on wax. Separated into six wonderfully varied slabs of textured, noisy drone that range from beautiful to monstrous to creepy, Four Freckled Constellation definitely honors its format and stands out as one of his best works as BCM. I liked this release quite a bit more than his other 2008 full length, Gunpowder Temple of Heaven. In fact, listening to it again I am wondering how I left it off my 2008 top 50…

Angel
Kalmukia
(02.2008, Editions Mego)

The third full length from Angel, Kalmukia is filled with meandering, ethereal blues wrapped in splayed electrical chords that are set ablaze atop a writhing, low-end reverberating mass. It is that deep bellied, low-end mass permeating all corners of Kalmukia that provides the air of doom and apocalyptic (if not the antithesis) of an otherwise banal artistic pseudonym. However, the trio of Angel doesn’t stop at blues; laying a lonely cello atop barren stretches of static-pulsing desert, Kalmukia feels at periods like doom chamber ensemble. Just don’t forget the doom; there is a reason Angel gets compared with Earth and Sunn O))).

Dino Felipe
No Fun Demo
(06.2008, No Fun)

I haven’t listened to any of Dino Felipe’s previous work in the realms of electronic noise, but this supposed demo is pristine weirdo pop genius. Building on a lo-fi aesthetic that is removed from more of the faddish stuff that dominated most of 2008, Felipe fills like an odd mix of Kurt Weisman and Blank Dogs which equates to the use of drum machines, a little new/no wave action, generally bizarre vocals and killer pop instincts. Felipe is all over the map on the fourteen tracks collected here, but never far from a central core that makes this No Fun Demo both fun and, well, it still sounds like a demo, but in a good way. Makes you wonder what Felipe could do if he really set his mind to something that didn’t require the demo tag, because I would kill to make music this good. This is another curious omission from our lists in 2008.

-Mr. Thistle

2008 Round Up Pt. 1

There was a lot of good stuff that came out last year that I’ve listened to and loved but never got around to writing about. Sometimes it was writers block, other times the albums got trampled by other releases, but mostly I just had too much school and work. Either way, here is a late, brief shotgun style tribute to some pretty great albums that I know I would never get around to otherwise.

Dungen
4
(09.2008, Kemado)

Swedish rock band Dungen seems to be frozen in an era of classic 70’s psych rock and lush folk. Even before bursting into the indie mainstream with the success of Ta Det Lugnt, the band had always had a retro fitted swagger. So, even though things haven’t changed drastically from the band’s beginnings and 4 is still satisfies with its muted drums, fuzzy guitars, smooth vocals.

James Blackshaw
Litany of Echoes
(06.2008, Tompkins Square)

Finally getting distance from some of those Fahey comparisons, on Litany of Echoes, Blackshaw sounds more like a disciple of Steve Reich. Though not quite as good as 2007’s The Cloud of Unknowing, Blackshaw’s latest builds and invents upon his previous works and promises only good things to come.


Dj/Rupture
Uproot
(10.2008, Agriculture)

Seems like dub has become a pretty fashionable genre in the last year or two, marked by plenty of reissues of dub classics, dub compilations and the introduction of dub aesthetics to hip hop and indie rock alike. And you know what? For the most part I’m not a big fan. On Uproot, Dj/Rupture has provided the perfect entry point with an eclectic mix that proves that there aren’t many Djs at working at Rupture’s standard.

-Mr. Thistle

Mr. Thistle's Top 50

Wowee Zowee! I don’t know about you, but 2008 was good to me. So good, I legitimately considered creating a top 100 year list and even then lamented not being able to highlight all the awesome stuff that I have listened to this year. A top 50 is ridiculous enough as it is. All you really have to do to check out more is scroll through our past posts anyway, right? Anyways, I have put some serious mind-melting effort into forming this list to my actual tastes and not to what I think that I should like or what I feel probably should have been higher on my list. Lists mutate over time anyway, but this is as close a representation of what I feel is the best 2008 has to offer as of year end. Stay tuned for when we resume posting again in 2009 because there is already some ridiculous releases on the horizon (Animal Collective, Belong, Avalanches, The Dirty Projectors). Hopefully we can keep up. Enjoy and remember to ridicule our lists and post your own in the comments section. Love Mr. Thistle.


1. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna

The album wherein GGD arranged the perfect marriage of urban electronics and primitive tribalism. Saint Dymphna acts like a faultless DJ mix by effortlessly meshing and sequencing the beautifully surreal with animalistic pop to take you places that you could never get to otherwise.



2. The Fun Years – Baby, It’s Cold Inside

It is hard to decide when an “ambient” record transitions from being good to being really good to being essential. With all the minimalist repetition involved, there is plenty of room to get lost in internal arguments for and against a given. Somehow, Baby, It’s Cold Inside never provided me an opportunity to doubt it. The Fun Years have created an ambiance drone record so intricate and lucid that it really shouldn’t be pegged as an ambient drone record at all. But for lack of a better genre to hang it under, that tag will have to remain. With a guitar and turntable, The Fun Years have produced magnificence. To these ears, this is beauty defined.

3. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.

A beguilingly simple double release of epic proportions, Microcastle and Weird Era Cont showcase Deerhunter’s dueling strengths: psychedelic experimentation and grandiose, laconic pop. In addition, no album this year has improved so much upon repeated listens. The release of Microcastle and Weird Era Cont marks Deerhunter as one of the very best bands working in indie rock today.


4. Women – Women

You know what? I just don’t get Women. One moment they’re all nice and flirty and the next they’ve descended into some moody atonal fit. Didn’t know if I was talking about the band or the gender for a second, did ya? Well, fortunately for the band, they can make a moody atonal fit sound just as wonderful as a picnic sunny with a loved one. On this, their debut self-titled release, Women have created an astoundingly self assured album filled front to back with pure rock genius.


5. The Hospitals – Hairdryer Peace

Hairdryer Peace is the most effed up record I have heard in a long time. The members of The Hospitals must have been going through some serious mental issues in order to produce something this pensive and grating. The thing is a bi-polar panic attack of epic proportions. There has been a lot of buzz about subterranean noise pop this year, but Hairdryer Peace is far more abrasive and cavernous than anything else out there. The Hospitals don’t make noise pop, they make pop noise.


6. Kurt Weisman – Spiritual Sci-fi

This album is so weird and so wonderful at the same time; I absolutely adore it. There really isn’t anything quite like it. A personal project created over the course of 10 years, Spiritual Sci-Fi is filled with layers upon layer of little bells and whistles to go along with Weisman’s pitch-shifted vocal delivery. The album title says it all…the cover on the other hand, not so much.


7. A Faulty Chromosome - As An Ex-Anorexic’s Six Sicks Exit, …

This is perhaps the most endearing record I heard all year. Coming from out of nowhere, A Faulty Chromosomes produced an effortless piece of unassuming indie dream-pop genius that held me over for months while I waited for 2008 to really get rolling, but even when the hits started to come out, As An Ex-Anorexic’s held strong. Oddly titled and ambivalently marketed, AFC’s debut is about as lovable as a record get. Consider me smitten. Microcastle obsessives just don’t know what they’re missing.


8. Amplifier Machine – Her Mouth Is An Outlaw

Pristine and introspective, Amplifier Machine is a testament to gorgeous moments building slowly into nothingness. Yep, no massive climactic moments here, just endless beauty. I have always been a sucker for anticlimaxes, but to describe Her Mouth Is An Outlaw as anticlimactic is counterintuitive. Amplifier Machine’s debut is that epic epiphany, that ultimate climax stretched out and played over seven tracks of immaculate wonder.


9. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer

At Mount Zoomer is the most underrated major indie rock release of 2008, bar none. Wolf Parade have definitely turned a corner on this album, which is probably why a lot of critics have been shuffling their feet when reviewing it, but to disregard it on the basis that it isn’t Apologies to the Queen Mary is simply lazy. More patient and rock oriented, At Mount Zoomer is Wolf Parade growing into their own skin, At Mount Zoomer is Wolf Parade not caring what the indie rock public wants from them, At Mount Zoomer is…is…just awesome!


10. Alan Licht & Aki Onda – Everydays

To say that Alan Licht and Aki Onda’s collaborative effort on Everdays is all over the map is incorrect. Everydays has created an entirely new audio landscape of completely uncharted territory. Everydays is a visceral experience that avoids easy definitions. Suffice it to say that Licht and Onda have created something epic touching on everything that is good about contemporary experimental music.

11.The Walkmen – You & Me










12. Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane










13. Subtle – ExitingARM









14. Invincible – Shapeshifters










15. Belong – Same Places (Slow Version) 12”









16. Skeletons – Money










17. Scott Tuma – Not For Nobody










18. Juana Molina – Un Dia










19. Loma Prieta – Last City










20. Evangelicals – The Evening Descends

21. Wavves – S/T
22. MoHa! – One Way Ticket to Candyland
23. Lau Nau – Nukkuu
24. TV On The Radio – Dear Science,
25. Navigator – Songs for Mei and Satsuki
26. Dosh – Wolves and Wishes
27. Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual
28. Nat Baldwin – Most Valuable Player
29. Fennesz – Black Sea
30. Millipede - Hyrule
31. Colourmusic – F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13
32. The Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Grave
33. Black Pus – Black Pus 4: All Aboard the Magic Pus
34. PAS/CAL – I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke and Laura
35. Bird Names – Open Relationship
36. Capsule – Blue
37. Aufgehoben - Khora
38. Dwayne Sodahberk - Fjarilsfalu
39. Sun Kil Moon – April
40. Music Tapes – For Clouds and Tornadoes
41. Pumice - Quo
42. Our Sleepless Forest – S/T
43. Kemialliset Ystavat – Harmaa Laguuni
44. The Raveonettes – Lust, Lust, Lust
45. Peter Broderick – Float
46. Grouper – Dragging a Dead Dear Up a Hill
47. Janek Schaefer – Extended Play (triptych for the child survivor of war and conflict)
48. Clark – Turning Dragons
49. Pyramids – Pyramids
50. Raccoo-oo-oon – S/T

-Mr. Thistle

Sassi's Favorite 50

I'll admit that I didn't get around to listening to everything that I wanted to this year. I am sure that I have missed out on some amazing music, but even so I have heard some amazing music as well. I don't claim to know the absolute best most musically relevant releases of 2008, but I do know what I personally enjoyed the guts out of this year, and here they are:

1. The Walkmen - You & Me











2. No Kids – Come Into My House











3. Deerhoof- Offend Maggie











4. Colourmusic – F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13










5. Evangelicals – The Evening Descends











6. Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane










7. Beach House – Devotion










8. Francois Virot – Yes or No











9. Vampire Weekend – S/T











10. Why? - Alopecia










11. Nat Baldwin – Most Valuable Player











12. Black Mountain – In the Future










13. Subtle – ExitingARM










14. TV On The Radio – Dear Science,









15. Meho Plaza – Meho Plaza










16. Women – Women










17. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.










18. Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust









19. Destroyer – Trouble In Dreams










20. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park










21. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
22. Portugal the Man – Censored Colors
23. El Guincho - Alegranza
24. Atlas Sound – Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Who Cannot Feel
25. Skeletons – Money
26. No Age – Nouns
27. Marnie Stern – This is it…
28. Sun Kil Moon – April
29. Pete & The Pirates – Little Death
30. Jamie Lidell - Jim
31. Animal Collective - Water Curses EP
32. The Black Angels – Directions to See a Ghost
33. High Places – S/T
34. Vivian Girls – S/T
35. Andrew Bird - Soldier On EP
36. Hospital Ships – Oh, Ramona
37. Dosh – Wolves and Wishes
38. Santogold - S/T
39. The Ruby Suns – Sea Lion
40. The Mae Shi - Hlllyh
41 The Great Nortwest - The Widespread Reign Of
42. Juana Molina - Un Dia
43. A Faulty Chromosome - As An Ex-Anorexic’s Six Sicks Exit, …
44. Navigator - Songs For Mei and Satsuki
45. Cadence Weapon - After Party Babies
46. Alan Wilkis - Babies Dream Big
47. The Black Keys - Attack And Release
48. Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
49. Thao Nguyen – We Brave Bee Stings and All
50. Blood On The Wall - Liferz

-Sassigrass