m_thomp

There's a dual purpose to this thread. Firstly, I'm on the prowl for good songs I may have missed during 2009. As I don't claim to have a finely attuned ear for current gems I often overlook huge amounts of musical goodness. Secondly, I'm currently in the process of making a compilation for a friend and I'm on the lookout for source material. The compilation is based on music released this year but I've come up against a big problem: we have very different tastes in music - I'm drawn to electronic sounds, and my pal, who the comp is for, is less so. So far I've selfishly gone down the path of doing stuff I like without bearing this in mind, and now I'm having to rein that side of things in.

Here are some of my favourites, and these are ones outside of albums that I like (Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Wilco, etc):

Girls - Hellhole Ratrace / Morning Light / Curls / Darling

Atlas Sound - Shelia / Walkabout

Destroyer - Bay of Pigs

Blue Roses - I Am Leaving

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Tunguska

Bat For Lashes - Daniel

Junior Boys - Hazel / Parallel Lines

Arbouretum - Down on the Fall Line / Infinite Corridors

Burial / Four Tet - Moth

Magnolia Electric Co. - The Handing Down

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Afraid Ain't Me

Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move

Yo La Tengo - More Stars Than There Are In Heaven

So what tracks have lit your candle in 09?

About a month or so ago I was going to post about the trailer for the new Jim Cameron film Avatar. Ideas in my brain are like snowflakes in the desert, rare and fleeting, so I forgot all about it. This thread has reminded me and it seems as good a place as any.

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXF2nH4Z9sc&feature=related

This trailer, indeed, even the prospect of the film, bothers me. It bothers me because of the whole backstory, that Jim Cameron waited 12 or so years to make this, mainly waiting for technology to catch-up. Also, the press blurb in the build up to this release has said, through its use of CGI and 3D, that this is going to alter the face of cinema as we know it. Cameron himself referred to the film as cinema's 'game-changer.'

So here's the rub: he waited 12 years to make a film which looks like a composite of all the hated bits in the Star Wars prequels.

Also, what does everyone make of the upsurge in 3D? Cameron's Avatar is supposedly responsible for the recent trend. Have you guys see one of the new 3D films? What do you make of it? Are you impressed?

I caught Up in 3D recently, and whilst the impression of a bit more depth in the film, I found it all ultimately unnecessary. And by that, I mean it didn't add anything of significance that furthered the storytelling that I wouldn't have got from the 2D version. I'm a 'if it's not broke don't fix it' type of guy, so I'm kinda hoping this trend doesn't take off.

Anton was my initial thought too, but hope that it won't be the case as it's so out of character; he's a nice guy!

Oh, I think there was a whole lot of Dexter character development in the episode, but I wanted more movement in the more linear narrative department. In otherwords, crank up the Trinity intensity more, and the ensuing investigations, and stop playing the whining-wife-and-kids card.

With Lundy (seemingly) gone, though, it means Dexter has a bit more liberty. I'm sure we (the audience), and Dexter, thought that Lundy might have an inkling about Dexter's nocturnal hobbies.

Apart from the ending, I thought this episode was a bit lame. It didn't really move the story along at all and just seemed to get side-tracked with Dexter finding his murderous mojo again. It was mainly filler for me. I am a fan of the show, but I was hoping they would start ratcheting up the creepiness and tension of Trinity.

Am I alone in thinking that the ending was a bit 'tacked-on'? It felt a bit extreme and out of context compared to that episode's other content. And then I got to thinking that maybe, due to the timing and aftermath of his half-brother's wardrobe-altercation, they needed to do a hasty rewrite and get Keith Carradine out of the show temporarily/permanently?

Just called the police to inform them that Grandaddy were missing from this thread.

They're looking into it.

PS: I know some of their best doesn't fall neatly into the 90s, but still.

Super Furry Animals

Spiritualized

both spring immediately to mind.

If you like Dan Deacon's Bromst then I'd suggest the following:

Clark - Totems Flare

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II

The Field - Yesterday & Today

Clark is more aggressive but also wonderfully melodic, also a couple of Explosions/Sigur moments in there.

Lindstrom / Prins Thomas is a spacey jam record that is deceptively hypnotic.

The Field is trancey and repetitious, not quite as good as his previous album but has some good moments, particularly when John Stanier from Battles rocks up.

One album I was surprised to see so high was the Avalanches. I suspect this more a case of absence making the heart grow fonder. It's not a bad album, and definitely worthy of place in the 200, but it certainly isn't one of the ten best of the last decade.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of Pitchfork - too precious and exclusive - but I am fan of polls, charts and any stat pecking order bollocks, so it was a great surprise to see Pitchfork's top 200 album picks of the 2000s. Surprising, because I actually think it's pretty good. The selections, barring the odd omission, and them not necessarily being in the right order, are pretty much spot on.

Biggest gripe, for me at least, is that there is no A Ghost Is Born. I would replace YHF with it in the list, but that's just my personal preference.

Kid A makes top of the pops which I wouldn't entirely agree with, although I do really like it. However, it's an album, based the lukewarm critical reation received in the UK, I always thought would have the David Bowie's Low-effect, in that it would take time for a critical reversal of fortune, but nevertheless it would happen.

Enough yakking, here's the list:

200. Jay Reatard - Blood Visions

199. Deerhoof - Apple O'

198. Boris - Akuma No Uta

197. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals*

196. William Basinski - The Disentegration Loops

195. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go*

194. Pulp - We Love Life

193. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands

192. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll

191. Air -Talkie Walkie*

190. Elliott Smith - Figure 8*

189. Jamie Lidell - Multiply*

188. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts*

187. Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid*

186. The Thermals - The Body, the Blood, the Machine

185. Scarface - The Fix

184. Vitalic - OK Cowboy*

183. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

182. Max Tundra -Mastered by Guy at the Exchange

181. Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs*

180. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus*

179. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country

178. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II

177. Broadcast - The Noise Made By People

176. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee

175. Various Artists - Total 3

174. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

173. Herbert - Bodily Functions

172. Constantines - Shine a Light

171. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike*

170. Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors

169. Common - Like Water for Chocolate

168. Califone - Roots and Crowns*

167. Annie - Anniemal*

166. Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance*

165. Ricardo Villalobos - Alcachofa*

164. Les Savy Fav - Rome (Written Upside Down) EP

163. DJ /rupture - Uproot

162. Wu-Tang Clan - The W*

161. Air France - No Way Down

160. Deerhunter - Cryptograms

159. Girl Talk - Night Ripper

158. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies*

157. Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow

156. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

155. Clipse - Lord Willin'

154. Ghostface Killah - The Pretty Toney Album

153. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

152. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

151. The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows*

150. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema*

149. Tough Alliance - A New Chance

148. Erlend Øye - DJ Kicks

147. T.I. - King

146. My Morning Jacket - Z*

145. Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat*

144. Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet

143. The Decemberists - Picaresque

142. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR*

141. Neko Case - Blacklisted*

140. TV on the Radio - Dear Science*

139. Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song

138. The Libertines - Up the Bracket

137. Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle

136. No Age - Weirdo Rippers*

135. Sigur Rós - ()*

134. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf*

133. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War

132. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair*

131. The Notwist - Neon Golden

130. Clipse - We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2

129. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free

128. Life Without Buildings - Any Other City

127. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

126. Mastodon - Leviathan

125. The Books - Thought for Food

124. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea

123. Four Tet - Rounds*

122. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker*

121. Broadcast - Haha Sound

120. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance

119. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

118. The Beta Band - Hot Shots II*

117. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire

116. Michael Mayer - Immer

115. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

114. Cam'ron - Purple Haze

113. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem*

112. Feist -The Reminder

111. M83 - Saturdays=Youth*

110. The National - Boxer*

109. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time*

108. Sonic Youth - Murray Street

107. Justice - †*

106. Caribou - Up in Flames*

105. Battles - Mirrored*

104. The Postal Service - Give Up

103. M.I.A./Diplo - Piracy Funds Terrorism Volume 1

102. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree

101. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

100. ...And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes*

99. Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3

98. Cat Power - You Are Free*

97. The Dismemberment Plan - Change

96. Spoon - Girls Can Tell*

95. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House*

94. Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas

93. 2 Many DJs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax, Pt. 2*

92. Björk - Vespertine*

91. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic*

90. Jay-Z - The Black Album

89. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary*

88. The Wrens - The Meadowlands

87. Kanye West - Graduation

86. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit*

85. Gas - Pop*

84. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World*

83. Joanna Newsom - Ys*

82. Beck - Sea Change*

81.Hot Chip - The Warning*

80. The Clientele - Suburban Light

79. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

78. No Age - Nouns*

77. Missy Elliott - Miss E: So Addictive

76. Junior Boys - Last Exit*

75. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

74. The White Stripes - Elephant*

73. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2

72. Sleater-Kinney - One Beat

71. Portishead - Third*

70. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State

69. Liars - Drum's Not Dead

68. Robyn - Robyn*

67. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots*

66. J Dilla - Donuts

65. Godpseed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven*

64. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America*

63. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?*

62. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner

61. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

60. Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic

59.Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak

58. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime*

57. The Rapture - Echoes

56. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca*

55. Animal Collective - Feels*

54. M.I.A. - Arular

53. Clinic - Internal Wrangler

52. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

51. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend*

50. Deerhunter - Microcastle*

49. Antony & the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now*

48. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday*

47. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender*

46. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow*

45. Fugazi - The Argument

43. Luomo - Vocalcity

42. Grizzy Bear - Veckatimest*

41. Burial - Untrue*

40. The National - Alligator*

39. Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

38. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That

37. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out*

36. The Streets - Original Pirate Material

35. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga*

34. Radiohead - Amnesiac*

33. Basement Jaxx - Rooty*

32. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes*

31. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain*

30. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi*

29. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago*

28. Kanye West - The College Dropout

27. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs*

26. Fennesz - Endless Summer

25. Madvillian - Madvilliany

24. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell*

23. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People*

22. M.I.A. - Kala

21. Radiohead - In Rainbows*

20. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights*

19. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight*

18. Kanye West - Late Registration

17. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver*

16. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois*

15. The Knife - Silent Shout

14. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion*

13. OutKast - Stankonia*

12. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells*

11. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele

10. The Avalanches - Since I Left You*

09. Panda Bear - Person Pitch*

08. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun*

07. The Strokes - Is This It

06. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica

05. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

04. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot*

03. Daft Punk - Discovery*

02. Arcade Fire - Funeral*

01. Radiohead - Kid A*

No siginificance on the asterisks (*), they're just albums I own in some form.

One of my favourites:

G.O.B.: Oh, I missed you, Michael!

Michael: All right.

G.O.B.: Or should I say robot.

Michael: What, ’cause’m not crying?

G.O.B.: Maybe you don’t have enough RAM to understand this, Michael, but there’s such a thing as brotherly love.

I was at this show, and at Green Man incidentally, and it has to go down as one of my favourite London shows - a city whose concert-goers usually prefer to have the performing band act as background music to their own personal chat parties. Tonight was different, the crowd were eager and excited for the music, younger than expected and totally enamoured with the band.

I was stood about 6 people (or rows, not that there were rows) behind the guy who wanted 'Richard' to come down from the stalls.

Slight grumble: if Jeff wanted a Queen-moment for his birthday then he must realise that the song to clap along to is 'We Will Rock You' not 'We Are The Champions'

Also, given connecting trains to catch, I had to bail during the start of I'm A Wheel, predicting it was the last song. Didn't know they played Hoodoo Voodoo too, which was a shame because the version played at Green Man was a blast.

I'm away for two weeks now. And not only is that an open invite to would-be burglars, but also allows me the luxury of listening to your mixes whilst on the road. Some I'm loaded up with joss ackland's baroque pop and southern soul mixes, GtrPlyr's eccentrics collection; DAngerer09's Less Than Popular rock and Pop Todd's effort.

I'll report back to class (and the police) in a fortnight.

Phew, mix finally finished now. A few points to note:

* Apologies, this is just one long mp3. My skills aren't yet at the advanced stage were I can divide the tracks up.

* To upload I used Rapidshare. At 90% completion of the upload it provided me with the download link(??!). I don't know if this is the norm, but my confidence isn't exactly high in everything having been captured - where did that missing 10% go??

* Because I used Rapidshare, the link is limited to ten downloads only. In the unlikely event that this link expires, and demand for downloading not being met (again, unlikely), could I ask one of the lucky downloaders to re-up it? I ask only because it takes me a lot longer (nearly 2 hours) to upload than to download (uploading through my ISP is capped to a fraction of my download speed). I have also experienced problems, probably down to file size and ISP, in uploading it using Mediafire, Megaupload, etc.

* There is no Michael Jackson contained within the mix.

Presenting:

No Jackson

With that over I can now kick back and enjoy some of your efforts.

cool. hurry up and upload it. have you heard jim ford yet? seeing as you like Ju Ju Man. i might just stick my southern soul mix i'd made recently in here anyway for anyone to download.

No, not heard anything by Jim Ford. I noticed he was the opener on GtrPlyr's mix, but, unfortunately I haven't had much time to listen to other people's mixes, beyond thankyoufornothingatall's - I will though. If there's a likeness to Brinsley Schwarz, and by that reasoning The Band, then I guess I'll dig it.

Incidentally, I also noticed GtrPlyr had included the very same Arthur Russell track that nearly made my mix. I'm thinking there's some almost cosmic, musical touchstones beyond Wilco that are common amongst quite a few posters here. Which raises such questions as:

Is ViaChicago built on ley lines?

and

What happened to white dog poo?

Here is the mix that thankyoufornothingatall did for me. You'll find the tracklisting as part of the .rar file, and I don't have it downloaded on this machine (work laptop).

thankyoufornothingatall's Mix

It's a really good contemporary mix, with a little splash of vintage in there. The more modern stuff on there I'm pretty familiar with (Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver, The Knife, Stars, Kevin Drew) but the track selection and sequencing really gives it a natural and warm flow. There were some surprises on there, like the Dave Sitek track that I hadn't heard previous.

Also, I blame thankyoufornothingatall for the lateness of my mix . He opened my eyes/ears to the possibility and software to help blend the tracks. I'm now hooked on this, and have been endlessly tweaking the transitions.

thankyoufornothingatall has my earlier version (or leaked version as I refer to it) but I was unhappy with how it sounded when I burnt it to cd - sound quality was poor with lots of pops, crackles and panning between speakers. So I'm currently sorting that out for public consumption. Anyway, here is the tracklisting, which I wanted to post now to show how great minds think alike - GtrPlyr chose the same Karen Dalton track and PopTodd chose the same Brinsley Schwarz track. Accusers of plagarism can go to hell; my mix was completed last Saturday

My picks:

1. RJD2 - Salud

2. El Guincho - Palmitos Park

3. Simian - One Dimension

4. Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind

5. Bibio - Lovers' Carvings

6. Stevie Wonder - Castles In The Sand

7. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - On The Low

8. Boards Of Canada - Constants Are Changing

9. Fairport Convention - Tale In Hard Time

10. Spiritualized - The Slide Song

11. Kings Of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From (Royksopp remix)

12. Brinsley Schwarz - Ju Ju Man

13. Faust - Lauft...Heissr Das Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald..Lauft (Alternative Version)

14. Clark - Future Daniel

15. Plants And Animals - Feedback In The Field

16. Department of Eagles - Sailing By Night

17. John Cale - Emily

18. Bob Morgan - Marguerite

19. Ronnie Lane - Tin and Tambourine

20. Koushik - See You

21. Pole - Heim (Four Tet mix)

Mix should be ready, minus sound problems, this evening.

Haha, blimey...you have some intuition - I used to love Shed Seven!! I'm on standby...

If you're gonna make a confession like that, do yourself the dignity of being anonymous!

Unfortunately, I've been paired up elsewhere, so no Royal Mail Rumblings coming from me. Rick Witter or no Rick Witter!

Any rules apply to this mix-off? Usually we've have a limit to ten songs, and sometimes even a theme?

Equally, we could have no rules, which would ultimately mean me sending twigboyjoe a 'Best of Shed 7' triple cd-set.

Just had big long car journey so:

and

Animal Collective live at Glastonbury 09

The top three are some of my favourite albums of 09 - I know Plants and Animals was last year but I only heard this year, so there.

And the AC live set is pretty good and excellent quality too, including the newish cut What Would I Want Sky, and a massively elongated new version of Fireworks.

I'm in. Digital vibes can be sent and would be gratefully received. With a logistics head on, and to keep costs down, I could pair up with twigboyjoe as he's a Laaahdaaaarn lad, from saaaaarf of the river, so I can easily package up the goods being UK based.

mos def - the ecstatic

 

kinda digging this. his last few have been so boring.

I've been playing a fair bit over the last couple of days, and I'm likin' it. It's plenty fun.

This is more of a 'Was Playing' than a 'Now Playing' as I've just been through these in a long journey. I will say that the Mos Def album was/is a lot of fun and is a really enjoyable album, it's not as immediate as Black On Both Sides, but certainly could be seen as a companion piece, it's along similar lines albeit newer and fresher.

However, one of the other two albums I ejected part way through track three. Was not really enjoying it. Here's a clue: it wasn't the Sleepy Sun album.

Forgot to add Dan Deacon's Bromst to that ^^^, and I don't know how to edit posts on this new board.

I've spent far too much time in 2008's backwaters recently (Hush Arbors, Harvey Milk, Plants & Animals), but these from 09 I've enjoyed:

Clark - Totems Flare

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

The Field - Yesterday & Today

Pains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II

That one by Judas Priest that made that kid redecorate his palate with a bullet. Dunno what it was called but (seemingly) contained the words, "Do it!" It may actually have been called that.