solace

not to mention it was streaming on virb.com for free from July through December

also: 01.15.09 - Chicago, IL (House of Blues - Cubs Charities event)

3/31 Albany, NY @ Valentine's 4/1 Buffalo, NY @ Traif Music Hall 4/3 Urbana, IL @ Illini Courtyard Cafe 4/4 Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub 4/6 St. Louis, MO @ The Gargoyle 4/7 Iowa City, IA @ Picador 4/8 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown 4/10 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theater 4/11 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 4/13 Reno, NV @ The Underground 4/14 Stateline, NV @ Harrah's Tahoe South Shore 4/15 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow's

on the Sound Ops EOY poll i def wanted to... but it seems like it'll be top 10 on there even without my #1 vote i think the fact that I started the Bon Iver thread on there last August says enough however

no doubt. hell, it'd still be my #1 album of 2008 too, but probably not really fair to list it twice

eh, it's a valid point though... i don't care if people include it or not, but most omissions from EOY lists this year stem from them putting it on their '07 list, like Pitchfork and both the sites I run/help run.

takes longer than 4 listens... least it did for me

[*]Sunday, January 25, 2009 Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR Crystal Ballroom

so far i don't know that it's leaked wide, just promos... could be wrong edit: nm, looks like it finally leaked wide last night

some magazines don't differentiate, you're right, but a lot do. funny thing is, i love this one way more than Vol 7, it's probably my favorite bootleg vol that's not a live show

compilation/re-issue, yes usually archive type releases aren't included in most "best albums of the year" list. the Dylan bootleg will def be my top re-issue/comp release of the year, no doubt

it's awfully close... i think it might be a better all around record, but after revisiting them both a few times this past summer i found myself preferring Eggs again. i think Armchairs is a more cohesive and consistent record, but the highs on Eggs are a bit higher for me. i'd argue the first 3-4 are all very very close

pretty early to rank Noble Beast, but for now i'd put it on par w/ Weather Systems 1. Mysterious Production of Eggs 2. Armchair Apocrypha 3. Weather Systems 4. Noble Beast 5. Swimming Hour 6. Thrills 7. Oh! The Graandeur 8. Music of Hair

because it's a re-issue

i'm REALLY hoping to make that show, if only to see The Tallest Man on Earth open... if i can't find anyone to go with me do you know anyone who'd want my ticket?

fair enough. this album feels like much more of a classical record with some pop music melodies laid over top, vs. the last few have felt like pop records at their heart with some classical influence. i will say that the 3 short instrumental interlude/tracks on here don't really do much for me, but thankfully they're all pretty short. edit: re: Bon Iver... 'tevs

i'm with you... as amazing as Eggs was (my #1 of 2005), he topped it (barely) with Armchairs... granted that only made my #3 of 2007 thanks to Bon Iver & The National Moe... honestly, Andrew doesn't usually use a looping pedal on his record, fwiw. Most of the loops on Armchairs are Dosh. i think for me my small issues w/ Noble Beast so far are the lack of great/memorable hooks save for 3 songs. Anonanimal is really the only totally standout track for me, which might just show how consistently good the record is, idk. but yeah, i can't say the album is by any means inferior to Eggs or

mid January is my guesstimate

holy fucking shit Anonanimal is a MONSTER... not LOVING the album as a whole yet, but there's definitely some epic songs on here. this isn't nearly as poppy as the last 2, much more out there melody wise

after 2 listens... this one is gonna take quite a while for me to fully digest compared to the last 2 albums... not bad or anything, just pretty dense... a lot to take in

fair enough. but as i posted some nerdy math above... 6 hours a day would be over 1000 albums listened one after the other, so if you divide that by 10, you still get 100 albums listened to 10 times in that timeframe

yep. exactly... i listen to music anywhere on average from 4-8 hours a day (helps that I can all day at work) so that's anywhere between 60-120 FULL 24 hour days of music listening out of the year... let's say the average album is 60 minutes long... well that's between 1380-2760 albums a year if you were to listen to only one album once in that period of time... not all that unfathomable when you consider that. i'd estimate i heard about 120-150 records this year, which seemed like a bit less than previous years to me (was a lot busier this summer w/ a new house, etc.)

ah... gotcha... well i guess i've considered Dosh & Jeremy (who plays guitar quite a bit too, in addition to bass) a pretty "full band" *shrug* but yes, he'll have Mike Lewis on Sax and other various instruments, another Mpls local musician

as final as it'll ever be i suppose: 1. Blitzen Trapper - Furr 2. The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave 3. Sun Kil Moon - April 4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 5. The Black Keys - Attack & Release 6. Sigur Ros - Me