Top Ten Albums of 2008

Hojo Hi5's List
King Khan and the Shrines-The Supreme Genius Of..
The Hold Steady- Stay Positive
Jamie Lidell- Jim
Birdmonster-From The Mountain To The Sea
Two Cow Garage- Speaking In Cursive
The Replacements- Reissues (except All Shook Down)
Blitzen Trapper- furr
Roger Bryan and the Orphans -Recovery
The Gaslight Anthem -The '59 Sound



Dr. Jake's List
1. Tell tale signs:the bootleg series
2. Midnight Organ fight - freightened rabbit
3. Pete and the pirates - little death
4. Vampire Weekend
5. Fleet foxes
6. Attack and release - the black keyals
7. Army Navy
8. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
9. Brighter than creations dark - drive by truckers
10. In loving memory of... - let's Wrestle

Honorable mention:
1. Bon iver for emma forever ago
2. Lesser deamons - My Teenage Stride
3. Ways to Make it through the wall .... Los Campesinos
4. Park Avenue - plants and animals



No Name's List
10. Marah - Angels of Destruction
9. V/A - Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story
8. Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs - Dirt Don't Hurt
7. Steve Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
6. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
5. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
4. Black Mountain - In The Future
3. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
2. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
1. Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series: Tell Tale Signs

Honorable Mentions List (In No Particular Order)
10. American Princes - Other People
9. The Baseball Project - Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails
8. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
7. David Garza - Dream Delay
6. Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
5. VA - Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76
4. Nick Cave - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
3. VA - Miles From India
2. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
1. Mudcrutch - S/T



Shrimp Cracker's List
1. Mike Viola - Lurch
2. Baseball Project, The - Volume 1: Frozen Ropes + Dying Quails
3. Marah - Angels of Destruction
4. Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
5. Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
6. Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08
7. James Jackson Toth - Waiting In Vain
8. Black Keys - Attack + Release
9. Hold Steady - Stay Positive
10. The Dutchess + The Duke - She's The Dutchess, He's The Duke

Top EP
John Prine - Fair & Square

Top Bargain Bin Pick
Paul Westerberg - 49:00

Top Reissue
Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series V8 (3 disc version... go DL it)



Hendo's List
1. Jack Rose - Dr. Ragtime & Pals/ Self Titled
2. V/A - Spiritual Jazz
3. Hauschka - Ferndorf
4. King Khan & The Shrines - Supreme Genius Of..........
5. Brethren of the Free Spirit - All Things are From Him, Through Him, and in Him
6. Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire - Thatcher's Children
7. James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
8. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07 + Singles 08 (06-07 is better though)
9. Cheap Time - Cheap Time
10. Black Mountain - In The Future

Honorable Mentions (alpha order - band name only, otherwise it would get unwieldy)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO, Bipolaroid, The Black Angels, Boredoms, Brian Jonestown Massacre, C Joynes, Calexico, Deerhunter, The Dirtbombs, The Drive By Truckers, Dungen, Earthless, Giant Sand, The Hold Steady, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, Howlin Rain, Marah, Mister Lonely OST, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Pelt, Pete Molinari, Peter Walker, Religious Knives, Sennen, Seun Kuti, Spiritualized, Terakraft, The Baseball Project, Toumani Diabate, V/A - Imaginational Anthem Vol. 3, V/A - Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6, Valet, Wavves, Wooden Shjips


Pigs-on-a-Ticker-Tape Parade's List

1. Hold Steady - Stay Positive

2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

3. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs Bootleg Series 8

4. Santogold - Santogold

5. Malcolm Middleton - Slight of Heart

6. The Gaslight Anthem - '59 Sound

7. Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark

8. The National - Virginia EP

9. Giant Sand - proVISIONS

10. Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain



Neighborhood's List
1. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
2. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
3. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
4. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
5. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
6. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
7. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
8. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
9. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
10. Choco Taco

Honorable Mention: Chicken Enchirito

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Hendo Bendo Mix

Sir Richard Bishop - Black Eyed Blue
The Odd - Rock Rock Burn
Bipolaroid - Fell Right Out of Bed
South San Gabriel - Alabama Crusade
The Urges - So Uptight

Dream Baby Dream

We are so close to riding that wave again. Dream Baby Dream

Hendo Bendo Mix

Here's a batch of songs for you to prep you for the most important day in recent memory. There isn't really a theme (which I will try to focus more on in later posts...), beyond the fact that this is all stuff that I got recently, and has all been released relatively recently.

Hush Arbors - Gone
Juana Molina - El Vistido
Valet - We Went There
Shogun Kunitoki - Montezuma
Grails - Reincarnation Blues

Biases

One of my projects since moving to a new apartment has been to go through the collection of cd's I have which were affixed to magazines I bought. This has helped me to discover or re-discover artists and bands and helps pass time. 

Josh Ritter is an artist I know almost nothing about save he was on a label that merged with one I used to work for. And Shrimp Cracker and I saw him perform The River at a Bruce Springsteen tribute show. And he has curly hair. I guess I also know that he must be a decent songwriter/crafter as evidenced by Girl In The War, a track included on Uncut's April 2006 Playlist. 

While writing this, I googled Josh Ritter and found out he's from Idaho. If I had ever given it thought before, I would imagine singer-songwriters from Idaho would sound a lot like Josh Ritter but if that were the case then guys like Josh Ritter wouldn't be all that special, if they indeed are. 

I like this song but before you guys start making fun of me for that triple-A shit you pull whenever we're out together (however rarely that is) I just want to state that this song is no worse or better than some of the other crap we've posted on this thing. Also I've seen some of your emusic downloads. How's that for a complex?

Wavves

One of the coolest albums I've heard recently is the self-titled release from Wavves on Fuckit Tapes. I only first heard the album about a week ago, but this has really grabbed me by the charlie browns. Wavves is the work of Nathan Williams, and this MF likes to make some noise. The album ranges from heavy fuzz melodic garage, to full on trash/thrash, to tweaked out psych. There seems to be a follow up full length on the way, along with a slew of 7"s, and I for one am very eager to check out anything this guy releases.

Here's a few songs:

Wavves
Teenage Super Party

AC/DC Rocks Excel

WTF?




Here's a classic one that inspired one of the best, and most vivid dreams i ever head (not featuring a scantily-clad No Name.......). I wrote it down at one point, if asked, I'll go looking for it.



Long Live Bon.

My Study Mix

Today I was going through some stuff on my ipod and ran into my study playlist from the dark days immediately prior to when I took the NY bar exam. This is normally a hectic time for any person but my situation was worsened when my computer crashed and died taking all my bar notes along with it. The only plus to something like that happening is a. your backpack on the trips to and from the library becomes much lighter. b. you have less stuff to study. c. you have a good excuse if you fail the test. (though if this happens, I can assure you I will never post on this blog ever again-maybe you'd like that, huh?). 

Finding the mix reminded me of those days where you get up and study, take a piss, study, eat, study and sleep. Repeat. It reminded me of those days but it did not make me yearn for them. Here's my mix and some links. Now you will know why I may have failed. 

Slapped Actress - The Hold Steady

Coma Girl - Joe Strummer

Howlin' Down The Cumberland - John Hiatt

Buffalo - Kathleen Edwards

Lord I'm Discouraged - The Hold Steady

Old Downtown - Laura Cantrell

A Damn Good Disguise - The Mendoza Line

Scare Easy - Mudcrutch 

For Real - Okkervil River

Angels Walk - Paul Westerberg

Under The Boardwalk - Ricki Lee Jones

Killing The Blues - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (the song from which this album comes from I am convinced is the best of all last year)

The Only One - Roy Orbison (get this man a stamp already)

Hard Rain - Shout Out Louds

A Higher Place - Tom Petty

Wake Up Time - Tom Petty

Hendo Bendo Mix

While I've been watching this "Town Hall" style debate tonight, I've been making a short playlist. Since McCain was pissing me off so much, the mix favors the short fast rocknoll/punkrock blasts. I think watching it on CNN and seeing that "squiggly line" on the bottom, and realizing that people were eating up some of the utter BS that McCain was spewing pissed me off further. What a dingus.

Anyway, here it is. Another short mix. Woop dee doo. Go break something.

The Pagans - Dead End America
Bad Brains - Pay To Cum
The Sins - Fighting in the USA
Ape City R&B - She's Candy Coated
The Hunches - Get Some Hate
The Dils - Class War
The Dils - I Hate The Rich
Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout
The Boston Chinks - Swollen Useless

Badar Ali Khan

One of my recent discoveries courtesy of Emusic is Pakistani Qawwali singer Badar Ali Khan. He was the cousin of world-renowned Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I've had an appreciation for this kind of music for a while, but never really paid much attention to it. I've been drawn more to eastern music these past few months as I've been seeking the perfect drone.
Qawwali music is very rhythm-based, which makes it easy to get lost in the mesmeric groove of the longer songs. I'm not going to pretend to know much about it, and I'll just let the music do the talking.
Here's a song from Badar Ali Khan's album, Lost in Qawwali III. His voice really is insane. Dance the J5 (or whatever the kids call it these days), put on your headphones, and lay back. You'll be glad you did.


Badar Ali Khan - Black Night

Hendo Bendo Mix

Here's a short mix to satisfy the peanut gallery:


Sennen - Just Wanted to Know
The Out Crowd - Little Elf
C Joynes - The Village of Manea
Giant Sand - Well Enough Alone
Charles Mingus - Solo Dancer
Fury Lewis - Judge Harsh Blues

Thatcher's Children

One of the top releases of the past few months has to be the lastest from Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire, "Thatcher's Children". The album doesn't find Billy straying too far from the last 2 albums, but if you dig him, you'll dig this too. Once again, Billy doesn't handle all of the lead vocal duties, as Nurse Julie takes the mic a couple times. Some of the songs continue the "A Quick One" era Who-isms, while others are closer to straight up punk. He still likes to revisit melodies of past songs and give them new lyrics. At this point, there's not much new to say about the music, but he's still one of my personal favorites.

Here's a link where they each list their favorite movies of all time.
Here's a video clip of an interview he did with Ian Svenonius

Here's a few tunes from the new album:
Thatcher's Children
Loray Head
Back Amongst the Medway Losers

Dinosaur Jr

Thursday night, I got to go see Dinosaur Jr and Built to Spill courtesy of Shrimp Cracker. I really didn't know much about BTS, but I am a fan of Dinosaur Jr. I've liked them for a long time, which means I don't listen to their records that often anymore. I spent most of the evening thinking to myself, "hey, i wish they would play my favorite song "______________"'
and then completely drew a blank. I knew it was relatively poppier then most of their other songs, but I couldnt even remember the tune at all, or what album it was from. I asked the others I was with but my vague description did nothing to help them either. Needless to say, this bugged the hell out of me for the rest of the night. When I got home, I went online to do more detective work.

Turns out, the song was "Not You Again" from the EP, Whatever's Cool With Me.

Here's a youtube clip of J Mascis playing it solo:

ipod On Random (absence makes the heart grow fonder)

(I Got A) Catholic Block - Sonic Youth - Sister

Who's Gonna Find Me - The Coral - Roots & Echoes

Rich Folks Hoax - Rodriguez - Cold Fact

Cactus Wren - Mark Olson & The Creek Dippers - December's Child

Cold Days From The Birdhouse - The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns...

Momma Miss America - Paul McCartney - McCartney

Soon - Japancakes - Loveless

I Was Your Man - Tindersticks - Curtains

Oh Daddy - Fleetwood Mac - Rumours 

Give Him A Great Big Kiss - Shangri-Las -

Improvisation #4 - Miles Davis - The Cellar Door Session Box Set

Company - Rickie Lee Jones - S/T

My Baby Just Got Out of Jail - Camper Van Beethoven - Greatest Hits Played Faster

All Going Out Together - Big Dipper - Supercluster

Scare Easy - Mudcrutch - S/T

So Nice - The Mad Lads - The Complete Stax/Volt Singles Box #2

Liar - Built To Spill - You In Reverse

Revival - Soul Savers - It's Not How Far You Fall

Ho Na Nae - The Wild Magnolias - They Call Us Wild

Big Dipper - Cracker - Hello, Cleveland

Deer Ree Shee - The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost

For A Dancer - Jackson Browne - Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1

Messenger Man Version - Willi Williams - Messenger Man

Just Like Anything - Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart

Top Ten Bands with "Black" in the name

1. Black Lips
2. Black Flag
3. Black Mountain
4. Black Sabbath
5. Black Keys
6. Black Angels
7. Band of Blacky Ranchette
8. Black Time
9. Ludella Black
10. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

McRib! It's back!

We are back mutha fuckas! Tell everyone you know!

Black mountain live blogging

Gillian welch's voice is too high

Jesse sykes is good airplane music (opening act)

Noah is a deutch

Kim loves miss ohio

Brooklyn people all look the same esp shrimp cracker

Do cats come with retractable dicks?

Disco's a bitch when he pe-pe's

iPod on Random

1. The dB's - Dynamite ; Stands for Decibels
2. The Flamin' Groovies - Sweet Roll Me On Down ; Flamingo
3. Man Man - Man Who Make You Sick ; The Man In A Blue Turban With A Face
4. The Louvin Brothers - The Great Atomic Power ; The Best Of...
5. Thee Fine Lines - Open Up My Heart ; S/T
6. Jennifer Gentle - The Garden Part 2 ; Valende
7. Jon Rauhouse - Mannix ; Steel Guitar Heart Attack
8. The Dukes Of Strasosphear - 25 O'Clock ; Children of Nuggets Box Set
9. Twink - Suicide ; Think Pink
10. The Leaving Trains - Osmosis ; The Big Jinx