I had to do best-of lists for PopMatters this week, and I don't have anything else to put up at the moment, so I thought I'd throw it out there.
My list has changed a little bit since I submitted it to Harp a month or so ago...it would probably change a little bit every time I looked at it. I've never been very good at setting my preferences in stone. I guess I'd better not run for president.
Oh, and in the "things can change" column, I've just started listening to two really good albums Wooden Shjips S-T and Burial's Untrue...and if there were world enough and time, either one might have a shot at top ten or twenty or something.
But for what it's worth (and with an admission of bias both in deciding what to listen to in the first place and what to rank where), here goes:
Top ten new releases 1. David Kilgour, The Far Now, Merge 2. The National, Boxer, Beggars 3. Jesu, Conqueror, Hydrahead 4. Arbouretum, Rites of Uncovering, Thrill Jockey 5. Angels of Light, We Are Him, Young God 6. The Papercuts, Can't Go Back, Gnomonsong 7. Glenn Mercer, Wheels in Motion, Pravda 8. Twilight Sad, Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, FatCat 9. Frightened Rabbit, Sing the Greys, FatCat 10. Okkervil River, The Stage Names, Jagjaguwar
Songs 1. "Trust," Gravenhurst, The Western Lands, Warp 2. "Welcome Home," Radical Face, Ghost, Morr Music 3. "Bullets," Tunng, Good Arrows, Thrill Jockey 4. "To Live and Die in the Airport Lounge," My Teenage Stride, Ears Like Golden Bats, Becalmed 5. "Everything Is Going Wrong (And That's Alright)", Reid Paley, Approximate Hellhound, Self-Released 6. "Hotel Ghost," John Doe, A Year in the Wilderness, Yep Roc 7. "Anna Leigh," The Sadies, New Season, Yep Roc 8. "White Stone Door," The Mekons, Natural, Quarterstick 9. "Hallelujah the Hills," Hallelujah the Hills, Collective Psychosis Begone, Misra 10. "Hip to the Sweet Blue World Again," The Capstan Shafts, Environ Maiden, Rainbow Quartz
Top reissues 1. Young Marble Giants, Colossal Youth and Collected Works, Domino 2. True West, Hollywood Holiday Revisited, Atavistic 3. Karen Dalton, Cotton-Eyed Joe, Delmore Recordings 4. Fire Engines, Hungry Beat, Acute 5. Michael Yonkers, Grimwood, De Stilj
My Trusted MOGs
Mmmm, can't go wrong with The National, Jesu, or Twilight Sad.
My Trusted MOGs
I find it really hard to limit myself to ten.
I was just thinking about how much I liked that Calla album, too, and it's not anywhere on my list. And Shannon Wright, I played that to death...and Ted Leo.
Sigh
My Trusted MOGs
Already??? I'm holding on to my list for a fw weeks. Your list is looking good. I'll be seeing the Twilight Sad this saturday.
My Trusted MOGs
I'm almost on overload, I have to keep coming back to look at this list.
My Trusted MOGs
hey jen, if you liked ten albums more than era vulgaris, perhaps it was a pretty good year. on the other hand, to quote a phrase i really hate that i believe you used in the first mogmail you ever sent me, "let's agree to disagree."
thanks of course for the list, i asbolutely adore your posts, and we do share a few tastes (the arbouretum vocals remind me of both richard thompson and keith relf), hah, i'm not here much these days but when i am it's often because of you.
is there a les breastfeeders album that came out this year? there's some fucking song of theirs that's killing me, will buy the damn cd just to die in peace.
cheers and love and all, and in the words of brother wayne kramer: ATTACK!
My Trusted MOGs
Sturgell, me too...I had less that blew me away this year, but tons and tons of records that I really liked.
Rob, I don't know, Era Vulgaris is probably top 20. I do like that record. I haven't played it that much since about July. Have to listen again.
I'm going to send you some stuff when I get a minute (by mail, you're on dial-up, too right?). I can throw that Les Breastfeeders in if you want.
My Trusted MOGs
Jen,
Yes please, I take. I decline very little, the only willpower I have is a song by the Replacements.
Re the QOTSA, I played it obsessively the first couple weeks but not much since, so it's probably not as good as their best, but I don't get enough new cd's to have a top 10 without it.
I've only got two of yr top 10 in each of yr album and song categories, (and 1 outa 5 on the reissues if you count my old cassette of Colossal Youth), so what's the rockinest stuff up there other than Jesu & Arbouretum?
Got a mix headin yr way soon, before the post office turns into a crazy place I hope. There will be a devil by yr side (no, that doesn't mean I'm making a personal appearance).
My Trusted MOGs
I think Twilight Sad is probably the loudest thing on the list.
Angels of Light, Okkervil River, True West, Fire Engines and John Doe might also appeal ...they're at least as rocking as Arbouretum.
And let's see, of stuff that didn't make the list but is good and rocks pretty hard, you should check out Demons Claws (n In the Red records). They're supposedly one of the best live shows going now.
My Trusted MOGs
Jenny --I can't believe you posted David Kilgour as #1, I just heard him Live on our local radio program--The Current and he was talking of his band Clean and I was totally wowed, I had not heard of him before.Thanks