Ok..'08. What was the best..

[efren_del_valle]

there are some awful records on this thread so far.

and there are pretty useless statements like this one.

Agreed.

[Miguel Prado]

the best od the '08
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/world ... ml?_r=1&hp

[Stephen]

Of those mentioned so far...

I'm in total agreement on:

kevin drumm "imperial distortion"
Éric Cordier - Osorezan (Herbal)
Jason Lescalleet/Graham Lambkin The Breadwinner
yoshi wada reissues

and really need to hear these:

Loren Chasse - The footpath (naturestrip)
mark mcguire "guitar meditations"
Pauline Oliveros - Four Electronic Pieces 1959-1966 (Sub Rosa)
John Wiese & C. Spencer Yeh - New York/Atlanta (Helicopter)

The only two that I am sure about adding myself are:

Bryan Eubanks - Desired Climate Works (gameboy)
Thomas Lehn/Frederic Blondy - Obdo (another timbre)

there's still so much from this year that i have to hear (again)

and I'd have to disagree with Julien on:
alan courtis - Unstringed guitar & cymbals (blossoming noise)
which i thought just wasn't that exciting, certainly not a patch on Otomo's similar offering from last year: modulation with 2 electric guitars and 2 amplifiers.

[skrobek]

Of those mentioned so far... really need to hear [...] Loren Chasse - The footpath (naturestrip).

I really love this. It sounds very simple, but I'm guessing it took a lot of work to assemble. It's a cliché to say field recordings make the listener travel, but this time it works, it's like taking a stroll through a 'magic-realist' world, with an occasional flourish of intrumental harmony working like an apparition along the way... beautiful, moving work. To compare using the litterature metaphor, I'd say Eric Cordier's record belongs more to the 'fantastic' ...

alan courtis - Unstringed guitar & cymbals (blossoming noise)
which i thought just wasn't that exciting, certainly not a patch on Otomo's similar offering from last year: modulation with 2 electric guitars and 2 amplifiers.

mmm... the Otomo was good, but maybe a bit insistent on the high pitched sounds, whereas the courtis explores more middle-range sounds. Also, the cymbals add a more rhythmic and rock element which makes it exciting to me. Like a pared-down instrumental Sonic Youth, or something like that. There's also the Nakamura guitar feedback solo... very long high-pitched sounds there too if i remmeber correctly before it really takes off...

[jon abbey]

We are not all looking for the same things in music, so that's the point of saying what we like best.

of course you're right, if people want to champion mediocrity and ineptitude, who am I to stand in their way?

not new music or a reissue, but an previously unissued archival release with quite a bit of fantastic, essential music:

[skrobek]

We are not all looking for the same things in music, so that's the point of saying what we like best.

of course you're right, if people want to champion mediocrity and ineptitude, who am I to stand in their way?

I still think vague affirmations like this one are just insulting for the people posting on this thread, without even opening a door for argument. It amounts to saying: "some of you have terribel taste, but I wont tell you who or why ha ha ha". I believe in such cases you should say what musicians mentioned are inept and mediocre according to you, and why, or shut the fuck up.

But that's just me.

[jon abbey]

I don't think a best of year list thread is the place to start arguments about specific records. the main reason for my initial general statement is the sheer quantity of awful records I've seen mentioned here so far, some of which I've already voiced specific objections to over the course of the year.

but again, to each their own, people can like what they want and I can voice my opinion about that and you can voice your opinion about my opinion and so on, and so on...

[D.D.]

I liked:

Pateras / Baxter / Brown - "Live A L'usine". (cave 12)
A String of Sutartines. Lithuanian Polyphonic Music and Songs. (Saturas)

[kcorcoran]

waiting to hear the new erstlives, the lachenmann quartet discs, the vajra live disc, and to get another listen in on the frey b-boim. otherwise, these were standouts for me:

otomo/sachiko m/joonyang/chulki - sweet cuts distant curves
toshimaru nakamura/annette krebs - siyu
radu malfatti - kid ailack 5
lionel marchetti/olivier capparos - livre des morts
lambkin/lescalleet - the breadwinner
chris watson - cima verde
lawrence english - kiri no oto

also enjoyed quite a bit:
toshimaru nakamura - dance music
radu malfatti - dusseldorf vielfaches
baudouin oosterlynck - 1975-1978
corrupted - paso inferior reissue

[frozen reeds]

but again, to each their own, people can like what they want and I can voice my opinion about that and you can voice your opinion about my opinion and so on, and so on...

You might get into trouble with moderators if you voice your opinion about someone's opinion, though.

Just an observation... before I... <zapped>

[Stephen]

of course you're right, if people want to champion mediocrity and ineptitude, who am I to stand in their way?

Personally, I find the refusal to back up your opinion with examples less annoying than the insinuation that you are the sole purveyor of good taste.

baudouin oosterlynck - 1975-1978

Forgot that one - definitely up there for me

[adjustment]

Jason Lescalleet/Graham Lambkin The Breadwinner: I'm surprised this is so highly regarded. I just found it silly and I was embarrassed at spots to be listening to it. It started fine and ended well but the field recordings just sounded cheesy to me and I thought that any minute I was going to hear kids playing in a playground and birds chirping all the while getting that urge to go pee. Plus, the creeking of what I thought to be a chair just reminded me of Wax Work Echoes with that fantastic long track with Richard Youngs playing chair.

I've been enjoying Sissy Spacek's French Record quite a bit as it just makes me laugh in a good way. Like a kid in a toy store going amok.

[mudd]

wait, richard youngs on waxwork echoes? i don't recall that being the case.

i think you have the wrong album in mind there.

m

[adjustment]

No, there's a long track with a chair being dragged, that is Richard Youngs.

[mudd]

cool, i'll have to check that when i get home.

have only had the cd for a little while, i guess i didn't notice that.

m

[grisha]

i have so more stuff coming in the mail, and i don't wanna make lists anyway, but this year, at least so far, i can single out my favourite record quite easily.

[adjustment]

No one drags a chair like Richard Youngs. No one.

[visa tapani]

Is it part of IHM culture to to refer to records with a vague image without actually telling what the record is? Or why are people doing it?

[mudd]

it doesn't have anything to do with 'IHM culture', but it does get complained about pretty regularly and nothing ever changes. ease of use, or something.

what grisha pasted isn't an album, though.

m

[RFKorp]

But Mark, Grisha did intend it to represent an album. And to that extent, the point stands.

visa tapani - that image is a composite of the faces of Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet and was included within the packaging of The Breadwinner.

Which FYI is my number 1 record of the year too.