• Meine Poll 2008

01. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
02. Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Cont. (Kranky)
03. Foals - Antidotes (Sub Pop)
04. Fennesz - Black Sea (Touch)
05. Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling (Matador)
06. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (Interscope)
07. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista (Fonal)
08. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Different)
09. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna (Warp)
10. Fuck Buttons - Streeet Horsing (ATP Recordings)
11. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill
12. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
13. Air France - No Way Down
14. E.S.T. - Leucocyte
15. Portishead - Third
16. Meshuggah - obZen
17. Machinefabriek - Dauw
18. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
19. No Age - Nouns
20. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best

Honorable Mention (Re-Releases):
Gas - Nah Und Fern
The Microphones - The Glow Pt.2
Nadja / Atavist - II: Points at Infinity

• Polls 2008 III.

Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2008:
01. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
02. Portishead – Third
03. No Age – Nouns
04. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
05. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
06. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
07. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
08. M83 – Saturdays=Youth
09. Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
10. DJ/rupture – Uproot
11. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
12. Lindstrom – where You Go I Go Too
13. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
14. Air France – No Way Down
15. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
16. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
17. Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
18. The Mae Shi – HLLLYH
19. The Walkmen – You & Me
20. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
pitchforkmedia.com

Stereogum 'The 2008 Gummy Awards':
01. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
02. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
03. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever
04. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
05. Deerhunter - Microcastle
06. of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
07. Portishead - Third
08. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
09. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
10. The Walkmen - You & Me
11. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
12. Sigur Rós - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
13. Why - Alopecia
14. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Staris
15. No Age - Nouns
16. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
17. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
18. Beck - Modern Guilt
19. Departement Of Eagles - In Ear Park
20. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
stereogum.com

Spex 2008 Redaktionscharts:
01. Hercules And Love Affair – Hercules And Love Affair
02. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
03. Ja, Panik – The Taste And The Money
04. Grace Jones – Hurricane
05. The Kills – Midnight Boom
06. The Bug – London Zoo
07. Portishead – Third
08. Robert Forster – The Evangelist
09. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
10. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
11. Santogold – Santogold
12. Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul
13. Yo Majesty – Futuristically Speaking
14. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One
15. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
16. Wild Beasts – Limbo, Panto
17. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
18. Marsimoto – Zu Zweit Allein
19. Chad Vangaalen – Soft Airplane
20. Gustav – Verlass die Stadt

Spex 2008 Lesercharts:
01. Portishead – Third
02. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
03. The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me
04. Hercules And Love Affair – Hercules And Love Affair
05. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
06. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
07. Foals – Antidotes
08. Santogold – Santogold
09. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
10. The Kills – Midnight Boom
11. The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of...
12. The Streets – Everything Is Borrowed
13. Sigur Rós – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
14. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
15. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
16. Beck – Modern Guilt
17. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
18. Robert Forster – The Evangelist
19. Bonnie ‚Prince’ Billy – Lie Down In The Light
20. Why? – Alopecia

Arete 2008:
1. Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
2. The Notwist - The Devil, You & Me
3. Sigur Ros - Med Sud...
4. The Smiths - The Sound of the Smiths
5. Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
6. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
7. Kettcar - Sylt
8. Eluveitie - Slania
9. Portishead - Third
10. North - What You Were
11. Marilies Jagsch - Orbituary for a Lost Mind
12. For A Minor Reflection - Reistu...
13. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt
14. Moonsorrow - Tulimyrsky
15. iLiKETRAiNS - Elegies to Lessons Learnt
16. Tomte - Heureka
17. Korpiklaani - Korven Kuningas
18. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
19. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of Understatement
20. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Dolores
eagandigh

I guess i’m floating: The Best Albums of 2008:
01. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
02. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
03. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
04. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
05. Arms – Kids Aflame
06. Golden Animals – Free Your Mind And Win A Pony
07. Arizona – The Glowing Bird
08. Ratatat – LP3
09. Okkervil River – The Stand-Ins
10. Beach House – Devotion
11. Santogold – Santogold
12. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
13. El Guincho – Alegranza
14. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
15. Forest Fire – Survival
16. Deerhunter – Microcastle
17. Sigur Rós - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
18. The Ruby Suns – Sea Lion
19. The Walkmen – You & Me
20. Kings of Leon – Only By The Night
iguessimfloating

• Tracklist Dezember:

Friendly Friends - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
Pop songs are full of promises, most propped up by little more than a few chords and a nice melody. UK phenoms Friendly Fires go one step further with "Paris": Their "I promise" gets a boost from the very contemporary go-getter mantra that immediately follows, "I'm on it." And this remix does them one better by involving an actual Aeroplane-- certainly one way to get to Paris-- and, well, pretty much eliminating the Friendly Fires guys from the equation all together by relinquishing their verse parts to the original track's chorus girls Au Revoir Simone (hey that's French!). Even if all this fails to convince you that Friendly Fires will one day live with you in Paris and command the stars to shine on your behalf, at least you got a sweet, beat-accented eight-minute ride out of the deal.

Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat
Following in the tradition of the finest meta-pop, "Stuck on Repeat" is an addictive groove about being addicted to the groove...and addicted to love. Romantic obsession is a broken record in the sleek disco world populated by Victoria Hesketh (aka Little Boots) and producer Joe Goddard of Hot Chip-- a sentiment that can surely be understood by anybody who ever spent way too much time refreshing a crush's Facebook page over and over again. But real-life codependence isn't anywhere near as sexy as the blood-pumping throb (with sleighbell accents!) that anchors this immaculately constructed song, or the way that Hesketh's light-headed vocals swim around in the heavenly, beat-free middle section before being sucked back into the vortex. If it was, we'd all be doomed.

• Polls 2008 II.

Pitchfork Readers Poll 2008:
01. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
02. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes / Sun Giant EP
03. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
04. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
05. Deerhunter: Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
06. Portishead: Third
07. MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
08. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
09. M83: Saturdays=Youth
10. No Age: Nouns
11. Girl Talk: Feed the Animals
12. Sigur Rós: Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
13. The Walkmen: You & Me
14. Dodos: Visiter
15. Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer
16. WHY?: Alopecia
17. The Hold Steady: Stay Positive
18. Nine Inch Nails: The Slip
19. Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping
20. Okkervil River: The Stand Ins
pitchforkmedia.com

The Wire Rewind 2008:
01. The Bug - London Zoo [Ninja Tune]
02. Philip Jeck - Sand [Touch]
03. The Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace [no label]
04. John Butcher - Resonant Spaces [Confront]
05. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna [Social Registry]
06. The Advisory Circle - Other Channels [Ghost Box]
07. Evangelista - Hello, Voyager [Constellation]
08. William S. Burroughs - Real English Tea Made Here [Audio Research Editions]
09. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent [Sanctuary]
10. The Caretaker - Persistent Repetition of Phrases [Install]
11. Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion [Hospital Productions]
12. Ryoji Ikeda - Test Pattern [Raster-Noton]
13. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! [Mute]
14. Eric Chenaux - Sloppy Ground [Constellation]
15. Kasai Allstars - In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish... [Crammed Discs]
16. Autechre - Quaristice [Warp]
17. Dusk + Blackdown - Margins Music [Keysound]
18. Luomo - Convivial [Huume]
19. Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound: Darfur [AUM Fidelity]
20. Stephan Mathieu - Radioland [Die Schachtel]
thewire

Boomkat Albums 2008:
01. The Fun Years - Baby, It's Cold Inside
02. Portishead - Third
03. Stephan Mathieu - Radioland
04. Gas - Nah und Fern
05. Newworldaquarium - The Dead Bears
06. Machienefabriek - Dauw
07. The Caretaker - Persistent Repetition Of Phrases
08. Richard Skelton - Marking Time
09. Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion
10. Fennesz - Black Sea
11. Claro Intelecto - Metanarrative
12. Andy Stott - Unknown Exception
13. Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
14. Ø (Mika Vaino) - Oleva
15. Mountains - Mountains Mountains Mountains
16. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever
17. Jacaszek - Treny
18. Shed - Shedding The Past
19. Emeralds - Solar Bridge
20. SND - 4, 5, 6
boomkat.com

• Review: Nadja - Radiance Of Shadows



















You can’t just really “listen” to a Nadja record in the same way you “listen” to a pop punk record, a hip-hop record, a power metal record, and so on. There’s some great stuff from each of those genres, but you listen to those kinds of records, those records with more structure and melody, differently than you would of anything by Nadja. You, as lame as it sounds, have to experience a band like Nadja. You have to lie down on your bed, tell your Mom not to bother you for a few hours, and drift off with the monolithic and beautiful compositions this band can so effortlessly create. Nadja aren’t some pussy band you experience easily. You have to work for it.
Nadja is made up of workaholic Aidan Baker, who creates spectacular drone/ambient albums under his own name and is even known to publish a book of poetry from now and then, and Leah Buckareff, whose body of work is certainly less imposing than Baker’s. Known for creating formidable drone epics that are almost always creative and stunning, Radiance of Shadows may be the band’s most inaccessible album in a very inaccessible discography. However, it is also the duo’s best.
Radiance of Shadows isn’t unlike anything else Nadja has done throughout their five or so years of making music. In fact, all the hallmarks of the band’s sound can be found here: there’s all-encompassing and sometimes even brutal drones made up of layers upon layers of guitar feedback, and they are often placed in front of rhythmic synthesizer lines and simple yet powerful drumming. Build-ups are also found aplenty throughout Radiance’s three suites, each of which are longer than twenty-three minutes in an album that’s length is in the vicinity of most movies. Also adding to this record’s inaccessibility is the little restraint the duo places on their wide-ranging epics. The first suite here, titled “Now I Am Death the Destroyer of Worlds”, expands slowly from throbbing electronics and random blasts of feedback to whole minutes of screeching noise, intricately layered and very complex “noise” to be accurate, and demanding repeated listens. Of course, the madness dies back down, condensing into more restrained heartbeats of guitar that resonate after every stroke, all before building upon itself again. This enormous effect is breathtaking, and you’ll sit in awe, feeling as if you’ve been repeatedly punched in the stomach by Jacob Bannon, but in the best and most sickly pleasurable way possible.
However, if all three of these compositions had the same effect as “Now I Am Death”, Radiance of Shadows might have been too much to handle. Thankfully, there are many moments of chiming beauty here, though moments of unrestrained and unbridled heaviness are still the basic focus. Chief among these beautiful moments is found in “I Have Tasted the Fire inside Your Mouth”, where Baker croons the title softly again and again, sounding fragile against the ready-to-collapse music and producing an effect that is as beautiful as it is mournful. Unsurprisingly, the track moves slowly and pulsates with guitar feedback, but gives off a less evil feel and puts you in a calming trance, acting perfectly as the calm after the storm. This only lasts for the first ten minutes, however, as the track builds back up into the heaviest portion of the album, with Baker’s vocals sounding suspiciously like the devil’s, if the devil liked to scream over ear-splitting electro-drone noise. The loud-soft dynamics explored here easily shows off Nadja’s ability to simultaneously move and scare you, and overall, the track may be the simplest way to show off the band’s talents in general. If you can’t enjoy the second movement of Radiance of Shadows, then you probably aren’t going to enjoy Nadja.
The final self-titled track of an album that is made to just zap your mental energy away is easily the most exhausting of the three. Alternating from a Krautrock-ish beat to an obviously black metal-influenced burst of demonic vocals and speaker-busting feedback, “Radiance of Shadows” may be enough to have you yelling “enough already!” But with Nadja, there is never enough, and while this 80-minute long album may sound like torture to most sane people, there’s plenty of enjoyment to be found in the band’s mix of drone, doom, electro, and black metal. As I said in the beginning, this is truly an experience, and one that you should probably consider submitting your mind to almost immediately. sputnikmusic.com

Nadja sind Fantastisch!!! Dazu demnächst mehr...

• Prelistening: The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the The Very Best




















Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the The Very Best, and their mixtape is one of the most genuinely joyous, uplifting things I've heard in a long time. Feel-good jams of the year, hands down. Free Download

• Polls 2008 I.

Es ist soweit. Pünktlich zum Jahresende veröffentlichen verschiedene Zines, Blogs, etc. ihre Jahrespools. Nach und nach werde ich die Polls 2008 befreundeter und/oder lesenswerter Zines und Blogs hier reinstellen.

Intro:
01. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
02. Santogold - Santogold
03. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
04. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
05. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
06. Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules And Love Affair
07. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
08. Why? - Alopecia
09. Foals - Antidotes
10. Peter Licht - Melancholie und Gesellschaft
11. TV On The Radio - Dear Science,
12. Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
13. Portishead - Third
14. Get Well Soon - Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon
15. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
16. Bloc Party - Intimacy
17. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
18. Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
19. Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling
20. Sigur Ros - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
intro.de

Gorillavsbear:
01. White Denim – Exposion
02. Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
03. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part I
04. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
05. Q-Tip – The Renaissance
06. Little Joy – Little Joy
07. Wavves – Wavves
08. The Walkmen – You & Me
09. Beach House – Devotion
10. Paavoharju – Laula Laakson Kukista
11. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
12. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best
13. Quiet Village - Silent Movie
14. Harlem - free drugs;-)
15. Air France - No Way Down
16. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
17. No Age - Nouns
18. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
19. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
20. Diplo & Santogold - Top Ranking
gorillavsbear.blogspot.com

Textura:
01. Rudi Arapahoe – Echoes From One The Another
02. Cyne – Starship Utopia
03. The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind
04. Mathieu Ruhlmann + Celer: Mesoscaphe
05. Deepchord – Vantage Isle Sessions
06. Rick Wade – The Good, The Bad, And The Deep
07. Gregor Samsa – Rest
08. Orchestramaxfieldparrish – The Silent Breath Of Emptiness
09. Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia – Pain Disappears
10. Twine – Violets
11. Willits + Sakamoto – Ocean Fire
12. Osborne – Osborne
13. Michna – Magic Monday
14. Nicolay & Kay – Tmeline
15. School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
16. Deadbeat – Roots And Wine
17. Beneva Vs Clark Nova – Sombunall
18. Jacaszek – Treny
19. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
20. Dday One – Heavy Migration
textura.org

• Platte des Monats November: Fennesz - Black Sea

"At last, the wait is over. Christian Fennesz's follow up to 2004's Venice is upon us, and it's not likely to leave anyone disappointed. The ten-minute title track gets the album underway, opening tentatively with flickers of noise and digital debris crackling like fireworks in the distance. Soon a flood of symphonic guitar and electronics overwhelms the mix and we're reintroduced to the signature sound world that's unique to this man's music - he's one of the most imitated electronic artists out there, and yet you can always pick out the real thing from a line-up of clones. Not resting on his laurels, before 'Black Sea' is even three minutes in, the magnitude shrinks down to a simple duet between oscillating tones and brittle acoustic guitar plucks. It's from here that the piece begins to swell up with majestic, incredibly warm sustains and scratchy textural details - the whole composition feels like a reintroduction to the various facets of the Fennesz sound. Next comes the first of two collaborative pieces (although it should be pointed out that this one isn't available on the vinyl edition - and while we're on the subject, nor is the ambient miniature 'Vacuum' encountered towards the end of the CD and digital tracklists): 'The Colour Of Three' features Anthony Pateras (a veteran of Editions Mego and Sirr), who supplies some nicely clanking prepared piano tones, placing emphasis on the instrument as a percussive device rather than a string instrument. Despite this augmented instrumental range we're still in familiar territory thanks to Fennesz's transcendent digital eruptions and gloriously rich sound designs. 'Perfume For Winter' is a more restrained affair, filled with contemplative acoustic figures and abrupt organ-driven chord changes. We get our first real taste of explicit melody here, reminiscent of Endless Summer's most approachable tracks. Importantly though, there are no overt attempts to retrace footsteps back to that classic album, and Black Sea sounds vehemently like a step forwards for Fennesz. This sense of progression is underlined by the spine-tinglingly wonderful 'Glide', a duet with Rosy Parlane which takes Fennesz's wall of sound into the stratosphere, sounding like an unearthly orchestra. The music itself matches the increased magnitude: if Endless Summer was a digitisation and abstraction of The Beach Boys, 'Glide' could be said to apply the same transformative techniques to more classically-geared sounds - there's an undercurrent of elegiac romanticism that might reasonably be compared to fellow notable Austrian, Gustav Mahler, specifically the well-known fourth movement of his 5th Symphony (once famously plundered by Robert Lippok for his Open/Close/Open release on Raster Noton). After the quietly glistening, chime-like tones of 'Glass Ceiling' comes previous single and album finale 'Saffron Revolution', which is a suitably grand closing gesture, stretching out a single, euphoric multi-layered chord across much of its duration before dissipating away into a pattern of delayed string plucks. Black Sea is far and away one of the year's most beautiful records, both in terms of the music itself and the sheer iridescence of the electronic sound harnessed within. Very highly recommended indeed." Boomkat have given a glowing review for Fennesz's latest, Black Sea. fennesz.com