Published by James March 2nd, 2007
in Random.
It can be said with great certainty that I am a man full of excuses, especially since the birth of my daughter, and my posting here has been particularly slack-assed. So what have I been up to? What am I listening to? Short answer: a pile of new stuff. The only problem is that I am wicked unfocused, more than normal that is, and all this music is sort of floating about my head like a fog, ephemeral and indistinct.
Now, maybe the problem is that these ten albums are all over the place from the quirky progressive stylings of Deerhoof to the grind of After The Burial and everything in between from the sparse House tracks of Bodycode and the trance inducing song cycles of Etran Finatawa. Who knows.
Anyway, while I continue to nosh on these albums for the weekend I’m hoping to get my head back in the game and knock out a couple of reviews before I am completely buried. So apologies all around for my absence and hopefully your heart remains fond of us here at Candied Pop.
Published by James January 31st, 2007
in Lists.
In an obvious attempt to avoid posting anything of substance I bring you my half-thought out list of twenty-four must have albums if stranded on a desert island (as inspired by this Flickr pool).
[Reading left to right, top to bottom]
A Band of Bees—Free The Bees
Amon Tobin—Permutation
Arcade Fire—Funeral
Bebel Gilberto—Tanto Tempo
Black Uhuru—Sinsemilla
Boards of Canada—Children Have The Right To Music
Burning Spear—Creation Rebel: The Original Classic Recordings From Studio One
Count Basie—Listen My Children And You Shall Hear
Dave Brubeck—Time Out
DJ Shadow—Entroducing
Don Caballero—American Don
Duke Ellington—Latin American Suite
Fugazi—Repeater + 3 Songs
Jaga Jazzist—What We Must
John Coltrane—Ole Coltrane
Led Zeppelin—Houses of the Holy
Miles Davis—Kind of Blue
Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos—Llegaron Los Camperos!: Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos
Nick Drake—Pink Moon
Nitin Sawhney—Beyond Skin
Paris Combo—Motifs
The Future Sound of London—Lifeforms
Yes—Tales from Topographic Oceans
Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern—Shostakovich: Trio, Op.67/Sonata, Op.40
There you have it. From Classical to Mariachi with a little of everything else in between.
Published by James January 11th, 2007
in Lists.
Suffering from 3I (Infant Induced Insomnia) I’ve decided to take the lazy route and repost my list from my blog and while I’m titling this a Best of 2006 it is by no means comprehensive nor definitive. In 2006 I purchased and listened to some 94 albums, which works out to roughly 8 per month and 2 per week, or in other words a metric-crap-ton of music and this is not to mention the albums kicked my way by friends and family as well as taking the time to stream music from Last.fm. Long excuse short, this list best approximates those albums that have been nodding my head and bouncing my feet.
Other notables that I haven’t gotten to reviewing yet…
And there you have it, 2006 has to have been one of the best years I’ve experienced in terms of finding and loving new music.
Published by Scott January 1st, 2007
in Lists, Album and 2006.
You’re probably listed out but I’ll go ahead and give my favorites from ‘06 anyway. David posted his here last week and James in all of the excitement surrounding the birth of his daughter - congratulations! - forgot which of his blogs was about music. (I’m kidding. You can find his list here.) Surprisingly we have no overlapping artists. I haven’t even heard most of the albums those guys have down! Here’s my top ten in alphabetical order:
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery
Elf Power - Back to the Web
Head Like a Kite - Random Portraits of the Home Movie
Islands - Return to the Sea
The Minders - It’s a Bright Guilty World
The Minus 5 - The Gun Album
Snowden - Anti-Anti
Starflyer 59 - My Island
Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 - …tick …tick …tick
Published by James October 25th, 2006
in Lists.
Cracking my knuckles and readying myself for the frantic season that is end-of-the-year list making. Surprisingly, there are less albums this year than last. Am I listening less or am I more jaded? Pshaw! I’m listening just as much and prefer to say that I am more sophisticated.
Anyways, in no particular order are my tops so far:
- Luomo - Paper Tigers
- Quantic - An Announcement to Answer
- The Contingencies - Viva Ole
- Wale Oyejide - Africa Hot!
- Ratatat - Classics
- The Format - Dog Problems
- DJ Cheb I Sabbah - La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixed
- Hallelujah Chicken Run Band - Take One
- Nino Moschella - The Fix
- The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon
- Loka - Fire Shepherds
- Bibio - Hand Cranked
- Sayag Jazz Machine - Anachro’mix Experiences
- Natacha Atlas - Mish Maoul
- John Coltrane - Fearless Leader
I’m sure a couple more might find their way on before the year is out and likely several after I have set my final ten in stone.
