In particular order. Been slacking so here’s my quick rundown.
- Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
- Sigur Ros -med sud ieyrum vid spilum endalaust
- MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
- Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
- Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
- My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
- Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
- Dr. Dog – Fate
- Cold War Kids – Loyalty to Loyalty
- Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
- Black Keys – Attack & Release
- GZA – Protools
- Tapes & Tapes – Walk it Off
- TV On The Radio – Dear Science
- Beck – Modern Guilt
- Marco Benevento – Invisible Baby
- Apples in Stereo – Electronic Projects for Musicians
- Pavement – Brighten The Corners Reissue
- The Roots – Rising Down
- Ratatat LP3
- Spiritualized – Songs in the Key of A % E
- Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
- Jay Reatard – Matador Singles
- The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- The Breeders – Mountain Battles
- Belle & Sebastian – BBC Sessions
- Brightback Morning Light – Motion to Rejoin
- The Kooks – Konk
- Stereolab – Chemical Chords
- Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis – Two Men with the Blues
- Nas – N
- Black Crowes – Warpaint
- David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will…
- Guns N Roses – Chinese Democracy
- Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Starting today we have lots of great titles for real cheap, all in one special section! Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation for $6.46!! Public Image LTD. Second Edition for $6.96!! Ween’s Pure Guava for $9.96!! Many, many more titles, and even more to come. All you need to do it walk down the stairs, head to the back left corner to the shelf above the rock videos and golden deals await you. Happy listening!
Fleet Foxes
The Bruegel painting on the cover of Fleet Foxes self titled album caught my attention when the album first arrived at the store. Knowing nothing of the band, I took a risk and played the cd. The lullaby voices and flowing instrumentals reminded me of CSNY mixed with My Morning Jacket, and the overall effect blew me away. I was instantly mesmerized with the classic sound and still cannot get enough!
My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges
The band took an experimental leap with this album, which was a great move in my opinion. Jim James goes a little crazy with some falsetto and some serious funk, and the result is fabulous. “Smokin From Shootin” is among my favorite tracks; epic, inspiring, and just plain beautiful. I was lucky enough to see them perform most of the album live in Montreal this summer, and it could not have been a better performance!
Mirror Mirror- The Society For The Advancement Of Inflammatory Consciousness
Yet another Brooklyn-based band, but this one really stands out in the crowd of today’s sound. They describe their sound as “digital baroque and ghetto cabaret”, which is a beyond perfect description. Slightly comparable to Pink Floyd, the album is eerie, melodic, pleasureful music that sounds like you are listening in a very large, dark, echo-filled and empty room. 
The Lines- Flood Bank
This release is a combination of two EP’s, Therapy and Ultramarine, from a post-punk band of the early 1980′s. The sound is an atmosphere of new-wave electronic chaos, beautifully rendered into a progressive listening experience. The band seemed to have slipped through the cracks in the 80′s, but lucky for us, 25 years later they are rediscovered!
Farm- The Cave
My final choice is my favorite local band, Farm. This band has so much potential; with their varied sound there is a song (or more!) for everyone. The strength of this album comes from the three members taking turns in the writing and instrumentals on each song. They experiment with all sorts of instruments (organ, drums, guitar,bass, hollers, fiddle, mandolin, morin hurr, synth, foot clicks…just to name a few), sometimes each playing two at once. If you ever have a chance to see them live, their performance is guaranteed to be fascinating.
If you have not heard some or any of these albums, treat yourselves to a good time and listen!
Matt, I am posting your top 5 for you since 2008 is now well behind us…So here they are:
DEERHUNTER- MICROCASTLE
HANK WILLIAMS- UNRELEASED RECORDINGS
SUNN O)))- DOMKIRKE
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE- WATER CURSES EP
MATMOS- SUPREME BALLOON
Pure Pop’s resident elder-statesman Michael Briener emailed me over his year end list; I highly recommend tracking him down and making him make you a mix CD from these selections. And a word of advice if you do, don’t get into a conversation with him about Graceland, i promise it won’t end well.
Aidan Baker — I Wish Too, To Be Absorbed
Laura Marling — Alas, I Cannot Dance
High Places — 03/07-09/07 (EP) ; High Places (full length)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow –Scribble Mural Comic Journal
Madlib — WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip ; Beat Konducta, vol. 5-6
Johnny Dowd — Drunkard’s Masterpiece
Peter Broderick — Float ; Home
Fennesz — Black Sea
Sigur Ros — Heima (DVD)
Joe Strummer — The Future is Unwritten (DVD)
1. The Breeders – Mountain Battles After 2002′s disappointing Title TK, no one was expecting much from The Breeders, so it came as a shock that their latest is great. This album stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of their earlier work and it towers over most contemporary indie rock. My enthusiasm for the album grows with each listen.
2. Various Artists – Titan: It’s All Pop! This Numero release compiles the entire output of Kansas CIty’s short-lived Titan label, which fruitlessly released great music from 1978-1981. Had Big Star been massively successful, more bands in the late 70′s would have sounded like those featured on this compilation. A treasure trove of lost power-pop gems, this is well worth the purchase.
3. The Final Solution – Brotherman Another Numero release, Brotherman was supposed to be released in 1975 in tandem with a film of the same name. Filming was never completed, and the album was shelved for over thirty years. The Final Solution were a Chicago soul group whose strongest assets were lush four-part harmonies and one of the best rhythm guitarists I’ve ever heard. It’s a shame this is their only release.
4. Steve Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash I’m pretty much a Malkmus sycophant, so I’m not going to say too much about this one to avoid sounding like a fifteen-year-old describing Twilight. RET sounds more like Pig Lib than it sounds like its immediate predecessor and that’s a good thing. A wonderful album by a national treasure.
5. Portishead – Third As one of the pioneers of a genre whose time has gone, Portishead has proved themselves capable of adapting to the evolving musical landscape with the realease of Third, the third album of their career and first in ten years. Third sounds like a Portishead album without sounding dated. I didn’t see it coming, and I am surely grateful for this expertly-produced set of stunning songs.
Honorable Mentions:
Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too
Genesis – 1970-1975
Robyn Hitchcock – Luminous Groove
File this one under, “Jesus it’s 2009, way to stay on top of current events.”
Found this nice little breakdown of Kanye’s video for “Stronger”. Generally not considered one of his better tracks from 2007′s Graduation; i’d go as far as to say it sounds like a clunky fan mashup than never really gets off the ground. Regardless, someone went through the video and took stills out and put them up side-by-side with some from Akira to help point out the homage he was paying to the film. I didn’t notice this the first time i watched the video, but i blame that on being blinded by the stupidity of lyrics like “you could be my black kate moss tonight” ah shit, i did it again.
So i thought i’d get the ball rolling as most of us Pure Poppers tend to avoid responsibility like the plague. Instead of a top 5, or top 10, i opted for a mixtape. Or, as it’s been adapted for the web, a podcast. My mix, as with my listenings this past year leans heavily on the side of post-shoegaze / baleric / dream-pop.
2008 was a rough one and i suppose in the lean years people need their escapism. Here’s a sampling of mine.
M83 – Couleurs // Released on this years excellent nostalgic-for-pop-culture “Saturdays = Youth”. Couleurs took the M83 sound of epic synthetic crescendos and reconfigured it for the dancefloor. I’m surprised Gonzolas hadn’t thought of this sooner. The only problem with leading of a mix with a track like this is where to go next.
Air France – Collapsing at your Doorstep // Over the last few years people have been talking about the Gottenberg sound. Groups like The Tough Alliance, El Perro Del Mar, Studio and Air France have been quietly defining a scene, and this year’s “No Way Down EP” has been coming up on top of the pile, and it’s very well deserved.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow – No. 6 Van Karmen Street // This one was released a couple years ago, but’s been slowly building steam through the interwebs and indie- record stores and i just had to add it to my year end comp on the strength of it’s lovely combination of post-shoegaze, twee, and early 90′s brit-club.
Tim Hecker – Chimeras // I had the amazing chance to go and see Tim Hecker and Christian Fennesz live in Montreal (Ben Frost as well, who held his own) and was absolutely blown away by their performances. This track appeared on 2006′s Harmony in Ultraviolet, and while i’ve been waiting patiently for his next masterpiece (An Imaginary Country, Feb 09) Harmony as well as his backcatalog (including his Jetone work) have been more than satisfying, especially through these longer winter months.
Burial – Etched Headplate // It’s a testimate to how flatout untouchable it is that more than a year on, i’m still listening to Untrue, on a regular, sometimes daily basis. It came out last year right around the same time everyone was making their year end lists, and i think for alot of folks, it took a while for them to absorb – and because of that, and my undying love for this album, i’m including a track from it again here.
Studio – West Side // Another Gottenberg alumn, this from 2007′s Yearbook 1, a catchy collection of singles featuring factory-records-era stacatto guitars, latin drumming and krauty rhythms. This year saw the release of their Yearbook 2 release, a collection of excellent remixes, though i’ve gotta say i prefer the original studio work off of this earlier outing.
Crystal Castles – Magic Spells // 2008 saw the emergence of the 8bit sound into the mainstream, and at the for-front (and not without a little controversy) was the Crystal Castles – While inconsistant at times, their debute was nontheless a pretty killer combo of punk and dance all filtered through taxed and tortured 8bit processors.
Fennesz – Caecilia // This one’s going way back there to Endless Summer – and yes, i know Fennesz had a new album come out in 2008 (Black Sea) , and yes, it’s brilliant – but i had to include this one on this mix cause A) when he played it in Montreal i think i might have had my one and only transendent experience of 2008 and B) it just works in the context of the mix. nuff said.
Menace Ruine – Dismantling // From 2008′s “The Die is Cast” – Black Metal / Doom-gaze / darkfolk duo from some dark place outside of Quebec City, I’ve been trying to get them to come down over the border and do a show here in Burlington but apparently they don’t get out much. Go figure. This track is to me, a pefect confection of Sleep, Slowdive and Fairport Convention. I bet you can’t wait to hear it now.
The Field – Kappsta 2 // From Kompakts Pop Ambient 2008, The field rips it up with another killer track of movement in statis, and yep – i think Kate’s back in the mix. If you’re like me and couldn’t get enough of “From here we go Sublime” make sure you track down the excellent “Sound of Light” EP.
Paavorharju – Tuoksu Tarttuu Meihin // Easily my favorite album from 2008, Paavorharju have created the most startlingly beautiful album i’ve heard since Hecker’s Haunt me Haunt me do it again. And if it wasn’t enough that they will keep you memorized with their subtle blends of radio static, ghostly voices, ancient string arangments and brittle folk, they also have to the good taste to throw in one of best little electo/dance tracks to never hit a dancefloor in 2008. Pick it up, burn a candle, take a walk in the woods - just listen to it.
Cocteau Twins – I Wear Your Ring // No, it isn’t 1990. No we havn’t gone back in time. But i would be lying to myself and to you if i didn’t include a track by the Cocteaus on my year end list. More than anyone else (besides maybe Kate Bush, but that’s another obsession altogether.) The Cocteaus have defined 2008 for me. I don’t know how it happened, but something clicked in my brain, and all of a sudden their gossamer world of shimmering brilliance opened itself to me.
I guess it’s not all that mysterious as why i’m suddenly obsessed with dream pop, take one part Kate Bush, one part love of psychedelia, one part love of all things shoegaze – and there you have it. The 4AD sound.
