albums of the year

[A.M. Thomas]

Finally, here's my list.

First off, I only know Animal Collective through the NPR concert they did in September or October

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14564305

I listened to it three time, trying to learn to like it, since people who I respect love them, but it never worked. Where's a better place to start? (I have one on order, something about Strawberries.)

Dave from Knoxville:

Strawberry Jam is Animal Collective's latest album and it is a good and fine place to start.  However, if it is at all possible, get their 2005 album Feels as well.  It's like a musical interpretation of a Henry Darger painting.

Also, I think your list is great.  I love The Drift a lot.

- No Underbites

[yesno]

Marshall Crenshaw - The Definitive Pop Collection

Is he still foggin'?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Dave, you remind me of a great quote from Luc Sante:

Music is new when it's new to you. As a teenager I resorted to borrowing records from the library; these days (when there's about 5000 times as much stuff available as there was then) I rely on a kind of dowsing method. And the reissue thing helps immensely, of course, because when you excise the nostalgia angle it becomes a true time-warp, in which records are released in the present and go on to alter the past. For example, as far as I'm concerned the first three albums by Os Mutantes came out around 2002, and that's that. In fact, those records could only have been conceived in the wake of post-punk, the lounge-music bubble, and the development of sampling. Borges would have understood this: Kafka is the predecessor of Hawthorne.

By that standard, some of my favorite new albums of 2007 include releases from Big Star, ABBA (thanks, Tom!), The Coup, Bad Brains, Creedence (thanks, Tom!), The Fall, The Clean, Dolly Parton, The Jam, The Sea and Cake, The Minutemen, Os Mutantes (thanks, Luc!), The Jesus Lizard (thanks, guy from Chunklet or Fluxblog or whoever that was), The Staple Singers, Superchunk, The Yardbirds, Bob Dylan, The Sonics (thanks, WFMU!), and Danger Doom.

[Matt]

Dave, you remind me of a great quote from Luc Sante:

Music is new when it's new to you. As a teenager I resorted to borrowing records from the library; these days (when there's about 5000 times as much stuff available as there was then) I rely on a kind of dowsing method. And the reissue thing helps immensely, of course, because when you excise the nostalgia angle it becomes a true time-warp, in which records are released in the present and go on to alter the past. For example, as far as I'm concerned the first three albums by Os Mutantes came out around 2002, and that's that. In fact, those records could only have been conceived in the wake of post-punk, the lounge-music bubble, and the development of sampling. Borges would have understood this: Kafka is the predecessor of Hawthorne.

By that standard, some of my favorite new albums of 2007 include releases from Big Star, ABBA (thanks, Tom!), The Coup, Bad Brains, Creedence (thanks, Tom!), The Fall, The Clean, Dolly Parton, The Jam, The Sea and Cake, The Minutemen, Os Mutantes (thanks, Luc!), The Jesus Lizard (thanks, guy from Chunklet or Fluxblog or whoever that was), The Staple Singers, Superchunk, The Yardbirds, Bob Dylan, The Sonics (thanks, WFMU!), and Danger Doom.

Jason, if you like the Sonics then you might be interested in a similar band called the Monks, if you haven't heard of them already. Their record Black Monk Time has that same early garage/punk feel, but with a banjo. That record also has a song called "Cuckoo", which features the immortal couplet, "Someone stole my cuckoo/Yeah, I wanna know who-who".

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Thanks, Rover.  I'll check them out.

[jane]

Jason, if you like the Sonics then you might be interested in a similar band called the Monks, if you haven't heard of them already. Their record Black Monk Time has that same early garage/punk feel, but with a banjo. That record also has a song called "Cuckoo", which features the immortal couplet, "Someone stole my cuckoo/Yeah, I wanna know who-who".

The Monks are awesome.

        [youtube]nXKQSxsEAEQ&feature=related[/youtube]

[Chris L]

The Monks are awesome.

Gotta include this clip too:

[youtube]FYsyC2PFVBs[/youtube]

[jane]

Horizontal guitar!!! Pre Keith Row?

[Sarah]

I had never heard of the Monks before.  They're wonderful.

[Vambo]

Well if it's older artists that I only discovered this year, here's three:

Reno's Men--check out Glen Jones' archives for interviews and in-studio performances as well as CDNow for "Steroe Slide"

Starky--I'm torn on this band.  They have one album, "Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre" that rocks from end to end.  It was produced by Rob Younger.  Their other efforts pale in comparison.

Sour Jazz--Every album this band has done sounds like the fourth Arista Iggy album...seriously, it is a dead ringer for "New Values"...drop dead Iggy vocals married to drop dead Ivan Kral guitars.  Oh yeah, there's a killer trombone thrown into the mix.

And for new re-releases, this came out about a month ago:



Australia's Hitmen...Radio Birdman alums, soon-to-become Hoodoo Gurus.  2 CD set contains the original debut plus first two singles, plus scads of demos and live cuts, with ferocious Blue Oyster Cult, Stooges, MC5, Roky Erickson, Magazine, etc. covers.

[yesno]

I had never heard of the Monks before.  They're wonderful.

"Monk Time" was used in a commercial about 8 years ago, I think.  It was their "Pink Moon" moment.

[Chris L]

I had never heard of the Monks before.  They're wonderful.

"Monk Time" was used in a commercial about 8 years ago, I think.  It was their "Pink Moon" moment.

"I Hate You" can also be heard in the background of the "Mark it zero!" scene in The Big Lebowski.   

[Matt]

Thanks for posting those Monks clips, guys! I had no idea that stuff existed. The "Oh How to Do Now" clip in particular was pretty killer.

Hey, maybe Tom should play some Monks music, since he, y'know, works on Monk, and all that. So...okay. (Long pause) I'm going to go over to the corner now.

[Sarah]

Monk would hate the Monks.

[bobby.]

Where's a better place to start? (I have one on order, something about Strawberries.)

This one should be of great assistance.