Cool lists!

I was wanting to check out that Thea Gilmore too. Just the prompt I need.

The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes

I had way too high expectations on this record. I loved the early singles and their radio gigs -- and then this came and... I just have a really hard time getting past the tin shed aesthetics on the vocals.

Nicklas, buffistarawk info has been sent to your profile address.

Your list gives me much to consider, CI. For instance I am going to download this:

Isis & Aerogramme - In the Fishtank 14

right now.

I love end-of-the-year best-ofs!

Btw, I tried a new dim sum place tonight - boo. Everything was salty and yet still bland.

I didn't know about this:

22. Greg Graffin - Cold As the Clay [Anti]

either, but I am downloading it now as well. Sounds great:

Following a solo album released in 1997 under the alias American Lesion, Cold as the Clay comes as the first effort from Bad Religion frontman Greg Graffin issued under his own name. Unlike the simple singer/songwriter approach of American Lesion, this album finds Graffin -- backed by members of the Weakerthans, among other musicians -- paying homage to his early upbringing in Wisconsin (where family singalongs were prevalent) with what the album sticker proclaims as "a heart-rending collection of old-timey American folk." And essentially, that's exactly what Cold as the Clay is. Recorded and mixed in a week with players sitting in the studio as though around a campfire, the reflective songs range from mere acoustic numbers to ones that further incorporate banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and more.

[link]

I just have a really hard time getting past the tin shed aesthetics on the vocals.

Oh, I like it. It sounds oh-so-Shangri-Las to me.

Tina, be forewarned that the Isis/Aerogramme disc is somewhere between Sabbath and Tortoise.

And Tommyrot, thanks for the Faust!

Faust is one of those "always meant to listen to" bands, so this is the first I've actually heard them. Hmm... eMusic has some of their stuff...

off to download...

Go for Faust IV if you can. It's your best way in.

Yeah, that sounds like the one to get, although eMusic doesn't have it.

So far, I'm really rocking on "J'ai Mal Aux Dents" (from The Faust Tapes ).

So, for the first time since 2003 I did an end-of-year-ish mix CD for family and friends. 2004 I was in the midst of moving, and last winter I just dropped the ball, but I finally got around to it. The wacky numbering was just to keep the songs in the order I wanted them in, but I decided to keep them as it makes it a "Top 10" even though that's not what these are.

0. Battle Without Honor or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei
0.5 Who's Joe? - New Order
1. An Honest Mistake - The Bravery
1.5 Scientist - The Dandy Warhols
2. Slip Away - Laurie Anderson
2.5 I Don't Wanna Fall in Love - She Wants Revenge
3. Something Bigger, Something Brighter - Pretty Girls Make Graves
3.5 After Dark - Le Tigre
4. Good Boys - Blondie
5. Girls - Tricky
5.5 Bad Boyfriend - Garbage
6. Wounded World - Mission of Burma
6.5 Burn the Witch - Queens of the Stone Age
7. The Sweets - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7.5 Kiss you Off - Scissor Sisters
8. Destroy Everything you Touch - Ladytron
8.5 We Get Low - The Dead 60s
9. Light's On - Secret Machines
10 Every Planet we Reach is Dead - Gorillaz

Best of -06 mix. Not really the same as the top ten albums list. (Insent to buffistarawk)

01. Thea Gilmore - Play Until the Bottle's Gone
The secret track on Harpo's Ghost, and I really really hate this idea. If the song is good enough to be on the album, then why hide it? And also, the silence between the listed song and the hidden drives me insane. Having said that, why not open with this.

02. Howling Bells - Low Happening
Australian band. When most everyone else polarises into fast and deadly slow songs, it's nice to find a band that actually proves that "mid tempo" isn't a curse word.

03. Deltahead - My Mama Was Too Lazy To Pray
Swedish duo, but it's more like two one-man-bands merged. Two bass drums, a standing bass and an electric guitar.

04. Hellwood - Fireworks Factory
Johnny Dowd, Jim White and Willie B, this is country that resides in the same space as Tom Waits' Bone Machine.

05. Regina Spektor - On The Radio
I think I'm gonna go against the flow and say that Begin to Hope is better than last years Soviet Kitsch. Without a doubt the best girl-by-piano that's active right now. Warren Ellis once described her as "Tori Amos for people who like music". While I don't have anything against Tori Amos, he does have a point none the less.

06. Tingsek - Proud To Be Part Of These Days
Swedish americanafolksoul-ish. The sad part about Tingseks second album is that the bass is mixed a bit too low. Otherwise it would probably have been my top album of the year. Perhaps. Despite being a Thea Gilmore hype-machine, I'm considering this as a possible fact. Live on the other hand it's a sort of americana funk. (His cover on Depeche Mode's "Shake the Disease" with a back beat practically crushes every inch of the original. I need to find a bootleg. )

(cont.)