I know starting out the year with a non music post from my end isn’t what I should be doing in my mind but its Sunday and before we get back into our consistent groove I wanted to share some prank calls from the very unique Longmont Potion Castle. His subtlety and choice of words some of the time really make these worth listening to over and over. He has this lazy and broad reply attitude that keeps people on the phone which I really admire and I think thats what made me want to share these with you all. If you like any of these there up on iTunes.
Ghostly’s 110 is a rundown of our favorite albums of the decade. In making the list, we wanted to share the albums we’ve loved over the last 10 years, so fans can compare notes and perhaps make a few new discoveries in the process. The impetus for this list was our belief that a record label is more than just a music distributor–it’s a perspective all its own.
To start, we asked the Ghostly staff for their top 100 albums (no EPs, reissues, or various-artist compilations) from the decade. While there was a stunning consistency within the top 20, there were hundreds of releases that had only one vote. From there, we had to make some tough decisions. Tears were shed and punches thrown, but we ended up with a document that wears the Ghostly seal of approval with pride.
We also wanted to keep our list pure and nepotism-free, so we left off all Ghostly/Spectral albums, as well as any artist who has over a few songs on the label. Of course, this meant we couldn’t include eternal classics like Solvent’s Solvent City, Rafael Anton Irissarir’s Daydreaming, and of course, Tycho’s Past Is Prologue.
In short, it’s been a wild decade. We’ve all seen and experienced so much, and while no one knows what the future holds, we do know that good music will always keep coming. Ghostly’s 110 is also a tribute to the labels and record stores that have inspired us, and the ones that we’ve lost in the last decade.
There are more than a few albums that could have easily made the list, and I wanted to recognize them below.
The Sea and Cake’sOui (Thrill Jockey, 2000) was an easy contender for top albums of the decade that just didn’t get the votes, perhaps overlooked because of the bands consistent understated awesomeness. A mesmerizing album of subtle grace.
Dungen was a band that seemed to come out of nowhere with Ta Det Lungt (Kemado, 2005), capturing a piece of the global mindshare with this album of puzzlingly perfect rock.
I know E. Lipp is a fixture at ISO50, but Tacoma Mockingbird (Hefty, 2006) is the record that put him on the map. Beautifully conceived synth lines atop classic breaks.
Like a bolt from the (aqueous) blue, Portishead returned with Third (Island, 2008) having lost no steam and having found their new voice–while retaining the haunted, dusty majesty of their early work.
On top of wanting to travel the world this upcoming year I think one thing that I want to do along with seeing the new city is to hear Peter Broderick play live there so I hope the man tours this year so I can have some options. This beautiful collaboration called Blank Grey Canvas Sky by Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek has calmed me at airports and let my imagination walk slow and happily before I go off and sleep, highly recommended.
I wasn’t too impressed by the new Joe Goddard LP, his work with Hot Chip always excited me, and this song Lemon and Lime (Home Time) is more of what I wanted but instead a good portion of the LP has a ton of preset sounding synth work which was rough at times to sit thru. This track was well worth the purchase of the LP but man only if I got more of this sound i’d have it on repeat.
ATTENTION: this DJ SprinklesMidtown 120 Blues album is my jam, soft 4/4 IDM meets deep minimalistic house, let it ride out don’t just judge it by the intro, it will reward you after the breakdown.
Horror fascinations for a music video and odd dark pop sometimes can be done well and Salem pulls it off but I think i’ll just stick to listening to the music and not getting too close to reading into the bands interests.
The holiday break has been great and I hope you all have been finding some time to rest and listen to new music. With this new playlist option I wanted to maybe drop in and make a few select artist playlist and why not start with a favorite like Cocteau Twins, let me know how you like these and if they flow well and if you want a few more.
2009 was a creative year for musicians like City Center who has the perfect voice and a natural sense for lo-fi singer songwriter material, if you’ve worn the groove out of your Panda Bear record then look no further and pick up his self titled LP. We saw Dubstep take over in the US and UK clubs with unique takes on albums from Martyn, 2562, and many others. Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear showed the top 40 charts that indie rock has a big say in what people want to own and even Jay-Z thought so. Lo-fi is back on all different levels like surf, folk, and a fusion of a ton of different genres which really had a big impact on my daily listening.
I’m not going to ignore that some people didn’t like my #1 song and #1 album of the year and I kind of want to share why I liked it so much. At first they were a band that i wanted to sign but after seeing a few shows of them playing live I was hooked, soo much energy, passion and catchy parts plus the band is just fun to watch, the tambourine player even was more hyper than any musician I saw all year. The songs all have this mash of a lot of music that I grew up on and still to this day listen to frequently. I see them as a band that can jump into the top 40 and get a budget to be a great band to see live and I guess the live show did it for me this year and I loved sharing the bands songs with friends, so I guess those are some of the reasons why I loved The Drums release.
*Please note I did not include any releases by Ghostly International, Moodgadget, remixes, Tycho songs and ISO50 exclusives just to make this a fair collection. If you like this list then take a second and check out ISO50’s 2008 list.
If you asked me years ago what would be my dream release to coordinate it would of been this one. Casino Versus Japan’s first album from 1998 reissued with ISO50 artwork?! I can’t think of anything better. Casino Versus Japan hasn’t released anything in nearly 6 years and having the honor last weekend to have him play a show with Tycho and now them working together on this release creatively, plus ISO50 merchandise on the way I think we will have ourselves something special that will be loved for many more years. The album consists of 23 songs split up in 4 parts full of some of the best drone and echoed guitar while the artwork by Scott has a gorgeous color palette with beautifully textured moons colliding and our friend faintly catching a wave in one of them. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on both the art and music on this one.
This release will be out on January 5th, 2010 on Moodgadget.
Here it is for those of you that have been following all week, the top 10 songs of 2009, Monday I will be releasing the Top 10 albums of 2009. Give your thoughts in the comment section on what you thought of these songs and what maybe its laking so 2010 can be all that you want it to be.
We’re getting down to the select few, some serious time listening to these tracks, the play counts in my iTunes for all these songs are in the double digits and have had the loop function on my iPod used heavily on them, enjoy.
