Machinefabriek and 9 other artists

[Nick Ink]

The new lastfm scrobble stuff:

1    Greg Weeks   35
This is a good album, which I think a lot of you guys might enjoy. It's kind of proggy, a few flutes and medieval sounding instruments thrown in, reasonably beardy - I'd say 7.5 on the beardometer, it features a Madonna cover version, the guy is from Espers, the cover art is really nice and a bit spooky. That's the kind of thing you lot go for, isn't it?

2    Machinefabriek   14
This might not be though. Two new releases this week - a joint effor with Soccer Committee which sounds like some weird excavation of 80 year-old blues has been reconfigured and droned over. It's nice. Then there's Rusland, a damn fine 20 minute piece, combining Oren Ambarchi-like tones with some nice Eastern European field recordings. I sometimes imagine that Machinefabriek is really a cunning cover for Jeff Mangum.

3    Christina Carter   10
I'm still concentrating on the lovely Original Darkness, definitely her best solo album so far. But I am also looking forward to hearing a couple of other albums she's done recently, especially the Texas Working Blues one.

4    Excepter   8
Debt Dept. This album has never gone away for me this year. Puts me in mind of murderous cartoon characters hacking their way through a pschotropic jungle fug, pausing only occasionally to dismember John Travolta mannequins and burn money.

4    Gang Gang Dance   8
I can't remember playing this, oddly. I keep meaning to listen to this band properly. They seem to fall in with the Black Dice kind of thing that I much admire.

6     Richard Skelton   7
I tried to play this as background music for Junior Monopoly, but Ellie complained that it was too sad. Maybe that's when I played Gang Gang Dance? haha

6    Lawrence English   7
Kiri No Oto - a most splendid example of that kind of music that sounds like in-tune air-conditioning units.

8    Windy & Carl   5
Songs For The Broken Hearted. Come on everyone - I keep saying it - this is top 5 albums of 2008 material. You all should be removing sharp objects from the immediate vicinity, listening to this repeatedly and then telling your loved ones how great they are.

9    Peter Broderick   4
Kind of decided I'm not that into this guy. He's okay, but a bit safe/unexciting, and there's only so much time in life for pretty pianos and strings.

10    The North Sea   2
10     Koen Holtkamp   2

[slow west vultures]

nick putting in his bid for his own quotable thread

[edison]

I should get around to listening to some Machinefabriek, if only to live up to this thread's standards. For now, I only got this:

1 Loren Connors 31
2 Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests 16
3 Taku Sugimoto 14
4 Radar Bros. 13
4 Matt Elliott 13
6 Mt. Wilson Repeater 11
6 Enregistré Par Steve Albini 11
6 Runhild Gammelsæter 11
9 Radian 8
10 Anni Rossi 6

The predominance of instrumental or near-instrumental music is evidence of the fact that the last week has been work-heavy, and next week's charts should be even more like that, because it's a rare day when I stop working for more than an hour these days. (It is making me very cranky, but that's not for this thread). The Radian is from the mix alex did a while ago - it's great, I should remember to listen to it more often.

Also, Nick, I was curious already, but I will definitely listen to the Windy & Carl record.

[Nick Ink]

Also, Nick, I was curious already, but I will definitely listen to the Windy & Carl record.

Ah, my perseverence is paying off after all! I suppose you'd have to be into W&C in the first place, but it seems like a bit of a departure for them. Or maybe more a revisiting of their earlier style after a couple of extra-long ambient/droney releases. I mean, anyway, if you like W&C, this album gets the best of both of their worlds.

[davy]

[Andrew_TSKS]

I haven't looked at my Last FM charts in a long while, but I just did, and here is what I've listened to for the past 7 days:

1  Spitfire 64
2 Ascension 30
2 Pale Saints 30
4 Motorpsycho 26
5 The Stone Roses 23
6 Chamberlain 16
7 7Seconds 14
7 Pig Destroyer 14
9 The Dambuilders 11
10 Beck 10
10 Coalesce 10

Some of this is sorta surprising, but now that I think of it I can definitely remember playing all of these bands.

[On Reflection]

I think more people should post in this thread, it doesn't necessarily have to be last.fm scrobbles, Davy's snazzy pie-chart there is a good example.

Anyway:

1 Mull Historical Society - 26
Picked up the debut Loss at a charity shoppe for £1.50, interesting thing, some nice songs here and there, but again suffering from a lack of editing.

2 Okkervil River - 18

3 Dark Captain Light Captain - 17
Folk influenced and elegant stuff, like a clock's mechanism (I often think of Pinback and Bedhead in a similar way, but these guys don't sou
nd like either of those bands), and some very English accents.

4 Basia Bulat - 15

5 Krisiun - 13
The new one, which is called Southern Storm and is as you would expect on first listen, Brutal Death Fucking Metal.

6 Tim Buckley - 12
His debut, I listened to it some on my iPod too which hasn't been scrobbled, I really like it.

7 It Hugs Back - 11
British band that sound like Yo La Tengo without the rocking parts and without some of the sweet pop, it's out in Feb. next year, but this is a promo copy for review.

8 The Shins - 11

9 Meg Baird - 11
Beautiful folk, I love this album (Dear Companion).

10 Julie Ocean - 10
Power Pop!

Special mentions:
Farben (AKA Gramm, Jan Jelinek), his Textstar singles comp. I love this guy and will listen to pretty much anything he does, this was a little more angular and 'house'-y than the rest of his stuff, I love it.

Chris Watson, who used to be one half of British post-punk pre-acid house music band Cabaret Voltaire, a collection called Cima Verde, which is named after a mountain where he took the field recordings that make up this release. You get snow popping as it melts, bird calls, winds coming off the mountain and various other stuff, beautiful.

[Babar]

I think more people should post in this thread, it doesn't necessarily have to be last.fm scrobbles, Davy's snazzy pie-chart there is a good example.

i'mma try work something out, i love statistics

[Nick Ink]

Meg Baird
Jan Jelinek

There just isn't much time in my life for music at the moment, which is a shame because this has reminded me that it's been far too long since I listened to either of these.

[On Reflection]

Meg Baird
Jan Jelinek

There just isn't much time in my life for music at the moment, which is a shame because this has reminded me that it's been far too long since I listened to either of these.

I have loads of time for music in my life and I still have that sort of thing happen to me, so *shrug*

[Andrew_TSKS]

6 Tim Buckley - 12
His debut, I listened to it some on my iPod too which hasn't been scrobbled, I really like it.

If you haven't already, you should check out his second record, "Goodbye and Hello". That one is the only one that sounds similarly to the self-titled, but the songwriting is better. Especially "I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain". Holy fuck, that song is transcendent.

[ellaguru]

I think more people should post in this thread, it doesn't necessarily have to be last.fm scrobbles, Davy's snazzy pie-chart there is a good example.

I totally would, except that only about 10% of what I listen to is digitally trackable. I mostly listen to records and CDs through my non-computer component stereo. Too old skool for da thread.

[On Reflection]

6 Tim Buckley - 12
His debut, I listened to it some on my iPod too which hasn't been scrobbled, I really like it.

If you haven't already, you should check out his second record, "Goodbye and Hello". That one is the only one that sounds similarly to the self-titled, but the songwriting is better. Especially "I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain". Holy fuck, that song is transcendent.

Well that's good news, the CD I got was the S/T and Goodbye And Hello packaged together.

I think more people should post in this thread, it doesn't necessarily have to be last.fm scrobbles, Davy's snazzy pie-chart there is a good example.

I totally would, except that only about 10% of what I listen to is digitally trackable. I mostly listen to records and CDs through my non-computer component stereo. Too old skool for da thread.

Well, I kind of meant that it doesn't have to be digitally tallied in any way, can't we just have a thread where we all post about stuff we've been listening to in the past week? Maybe just give rough estimates of how much you've listened to a certain thing?

[Babar]

arright, i found a way to contribute to this thread without signing up on last.fm

stay tuned!!!

[davy]

I think more people should post in this thread, it doesn't necessarily have to be last.fm scrobbles, Davy's snazzy pie-chart there is a good example.

I totally would, except that only about 10% of what I listen to is digitally trackable. I mostly listen to records and CDs through my non-computer component stereo. Too old skool for da thread.

Same here, thus the statistically inaccurate pie graph. Let's just say that the pie graph represents what I FEEL like I've listened to all week.

For the record, I created that graph at a kiddie math website. 

[DanielBurns11]

I would post here more, but I find it hard to say interesting things about the music I've been listening to. I could just post my weekly charts all the time, but that's a little boring, right?

 1. Tom Gabel - 65
 2. The Mountain Goats - 51
 3. Johnny Foreigner - 42
 3. Coheed and Cambria - 42
 5. Bright Eyes - 40
 6. Tom Waits - 36
 7. Neutral Milk Hotel - 30
 8. Straylight Run - 27
 9. The Gaslight Anthem - 26
10. Lil' Wayne - 21

[On Reflection]

I would post here more, but I find it hard to say interesting things about the music I've been listening to. I could just post my weekly charts all the time, but that's a little boring, right?

I don't consider anything I write about a given artist to be interesting really, sometimes I just list what album it was I was listening to and someone else comments and a discussion can start, tangents can be followed. I dunno, it just seemed like a cool little communal thing to do.

You're digging that Johnny Foreigner album then? They don't seem to get enough press, despite being one of the best debuts this year, imo.

[DanielBurns11]

I would post here more, but I find it hard to say interesting things about the music I've been listening to. I could just post my weekly charts all the time, but that's a little boring, right?

I don't consider anything I write about a given artist to be interesting really, sometimes I just list what album it was I was listening to and someone else comments and a discussion can start, tangents can be followed. I dunno, it just seemed like a cool little communal thing to do.

You're digging that Johnny Foreigner album then? They don't seem to get enough press, despite being one of the best debuts this year, imo.

Yeah, I'm totally loving it. It's been in steady rotation since I got it. It's not only one of the the best debuts this year (I would say the best, but the new Jaguar Love is kicking my ass right now too), but the but one of the best I can remember hearing in a while. And it seems to get better with each listen.

[Babar]

yay, my first scrobbling post, artists are arranged by play time and not play counts since that's only fair

Braille                            36
This dude has a lot on his heart, he's passionate and the beats are po-po-powerful

The Cool Kids                 35
Ahhh yeah, i listened to their whole discography once and then some. can't get enough of them. Ah, you judging me dog?/Please you shop at the mall!/Me? I shop at boutiques/Limited quantity sneaks/Where do these quantities be?/Maybe their upon my feet. More rappers need to rap about sneakers.

Q-Tip                            31
He really should be on the top of the list since i've listened to a lot on my ipod. this not like a reunion album that shows that "the old geezer still got it", because he really has something to put forth and it's absolutely on par with his best. the production is more The Love Movement than The Low End Theory, but not really though, he is living in the now and the beats and rhymes reflect that. it's not nostalgic or whatever, just really really fucking good.

Soul Position                   26
So-So-So-Soul Position. underground hip hop beat making superstar RJD2 handles the beats and Blueprint handles the rhyming. Acing great stuff. Check out their 6 song-long Unlimited EP, if you likey then lucky you cause they also made two full-length studio albums. they are on indefinte/infinite hiatus as of now.

Aceyalone                      24
His Book of Human Language is such a chaos of an album, it's very good though. it kinda rolls into one entity when i listen to it and i can't hear when one song ends and another start so it can be a little exhausting, but dude can spit and the beats are hot and organic. his flow is very much like kool keith's and even his voice too. it's like kool keith decided to stop rhyming about alien porn and started rhyming about life, love and language.

Hank Mobley                 12
It surprised me how good my two Hank Mobley albums are, i hadn't listened to them in a while. No Room for Square and Soul Station.

Freddie Hubbard             11
Now this dude, i love this dude. High quality jazz.

Madvillain                       35
Just got the Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix,  as a huge motherfucking ass madvillain fan i am first and foremost very thankful that this album even exists. and of course i think it's great. not as good as the holy grail that is madvillainy, but still great. go ask someone who's not an insane fanboy about this album if you want to get a fair review of it.

A Tribe Called Quest        19
Since i was listening to a lot of Q-Tip i revisited some ATCQ. classic shit.

Madlib                            37
If i would arrange the list by play counts Madlib would be at the top. i like listening to his short instrumental hip hop when i'm reading (that and jazz (see above)).

Yup.

[edison]

1 Matt Elliott 31
Getting warmed up for his Friday evening show. I can't really see how he's going to do these new songs alone live, but I can't wait to see. Howling Songs is a great record, noisier than the others in the trilogy.

2 Jacaszek 22
Checked this out on a whim after someone (I believe it was Stewart, backed by Nick?) recommended it in another thread last week. I can't say much about it at this point, only that I really want to listen to it again.

3 Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power and the Amorphous Strums 21
The more I listen to this, the more I like it. "Phil The Fiddler", nonsensical as it is, is one of my favorite songs this year. This is a very refreshing record after that slightly overblown one he did with those pompous Constellation people.

4 Stars of the Lid 18
What's a good Stars of the Lid album to check out after the new one? Not that I've exhausted the charms of this one, mind you!

5 The Notwist 16
Been getting into the new album, slowly but surely, after not listening to it for months. It's definitely clicking now, although I wouldn't say it's on the same level as Neon Golden or Shrink.

6 Radar Bros. 15

6 Lambchop 15
I didn't have enough time to make it to their Basel show the other day, unfortunately, so I ended up downloading their latest tour CD, Rainer On Your Parade, which consists solely of live covers. It sounded nice, but probably not as essential as some of their recent tour CDs overall (We are talking about a band whose tour CDs have been sometime nearly as good as their albums, here).

8 Bob Dylan 13

9 Tom Zé 7
I accidentally found out that he's got a new album out in Brazil this month, called Estudando A Bossa. I should give it a more attentive listen sometime, but nothing really drew me in during that first interrupted listen.

9 Labradford 7

[On Reflection]

2 Jacaszek 22
Checked this out on a whim after someone (I believe it was Stewart, backed by Nick?) recommended it in another thread last week. I can't say much about it at this point, only that I really want to listen to it again.

I believe I recommended that one, and yes, do listen to it again... and again, and again, and again, brilliant album.

9 Tom Zé 7
I accidentally found out that he's got a new album out in Brazil this month, called Estudando A Bossa. I should give it a more attentive listen sometime, but nothing really drew me in during that first interrupted listen.

Do you know his music well? I've started to get interested in Brazillian music from around the 60s-70s, and Ze is supposed to be very good, but there are few reliable, or indeed informative, sources on the internet about his stuff. Basically, what would be a good place to start?

[On Reflection]

-a whole load of Hip Hop*-

So I have a question for you Babar, I am very anamoured of Mobb Deep's Tha Infamous, I think it's a great album, and I am looking for a similar type of thing, gangsta lyrics, cold, bleak beats etc. another example would be GZA's Liquid Swords, could you recommend something that's like that?

*or should that be 'Rap'?

[edison]

Re: Tom Zé - all of these early records are of course nearly impossible to find if you're not willing to part with a few hundreds of dollars. My favorite is probably this self-titled one, but Estudando O Samba (1975) and the first one Grande Liquidação are also really great, so any of these would be a good place to start, really.

And thanks again for the Jacaszek recommendation, then! Credit where credit is due.

[Andrew_TSKS]

-a whole load of Hip Hop*-

So I have a question for you Babar, I am very anamoured of Mobb Deep's Tha Infamous, I think it's a great album, and I am looking for a similar type of thing, gangsta lyrics, cold, bleak beats etc. another example would be GZA's Liquid Swords, could you recommend something that's like that?

*or should that be 'Rap'?

I'm not Babar, but... you've got the first Wu-Tang Clan album, right? If not, get that shit.

[On Reflection]

Re: Tom Zé - all of these early records are of course nearly impossible to find if you're not willing to part with a few hundreds of dollars. My favorite is probably this self-titled one, but Estudando O Samba (1975) and the first one Grande Liquidação are also really great, so any of these would be a good place to start, really.

And thanks again for the Jacaszek recommendation, then! Credit where credit is due.

Thanks edison!

-a whole load of Hip Hop*-

So I have a question for you Babar, I am very anamoured of Mobb Deep's Tha Infamous, I think it's a great album, and I am looking for a similar type of thing, gangsta lyrics, cold, bleak beats etc. another example would be GZA's Liquid Swords, could you recommend something that's like that?

*or should that be 'Rap'?

I'm not Babar, but... you've got the first Wu-Tang Clan album, right? If not, get that shit.

Yeah, I have that too, and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (which, admittedly, I haven't listened to yet), and some Ghostface. I suppose I forgot to say that the story-based aspects of those GZA and Mobb Deep albums are what I love about the lyrics, stuff like the first WU album and Ghostface don't really have that (although it's all great stuff, I'm just looking for something a little more specific here).