Machinefabriek and 9 other artists

[Andrew_TSKS]

Ryan, all you have to do is go through and remove the excess returns manually (and delete the spots where it says "play") and it looks just like the old results did. It'll take you 30 seconds.

[RavingLunatic]

Eh, with all that I might as well transcribe it. Thanks anyways.

[Nick Ink]

Oh, thanks for the well wishes, well-wishers. I'm a lot better now, though it would still be a bit of a stretch to describe me as at peak levels of fitness. But yes, thank you very much.

[alex]

Ten artists that are not Machinefabriek this week:

1 The Gaslight Anthem 88
Heh, yeah. I got pretty obsessed with "Old White Lincoln" at first, and then gave the entire album a few good listens. Very, very impressed with this - there are a few songs that I find a bit grating ("Meet me by the river's edge" and "The Backseat", in particular), but the rest of the album more than makes up for that.

2 Jacaszek 22
Been a mainstay on the iPod (which refuses to scrobble its listening data) in the last two weeks, too, in fact. I'm still having a bit of a hard time with some of the vocals, but for the most part, I definitely think that Nick is on to something with his incessant praise for this artist.

3 Tindersticks 12
This was only my second listen to the new one, but so far, I haven't quite figured out yet why everyone seems to consider it a disappointment.

3 John Zorn 12
The Dreamers, which I guess is a very unusually accessible, playful, soft and, well, dreamy album for Zorn. I'm digging this quite a bit.

5 Vikki Jackman 11
Just talked about this in the LPTJ Best of 2008 thread - beautiful little nuggets of static and piano fragments.

6 James Yorkston and The Athletes 8
First listen to the new one, which really isn't labelled as with the Athletes at all but for some reason last.fm adds that extension with an autofilter apparently (the problem is not my tags). Too early to say anything, really. I did listen to his previous album, The Year of the Leopared in the train a few days ago and was surprised just how much I enjoyed it.

7 The Rural Alberta Advantage 7
"Don't Haunt This Place" is a really nice & catchy song (though it already seems to be losing its charm a little bit now, too), but not feeling the rest of what I've heard too much, I'm afraid to say.

8 David Grubbs 6
Second listen to An Optimist Notes the Dusk. There were one or two songs that I didn't care for that much (though I can't remember which ones they were), but overall, showing a lot of promise. The long droney track at the end is quite excellent, as well.

8 Rafael Anton Irisarri 6
Listened to Daydreaming for the first time in quite a while the other day, it's still as beautiful as ever. I think I have Nick to thank for pointing this one out to me, too.

10 Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet 4
The Breadwinner. When I first got this album (digitally only), I was really, really impressed by "Listen, the Snow Is Falling" (the first track), but didn't care for the rest that much - I think some of the weird field recordings (especially the snoring, I suppose) put me off. Relistening now, I have no idea what I was thinking, as this is pretty great.

edited for a missing word

[Andrew_TSKS]

The Yoko Ono song "Listen, The Snow Is Falling"? Galaxie 500 covered that song excellently on their third album, "This Is Our Music". I still have never heard the original.

[alex]

I suppose it's a nod to that one, but not a cover. We've had this discussion in another thread a few months ago, actually, which led to someone YSIng the Galaxie 500 cover, which I hadn't been familiar with before. It's quite excellent indeed, but doesn't sound much like the (rather more abstract, experimental) Lambkin/Lescalleet track. Both are awesome, though. I think ellaguru remarked then that they would actually work quite well together on a mix.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Hah, like I said in another thread a second ago, I have no memory of that. But hey, good to know.

[RavingLunatic]

Man, I was about to post my last.fm numbers, but it's just a tremendous pain in the ass now.

[Babar]

heh, this list is kinda weird, if my ipod and cd-player play counts would also be integrated Kanye West would definitely be on top, Soul Position and Ratatat would be in #2 and #3, but whatever here it is:

Robert Johnson 45
Britney Spears 32
Q-Tip 28
Kanye West 19
Soul Position 19
Aceyalone 18
The White Stripes 16
Ratatat 11
The Stylistics 9
Lemon Demon 8 (this is all TUSoUD btw)

[Andrew_TSKS]

Man, I was about to post my last.fm numbers, but it's just a tremendous pain in the ass now.

I can't believe how bothered you get about having to hit backspace 15 or so times.

[RavingLunatic]

Nah, it's more than that. There are all kinds of tabs and you have to put in spaces new line skips and everything. I mean, it would definitely take me a couple minutes that I do not want to spend doing that sort of thing.

[edison]

1 Future Clouds And Radar 19
I learned that their second album existed already by seeing it reviewed on Pitchfork on Friday. So I got an emusic subscription and downloaded the thing, because with Robert Harrison, there's always the guarantee that there'll be at least a couple of killer songs. This turns out to be the case esp. with The Epcot View, although the whole album (which, unlike their 2xCD debut, is short and sweet) seems very nice.

2 Pavement 17
All that talk in the other thread made me want to revisit the Wowee Zowee bonus material, which I've never devoted proper attention to since I got the record last year. Well, I'm afraid I ended up mostly just listening to the Pacific Trim EP over and over.

3 Cadallaca 16
Corin Tucker + Sarah Dougher + a drummer whose name I don't remember. They made a girl-group homage album together in the nineties, and unsurprisingly, it's pretty good.

4 Blitzen Trapper 15
They're quietly winning me over - the more I listen to Furr, the more I like it, although I was initially put off by the "Indie Rock 101" aspect of their music.

4 Death Sentence: PANDA! 15
This has been my car record for most of the week, although it obviously does not reflect in my charts. Very good album.

6 Beach House 13
File under "2008 records I inexplicably haven't bought" - I wanted to make sure it belonged on a 2008 list: it does, although the second half is less strong in places (especially the unnecessary Daniel Johnston cover). I also downloaded their new single on emusic, but I have to listen to it again.

7 Ilya E. Monosov 12
Russian songwriter, Shining Path member releases his first solo album partly arranged by Greg Weeks. It has a late-night, Leonard Cohen feel to it, with a warm guitar sound, strings and creaky keyboards. The last song, "I'll Live My Life Without Pain" is a thing of absolute beauty and I'll upload it when I get home.

8 Lambchop 11
I wanted to make sure that (Oh) Ohio *didn't* belong on my 2008 list, and it doesn't. It's not like it's bad either, it's just another good Lambchop album - I think I liked Kurt Wagner's solo record a little bit more.

8 Department of Eagles 11
Still liking this, still have to listen to it more.

10 Fleet Foxes 8
The German website Restorm has an advent calendar where every day they post a video from the Haldern festival alex and I attended this summer. The other day, it was a Fleet Foxes song I didn't knowand that I thought was pretty awesome. Turns out it's "Mykonos" from their first EP. I proceeded to download the EP in question and listen to the song 8 times, and I was happy. This is as good a place as any to say that I quite like their album, too.

[alex]

Nah, it's more than that. There are all kinds of tabs and you have to put in spaces new line skips and everything. I mean, it would definitely take me a couple minutes that I do not want to spend doing that sort of thing.

A couple of minutes that you'd prefer whining about how annoying it is?

I mean, yeah, it probably takes a bit longer than writing a two-liner, but the difference seems negligible to me. (And yes, I get my results in the same format that you're complaining about, as far as I can tell.)

Looking forward to that Ilya E. Monosov song, JY!

[RavingLunatic]

Yes, but aside from the time difference, there's something satisfying about writing an actual sentence, as opposed to mechanically pressing space and backspace for two minutes.

[Nick Ink]

1    Robyn Hitchcock   48
Well, not that I need an excuse to listen to Robyn, but this was a poker night soundtrack for my brother and a couple of friends, one of whom was visiting after recently emigrating to France, all of whom are big Egyptologists. Our poker tournament is entitled The Feg Cup, in fact, such is the depth of our mutual Robe-love. In the end, we listened to Ole Tarantula all the way through and then I just threw everything he's ever done in on random.

2    Library Tapes   47
This was all A Summer Beneath The Trees, which I haven't had that long. Being a huge Library Tapes fan, I was at first ever so slightly disappointed to hear Peter Broderick rather dominating this album with his string arrangements. But now that I've got used to them, I'm starting to really like it. There's a lot of repetition in the tracks, which pulls them clear of the cloying sentimentality that sometimes puts me off more orchestral stuff. I hope LT go back to what they do best in the long run though, and that this is an interesting one-off collaboration.

3    Animal Collective   28
I'm looking forward to the new album a lot and had a spell of listening to all their stuff in reverse chronological order - I managed to make it through Water Curses, Strawberry Jam, People, Prospect Hummer, Feels and Sung Tongs, but then called the whole thing off as I really don't like the older material anywhere near as much. Is there any other band who have consistently got a bit better with each successive release over such a long run of records?

4    Fennesz   15
The latest one. I think I'll have to buy this on CD as it's the first album I've got all excited about for a little while. Personally, I like it much better on first impressions than either Venice or Endless Summer. Having said that, I've never been a big Fennesz fan before. I always quite liked it, but couldn't quite see why he got so much more attention than other people in this area (Endless Summer especially, seems very overrated to me). I'm resisting booting it further up my 2008 list though, in case it's just a passing passion.

5    Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians   9
Tagging issues - see #1

6    Machinefabriek   7
Now, I think this was Drawn, the new collaboration with Soccer Committee. That's quite nice, but I haven't really taken it all in yet. On the other hand, I am really enjoying the various crevasses, nooks and ambient crannies of the Rusland release, one of his longer, single pieces.

6    The Soft Boys   7
All part of the poker night Hitchfest

8    Cloudland Canyon   5
I've been repping for Lie In Light in the 2008 thread, but I don't see anyone else doing likewise - no krautrock revivalists here? To tell the truth, though I like that album, it's their incredible (and completely different) debut EP, Silver Tongued Sisyphus which I really love.

8     Rameses III   5
Some drones off Basilica, which I think I made my 3rd favourite record of 2008.

[Andrew_TSKS]

3    Animal Collective   28
I'm looking forward to the new album a lot and had a spell of listening to all their stuff in reverse chronological order - I managed to make it through Water Curses, Strawberry Jam, People, Prospect Hummer, Feels and Sung Tongs, but then called the whole thing off as I really don't like the older material anywhere near as much. Is there any other band who have consistently got a bit better with each successive release over such a long run of records?

I don't know if this will fuck up your assessment of them as progressively improving, but for the record, Feels came after Prospect Hummer.

[Nick Ink]

3    Animal Collective   28
I'm looking forward to the new album a lot and had a spell of listening to all their stuff in reverse chronological order - I managed to make it through Water Curses, Strawberry Jam, People, Prospect Hummer, Feels and Sung Tongs, but then called the whole thing off as I really don't like the older material anywhere near as much. Is there any other band who have consistently got a bit better with each successive release over such a long run of records?

I don't know if this will fuck up your assessment of them as progressively improving, but for the record, Feels came after Prospect Hummer.

Haha - oh shit, my theory has totally collapsed!

[edison]

As promised this morning,
Ilya E. Monosov "I'll Live My Life Without Pain"

[edison]

At last, I am happy to say that I can now live up to this thread's name:

1 Machinefabriek 36
Daily listen(s) to Dauw - I have Nick's perseverance to thank for this, because this is really great stuff. I haven't even gotten around to trying it out on headphones, which I'm very much looking forward to do. Not to mention moving on to other albums, obviously.

2 Blitzen Trapper 35
Completely different but also damn good - this one (Furr) didn't impress me a lot at first listen, but it just keeps luring me insidiously into its simple charms. I've always been a bit suspicious of this band because it almost seems like they are a result of a market research meant to include every possible subgenre of pop and rock from the last 30 years so that a maximum number of listeners find something to enjoy, but I've surrendered to the quality of the songwriting on this album and am now loving these without second thoughts.

3 Fleet Foxes 24
Liking this more and more, too. I only really dug the obvious standouts when I first listened to this months ago ("White Winter Hymnal", "Your Protector", "Tiger Mountain Song"), but my appreciation has extended to most of the rest of the record.

4 Fennesz 16
Got Black Sea off Emusic - not sure what to think of it after two listens, but I'll keep investigating.

5 A.C. Newman 12
That was probably seven listens to his new single and five to his B-side Go-Betweens cover. I'm afraid I couldn't resist from downloading a leaked copy of the record this morning and listening to it in the car. It sounded mostly fucking great, but that's not very surprising.

5 Paavoharju 12
7 Ilya E. Monosov 11
7 Gary Higgins 11
9 Alan Licht & Aki Onda 10
10 Future Clouds And Radar 9

[alistarr*]

5 Paavoharju 12

i think i stuck their latest on my 2008 list but i listened to it maybe three times this weekend after the first of said listens left me feeling like i didn't much like rather worryingly large portions of it, and the subsequent listens left me feeling like yeah, some of it is a bit lame. don't get me wrong, there is still a bit of awesome and a fair amount of very nice, but i now think it's a lot more patchy than the debut. i wonder where they'll go next.

[Nick Ink]

1    Paavoharju   30
I'm kind of swinging the other way, ali. Having not paid enough attention to it earlier on in the year, I listened through a few times last week and thought it was all pretty good. I especially like Tuoksu Tarttuu Meihin and Uskallan, and how the whole album feels like turning the dial on some static-washed, freaky, alien radio set.

2    Fennesz   27
Also sticking up for Black Sea, which is definitely my favourite Fennesz album (discounting his Cendre collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, which I dug pretty heavily). I've never quite understood the acclaim for Endless Summer and Venice - they seem okay, but nowhere near as affecting or accomplished as, say, Tim Hecker's Harmony In Ultraviolet, but this time I'm much more interested. I especially like the longer drones, Glide and Saffron Revolution.

3    Machinefabriek   26
Hmm, I'm not sure which album this was. Judging by the quantity of tracks, it must've been the shorter pieces - perhaps Drawn (the one with Soccer Committee) last Sunday? It's odd that I can't remember this.

4    Greg Weeks   14
I'm still enjoying The Hive quite a lot. It's a little one-paced and I suppose you have to be in the right mood (I feel exactly the same way about his band, Espers, who I have a splurge on every now and again and then ignore for a few months), but there are some great songs and arrangements in here. I like Borderline a lot (it's funny, but I have no idea what the original sounded like) and Lay Low and The Wait are good too. Nobody else check this one out?

5    Mount Eerie   10
Downloaded and gave this a try. I quite liked The Glow Part 2 many years ago, but haven't kept up with him at all. It was alright, but I didn't want to hear it again really.

6    Tape   9
Luminarium. I've come back to this a few times this year. They are a bit loose and jazzy for me at times, bt as with the other albums of theirs that I have, Rideau and Milieu, there are plenty of moments where they lock into a really great groove and with little splashes of electronic colour, hit the bull's eye.

7     Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker   8
I very much enjoy both of these chaps' solo albums, so I'm persevering with this one(Fantasma Parastasie). It's pretty good, but I keep waiting for it to be very good. These things sometimes take time.

8    Eric Copeland   5
I was very fond of 2007's Hermaphrodite - it made a nice companion piece to Black Dice's not-quite-new-album Load Blown, so I'm not going to be too hard on this new one, Alien In A Garbage Dump. The samples are a bit annoying and not integrated as artfully as before, and so far though, it sounds like very much a rehash of that album's ideas, with the emphasis on hash. I hope this doesn't bode ill for future Black Dice material.

9    Frightened Rabbit   2
9    The Wave Pictures   2
A couple of songs Simon posted. They were pretty good actually, but not quite my cup of tea.

9    Kevin Drumm   2
I'm playing this album right now actually. Grace, my 2 year-old just came up and said 'Daddy, what's that noisy mmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhmmmmmhmhhmhmhmhmhmhmh ?' I struggled to answer her satisfactorily, but, following encouragement from alex, I am enjoying this much more now. These 2 tracks are 35 minutes long together, by the way.

[alex]

It looks like Machinefabriek will be making an appearance again on next week's list. Meanwhile:


1 Drive-By Truckers 25
At some point this summer, when I was busy discovering the Drive-By Truckers, I listened to the new one, Brighter Than Creation's Dark a couple of time and decided it was quite nice, but maybe not as good as some of their other stuff I was discovering at the same time. Listening again with fresh ears now, inspired by discussion over in the LPTJ Best of 2008 thread, I have to say it really is quite a fine album! Not entirely consistent, but surprisingly close to being consistent (considering it's 19 songs of average-to-longish length long). Also, "Self Destructive Zones"! That song!

2 Neil Halstead 10
I still like Oh! Mighty Engine quite a bit, as well.

3 The Gaslight Anthem 9
This, too.

4 Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet 8
Funny that Nick mentions that he was revisiting Kevin Drumm because of my positive comments - I actually checked out that album after reading Nick talk about it, but then apparently it ended up leaving more of an impression on me than on Nick himself, and it was my recommendation that brought him to give it another shot. I mention this here, because I have a very similar relationship to this album, The Breadwinner, only I play the role of Nick here and my role is played by On Reflection, who reminded me to give it another listen the other week. Good album.

4 Autistic Daughters 8
Their newest one, Uneasy Flowers. I always seem to like this quite a bit while listening, but then it never really actually leaves much of a concrete impression upon me - I vaguely remember liking some songs more than others, but not which ones they are.

6 Philip Jeck 7
Sand. Another album I'm not sufficiently familiar with to competently speak about, but one which deserves further listens.

7 The New Year 6
7 The Magic ID 6
9 Georg Kreisler 4
9 The Mountain Goats 4

[alistarr*]

1    Paavoharju   30
I'm kind of swinging the other way, ali. Having not paid enough attention to it earlier on in the year, I listened through a few times last week and thought it was all pretty good. I especially like Tuoksu Tarttuu Meihin and Uskallan, and how the whole album feels like turning the dial on some static-washed, freaky, alien radio set.

hmm. i'll try again later.

[Babar]

another list that doesn't really give a good picture of what i listened to this week since i didn't listen to itunes that much but whatever.

The Delfonics 35
Al Green 26
Algernon Cadwallader 23
Kanye West 21
Kool Keith 16
King Geedorah 14
Smog 14
Kylie Minogue 12
Sam Cooke 12
R@@@ 11

i did listen to hell of a lot of the Delfonics though, and they'd probably be pushing 60 all things considered. and Smog is there because i listened to "Dress Sexy at My Funeral" 14 times today.

and RL, you know how i posted that list, i typed every single artist and their play count WITH MY OWN BARE HANDS! it was tough and around King Geedorah i started losing faith but i said to myself "just keep going! that's it! don't stop! Ess, emm, o, gee, that's it S-M-O-G, i did it! ok, now 14, that's one and...... four! YES!" until, before i knew, i had typed it all out.

i'm just friendly yanking your chain so that's clear, arguing with RL seems to be the new black and that's not what i'm trying to do

[andronicus]

What Sam Cooke did you listen to, Babar?!