Machinefabriek and 9 other artists

[Nick Ink]

1 Casiotone for the Painfully Alone 39
...Nick, I take it you're not so keen on the whole "fear of having children" theme?

Well, yes, it doesn't exactly speak to me, I suppose you could say. If I was younger, and maybe not so poor, I'd happily have five or six. But of course it's not for everyone.

I don't know - I just found 'Creedence' and 'Xmas' and the pearls one from Etiquette (fuck me, why can't I spell that bastard word right first time just for mutherfuckincocksuckingonce!) touching and poetic in a way that I don't the songs on this album. It's clever and there's no doubt an over-arching narrative that I haven't really discovered yet, but it doesn't connect with me emotionally very much. I  suspect I might end up saving three or four tracks off it and deleting the rest of the album.

[davy]

Actually "best ever" is hyperbole (Obviously Buddy Rich was the best drummer ever) but he is a personal favorite.  It's hard to point out any one thing you should listen to that will make you see the light because he's not showy.  That's kind of the whole point with him.  But if you listen to his body of work, every noise he makes, every stick he breaks (haha) is absolute understated perfection.  Not going to appeal to the Neal Peart crowd but if you can appreciate a fill that consists wholly of an open-closed hi-hat and a snare crack, you'll get it.

See, this is the sort of thing that leads me to believe I should appreciate his work more than I do. I'm all about subtlety. Jim Eno is in my all-time Top 10 for chrissakes.

I'll make my way through The Police albums one by one again. See what happens.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Personally, I think the song "Driven To Tears" is an excellent and obvious example of Copeland's genius. As Jim said, it's not showy, but it's one of his more complex performances, so the talent inherent to it is a bit clearer.

[davy]

I seem to remember "Masoko Tanga" standing out to me last time I listened.

[Nick Ink]

1    Konntinent    18
2    pillowdiver    16
2    Animal Collective    16
4    Pixel    14
4    Asher    14
6    Seasons (Pre-Din)    9
6     Elegi    9
6    10-20    9
9    Lawrence English    8
9    William Basinski    8

[Ignatius]

Though it has ended, I'm sure that your streak will live on for generations in the various almanacs and history books. Cal Ripken jr. would be proud.

[edison]

1 Nonstop 79
It took me many listens to eventually decide that the second, much-awaited Nonstop album has only four really good songs, the rest being just too uneven to convince. These really good songs are pretty much fantastic, though.

2 Richard & Linda Thompson 38
A few listens to I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. Is "The Calvary Cross" the best song ever written? Why, yes, I would think so.

3 Machinefabriek 34
Looks like it's up to me to keep the Machinefabriek faith alive this week - I've been digging Shuffle quite a bit (particularly liking the "Piano, voice" track right now) and also gave spins to this year's favorite Ijspret, as well as Bijeen (I need to listen to the latter more, because each time I do, I find it quite awesome).

4 Casiotone for the Painfully Alone 16

5 Jason Lytle 14
Listened to this for the second time and felt almost nothing, again. I should dust off my copy of The Sophtware Slump, probably.

5 Kazuki Tomokawa 14

7 Jacques Brel 13

8 Current 93 12
While some of you must have been out partying, I spent my Saturday night listening to All The Pretty Horses. Not bad, though, not bad! Has anyone listened to the new album?

8 Giant Sand 12

10 John Vanderslice 10
Enjoying Romanian Names - probably this week's kitchen listening (a.k.a., non-scrobbled) favorite.

[alistarr*]

6    Seasons (Pre-Din)    9

hmm, i have a cd by this person, which i enjoyed when i listened to it. i think it was called "a single sun" or something. three tracks all part of the same droney thing. plenty of background noise, i think. very nice. he played some instrument or other at the xela show i posted about a couple of weeks ago, and the cd was a freebie, and came in a rather lovely folded-paper-and-brown-card sleeve. best £0 i've spent all year.

9    William Basinski    8

i listened to 92982 last night after having misplaced it for a week or (turns out i'd left it under a stack of other, apparently more important stuff at work). some of it was really nice, though i'm not sure the second song needed to be twenty minutes long. the third track in particular caught hold of me, though, and it was the other long one. maybe i just prefer my albums to be less than 40-45 minutes in length.

on which note, and to take you back a week or so:

8     Jasper TX & Anduin    9
This also sounded wonderful on first listen.

i think this is fast becoming my favourite droney album in about a year. i'll have to arrange a bending of light vs dauw face-off one evening to discern whether i can push that statement back any further, though. really, really impressive, immersive, captivating drone music. particularly good on headphones while reading.

[Nick Ink]

3 Machinefabriek 34
Looks like it's up to me to keep the Machinefabriek faith alive this week - I've been digging Shuffle quite a bit (particularly liking the "Piano, voice" track right now) and also gave spins to this year's favorite Ijspret, as well as Bijeen (I need to listen to the latter more, because each time I do, I find it quite awesome).

I can feel a palpable sense of disappointment in the non-inclusion of Mf in my charts this week, and to address this I am now listening to Drawn (with Soccer Committee) and Redrawn (on which all the tracks are reinterpreted by other artists, including Xela, Taylor Deupree, Lawrence English, Peter Broderick etc) side by side. That's side by side as opposed to back to back, where, by the wonder of windows media player, I can, for example, listen to the original Baars/Zuyderfeldt version of the song Di-Oh-Day followed immediately by its reworkings by Holden Goldmund, The North Sea and Kenneth Kirschner, before moving on to the next Mf/sC track and in turn, its covered counterparts. A kind of abstract palimpsest.

Checking through my archives, I am shocked to discover that I don't have Bijeen! [Bij Marjim] yes, but Bijeen no. Colour me perturbed.

[Nick Ink]

xpost with alistarr

Al, your continuing enthusiasm for Jasper TX & Anduin is making sure I don't overlook it in this ridiculous embarrassment of droning riches we have this year.

As for the William Basinski, I must admit I like the 20 minuteness of that piece. I think that after getting into The Disintegration Loops and many of the earlier single-track Machinefabriek releases, I've trained myself to even see that sort of length as if not short, then medium-length. There's also a pay-off, for me, that if I'm in the right frame of mind, it takes about that long to really get absorbed by a track. Those police car sirens and that helicopter noise, though tiny fragments of flotsam on the oceanic drift of the track, then, when they finally arrive, become as pleasing a hook as a Buzzcocks chorus. 

The Seasons (pre-din) thing I've been playing (and sometimes listening to) is called Har Habayit BeYadeinu.

[edison]

3 Machinefabriek 34
Looks like it's up to me to keep the Machinefabriek faith alive this week - I've been digging Shuffle quite a bit (particularly liking the "Piano, voice" track right now) and also gave spins to this year's favorite Ijspret, as well as Bijeen (I need to listen to the latter more, because each time I do, I find it quite awesome).

I can feel a palpable sense of disappointment in the non-inclusion of Mf in my charts this week, and to address this I am now listening to Drawn (with Soccer Committee) and Redrawn (on which all the tracks are reinterpreted by other artists, including Xela, Taylor Deupree, Lawrence English, Peter Broderick etc) side by side. That's side by side as opposed to back to back, where, by the wonder of windows media player, I can, for example, listen to the original Baars/Zuyderfeldt version of the song Di-Oh-Day followed immediately by its reworkings by Holden Goldmund, The North Sea and Kenneth Kirschner, before moving on to the next Mf/sC track and in turn, its covered counterparts. A kind of abstract palimpsest.

Checking through my archives, I am shocked to discover that I don't have Bijeen! [Bij Marjim] yes, but Bijeen no. Colour me perturbed.

For better or for worse, I've decided to pass on Redrawn for now, in order to be able to better focus on other releases. Feel free to point me towards any particularly awesome tracks requiring urgent listening, though.

As for Bijeen, since that's a compilation, maybe you've already heard the contents in their original releases?

[Nick Ink]

For better or for worse, I've decided to pass on Redrawn for now, in order to be able to better focus on other releases. Feel free to point me towards any particularly awesome tracks requiring urgent listening, though.

Lawrence English's contribution is very much of a piece with the gorgeous slippery metallic shimmer of A Colour For Autumn, one of this year's darkest and most equine of albums.

[DanielBurns11]

1. The Prize Fighter Inferno - 54

The solo side project of Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria. The album is admittedly raw and unfinished sounding, but it's relaxed acoustic/electronic sound hit the spot all week. Plus 'The Missing McCloud Boys' is just an amazing song.

2. Pig Destroyer - 47

So upon a third listen, Terrifyer finally started making more sense. I started catching more riffs here and there, and I was hooked. The riffs in 'Gravedancer' particularly make me want to headbang.

3. The Decemberists - 40

I love the Hazards of Love, it's in my top 5 for the year so far. I love all the rock elements they're implementing, and for an hour long record it stays interesting throughout.

4. Say Anything - 32

I'm surprised to see them this high. I basically just listened to Baseball for the first time, and wasn't impressed, and a little of In Defense of the Genre.

5. The White Stripes - 31

I just recently got Elephant, and I'm loving it. I might even like it more than Icky Thump, which is saying something.

6. John Vanderslice - 28

I recently picked up Cellar Door , and it's pretty great, A lot of the songs are based off of movies apparently. 'When It Hits My Blood' which is based around Requiem for a Dream is my personal favorite, been listening to it a ton.

7. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - 26

I'm liking the new record, it's more professional and more of a cohesive album than anything they've done before. The addition to Katherine Katz on vocals makes things more interesting, I actually think my favorite parts on this album are when she's doing the vocals.

8. Crystal Castles - 25

My CC listening has slowed down a lot in the last couple months, but they're still pretty steady in the rotation.

9. Brand New - 24

After listening to Deja Entendu exclusively for a while, and favoring it over the Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, I went back and realized how great Devil/God is too, I could never pick a favorite. Can't wait for the new one to come out!

10. My Bloody Valentin - 23

With each listen I get a little more comfortable with Loveless, and I'm starting to remember parts I really like, but I think it'll take many more listen before I completely come around.

http://drop.io/dzia0ot

[Andrew_TSKS]

Seriously, dude, have you heard the Agoraphobic Nosebleed tracks from the Converge split? "The Poacher Diaries" is the name of the album. I suggest you listen to it. It's almost like a speed metal album.

[DanielBurns11]

Seriously, dude, have you heard the Agoraphobic Nosebleed tracks from the Converge split? "The Poacher Diaries" is the name of the album. I suggest you listen to it. It's almost like a speed metal album.

Nope, I've only heard Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope, and various stuff off of other albums. I'll check into it.

[Nick Ink]

1    Elvis Costello    45
The new album is, in my opinion, the most consistent for a long time. Good songs, good voice, good musicians.

2    Pillowdiver    27
One of the best of a string of brilliant records from 12K this year. Close in tone to Machinefabriek's Shuffle, but much more guitar-based. Really clean sounding strings wrapped up in scraps of distortion and atmospherics, like Ry Cooder produced by Tim Hecker.

3    Asher    26
A double album of simple Satie-like piano loops on a bed of static.

4    Jasper TX & Anduin    20
alistarr*'s keen eye for an excellent drone record picked this one out. Deep, mellifluous swamps of buzzing chords. Even better than Jasper TX's other very good album this year, Singing Stones.

5    Machinefabriek    17
Shuffle. Is this return to inaccessible, fragmented minimalism a deliberate attempt on Zuyderfeldt's part to shake off the mainstream approval he unexpectedly garnered with the surprise appearance of his album Dauw on the highly influential 'Last Plane To Jakarta Album Of The Year' list for 2008?

6    Pixel    14
6    Lawrence English    14
8    Jasper TX    13
9     Pendle Coven    12
10     Hildur Gudnadottir    10

[Andrew_TSKS]

Seriously, dude, have you heard the Agoraphobic Nosebleed tracks from the Converge split? "The Poacher Diaries" is the name of the album. I suggest you listen to it. It's almost like a speed metal album.

Nope, I've only heard Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope, and various stuff off of other albums. I'll check into it.

Here's "Pentagram Constellation," my favorite song from that record. See what you think of it.

[edison]

1 Deerhoof 42
This would be the beginning of my uninterrupted post-Saturday night Deerhoof listening binge. I didn't get the chance to listen to any music yesterday, so it's kind of hold right now, but I'm sure it'll be on again tonight.

2 Current 93 28
Revisiting old albums (in particular, All The Pretty Horses and Sleep Has His House, two of the three I'm familiar with) in anticipation of the new record. Now there's a band whose discography I have to explore, but these albums are already so rich that I fear I'll take a long time to get to the bottom of them.

3 John Vanderslice 27
I take it Romanian Names hasn't made much of an impression around here, but I'm still really liking it.

4 Machinefabriek 16
I wouldn't call Shuffle inaccessible, really - although less immediate than Dauw it is. Quite repeat-worthy, anyway!

5 The Kingsbury Manx 15
6 Adrian Crowley 14

Due to the bounty of great releases this year, these two excellent albums from very reliable artists run the risk of being overlooked, so let me reiterate here that they are very much worth a listen or fifteen.

7 Grizzly Bear 12
Of course, what with all the stuff I've read, I've started getting really curious about this band. This sounded quite good, but it's not really the kind of thing you can say anything insightful about after one listen.

7 Steve Reich 12
Listened to Music for 18 Musicians - certainly a standard case of "Why don't I listen to this at least every week?"

9 Jonathan Richman 10
A run through alistarr's great (and awesome-looking) Jonathan Richman primer I found in my mailbox the other day. It's been a staple in the kitchen!

10 Olivier Messiaen 9

[Nick Ink]

1    Chihei Hatakeyama    31
It took him a long time to follow up Minima Moralia, but then lo and behold, along come 3 albums in one year. Dedication is perhaps the best of them, full of charmingly intricate little collages of acoustic samples, field recordings and electronics.

2     Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto With Ensemble Modern    26
Alva Noto's Xerrox Vol 2 is one of the best albums of 2009 and his 3 previous collaborations with Sakamoto were seminal, brilliant minimal piano/electronica, so I was very interested to hear this new UTP release. It's all good stuff, but it seems to swerve about a bit stylistically, so maybe not quite another Vrioon.

3    Lawrence English    24
This year's lovely A Colour For Autumn is another favourite, highly recommended in a boomkat stylee for anyone who loves blurry textured ambience with dripping glassy melodies and pulsing bass, and it's excellence has led me to relisten to the nearly as good Kiri No Oto and For Varying Degrees Of Winter. Kind of becoming my favourite ambient guy of the moment.

4    Machinefabriek    18
Shuffle plus a few tracks from Dauw and Ranonkel. I haven't really been listening to Machinefabriek much this year by my standards, but I can feel a bit of a binge in the wind, starting with the two aforementioned masterpieces.

5     Emeralds    16
This was the vast black pit of the Allegory of Allergies double album, from which I was lucky to escape with my wits still intact.

6    Tim Hecker    14
7    Elvis Costello    13
8     Hannu    12
9    Seasons (Pre-Din)    11
10    Fever Ray    10

[edison]

1 Deerhoof 125
2 Cass McCombs 41
3 John Vanderslice 21
3 Richard & Linda Thompson 21
5 Machinefabriek 9
6 Adrian Crowley 7
7 Grizzly Bear 5
8 Dirty Projectors 4
9 Cadallaca 2
10 The Triffids 1
10 Yo La Tengo 1

Nothing I haven't discussed in other threads, I think. Perhaps I should mention that Deerhoof are awesome?

[davy]

Let's start the betting on which Yo La Tengo song edison listened to last week.

[edison]

Ha! It shouldn't take a genius.

[edison]

Unless there's a new one going that I missed, this thread is suffering from gross, unacceptable neglect. Last week was mostly more Deerhoof here - here's this week's charts:

1 Tom Waits 43
I've been revisiting (or discovering, depending on the albums) early Tom Waits, inspired by reading Barney Hoskyns's unauthorized biography about the man, and also listening to random other favourites from my collection (boy is "Hoist that Rag" an incredible song). This is all quite enjoyable (the book is too - a lot of the LA descriptions made me think of Whit, somehow!), so I'll continue over the next few weeks.

2 Jay Reatard 30
Some Singles 06-07 - mostly "I Know A Place", "Don't Let Him Come Back" and "Oh It's Such A Shame" on repeat.

3 Adrian Crowley 21

4 Evangelista 19
Hello, Voyager! is one of these albums that's been on my hard drive for quite a long time, but I never got around listening to it until I saw that Carla Bozulich was headlining an evening of the jazz festival in Mulhouse in August (with Fred Frith opening!). It's pretty damn intense - perhaps too intense for after-work listening, but damn impressive as well.

5 Deerhoof 14

5 Future of the Left 14

7 Machinefabriek 12

8 Cass McCombs 11

9 Jay Bennett 10
I checked out the last album Whatever Happened I Apologize on the strength of a surprisingly glowing review on a French webzine - it did seem like a pretty strong spare, acoustic singer-songwriter album, and better than I would have expected, for some reason.

9 Jacaszek 10

[alex]

Serious neglect, indeed. In my case, the problem has simply been that I hardly ever have more than three artists on my weekly lists these days, so it seems a bit silly to post. This week at least has the 10 artists asked for in the thread title (though no Machinefabriek, I am ashamed to say), so here 't is:

1 David Bowie 15
2 Lambchop 9
2 R.E.M. 9
4 Michael Chapman 7
5 Calexico 6
6 Chris Bathgate 5
6 The Velvet Underground 5
6 Paul Metzger 5
9 Elephant Micah 3
9 Scott Walker 3

Still, not much to annotate here! The Bowie listen was to confirm that some people here (Jim definitely being one of them) weren't spouting nonsense when they used some very strong positive words to describe Hunky Dory the other day (they weren't, but of course you all knew that, right?). The R.E.M. was Monster, also inspired by recent LPTJ talk. Paul Metzger, as always, numerically underrepresented here because of the long running length of his tracks; he filled up my room with excellent modified banjo sounds for an hour and a half the other day. That's about all I have to say.

[edison]

I should really get that Paul Metzger stuff on emusic, I've been meaning to for ages.

This is the other extreme, but the new Maher Shalal Hash Baz record is really going to expose the absurdity of Last.fm's counting system...