Boomkat's Top 50 of 2008

[Nick Ink]

http://www.boomkat.com/charts.cfm?id=432&gID=9

I've heard 20/50

Quite surprised to see The Fun Years at number 1. I thought it was alright, but nothing that stood out for me. Still, lots of good stuff in that top 10.

I wonder what that Mika Vainio album is like. I only have two tracks by him, both of which I'm vaguely obsessed with.

[Nick Ink]

I wonder what that Mika Vainio album is like.

Well, to answer my own question, boomkat says 'now we're in 2008 and the man can't help but shock us to the core again with an album of pristine darkside industrial Electronic purism deeply engraved with signature drones and enveloping atmospheres that still sound quite unlike anything else on the planet.'

So, that sounds alright, doesn't it?

[edison]

I've heard 13/50. Interesting charts.

[RavingLunatic]

Did they put "highly recommended" after each list entry?

[edison]

Also, for those who haven't seen it yet, here's the Wire list:

01. The Bug - London Zoo [Ninja Tune]
02. Philip Jeck - Sand [Touch]
03. The Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace [no label]
04. John Butcher - Resonant Spaces [Confront]
05. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna [Social Registry]
06. The Advisory Circle - Other Channels [Ghost Box]
07. Evangelista - Hello, Voyager [Constellation]
08. William S. Burroughs - Real English Tea Made Here [Audio Research Editions]
09. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent [Sanctuary]
10. The Caretaker - Persistent Repetition of Phrases [Install]
11. Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion [Hospital Productions]
12. Ryoji Ikeda - Test Pattern [Raster-Noton]
13. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! [Mute]
14.Eric Chenaux - Sloppy Ground [Constellation]
15. Kasai Allstars - In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy By Magic [Crammed Discs]
16. Autechre - Quaristice [Warp]
17. Dusk + Blackdown- Margins Music [Keysound]
18. Luomo- Convivial [Huume]
19. Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound: Darfur [AUM Fidelity]
20. Stephan Mathieu - Radioland [Die Schachtel]
21. Lukas Ligeti - Afrikan Machinery [Tzadik]
22. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair [DFA]
23. Group Inerane - Guitar From Agadez (Music of Niger) [Sublime Frequencies]
24. Jandek - Glasgow Sunday 2005 [Corwood]
25. Robert Ashley - Concrete [Lovely Music]
26. Tricky - Knowle West Boy [Domino]
27. Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me [Audika]
28. Scorces - I Turn Into You [Not Not Fun]
29. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull [Southern Lord]
30. Terry Riley - The Last Camel In Paris [Elision Fields]
31. Malcom Goldstein - A Sounding of Sources [New World]
32. Christina Carter - Masque Femine [Many Breaths]
33. Stereo Image - s/t [Frog Man Jake]
34. Harvey Milk - Life... the Best Game In Town [Hydra Head]
35. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend [XL]
36. Emeralds - Solar Bridge [Hanson]
37. Maryanne Amacher - Sound Characters 2 [Tzadik]
38. Portishead - Third [Universal]
39. Toumani Diabate - The Mande Variations [World Circuit]
40. jakob ullmann - Voice, Books and FIRE 3 [Editions RZ]
41. David Grubbs - An Optimist Notes the Dust [Drag City]
42. Vajra - Live [PSF]
43. Murcof - The Versailles Sessions [Leaf]
44. Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness [Bo' Weavil]
45. Peter Rehberg - Works for GV 2004-2008 [Editions Mego]
46. Alva Noto - Unitxt [Raster-Noton]
47. Mark Stewart - Edit [Crippled Dick Hot Wax]
48. Sic Alps - US EZ [Siltbreeze]
49. Ellen Fullman & Monique Buzzarté - Fluctuations [Deep Listening]
50. Sao Paulo Underground - The Principle Of Intrusive Relationships [esthetics]

[Nick Ink]

02. Philip Jeck - Sand [Touch]

I would like to hear this one actually.

46. Alva Noto - Unitxt [Raster-Noton]

This, on the other hand, was a disappointment. I loved Alva Noto's Xerroxx thing a couple of years ago, but found this one just too harsh on the ears. In sharp contrast, I should say, to his other 2009 release, the self-titled album under the name Aleph-1, which is beautiful but seems sadly to have been ignored by absolutely everyone.

[davy]

27. Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me [Audika]

The fact that this collection of mellow folk-pop songs in the singer-songwriter vein appears at all on a list like this should give you a hint of its universal awesomeness.

[alistarr*]

Did they put "highly recommended" after each list entry?

they tag maybe four or five releases (usually 2 albums and a couple of 12"s) as highly recommended in each week's batch of new releases so it's probable, yes.

i've heard 11 of those and liked 10.

[Nick Ink]

boomkat is a shop, so it's selling you something and maybe that makes people suspicious. But on the other hand, it knows its readers and has been way more influential than pitchfork, this place or any other source in pointing me in the direction of music i love the last few years.

[On Reflection]

I've heard 10/50, but have at least liked all the ones I've heard to some extent. That Stephan Mathieu album has been popping up in Dusted's end of year features a few times, I'm definitely going to check it out now. Excerpt from Boomkat review: "The album takes shortwave radio signals as its starting point, meaning Mathieu instantly invites comparisons with Tod Dockstader and William Basinski, but while there's often a grainy, hazed over murk to those works, Mathieu somehow brings a luminosity and brightness out of his sources"

Newworldaquarium samples sound pretty good too, slowed down, repetitive, blissed out house/techno. Mountains sound cool! I've been drooling over the prospect of hearing some Celer after reading about them in Textura last month, and they have a collaboration here that sounds promising from the samples.

This list is quite brilliant really, because I haven't even heard of most of the stuff on it!

[Danen]

02. Philip Jeck - Sand [Touch]

I would like to hear this one actually.

Yes, you DO want to hear it - way better than "Seven." YET, strangely not as good as the new Fennesz or Machinefabriek, whose "Dauw" is so good I'm listening to it even as I type this, and it's not the first time today I've listened to it. But that shouldn't keep you from the Jeck - real good stuff, and if you like the kind of stuff menitoned here, you'll want it.

[Almanzo]

06. The Advisory Circle - Other Channels [Ghost Box]

This one's probably my favorite Ghost Box release so far. Neat label.