Dude, what the fuck is this? Fill me in. Is this the fucking Alien8 release? Heed the "Nimbus" CD/LP coming very soon, see www.ohnono.com.

I've enjoyed these 11 off the top of my head, but there is a ton of shit coming that will hopefully shake things up:

Caribou "The Milk of Human Kindness"
Animal Collective "Feels"
Harris Newman "Accidents With Nature and Each Other"
Esmerine "Aurora"
Goa! "Crystal Damage"
Six Organs of Admittance "School of the Flower"
High On Fire "Blessed Black Wings"
Antony & the Johnsons "I Am A Bird Now"
Jaga Jazzist "What We Must"
Amon Tobin "Chaos Theory"
Autechre "Untilted"

It's more thrash metal than power metal. I don't think it sounds anything like Renewal, which I thought leaned a bit towards industrial-type stuff. It sounds like stuff from their Extreme Agression/Coma Of Souls era but with better writing and production, if that's any help.

Definite:
Eluvium - Talk Amongst The Trees
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Common - Be
Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett
Queens of the Stoneage - Lullabies to Paralyze
Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep
Doves - Some Cities
Vitalic - OK Cowboy

Contenders:
Populous - Queue for Love
Quasimoto - The Further Adventures of Lord Quas
Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Julien Neto - Le Fumeur De Ciel (thanks Dalen)
M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us
Sigur Ros - Takk
Antony & The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now

Perennial All-Stars (Time tested? Veterans):

Beck - Guero
Frank Black - Honeycomb
Bob Mould - Body of Song
Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
Sigur Ros - Takk
Posies - Every Kind of Light
Lou Barlow - Emoh
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy' and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
Common - Be
Teenage Fanblub- Man-Made*


Up and coming All-Stars (Artists with only an album/ a few singles to their credit):

Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Sage Francis - A Healthy Distrust
Royksopp - The Understanding
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem


Rookie Stars:

Magic Numbers - Magic Numbers
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Kasabian - Kasabian
Kaiser Chiefs - Kaiser Chiefs
Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
M.I.A. - Arular (as a domestic U.S. release anyway)

such a great return from Kreator. Love the powerful production on the album.

You can take the 'Yikes' and shove it up your ass. Why do you always have to slam peoples' tastes in music?

I guess you probably know by now, but its a CDR that I asked you about a few months ago. I did order it through Alien8, but I don't think its an official release. Its a recording of a radio show they did. Good stuff.

All right

1) Sigur Ros - Takk
2) The Russian Futurists - Our Thinckness
3) Shining - In The Kingdom of Kitsch...
4) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - S/T
6) Animal Collective - Feels
7) DOUBLE - Loose In The Air
8) Vitalic - OK Cowboy
9) Edan - Beauty And The Beat
10) Edgar 'Jones' Jones - Soothing Music For Stray Cats

YEEEESSSSS!!!!!!

Did I reach someone or did you find it independantly?

I heard something from it on our NPR station one night while they were in Jazz mode 8p-4a. Sounded interesting so I picked it up. I absolutely love it.

I didn't even know Robert Plant was still making cds.

I like:

Kanye West
Common
Game
Buckshot/9th Wonder
Beanie Sigel
Venetian Snares

The order of this changes every few minutes...

1. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
2. Josh Rouse - Nashville
3. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
4. Crooked Fingers - Dignity & Shame
5. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
6. The Deathray Davies - The Kick and The Snare
7. The Oranges Band - The World & Everything In It
8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
9. Love as Laughter - Laughter's Fifth
10. Heavy Trash - Heavy Trash

01 "picaresque" the decemberists
02 "cold roses" ryan adams & the cardinals
03 "i'm wide awake, it's morning" bright eyes
04 "illinois" sufjan stevens
05 "nashville" josh rouse
06 "digital ash in a digital urn" bright eyes
07 "silent alarm" bloc party
08 "gimme fiction" spoon
09 "frances the mute" the mars volta
10 "twin cinema" the new pornographers

* andrew bird, maximo park & okkervil river just below

Up-to-date....

01. ANDREW BIRD - The Mysterious Reproduction of Eggs
02. CARIBOU - The Milk of Human Kindness
03. ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS - I Am A Bird Now
04. M. WARD - Transistor Radio
05. ENON - Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence
06. MICE PARADE - Bem-Vinda Votande
07. LOW - The Great Destroyer
08. ELECTRELANE - Axes
09. EELS - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
10. SPOON - Gimme Fiction

Close but no cigar...
OF MONTREAL, THIEVERY CORPORATION

Own but still need to listen to...
FOG, THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, THE RUSSIAN FUTURISTS, THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

Not even close...
THE FRAMES, OKKERVIL RIVER, BRITISH SEA POWER, SLEATER-KINNEY, ROBBERS ON HIGH STREET, KINGS OF LEON, SOULWAX, OASIS, THE RAVEONETTES, MERCURY REV, BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY & MATT SWEENEY

Although everyone is saying the new New Pornographers is a "grower," it's having the exact opposite effect on me. I'm slowly realizing that I have no use for this band. I'll give it a few more shots before I consider selling it though.

I want to (create) and post my top 10, but I might as well wait until the end of the year when it's final.

There's no fun in that. Post your current Top 10 and go from there. I like to see how peoples' lists evolve from now til the end of the year. With everything that's being released in the next couple of months, these lists should change drastically.

Not too much has impressed me this year:

The Detroit Cobras: Baby
The D4: Out Of My Head
The Saints: Nothing Is Straight In My House

Stuff that was so-so:

Spoon: Gimme Fiction
The Fleshtones: Beachhead
The Go-Betweens: Oceans Apart
The Wedding Present: Take Fountain

Danny Cohen - We're All Gunna Die
Smog - A River Ain't Too Much To Love
Fiery Furnaces - EP
Andrew Bird - Mysterious Production Of Eggs
Crooked Fingers - Dignity And Shame
M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us
Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
Decemberists - Picaresque
Brian Eno - Another Day On Earth
Fizzle Like A Flood - Golden Sand & The Grandstand

(honorable mention, but it came out in December:
The Innocence Mission - Now The Day Is Over)

Yeah just post a quick list now. My list has already changed in the week or so I posted it. I forgot to put Dangerdoom on there too.

Isn't this the guy who's in Cinerama too?

God I hate this band so much. Upper middle class suburban white kids slumming it in a garage revival band. At least the Strokes have some decent tunes to back it up with.

You two have convinced me...I'll post my list tonight, meaning like 3 hours from now. I don't have the time to right now, and plus I want to make sure I'm not leaving out anything (although it's possible that I still will later - I've haven't really been keeping track of the releases this year).

That's also why I'm determined to keep a list going this year so I won't have to kill myself compiling my list in January for the Shmoo Poll. I know we have several weeks to compile the list but somehow I always feel rushed.

I don't care about their background--their two records are solid, the first being better than this one. I like garage, be it first run or revival. They seem to pay decent respect to their forebearers with covers of The Scavengers, The Fun Things, Heartbreakers, and Lime Spiders. Not sure why they slagged back home--their stuff is miles ahead the crap we get in the states.

Just curious, what did you think of the Pan Am album?