I've only heard Lower Dens from this list. Sounds like I need to do some investigating

Man, I really wanted to like that Tame Impala since I'm seeing so many people digging it, but I just couldn't get into it at all. Something about the vocals turned me off right away. Maybe on another day I'd feel differently.

yeah Stu, LOVE the Pye Corner Audio album. def BOC influence, and has a bit of a John Carpenter vibe. the vinyl sounds incredible.

if you haven't yet, check out Belbury Poly 'The Belbury Tales'. it's on Ghost Box (the label that released Pye Corner Audio) as well, and it's a great record.

Sweet, do so. Let me know if you need any sent direct. Above list is in rough descending order. Top 5 are musts. Ape School will likely be the most unknown record that I will place as my #1.

Just tossed on that Ape School and it starts strong. Optimistic.

It doesn't stay as strong, but there's still 2/3 of the album left. Fingers crossed, that first song had me.

Crud. He never got close to that first song again. Not bad, but not a keeper, other than the first track. Still, nice to find.

Nice call on that Rangda album, liking it a lot. Corsano and Chasny always sound sooooo damn good together.

Awesome! Glad you like it.

So have you heard Imikuzushi? I haven't heard a lot of Keiji Haino stuff, but this is definitely way better than the other collab between the three of those guys that I've heard, Tima Formosa, which is mostly kinda boring.

Sup y'all

I haven't thought about it much this year until now, but as we're drawing to a close and all:

1. good kid, m.A.A.d city
2. R.A.P. Music
3. maaaaaaaybe Shields, but, like a lot of albums this year, it's not a satisfying listen front-to-back and certainly not in the way Veck. or Yellow House still are.
(as I think about it, channel ORANGE could maybe fight it out for 3rd: yep, 5 very nice, easygoing gents enter the ring...and all leave in tact)

But rly, the K-Dot and KM are so far above anything else for me this year, which I'm pretty psyched about - 2010-11 kinda left me wanting for front-to-back satisfying albums.

I could make a great playlist from the Walkmen, Frankie Rose, CFCF, Sharon van Etten, Cloud Nothings, Liars, the Men, Fiona Apple, Hot Chip, DPs, Mac Demarco, etc, which is not to slight them, just their highs are so high, the surrounding songs get the short shrift and such.

gave that shins album a re-listen yesterday for the first time in probably six months and it's better than i remembered

I still haven't got around to checking this one out. I like a lot of Haino's heavier stuff (see the collaborations with Boris) but as you kind of said, a lot of stuff he gets his hands on winds up dull....it just doesn't really seem to get anywhere. Regardless, still fully intend to check this one out.

It's definitely on the heavier side.

Just picked up
Kids These Days - Traphouse Rock


Hip-hop album produced by Jeff Tweedy and mixed by Mario C (Beastie Boys)

Saw them opening for Raphael Saadiq last year and they impressed me enough to want to check this out. The fact that they are offering the new album as a free download from their website helped push me to get it quicker. Glad that I did. This is one of those few albums that just DEMANDS my attention; no passive listening here. Jazz/soul/hip-hop with all organic instruments.
RIYL: The Roots, Massive Attack, Kanye West



And this one cribs a Pixies lead guitar line for the main piano part:


Might be competing for a spot.

this is on the rise in my list...



Well, this could very well be our favourite record on the PAN label yet. It has a concept so brilliant and simple we can't quite believe it hasn't been done before, taking the burning embers, breakdowns and ambient interludes off classic Jungle mixtapes and re-assembling them into a ghostly ambient-not-ambient mix that's at once hugely nostalgic and totally forward thinking - so so good* 'Diversions 1994-1996' is Lee Gamble's chimeric recollection of jungle's golden era. Using samples sourced solely from his cache of jungle mixtapes accrued as a raving teenager, Gamble creates a richly evocative, serotonin-depleted suite of morphing, diffuse and dusty moments, choosing to largely focus on the sensuous interzones between the rhythmic torque, rendering those sharply contrasting fragments of euphoric diva vocals, angelic techno pads and jazz fusion-aping chords as tantalising, ghostly immersions. However, while hypnagogic in effect, the processes behind Gamble's manipulations owe far more to his background in academic computer music - he's a founding member of Brum-via-London's CYRK collective and has previously released on the equally high-brow Entr'acte imprint - applying tactile, de/reconstructive software programming to emphasise the grain and weft of the source material, in turn yielding nano-fine layers of microtonal dissonance, fathomless amounts of space and timbral quirks that were always there, yet practically imperceptible in original form. It's effect is visceral, starkly compelling, bound to send shivers up the spine of anyone who's stood with their ears ringing at the end of a warehouse party and returned home in a state of near-shellshocked delirium after disengaging the soundsystem. One of the best ever PAN records this.