the year that was

Another great year for music and another difficult one to whittle down a huge list of albums that came out and try and make a top ten , my list was in the Burroughs stage (chicken scrawl on scraps of paper) for quite some time I even make a graph (above) but as you can see i kinda got distracted one track mind and all.

As with last year my list is no order apart from alphabetized

Department of Eagles - In ear park
Album always makes me think of a log cabin with a roaring fire , love the sound of the album if you have not checked it out do so.
Department of Eagles - Around the Bay
Buy it|Myspace

Down I Go - Tyrant
sounds like Henry VIII’s syphilitic ulcers bursting, Ivan the Terrible beating his pregnant daughter in law and causing her to miscarry, Turkmenbashi’s 12 metre high gold statue of himself rotating to face the sun, Israel growing at the expense of others, mass graves being filled with murdered Cambodians, Romanians queueing for bread. Great record from the lads from London, a treat for the mind and the ears.
Down I Go - Saparmurat Miyazov
Buy it|Myspace

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
beautifully messy coherent package
Flying Lotus - Testament (feat Gonja Sufi)
Buy it|Myspace

Grouper - Dragging a dead deer up a hill
this album just washes waves of dream-pop over your soul.
Grouper - Fishing Bird (Empty Gutted in the Evening Breeze)
Buy it|Myspace

Krallice - Krallice
Not gonna be everyone's cup of tea this one,black metal quartet fronted by Mick Barr and Colin Marston, progressive as it is heavy just epic.
Krallice - Wretched Wisdom
Buy it|Myspace

Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
Second year in a row making my top ten list for the future Mrs ctrl/alt/delete (oh yes she will be mine) a much more concentrated album then her first, and the odd pop hook thrown in too for good measure.
Marnie Stern - The Crippled Jazzer
Buy it|Myspace

Restiform Bodies - Tv loves you back
This album got lodged in my brain since i heard it amazing , music and lyrics in one mindfuck of a package
Restiform Bodies - Opulent soul
Buy it|Myspace

Secret Chiefs 3 - Xaphan
the music is more song-based and accessible than its predecessors, a smorgesboard of sounds including but not limited to surf rock, Persian, Arabic, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music
Secret Chiefs 3 - Kemuel
Buy it|Myspace

Starfucker - Starfucker
A jovial and upbeat album that got me through many a morning
Starfucker - Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second
Buy it|Myspace

Why? - Alopecia
How could this not be on my list, like a musical Woody Allen self deprecating rant ,a growth music for the band in sound and scope and the album gather then many a new fan and enabled them to play two shows in Dublin.
Why? - Fatalist Palmistry
Buy it|Myspace

Ones that just barely didnt make the list:
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blues, Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You, Adebisi Shank - "This is the album of a band called Adebisi Shank", Theses Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower and Dove, Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins - Clutch of the Tiger, Sbach - Sbach, The Mae Shi - Hllyh, Earth - the bees made honey in the lion's skull, No age - Nouns, Gang Gang Dance -Saints Dymphna, Fuck Buttons - Street Horrsing, Cloud Cult - Feel good Ghosts....., Racebannon - Acid or Blood, Make Believe - Going to the bone church, Harvey Milk - "life.....the best game in town", John Zorn - the dreamers

top 3 E.P of 2008
Past Lives - Strange Symmetry
Maps and Atlases - You and me and the mountains
Animal Collective - Water curses

Albums Im looking forward to in 2009
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE - Merriweather Post Pavillion (who isnt)
GOBLIN COCK - Come With Me If You Want To Live (Lord Phallus returns)
DIRTY PROJECTORS - tba
PAST LIVES - tba
DAN DEACON - Bromst (a more mature sound from Mr Deacon by all accounts)
BATS - tba
MASTODON - Crack The Skye
LIGHTNING BOLT - tba
ZOMBI - Spirit Animal

Transformer

The first track off the new Marnie Stern album, called This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
really looking forward to her new album
enjoy the shread

bit of a mouth full

Marnie Stern, as anounced the title of her new Album due out in October and its called (deep breath) This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
It was recorded in Sacramento and features Zach Hill once again.
Tracklisting

01 Prime
02 Transformer
03 Shea Stadium
04 Ruler
05 The Crippled Jazzer
06 Steely
07 The Package Is Wrapped
08 Simon Says
09 Vault
10 Clone Cycle
11 Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads
12 The Devil's in the Details
(video in the read more)

Zach Hill’s solo Record

Zach Hill performs/has performed in numerous Pacific Coast based groups, including Hella, Holy Smokes, Nervous Cop, and a diverse other range of groups including Team Sleep (featuring Chino Moreno of Deftones), Goon Moon, and The Ladies (a duo consisting of Zach on drums and Rob Crow of Pinback on guitar. Well hes releasing a solo record on Ipecac on August 26.
So he likes to collaborative and on his solo hes going to be getting lots of his mates to guest on this new record too, heres a quick run down on who's gonna be on it Marnie Stern,Tyler Pope of !!! and LCD Soundsystem,Primus front man Les Claypool,No Age lads,Chino Moreno from Deftones ,old Hella bandmate Jonathan Hischke and current hella bandmate Carson McWhirter, Josh Hill as well as Steve Borth from Rx Bandit

tracklisting for the album
Astrological Straights:

01 Iambic Strays
02 Toll Road
03 Street People
04 Dark Art
05 Keep Calm and Carry On
06 Hindsight Is Nowhere
07 Ummer
08 Stoic Logic
09 Uhuru
10 Momentum
11 Unseen Forces
12 Tick On
13 Astrological Straits

Bonus disc:

01 Necromancer

some zach hill related videos in the read more

Hella - Try Dis...



hella- republic of rough and ready



Ipecac Drum Circle feat. Lombardo, Smith, & Hill


MICK BARR / ZACH HILL - SHRED EARTHSHIP

list of gigs

Woh the gigs are coming thick and fast over the next couple of month and May in particular is shaping up to be packed to the gills. Without further a do some class up coming gigs.


Menomena February 29 The sugar club
Menomena are an experimental rock band from Portland, Oregon, made up of Brent Knopf on guitar, keyboards, glockenspiel; Justin Harris on bass, guitar, baritone sax and alto sax; and Danny Seim on percussion. All members of the band share singing duties.

Menomena - Rotten Hell



Ballroom #74: Kling Klang (Rock Action) Friday, 28 March in the Lower deck.
Kling Klang are a five piece kraut-punk band from Liverpool, consisting of four synth players and a drummer.Formed in mid 1999, as a 3 piece using only cheap synths and old drum machines, in 2001 they became a 5-piece outfit
click herehere to see there video for there awesome tune Heavydale
been dieing to see theses guys live so im mega physed about this and its in the lower deck too happy days.


The Ex. play Whelans on 24 April.
The Ex is an anarchist band from the netherlands. They formed in 1979 at the height of the original punk explosion and have released nearly twenty full length albums since, making them one of the longest-lived and most influential punk bands (along with The Fall) still in existence. They are known and respected worldwide for their longevity, their explosive, energetic live shows and their political edge.

Foggy Notions Presents: Deerhunter Thursday, 08 May Whelans
Deerhunter began in 2001 with the ambition of fusing the lulling hypnotic states induced by ambient and minimalist music with the klang and propulsion of garage rock.Their live performances almost always leave audiences polarized, and have been referred to by Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs in NME as bordering on "a religious experience."

Deerhunter "Lake Somerset"

Foggy Notions Presents: Health Friday, 09 May Whelans
HEALTH are an American noise rock band from Los Angeles, California. HEALTH have been described as having "artfully crafted noise and raw synth, haunting monotone vocals, and drum skills that are borderline insane

Health - "Heaven"


Foggy Notions Presents: Man Man Sunday, 11 May Whelans
Based out of Philadelphia, PA, Man Man is an experimental indie band that incorporates Eastern European and circus-esque styles in their music, creating a unique sound. The band consists of Honus Honus (lead vocals, piano, organ, persussion), Pow Pow (drums and other various percussions), Cougar (trumpet, guitar, percussion), Sergei Sogay (bass, synths, percussion), and Chang Wang(sax, percussion).

Their style has been compared to a mixture of Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, and Captain Beefheart. Man Man is known for their distinctive live shows where the members of the band dress in white tennis outfits and don war paint. During their sets the band does not take breaks between songs in order to keep a constant energy level

Man Man - Feathers and Engrish Bwudd (Live)


Yeasayer Tue 13 May Whelans
Yeasayer (pronounced "yay-sayer") takes place in the future, somewhere in the Middle East where citizens wear turquoise robes, live in crystal towers, and overindulge on Peter Gabriel albums.

Yeasayer- 2080


Marnie Stern 16th May new upstairs room in Whelans
released one of my favorite albums of last year shes just amazing and very easy on the eyes.

Marnie Stern "Every Single Line Means Something"


XIU XIU have confirmed for Whelans 22nd May.
Xiu Xiu (pronounced "shew shew") is an experimental band originally from San Jose, California and currently based in Oakland, California. The band is named after the main character of the 1998 Chinese film Tian yu (a.k.a. Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl 天浴).

Xiu Xiu was first formed in 2000 and is the main project of singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart, who records with friends on his home computer and has been touring with his cousin, Caralee McElroy, since 2003. Past members include Cory McCulloch, Lauren Andrews and Yvonne Chen. Some, including McCulloch, have played in previous bands with Stewart such as Ten in the Swear Jar and IBOPA.

AIDS Wolf play dublin on the 21 May with support from Bats
A noisy experimental band with "improv tendencies," AIDS Wolf are good friends with the The Unicorns, Wolf Parade, and others in the Montreal indie scene, but their chaotic sound has much more to do with Whitehouse and An Albatross, two bands they've shared the stage with.