TOP 10 NOW: \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\shawty got poll poll poll poll poll poll poll (part II: 2008 ALBUMS)/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

herman you actually might like them - basically blue collar bar rock about living in a small town.

And you think I might like it? Just because I like The Hold Steady?

i havent heard gaslight, but the comparison gets thrown around a lot

from last fm

The Gaslight Anthem’s music embraces many elements of the Jersey Shore sound. The band has described their sound as “Bruce Springsteen singing for a Cure cover band, with a tinge more aggression.” The group’s fondness for Springsteen, a significant influence on their music, is a fact celebrated by fans and critics alike. Representative of such views, one critic wrote, “The Gaslight Anthem are like something out of speculative fiction: this is what pop music would be if Springsteen hadn’t listened to his producer, let The Ramones record ‘PlayHungry Heart,’ and launched the C.B.G.B.’ers into megastardom.”

btw i have no idea what kind of music you like

lol

fwiw i like GA and think Hold Steady are the pits

basically blue collar bar rock about living in a small town

The Hold Steady, for me, is a diamond in the rough considering the general uselessness of this genre to me. As most would agree, it's something in Craig Finn's delivery that makes the band special. He knows his way around a lyric, phonetically -- like a good hip hop artist, in a sense, his words "flow" memorably.

Which is to say, I'm much more interested in Finn's delivery than what he's actually saying, or even the music behind it.

i like the glass candy album a lot. i almost forgot to vote for it because i somehow thought of it as an '07 album (i guess because of after dark). i understand the objections to it -- anemic, distant, tuneless, whatever -- but i dig its west-coast lassitude. and "rolling down the hills" is late-night radio manna.

I like the hold steady as I was already a Lifter Puller fan. But it's not typical of my listening.

Craig Finn is the most offensive thing about Hold Steady for a lot of people too. I can't listen to the records. It's only when I see them perform on tv (or live, I guess) that I kind of "get" the appeal.

Ay, thanks Kerr.

I can understand why some people don't like Craig Finn's voice. But it fits the music.

Gaslight Anthem was no2 in the Kerrang end of year list and made the NME list. I have never heard them but I don't fancy their chances of making this poll judging by that knowledge.

― Boring Sign In Name (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:14 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but i mean, they placed #24 in Pazz & Jop, I think their appeal w/r/t to different critics and publications has been pretty broad.

Maybe, but I don't think P&J reflects my tastes either

Anyway, Glass Candy. I like the whole IDIB "thing." B/E/A/T/B/O/X moves the right way, but it's not necessarily inviting everyone in.

Still, I shouldn't just dismiss them offhand,it's just there's other stuff out there I want to hear more.

i understand the objections to it -- anemic, distant, tuneless, whatever

i was about to crank up the hate again when i saw glass candy but it's nice to see that their own fans can do it for me!

i think it was the only gig of 2008 i hated so much that i - along with half the people i was there with - walked out midway through. so inert and bloodless, it's almost like an insult to the spirit of disco.

(nb - i usually LIKE distant post-electroclash fashiony takes on disco, but glass candy were just not interesting enough.)

Gaslight sound more like the Constantines than Hold Steady. All bands w/ Springsteen fetish...

The best Italians do it better type release of last year was the Carl Craig remix of Part of Me. Still I love that noiry disco sound, lots of the Chromatics album reminds me of Torn Curtain (the Television song)

I like the whole IDIB "thing."

me too, even though it baffles me a little. trying to trace the lineage of the various bands is confusing, and as far as i can tell the whole scene is basically johnny jewel + whoever is around. i actually like the chromatics record a little better, but that one was '07, or least i think so.

it's almost like an insult to the spirit of disco.

i don't think it's meant as an insult, but i can see it coming off like that. i think it's more like a seance with disco ghosts or something.

IDIB is a spinoff from a hardcore punk label so I'm not surprised if the lex doesnt care for it

there's not any chance Gaslight Anthem is gonna place on this, is there

That was my #6 album here. Doubt it'll make the top 50 though. As a New Jersey resident, I tend to get irritated by bands who package themselves as a bunch of "regular blue collar guys from Jersey," (Smithereens, etc) But they write good songs and despite the corniness, they manage to pull it off.

The band they remind me of the most is Against Me, responsible for one of the best records of 2007. Yet another band ignored by ILM, who instead lavishes praise on pretentious #$@ like Stars On The Lid.

A seance with disco ghosts sort of sums it up.

I'd take any newer Chromatics or Glass Candy record over their older ones (though I like Chrome Rats a lot in its own way).

Stars Of The Lid are boring but I don't care for Against Me either.

^^^

Stars of the Lid are boring but gr8

On paper they tick all the right boxes for me, but in actual listening I was bored by them.

I voted for BEATBOX last year.

35 - Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI: Ambleside
97 points, 6 votes

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3971/amblesidefrontte3.jpg

^^^ had the highest average vote (Boris - Smile had the lowest)

i have never knowingly heard half man half biscuit. it's one of those english things, i guess.

i would like to distance myself from england, english things, and specifically those 6 english voters, please. UK indie is EVEN WORSE than US indie.

big lou

ugh even the name "half man half biscuit" makes me feel like i'm suffering an allergic reaction

Lex, this is that incompatible taste thing I was going on about. Live and let live :)

This was only my #6 anyhow ;)

UK indie is EVEN WORSE than US indie.

Lex surprisingly OTM on the topic of indie.

if we mean Pitchfork>>>NME then yes

Lex knows his indie.

HMHB bear absolutely no relation to a) NME "indie", b) landfill "indie", or c) crap toss guitar "indie". They are, as Dom keeps saying, a folk band. With indie instrumentation. ;)

They're fundamentally English, and understand this country, its foibles and follies, better than anyone else out there.

i'm pretty certain no-one who reads/writes the NME know who hmhb are. xpost

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

Tiarnan did you vote for the Growing album? If HMHB can make it then maybe some other unexpected stuff can make it (unless there's an HMHB bloc vote from somewhere)

I forgot to vote, but I would have. My album vote would have been very different from my track vote which was dancepop all the way. With the exception of Kelley Polar (probably my #1) I woulda put Growing pretty high though. Also Carlos Giffoni (can't rep for adult life enuff btw).

I suppose Exclusive (Forever Edition) would have been eligible.

btw i've been listening to the paavoharju album and i'm definitely feeling it...this is gorgeous stuff. i love it when her voice weaves abstractedly in and out of it all. she sounds bizarrely like some sort of bollywood singer lost in the finnish forest.

lhasa springs to mind.

have you listened to Fursaxa then?