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

Real talk.

Any more tonight?

yes:

33 - Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
99 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote
167 in P&J

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4229/folder1ww7.jpg

Full album streaming: http://www.last.fm/music/Earth/The+Bees+Made+Honey+In+The+Lion%27s+Skull

Hurrah!!!!! Earth!!!!!!!!!!
Also on the metal list but is absolutely not a metal album.

EARTH - "THE BEES MADE HONEY IN THE LION'S SKULL"
sunn90 CD&2XLP

Earth's latest incarnation will be available FEBRUARY 2008. After refaceting some old gems for greater illumination on "Hibernaculum". The band returns once again to it's continuing evolution. Where "Hex" reveled in dark satanic twang and austere american beauty, "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" finds Dylan Carlson and the band growing into a harder, more rock, american Gospel and impovisitory direction framed by truly psychedelic production and blazing guitar sounds.

Earth shows it's affinity with a nod to the best elements of the more adventurous San Francisco bands of the late 60's and 70's, and the more spiritually aware and exciting forms of Jazz-Rock from the same era. This is no nostalgia trip but a thoroughly inspired and original metamorphosis. Earth is also very honored to be joined on this record for three songs by legendary and virtuoso guitarist BILL FRISELL (doing some of his most fuzzed out playing in years!) .

Bill Frisell adds a brilliant texture and counterpoint to the scintillating and inspired riffs of Dylan Carlson and the band. Adrienne Davies joins again on drums lending a classic and steady feel to the proceedings. Steve Moore also returns adding heavy hammond organ and his intense jazz inspired piano playing. Live Bassist Don McGreevy also makes his full length Earth debut on this record.

Earth will begin touring throughout the world when the album is released, Australia, Europe and a full US campaign and on from there. The new songs are equally compelling live where EARTH takes the vehicles and expand and explore them for further musical and meditative exploration. Enjoy "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull".

"From Strength, sweetness. From darkness, Light, The bees made honey in the Lion's Skull"

1. Omens And Portents I : The Driver (mp3)
2. Rise To Glory
3. Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)
4. Engine Of Ruin
5. Omens And Portents II: Carrion Crow
6. Hung From The Moon
7. The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

Dylan Carlson: Electric Guitars and Amplifiers Adrienne Davies: Drums and Percussion Steve Moore: Acoustic Grand Piano and Wurlitzer Electric Piano, Hammond Organ Don Mcgreevy: Electric Bass and Acoustic Upright Bass

Songs One, Four, Five Featuring: Bill Frisell: Electric Guitar and Amplifier

Further Information:

www.myspace.com/earthofficial
www.thronesanddominions.com
www.billfrisell.com

Those songs were even better live btw.

I'm listening to some of the songs on Youtube and they are not bad. I could definitely chill to this. Unforgivable album name though.

Free mp3 of "Omens and Portents 1: The Driver" from the label's site via p4k: http://www.southernlord.com/mp3/12%20Earth_The%20Driver.mp3

It's very laidback. You really need to see them live though. Everyone just standing entranced.
There's DOOM TROMBONE! and the keyboard guy gets some really good jazzy solos.(Not Steve Moore of Zombi btw) There's 2 official live eps of them playing the songs which I have. If you can track them down its well worth it.
The 2nd time I saw them was last april, they were touring this album and Sir Richard Bishop was support.

this list is really bad so far

― Pregnant M.I.A. (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, 10 February 2009 23:27 (Yesterday) Permalink

now THIS is who lj should properly be directing his wrath towards. yeah, I suppose this list could be considered "bad by someone who seems to only rep for ghastly prefab autotuned poptart crap.

Oh and finally, get the vinyl version. It's called the Deluxe Bible Version. It's a terrific package
x-post

now THIS is who lj should properly be directing his wrath towards. yeah, I suppose this list could be considered "bad by someone who seems to only rep for ghastly prefab autotuned poptart crap.

― sleeve, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:42 AM (1 minute ago)

lol you sound mad

I'd rather some people listened to Earth and gave their opinions on it.

btw thank you for the new display name

the earth cover is my favorite so far. i have been meaning to check out KTL for awhile. i think that's an earth-related project.

really like the paavoharju artwork as well though it's a bit too boards of canada-esque.

I'm cautiously optimistic so far...my #4 album already placed....I'll bet the only other album I voted for that will place will be Fourth World War...so now all I'm doing is hoping that it gets #1.

That Earth was definitely a grower for me. Fairly unimpressed with it initially, but after stepping away for a couple months I started really enjoying it. Helped that I wasn't approaching it as a "new Earth album" at that point, if that makes sense.

earth in its various permutations has been on my should-really-get-to-that list for a while now. i like what i've heard, including off this album.

From Wikipedia

KTL is a group consisting of Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), originally formed to create the music for a theatre production entitled Kindertotenlieder by Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper. The production was premiered in Brest, France in March 2007. The duo have also played other shows not associated with the Kindertotenlieder production. In late 2008 it was announced, via Stepehen O'Malleys website, that KTLs fourth album would be released January 2009 through Editions Mego and February 2009 through Daymare Records with a vinyl release on Inoxia. In addition to the announcement two song titles were mentioned for the upcoming album, "Paratrooper" and "Natural Trouble".

x-posts

ha, i went to wikipedia to check out earth (after discogs failed to load). wikipedia rules.

i am listening to "the driver" now and it alternately reminds me of gus van sandt's long-form films, the idea of an inland empire and david lynch (spooky western America voids), bohren and der club of gore and 70s butt rock

If you are going to check out KTL, my favourite one was KTL 2.

Earth was #4 on my ballot so I'm glad to see it place. I think having nearly a year with it before these polls raised it in my esteem; it is a slow grower, though not without initial charm.

32 - Luomo - Convivial
99 points, 10 votes
594 in P&J

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7430/333lw1.jpg

Track by track review by Tim F: Luomo

Full streaming link: http://www.last.fm/music/Luomo/Convivial

If you like this album then check out the previous one Hex (Or Printing in the Infernal Method)
http://www.thronesanddominions.com/images/records/Earth_hex.jpg

If you want the earlier drone metal stuff that influenced Sunn o))) then get Earth 2 which is on Sub Pop
http://www.thronesanddominions.com/images/records/earth2.gif

If yiu want one a bit louder and inbetween the 2 that's a bit more musical then get
Pentastar: In the Style of Demons
http://www.thronesanddominions.com/images/records/earth_pentastar.gif
Which is my personal favourite.

I kept trying to like that Luomo, but it still kind of just runs together for me.

I'm cautiously optimistic so far...my #4 album already placed....I'll bet the only other album I voted for that will place will be Fourth World War...so now all I'm doing is hoping that it gets #1.

― The Uncanny X-Men ft. Keith Levene & Jah Wobble (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, February 10, 2009 8:53 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah i ain't fuck with a single thing on this list so far, at this point i'm resigned to Erykah and Wayne being the only things from my ballot, kinda giving up hope on Jeezy.

I have 3 in so far and definitely expect another 4 now.

I'll be really bummed if Jeezy doesn't make it. Still 0 for me, but I'm def expecting a few.

ahhhh i totally meant to check the Luomo out but never did.

i gotta say this list has been pretty surprising so far. i voted for the Dan Lissvik but never expected it to place (despite big Studio contingent on ILM) so that's nice. and then there's stuff i've plain never heard of like Gas. prob should go back to the Paavorhaju and Stephen Malkmus records too, both of which came out around the time when i wasn't in the mood for either.

xxxp oh yeah that's right i voted for Weezy too

some dude ur prolley way cooler than me...a lot of my albums ballot was indie-dinosaur acts like The Fall and The Breeders...looking thru it tho, I did vote for Vampire Weekend, Nine Inch Nails, Sigur Ros, M-83, and Gnarls Barkley, so my bait-n-bitch maneuver was pretty much uncalled for...

...this was the year I gave/caved in to the Death of the Album hype...

here's the last one for today, I'm taking tomorrow off and your regularly scheduled programming will resume on Thursday.

31 - El Guincho - Alegranza
105.5 points, 12 votes
148 in P&J

Full streaming link: http://www.last.fm/music/El+Guincho/Alegranza

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9626/smalbumcoversj6.jpg

same beach-y feel but way better "songs." this feels way more authentic to me (in the sense that southall talked about person pitch as being thin and impenetrable). even the most panda bear sounding ones are cut through by killer melodies (either vocal or otherwise) (i.e. the spiraling keyboards on "fata morgana" or the verses on "palmitos park" or the guitar chords on "antillas").

the inherent distance of person pitch really kept me from loving it and this feels way more warm and enveloping mostly cuz its way more communal (the samples are from like fiestas and crowded beaches-- this may be me working out my own shit but it's a big reason why i like this).

― J0rdan S.

That macaw with all the eyeballs gives me the creeps.

Also, I liked this album for about two weeks, but can't remember the last time I listened to it.

good night musically and thank you!

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.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:21 PM (5 hours ago)

this kinda bugged me. this is definitely a total strawman, but it bugs me that there are people who think the hold steady would be a better group without finn, or that he somehow is the worst part of them. (and i'm not directing this at you, johnny, as you were just commenting on what people were saying above you.)
for me, finn is easily the best part of the band; without his personality and character and voice, they're really just an average power-chord band imo. and what's getting to me seems to be this practice of rejecting what's different and unabashedly chrimatic and instead embracing what's mediocre and safe, which i'm seeing more and more. i completely *get* why people don't like finn, too--again, strawman etc, and i'm just venting here, really.

Finn is the only thing upfront on the records, though. As a band, The Hold Steady is pretty indistinguishable. But it all gels in a visual medium, Finn becomes far less the central focus and, in turn, becomes less obtrusive.

guys craig finn is the hold steady.

and this list is blowing me away so far.

i like the eclecticism of these lists. always plenty of stuff for me to catch up on.

charismatic* obvs

I genuinely liked that Hold Steady album, and the fact it got 12 points off me probably ensured it made the ballot. I may bray about "innovation" but there's an awful lot to be said about an album that makes solid rather than spectacular artistic choices, but pulls them off with genuine showmanship, elan and drama.

never did quite see the charm of the hold steady, having given 'boys and girls in america' an unusually persistent plug a couple o years back on the back of all the raves. haven't heard the latest one, but it's probably about time i thought of listening to it.

i like the eclecticism of these lists. always plenty of stuff for me to catch up on.

It'll get really good when the poll's over and the top 50 to 100 albums are published, too.

when the delirious enthusiasms of six people get you half man half biscuit in the #35 slot, "eclecticism" is pretty much a given

el guincho's nice. was toward the bottom of my ballot. i can't think of anything interesting to say about it.

This list has had a disappointing amount of that type of post-Avalanches sampledelic indie-pop that does nothing for me.

This list has had a disappointing amount of that type of post-Avalanches sampledelic basically consists of electronic indie-pop that does nothing for me.

except i do sometimes like it

This list has had a disappointing amount of that type of post-Avalanches sampledelic indie-pop that does nothing for me.

it has? what besides girl talk and guincho? (i don't know all these albums, maybe some of the ones i don't know are like that.)

and i agree with you on the genre for the most part, but i like el guincho's source material more than most of that kind of thing.