Ray's Top 20 Records '08

1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Dodos - Visiter
3. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
4. The Walkmen - You & Me
5. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
6. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
7. No Age - Nouns
8. Beach House - Devotion
9. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
10. The Muslims - The Muslims
11. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
12. Women - Women
13. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
14. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
15. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
16. Times New Viking - Rip It Off
17. Chairlift - Does You Inspire You?
18. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
19. Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
20. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual

Here's my top 20 records from this year. Lots of great stuff that i listened to and enjoyed thoroughly:

Erykah Badu-New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
Harvey Milk-Life…the Best Game in Town
Portishead-Third
Hercules and Love Affair-Hercules and Love Affair
Deerhoof-Offend Maggie
Deerhunter-Microcastle
Jay Reatard-Matador Singles ‘08
Weezer-Weezer (Red Album)
Cut Copy-In Ghost Colours
Ruby Suns-Sea Lion
Sun Kil Moon-April
Rhymefest-Man in the Mirror
Wolf Parade-At Mount Zoomer
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Jacaszek-Treny
Parts and Labor-Receivers
Gang Gang Dance-Saint Dymphna
Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes
The Bug-London Zoo
Suicide Note-Empty Rooms



-Bryan

music i like from this year

lists are great. 

here is a list of things i listened to a lot over this year(according to my itunes), that was released this year. thanks. 

The Walkmen - You & Me

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill 

The Dodos - Visiter

Fleet Floxes - s/t

Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue

here is a list of things i listened to a lot over this year(according to my itunes), that wasn't released this year(may have been reissued though)

R.E.M. - Murmur

Galaxie 500 - On Fire

Linda Perchachs - Parallelograms

Neil Young - Harvest

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

really what this means is that if you want to take me for a drive, feel free to put any of these cd's in the car - -  its safe to say i will be happy. 

Tastemaking With Bryan and Chris part 1 section B

Tastemaking with Bryan and Chris allows us to banter, chit chat and discuss, well, taste, music that may or may not have already been tasted. This time around we chat about Grizzly Bear's new track from their upcoming album, "two weeks" (link in previous post) that was performed on letterman the wednesday of 23rd. 

Bryan:

I love this song. This plus 'While You Wait for the Others' is making Grizzly Bear's forthcoming album my most anticipated release of 2009. So what kinds of stuff are they doing here...what direction are they going in and how are they evolving? If Yellow House was an exploration into acoustic psych-folk and Firend EP was their electric response to that, this is different altogether. By scrapping guitars entirely on this track it seems they're moving more towards the psych/dream pop side of their sound and continue their journey farther and farther away from folk music. Songs like this make me latch onto that Zombies comparison even more. (I also appreciate the male-version-of-the-Ronnettes analogy as well).

'Two Weeks' and 'While You Wait for the Others' seems to be united in their generally more upbeat sound...less dark and mysterious (aside from the verses of WYWFTO) and more soulful and joyful. I've been making a mental comparison between Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear of late, and I would say that if Fleet Foxes were doing their best CSNY impression on their record, grizzly bear are moving towards a brighter and sunnier 60's psych-rock sound a la Odyssey and Oracle. Which is fine by me. Because really, they retain something incredibly distinctive here. This still sounds exactly like Grizzly Bear even without the presence of a single guitar (something i would have though to be very difficult). Instead we are reminded that what makes them so unique are their general use of reverb, their beautiful and original voices, and Chris Bear's great drumming. That drumming really ties it all together...bringing in the remnants of that 'freak folk' sound that they used to be described as, while also incorporating his trademark loose playing----clearly influenced by jazz music. It's like Elvin Jones meets Panda Bear. Ultimately, it's class, creative, intricate.....and yet sounds so easy and loose. Great stuff that continues to feed into my not-entirely-solidified opinion that Chris Bear is in fact the best contemporary drummer in indie rock. 

///////////////////

in other news, Hamilton's young rival covered my favorite beach house track, master of none and made it a song for waking up not drifting towards sleep. 

Tastemaking With Bryan and Chris part 1 section C

Tastemaking with Bryan and Chris allows Bryan and I to chit chat, banter and overall, discuss upcoming music that may or may not have been already tasted. Its like PTI meets Gorilla Vs. Bear. 

  This time around we talk about Grizzly Bear's performance of their new song 'two weeks' on the letterman show. 

Chris:

  "Two Weeks" is another reason why Grizzly Bear's new record will be even dreamier than their last. This song has penetrated my heavy listening of the new Walkmen and I have to say oddly, that theres not a lot of separation from the two. If we could put reverb on every instrument, why not, with ed's voice benefitting the most, he glides over the soaring melodies of his bandmates. (maybe i like it so much because he gets to play the omnichord.

   The staccato organ of rossen sounds friendly enough on the second verse and when the bass, ed and reverb drums come in its like mr. sandman meets caroline, no.

  wait, no... it's like spoon's ghost of your lingers got hit with a wiffle or the big poofy nerf bats and found a standard pop music structure. 

 wait, no...i think two's enough.

  that piano bit 'doveman' plays is catch as hell too.

   its fresh from grizzly bear, like ripe blueberries on top of mascarpone on top of a graham cracker crust in late summer; light, delicate, intricate flavors, its a bit more 'everythings gonna be all right' which is a good attitude going into the studio and opening for radiohead. good luck

my nails

through the door walked a frayed end

too many hours spent on your vacation

you should say sorry to me and

i should sue your ass

how do you sleep at night? 

don't you want to get things right?

it is your job

it is her life

i think you ought to take  your

mind out of the wallet in the 

back right pocket of your jeans

what did you see when the backlight lit?

i bet you didn't think we would give a shit

you should say sorry to us

and i should sue your ass

say your prayers doc

say your prayers

download

indian summer

it was indian summer

it was sun in your hair

it was under the table

it was holding your chair

and i wanted 

to tell you

i had feelings for you

it was late night parties

it was waking afternoon

it was Ray-Ban faring

it was ending way too soon

and i wanted 

to make you

a part of my own

and i wanted 

to show you

inside of my heart

i can see the poster of us in france

and if your room was laid out like that again

i can hear the leaves as you looked back at me

and if your heart was still mine to keep

but now everything is

soooo

fucked up

mmhmm

this is the marseilles blog. the url address is marseillesmusic.blogspot.com so write that down somewhere you won't forget. we're blowing up america.