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There is no good music.

All music is simply a perversion of God's fine vibrations.Amadou & MariamThe BugPlushTV on the RadioShugo TokumaruBon IverFleet FoxesNick Cave and the Bad SeedsHercules and Love AffairRandy NewmanPortisheadProtest the HeroMusic TapesSantogoldMGMTColdplayDeerhoofDeerhunterBeckThe Black KeysLil WayneKanye WestM83Kings of LeonThe KillersBeach House

1. Hank Williams – The Unreleased Recordings

Jag har svårt att diskutera den här mannen med någon form av distans. Eller, rättare sagt, jag kan det inte. Han har nämligen hittat nån slags genväg till mitt allra innersta. Jag kan inte förklara vad det är. Hank Williams spelar an på en sträng som ljuder med välbekant resonans hos mig. Han är min.
När det så kommer en box med 54 tidigare ej utgivna spår, med ljudkvalitet motsvarande hans bästa studioinspelningar kan jag förstås bara bocka och buga. 1951 var ett hysteriskt år för «The Hillbilly Shakespeare». Turnéer och skivinspelningar och ett turbulent privatliv. Hur han hann spela in dessa grejer för reklamradion «Mother’s Best Flour» är en gåta. Han låter dessutom sällsynt avslappnad. Här ger han och hans makalöst lyhörda band sig på, inte bara egna givna hitlåtar, utan även tolkningar av personliga gospel- och folkfavoriter. Han sjunger som om det gällde livet; inte att sälja mjöl. För alla med minsta intresse av countrymusik är det här ett självklart köp.

2. Nick Lowe – Jesus of Cool
3. Joe Higgs – Life Of Contradiction
4. Ella Washington – He Called Me Baby
5. Plush - Fed
6. Jim Ford – Point Of No Return
7. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8
8. Pete Wingfield – Eighteen With A Bullet
9. Bobby Charles – Bobby Charles
10. Mac Gayden – Skyboat/Hymn to the Seeker
11. Sleepy LaBeef – Sleepy Rocks
12. Dallas Frazier – The R&B Sessions
13. Eddie Bo – In The Pocket With Eddie Bo
14. V/A – New Orleans Funk, Volume 2
15. Little Milton – If Walls Could Talk
16. Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue
17. Van Duren – are you serious?
18. V/A – Feber 3: Mats Olsson: Pubrock
19. Boz Scaggs – Moments/Boz Scaggs & Band
20. Bram Tchaikovsky – Strange Man, Changed Man
21. J.J. Light – Heya!
22. Mack Vickery – Live at the Alabama Women’s Prison
23. Mason Proffit – Come & Gone
24. V/A – The Slide Guitar: Bottles, Knives & Steel
25. Neil Diamond – Classics: The Early Years
26. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – Screamin’ Jay Rocks
27. Ernie K-Doe – Here Come The Girls!
28. 60,000,000 buffalo – Nevada Jukebox
29. Arthur Conley – Soul Directions
30. Graham Parker - The Parkerilla

New Albums:

30. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

29. The Pretenders - Break Up The Concrete

28. Juliana Hatfield - How To Walk Away

27. Mudhoney - The Lucky Ones

26. Randy Newman - Harps And Angels

25. Cat Power - Jukebox

24. Steve Abel & The Chrysalids - Flax Happy

23. Shearwater - Rook

22. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark

21. The Walkmen - You & Me

20. She & Him - Volume One

19. Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun

18. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

17. Plush - Fed

16. The Breeders - Mountain Battles

15. B.B. King - One Kind Favor

14. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!!

13. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia

12. Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power & The Amorphous Strums - Dark Developments

11. Marianne Faithfull - Easy Come Easy Go

10. Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything

9. Todd Snider - Peace Queer

8. Andre Williams - Can You Deal With It?

7. Emmylou Harris - All I Intended To Be

6. R.E.M. - Accelerate

5. Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

4. Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws

3. Aimee Mann - Smilers

2. Glen Campbell - Meet Glen Campbell

1. Sun Kil Moon - April

Reissues/Compilations:

Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series Vol. 8

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

Disappointments:

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology

Joan Baez - Day After Tomorrow

Jewel - Perfectly Clear

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night

Alanis Morissette - Flavors of Entanglement

PD GIG Willard Grant Conspiracy "No Such Thing as Clean" (Bear Witness_Loose)
PD FAVOURITE Ventolin ft Foto "Boogeyman" (Dream and A Wake_Ammonite)
Jason Collett "A Beguiled Christmas Rules" (Peace on Earth: A Charity Holiday Album Vol. II_Hard To Find a Friend)
Paulusma "Ready To Go" (iRecord_Munich)
International Jetsetters "Never Slows Down" (Heart Is Black_Planting Seeds)
51717 "Give Me Your Love" (EP_Friend)
Calico Horse "Idioteque" (SP_myspace)
The Dears "Dream Job (live)" (KCRW Morning Becomes Ecectic 301112008_bootleg)
Magnetic Fields "Nothing Matters Wahen You're Dancing" (69 Love Songs_Domino)
Momus "Widow Twanky" (Joemus_Darla)
Piero Umiliani "Lady Magnolia (Belleville b-boy mix)" (Italian Job_Right Tempo)
Neil Young "Will To Love" (Chrome Dreams Rust edition_bootleg)
The Pretenders "Almost Perfect" (Break Up the Concrete_Shangri-La Music)
Bajofondo ft Elvis Costello "Fairly Right" (Mar Dulce_Surco Records)
Plush "What'll We Do?" (Fed_After Hours)
Eleni Mandell "Dis-moi au revoir encore" (Dis-moi au revoir encore 7")
Dent May "Oh Paris" (The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele_Paw Tracks)
PD PREMIERE Wedding Present ft Simone White "Holly Jolly Hollywood" (X-mas single_Scopitone)
Loney, Dear "Airport Surroundings" (Dear John_Polyvinyl)
Pale Young Gentleman "Coal/Ivory" (Black Forest (Tra La La)_Science of Sound)
The Low Anthems "Champion Angel" (Oh My God Charlie Darwin_DIY)
Amadou & Mariam "Ce N'est Pas Bon" (Welcome To Mali_Because)
Anni Rossi "Machine" (Afton_4AD)
Deerhunter "Little Kids" (Microcastle_Kranky)
Bert Jansch ft Beth Orton & Devendra Banhart "Katie Cruel" (The Black Swan_Drag City)
The Wizards "See You Tonight"

This is mid-November, it is almost safe to publish this... and I have other things to do after. But I still want the tradition to be alive. And for the second year, the list is mostly based on my last.fm airplay.

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ALBUMS:

1. El Guincho: Alegranza (Psychedelic electro / Alternative) [ES]
2. Shearwater: Rook (Rock) [TX, US]
3. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago (Rock) [WI, US]
4. Robyn: Robyn (Pop) [SE]
5. Black Mountain: In The Future (Hard rock) [BC, CA]
6. HEALTH: HEALTH//DISCO (Metal - remixes-) [CA, US]
7. Steinski: What Does It All Mean? Retrospective 1983-2006 (hip-Hop) [NY, US]
8. Plush: Fed (Rock) [IL, US]
9. Shugo Tokumaru: Exit (Rock / Folk) [JP]
10. The Dodos: Visiter (Rock / Folk) [CA, US]

This is the first time I ever listened to a positive psychedelic thing, and El Guincho is all about this. Take your time to be happy, completely frenzy. Alegranza. Then a big surprise, I didn't like "Palo Alto", but I'm completely hooked to "Rook". Melodies and great songs. Like Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago". Then Robyn: a hard beat over pop songs: I tend to believe this record is the pop album of the 00's. Black Mountain doesn't make the rock of the future, but it's fat, it's dark, a bit too much to be sincere, and that's why I love this record. HEALTH's "Disco" is like a mix of experimental with... electro sounds. Interesting! Then the roots of hip-hop from Steinski, beautiful melodies again with Plush and his japanese ego Shugo Tokumaru. This guy plays the guitar exactly like we figure out how japaneses play the guitar (go go, stereotypes!). The Dodos closes this year-end top 10 with another beautiful rock album. Any of this top-10 could pretend nº1 for some reasons, I have mine.

11. Marnie Stern: This Is It And I Am It... (Experimental / Hardcore) [NY, US]
12. Q-Tip: The Renaissance (Rap) [NY, US]
13. High Places: 03/07 - 09/07 (Pop / Electro) [NY, US]
14. Oasis: Dig Out Your Soul (Brit rock) [UK]
15. Fuck Buttons: Street Horrrsing (Experimental / Electro) [UK]
16. Matmos: Supreme Balloon (Electronica) [CA, US]
17. Lindstrøm: Where You Go I Go Too (Electro) [NO]
18. Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree (Pop) [UK]
19. Autechre: Quaristice (IDM) [UK]
20. Mogwai: The Hawk Is Howling (Progressive) [UK]

I liked Marnie Stern's electricity, Q-Tip's voice and beats (as usual!), High Places' relaxed atmosphere, Oasis' "we don't care" (as usual, but a real good good album!), Fuck Buttons's melancholy through saturated sounds, Matmos' brain a bit cooler than before, Lindstrøm's epic ballads, Goldfrapp's best pop song (not alternative), Autechre's anger... and Mogwai's melodies (yes, they can do that!)

21. The Bug: London Zoo (Hip-Hop / Leftfield) [UK]
22. TV on the Radio: Dear Science (Rock) [NY, US]
23. Leila: Blood, Looms & Blooms (Electronica) [UK]
24. Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles (Electro) [ON, CA]
25. Harvey Milk: Life... The Best Game In Town (Metal) [GA, US]
26. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! [AU]
27. British Sea Power: Do You Like Rock Music? (Brit rock) [UK]
28. WHY?: Alopecia (Hip-Hop / Rock) [CA, US]
29. Paavoharju: Laulu Laakson Kukista [FI]
30. diskJokke: Staying In (Electro) [NO]

They were blockbusters but they failed to the top 10 because: The Bug: good but a bit too much and too late, TV On The Radio: awesome but I couldn't listen to this record all day, Leila: still perfect ideas, but more simple is sometimes less boring, Crystal Castles: entertaining but too many songs sounding the same, Harvey Milk: I couldn't enter the deep spirit of this record, Nick Cave: I liked a lot but I don't know what happened, British Sea Power: I listened too much and burned their wings in about a month, Why?: basically the same than British Sea Power. Then we have Paavoharju and diskJokke: two good outsiders, they have great things under the tree.

31. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colors (Electro / Pop) [AU]
32. Flying Lotus: Los Angeles (Hip-Hop / Leftfield) [US, CA]
33. The Roots: Rising Down [PA, US]
34. Department of Eagles: In Ear Park [US, NY]
35. Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster... [UK]
36. Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life [ON, CA]
37. Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold [US]
38. The Walkmen: You & Me [NY, US]
39. Flight of the Conchords: Flight Of The Conchords [NZ]
40. Firewater: Golden Hour (Country) [NY, US]

They are those I liked a lot, but I didn't pay enough attention to them. So they are great records, it's worth it to play them, but well: forgive me!

41. Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules And Love Affair (Electro / Pop) [NY, US]
42. Erykah Bahdu: New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) [TX, US]
43. Koushik: Out My Window [ON, CA]
44. Girl Talk: Feed The Animals [PA, US]
45. Atlas Sound: Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel [GA, US]
46. Ellen Allien: Sool [DE]
47. Bun B: Ill Trill [TX, US]
48. Santogold: Santogold [PA, US]
49. The Fall: Imperial Wax Solvent [UK]
50. Portishead: Third [UK]
51. Clark: Turning Dragon [UK]
52. Camille: Music Hole [FR]
53. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend [NY, US]

And the end is a mix of other records I liked a lot but I wasn't hooked to them. Songs you hear, that maybe you'll love. I think each of those albums could be your album of the year: you dance with Hercules And Love Affair and Girl Talk, you go to paradise with Koushik and Atlas Sound, we cannot resist to a so-good come back from The Fall or Portishead, you are impressed by Camille's tongue and throat, you like Vampire's Weekend multi-ethnicity...

Those I didn't mention, though I enjoyed listening to them too: M83, Foals, Sun Kil Moon, Drive-By Truckers, The Music Tapes, Glasvegas, Prodigy (from Mobb Depp), Neil Diamond, Kidz In The Hall, Silver Jews, Fleet Foxes, Frightened Rabbit, Sébastien Tellier, Spiritualized, The Hold Steady. But I think a top 100 list is even more irrelevant!

Finally, I didn't like those ones: R.E.M., Miss Kittin, Subtle (that's sad enough!),Lightspeed Champion, American Music Club, Madonna, Jamie Lidell, Jim Noir, Squarepusher (jajajaja...), Ladytron (only one song in the record...). I even tried Coldplay, Mariah Carey, AC/DC, Metallica... Coldplay was not so bad, and ACDC was quite nice sometimes.

Stats:
1 Spain
1 Finland
1 France
1 Japan
1 Sweden
1 New Zealand
1 Germany
2 Australia
2 Norway
5 Canada
12 UK
25 US


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SINGLES:

1. Dizzee Rascal: Dance Wiv Me (ft. Calvin Harris & Chrome)
2. T.I. & Rihanna: Live Your Life
3. Estelle: American Boy (ft. Kanye West)
4. Ricardo Villalobos: Enfants (Chants)
5. Brandy: Right here (Departed)
6. Kanye West: Love Lockdown
7. M.I.A.: Paper Planes
8. Britney Spears: Womanizer
9. Flo-Rida: Low
10. Lorie: Play
11. The Chemical Brothers: Midnight Madness
12. MC Solaar: Le Rabbi Muffin
13. Hercules and Love Affair: Blind
14. KYLIAN MASH & Laurent Konrad: (Discobitch) C'est beau la bourgeoisie
15. Julien Clerc: La Jupe en Laine

I don't understand why R&B, Hip-Hop and Rap are that high. Maybe simply because I turned on a music television. I like listening to bullshit music from time to time. Anyway, Rascal holds the chart! We're safe for this year.

orkestrark's top albums
1. Burial - Untrue (1168) 2. Robyn - Robyn (542) 3. Black Mountain - In The Future (457) 4. Burial - Burial (385) 5. El Guincho - Alegranza (384) 6. Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (379) 7. Shearwater - Rook (319) 8. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen (304) 9. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (252) 10. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (248) 11. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (211) 12. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (207) 13. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (201) 14. Giorgio Moroder - From Here To Eternity (170) 15. Georges Brassens - Anthologie (154) 16. Lady Sovereign - Public Warning (149) 17. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree (147) 18. Leila - Courtesy Of Choice (142) 19. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (134) 20. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase (134) 21. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? (134) 22. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul (132) 23. Plush - Fed (130) 24. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles (130) 25. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (126) 26. Manu Chao - La Radiolina (121) 27. Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions (117) 28. Suprême NTM - Suprême NTM (115) 29. Ellen Allien - Thrills (112) 30. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (111) 31. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (110) 32. Portishead - Third (108) 33. Leila - Like Weather (102) 34. Fuckpony - Children Of Love (99) 35. M83 - Saturdays = Youth (97) 36. Ricardo Villalobos - Salvador (90) 37. DJ Champion - Chill'em all (89) 38. Eluvium - Copia (88) 39. Ricardo Villalobos - Fabric 36 (87) 40. Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche à Bamako (84) 41. Madvillain - Madvillainy (82) 42. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (82) 43. Camille - Music Hole (76) 44. WHY? - Alopecia (75) 45. The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms (70) 46. The Knife - Deep Cuts (69) 47. Yelle - Pop Up (68) 48. of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (68) 49. Ladytron - Velocifero (67) 50. HEALTH - HEALTH//DISCO (66)

I love when songs begin with a count in.
"One, two, three..."
The Ramones specialised in count-ins, obviously relishing the aura of lucky amatuers they provided. Hundreds of songs begin with count-ins, in varying tones and deliveries and with vastly different effects. But possibly my favourite count-in is from "David Watts" by the Kinks, where we hear a few seconds of studio hum before the band kicks in. Count-ins let you picture the band as if caught in a strobe light in the instant before they begin playing, and the beginning of "David Watts" lets us picture the entire studio. There is a hiss, the tapes running, the amps alive and crackling, then somebody - undoubtedly a technician, probably the producer - says "This is the master, guys", the last few words barely audible under other voices. Ray Davies almost cuts him off to say "Nice and smooth", his voice relaxed and friendly, before someone else comes in with a slightly compressed "One-Two-Three-Four" and then we're off.

Liam Hayes of Plush understands the evocative power of a count-in. He just does them his own way. "Three-Quarters Blind Eyes" begins with the near-bum note of a bass string thrumming, then Hayes intones a sleepy "One, two.." and leaves it hanging for a second of silence before the ringing guitar comes in. He even undercuts his half-hearted count with a skittering noise, either clumsy tape-splice or drumsticks clicking together. This is the Hayes aesthetic: shambolic, always sounding as if everything is about to crash to a halt, but wrapped around the most glorious songs.

The Double A-side single including these two songs was the first release from Plush, and Hayes came fully-formed. Reviews instantly invoked the names of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach and Carole King. Hayes' songwriting has that sort of classic feel, full of craft but also with great moments of heart-stopping beauty. If he reminds me of anybody then its Harry Nilsson, just as talented but slightly wild and ill-disciplined. Plush songs are so hook-laden that his verses sound like choruses, and yet they never feel lazy or obvious. The melodies are all his own and he augments them with a sensibility in thrall both to his Brill Building idols and the world of US Indie Rock in which he has worked as a session musician for the likes of Will Oldham. Hence the swinging riff that carries "Three-Quarters Blind Eyes" along is always frayed and rough around the edges, the drums kick in with no little uncertainty during the opening bars, and Hayes' vocals are drawled, and often battling with the rising guitar line during the chorus. Much of the vocal line for "Found A Little Baby", a more polished, classic-sounding song, is sort of hummed/coo-ed rather than sung, to beautiful effect. The lyrics shimmer in and out of the songs, sometimes difficult to decipher in Hayes' voice amidst such big arrangements. "Whats so bad about dying?" he asks in "Found a Little Baby", and his only answer is that hummed chorus and the title line.

Hayes is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, who gigged around that city and lent his talent as guitarist and pianist to various indie bands in the early 90s, leading to enduring associations with Yo La Tengo and Jim O' Rourke. He toured with Will Oldham's Palace before the double A-side single under discussion here was released in 1994 on his hometown Indie label, Drag City, and received a lot of praise from critics, particularly in the UK, where "Found A Little Baby" was named Single of the Week by the NME. Hayes got a band together with the intention of recording a follow-up album in the same vein. Two years later he was still working on that album, but getting no closer to being happy with what he heard. So he dismissed the band and recorded a short suite of songs solo at a piano. This was released as Plush's first album "More You Becomes You" in 1998, and it also received rapturous reviews, particularly in the UK. Hayes toured, alone, as Plush, and even appears in Stephen Frears film of "High Fidelity" playing piano and singing in a bar where John Cusack is drinking. At the same time, he had redoubled his efforts to record the band album he had abandoned some years before. It would take him another three years. Drag City walked away from the project, alarmed by the spirallings costs as Hayes piled on overdub after overdub. Hayes persuaded Steve Albini, a friend who had recorded some early demos of the material with him, to extend him a loan so that he could finish his record. When "Fed" finally emerged in 2002 on Japanese label After Hours it had cost over $100,000, taken three years and ended many of Hayes oldest friendships. And its still a vitally flawed, if sporadically magnificent record. Whereas "Three-Quarters Blind Eyes/Found a Little Baby" and "More You Becomes You" both benefit from the slightly ragged nature of proceedings, "Fed" is absolutely slick and utterly controlled, and it gives the album a somewhat airless, constricted feel. But Hayes songs are beautiful and distinctive.

As was made obvious in 2004 when "Underfed" was released on Drag City. An album of those early demos of the "Fed" songs, featuring only Hayes and a couple of other musicians, it reveals the songs in their most naked form, Hayes voice at its most cracked and vulnerable. "Fed" remains available exclusively from Japan, and Hayes is working on a new album. The "Fed" odyssey has led to his acquisition of a reputation as a sort of US Indie Lindsay Buckingham, Lee Mavers or Brian Wilson - obsessive, visionary, perfectionist. But he has yet to surpass his first release, which contains two beautiful pop songs, laid down about as well as they could have been in their mix of roughshod playing and Hayes' almost Carpenters-esque vision.
They resemble the greatest double A-sided singles in that its impossible to choose between them, each song so different yet so good.

Hayes also features what may be the ultimate count-out at the end of "The Sailor", the last song on "More You Becomes You". Once he has finished playing we hear him stand up, walk slowly across the room and leave. Then silence.