Paco's Top 56 Albums of 2008: 34-24

It just keeps going!

34. Burnkit2600 - This is the Sound! (burnkit2600.com) : I know very little about this free internet download, I found it on a circuit bending blog I read, and its awesome. Additionally, rather than hide thier cool diy instruments from wannabes they encourage you to try it yourself and explain their gear in depth. The first song, which has a lot of shouting, is kind of annoying but it really gets going with "When Demons Attack." "b00" is a spooky time jam of the highest quality. If you like circuit bent sounds, crossed wires, and messed up electronics with catchy beats, or that Dan Friel album, you will like this little guy. And its legally free.

33. Hercules & Love Affair - S/T (DFA) : Hey, wow, thanks for looking out! Hey, Good Dancin' Out! Thanks for dancing out, thanks. whoah! Antony has a weird voice but its all good and the dancing beats are hott. Check out all these traxx in your ride. or more like on the floor! Don't you love it?

32. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colors (Modular) : This was popular enough I don't think I need to talk about it. Nice Dancing Pops. Catchyness which borders on cheesy at first listen, until you realize that its not, and everything is totally fine, so don't even worry about it. I like "Hearts on Fire" the best.

31. Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie (Alien8) : Man, I'm getting really tired of writing about all these things. I should listen to less music. Or maybe I should just go to bed, get over my stomach flu, eat a huge sandwhich, and then do these again. But in anycase this is good. Imagine Aidan Baker (NOT of Godspeed), ambient guitar processor extraodinaire, hanging out with Tim Hecker, ambient electronics jimmyrigger supreme, and bam! You get this. It's good. It should probably be better. But its real good.

30. Peter Wright - Pretty Mushroom Clouds (aRCHIVE) : I first found about Peter Wright when I downloaded (and never really listened to) a live show of him with my main men, Stars of The Lid. Although I never really gave it the listen it needed, if a fellow can collab with SOTL then he’s just alright with me. But then I forgot about him. Then one day, browsing my sites, checking my sites, checking in with my check in buddy, This release popped up. And I nabbed it. According to Pete, its got a lot of “noisy ambient” that didn’t go on some of his other more quiet releases. This appears to be mostly true. In addition to that musty truth, this is an excellent album of ambient, field recordings, and occasionally noisy sounds and tones. Gentle and Non-Gentle, for Gentile and Jew alike!

29. Black Milk - Tronic (Fat Beats) : Looks like I was late to the Black Milk boat too. Well at least I’m on board now, and tying my legs to the stern. If you do not like Black Milk then perhaps I will talk sternly to you, young wo/man! General consensus is that while his beats are incredibly tight (especially his drums), his raps don’t hold up as well. I, however, will mildly disagree. It think he comes out alright. He’s not an amazing MC but he seems fine enough, and he’s not bad or annoying. His beats are truly great though, and in light of how good they are, maybe it is his mic abilities that are keeping this out of masterpiece range. I care more about sweet beats anyway…

28. Taiga Remains - Descend From Ivory Cliffs (Waterscape) : Sleep on this! Head of one of my fav. new labels "Student of Decay," Taiga Remains is one track of sweet ambient build up goodness. Ignore the lame looking typeface on the cover.

27. 14KT - The Golden Hour (ASide Worldwide) : You would be forgiven if you walked into a room (or perhaps even a juke joint) where this was playing and asked if it was Dilla. After all it is a mostly instrumental beats album, it does have that Michigan/Detroit City sound, and it is extremely good. He’s even got a song for Dilla and another that uses the same sample as Dilla. But after you got over all that, and started giving the thing a few listens, I would hope that you would begin to realize how good an album, and of his own style, 14KT ("KT" is apparently pronouced "Kaytee") as just issued into our grimy mits and sweaty paws. Hailing from Yipsilanti, MI and a member of the acclaimed Athletic Mic League family, KT definetly knows and loves his Dilla and is also clearly from the area. But he also knows the boards and he’s not ripping anybody off. Why would he be number 27 if he was?

26. Gerald Cleaver's Violet Hour - Gerald Cleaver's Detroit (Fresh Sound New Talent) : I saw Gerald Cleaver and his Violet Hour for the first time ever after a long day of Jazz at the Chicago Jazz Fest this year. They were playing an after fest kinda show a little ways uptown. Now, at the time, I had just watched like 10 hours or so of Jazz. And I like Jazz but I was also incredible exhausted and ready to go to bed. However, I suddenly found myself walking about 30 blocks at about midnight and arriving at the show. After a forced donation, in light of my long walk, and how sleepy and tired I was, I was in a pretty bad mood. Not to mention, my girlfriend was with me and also experiencing all the same things as me, thus making me feel worse. Additionally there was no where to sit, so I had to stand…there was no way it could be worth it…And then they played…and it was exactly what the doctor ordered! They played my tiny shriveled face off and put it into a small leather case! And excellent and impeccable mix of east coast and midwest jazz, and everybody was swinging like hell. But the main man was Gerald hisself. Dude was pounding the skins like tammy skinpounders and all the while smiling a super happy smile. Of course the albums not as good as all that. But it’s still very good.

25. HEALTH - //Disco (Lovepump United) : It's funny that I still haven't bothered to listen to any unremixed HEALTH. They are probably good. In anycase, this is just the kind of rough, extra noisy dance rock that I can really sink my teeth into. Plus who doesn't love a band named HEALTH?

24. John Robinson - Who is this Man? (Project: Mooncircle) : My boi MF Doom on the boards. John Robinson on the bikes. J-Rob (not his real nickname) has apparently been around in high quality and positive undie rap groups for a while, but I missed all that. Better late than never. It's always good to hear new Doom beats and John is a nice man on the mic.

Stay tuned, we’re almost done…