Paco's Top 56 Albums of 2008: 13-1!!!!!

Here they are! The Final 13! Lucky 13! I recommend these to you without any reservation. Sorry this took so long, I was in the middle of moving to Bloomington, IN, and don't have constant internet access yet. Also sorry some of the descriptions are lame because I just wanted to get this done. Which is too bad because all of these releases are magical and deserve the best language available to any language hosting brains. Enough with the apologies on with the jams!

13. Burning Star Core - Challenger (Hospital) : Yes! Cincinnati's BCR is back again! BCR is mostly C. Spencer Yeh. Always releasing jams of interest, Challenger is even better than last year’s great "Blood Lightening 2007." While there are still the signature moments of noisy louditude, this one contains its fair share of gentleness. While most BCR is improvised, apparently most or all of this release was "composed." Many interesting sounds and tones and patterns here. Probably one of the most creative and impressive releases of the year. Experimental Noise Rock/Non-rock has never sounded better.

12. Original Silence - The Second Original Silence (Smalltown Superjazzz) : Check this line-up out: Jim O'Rourke, Massimo Pupillo, Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, Terrie Ex, Thurston Moore. Yeah. That's right. Most of my list was dominated by quiet gentleness but Some times dudes gotta flex their huge chops and smash some shit up with sick, very modern free jazz improv. And this is even better than the thier first release. Phrases like "balls out" and "booyah" just pour out of this bad boy. Normally I am a little bit shy of music that might be identified as, "masculine.". But not this. I bet they would destroy live. I don’t think most of you will like this. But who evan cars! Also, this was actually recorded live in 2005 but it just came out this year so it counts! Count it!

11. Sigur Rós - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust (XL/EMI) : Well, aside from the false start of the first two tracks (although very excellent false starts), this was a regular Ros release, although for my money perhaps their best in a while. I don’t think I really need to talk about this. Bonus points because my girlfriend loved it, although it is still an awesome album even without that.

10. Emeralds - Solar Bridge (Hanson)/Steve Hauschildt - The Summit (Gniess Things) and Rapt for Liquid Minister (Arbor)/Mark McGuire - Off in the Distance (Chondritic Sound) and Amethsyt Waves (Wagon)/Lilypad – Capacitor (Wagon) : I know that is a lot of albums listed right there so let me straigten you out on it. Emeralds is made of three guys: Steve Hauschildt, Mark McGuire (not that one) and John Elliot. Said fellows also have a number of side projects, Lilypad being one of John Elliot's. Now that you are all clear on that, let me tell you, 2008 was the year of Emeralds et al. Or should I say Emer-lads!? According to Discogs.com, together, solo and in other groups these folks put out at least 33 releases!! I've got not even close to most of them. But the ones I have are incredible. These guys ruled the range and roamed the roms. If I were making a bands of year list they would be toppers. So where to start? Start at the source, Emeralds - Solar Bridge! Probably the top dog here. Lastly what do they even sound like? Good time, sometimes noisy, psych-drone. Bits of krautrock. Or as one of thier earlier album's titled, "Bullshit Boring Drone Band." And if that doesn't get you going, then get outta town.

9. Barn Owl - From Our Mouths A Perpetual Light (Not Not Fun) : Why just last year these fellows where pleasant, but not particularly remarkable freak folk (or insert whatever annoying word you used most). Then suddenly what is this all of a suddens? They release an album with a deer/wolf/shiva/sage on the front and within is contained incredible jems of sloooooooooo doom ambient/rock/folk? Thank you indeed. From our mouths a perpetual sweet darkness more like it. And guess who is going to see them in march at the Not Not Fun Showcase at SXSW? Yes! Tis I! But seriously, get this. And don’t be scared off by words like “doom.” Its not warlord, nor is it evil. Its mostly just sparse and dark and slow.

8. Fennesz - Black Sea (Touch) : Ol' Fenny slips a doozy in at the end of year. This almost didn’t go on my list because I barely had time to listen to it. Good thing I did though because it is incredible. If you don’t know Fennesz or even if you do but think he is kinda noisy/weird, then this is a good introduction/reintroduction. Probably his most accessible album. It's not really all that noisy, mostly just beautiful. I don’t know where it ranks among Venice and Endless Summer, but It’s No. 8 of 2008!

7. Andrew Chalk - Time of Hayfield (Faraway) : I downloaded this at random right before I went back to Afghanistan in January. Little did I know what and who this was. Apparent ambient legend, Andrew Chalk has been cranking this kind of sublimeitudinous stuff out since the 80s And I just found out now! I lose and win simultaneously. Well, in any case this is beautiful and kind, floating, soaring, top of your heart, above the roof tops, kind of ambient. In other words, the best kind. And the good news is he’s got an insane back catalogue to try and dig through. Yes!!

6. Bracken - Eno about the Need (Ears Hoping) : When artists do different or interesting things, many people call that a “gimmick.” I kinda hate that, but if those things are really gimmicks, then I love a good gimmick. How’s this for one? Bracken record a probably sweet album of tape loops, ambient music, field recordings, etc…, and release it in addition of exactly 1 LP. This record they then send through the mail, around the world, to fans and whoever else, who are instructed to scratch, damage, alter, do whatever to the record and its album art. Eventually, the thing actually makes it back to the Bracken fellows, albeit broken (but not destroyed). Then they take this “new” music and art and release it regular like on LP and CD. So sweet idea, but how does it sound? Son! It’s sounds Great! Scratchy, mysterious, crackly, silent, lost, and great. Check it out bad, you’ll need better words where your ears are going.

5. Pete Fosco - Dust, American Dust (Digitalis) : Hey, its not all Europe around here. Ol’ Pete hails from regular old Ohio. Of course, we know that Ohio, whatever else it may be, is for some reason one of the best states to write songs about, or at least mention in a song. Which makes you wonder why Sufjan hasn’t done it yet, if that liar is ever going to finish what he started. In anycase, do you love warpy, warbly guitar tapes? Welcome to Pete’s house then. From the sound of this recording I’d say his house is buried in at least 4-5 ft of American dust. Nice job Pete! Wow!

4. Paavoharju - Laula Laakson Kukista (Fonal) : Finland rules. Finland is the new Iceland. Finland is the new Japan. Finland is the new heart of the earth. I have been meaning to make a list of sweet Finnish music for like 3 years now. Who knows if I will ever get around to it. But in the meantime, at least listen to Paavoharju. Because they are incredible. While at first listen, I didn’t feel that this album was quite as stunning as their self-titled debut, I eventually came to realize that this was quite a bad boy beast of a bad boys kind hearts. I also heard tell that member, Joose (hopefully pronounced juice) had a solo album out this year, but I only have heard 1 song. I need to find it with my Joose finding feelers! Paavoharju = the best!!!!! ohhhhhhhhhyeeeeeaaaaah!!!

3. V. Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble - Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (Ideal) : Speaking of very loose (or Joose!) definitions of jazz, Don’t be fooled by the name here. Despite actually being made of some jazz artists (and weirdly, in the tour band for Jens Leckman) this is definetly an ambient/experimental album, although perhaps it was improvised. In other words, the first track is probably the longest (28 mins!) version of the jazz standard, “Do Nothing “Til You Hear From Me.” Maybe its just really stretched out. Viktor Sjöberg probably hated that Original Silence album. I don’t blame him if he can pull this kind of stuff out of his body. I can’t actually find much information about this album or about these guys. But this is slow, patient, and so so beautiful and kind.

2. Machinefabriek - Music For Intermittent Movements: Soundtracks For Films by Jon Price (Non Label)/Mort Aux Vaches (Mort Aux Vaches)/Ranonkel (Burning World)/& Soccer Commitee - Drawn (Digitalis)/Freiband & - Oahu (Low Point)/Fabriek Bakker Fabriek - S/T 3" (Non-Label) : Oh Yes!!!!!!! If we were making that Artists of the year list Rutger Zuydervelt would be right up there too! Dude cranks it out as much as all the Emeralds combined and often on absurd formats like hand pressed 3” CDs. I have all of those releases listed above and those aren’t even all of them!! What!? Machinefabriek is mostly hilariously good sound and the manipulation and processing there of. Ambient, Field Recordings, Noisy sounds, f-ed up instruments scrambled around. Sometimes involving computers, but mostly on machines. I don't know what it means, but If Machinefabriek means what it looks like it does then that is a perfect description of what he does and why he rules. If there is one thing you need to know about me, its that I love sound as texture as a fabric, which is why the recording process is so much more important than just throwing down some tracks, its about all the sounds surrounding your music its about the texture of your sounds with those in the machine and the earth around you. And in my favorite music, like machinefabriek its only about the texture of the earth in contest/in unison/in resolve with the machine. Sound!

1. Janek Schaefer - Alone at Last (Sirr)+ Extended Play [Triptych For The Child Survivors Of War And Conflict] (Line) : Oh man, finally done with this list!!!!! Janek Schaefer, yet another awesome genius of sound I just found out about this year, is the boss of the roost here. If you were to search for some information about him the first thing that might come up is that he created a turntable with three styluses. In other words it plays three points on a record at the same time. This is of course awesome. But that does not star on this release. The main donny here is the first album mentioned which is alone at last which is just awesome field recordings and ambient and sometimes noisy but mosty just awesome and quietude and crackly sometimes. The second is good but who cares? I do though. So go to it. Get with it. Get with the now. This list is done and I hate it! I love did you know that?

Well sorry this took so long hopefully soon I will try to put up my list of sources so that jonnny can download everything and more! wow what do you think of all this? do you even hate it?

Topps Hella Hott Traxx of 2008, or, Jonny regains his street cred

Here is a list of magnanimous proportions, hearty portions and potent potions. Here is a list of sweet songs I heard this year on last.fm or youtube, and thusly, have thus internets to thank for. A couple of them do not even have proper music videos in (or de-) spite of their greatness. So without further adulation and exaltation, here are the best best-practices for songwriters of 2008, most of which (still) aren't from 2008:

Gnarls Barkley - Run ::: This was my first favorite video of 2008, and also made me want to buy a cable station and shame MTV by playing actual music videos again 24/7. Music videos can still be fresh, friends, as DM and Cee-Lo prove in the following.



Masta Killa Ft. RZA and ODB - Old Man ::: Classic ODB. Classic good-times Wu-Tang. I feel confident I won't have digested every Wu-side project until sometime after 2025, which still gives me plenty of years of the Wu-goodness.



Electrocute - Jet Set Boy ::: Fun little single from fun little electro-garage rock band. No video. Just this.



Talib Kweli Ft. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Busta Ryhmes - Get By ::: Dirrrrrty, party version of the track found on Kweli's 2002 release Quality. Found at Last.fm, from some mixtape comp released between now and then. Got potential supergroup written all over it. No actual video.



DJ Greg Street Ft. Nappy Roots - Good Day ::: I don't know who Greg Street is, but he seems like a fly-er version of Kirk Franklin, IMNSHO. This song is probably 15 years old or something, but it's still swell in 2008.



Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disco ::: This song is so terrible. But I probably listened to it over 2000 times in 2008. The official Shiny Toy Guns video is even worse than the song, so I posted a home-made vid made by two girls who clearly work at Hot Topic that's about 80 times worse. Did I mention how many times I listened to this song? This is what I assume all Los Angeles bands sound like. Sucky but way too catchy. Blah.



Estelle Ft. So Solid and John Legend - Free ::: From Estelle's first album in 2004. I didn't even know she released a new one in 2008 until a few weeks ago. It's on my list to download. I'm hoping to get to it by 2010.



Dungeon Family - Crooked Booty ::: How would I know about albums like this without the internets? Answer: I wouldn't. A collective made up of members of Goodie Mobb, OutKast, and a bunch of other Hotlanta hip-hop/soul artists. Honestly, though, the final product isn't as great as it sounds on paper, but this track still ought to have been the smash hit of 2001. No video exists.



Weezer - Troublemaker ::: Ha! Weezer on the list page! Suck it, Ryan Schreiber! While the Red Album sucked assssss, this track didn't suck quite as much as the rest of the album. In fact, it's quite the infectious, little ditty. Like an ironic version of West Nile. And then they made a great video for it having something to with breaking Guinness World Records. Plus, it's got a game of dodgeball and Rivers in a hair net.



Kanye West - Love Lockdown ::: Kanye premiered this video on Ellen??? Now I know I need my own cable station for sweet vids, because that's redonkulous. While the track is hella catchy, the video is creepy and stereotypical and actually terrible. But I'd still play it like 8 times a day on JTV. Kayne on Ellen. He's so white.



Wu-Tang Clan - Rules ::: From the Wu's 2001 release Iron Flag, I decided that this track was much better 7 years later in 2008. It's kind of like their response to 9/11. I think. It's very confusing. But really good. Again, no video for it. But I'd ask them to make one for heavy rotation.



Mickey Factz Ft. The Cool Kids - Rockin' N' Rollin' ::: While not the best track I've heard from the Cool Kids, this might be their best video, so that's why it makes my list. I'm not into the Cool Kids as much as I think I ought to be, but maybe someday.



DJ Ötzi - The Burger Dance ::: Okay, seriously. The best track of 2008, hands down. It's probably been around longer, and might have been part of a meme phenomenon I missed in 2006 or something, but man-oh-man I love this song. I include the following remix version, because the original one (with it's very own video featuring DJ Ötzi who is bigger than Jesus in Germany) doesn't have banjo and bagpipes and harmonica like the version below. Plus, this fan-made vid has some awesome clip-art and gifs for your enjoyment, too. Enjoy. (I wouldn't dream of ruining the break that comes at 2:45 in, though trust me, even if you hate the song, stick around for it.)



If you don't want to slog through all 13 vids, I created an easier way/playlist on YouTube. Just click the link on the right that says "Play All Videos." Good times, 2008. And thank you, series of tubes. You rock.

Paco's Top 56 Albums of 2008: 23-14

Almost there…

23. WYLD WYZRDZ - we are everyone. (A. Star) : With such a ridiculous name I thought for sure that this would be some kind of silly pranksters. But in actuallitywiseitude, Braden J. McKenna, the one man wrecking crew, has put out a nice album. For fans of Emeralds and Co., Adam, or actual Wizards, provided said wizard enjoys sort of electronic psych rock that builds a good head of steam until it crashes into an ocean of sound just outside the dronesville depot. Additionally! He gets bonus points for giving away all albums and EPs free on his website! I have only downloaded this, but I plan on taking all that I can soon. His website also has plenty of good grammer and the letter "z." Lastly, dude says, "Email blah blah blah if you have any WYZRDZ things to ask, I want to make an Album with you." Something I have yet to do, but Perhaps we should look into contacting him and making an album with him. Course he's in Salt lake city. But still! Still!!! P.S. The album rules!

22. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (Sub Pop) : Yeah, Yeah, I liked it too, who doesn’t like mellifluous harmonies? Although, just to be contrary, I felt like the full length didn't quite live up to the promise of the EP. But promises are hard to keep, unless you are in Promise Keepers and then its just a given I guess. Additionally they get bonus Promise Keepers™ street cred because some members were in Unwed Sailor and one was even in Scientific! Scientific!!!! Weird! Talk about NBA Street Cred Bennies®! And look where he is now. Where's Josh Mackey when you need him? Additional Note is Minus points for members being ex-members of Saxon Shore, who I thought sucked way back when, but I guess could actually be okay.

21. Max Richter - 24 Postcards in Full Colour (130701) : Max Richter makes his best record yet, and nobody seems to have batten down an e ye. Note to Max: No annoying British lady's voice saying dumb cliché and cheesy sounding narration = your best album yet. It’s more than that, but that plays a big role. The title says it all. 24 Postcards. Mini-pieces all of beautifulness. I think I heard tell that these were meant as ring tones. If so they are the most beautiful (and therefore probably ineffective) ring tones ever. I don’t know cause I don’t have a phone. Try it out for yourself. Report back in two weeks. (by the by, I just found out while writing this that dude did the soundtrack for "waltz with bashir" the movie, which I now want to see even more.)

20. Isengrind/TwinSisterMoon/Natural Snow Buildings - The Snowbringer Cult (Students of Decay) : Isengrind (no, not Isengard) is Solange Gularte. Mehdi Ameziane is TwinSisterMoon. Together they are Natural Snow Buildings. Mix all three (Disc 1: Solos, Disc 2: Buddies), add a dash of cool album art drawings, and some long droney faux eastern psych folk, some low-key electronics, and an insane variety of other dense, delicious sounding hits = Huge Double Disc goodness, "The Snowbringer Cult." If you love trends, then you may have thought that New Weird America/Freak Folk/Whatever stopped being cool even before Devendra started dating Natalie Portman. Well, you may be right, but these humans are French. And additionally they are totally laying waste to the genre and re-writing it from the ground floor. It's like the best parts of every reference you could name, but better, and then some. Seriously this album is a monster. It's like the Lord of the Rings of slow drone yet somehow epic, almost GYBE folk. You will need 2.5 hours to even listen to it once, but you'd be better off trapping yourself in a cave, shut off by a landslide, for about 3 years, to really get a hold of this. Finally a cult we can all feel good about! Prepare to be Destroyed! Jonny, if quiet is the new the loud, get your lil' mitts on this pronto! Vermont ought to be erased and replaced with a giant version of this album.

19. Deaf Center - Vintage Well (Type) : This was a 3 song 7” lasting approximately 10 minutes. And it’s my 19th best album of the year. Must be pretty good then, eh? Norway represent! The blessed home country! This 7” is definitely making some promises that I hope it intends to keep. If their next full length follows in the pattern of this sweet youngster, then they are in for releasing the number one monster of awesom e ambient/modern classical of whatever year it is that they eventually release the best album of that year. Which is hopefully next year. Did you even love quietness or quietude? Does you even love this? Wow, whaoh!!!!

18. Benoît Pioulard – Temper (Kranky) : Kranky is having a good year too. Pioulard wraps his fairly straight forward yet pleasant acoustic singer/songwriter fare in blankets of melancholy, brown noise, warm fuzz, cold rain, and lo-fi field recordings. Only thing is missing is a song about Ohio. Good times here.

17. Cloaks – Serene (Students of Decay) : See what I mean about Students of Decay though? Yet, another case of the album art telling it all, Cloaks kinda sounds like that looks. This release is two tracks, The first a 35 minute ambient/field recording joint and the second a short contemporary classical piece. While both are good, its clearly the first which ranks this bad boy a mention. Like most 35 minute songs its take some work to get through it. Most ambient is best at night time or at least in a dark cave. But This is sun beam ambient. This is day-walking over hills and through forests ambient. Very fine.

16. Matthew Robert Cooper – Miniatures (Gaarden) : This almost didn’t make my list because for some reason I spent most of 2008 thinking that this came out in 2006. MRC may not sound familiar to you, but Eluvium probably does. Well, this is his real name. I’ve always been mixed about eluvium. While I do enjoy them, especially I often have a feeling of generic-ness or incompleteness when I hear them and I feel like they only camp at the outskirts of the city gates of goodambientopolis. This release, however, is welcome inside the doors and right down the main drag. Composed of 9 Miniatures, none of these noisy or weird, giving them a feeling that everyone, even non-fans of experimental or ambient music can enjoy.

15. M83 - Saturdays=Youth (Mute/EMI) : Even if the whole album sucked, Kim and Jessie is awesome enough to carry it all. But the album doesn’t suck, and its definitely a return to greatness for M83. Plus I love Tears for Fears real bad.

14. Crystal Castles - S/T (Last Gang/Different) : Hated in the small small world of chip-tune/8-bit/video game/bloopy bleepy music for a couple of controversies. Disliked in other circles as possible hipster posers. But I’ll be darned if they don’t crank out catchy dance hits, and do so with a delicious Nintendo style. Who evan gives a car? Just listen in and dance it up! They’re good! That’s all there is too it. Will they stand the test of time? Who cares? The test of time is a fake and meaningless test anyway. Crank it up while you still have the chanst.

Next Time: The End of it all!

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…

Top 09 things I'm not looking forward to in 2009

So it's the last day of the year and many a time, people consider ways they want to improve on the previous year. This is largely a waste of time, which got me thinking about all the time I've wasted in 2008. The result of all this thinking produced the following list: "Top 9 ways I wasted my life in 2008," or more aptly, "Top 9 ways I'm going to waste my life in 2009."




9. Playing video games by myself.

Look here at this thing I've been doing since 1984. Playing Nintendo is more real to me than human relationships. I wish there was more to life than this, but who knows?

8. Quitting my job.

I had a job that I loved, but I quit because people told me I wasn't making as much money as I could with my degrees. Well I showed them! (By not getting another job) So far this has been a big waste of everyone's time.

7. Trying to write.

If you're an idealistic person who has a pronounced (though likely visceral) command of the English language, then perhaps you too have thought about writing a book. I have writ and writ and writ, only to destroy it all come morning . I don't even really want to get into it, other than to say that each incident was a little waste of my lifetime.

6. In a Wal-Mart.

I've gone to the store so many times, not really knowing what I was looking for, wandered around for a bit trying to imagine myself owning this digital picture frame or that 18" poseable Spider-Man toy, but nothing sticks and I leave empty handed. (Image courtesy of the Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

5. Not listening to music.

Sometimes Silence is Golden. But I don't think I've listened to nearly as much music as I could have. Thanks to dean-bags I've come to know just how much of my life has been wasted not listening to music, and I sadly anticipate the continuance of this trend on the morrow unless Paco posts his Top Secrets of 2008 list.

4. Playing Fantasy Football.

There are two ways to play Fantasy Football, one of which involves wanting to win.

I wanted to win this year real bad. I found all kinds of nfl news websites and fantasy football forums, all of which were browsed by yours truly for much more time than necessary for coming in 2nd place. Do I want those 2008 hours back? Not necessarily. Not sure what else I'd do with them.

3. Thinking.

This probably should be number one, but I don't want you to get the impression that thinking is a waste of time. But you know what I'm saying. Thinking doesn't always have to lead to inaction. Sometimes thinking can lead to good works! If you think about all the ways that thinking has got us to where we are today, you'll be really amazed! But if you think about it for too long, then you won't be helping us to get anywhere tomorrow.

"Wait... who says we're going anywhere?" (<-- see what I mean??)

And just to promote further thought: mad cred for the person who determines the connection to the image above.

2. On a couch.

Don't get me wrong. I'm in love with couches. I love what they have to offer. When I think on what article of living room furnishings I want to be most like for the sake of my brethren, I most definitely want to be a couch for them.

But just like with food and exercise, too much of a good thing can kill you. I hope to continue my love affair for just a while longer, though. Hopefully to at least the end of the current baktun.

1. Playing Hearts.

Look, I don't know the age group here, so pardon my language.

F*ck Hearts.

In college I had to delete the scourge from my hard drive. Too bad it was backed up in the Windows folder. Whenever I get close to doing something productive, Start button, click, programs, click, applications, click, games, click, hearts...

It's not even Internet Hearts! I'm not even playing against real people! I'm playing against the North, East, and West!! Or Pauline, Michele, and Ben for you Windows Millennium Edition users.

I don't want to estimate the amount of time spent wasted on Hearts in 2008 because I don't want to get depressed about my 2009 just yet. There's so much life to live here yet still for a while and there's no need to see how much of it is going to be wasted just yet. I've got to come up with some way of eliminating Hearts from my life, but it's like deciding when to gouge out my right eye because it's making me sin. There never really seems like a good time to do it.

My hope is that all of you live life as you see best fit for all the years we have still to come. I would like to share also that some time wasters of Christmas Past, like, "watching tv" or "smoking" or "talking to friends" have completely disappeared from my life. This goes to show that not all time wasting habits are eternal. Let this snippet of hope guide the biddings of you and your loved ones in this great future year of 2009.

taco bell fourth meal list of 12/27

Sometimes, you are hanging out. and then, those times, you might get hungry. and when it is so late, there's only one solution to the problem.
FOURTH MEAL!

Below is the list i found in my purse -- the order for really late on saturday or really early on sunday.. depending on who you are!

4 Crunch wrap supremes (one w/out tomatoes)




beef and potato burrito without the beef but with beans

1 supreme chalupa

1 double beef burrito (the 89c one)

2 soft tacos w/out lettuce

1 cinnamon twist





2 cheesy bean and rice burritos

mild sauce

Paco's Top 56 Albums of 2008: 45-35

I forgot to mention on the last list that, for no apparent reason, this list excludes compliations. Therefore, although there were lots of good comps out this year, I didend putem 'ere. Perhaps, I will make a sweet comps list if I have time. But also maybe not...

This is where things start to get really good. And to be honest most of the selection from here on out could probably be in the Top 10 on any other day. That's how good this year was! Booyah!

45. Drip House - 1 and 2 (Night People) : Did I mention tapes, the Night People label, or Raccoo-oo-oon yet? Daren Ho of said dudes first solo releases. Both of them are equally good and about equal length ('round about 12 minutes). Get' em while you can.

44. Windy & Carl - Songs for the Broken Hearted (Kranky) : Drone/Ambient Masters (finally!) return with a new full-length album. If you are familiar with the ambient couple (think about being married making drone together! what a dream!) then there is nothing much new to report. It's more of the same good stuff, although perhaps with the emotion ratched up a notch. If you didn't care about them before, you won't care about them still. But they are definetly dedicated.

43. Abe Vigoda - Skeleton (Post Present Medium) : See, I like indie rock still! Presumably named after Abraham Charles "Abe" Vigoda, Abe Vigoda are pals with trendy Pitchfork loved (but also good) bands like No Age, Health and other LA rockers who play at The Smell. While still kinda lo-fi/punk, they are a lot more straight forward (less shit-gaze/lo-fi sounding) than many of thier friends, as well as darn catchy. For some reason everywhere on the innernettes referes to them as "Tropical Punk Rock." I don't know about that but they've got some nice lix.

42. Sparkling Wide Pressure - Touching Pasture (Students of Decay) : Enough with Night People what about Students of Decay! They are cranking out the his. I have no idea how to classify this aside from quiet, hazy, awesome, and free. The album art picture there kind of does it as well as any words could. Frank Baugh is certainly a student of decay.

41. Dan Friel - Ghost Town (Important) : “Electronic noise and catchy melodies totally have raging boners for each other, and have since the ’60s,” he says. “Think about Hendrix, Sun Ra, Velvets, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, etc. I’m just following their lead, and reducing it to all simple electronics.” (Did you know that Friel also released a tape once on Night People? haha!)

40. The Foreign Exchange - Leave it All Behind (Nicolay) : I'm still disappointed that there is only one actual rap verse on this followup to perhaps my all time favorite hip-hop album (2004's Connected). It seems like all the rappers don't like rapping no mo. Well, in any case, Phonte is not actually that bad at singing and Nicolay is still dropping unstoppable beatsmithery. Matt will be happy to note that this is exactly the kind of neo-soul album I would have hated about 5 years ago. My how times have changed. Still, this is should have been closer to #1, not #39. On the other hand, it probably will move up later as it is pretty new.

39. Damien Jurado - Caught in the Trees (Secretly Canadian) : "Gillian was a Horse" is one of the best Wilco songs he's ever written and "Trials" is the best Elliot Smith song he's ever written. The rest of the album is highly decent, consistent ol' DJ. The deciding factor is probably that my girlfriend likes it a lot, which ranks it up pretty high.

38. Manual - Confluence (Darla) : I had sort of forgotten about Manual. His 2002 "Ascend" was the kind of solid post-rockish-electronic-glitchy-quasi-ambient-morr-music type album which really hit me at that time. I didn't listen to 2005's Azure Vista much finding it fairly disappointing and New-Agey (Ty would probably disagree with me). Then one day in 2008 I was browsing me mp3 blogs and wham! This album just popped up out of no where. And It's incredibly good and probably the best thing he's ever produced. It seems he's gone (either now or in the past when I wasn't watching) true good news ambient and this is aa beautiful and quiet album, free from all the cheesy sounds of yore.

37. Seconds In Formaldehyde - Suchness #3 (Gears of Sand) : While it was released in 2008 it was techincally recorded in 2007 live at the Auerworld Festival. Apparently just one dude with a guitar, it does not sound like that at all. This dude is especially good at "Creating Moods and Atmospheres with just one chord or one single Note that stretches across time and space," and "Building a Wall of Guitar Harmonics and Subnotes and let them flow into Infinity." These are both things that I am really into, especially the first. Suchness is a 40 minute track cut into three. Soak your brains into thee pure guitar sound.

36. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down in The Light (Drag City) : I've always like BPB slightly depressed more than happy, but really he can do whatever he wants and I will love it. I've also always been suspicious of singer/songwriters but ol' BPB, a true gentleman, can do as he pleases. Good job here.

35. Claudio Rocchetti - Another Piece of Teenage Wildlife (Die Schachtel) : This release is all over the place, but everwhere it goes is good. In fact, its so varied it almost sounds like a compilation or best of sort of album, as it lacks the cohesiveness we normally associate with full lengths. Rather than describe the album let me just show you the linear notes:

Claudio Rocchetti: voice, guitar, turntable, cassette, field recordings, piano, percussion
Valerio Tricoli: voice, tape loops
Margareth Kammerer: voice
Madame P: voice
Xabier Iriondo: guitar, mahai metak
Massimo Carozzi: ghost electronics

or this: "The work of Claudio Rocchetti is a deep plunge into thick sound, investigating its innermost workings. Using a variety of devices such as turntables, audio cassettes, samplers, radios, and microphones, often incorporating other objects and traditional instruments, Berlin-based Rocchetti builds compelling structures that employ sound as sheer matter, mass, and impact. 'I have a very direct approach to sound, trying to act on instruments and devices,' he says."

If that or anything else you might read about him doesn't get you going, then you need to get real. This is an awesome album. Plus "I miss you like hell," aside from being a great song title, is a pitch perfect Rip-off of the best kind of Stars of the Lid spell for the first 7 of is 16 minutes.