2005: Albums Acquired
-P001- Adem: Homesongs, Camera Obscura: Underachievers, Please Try Harder
Technically, I bought these in 2004, but it was after Christmas. I don't think the Camera Obscura album is all that good, but I love the Adem album. I only asked to listen to it because of his connection with Fridge, but I'm glad I did. Highly recommended.
-P002- Belle & Sebastian: Books EP, Jay-Z: Black Album, Modest Mouse: Good News, VA/Nicky Siano: The Gallery
Thank you gift cards! HMV was having a huge sale, so all this stuff was pretty cheap. I'm glad I picked up the MM when I did; now that they've been on The O.C. I'd be too embarrassed to buy it.
-P003- VA: Kompilation
Finishing off my Christmas gift cards. There are some good tracks on here (esp. the Stars of the Lid track that opens the CDs) but I don't think it's worth paying for.
-P004- Interpol: Antics, VA: Old Enough 2 Know Better: 15 Years of Merge
I had a semi-difficult time tracking down the Merge comp but I'm glad I did. There's nothing revelatory there, that's not the point. Instead all three discs are expertly curated mix tapes, just a blast to listen to. The Interpol is Interpol-y.
-P005- Fennesz: Venice, Kelis: Kaleidoscope
I held off on buying the Fennesz record for months because I knew I could pick it up cheap at some point. I finally did. Grand result: meh. Maybe it will grow on me. I got the Kelis used ($7!) but I still haven't listened to it.
-P006- XTC: Skylarking
$8.99 used. Miles better than Drums and Wires, which is the only other XTC album I have. I listend to Skylarking four times straight through right after I bought it. V. good, but you probably knew that.
-P007- Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets
Eno is one of the (many, oh so very many) artists that I really like, but whose work I am not well versed in. This is quite fantastic, with "Needle in the Camel's Eye" and "Blank Frank" being my favourites so far.
-P008- VA: Rough Trade Shops: Indiepop 1
Awesome. There's no other word for this comp but awesome. Exspecially because I was too young/American/uncool to own most of these songs when they first came out.
-P009- Game: The Documentary, Ted Leo: Shake the Sheets
I bought the Ted Leo album based solely on the fact that "Me and Mia" managed to become entrenched in my skull for a solid week. I'm glad I got it, but I do think that there was something missing from Shake. The Game's debut on the other hand was an exercise in uninteresting. Shards of hooks like shrapnel are all over every track, but Game has all the skill and urgency of a man stuck in traffic.
-P010- Acorn: The Pink Ghosts
Despite all the headlines and column inches devoted to freak-folk or avant-folk last year, 2004 was also a quietly excellent year for smaller, more hushed electro-acoustic works like Espers or Castanets or, more pertinently, the Acorn. An impossibly beautiful album.
-P011- Supersilent: 6
I don't know why I bother with Supersilent, since they always disappoint me so. By the end of 6.2, I typically have turned this record off, because I cannot abide how forced this record sounds. There are intermittent moments of joy, but mostly it's just meandering.
-P012- Castanets: Catherdal, Jim O'Rourke: Eureka!
This was an impulse purchase, which I kind of regret. (I maybe should have copped the new M83 and Ryuichi Sakamoto.) I've had Eureka on CDR for awhile, and I really like it. However, the quality on the CD is a marked improvement. The Castanets album is nice, but not really exceptional.
-P013- Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, Fiery Furnaces: EP
I was prepared to dislike EP but it's actually quite good. I'm hesitant to pronounce any judgment against the Bright Eyes disc yet, although I'm finding it kind of calculated and synthetic. We'll see.
Never be ashamed of Modest Mouse!
Oh, I would have still picked it up at some point (Float On is too good not to) but I would have been kind of ashamed to buy it after the whole O.C. thing. Because I am loser, but still.
What O.C. thing, now?
The O.C. soundtrack I assume.
The Walkmen have appeared on the show, but I still love them.
Yeah, but then so have Death Cab for Cutie and *shudder* Rooney. The Shins did too, but I'm in denial.
Skylarking is one of my desert island CDs, for certain. It helps that I was a teenager in love when I first bought it, so the pretention of the "life cycle" theme only made it cooler in my mind.
I'm not thrilled with the Camera Obscura, either. I guess that's the point where twee gets TOO damn twee.
Eno is awesome. You'd LOVE Another Green World, I'd wager.
Another Green World is mos def on my list; I've slowly been collecting the Astralweks re-releases of all the '70s Eno albums but that one has passed me by.
What did you think of the Ted Leo album?
I'm neutral on the latest Ted Leo. I always enjoy it while it's playing, but it doesn't stick with me in the way that Hearts of Oak does. His live shows blow away his recorded output, though.
I'm disappointed, but really not surprised, about the Castanets album. As intrigued as I am about it, it just seems like one of those overhyped critical faves in which I end up being disappointed.
(Hey, if you're interested in signing up at livejournal, I've just set up a music exchange community in which you can trade "evaluation copies" of CDs you'd like to further investigate. Many cool current and former FT people are involved.)
I'm sad to hear you didn't care for Supersilent's "6". But I understand it's not for everyone. Do you like Silver Mt. Zion or Stars of the Lid?