en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal The Last.fm journal for empathylacuna29. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2008/05/22/1zmtol_a_good_mix_i_made_for_xtophe_the_other_day... Thu, 22 May 2008 02:32:42 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2008/05/22/1zmtol_a_good_mix_i_made_for_xtophe_the_other_day... 1. Psyche - Haunted
2. Egyptian Lover - Freak-a-holic (12" Dub Mix)
3. Joakim - Teenage Kiss
4. Matmos - Polychords
5. Diana Ross - Upside Down (Original CHIC Mix)
6. Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock
7. Santogold - L.E.S Artistes
8. ESG - My Street
9. Professor Genius - Orange Coco
10. Rex The Dog - Circulate - JBAG Edit
11. Freestyle - The Party's Just Begun
12. Pluramon - Turn In
13. Fuck Buttons - Bright Tomorrow
14. Crystal Castles - Good Time
15. Crystal Castles - Black Panther
16. Aux 88 - Tom Tom Beats
17. Sally Shapiro - Time to Let Go (Lindstrom Remix)]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2007/12/24/58bq_best_of_2007_-_albums Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:12:03 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2007/12/24/58bq_best_of_2007_-_albums This year had a lot of ups and downs, musically. I recall early April thinking that I'd just had he best musical beginning of the year in a long time. I have had that thought before, but was surprised to see that those early feelings held true and that as I put this list together, a number of those early faves made it to the top. As usual, there were a few big dissapointments (that second half of the Shellac album totally killed that one for me) and a few things that I really didn't seem to get as much as everyone else (but by all accounts should have based on my general tastes... hello, The Field?).

I'm still looking forward to seeing everyone else's list and using up that Amazon credit that's burning a hole in my virtual pocket. Also, still looking forward to the CBS Top 100 (Tune in Dec 26th!) which, if past years are any predictor, will give me plenty to add to my early purchase bin in 2008.

No more fanfare..

Top 10 in order:

1. El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead: While my indie hip hop listening has waned the past few years, this album was way more than a just a good rap album. It reminded me of so many of my first musical loves; conveying of an intense and honest passion and politics, both worn on its sleeve...like great punk or raw, earnest indie pop. Favorite Track: Up All Night

2. Burial - Untrue: It's a total cop-out, but I had to forgo my blub about this album when I saw the Pitchfork year-end list. Like few reviews on their site, this paragraph was a perfect, succinct and yet complete encapsulation of why this is one of the two albums this year I'd deem an objective masterpiece (El-P being the other). So yeah, what Mark Richardson said...
Favorite Track: Etched Headplate

3. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond: I don't know anyone who saw this fantastic reunion album coming. Of course, despite testifyin' like crazy, I still don't think I've managed to convince hardly anyone that this is truly a fantastic album, period. While Lou Barlow defined my latter 1990s, he lost me somewhere and I recommend deleting his two songs off this album to boost it up to a 100%-kick-ass rating from start to end. Favorite Track: It's Me

4. Gui Boratto - Chromophobia: A refreshing break from a lot of techno sameness in terms of sounds, this album manages to inject some brightness and cheer into a solid, ass-shaking 'minimal' base. It gets me head-nodding, knee bouncing and cracking a little dance-smile every time I come back to it. Looking back at some of the pure techno additions to my "best of" lists from past years, I find a fair number of less-than-timeless entries. But as for Chromophobia, I still haven't heard anything that hits these same sweet spots...Total keeper. Getting too drunk to enjoy his only Smart Bar appearance was one of those boozy mistakes I regret more than most. Favorite Track: Terminal

5. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver: So
many high moments on this album, it's one that has that great quality of offering new favorites with each additional listen. And I must mention that the pych-freak-out hugeness of their live show managed to crush even the monumental annoyance of a urine-smelling-hippie. Not that I still can't bitch about how nasty that was. Favorite Track: Someone Great

6. Jesu - Conqueror & Lifeline: I'm putting these two (the full length and an EP) together because it's my list and I can. Jesu has now made my last 2 years of "best ofs" and the gentle shifting in direction towards even more fuzzed-out, shoegazer-y dream-metal has been the icing on their discography cake. Perfect, heavy and lush, this winter I plan on many loud listens on headphones or when the house is empty. It's gonna be better than having a fireplace and a fake-bear rug. Another set of great live shows..beautiful, devastating. Favorite Track: Lifeline

7. Justice - †: Big, bouncy, fun. Banging good electro with that tough meaty edge that pushes this one over the top for me. The hints of disco and the fat buzzy synths...=> Goooood stuff. Songs this huge have a tendency to burn themselves out pretty quickly (see: Simian Mobile Disco), but I think that the super high quality of the songs and the significant variety within each song and within the album as a whole keep this pretty fresh despite a large number of listens. Favorite Track: Phantom

8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank: Can I take back my placement of their last album on my 2004 list? What I really meant is that *this* is the album that deserves the top spot. I was never a Smiths fan so the addition of whats-his-name doesn't really mean anything to me, but whatever they are doing, they should definitely keep it up. I don't listen to enough radio to know if Dashboard was the hit single it should have been. Was it? People as Places as People is another great one that has all those classic MM moments.. bit of yelping, the bendy guitar lines, a healthy dose of jingle jangle... Favorite Track: People As Places As People

9. Liars - Liars: A Liars album that everyone can get into. A great example of an album that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Anyone reading this knows that you can half fill a CD with great music and it's going to be a better value than an 80 minute disc that's half filler and throw-aways. Short, to the point, great hooks that are nicely buried and mangled and NOISY! Favorite Track: Cycle Time

10. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings: When
I'm trying to describe something and I'm flailing around and the best I can come up with is "They don't really sound like much I can pinpoint", that's usually a good sign. Unless of course it's total crap. But this isn't.. and this was one of my eMusic experiments this year which makes it a nice cheap find as well as a good one. Seriously, I'm not going to try and describe what I love about this album except to say that it's nuts, and hilarious and definitely unique. Smiling now as I think about how awesome Snake Mistakes are.... is. Snake Mistakes

These 10 are highly recommended as standing out from the rest as well.

Blonde Redhead - 23
The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy
Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
Studio - West Coast
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
Battles - Mirrored
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
Marnie Stern - In Advance Of The Broken Arm]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2007/12/24/58bp_best_of_2007_-_tracks Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:53:04 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2007/12/24/58bp_best_of_2007_-_tracks Best Tracks of 2007

My rules for this are straightforward... great tracks from 2007 that were not on my favorite albums of the year. These could be standouts from mediocre albums, singles, odd downloads from artists I haven't had time to find out more about, etc.

In no particular order (last.fm playable songs are at the bottom for readability):

Lusine : Flat (Lusine Remix)
Boxcutter : Rusty Break
Holy Fuck : Lovely Allen
Lee Douglas : Ravm
Aesop Rock : None Shall Pass
sneak thief : My Sullen Mistress
Chromatics : Mask
Gescom : A1
Shellac : The End of Radio
Paul Wall : Everybody Know Me (Feat. Snoop Dogg)
Jahcoozi : Ali Mcbills (Robert Johnson 6am X-ray Italo Rework)
Boom Bip : Snook Adis

Photocall : Silver Clouds

alex delivery : komad

Modeselektor : Godspeed

Von Südenfed : The Rhinohead

Imatran Voima : Intoxication

The Shins : Phantom Limb

Melt-Banana : Green Eyed Devil

The Tuss : Synthacon 9]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/12/24/58bo_best_of_2006_-_shows Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:53:13 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/12/24/58bo_best_of_2006_-_shows Without investing too much effort in the counting of these things, I saw at least 30+ bands this year. The ones below made me forget I'd been standing for hours and made being tired at work the next day totally worth it...

pansonic @ Empty Bottle
Rhys Chatham @ Empty Bottle
Boredoms @ Intonation
Shellac / Big Black @ Hideout Block Party
Dj Rupture & The Ex @ Empty Bottle
Dominik Eulberg @ Pitchfork
Ada @ Pitchfork
The Books @ Empty Bottle
Junior Boys @ Empty Bottle]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/12/24/58bn_best_of_2006_-_singles Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:20:38 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/12/24/58bn_best_of_2006_-_singles Most of these are not true singles, but they're still my favorite songs of the year. I didn't have a strict criteria for what to put on. Looking over this list, I'd have to say I left off my favorite songs from my favorite albums... I guess I just think of my top 5 albums as just pretty much perfect all the way through... tough to pick a single song from those....

1. Me & You
2. Cadillac Featuring Paul Wall, 3-6 Mafia, Jay Jon & Lil Boss
3. Rap Tight
4. Like A Pen
5. Pull Shapes
6. WHERE R U?
7. Doch Doch
8. In White Rooms
9. The End of it All
10. In the Morning
11. Star
12. Tizia
13. Radio Transmission
14. CALL THE TUNE
15. Qawwali
16. Bezoar Tides
17. Always Something Better (Trentemoller Remix)
18. Bounce That
19. Nancy Reagan's Head
20. Music Is My Hot Hot Sex
21. Seeing Through Shadows - Original Mix
22. No More Conversations - Mylo Remix
23. Machine Ate My Homework
24. Sir
25. You'ze a Trick (Explicit Version)]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/12/22/58bm_best_of_2006_-_albums Fri, 22 Dec 2006 01:11:07 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/12/22/58bm_best_of_2006_-_albums Best Albums of 2006

There are a few things I still have on order that will inevitably make me want to tweak this list, but whatever. That always happens. Apparently I started on last.fm near the beginning of the year so the numbers to date are also a fairly decent capture of what I listened to this year. The caveats being that I only recently figured out how to capture my iPod listening (and I'm still losing my "inbound-commute" listens. Also, the living room and car remain uncharted territory. No editorial comments... these artists have pretty much all appeared in my weekly top listens and I've gushed enough about them all there...

In order:

1. Dirty on Purpose - Hallelujah Sirens
2. The Knife - Silent Shout
3. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
4. Kelley Polar - Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens
5. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
6. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
7. Various Artists (Mixed by M.A.N.D.Y.) - Get Physical Vol. 2
8. Jesu - Silver
9. Booka Shade - Movements
10. Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
11. Various Artists - Confused Disco: A Retrospective of Italian Records
12. Pipettes - We Are the Pipettes
13. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
14. Trentemoller - The Last Resort
15. Love Is All - Nine Times the Same Song
16. Various Production - The World is Gone
17. Boxcutter - Oneiric
18. Dirt Crew - The First Chapter
19. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
20. Helios - Eingya]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/11/28/58bl_best_of_2005 Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:49:35 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/11/28/58bl_best_of_2005 For some reason, I can't find all my old "best of" lists to post on last.fm, but here's the lists from 2005:

Best Albums 1-10 (in order):

1. Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of it Again
2. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike (U.S. Version)
3. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
4. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
5. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
6. Ferenc - Fraximal
7. Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum
8. Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
9. Various Artists - Microsolutions to Megaproblems
10. John Tejada & Arian Leviste - Back to Basics

Best Albums 11-20 (no particular order):

11. The Books - Lost And Safe
12. Exile - Pro Agonist
13. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
14. Minotaur Shock - Maritime
15. Ladytron - Witching Hour
16. Jason Forrest - Shamelessly Exciting
17. Paul Wall - People's Champ
18. Mu - Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge)
19. Isolee - We Are Monster
20. The Ark - Caliente

Late Hits from 2004:

The Legends - Up Against The Legends

Favorite Songs from 2005 - In No Particular Order:

Out Hud - One Life to Leave
Kit Clayton - Humbaba
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
Bun B (Feat. Lil' Keke) - Draped Up
John Tejada & Arian Leviste - Psycho Happiness
Jason Forrest - Skyrocket Saturday
Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body
Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices
Aesop Rock - Zodiaccupuncture
Exile - Big Bad Purple Bad Boy
Wolf Parade - It's a Curse
The Ark (Feat. Xavier Vindrard) - Sucubz
The Modernist - The International Loner
Minotaur Shock - The Broads
The Books - Smells Like Content
Paul Wall (Feat. BG & Bun B) - Trill
Ladytron - The Last One Standing
Isolee - My Hi-Matic]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/11/28/58bk_best_of_2002 Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:27:03 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/11/28/58bk_best_of_2002 For posterity's sake, here is my "Best Of" lists from 2002:

Best Albums (in no particular order):

DJ Shadow - The Private Press
OXES - OXXXES
Sleater-Kinney - One Beat
Mr. Lif - I Phantom
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
Notwist - Neon Golden
Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
Various Artists - Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
The Shipping News - RMSN Vol 3

Best Concerts (in order):

Melt Banana @ Abbey Pub
Modest Mouse @ The Blue Note
OXES/Dalek @ Empty Bottle
OXES @ ATP
DJ Shadow @ Park West
Legowelt/Orgue Electronique @ Empty Bottle
Sonic Youth @ Bumbershoot
Sleater-Kinney @ Metro
Wire @ Metro
Traxx/DJ Hell @ Rednofive]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/11/23/58bj_week_ending_11192006%3A_top_10_artists Thu, 23 Nov 2006 18:40:53 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/11/23/58bj_week_ending_11192006%3A_top_10_artists Week 8: It's been quite awhile since I ridiculously over-analyzed my weekly listening habits. I have no excuse other than sheer laziness. I've seen some good, but not great, shows lately... Dirty on Purpose, Asobi Seksu, Mouse on Mars. An unexpected and amazing standout surprise was seeing The Rhys Chatham Essentialist. I've seen his name in the Wire magazine for years and never listenend to him...sometimes the stuff in the Wire is a bit much for me, but overall, I still like that mag for the free CDs and it's ability to put music in front of me that I'd have never found on my own. Anyway, Rhys Chatham played on a bill with Tim Hecker at the Empty Bottle and it blew me away. Incredibily purposeful and perfect metal riffs and hooks working all sorts of styles, speed metal, doom, etc. while still being really...smart? I guess that's how I'd describe it. Anyway, I picked up a sort of "best of" of some of Chatham's earlier stuff and it's pretty fantastic. The Essentialist project that I saw will be putting out an album in early 2007 so that will defintely get picked up once it's out. I'm really digging last.fm's new "events" feature. Now if they could just make those events an rss or iCal feed so I could plug it into my main calendar, I'd be totally set.

My top 10 listening curve has been really flat since I've been spending a lot of time in my "singles" playlist, lots of techno...

The Top 10...

1) Subtle- I bought For Hero: For Fool recently and it's definitely more my speed than their last album. Doseone's a much better experience for me live than recorded, but I keep buying his albums anyway.

2) Iron & Wine - I recently emptied my iPod and started filling it up again, keeping it more current (2006 purchases as well as all my old favorite "rated" songs). I was getting tired of having to constantly search for stuff to take off when I bought new albums. I've got about 20GB free now which should hold me for awhile. What does this have to do with Iron & Wine? I was dismayed recently on the way to work to discover that in my iPod-trimming, I had pulled off all my Iron & Wine execpt for two favorite tracks. I made a point to reload The Creek Drank the Cradle and spent a nice fall El ride to work listening. So pretty.

2) Kelley Polar - Still listening to tracks off Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens consistently after 10 months. Also, he's hot.

4) Sun O))) & Boris - I like both of these bands okay, but I think together it's more varied and interesting for me. I was in the mood for something dark when I bought this.

5) Enon - Kind of a random choice to listen to at work one day. Looking forward to a new album in 2007.

6) The New Year - This was another random choice to play at work. Just felt like going back to something I hadn't heard in awhile. Newness Ends was an early music bond between X and myself.

7) Solenoid - I could listen and dance to this guy's type of bouncy electro-tech all night.

7) Rhys Chatham - See note above. I bought Die Donnergötter (The Thundergods) and both Die Donnergötter and Guitar Trio blow my mind.

9) Jaga Jazzist - I hear they are great in concert and I've heard tracks before that I was really into so when I found What We Must used I picked it up. Nothing on it yet has held my attention but I haven't given it too many listens.

10) Girl Talk - Night Ripper is one of those albums that is kind of inspiring in how cool music must sound in other peoples' heads. I get a ton out of listening (as I imagine the other obsessives on this site must), but hearing something like this just makes me wonder how a person could hear all the layers in these songs fit together. All great DJs make me think that to some degree...

Tower Records is going out of buisness and everything is 40%-60% off at the moment. They've never been my primary source for purchasing because their selection is limited and prices are ridiculous (hmmm....wonder why they are bankrupt?) but I was able to find a bunch of things there recently that I didn't mind shelling out half price for. Expect a lot of those to appear in the next few weeks.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/09/17/58bi_week_ending_9102006%3A_top_10_artists Sun, 17 Sep 2006 14:12:13 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/empathylacuna29/journal/2006/09/17/58bi_week_ending_9102006%3A_top_10_artists Week 7: Lots of shows lately. Last weekend was the Hideout Block Party / Touch & Go Anniversary. Highlights were The Ex, Big Black, Shellac, Enon and Seam. I thought the Scratch Acid was a little overhyped and I wished it were a little tighter. Have to say that as fun as that weekend was, I'll be looking foward to the Hideout parties of old when it was a bit more of a reasonably sized crowd. Saw Pan Sonic on Wednesday and it was absolutely devestating. Best show I've seen since Kraftwerk last year. Perfect fall night, Empty Bottle 3/4 full, good opener, LOUD, shattering blasts of bass and static...sounded like the trebley sounds were just being ripped apart into sheets of white noise. Beautiful. Not a lot of listening recorded on Last.fm lately. Been obsessed with reading The End of Faith so I've not been listening to the ipod on the train.

The Top 10...

1) Dirty on Purpose - I think that Hallelujah Sirens is my album of the year so far. An unexpected treat.

2) Thom Yorke - I've been hitting The Eraser in spurts...on again, off again. It's good, but I'm probably never going to obsess about it.

3) Asobi Seksu - As I've listened more, I've beeng feeling hints of The Stone Roses (especially Nefi+Girly) and other british fuzz+pop sounds. I think I'm going to miss their show this week at Schubas which is a shame since that would be such a cool place to see them.

4) Junior Boys - JB have ended up as my top most listened to artist on last.fm. Went back to give Last Exit a refresher listen. I really overdid it on that album when it came out. It still holds up , but the new one is really growing on me. It's richer sounding and I like all the space in the songs. Still debating if I'm going to try and catch them at the Empty Bottle. I wasn't blown away last time I saw them play with Mouse on Mars, but a few years can change a lot about someone's live show.

5) Boxcutter - I still have Oneiric on rotation..

6) Helios - I think I'm going to listen to Eingya while I get my wisdom teeth pulled. The doctor said I could bring my own music and this album is so pretty...

7) Psapp - I remember exactly the context in which I listened to these 4 songs... I was looking for something happy to listen to and the child sounds were just what I needed.

8) Dabrye - I was not into the new album at all, but went back and listened to a few of my favorite tracks off Instrmntl while considering whether or not to recommend them to my friend B. He had sent me an email saying he liked the Eliot Lipp songs I put on a mix for him so I was thinking that he'd also like some Dabrye stuff. That reminds me... I should follow up to see if that worked out or not.

8) Kelley Polar - If Dirty on Purpose is not my favorite album of the year, then Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens is. If not for the two stinkers, I think that would be a masterpiece-status album.]]>