Journal

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Tennessee/tennessee-pearls-shell2.jpg

Listen Up - Part 1 - Pearls


1. Telepathe - Drugged
2. Silk Flowers - Shadows In Daylight
3. Zeigeist - Chasing Your Shadow All Around The World
4. Adjective - Masheena
5. The Autumns - Juniper Hill
6. Xiu Xiu - This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)
7. Little Girls - Concepts
8. Chapel Club - All The Eastern Girls
9. College - The Energy Story
10. Current 93 & Antony - Beautiful Dancing Dust
11. The Vanity Set - Flame
12. Violens - Violent Sensation Descends
13. The Horrors - Shadazz (Suicide)


Download:
http://www.divshare.com/folder/687041-cc6






http://img.alibaba.com/photo/100619563/Rough_Diamonds_From_Sierra_Leone.jpg

Listen Up - Part 2 - Diamonds


1. Klaus Nomi - The Cold Song
2. Strangelove - My Dark
3. Egyptian Hip Hop - Heavenly
4. A Whisper In The Noise - Hells Half Acre
5. Geneva - Into The Blue
6. Fabulous Diamonds - Track Four
7. Miike Snow - Billie Holiday
…

I’m not a fan of ranking my personal taste in music at the best of times (this site does a moderately decent attempt at that for me, anyway), and I like it even less when I suddenly decide that I can't think of anything better to do. Besides which, in order to make a ‘best of’ list, I’d have had to had the resources to acquire far more 2009 releases than I actually have. None the less, I like talking about music and being self-indulgent, so this seems a perfect opportunity to blend two hobbies.

Admittedly, I bought in excess of 100 CDs in the past year. Mostly due to the fact that I keep checking out recommendations - from this site and others - and the strike rate has been pretty high...but not being particularly rich fosters much patience, ergo I tend to concentrate on older releases, when the hype is all but over, nobody wants them anymore and they have the “I‘m Cheap, Buy Me Now!” sticker on them. Add to that the fact that a high percentage of releases I want can’t be found locally…

http://jandemessemaeker.net/music/albumcovers/thumbnails/tn_Godspeed%20You!%20Black%20Emperor-Lift%20Your%20Skinny%20Fists%20Like%20Antennas%20To%20Heaven.jpg
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven


http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/TheMagneticFields-i.jpg/200px-TheMagneticFields-i.jpg
The Magnetic Fields - i


http://991.com/newGallery/Tom-Waits-Orphans---Brawler-376899.jpg
Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards


http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/Dl4All/album4/Arctic-Monkeys-Whatever-People-Say-.jpg
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not


http://www.matadorrecords.com/images/thumbs/ole-545.250x250.jpg
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights


http://www.matadorrecords.com/images/thumbs/ole-371.250x250.jpg
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out


http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002SROSQ.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
…

Hello, 2003! This was my first full year of working at the local record store Rock-It-Man, and it shows. Total albums of 2003 nearly doubled from the previous year. This is also the first year where there's a sign that maybe another human being is instrumental in what I listen to. Sure, that human being is a kid who I've never even met in real life and lives halfway across the country. But in 2003, that's a-okay with me because the kid's got taste. And when I listen to him, it generally pays off. See #1. And #5 for that matter, since there would be no #5 if not for #1 (as weird as that might be. Nada Surf is tied to both bands, too).

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf900/f931/f93154bm0s5.jpg
1. Brand New - Deja Entendu

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg100/g100/g10088ffor2.jpg
2. The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf900/f908/f90833tjqej.jpg
3. Celebrity - Lovesick

…

Here's my list of personal favourites in 2008. Any comments are welcome.

Albums:

1. The Broken West - Now or Heaven
(just the kind of album you can listen to ten times in a row and it never gets boring, wonderful tunes, my favourite of 2008)
2. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
(certainly one of the most hyped artists this year. And „Oracular Spectacular“ is indeed a fab album. However, MGMT were this year's poorest live act)
3. Foals - Antidotes
(For no particular reason I fall asleep every time I listen to this album. Not because it’s boring...it’s just...I don’t know. I really like it and now listen to it whenever I need to take a quick nap on the train. Took me a few weeks to discover the great track #9 „Big Big Love (Fig.2)“, though ;))
4. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
(took me almost 2 years to actually get into these guys’ music. I am still not quite fond of the singer’s voice. However, their sound really grew on me over the last few months and therefore the album made it into my personal top 10 of 2008)
…