martes, 30 de diciembre de 2008

Favorites of the year

  • Favorite albums of 2008
    well as promised here are the albums i enjoyed the most this past year, theyre not in order except the last 3 , the movie list will be up tomorrow.
  • Nada Surf-Lucky(Barsuk)
    well this was a surprise for me , a band that was known for one hit song back in the 90s is making nowadays good indie rock and this album proves it worthwhile.


    Attack and Release- The black keys(Nonesuch)
    Now this is a good blues rock album, i recently got into this band and i think this is one of their best albums i may be wrong, but it may become a favorite of mine


    Mike Hale-Broken with no Hope(Asian Man)

    this could be called another album from a punk singer singing country, well it isnt, instead of turning in a country album like others have done mike hale delivers and acoustic album with great songs and lyrics that anyone can relate to.


  • The bronx-The bronx III(White Drugs)

this is a late entry, another band i discovered this year not only do they have aggresive and fast songs but they also have good old rock and roll tunes too, i think this is their most coherent and best album to date.



Mock Orange- Captain Love(Wednesday records)
This record has enough twist and turns to keep you listening


Nick Cave- Dig Lazarus Dig(Anti)
i agree with what everyone saying that this is one of the best record of the year, its pretty diverse.


Bridge and Tunnel-East/West(No Idea)


debut album from this new band with and exmember of latterman, it has various standout tracks and doesnt hold down at any minute.


Scream Hello- Everything is always still happening(Red Leader)
good debut album from a band that has taken some elements from braid and texas is the reason to make their own music that sounds fresh and different.


Cheap Girls-Find me a Drink Home(Bermuda Mohawk)
this is just a good old pop record, taking cues from the smoking popes and other bands, they make a good record that you can listen to relax on and old sunday afternoon


Portman-From here to your eyes and ears(Walnut Tree Records)
this album took me by surprise its another debut album from a band that could get up kids fans might like.







The Riot Before-Fists Buried in Pockets(Say 10)
a good old folk punk record with good songs and singalong anthems

Off with their Heads-From the Bottom(No Idea)
when you think lifes been treating you down this record could help you overcome what youre thinking or feeling, a great debut album from this band



The Casting out-Go Crazy Throw Fireworks(Self released) the debut album from the new band of nathan gray from bot sets fire fame, its just a good old melodic punk record.



Frightened Rabbit-The Mignight organ fight

just a goold old indie rock record with some folk influences.
heres the top 4.
4. The Night Marchers-See you in Magic (Vagrant)
Jhon Reis and company still know how to rock, and they show it well on this debut album from his new band
3) Smoking popes-Stay Down
the popes have done it again, after and 11 year hiatus they come back with another strong album that develops and expands on the sound shown on their last album before this one called destination failure, this album has in my opinion one of the best openers in and album this year with welcome to jainesville.2) Mogwai-The Hawk is Howling/The Copyrights- Learn the Hard way(Tie)
the new mogwai record catched my attention from start to finish a good record but not good enough for the top spot, and the copyrights record was one of my most listened record of the year , good melodies and songs, though not as good as make sound still great at its own right.





1) The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride(4AD)

the best record of the year and the best in the bands career in my opinion, not only does it have great music but also good lyrics, and jhon darnielles characteristic great storytelling.
albums that might have make the list if i had listened to them a little more
Papermoons-New tales
Shearwater-Rook
The Slackers-Self medication
Less Than Jake-GNV FLA
Chuck Ragan and Austin Lucas- Bristle Ridge

Honorable Mentions
Good Luck-Into Lake Griffy
The New Frontiers-Mending
LaGrecia-On Parallels
Lasalle-Pretty World
Paint it Black-New lexicon
Polar bear Club-Sometimes things just disappear
This will destroy you-S/T
The Futureheads-This is not the world
and others.

Best Pop-Punk Album of the year
Teenage Bottlerocket-Warning device
i think this record needed a category of its own, its really good and memorable.

viernes, 26 de diciembre de 2008

another awkward christmas

seems like every year christmas has become at least here where i live kind of boring, the same activities, the same concerts, the same everything.
i guess this blog entry is more like a kind of complaint than anything , so let me start by saying no one in the house likes crappy christmas music except my father, hes keen on letting everyone know that when this time of year arrives; he will always put the same crappy music and when any member of the family tries to play something remotely different he shuns the person and demands his music to be played at all times which at the end becomes boring and repetitive.

what else i dont know how to say this another way so here it goes, its traditional to do the novena at least thats how its said here that follows the journey of jesus from before he was born to the day he was born, my mother is very religious so its a obligation for her to do this the only relatively boring aspect of it is the christmas carols that are called villancicos here which are always the same and never change except if you look for something different or write it.

this christmas was spent watching movies, listening to music and that was it, the neigborhood where i live was deserted everyone was locked up in their houses spending the holiday eating christmas dinner and opening presents; me and my sister were bored almost all of the night so as i said before we watched some movies to get out of our boredom.

hope new years is different, ill make a best of 2008 list before the year ends too, ill have to think well what i put in it and try not to repeat bands or movies.

martes, 9 de diciembre de 2008

todays musical landscape

it seems at this modern times that music has become a joke in part, every day a new band appears trying to continue a trend thats been ran to the ground or a breaktrough band thats trying something different for a change; the problem is in todays music scene theres a predominance of the first type of bands while the other type are sometimes ignored or become overrated, or a third option make albums that can become classic for the followers of the music genre they play.

associated with this are the flavour of the week bands that sooner or later will fade while the innovative bands prevail happens, seems the media and the music business tends to prefer some bands over others which is unequal and stupid sometimes, trends will come and go but good music never fades it lives on, been talking about mainstream music in this post but havent mentioned yet the independent scene where a trend has become particular notorious along with bands that are underrated and overrated, are the hipster bands that pitchfork praises in every one of their publications and people seem to be all over this.

obviously not everyone bases their music tastes on the mainstream or whats hip in general there are a lot of people that develop their own music taste trough time, hopefully trends will end and hipster bands will disappear to leave room for the hidden talents that few now about.

comment about what you think of the music scene nowadays and music recommendations you may have