Animal Collective article that touches on themes discussed recently w/ Bri, Derek, Stu.
Jazz Albums of year, decade.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
2009 albums
10. Telekinesis - Telekinesis!
10. Here to Fall - Yo La Tengo
10. Telekinesis - Telekinesis!
9. Bowerbirds - Upper Air
8. Bosque Brown - Baby
7. Atlas Sound - Logos
6. Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II
5. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
4. Dark Was the Night Compilation
3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
2. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
2. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
1. Wye Oak - The Knot
honourable mentions: Woodpigeon "La Commission Scolaire", Viva Voce "Rose City", The Big Pink "A Brief History of Love", The Dodos "Time to Die", DOOM "Unexpected Guests"
not quite there yet:
bear in heaven, the xx,
yawn:
amy millan, asobi seksu, god help the girl, volcano choir, woods, hope sandoval
songs10. Here to Fall - Yo La Tengo
9. Catch the Light - Sin Fang Bous
8. Die A Little - Viva Voce
7. Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear
6. Lust for Life - Girls
5. Raindrops - Basement Jaxx
4. Coast of Carolina - Telekinesis
3. Stillness is the Move - Dirty Projectors
2. Seasun - Delorean
1. My Girls - Animal Collective
No time for links, more thoughts but discussion at lunch for sure. Merry Christmas to all!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Two thoughts on this. One: awesome! Two: Britons still listen to an awful lot of crap music.
Also, Derek, you recently lamented the fact that Merriwether Post Pavillion is hitting number 1 on many a critic's yearly roundup. I'm just as stumped by the ubiquitous praise for The XX, who can best be described as Stars, without guitars and seemingly, energy. Not a bad disc, and there are a few decent tracks, but despite repeated listens, it barely registers for me. Know this one charts highly on emusic so I'm wondering if any of you have listened to it and what your thoughts, impressions are?
09 list to follow shortly.
Also, Derek, you recently lamented the fact that Merriwether Post Pavillion is hitting number 1 on many a critic's yearly roundup. I'm just as stumped by the ubiquitous praise for The XX, who can best be described as Stars, without guitars and seemingly, energy. Not a bad disc, and there are a few decent tracks, but despite repeated listens, it barely registers for me. Know this one charts highly on emusic so I'm wondering if any of you have listened to it and what your thoughts, impressions are?
09 list to follow shortly.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I think the strength of "My Girls" , easily my favourite of 09, along with the fact that this album is mostly joyful, almost accessible, has critics fawning. "Summertime Clothes" is a pretty great track, too, though I'll agree with you that there are many skippable tracks on the disc. To be in the top 10, if not number 1, you should at least be enjoyable all the way through. Though compared to Nickelback...
Wow. Best of the decade! Suppose I could magnanimously shrug and say, "To each his own..." but jesus h. Kind of like being told that the best restaurant of the decade is the Mandarin Buffet. I don't think I've been this disappointed in humanity since the re-election of George W. Bush.
I knew if I waited long enough I wouldn't have to think too hard about Brian's query of a week ago. Thank you Billboard magazine for nailing it for us.
I give you Canada's finest.
And just wondering. Why is everyone drooling over Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavilion". I don't think I've seen a single best of 2009 list yet that didn't have this as #1. I listened to it again today at work and it still seems like a fairly mediocre album to these ears.
I give you Canada's finest.
And just wondering. Why is everyone drooling over Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavilion". I don't think I've seen a single best of 2009 list yet that didn't have this as #1. I listened to it again today at work and it still seems like a fairly mediocre album to these ears.
Annual compilation of band names courtesy of the Onion. Though I'm not in a band, I did have an idea for one on Saturday, courtesy of a Toronto Sun headline, which read, "FIRST SEX, NOW BEER". I don't know, and I don't care to know, what I was supposed to be outraged about (taxes? public officials expenses?), but I thought that would make a great name for a band (as well as a great to-do list).
Monday, December 14, 2009
Hey, someone actually read through my methodology explanation. Well done. And yes, I did divide all of the albums by six but just posted the top 30. Looking through the numbers a second time though, it seems I didn't add all of them correctly the first time. Here's (what should be the correct) totals for all albums listed with scoring:
Rank/Artist&Album/Score
1 Arcade Fire, Funeral 82.4
2 Decemberists Picaresque 80.7
3 Hour of the BewilderbeastBadly Drawn Boy 62.6
4 Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise 57.9
5 Arcade Fire Neon Bible 57.8
6 Broken Social Scene, You Forgot it in People 57.3
7 The Strokes – Is this it? 53.4
8 Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 48.4
9 Yo la Tengo And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out 44.5
10 Strokes Room On Fire 43.9
11 Beck Sea Change 41.2
12 Radiohead In Rainbows 39.7
13 St Germain, Tourist 39.4
14 Chutes Too NarrowThe Shins 38.2
15 Kanye West Late Registration 37.9
16 Band Of Horses Everything All The Time 31.9
17 Kid ARadiohead 31.5
18 Bon Iver For Emma 29.7
19 Waltz for KoopKoop 29.6
20 Feast of WireCalexico 29.3
21 Yoshimi Battles the Pink RobotsThe Flaming Lips 29.1
22 Fox Confessor Brings the FloodNeko Case 29.0
23 TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain 29.0
24 Set Yourself on FireStars 28.4
25 MIA Arular 28.1
26 Bows + ArrowsThe Walkmen 28.0
27 Sigur Ros Takk 27.4
28 Suba Sao Paolo Confessions 27.2
29 The Pernice Brothers The World Wont End 27.1
30 The Microphones – The Glow Part 2 24.7
31 Antics Interpol 24.5
32 The Electric VersionThe New Pornographers 23.9
33 Feist The Reminder 23.7
34 MadvillainyMadvillian 22.8
35 Mum Finally We Are No One 22.5
36 Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill 22.3
37 Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days 21.4
38 Clinic, Walking With Thee 21.2
39 Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker 20.7
40 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head 20.5
41 My Morning Jacket - Z 20.0
42 Since I Left YouThe Avalanches 19.7
43 Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump 19.7
44 Lilly Allen Alright Still 19.2
45 K-os Joyful Rebellion 18.8
46 The Kingsbury Manx – The Fast Rise and Fall of the South 18.6
47 Midlake – Trials of Van Occupanther 17.7
48 Jack Johnson, Thicker Than Water 16.5
49 Bruce Springsteen - The Rising 16.3
50 Antibalas, Talkatif 16.3
51 Belle & Sebastian Fold Your Hands Child .. 15.8
52 Steve Earle - Jerusalem 15.7
53 Getatchew Mekuria, The Ex and Guests, Moa Anbessa 15.7
54 Destroyer Streethawk: A Seduction 15.6
55 Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes 15.5
56 Neko Case Blacklisted 15.3
57 Tom Waits - Alice 15.3
58 Soil and Pimp Sessions, Pimp of the Year 15.2
59 Bugge Wesseltoft, Moving 15.0
60 Moby 18 15.0
61 Lyle Lovett - My Baby Don’t Tolerate 15.0
62 Guided By Voices – Isolation Drills 15.0
63 Johnny Cash American IV The Man Comes Around 14.9
64 Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child 14.7
65 Brad Mehldau, Live in Tokyo 14.6
66 Animal Collective – Feels 14.6
67 The Grey AlbumDanger Mouse 14.5
68 New Pornographers Twin Cinema 14.5
69 Teenage Fanclub – Man Made 14.4
70 Feist - Let It Die 14.4
71 Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers 14.3
72 Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts 14.2
73 Jay Farrar Terroir Blues 14.2
74 Damien Jurado – And Now that I’m in your Shadow 14.2
75 The Lucksmiths Warmer Corners 14.1
76 Josh Ritter - Hello Starling 14.0
77 The Streets Orignal Pirate Material 13.9
78 Kings of Convenience – Quiet is the New Loud 13.8
79 Gotan Project, La Revancha Del Tango 13.8
80 Air Virgin Suicides 13.7
81 Garbage - Beautiful Garbage 13.7
82 David Gray - A New Day at Midnight 13.7
83 Matt Pond – The Green Fury 13.6
84 The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone 13.5
85 Franz Ferdinand 13.4
86 Death Cab for Cutie, Plans 13.4
87 Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions 13.3
88 Simple Things Zero 7 13.3
89 TV on the Radio Dear Science 13.3
90 Jack Johnson, Brushfire Fairytales 13.2
91 Speakerboxx/The Love BelowOutkast 13.2
92 Beulah – The Coast is Never Clear 13.2
93 Sigur Ros, () 13.0
94 Coldplay - X&Y 13.0
95 Figure 8 Elliot Smith 13.0
96 Clinic Internal Wrangler 12.8
97 Melody A.M. Royksopp 12.7
98 Peter Gabriel Up 12.7
99 R.E.M. - Reveal 12.7
100 King Geedorah Take Me to Your Leader 12.7
101 Beck Guero 12.6
102 Wilco, A Ghost is Born 12.6
103 John Cunningham – Happy Go Unlucky 12.5
104 Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia The Dandy Warhols 12.5
105 Wolf Parade Aplogies to Queen Mary 12.5
106 Destroyer Streethawk 12.4
107 Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights 12.3
108 U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind 12.3
109 VeneerJose Gonzalez 12.3
110 Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha 12.3
111 Okkervil River – The Stage Names 12.3
112 Patty Griffin Children Running Through 12.2
113 Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia 12.2
114 Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree 12.2
115 Archer Prewitt – Gerroa Songs 12.1
116 The Wrens Meadowland 12.0
117 The New Pornographers, Mass Romantic 12.0
118 Pawa Up First, Introducing New Details 11.8
119 Delgados The Great Eastern 11.7
120 Cast of ThousandsElbow 11.7
121 The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts 11.7
122 Viktor Vaughan Vaudeville Villain 11.6
123 South, From Here On In 11.6
124 Sparklehorse It’s a Wonderful Life 11.6
125 Field Music – Tones of Town 11.5
126 Sao Paulo Confessions Suba 11.5
127 Bebel Gilberto, Tanto Tempo 11.4
128 Novillero – Aim Right For the Holes in their Lives 11.4
129 The Go Betweens Oceans Apart 11.4
130 Ivy Long Distence 11.3
131 Soil and Pimp Sessions, Pimp Master 11.2
132 Pushin' OnQuantic Soul Orchestra 11.2
133 Jolie Holland, Escondida 11.0
134 Bugge Wesseltoft, New conceptions of Jazz 11.0
135 Lil Wayne Tha Carter III 10.9
136 The Bicycles – the Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly 10.9
137 Calexico Garden Ruin 10.8
138 The Headlights – Some Racing Some Stopping 10.7
139 The National Boxer 10.7
140 The Waterboys - A Rock in the Weary Land 10.7
141 Field Music Field Music 10.6
142 Juliana Hatfield – Beautiful Creature 10.6
143 Specialist in All StylesOrchestra Baobob 10.5
144 M Ward Transfiguration Of Vincent 10.4
145 Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends 10.4
146 Sonic Youth Murray Street 10.3
147 David Pajo Pajo 10.2
148 TransatlanticismDeath Cab for Cutie 10.2
149 Bright Eyes Digital Ash in a Digital Urn 10.1
150 Dandy Warhols 13 Tales… 10.0
151 Ga Ga Ga Ga GaSpoon 10.0
152 M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts 10.0
153 Movietone – Blossom Filled Streets 10.0
154 Radiohead - Hail To The Thief 10.0
155 Zero Seven, Simple Things 10.0
156 Young people – All at Once 9.9
157 Vieux Farka Toure Vieux Farka Toure 9.8
158 Echospace The Coldest Season 9.8
159 The Stills Logic Will Break Your Heart 9.8
160 New Buffalo – Somewhere Anywhere 9.7
161 Suzanne Vega - Songs In Red And Gray 9.7
162 Tapes n Tapes – The Loon 9.6
163 Nick Lowe The Convincer 9.6
164 Femi Kuti, Fight To Win 9.6
165 Post-WarM.Ward 9.5
166 The Deerhof – The Runners Four 9.5
167 Last Days of April – If You Lose It 9.4
168 Eivind Aarset, Connected 9.3
169 M. Ward The Transfiguration of Vincent 9.3
170 John Fogerty - Revival 9.3
171 The City Fembots 9.3
172 Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit 9.3
173 Low – Things We Lost in the Fire 9.3
174 Junior Boys So This is Goodbye 9.2
175 Person Pitch Panda Bear 9.2
176 Amon Tobin, Supermodified 9.1
177 Leisure Society – Sleeper 9.1
178 Richard Buckner The Hill 9.1
179 Land of Talk – Some are Lakes 9.0
180 The Horrors Primary Colours 9.0
181 Kathleen Edwards - Failer 9.0
182 Four Hero, Creating Patterns 8.9
183 Radiohead Amnesiac 8.9
184 The Teeth - Your're My Lover Now 8.8
185 Ladytron, Witching Hour 8.7
186 Do Make Say Think - You, You're a History in Rust 8.7
187 Foreign Exchange Connected 8.7
188 American Analog Set - Know By Heart 8.6
189 Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat 8.6
190 Tujiko Noriko From Tokyo to Niagara 8.5
191 Antibalas, Who is This America 8.5
192 Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder 8.5
193 Oh, Inverted World The Shins 8.5
194 Two Minute Miracles Volume II 8.5
195 Sun Kill Moon Ghosts of the Great highway 8.4
196 Imperial Teen - The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band 8.4
197 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours 8.4
198 Better Than Ezra - Closer 8.3
199 Bugge Wesseltoft, IM 8.3
200 Rachels Systems layers 8.2
201 The Life PursuitBelle and Sebastian 8.2
202 Bonobo, Animal Magic 8.1
203 Aimee Mann Bachelor # 2 8.0
204 Parc Avenue Plants & Animals 8.0
205 Lucinda Williams - Essence 7.9
206 The Antlers Hospice 7.8
207 Soil and Pimp Sessions, Pimpoint 7.7
208 Black Sheep Boy Okkervil River 7.7
209 Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline 7.7
210 Bonnie prince Billy Greatest Palace Music 7.6
211 One BedroomThe Sea and Cake 7.5
212 Alligator The National 7.3
213 Over the Rhine - Live From Nowhere Volume One 7.3
214 Steve Earle Transcendental Blues 7.3
215 Beastie Boys, To the Boroughs 7.3
216 Outkast, Stankonia 7.1
217 Bright Eyes Cassadaga 7.1
218 Andorra Caribou 7.0
219 Cat Power The Greatest 6.9
220 Five Roses Miracle Fortress 6.8
221 Spoon, Gimme Fiction 6.7
222 The EraserThom Yorke 6.7
223 The Walkabouts - Drunken Soundtracks 6.7
224 The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse The Besnard Lakes 6.5
225 Grant Lee Phillips Virginia Creeper 6.4
226 David Gray - Life in Slow Motion 6.3
227 Do Make say Think, & Yet & Yet 6.3
228 Max Richter Blue Notebooks 6.2
229 MicrocastleDeerhunter 6.2
230 I'm Wide Awake, It's MorningBright Eyes 6.0
231 Julie Doiron Goodnight Nobody 6.0
232 Back to Black Amy Winehouse 5.8
233 Luna Rondezvous 5.8
234 Steve Earle - Just an American Boy 5.7
235 Antibalas, Security 5.5
236 James Blackshaw Litany Of Echoes 5.3
237 PosesRufus Wainwright 5.3
238 Rheostatics - Night of the Shooting Stars 5.3
239 Built to Spill, You in Reverse 5.3
240 The Long GoodbyeThe Essex Green 5.2
241 Mogwai Happy Songs for happy People 5.1
242 The White Stripes, Elephant 5.1
243 Rings Around the WorldSuper Furry Animals 5.0
244 The Rosebuds - Life Like 5.0
245 Mojave 3 Excuses For Travellers 4.9
246 Before the Dawn Heals Us M83 4.8
247 Jack Johnson, On and On 4.7
248 Max Avery Lichtenstein Tarnation Soundtrack 4.7
249 Close to ParadisePatrick Watson 4.5
250 Natalie Merchant Motherland 4.4
251 Dzihan & Kamien, Freaks and Icons 4.3
252 Nick Cave The Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues 4.2
253 Cibelle Cibelle 4.2
254 Guided By Voices, Earthquake Glue 4.1
255 Good News for People Who Like Bad News Modest Mouse 4.0
256 Peter Bjorn & John Writers Block 4.0
257 The Waterboys - Fisherman’s Blues, Part 2 4.0
258 Eivind Aarset, Electonique Noire 3.9
259 What We Must Jaga Jazzist 3.8
260 The Real Tuesday Weld I Lucifer 3.8
261 Thievery Corporation, The Mirror Conspiracy 3.7
262 From Here We Go SublimeThe Field 3.5
263 Hawaii 3.5
264 Warren Zevon - The Wind 3.3
265 Moby, Hotel 3.3
266 PhrenologyThe Roots 3.2
267 Linda Thompson Fashionable Late 3.1
268 Sergio Mendes, Timeless 3.0
269 Cease to BeginBand of Horses 3.0
270 Lloyd Cole - Anti Depressant 3.0
271 Amy Winehouse Back To Black 2.9
272 Cody Chestnut The Headphone Masterpieces 2.7
273 The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin , Vol. 1Ben Benjamen 2.7
274 Todd Snider - Happy to Be Here 2.7
275 Sam Roberts, Chemical City 2.6
276 Lust Lust Lust Raveonettes 2.5
277 Bonobo Animal Magic 2.4
278 Explosions in the Sky, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Plan 2.4
279 DeadringerRJD2 2.3
280 Jack Johnson, In Between Dreams 2.2
281 Bitte Orca Dirty Projectors 2.2
282 Gnarles Barkley, St Elseware 2.0
283 Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to HeavenGodspeed You Black Emperor 2.0
284 The Visualz Anthology Siah & Yeshua 1.8
285 Hope Sandaval, Bavarian Fruit Bread 1.8
286 Michael Andrews You And Me And Every One We Know 1.8
287 Len Parrot's Memorial LiftBaxter Dury 1.7
288 Paul Simon - Surprise 1.7
289 Banca de Gaia, Last Train to Lhasa 1.6
290 Eminem The Eminem Show 1.6
291 Silent AlarmBloc Party 1.5
292 Snow Patrol, Final Straw 1.4
293 Scott Merritt - Detour Home 1.3
294 Vekatimist Grizzly Bear 1.3
295 Nils Petter Molvaer, er 1.2
296 In Ghost Colours Cut Copy 1.2
297 Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime 1.0
298 War of the Waking PhantomsThe High Dials 0.8
299 Joseph Malik, Diverse 0.8
300 Bob Geldof - Sex, Age & Death 0.7
301 Cinematic orchestra Every day 0.7
302 Manitoba, Start Breaking my Heart 0.6
303 And Yet And YetDo Make Say Think 0.5
304 Gillian Welch Time The Revelator 0.4
305 Berlin SerengetiRadio Citizen 0.3
306 The Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here 0.3
307 Shout Out Louds, Howl Howl, Gaff Gaff (late addition not sequenced) 0.2
308 Blueberry BoatFiery Furnaces 0.2
Other stats:
Album that appeared on all 6 lists: Picaresque - The Decemberists
Albums that appeared on 5 lists: Funeral - Arcade Fire, Neon Bible - Arcade Fire, Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
Albums that appeared on 4 lists: Hour of the Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy, You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene, Is This It? - The Strokes, Set Yourself On Fire - Stars
Albums that appeared on 3 lists: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out - Yo La Tengo, Finally We Are No One - Mum, Chutes Too Narrow - The Shins, Sea Change - Beck, Room on Fire - The Strokes, Trials of the Van Occupanther - Midlake, Late Registration - Kanye West, Bows + Arrows, The Walkmen, For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver, The Reminder - Feist, Arular - MIA, Kid A - Radiohead, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Albums that appeared on 2 lists: Tourist - St. Germain, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Everything All the Time - Band of Horses, Feast of Wire - Calexico, Waltz for Koop - Koop, Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips, Takk - Sigur Ros, The Electric Version - The New Pornographers, Antics - Interpol, Walking With Thee - Clinic, The Glow Pt. 2 - The Microphones, Madvillainy - Madvillain, The Sophtware Slump - Grandaddy, Joyful Rebellion - K-os, Our Endless Numbered Days - Iron & Wine, The Fast Rise and Fall of the South - The Kingsbury Manx, Since I Left You - The Avalanches, 18 - Moby, Sao Paolo Confessions - Suba, Let It Die - Feist, Z - My Morning Jacket, Tanto Tempo - Bebel Gilberto, A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay, Feels - Animal Collective, Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand, The Stage Names - Okkervil River, The Great Eastern - The Delgados, Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes, Guero - Beck
Rank/Artist&Album/Score
1 Arcade Fire, Funeral 82.4
2 Decemberists Picaresque 80.7
3 Hour of the BewilderbeastBadly Drawn Boy 62.6
4 Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise 57.9
5 Arcade Fire Neon Bible 57.8
6 Broken Social Scene, You Forgot it in People 57.3
7 The Strokes – Is this it? 53.4
8 Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 48.4
9 Yo la Tengo And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out 44.5
10 Strokes Room On Fire 43.9
11 Beck Sea Change 41.2
12 Radiohead In Rainbows 39.7
13 St Germain, Tourist 39.4
14 Chutes Too NarrowThe Shins 38.2
15 Kanye West Late Registration 37.9
16 Band Of Horses Everything All The Time 31.9
17 Kid ARadiohead 31.5
18 Bon Iver For Emma 29.7
19 Waltz for KoopKoop 29.6
20 Feast of WireCalexico 29.3
21 Yoshimi Battles the Pink RobotsThe Flaming Lips 29.1
22 Fox Confessor Brings the FloodNeko Case 29.0
23 TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain 29.0
24 Set Yourself on FireStars 28.4
25 MIA Arular 28.1
26 Bows + ArrowsThe Walkmen 28.0
27 Sigur Ros Takk 27.4
28 Suba Sao Paolo Confessions 27.2
29 The Pernice Brothers The World Wont End 27.1
30 The Microphones – The Glow Part 2 24.7
31 Antics Interpol 24.5
32 The Electric VersionThe New Pornographers 23.9
33 Feist The Reminder 23.7
34 MadvillainyMadvillian 22.8
35 Mum Finally We Are No One 22.5
36 Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill 22.3
37 Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days 21.4
38 Clinic, Walking With Thee 21.2
39 Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker 20.7
40 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head 20.5
41 My Morning Jacket - Z 20.0
42 Since I Left YouThe Avalanches 19.7
43 Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump 19.7
44 Lilly Allen Alright Still 19.2
45 K-os Joyful Rebellion 18.8
46 The Kingsbury Manx – The Fast Rise and Fall of the South 18.6
47 Midlake – Trials of Van Occupanther 17.7
48 Jack Johnson, Thicker Than Water 16.5
49 Bruce Springsteen - The Rising 16.3
50 Antibalas, Talkatif 16.3
51 Belle & Sebastian Fold Your Hands Child .. 15.8
52 Steve Earle - Jerusalem 15.7
53 Getatchew Mekuria, The Ex and Guests, Moa Anbessa 15.7
54 Destroyer Streethawk: A Seduction 15.6
55 Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes 15.5
56 Neko Case Blacklisted 15.3
57 Tom Waits - Alice 15.3
58 Soil and Pimp Sessions, Pimp of the Year 15.2
59 Bugge Wesseltoft, Moving 15.0
60 Moby 18 15.0
61 Lyle Lovett - My Baby Don’t Tolerate 15.0
62 Guided By Voices – Isolation Drills 15.0
63 Johnny Cash American IV The Man Comes Around 14.9
64 Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child 14.7
65 Brad Mehldau, Live in Tokyo 14.6
66 Animal Collective – Feels 14.6
67 The Grey AlbumDanger Mouse 14.5
68 New Pornographers Twin Cinema 14.5
69 Teenage Fanclub – Man Made 14.4
70 Feist - Let It Die 14.4
71 Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers 14.3
72 Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts 14.2
73 Jay Farrar Terroir Blues 14.2
74 Damien Jurado – And Now that I’m in your Shadow 14.2
75 The Lucksmiths Warmer Corners 14.1
76 Josh Ritter - Hello Starling 14.0
77 The Streets Orignal Pirate Material 13.9
78 Kings of Convenience – Quiet is the New Loud 13.8
79 Gotan Project, La Revancha Del Tango 13.8
80 Air Virgin Suicides 13.7
81 Garbage - Beautiful Garbage 13.7
82 David Gray - A New Day at Midnight 13.7
83 Matt Pond – The Green Fury 13.6
84 The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone 13.5
85 Franz Ferdinand 13.4
86 Death Cab for Cutie, Plans 13.4
87 Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions 13.3
88 Simple Things Zero 7 13.3
89 TV on the Radio Dear Science 13.3
90 Jack Johnson, Brushfire Fairytales 13.2
91 Speakerboxx/The Love BelowOutkast 13.2
92 Beulah – The Coast is Never Clear 13.2
93 Sigur Ros, () 13.0
94 Coldplay - X&Y 13.0
95 Figure 8 Elliot Smith 13.0
96 Clinic Internal Wrangler 12.8
97 Melody A.M. Royksopp 12.7
98 Peter Gabriel Up 12.7
99 R.E.M. - Reveal 12.7
100 King Geedorah Take Me to Your Leader 12.7
101 Beck Guero 12.6
102 Wilco, A Ghost is Born 12.6
103 John Cunningham – Happy Go Unlucky 12.5
104 Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia The Dandy Warhols 12.5
105 Wolf Parade Aplogies to Queen Mary 12.5
106 Destroyer Streethawk 12.4
107 Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights 12.3
108 U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind 12.3
109 VeneerJose Gonzalez 12.3
110 Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha 12.3
111 Okkervil River – The Stage Names 12.3
112 Patty Griffin Children Running Through 12.2
113 Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia 12.2
114 Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree 12.2
115 Archer Prewitt – Gerroa Songs 12.1
116 The Wrens Meadowland 12.0
117 The New Pornographers, Mass Romantic 12.0
118 Pawa Up First, Introducing New Details 11.8
119 Delgados The Great Eastern 11.7
120 Cast of ThousandsElbow 11.7
121 The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts 11.7
122 Viktor Vaughan Vaudeville Villain 11.6
123 South, From Here On In 11.6
124 Sparklehorse It’s a Wonderful Life 11.6
125 Field Music – Tones of Town 11.5
126 Sao Paulo Confessions Suba 11.5
127 Bebel Gilberto, Tanto Tempo 11.4
128 Novillero – Aim Right For the Holes in their Lives 11.4
129 The Go Betweens Oceans Apart 11.4
130 Ivy Long Distence 11.3
131 Soil and Pimp Sessions, Pimp Master 11.2
132 Pushin' OnQuantic Soul Orchestra 11.2
133 Jolie Holland, Escondida 11.0
134 Bugge Wesseltoft, New conceptions of Jazz 11.0
135 Lil Wayne Tha Carter III 10.9
136 The Bicycles – the Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly 10.9
137 Calexico Garden Ruin 10.8
138 The Headlights – Some Racing Some Stopping 10.7
139 The National Boxer 10.7
140 The Waterboys - A Rock in the Weary Land 10.7
141 Field Music Field Music 10.6
142 Juliana Hatfield – Beautiful Creature 10.6
143 Specialist in All StylesOrchestra Baobob 10.5
144 M Ward Transfiguration Of Vincent 10.4
145 Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends 10.4
146 Sonic Youth Murray Street 10.3
147 David Pajo Pajo 10.2
148 TransatlanticismDeath Cab for Cutie 10.2
149 Bright Eyes Digital Ash in a Digital Urn 10.1
150 Dandy Warhols 13 Tales… 10.0
151 Ga Ga Ga Ga GaSpoon 10.0
152 M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts 10.0
153 Movietone – Blossom Filled Streets 10.0
154 Radiohead - Hail To The Thief 10.0
155 Zero Seven, Simple Things 10.0
156 Young people – All at Once 9.9
157 Vieux Farka Toure Vieux Farka Toure 9.8
158 Echospace The Coldest Season 9.8
159 The Stills Logic Will Break Your Heart 9.8
160 New Buffalo – Somewhere Anywhere 9.7
161 Suzanne Vega - Songs In Red And Gray 9.7
162 Tapes n Tapes – The Loon 9.6
163 Nick Lowe The Convincer 9.6
164 Femi Kuti, Fight To Win 9.6
165 Post-WarM.Ward 9.5
166 The Deerhof – The Runners Four 9.5
167 Last Days of April – If You Lose It 9.4
168 Eivind Aarset, Connected 9.3
169 M. Ward The Transfiguration of Vincent 9.3
170 John Fogerty - Revival 9.3
171 The City Fembots 9.3
172 Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit 9.3
173 Low – Things We Lost in the Fire 9.3
174 Junior Boys So This is Goodbye 9.2
175 Person Pitch Panda Bear 9.2
176 Amon Tobin, Supermodified 9.1
177 Leisure Society – Sleeper 9.1
178 Richard Buckner The Hill 9.1
179 Land of Talk – Some are Lakes 9.0
180 The Horrors Primary Colours 9.0
181 Kathleen Edwards - Failer 9.0
182 Four Hero, Creating Patterns 8.9
183 Radiohead Amnesiac 8.9
184 The Teeth - Your're My Lover Now 8.8
185 Ladytron, Witching Hour 8.7
186 Do Make Say Think - You, You're a History in Rust 8.7
187 Foreign Exchange Connected 8.7
188 American Analog Set - Know By Heart 8.6
189 Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat 8.6
190 Tujiko Noriko From Tokyo to Niagara 8.5
191 Antibalas, Who is This America 8.5
192 Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder 8.5
193 Oh, Inverted World The Shins 8.5
194 Two Minute Miracles Volume II 8.5
195 Sun Kill Moon Ghosts of the Great highway 8.4
196 Imperial Teen - The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band 8.4
197 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours 8.4
198 Better Than Ezra - Closer 8.3
199 Bugge Wesseltoft, IM 8.3
200 Rachels Systems layers 8.2
201 The Life PursuitBelle and Sebastian 8.2
202 Bonobo, Animal Magic 8.1
203 Aimee Mann Bachelor # 2 8.0
204 Parc Avenue Plants & Animals 8.0
205 Lucinda Williams - Essence 7.9
206 The Antlers Hospice 7.8
207 Soil and Pimp Sessions, Pimpoint 7.7
208 Black Sheep Boy Okkervil River 7.7
209 Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline 7.7
210 Bonnie prince Billy Greatest Palace Music 7.6
211 One BedroomThe Sea and Cake 7.5
212 Alligator The National 7.3
213 Over the Rhine - Live From Nowhere Volume One 7.3
214 Steve Earle Transcendental Blues 7.3
215 Beastie Boys, To the Boroughs 7.3
216 Outkast, Stankonia 7.1
217 Bright Eyes Cassadaga 7.1
218 Andorra Caribou 7.0
219 Cat Power The Greatest 6.9
220 Five Roses Miracle Fortress 6.8
221 Spoon, Gimme Fiction 6.7
222 The EraserThom Yorke 6.7
223 The Walkabouts - Drunken Soundtracks 6.7
224 The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse The Besnard Lakes 6.5
225 Grant Lee Phillips Virginia Creeper 6.4
226 David Gray - Life in Slow Motion 6.3
227 Do Make say Think, & Yet & Yet 6.3
228 Max Richter Blue Notebooks 6.2
229 MicrocastleDeerhunter 6.2
230 I'm Wide Awake, It's MorningBright Eyes 6.0
231 Julie Doiron Goodnight Nobody 6.0
232 Back to Black Amy Winehouse 5.8
233 Luna Rondezvous 5.8
234 Steve Earle - Just an American Boy 5.7
235 Antibalas, Security 5.5
236 James Blackshaw Litany Of Echoes 5.3
237 PosesRufus Wainwright 5.3
238 Rheostatics - Night of the Shooting Stars 5.3
239 Built to Spill, You in Reverse 5.3
240 The Long GoodbyeThe Essex Green 5.2
241 Mogwai Happy Songs for happy People 5.1
242 The White Stripes, Elephant 5.1
243 Rings Around the WorldSuper Furry Animals 5.0
244 The Rosebuds - Life Like 5.0
245 Mojave 3 Excuses For Travellers 4.9
246 Before the Dawn Heals Us M83 4.8
247 Jack Johnson, On and On 4.7
248 Max Avery Lichtenstein Tarnation Soundtrack 4.7
249 Close to ParadisePatrick Watson 4.5
250 Natalie Merchant Motherland 4.4
251 Dzihan & Kamien, Freaks and Icons 4.3
252 Nick Cave The Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues 4.2
253 Cibelle Cibelle 4.2
254 Guided By Voices, Earthquake Glue 4.1
255 Good News for People Who Like Bad News Modest Mouse 4.0
256 Peter Bjorn & John Writers Block 4.0
257 The Waterboys - Fisherman’s Blues, Part 2 4.0
258 Eivind Aarset, Electonique Noire 3.9
259 What We Must Jaga Jazzist 3.8
260 The Real Tuesday Weld I Lucifer 3.8
261 Thievery Corporation, The Mirror Conspiracy 3.7
262 From Here We Go SublimeThe Field 3.5
263 Hawaii 3.5
264 Warren Zevon - The Wind 3.3
265 Moby, Hotel 3.3
266 PhrenologyThe Roots 3.2
267 Linda Thompson Fashionable Late 3.1
268 Sergio Mendes, Timeless 3.0
269 Cease to BeginBand of Horses 3.0
270 Lloyd Cole - Anti Depressant 3.0
271 Amy Winehouse Back To Black 2.9
272 Cody Chestnut The Headphone Masterpieces 2.7
273 The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin , Vol. 1Ben Benjamen 2.7
274 Todd Snider - Happy to Be Here 2.7
275 Sam Roberts, Chemical City 2.6
276 Lust Lust Lust Raveonettes 2.5
277 Bonobo Animal Magic 2.4
278 Explosions in the Sky, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Plan 2.4
279 DeadringerRJD2 2.3
280 Jack Johnson, In Between Dreams 2.2
281 Bitte Orca Dirty Projectors 2.2
282 Gnarles Barkley, St Elseware 2.0
283 Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to HeavenGodspeed You Black Emperor 2.0
284 The Visualz Anthology Siah & Yeshua 1.8
285 Hope Sandaval, Bavarian Fruit Bread 1.8
286 Michael Andrews You And Me And Every One We Know 1.8
287 Len Parrot's Memorial LiftBaxter Dury 1.7
288 Paul Simon - Surprise 1.7
289 Banca de Gaia, Last Train to Lhasa 1.6
290 Eminem The Eminem Show 1.6
291 Silent AlarmBloc Party 1.5
292 Snow Patrol, Final Straw 1.4
293 Scott Merritt - Detour Home 1.3
294 Vekatimist Grizzly Bear 1.3
295 Nils Petter Molvaer, er 1.2
296 In Ghost Colours Cut Copy 1.2
297 Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime 1.0
298 War of the Waking PhantomsThe High Dials 0.8
299 Joseph Malik, Diverse 0.8
300 Bob Geldof - Sex, Age & Death 0.7
301 Cinematic orchestra Every day 0.7
302 Manitoba, Start Breaking my Heart 0.6
303 And Yet And YetDo Make Say Think 0.5
304 Gillian Welch Time The Revelator 0.4
305 Berlin SerengetiRadio Citizen 0.3
306 The Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here 0.3
307 Shout Out Louds, Howl Howl, Gaff Gaff (late addition not sequenced) 0.2
308 Blueberry BoatFiery Furnaces 0.2
Other stats:
Album that appeared on all 6 lists: Picaresque - The Decemberists
Albums that appeared on 5 lists: Funeral - Arcade Fire, Neon Bible - Arcade Fire, Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
Albums that appeared on 4 lists: Hour of the Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy, You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene, Is This It? - The Strokes, Set Yourself On Fire - Stars
Albums that appeared on 3 lists: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out - Yo La Tengo, Finally We Are No One - Mum, Chutes Too Narrow - The Shins, Sea Change - Beck, Room on Fire - The Strokes, Trials of the Van Occupanther - Midlake, Late Registration - Kanye West, Bows + Arrows, The Walkmen, For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver, The Reminder - Feist, Arular - MIA, Kid A - Radiohead, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Albums that appeared on 2 lists: Tourist - St. Germain, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Everything All the Time - Band of Horses, Feast of Wire - Calexico, Waltz for Koop - Koop, Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips, Takk - Sigur Ros, The Electric Version - The New Pornographers, Antics - Interpol, Walking With Thee - Clinic, The Glow Pt. 2 - The Microphones, Madvillainy - Madvillain, The Sophtware Slump - Grandaddy, Joyful Rebellion - K-os, Our Endless Numbered Days - Iron & Wine, The Fast Rise and Fall of the South - The Kingsbury Manx, Since I Left You - The Avalanches, 18 - Moby, Sao Paolo Confessions - Suba, Let It Die - Feist, Z - My Morning Jacket, Tanto Tempo - Bebel Gilberto, A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay, Feels - Animal Collective, Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand, The Stage Names - Okkervil River, The Great Eastern - The Delgados, Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes, Guero - Beck
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Kyle, I always knew you had a stats nerd in you. Well done. My only question in your arcane methodology as outlined, is the step where you divide the scores of the albums that appear on multiple lists by six. If I'm getting you correctly, I think that wouldn't reward those albums for multiple recognition, unless you also divided all albums' combined scores by six (ie: with an implied score of 0 from the bloggers who didn't have them on their list). Maybe you did that.........not sure.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
I missed the millennial roundup in '99, opting to spend that weekend getting high in montreal. Apparently, that was a less self-destructive road taken, if your memories of the meeting conjured up images of this.
Um, so you and Brian came up with complex contest rules and statistical formulas when you were drunk? Going to have to raise my game next time out: slurring just won't cut it.
Like your idea. Agree that it's preferable to a 'here's why i chose radiohead's ____', a superfluous undertaking at this point, surely. We'll just have to come up with a process that everyone can follow, throughout various degrees of sobriety.
Since we're talking about weighted values, let me say that I'm struggling a bit with my analysis of the lists. Would that I had paid more attention in 2nd year Statistics, a course for which I celebrated wildly upon barely receiving a passing grade, but have now retained zero knowledge.
Maybe one of you can assist.
I went ahead and ranked each list in order, then decided that the #1 entry on each list would be assigned the highest possible points in the ranking (i.e. if it was #1 of 100 entries, then it would be assigned 100, if #2, then 99, if #3, then 98, etc.), then divided the assigned number by the highest ranking and multiplied by 100. Bear with me. So the #1 entry ends up being 100.0, and #2 99.0, etc. It therefore takes into account those lists that are ordered out of say, 50, or 75 or 45.
I then added up the scores for those that appeared on the list more than once and then divided this number by 6 (the total number of lists). I then ranked these scores to come up with the resulting list of our top 30 of the 2000s, by consensus:
1) Arcade Fire - Funeral
2) Decemberists - Picaresque
3) Badly Drawn Boy - Hour of the Bewilderbeast
4) Sufjan - Illinoise
5) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
6) Strokes - IsthisIt?
7) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
8) Broken Social Scene - youforgotit
9) Calexico - Feast of Wire
10) Strokes - Room on Fire
11) Beck - Seachange
12) Radiohead - In Rainbows
13) Tourist - St. Germain
14) Suba - Sao Paolo Confessions
15) The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
16) Band of Horses - EverythingAllthetime
17) Radiohead Kid A
18) Koop - Waltz for Koop
19) Flaming Lips -yoshimi
20) TV on the Radio - Cookie Mtn
21) Stars -Set Yourself on Fire
22) Sigur Ros - Takk
23) The Microphones - The Glow pt.2
24) The New Pornographers - The Electric Version
25) Madvillian - Madvillainy
26) Elliot Smith - Basement Hill
27) My Morning Jacket - Z
28) Grandaddy - Sophware Slump
29) Kos - joyful rebellion
30) Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Let me know what I've done wrong (specific to above).
Um, so you and Brian came up with complex contest rules and statistical formulas when you were drunk? Going to have to raise my game next time out: slurring just won't cut it.
Like your idea. Agree that it's preferable to a 'here's why i chose radiohead's ____', a superfluous undertaking at this point, surely. We'll just have to come up with a process that everyone can follow, throughout various degrees of sobriety.
Since we're talking about weighted values, let me say that I'm struggling a bit with my analysis of the lists. Would that I had paid more attention in 2nd year Statistics, a course for which I celebrated wildly upon barely receiving a passing grade, but have now retained zero knowledge.
Maybe one of you can assist.
I went ahead and ranked each list in order, then decided that the #1 entry on each list would be assigned the highest possible points in the ranking (i.e. if it was #1 of 100 entries, then it would be assigned 100, if #2, then 99, if #3, then 98, etc.), then divided the assigned number by the highest ranking and multiplied by 100. Bear with me. So the #1 entry ends up being 100.0, and #2 99.0, etc. It therefore takes into account those lists that are ordered out of say, 50, or 75 or 45.
I then added up the scores for those that appeared on the list more than once and then divided this number by 6 (the total number of lists). I then ranked these scores to come up with the resulting list of our top 30 of the 2000s, by consensus:
1) Arcade Fire - Funeral
2) Decemberists - Picaresque
3) Badly Drawn Boy - Hour of the Bewilderbeast
4) Sufjan - Illinoise
5) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
6) Strokes - IsthisIt?
7) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
8) Broken Social Scene - youforgotit
9) Calexico - Feast of Wire
10) Strokes - Room on Fire
11) Beck - Seachange
12) Radiohead - In Rainbows
13) Tourist - St. Germain
14) Suba - Sao Paolo Confessions
15) The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
16) Band of Horses - EverythingAllthetime
17) Radiohead Kid A
18) Koop - Waltz for Koop
19) Flaming Lips -yoshimi
20) TV on the Radio - Cookie Mtn
21) Stars -Set Yourself on Fire
22) Sigur Ros - Takk
23) The Microphones - The Glow pt.2
24) The New Pornographers - The Electric Version
25) Madvillian - Madvillainy
26) Elliot Smith - Basement Hill
27) My Morning Jacket - Z
28) Grandaddy - Sophware Slump
29) Kos - joyful rebellion
30) Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Let me know what I've done wrong (specific to above).
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
To follow up on Kyle's suggestion that we pick a few CDs on our decade end list and discuss at our January CD club might I propose an alternative that also takes Kyle's best of the various decades discussion into account.
While drinking with Brian a few weeks back I had the idea that instead of simply playing tracks from albums, many of which all of us are very familiar with, we should have a battle of the decades in music.
Here`s the spin: each of us picks say our 10 or 20 favourite tracks from each decade, let`s say 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00`s. We submit our picks on this site prior to the night in question and by assigning some sort of weighted value to the ranked picks we come up with a shortlist of 10-20 tracks in total for each decade.
On the night we get together we match up decades in a pitched contest where we play 3 or 4 songs for each decade (eg 60s v 90s Verve vs. The Stones, etc) and eliminate based on a vote at the end of each round until one decade is left standing.
Yes it isn`t scientific and yes we already have built in biases (each and every one of us) but it has to be more fun than the end of the millenium cd club that disintegrated into something resembling the Bataan death march.
Your thoughts?
And remember we were rather drunk when this was discussed.
While drinking with Brian a few weeks back I had the idea that instead of simply playing tracks from albums, many of which all of us are very familiar with, we should have a battle of the decades in music.
Here`s the spin: each of us picks say our 10 or 20 favourite tracks from each decade, let`s say 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00`s. We submit our picks on this site prior to the night in question and by assigning some sort of weighted value to the ranked picks we come up with a shortlist of 10-20 tracks in total for each decade.
On the night we get together we match up decades in a pitched contest where we play 3 or 4 songs for each decade (eg 60s v 90s Verve vs. The Stones, etc) and eliminate based on a vote at the end of each round until one decade is left standing.
Yes it isn`t scientific and yes we already have built in biases (each and every one of us) but it has to be more fun than the end of the millenium cd club that disintegrated into something resembling the Bataan death march.
Your thoughts?
And remember we were rather drunk when this was discussed.
would be interesting to see if we asigned points to the albums and totalled them all up, which were the top 10 ranked albums of our cd club... For instance I was surprised that Brian only has 2 of my top 10 albums in his entire list of 50... ( I realise I am leaving myself wide open for a pot shot from him) but that really is astounding to me... There is more commonality between some of us ( those who actually have musical taste and knowledge) , but still the variety is wide and I for one will be delving into a lot of albums I did not recognise the names of... ( given we regularily meet and expose each other to music it perhaps some albums rise to the top of our lists over time and we dont opush them when freshly bought and played at the meetings)
wouldn't you know, bri, that as you entered that in, i was indeed furiously typing away in this space and also compiling all our lists into a spreadsheet for analysis. will let you know the results in the coming days and will ponder your question about musical artist of the decade.
gun to my head response: The White Stripes, who weren't my favourite, but were very profilic, always had a few interesting releases of each album, and who seem to be interesting, talented, and decent people to boot.
perhaps we could each nominate an artist/group and give reasons why.
another question for the group (the one i furiously typed out and responded to earlier) is, "How does this decade in music compare to other decades? Better? Worse?"
i'm calling it a great decade in music, possibly better than the three that preceeded it. the 90s was a very much front-loaded decade, with most of the interesting and important stuff happening from 90-94, and the rest of the decade mostly filled with music which unsuccessfully tried to appropriate and popularize the grunge, shoegaze, and indie lo-fi sound that came to define the decade. we've discussed the 80s and 70s before so i won't rehash, suffice to say that i still favour the former over the latter, though i recognize demography plays a role in this preference. i also recognize that maybe the reason why i'm so bullish on this decade is that i was able, through advances in technology, to gain access to so much of it, to an extent which would have been, if not impossible than highly improbable, given economics and time availability, in previous decades. no longer do i need to bitch and complain about the pitiful state of commercial radio in toronto (though i still do, from time to time) because i can completely bypass the dreck and find what i need online. while i may take too much direction from the likes of pitchfork, npr, and emusic, i'd argue that these are far more trustworthy and honest information brokers than television or radio. but beyond access to a larger library is the sheer quality of the music and particularly, entire albums, that were released this decade. i can't recall another decade with as many albums that i've wanted to listen to all the way through, again and again. it was actually difficult to whittle my list down to 100. anyhow, just wanted to get your thoughts/impressions overall. it would be good if we could start looking at our calendars for january to see if there's a time when we can all meet for a post-decade cd club wrapup. i'm thinking that we could maybe take a few pics from our list and explain why we selected them, as well as reasons why we didn't select others.
gun to my head response: The White Stripes, who weren't my favourite, but were very profilic, always had a few interesting releases of each album, and who seem to be interesting, talented, and decent people to boot.
perhaps we could each nominate an artist/group and give reasons why.
another question for the group (the one i furiously typed out and responded to earlier) is, "How does this decade in music compare to other decades? Better? Worse?"
i'm calling it a great decade in music, possibly better than the three that preceeded it. the 90s was a very much front-loaded decade, with most of the interesting and important stuff happening from 90-94, and the rest of the decade mostly filled with music which unsuccessfully tried to appropriate and popularize the grunge, shoegaze, and indie lo-fi sound that came to define the decade. we've discussed the 80s and 70s before so i won't rehash, suffice to say that i still favour the former over the latter, though i recognize demography plays a role in this preference. i also recognize that maybe the reason why i'm so bullish on this decade is that i was able, through advances in technology, to gain access to so much of it, to an extent which would have been, if not impossible than highly improbable, given economics and time availability, in previous decades. no longer do i need to bitch and complain about the pitiful state of commercial radio in toronto (though i still do, from time to time) because i can completely bypass the dreck and find what i need online. while i may take too much direction from the likes of pitchfork, npr, and emusic, i'd argue that these are far more trustworthy and honest information brokers than television or radio. but beyond access to a larger library is the sheer quality of the music and particularly, entire albums, that were released this decade. i can't recall another decade with as many albums that i've wanted to listen to all the way through, again and again. it was actually difficult to whittle my list down to 100. anyhow, just wanted to get your thoughts/impressions overall. it would be good if we could start looking at our calendars for january to see if there's a time when we can all meet for a post-decade cd club wrapup. i'm thinking that we could maybe take a few pics from our list and explain why we selected them, as well as reasons why we didn't select others.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
well I found it difficult to rank them in exact order, many could move up or down 15 spots depending on my mood at the time, but here it is....Some rank higher then you would expect (ie Belle & sebastian as it was the first time getting into that band, however late to the party I happened to be and it blew my mind so to speak... )
1 Radiohead In Rainbows
2 Decemberists Picaresque
3 Arcade Fire Funeral
4 Band Of Horses Everything All The Time
5 Belle & Sebastian Fold Your Hands Child ..
6 Strokes Room On Fire
7 Neko Case Blacklisted
8 Wilco Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
9 Johnny Cash American IV The Man Comes Around
10 Badly Drawn Boy Hour Of The Bewilderbeast
11 Sigur Ros Takk
12 Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts
13 Beck Sea Changes
14 Calexico Feast of Wire
15 Kanye West Late Registration
16 K-os Joyful Rebellion
17 Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days
18 Broken Social Scene You Forgot it in People
19 Peter Gabriel Up
20 Destroyer Streethawk
21 Patty Griffin Children Running Through
22 Ryan Adams Heartbreaker
23 Bon Iver For Emma
24 Sparklehorse It’s a Wonderful Life
25 Ivy Long Distence
26 Sufjan Stevens Illinoise
27 Lil Wayne Tha Carter III
28 The National Boxer
29 M Ward Transfiguration Of Vincent
30 Yo la Tengo And Then Nothing Turned Itself…
31 Dandy Warhols 13 Tales…
32 The Stills Logic Will Break Your Heart
33 Nick Lowe The Convincer
34 Arcade Fire Neon Bible
35 Richard Buckner The Hill
36 St Germain Tourist
37 Lilly Allen Alright Still
38 Sun Kill Moon Ghosts of the Great highway
39 Rachels Systems layers
40 Aimee Mann Bachelor # 2
41 The Antlers Hospice
42 Bonnie prince Billy Greatest Palace Music
43 Steve Earle Transcendental Blues
44 Bright Eyes Cassadaga
45 Cat Power The Greatest
46 Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
47 Grant Lee Phillips Virginia Creeper
48 Max Richter Blue Notebooks
49 Julie Doiron Goodnight Nobody
50 Luna Rondezvous
51 Radiohead Kid A
52 James Blackshaw Litany Of Echoes
53 Mogwai Happy Songs for happy People
54 Mojave 3 Excuses For Travellers
55 Max Avery Lichtenstein Tarnation Soundtrack
56 Natalie Merchant Motherland
57 Nick Cave The Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues
58 Peter Bjorn & John Writers Block
59 The Real Tuesday Weld I Lucifer
60 Feist The Reminder
61 Jay Farrar Terroir Blues
62 Linda Thompson Fashionable Late
63 Amy Winehouse Back To Black
64 Cody Chestnut The Headphone Masterpieces
65 Bonobo Animal Magic
66 Moby 18
67 Mum Finally We are No One
68 Michael Andrews You And Me And Every One We Know
69 Eminem The Eminem Show
70 Air Virgin Suicides
71 Kings Of Convenience Qiuet is The new Loud
72 Lucinda Williams Essence
73 Cinematic orchestra Every day
74 Gillian Welch Time The Revelator
75 Stars Set Yourself on Fire
1 Radiohead In Rainbows
2 Decemberists Picaresque
3 Arcade Fire Funeral
4 Band Of Horses Everything All The Time
5 Belle & Sebastian Fold Your Hands Child ..
6 Strokes Room On Fire
7 Neko Case Blacklisted
8 Wilco Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
9 Johnny Cash American IV The Man Comes Around
10 Badly Drawn Boy Hour Of The Bewilderbeast
11 Sigur Ros Takk
12 Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts
13 Beck Sea Changes
14 Calexico Feast of Wire
15 Kanye West Late Registration
16 K-os Joyful Rebellion
17 Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days
18 Broken Social Scene You Forgot it in People
19 Peter Gabriel Up
20 Destroyer Streethawk
21 Patty Griffin Children Running Through
22 Ryan Adams Heartbreaker
23 Bon Iver For Emma
24 Sparklehorse It’s a Wonderful Life
25 Ivy Long Distence
26 Sufjan Stevens Illinoise
27 Lil Wayne Tha Carter III
28 The National Boxer
29 M Ward Transfiguration Of Vincent
30 Yo la Tengo And Then Nothing Turned Itself…
31 Dandy Warhols 13 Tales…
32 The Stills Logic Will Break Your Heart
33 Nick Lowe The Convincer
34 Arcade Fire Neon Bible
35 Richard Buckner The Hill
36 St Germain Tourist
37 Lilly Allen Alright Still
38 Sun Kill Moon Ghosts of the Great highway
39 Rachels Systems layers
40 Aimee Mann Bachelor # 2
41 The Antlers Hospice
42 Bonnie prince Billy Greatest Palace Music
43 Steve Earle Transcendental Blues
44 Bright Eyes Cassadaga
45 Cat Power The Greatest
46 Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
47 Grant Lee Phillips Virginia Creeper
48 Max Richter Blue Notebooks
49 Julie Doiron Goodnight Nobody
50 Luna Rondezvous
51 Radiohead Kid A
52 James Blackshaw Litany Of Echoes
53 Mogwai Happy Songs for happy People
54 Mojave 3 Excuses For Travellers
55 Max Avery Lichtenstein Tarnation Soundtrack
56 Natalie Merchant Motherland
57 Nick Cave The Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues
58 Peter Bjorn & John Writers Block
59 The Real Tuesday Weld I Lucifer
60 Feist The Reminder
61 Jay Farrar Terroir Blues
62 Linda Thompson Fashionable Late
63 Amy Winehouse Back To Black
64 Cody Chestnut The Headphone Masterpieces
65 Bonobo Animal Magic
66 Moby 18
67 Mum Finally We are No One
68 Michael Andrews You And Me And Every One We Know
69 Eminem The Eminem Show
70 Air Virgin Suicides
71 Kings Of Convenience Qiuet is The new Loud
72 Lucinda Williams Essence
73 Cinematic orchestra Every day
74 Gillian Welch Time The Revelator
75 Stars Set Yourself on Fire
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Feels like I've spent the last two months digging back through the music I've been listening to for the last 10 years. The wierd thing is that most of the music (55 out of 60 selections) that has kept me coming back is music I own on CD. What does that say for the coming decade. Here's the list:
1 Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2 Arcade Fire Funeral
3 Badly Drawn Boy Hour of Bewilderbeast
4 Band of Horses Everything all the Time
5 Destroyer Streethawk: A Seduction
6 Beck Sea Change
7 TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain
8 Broken Social Scene You Forgot it In People
9 The Strokes Room on Fire
10 New Pornographers Twin Cinema
11 Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
12 The Lucksmiths Warmer Corners
13 The Streets Orignal Pirate Material
14 Kanye West Late Registration
15 The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
16 TV on the Radio Dear Science
17 Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
18 Sigur Ros Takk
19 Clinic Internal Wrangler
20 King Geedorah Take Me to Your Leader
21 Wolf Parade Aplogies to Queen Mary
22 Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights
23 Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree
24 The Wrens Meadowland
25 The Pernice Brothers The World Wont End
26 Yo la Tengo And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
27 Viktor Vaughan Vaudeville Villain
28 Feist The Reminder
29 The Go Betweens Oceans Apart
30 Arcade Fire Neon Bible
31 Suba Sao Paolo Confessions
32 Decemberists Picaresque
33 Jay Farrar Terroir Blues
34 Calexico Garden Ruin
35 Field Music Field Music
36 MIA Arular
37 The Strokes Is This It
38 Sonic Youth Murray Street
39 David Pajo Pajo
40 Bright Eyes Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
41 M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
42 Mum Finally We Are No One
43 Echospace The Coldest Season
44 The Walkmen Bows and Arrows
45 Radiohead Kid A
46 New Pornographers Electric Version
47 Sufjan Stevens Illinoise
48 M. Ward The Transfiguration of Vincent
49 Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit
50 Junior Boys So This is Goodbye
51 Madvillain Madvillainy
52 The Horrors Primary Colours
53 Radiohead Amnesiac
54 Delgados The Great Eastern
55 Beck Guero
56 Foreign Exchange Connected
57 Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat
58 Tujiko Noriko From Tokyo to Niagara
59 Two Minute Miracles Volume II
60 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours
1 Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2 Arcade Fire Funeral
3 Badly Drawn Boy Hour of Bewilderbeast
4 Band of Horses Everything all the Time
5 Destroyer Streethawk: A Seduction
6 Beck Sea Change
7 TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain
8 Broken Social Scene You Forgot it In People
9 The Strokes Room on Fire
10 New Pornographers Twin Cinema
11 Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
12 The Lucksmiths Warmer Corners
13 The Streets Orignal Pirate Material
14 Kanye West Late Registration
15 The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
16 TV on the Radio Dear Science
17 Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
18 Sigur Ros Takk
19 Clinic Internal Wrangler
20 King Geedorah Take Me to Your Leader
21 Wolf Parade Aplogies to Queen Mary
22 Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights
23 Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree
24 The Wrens Meadowland
25 The Pernice Brothers The World Wont End
26 Yo la Tengo And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
27 Viktor Vaughan Vaudeville Villain
28 Feist The Reminder
29 The Go Betweens Oceans Apart
30 Arcade Fire Neon Bible
31 Suba Sao Paolo Confessions
32 Decemberists Picaresque
33 Jay Farrar Terroir Blues
34 Calexico Garden Ruin
35 Field Music Field Music
36 MIA Arular
37 The Strokes Is This It
38 Sonic Youth Murray Street
39 David Pajo Pajo
40 Bright Eyes Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
41 M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
42 Mum Finally We Are No One
43 Echospace The Coldest Season
44 The Walkmen Bows and Arrows
45 Radiohead Kid A
46 New Pornographers Electric Version
47 Sufjan Stevens Illinoise
48 M. Ward The Transfiguration of Vincent
49 Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit
50 Junior Boys So This is Goodbye
51 Madvillain Madvillainy
52 The Horrors Primary Colours
53 Radiohead Amnesiac
54 Delgados The Great Eastern
55 Beck Guero
56 Foreign Exchange Connected
57 Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat
58 Tujiko Noriko From Tokyo to Niagara
59 Two Minute Miracles Volume II
60 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours
Great lists guys. Some (expected) overlap but also many that I’ve either heard of and haven’t had a chance to hear (Scott Merritt, Over the Rhine, Leisure Society, The Teeth) and others that I bought and maybe didn’t listen to enough (Rosebuds, Field Music), and still others that I’m thinking that in retrospect should have been on my final list (Headlights, Andrew Bird, Archer Prewitt, the last Elliot Smith).
A few observations thus far:
1) seems that people are having a hard time narrowing down their lists, which suggests to me that a) there’s a lot of good music from which to choose in this decade and b) as a group, we’re doing a pretty decent job of keeping pace with the volume of new and interesting stuff being released each year
2) despite persistent rumours of the death of the album and the re-ascendency of the single (and its shape-shifting cousin, the remix), it’s comforting to know that there are still some great artists who still manage to a) come up with finely crafted albums that are worth listening to all the way through and b) be very clever when naming these long play pieces of art (see The Good, the Bad and the Cuddly, Quiet is the New Loud), so much so that I'm now going to have to compile a list of the best album titles of the decade.
A few observations thus far:
1) seems that people are having a hard time narrowing down their lists, which suggests to me that a) there’s a lot of good music from which to choose in this decade and b) as a group, we’re doing a pretty decent job of keeping pace with the volume of new and interesting stuff being released each year
2) despite persistent rumours of the death of the album and the re-ascendency of the single (and its shape-shifting cousin, the remix), it’s comforting to know that there are still some great artists who still manage to a) come up with finely crafted albums that are worth listening to all the way through and b) be very clever when naming these long play pieces of art (see The Good, the Bad and the Cuddly, Quiet is the New Loud), so much so that I'm now going to have to compile a list of the best album titles of the decade.
Hey Mike,
It's a good list. Reflective of you, so I can't imagine it being that different, even if you had a wider exposure (not sure, but that's what my gut tells me). All of your caveats apply equally to me. Mine is not a survey of all pop / rock, just the stuff I came across. Nice to see the other lists from that perspective, because it was not a particularly heavy-gathering decade of music for me. Having said that, some of the obvious exclusions were not due to lack of exposure.
It's a good list. Reflective of you, so I can't imagine it being that different, even if you had a wider exposure (not sure, but that's what my gut tells me). All of your caveats apply equally to me. Mine is not a survey of all pop / rock, just the stuff I came across. Nice to see the other lists from that perspective, because it was not a particularly heavy-gathering decade of music for me. Having said that, some of the obvious exclusions were not due to lack of exposure.
I've been working on my list of albums, and I've been listening almost exclusively to music from the noughts for the last couple of months in an effort to sort it all out. One thing that this project has made clear is that there are lots of great albums that I've meant to buy but have not yet bought. In fact, most of my music purchases over the last few years have been through emusic.com and Paste magazine, which has significantly skewed my collection. So this list is not meant to be any sort of definitive commentary on historical or important albums. It is merely a list of the decade's albums that have given me the most enjoyment. I couldn't really claim that of a full 100 albums, so I went with a top 50:
50. The Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here
49. Bob Geldof - Sex, Age & Death
48. Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime
47. Scott Merritt - Detour Home
46. Paul Simon - Surprise
45. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
44. Garbage - Beautiful Garbage
43. Todd Snider - Happy to Be Here
42. Lloyd Cole - Anti Depressant
41. Warren Zevon - The Wind
40. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
39. The Waterboys - Fisherman’s Blues, Part 2
38. Feist - Let It Die
37. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
36. The Rosebuds - Life Like
35. Rheostatics - Night of the Shooting Stars
34. Steve Earle - Just an American Boy
33. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
32. David Gray - Life in Slow Motion
31. The Walkabouts - Drunken Soundtracks
30. Lucinda Williams - Essence
29. Over the Rhine - Live From Nowhere Volume One
28. Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline
27. Radiohead - In Rainbows
26. Better Than Ezra - Closer
25. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
24. Kathleen Edwards - Failer
23. John Fogerty - Revival
22. Suzanne Vega - Songs In Red And Gray
21. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
20. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
19. The Waterboys - A Rock in the Weary Land
18. My Morning Jacket - Z
17. The Strokes - Is this It?
16. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
15. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
14. U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind
13. R.E.M. - Reveal
12. Coldplay - X&Y
11. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
10. David Gray - A New Day at Midnight
9. Josh Ritter - Hello Starling
8. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
7. Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child
6. Lyle Lovett - My Baby Don’t Tolerate
5. Tom Waits - Alice
4. Steve Earle - Jerusalem
3. The Decemberists - Picaresque
2. Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
1. Arcade Fire - Funeral
50. The Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here
49. Bob Geldof - Sex, Age & Death
48. Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime
47. Scott Merritt - Detour Home
46. Paul Simon - Surprise
45. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
44. Garbage - Beautiful Garbage
43. Todd Snider - Happy to Be Here
42. Lloyd Cole - Anti Depressant
41. Warren Zevon - The Wind
40. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
39. The Waterboys - Fisherman’s Blues, Part 2
38. Feist - Let It Die
37. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
36. The Rosebuds - Life Like
35. Rheostatics - Night of the Shooting Stars
34. Steve Earle - Just an American Boy
33. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
32. David Gray - Life in Slow Motion
31. The Walkabouts - Drunken Soundtracks
30. Lucinda Williams - Essence
29. Over the Rhine - Live From Nowhere Volume One
28. Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline
27. Radiohead - In Rainbows
26. Better Than Ezra - Closer
25. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
24. Kathleen Edwards - Failer
23. John Fogerty - Revival
22. Suzanne Vega - Songs In Red And Gray
21. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
20. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
19. The Waterboys - A Rock in the Weary Land
18. My Morning Jacket - Z
17. The Strokes - Is this It?
16. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
15. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
14. U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind
13. R.E.M. - Reveal
12. Coldplay - X&Y
11. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
10. David Gray - A New Day at Midnight
9. Josh Ritter - Hello Starling
8. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
7. Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child
6. Lyle Lovett - My Baby Don’t Tolerate
5. Tom Waits - Alice
4. Steve Earle - Jerusalem
3. The Decemberists - Picaresque
2. Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
1. Arcade Fire - Funeral
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Hey I've expanded! My list of albums, that is. I've sweated out a list of 43 Really Cool Records (from the noughts). Don't miss out, buy them now.
43 | Imperial Teen - The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band |
42 | Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder |
41 | American Analog Set - Know By Heart |
40 | Do Make Say Think - You, You're a History in Rust |
39 | The Teeth - Your're My Lover Now |
38 | Okkervil River – The Stage Names |
37 | Land of Talk – Some are Lakes |
36 | Leisure Society – Sleeper |
35 | Low – Things We Lost in the Fire |
34 | Last Days of April – If You Lose It |
33 | The Deerhof – The Runners Four |
32 | Tapes n Tapes – The Loon |
31 | New Buffalo – Somewhere Anywhere |
30 | Young people – All at Once |
29 | Movietone – Blossom Filled Streets |
28 | Bon Iver – For Emma Forever Ago |
27 | Animal Collective – Feels |
27 | Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends |
26 | Juliana Hatfield – Beautiful Creature |
25 | The Headlights – Some Racing Some Stopping |
24 | The Bicycles – the Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly |
23 | The Stars – Set Yourself on Fire |
22 | Yo La Tengo – And then Nothing |
21 | Novillero – Aim Right For the Holes in their Lives |
20 | Field Music – Tones of Town |
20 | The Decembrists – Picaresque |
19 | The Broken West – I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On |
18 | Archer Prewitt – Gerroa Songs |
17 | Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha |
16 | John Cunningham – Happy Go Unlucky |
15 | Kings of Convenience – Quiet is the New Loud |
14 | The Kingsbury Manx – The Fast Rise and Fall of the South |
13 | Beulah – The Coast is Never Clear |
12 | Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump |
11 | Matt Pond – The Green Fury |
10 | The Microphones – The Glow Part 2 |
9 | Damien Jurado – And Now that I’m in your Shadow |
8 | Teenage Fanclub – Man Made |
7 | Midlake – Trials of Van Occupanther |
6 | Guided By Voices – Isolation Drills |
5 | The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow |
4 | Badly Drawn Boy – Bewilderbeast |
3 | The Strokes – Is this it? |
2 | Elliott Smith – From a Basement on the Hill |
1 | Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise |
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Thanks for the props, Marc. And for your post, which had the effect of realigning the right navigation links, which somehow got screwed up when i embedded the playlist. Looking forward to your lists. Others, don't be shy. You needn't spend 2 hours of flight time building a list in excel then another couple building a playlist to do so. A good old fashioned youtube embed/link or just (gasp) plain old text with a few select bon chansons de decennie will suffice.
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