top 20 albums:::1/3rd Edition

so 1/3 of the year is now over, and i think i’ll do a top 20 albums for 2007. fret not, this will change DRASTICALLY by the end of the year and will most definitely be a top 60 again.

20. Nadja – Thaumogenesis
19. Ghost – In Stormy Nights
18. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
17. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
16. Knives Ov Resistance – Prisca Sapientia
15. Blues Control – Puff
14. Earth – Hibernaculum
13. Glenn Jones – Against Which the Sea
12. Zodiacs – Gone
11. Marissa Nadler – Songs III: Bird on the Water
10. Animal Collective – People EP
9. Stars of the Lid – And Their Refinement of the Decline
8. Grails – Burning Off Impurities
7. Joanna Newsom – And the Ys Street Band
6. Basia Bulat – Oh My Darling
5. Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues – Soul of the Mountain Wolf
4. Eluvium – Copia
3. Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
2. Mammatus – The Coast Explodes
1. Panda Bear – Person Pitch (by leaps and bounds. prediction: nothing this year will touch it)

:::april by the numbers:::

Top 5 Albums of April, 2007:
1. Mammatus – The Coast Explodes (HOLY CRAP!!!)
2. Basia Bulat – Oh My Darling
3. Joanna Newsom – and the Ys Street Band EP (only 3 songs or would be higher)
4. Stars of the Lid – and Their Refinement of the Decline (hard to rank this low!)
5. Bill Callahan – Woke on a Whaleheart

Top 9 Films seen in April, 2007 for the first time (only saw 9!)
1. Hot Fuzz – 91
2. Tout Va Bien – 85
3. Tears of the Black Tiger – 84
4. Grindhouse – 82
5. The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes – 80
6. Volver – 80
7. M*A*S*H* – 79
8. A Nos Amours – 70
9. Au Hasard Balthazar – 66

I also saw a disc of Kenneth Anger films that i had previously seen, but never digitally restored, which was a real treat.

FIGHT OF THE MONTH: particularly fun for me was Joe Calzaghe’s 3rd round stoppage of Peter Manfredo. the guy throws so many punches he’s always fun to watch.

TV SHOW OF THE MONTH: PLANET EARTH! what an unbelievable series!

coming up in May:
Music: Grails, Dinosaur Jr., The Sea and Cake, Bjork, Wilco, Sage Francis, KTL, Von Sudenfed
Movies: Spider-Man 3, Away From Her, Paris Je’taime, 28 Weeks Later
Fights: Mayweather vs. DeLa Hoya!, Taylor vs. Spinks!, Miranda vs. Pavlik! (my own personal favorite of the month), Andre Berto!…hell of a boxing month
Concerts: Mono, Grails, World’s End Girlfriend @ TSI – May 8th

…when april with his showers sweet with fruit, yo…

first off…do yourself a favor and check out “The Rap Canterbury Tales” courtesy of Music For Maniacs

next, check assemble out…sounds like a great idea!

inertia is killin it lately with informative posts on the bill daniel screening at san marco theater, new freeschool info, bizarre market, etc. etc.

i thought grindhouse was pretty sweet. alot of people won’t like it for various reasons, but i dug it. now, in the immortal words of tracy jordan, here’s me “on my grind”…

The Child Readers – Fortune from Music Heard Far Off
don’t know much about this band but they’re jewelled antler and they sound good.

Michael Cashmore – The Snow Abides
lyrics by David Tibet, vocals by Antony – how can you go wrong?

Silvester Anfang – Orthodoxe Schapen from Heidense Maagden
i know i call alot of things “psychedelic”…so let’s introduce psychotomimetic instead. silvester anfang is a seriously psychotomimetic band.

Trollmann av Ildtoppberg – Tolling Beyond the Tombs of Ancient Grimnity
TROLLMANN!!! a true chocojeez favorite. imagine the most sludge ridden troglodytic (massey – did you read that?) paleoliths to ever scour the planet, then give them a synth and a wall of amps and let the good times explode.

Sapat – Dark Silver from Mortise and Tenon
frakking awesome band from new jesus sweetheart label (with the raddest name in kentucky) Black Velvet Fuckere…i can’t even describe what kind of music it is.

Robedoor – Night Drinker from Shining Smoke
do you like DOOM? do you like drone? do you like dirge? do you like ultra sonic blackness? then you like robedoor. keep an eye out for a robedoor split with ghosting, whom i met by chance at valentine’s in pdx.

Blues Control – End Zone from Puff
again, don’t know much about this band except i like this album…foxy d called it a “hermetic psych-rock creeper” and that about sums it up.

Hala Strana – Heave the Grambel Roof
and for the prestige…the gypsyfied Steven R Smith will soon release another Hala Strana album of Eastern European folk interpretations. good for pagan barbecues and the like.

know thyself, brothers…and in all things be true.

and you will know that i am the lord thy god

thought it was time to get back to what we do best, spreading the gospel of new tuneage through the powerful message of mp3s. here’s a lineup of ten thou shalt listens that have been sent from on high recently:::

Earth – Coda Maestro in F (Flat) Minor from Hibernaculum
the album is essentially a retooling (in the Hex style) of older Earth tracks, but is truly righteous in that protodrone meets Morricone sort of vein. do it to it.

Glenn Jones – Little Dogs Day from Against Which the Sea Continually Beats
the Cul de Sac-ian strummer has released an new album of pickin perfection. check it out forthwith.

Grails – Burning Off Impurities from the album of the same title
Grails!!!! this Portland heavy psych group will be gracing TSI going mano a mano with Japanese monolith Mono on May 8th. seriously, be there. the new album is a psych lovers wet dream ala Flower Travellin Band.

Joanna Newsom – Colleen from Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band
i’ve made it a bit of a new rule not to post “bigger” names mp3s on here but i couldn’t resist this one as it’s perfection.

Knives Ov Resistance – Rosicrucian from Prisca Sapientia
some quality new wyrd folky, jewelled antlery sounding stuff with a bit of post rockishness thrown in for good measure. check it out if you like like-minded type bands.

Zodiacs – Road Star Blues from Gone
this is some SERIOUS heavy psych freak out. features members of Sunburned Hand, Wooden Wand and Hush Arbours but man i like this much better than really any of those bands. thanks to Aquarius for the last two bands…always find new discoveries from you folks!

Richard Youngs & Tirath Singh Nirmala – Untitled # 5 from s/t album
is it just me or does Richard Youngs almost always sound better when collaborating with other artists? great stuff.

Acid Mothers Temple & the Pink Ladies Blues – Ramble from The Soul of the Mountain Wolf
this offshoot of the regular AMT troupe has released one of the jammingest, psychiest, most kick ass of all AMT releases. no playing around here, just straight up jamming

To Get Her Together – The Suns
To Get Her Together is the offspring of our good Portland friend Alexa Marmon and her good friend Jeff…they’ve got a great trippy ’60s sydbarretesque kind of sound…check them out and check out Alexa’s great solo work as well…she’s good people.

and for our bonus song of the day, my favorite song from one of my favorite bands, in keeping with the fully hippified vibe of the day…
Incredible String Band – A Very Cellular Song

impulse purchases

check out the jesus’ new blog, impulse purchases documenting the growth of the vinyl LP population in my living room. it’s truly fascinating, folks.