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Old 2009.12.18, 06:24 PM   #31
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Default Afro-Latin dance oriented

Bannakumbi - El Nuevo Dia. My favorite salsa album of the decade so far. Exceptionally inventive and flexible, especially for the state of the genre at the moment. I am very excited because earlier today I heard another song along similar lines (not quite as good, but close) by a band out of Puerto Rico called Mas Salsa Que Tu, and after checking the liner notes of the Bannakumbi CD, I found that a lot of the members of Mas Salas Que Tu appear as guests on El Nuevo Dia.

http://www.myspace.com/junitocrespo1

Michael Stuart - Back to da Barrio. An album consisting mostly of salsa covers of reggaeton hits, with vocals by someone best known for his recordings of material in the salsa romantica vein? On paper it sounds like a bad idea, however, it turned out to be a great album. The percussion is particularly strong and the selection of rhythms for each cover is brilliant, with plena, bomba, jala jala, and guaguanco all making an appearance. Michael Stuart was a good choice for this project after all, because his recorded output has never reflected what he is capable of (as many of those who have seen him perform live will agree). It never feels as if the reggaeton originals (which turn out to be unexpectedly good songs) have been stretched into uncomfortable shapes in these covers. Stuart's vocals are occasionally treated with very overt pop production touches, and at times they echo other strands of popular music, something purists may not appreciate. Overall, this album was not given the credit it deserved. It should have been taken as a model of one possible direction for a genre largely in the doldrums (though I'm seeing some hopeful glimmers of light this year), thanks to the way it drew on the larger pop context, on the one hand, while emphasizing distinctive rootsy Puerto Rican rhythms and the cultural assoications they conjure up, on the other. (To some extent Bannakumbi strikes out in a similar direction, and what I have just posted here about the Stuart album was mostly drafted before I'd heard Bannakumbi.)

In case anyone actually watches this, (1) the rapping in the beginning is just him messing around and it ends quickly and (2) just ignore his dancing:

Michael Stuart - Mayor Que Yo


Grupo Fantasma's Sonidos Gold was nominated for a Grammy in the "Latin rock/alternative" category, but it has far more to do with Afro-Latin dance music, or dance music in general, than typical nominations under that heading. The band may mix and match rhythms (and even that is done in moderation), but they don't shortchange any of the rhythms they work with. Rhtyhms often switch up as an organic response to increased musical tension. Cumbia is dominant here, but often in combination with something else (often mixing with, or switching over to, salsa). There's a dash of afrobeat and more than a little funk. Much of the sound is retro/psycedelic, with surf guitar and dub-like production, but there is also some really hard horn playing, and the percussion is topnotch.

http://www.myspace.com/fantasmatics

Pupy y Los Que Son Son – Tranquilo Que Yo Control. The greatest strengths of this album (at least for someone who can't understand Spanish) are the powerful massed voices in the coros throughout (typical of Pupy's work in general), some of the melodies (which are often quite catchy, especially in the coros), and the rhythmic drive (again, pretty typical of Pupy's output in general). Despite a few annoying timba quirks in the music which sometimes make it difficult for me to listen to this, I still think it's basically a great album.

Nejo & Dalmata – Broke & Famous. (Reggaeton is really built around rhythms imported from outside the Spanish speaking Caribbean, but I am filing it under "Afro-Latin" anyway.) This is one of the more satisfying reggaeton albums I've heard. Yes, there is some filler. Yes the "broke and famous" concept tying together a mix of old and new tracks is a pretty thin one at best. But its mostly a nicely varied blend of styles. I haven't listened to this much lately (can you tell by the fact that I really don't know what to say about it?) but for a year or two it got played nearly every day. What can I say? I like the fucking beats.

Nejo y Dalmata - Mirala


THE END.
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Old 2009.12.25, 02:05 PM   #32
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I haven't put much thought into it yet...but the first album that came into my head was Friendly Fire from Sean Lennon. I can listen to that album front to back without skipping a track...that's really all you can ask for from an album.
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Old 2009.12.26, 09:39 AM   #33
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Ringo - Shouso Strip, KSK, Sanmon Gossip.
Bonnie Pink - Present.
Jason Mraz - Waiting for my Rocket to Come.
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane.
Tristan Prettyman - twentythree.
Wir sind helden - Von hier an blind.
Keane - Under the Iron Sea.
Rie fu - Rie fu.
Eisley - Room Noises.
Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight.
Empires - Howl.
Maaya Sakamoto - Kazeyomi.
John Mayer - Heavier Things.

I've maybe forgotten some, but I'd say those at least were my favorite albums from 2000-2009.
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Old 2009.12.26, 12:29 PM   #34
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Originally Posted by frecklegirl View Post
Ringo - Shouso Strip, KSK, Sanmon Gossip.
Bonnie Pink - Present.
Jason Mraz - Waiting for my Rocket to Come.
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane.
Tristan Prettyman - twentythree.
Wir sind helden - Von hier an blind.
Keane - Under the Iron Sea.
Rie fu - Rie fu.
Eisley - Room Noises.
Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight.
Empires - Howl.
Maaya Sakamoto - Kazeyomi.
John Mayer - Heavier Things.

I've maybe forgotten some, but I'd say those at least were my favorite albums from 2000-2009.
Under the Blacklight, really? I'd probably say More Adventurous or maybe the Execution of All Things. Under the Blacklight was a fun album but I guess I just like my Jenny angsty. I like your list because sometimes when people post on music on this forum I feel like some clueless popwhore, a lot of it is foreign or indie I just feel lost.

in a revised list I'd say

SR: SS, KZK, SG
TJ: Adult
Shakira: Fijacion Oral
Florence: + the Machine - Lungs
Tori Amos: Scarlet's Walk, Abnormally Attracted to Sin
YUKI: Prismic
monobright: two
nelly furtado: mi plan
nellie mckay: Get Away from Me, Obligatory Villagers
Amano Tsukiko: Sharon Stones, Tenryuu, A Moon Child in the Sky

these are all albums which have shaped my last 10 years. not necessarily the best or highest level of art, but the ones that really formed a soundtrack to my life and shaped my experience, gave me tools to interpret my reality, so they are all very important to me.

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Old 2009.12.28, 02:07 PM   #35
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Originally Posted by kuro_neko View Post
these are all albums which have shaped my last 10 years. not necessarily the best or highest level of art, but the ones that really formed a soundtrack to my life and shaped my experience, gave me tools to interpret my reality, so they are all very important to me.
Yeah, I agree. That was why I picked mine too, they all formed a soundtrack for me in some way, even though they may not be the elitest music.

As for "Under the Blacklight," yeah, it really is my favorite Rilo Kiley album I think. I like all the others but that one just has the MOST songs that I like on it, that I don't have to skip. For the others there are a considerable amount of songs I skip. I tried to conceive my list choices in terms of "albums that have the most songs I like at once on them" and for some artists, like Shakira, that meant I couldn't pick one album as the 'best' because the ratio of songs I skip to songs I love wasn't balanced.
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Old 2010.01.03, 04:52 AM   #36
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In Alphebetical (haha) order



Amy Winehouse - Frank (2003)

Raising Vocal Jazz to a new Pop Status with a rockstar attitude. Behind that, a genius Song Writer.




Fredrik - Holm, Ava, Ner

It's a trilogy of 3 EPs that will be released as one album named Trilogi in January 2010. Since the songs itself are all from 2009, screw that release date.
Beautiful blend of Electronic music and a lot of natural sound, accompanied with floaty vocals. Distorted drums that sound like they invented new instruments, unrivaled rythms and nice melodies.




Hypnotic Brass Ensemble -Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (2007)

This is a CD that was only sold at their live gigs, a recording of one of their NY sessinos with the best sound quality, and the best arrangements of their songs combined.
You think you've heard Jazz? haha, No.




Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey (2001)

Jamiroquai.




Kings of Convenience - Riots on an Empty Street (2004)

Here we have the winner of this thread. Easily. Don't even try to find a better album of this decade.




Ólafur Arnalds - Eulogy of Evolution

Like a classic piano concept album. Great ideas, nice flow, and a very climatic ending.




Phoenix - It's never been like that (2006)

Leaving most of their electronic sound behind (sadly), this is still their best album, and definitely a pick for this list. Very minimalistic sound for a rock band, but with a perfect sense for just the right spot. Oh, and great vocals of course.




Portico Quartet - Knee Deep in the North Sea (2007)

Already discussed here. This is NOT jazz, they invented a whole new genre for this. And they mastered it already to perfection. Then they completely dropped it and started to play proper jazz on their second album. So we're stuck with this one time masterpiece of almost unrivaled genius. It was a close competition to Riots.




Sonar Kollektiv Orchester - Guaranteed Niceness (2008)

The picky label Sonar invited all their greatest artists to play the greatest hits of the label as an combined orchestra. Sound like a nice idea? It's a DAMN fine one. Using only real instruments, but covering eletronic music as well as jazzy songs in the same distinctive style is a very refreshing experience.




The Libertines - Up The Bracket (2002)

Say about Indie rock bands being overhyped whatever you want. You can't deny the awesomeness of this album. The same magic that once bond McCartney and Lennon reappeared here and the result is breathtaking.




The Observatory - Blank Walls (2005)

The ones who heard the album will know why I picked it. The rest of you will probably never listen to it anyway.




The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)

THE garage band album of our generation. Like a musical proof of the american dream.




The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules (2009)

Even more minimalistic than Phoenix, but with a completely different sound, this is an album where you just can't tell wether it's electronic or rock.




Yann Tiersen - Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)

I did not inted to include movie scores in this, but since the music for this was already written before Tiersen was hired at all, I think this is still legit.


THE END.

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Last edited by golem09 : 2010.01.03 at 05:09 AM.
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Old 2010.01.03, 09:55 PM   #37
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^wrt that Phoenix album, seconded!!

Shiina Ringo - KSK

Will have to go with the obvious here. I remember slipping the disc in not really knowing what to expect because the cover art etc was such a drastic departure from SS, and I was completely FREAKED OUT by the opening to Shuukyou, and then completely blown away once she hit the chorus. I can't think of any reason NOT to include this - near flawless songwriting, and basically a really, really meticulous performance. I don't listen to this as much as I do, say, SG these days, but I guess that's cos I'm lazy, and it does take a bit of work to let KSK get under your skin.

Hamasaki Ayumi - Duty

I know the inclusion of any Ayu album by default means I lose any sort of street cred, but this is really a...magnificent album. I don't think her voice has ever sounded better, and really, Ayu's songs work best when she's experiencing an existential crisis and writing intimate sob stories. There is not a single bad song on this album (okay, maybe that throwaway introduction track) and some of the best songs she's ever recorded are here - Duty, SURREAL, End of the world, the vogue/far away/seasons trilogy.

Mew - Frengers

I had a bit of a shoegazing phase and somehow Mew came into the picture. While they aren't technically a hardcore shoegazing band, I think whatever you might call their sound, is pretty much an awesome sound. They basically summarise everything I like in good music - pretty melodies that rock hard nevertheless.

the brilliant green - Los angeles

I think someone covered this earlier in the thread but wow, listening to this album gets me all excited at the fact that they've recently signed to a new label (Warner). At the core of it all, tbg is a really romantic band, and it's nice to see that sort of romance presented in such a gritty, fuzzy, ballsy manner on this album. "I can hold your hand baby" = most underrated song, ever.

Broken Social Scene - Self-titled

I'm not sure when it started to become poseur/uncool to like them, but that's really tangential. I know some people will think "You forgot it in people" > everything else they've put out, but I really think some of their best melodies were written on this album. Basically, I just can't -not- put an album that has '7/4 shoreline', 'Swimmers' and 'Superconnected' on it on this list.

There are probably a lot more albums that I've listened to over the decade that I like, but none of them with such an irrational and crazy fervour as I do with the ones on this list. We should start a favourite SONGS of the decade thread, my list would be a lot more extensive then.
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Old 2010.01.04, 04:57 PM   #38
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Originally Posted by gekokujyo View Post
. . . listening to this album gets me all excited at the fact that they've recently signed to a new label (Warner).
Their new single "LIKE YESTERDAY" is set for a February 24th release!

I hope this means the last three singles won't be their next album, just because "Ash Like Snow" was a little too Tommy heavenly6-ish, and I wouldn't mind buying a copy of "Stand by me" with an album of completely new material.

http://www.thebrilliantgreen.jp/index.html

Last edited by BanFan : 2010.01.04 at 06:22 PM.
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Old 2010.01.07, 12:01 AM   #39
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(...oh god she's sooo gorgeous...)

Cibelle - Cibelle (2003)

What can I say about this album - it's the perfect combination of everything I love in this world. Sultry female vocalist singing brazilian portuguese, hot samba rhythms, cool bossa harmonies, and downtempo electronica... need I say more? My favourite tune has got to be "Hate"; I love how it starts up summery and nice and at 1:54 the colour of the music changes and it goes all dark. Then in her second album she moved to London, threw away that perfect brazilian electronica sound and went acoustic! That made me sad, because her acoustic offerings don't quite have the same magic as her electronic tunes.

Youtube doesn't have a good representation of her music, but here are some tunes:

Cibelle - Só se viver no samba

^ Probably the most traditionally brazillian sounding tune on the album.

Cibelle - Gracefully

^ Not actually on the debut album, but a good representation of what she sounds like.




Mayra Andrade - Navega (2006)
This is one of those albums which doesn't sound at all special on first listen, and to the unaware it might look like a complete cliche. Sultry female latin vocalist, check. Tropical acoustic guitars, check. Ethnic percussion, check. And the tunes! They start of unassuming, pretty, and just when you're about to dismiss it as yet another latin tune sung in an obscure language (Cape Verde-an creole, which sounds like Portuguese), bang, this chord comes in, or the tempo changes, or the meter changes, and the music opens up and reveals a depth of feelings, emotions, thoughts, and labour that has gone into making this album the masterpiece that it is. Mayra Andrade sings about the life of the people on Cape Verde; democracy, migration, and more traditional folky tunes about youth, courtship, farewell. Even without reading the lyric translations, you can feel the struggles and the hopes of the Cape Verde-an people.

Dimokransa is the perfect opening track to Navega. Starts off pretty, but later morphs into something quite intensely hypnotising.
Mayra Andrade - Dimokransa

^ (despite the cheap karaoke quality of the video, the maker also has included a translation of the lyrics! Read them, those are some big lyrics.)


Amy Winehouse - Frank (2003)
For me, Frank wins over Back to Black because it sounds... Frank. Sincere. Accomplished. It's almost as if she's distilled her person into the music, and that's why I absolutely adore this album.


Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Naturally (2005)
Soul revival! The sound of 60s, pure, in the 00s. Sharon Jones is a bad-ass singer, and she works that. I love this album so much I have no words to describe it, so here's some of that Sharon Jones magic...

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - How long do I have to wait for you

^ No video, but this is my favourite SJ & the Dap Kings tune. I love love love that descending guitar motif which kicks in at 0:06.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights

^ Also another great tune, and a video that matches the era in which the music was inspired.


Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart (2008)
I'm pretty sure that the only reason why golem09 doesn't also have this album on his list is that he probably forgot about it. Momentarily.
But Melody Gardot, jazz singer, slinky romantic jazz bar tunes, sparsely arranged - a clash of cymbal here, a dot of bass there, and a gentle piano chord somewhere - just the bare minimum require to fill up the space occupied by her smokey voice. Her vocal performances are spine-tingling, goosebumps-inducing, stop-you-in-you-tracks, hypnotising affairs. Her voice is excellent live, but if she ever wishes to stop touring she can make a decent career out of being a studio musician, because she's able to cut through all the studio equipment and sound like she's singing to you in your living room. It's an accomplished debut, catchy enough for noobs to enjoy, with enough jazz pedigree that more demanding listeners can pick up. If there is any artist that could convert a mainstream music person into a hardcore jazz fan, no doubt, it will be Melody Gardot.

Melody Gardot - Quiet Fire


And some new stuff
Melody Gardot - Who will comfort me
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Old 2010.01.17, 09:42 PM   #40
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justriiingo, I have that Cibelle album and like it, though not as much as you seem to. Actually, I probably should play it more often to get to know it better.

I tried her Shine of Dried Electric Leaves, which is much more experimental, but I could not get into what she was doing on that. Do you have any impressions of that one?

I just recently got around to buying Maria Rita's Segundo, which I like though I haven't yet listened to it much yet. It probably has too light a touch for some tastes, but her voice alone can probably carry a whole album for me (though the material she's singing is also good).
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