[ AQ customer poll 2000 ]
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Boy, this year's AQ customer poll is of such Quality (because you all have such good taste). Thanks to each and every person who responded, and extra special gratitude for those of you who spent the time to write entire essays about the year in music all the while entertaining us with yer wit. You're encouraged to peruse the polls below, as many contain some pretty cool ideas and observations. Please note that while the top three vote-getters were pretty much shoo-ins, the most interesting records are to be found in #4-#8 range, definite winners although not in the top spots -- but always worthy of your attention. Congrats to Chris Jern and Steve Piccione who are our two randomly-chosen pollsters who've each won $25 gift certificates. [1] Radiohead "Kid A" [2] Yo La Tengo "And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" [3] Granddaddy "The Sophtware Slump" [4] Amon Tobin "Supermodified" [5] Badly Drawn Boy "The Hour of Bewilderbeast" Dieselhed "Chico & the Flute"
The Fucking Champs "IV"
Godspeed You Black Emperor! "Lift Your Skinny Fists..."
PJ Harvey "Stories From The City..."
Sonic Youth "NYC Ghosts and Flowers"
Weakling "Dead As Dreams"
[6] At The Drive-In "Relationship of Command" Blonde Redhead "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons"
Delgados "The Great Eastern"
Dirty Three "Whatever You Love, You Are"
New Pornographers "Mass Romantic"
Outkast "Stankonia"
White Stripes "De Stijl"
[7] Broadcast "The Noise Made by People" D'Angelo "Voodoo"
Death Cab for Cutie "We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes"
Elliott Smith "Figure 8"
Kid 606 "Down With The Scene"
Modest Mouse "The Moon & Antarctica"
Raymond Scott "Manhattan Research Inc."
Sleater-Kinney "All Hands on the Bad One"
[8] Boards of Canada "In a Beautiful Place..." Aislers Set "The Last Match"
Belle and Sebastian "Fold your hands child"
Bjork "Selma Songs"
Blackalicious "Nia"
Cat Power "The Covers Record"
Clinic "Internal Wrangler"
The Conet Project 4 CD reissue
Do Make Say Think "Goodbye Enemy Airships"
Elf Power "Winter Is Coming"
Enslaved "Mardraum"
Eyvind Kang "The Story of Iceland"
Ghostface Killah "Supreme Clientele"
Go-Betweens "Friends of Rachel Worth"
Hot Snakes "Automatic Midnight"
Jurassic-5 "Quality Control"
Nile "Black Seeds of Vengenace"
Phillip Jeck "Vinyl Coda l-lll"
Shellac "1000 hurts"
Sigur Ros "Agaetis Byrjun"
Versus "Hurrah"
From: Sean Tolpinrud 1. Ministry of Sound II (mixed by Tall Paul) 2. Radiohead - Kid A 3. Pilote - Antenna 4. Jets to Brazil - Four Cornered Night 5. Death Cab For Cutie - We Have the Facts, and We're Voting Yes 6. Coldplay - Parachutes 7. Green Velvet 8. DJ Feel Good presents the F-111 House Sessions 9. Amon Tobin - Supermodified 10. Elliot Smith - Figure 8 From: Andy Earles, Cimarron Weekend Arab Strap Elephant Shoe (Jetset) Kool Keith Matthew (Funky-Ass/Threshold) The Lost Sounds Memphis Is Dead (Big Neck) Ornette Coleman Dancing In Your Head (Polygram) Napalm Death Enemy Of The Music Business Electric Wizard Dopethrone (Import/The Music Cartel) A Silver Mt. Zion He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms (Constellation) Storm and Stress Under Thunder and Fluorescent Light (Touch and Go) Damien Jurado Postcards and Audio Letters (Made In Mexico) Bob Ostertag Sooner Or Later (Seeland) From: Benjamin Tinker Wow good year, but it seems like a great deal of this music was made before 2000, oh well, thank goodness for the archivers and reissurers 1)I think i'll put at the top of my list Bjork's "Selma Songs", don't listen to it that often, but every time i do i am blown away by the compositions, orchestrations, arrangements etc. Heard way before I saw the film and still am able to retain my first mental images of what might be happening (i.e. counting days on the wall of her cell as opposed to the steps to the gallows, etc.) and she seemed to make very good choices as to the different presentations of the songs rather then just plopping the films versions on. Wow. 2) Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning (re-issue) After hearing about this for years, and not being incredibly blown away by Slapp Happy's "Desperate Straits", I jumped when I saw this available, and wow it totally rocks in the most Head-y manner. Basically I'll listen to any recording w/Dagmar singing, but the arrangements and fury of this seems unique. 3) Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome For some reason hip hop hasn't ever grabbed me in a big way, and I know that statement can get me in all sorts of trouble, but something about it (GENERALLY) doesn't grab me, and when it has it has pretty much always been the backing tracks and not the rhymes, so along comes this thing, what is it ? A hip hop record? Comedy record? Avant garde assemblage? All of the above and more.... 4) Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell - Mu 1 & 2 (re-issue) Beautiful travelogue of sounds and textures, like a panoramic landscape of free form with only two musicians jumping from one instrument to another, you can hear their recent travels to north africa, etc. 5) Pram -The Museum of Imaginary Animals Any one who can make a Nico sample swing has got to be cool. A perfect blend of Stereolab/Broadcast cool, laid back style dream pop, with a healthy dose of quirkiness that seems to be lacking in the afore mentioned recent products. 6) Cornelius Cardew & The Scratch Orchestra - The Great Learning 7) Terry Reilly - The Gift 8) John Cage & Kenneth Patchen - The City Wears a Slouch Hat Yay for The Organ of Corti for bringing these really wild experiments to light. Very listenable and fun, beautiful, mysterious and still fresh and daring. 9) High Llamas - Buzzle Bee The newest collage of musical appropriations by Mr. O'Hagen sees more of the same (Brian Wilson, Morricone, etc.) plundering, but he does it so damn well. 10) Double U - Falling Lanterns From weird quasi-metal riffs to collapsing rhythm machines pumping out steam powered music with a soft spoken spook whispering into your ear, or the grass-hopper queen herself inviting you for the Cicada Ball. Cosy as a moldy basement. Honorable mention: The Delgados - Great Eastern Pop music for pop people, and that's me when I'm walkin round w/headphones. That guy from Mercury Rev really knows his way round the studio, is that scary, or inspiring. And wow they pulled it off live w/o a hitch (w/something like 8 people on the tiny Bottom of the Hill stage). From: Bill Meyer I already did four of these things for different magazines, all of them different. this is a fifth, and reflects my feelings this morning. Ask m tomorrow and it'll be different: Yo La Tengo, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (Matador) Alastair Galbraith, Cry (Emperor Jones) Peter Brotzmann Tentet, Stone / Water (Okka disk) Mats Gustafsson, Windows (Blue Chopsticks) Huon, Songs For Lord Tortoise (Animal World) Gunter Muller/Le Quan Ninh,La Voyelle Liquide (Erstwhile) Evan Parker and Keith Rowe, Dark Rags (Potlatch) Giant Sand, Chore of Enchantment (Thrill Jockey) Movietone, The Blossom Filled Streets (Drag City) The Dead C, The Dead C (Language) I won't even BEGIN to list the other deserving records From: bjoern eichstaedt ALL SAINTS.- saints and sinners ROBBIE WILLIAMS.- sing when you're winning RADIOHEAD.- kid a EN VOGUE.- masterpiece theatre KANTE.- zweilicht AALIYAH.- try again (single) BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE.- sunset mission DESTINY'S CHILD.- independent women (single) SUGABABES. - overload (single) ENSLAVED.- mardraum-beyond the within From: Brad Davis - low & spring heel jack - bombscare ep - blonde redhead - melody of certain damaged lemons - lungfish - necrophones - conet project (reissue) - low - dinosaur act ep - masada - live at sevilla 2000 - john duncan/ max springer - the crackling - melt-banana - teeny shiny - quickspace - the death of quickspace - thomas lehn & gerry hemingway - tom & gerry From: Brian Eck My top 10 albums and reissue compilations of 2000, in no particular order: At The Drive-In, _Relationship of Command_ (Grand Royal) Modest Mouse, _The Moon & Antarctica_ (Epic) Shellac, _1000 Hurts_ (Touch & Go) Sleater-Kinney, _All Hands on the Bad One_ (Kill Rock Stars) Versus, _Hurrah_ (Merge) Black Heart Procession, The _Three_ (Touch & Go) Anniversary, The, _Designing a Nervous Breakdown_ (Heroes & Villians) Enemymine, _The Ice In Me_ (Up) Pinback, _Some Voices_ (Tree) 764-Hero, _Weekends of Sound_ (Up) From: Brian Turner, WFMU Music/Program Director Ah, engagement Diving Grand Cayman and clinically insane Australian divemaster we had Having the Acid Mothers Temple & Bellrays play on the show Ake Hodell - Verbal Brainwashing (Fylkingen) Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun (Warners Japan) + DJ Pica Pica Pica - Planetary Natural Gus Webbin (Comma) Outkast - Stankonia (LaFace/Arista) and on Letterman Marc Tremblay - Bruit-Graffiti (Emprientes Digitales) Clinic - Internal Wrangler (Domino UK) Various - Ropeladder 12 (Mush) I got much better at pool Hatewave reissue (Tumult) "Cellular Hellular" cassettes Lorette Velvette - Rude Angel (Okra-Tone) Dead C - Language Recordings 1 & 2 (Language) Laura Cantrell - Not the Trembling Kind (Diesel Only) Mikey Wild - I Was Punk Before You Were Punk (Bulb) Sightings & Erase Errata demos Egnekn - 8 Track Magic Various - Ego Trip's Big Playblack (Rawkus) Lightning Bolt - Conan 7" (Load) Live: Bellrays, Laddio Bolocko, Oneida, Fucking Champs, Ted Nugent, Battlebots, Charlemagne Palestine, Wire, People Like Us, Low Down Dirty DAWGS, Neil Young, Avey Tare & Panda Bear, Willie Nelson. From: Bryan Magers, KALX Calexico "Hot Rail" Grandaddy "The Sophtware Slump" Mountain Goats "The Coroner's Gambit" Hot Club of Cowtown "Dev'lish Mary" Amy Annelle "Which One's You?" Aislers Set "The Last Match" The Faint "Blank-Wave Arcade" Handsome Family "In the Air" Air "The Virgin Suicides" T. Griffin "Tortuga" From: Caroline Atchinson Badly Drawn Boy ~ "The Hour of Bewilderbeast" Cassette ~ "Emo" ep Dandy Warhols ~ "Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia" Dieselhed ~ "Chico & the Flute" Elf Power ~ "The Winter Is Coming" Estradasphere ~ "It's Understood" HLAH ~ "Blood on the Honky Tonk Dance Floor" Smoothy ~ "The Shock of the Smooth" Sparklehorse ~ "Distorted Ghost" ep White Stripes ~ "De Stijl" From: Chris Sienko Cool, I love doing lists like this...hadn't really done it up before this, oddly enough. This is totally off the cuff, on the fly, so I'm probably missing great works of music here, but that's how it goes, boyeeee. Only 10 eh? Fine, I'll make the proper list just 10, but you'll have to stick a dirty sock in my mouth to shut me up after those are done. I do tend to go on a bit. If that disqualifies me for the gift certificate, oh well. This is more important. 1. A Warm Palindrome, _s/t_ LP (Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers). Best of 2000? How about best of 1991-2000!! This is the recording that'll bring music into it's next golden age, I fucking swear it. Check out my longwinded review at http://www.monotremata.com/dead/issues/da43.htm for more info. Acid folk meets the digital glitch doesn't even begin... - Target Shoppers: _Rape Them In A Blanket And Give Them A Cup Of Sweet Tea_. LP (Just Glittering) Noise rock of extraordinary grooviness and good humor. - Gizmos: Studio Recordings 1976-1977. CD (Gulcher) "Mean Screen" joins the riff pantheon. - dj smallcock: _Yinyue_ CD (Dual Plover). I need a nap after listening to this one. Dual Plover will be the Amarillo of the '00s, I predict. - MC Paul Barman: _It's Very Stimulating_ (Wordsound). "While I dream of a molten pool of magma rock/raining ragnarok/on the whole damn school," "My pissed off gibrowski/turned three colors like Krystoff Kieslowski," I could go on, but I'm sure you've heard it (big up for supporting Wordsound all these years, btw). - Ashtray Navigations, _Tristes Tropiques_ CD (Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers). Ever since the split CD with Universal Indians, Phil Todd's Ashtray Navigations has hit bullseyes just about every time out. Put down that Labradford record, this one will take you far further than the train tracks on the edge of town, and still have you home in time to tuck you in for night-night. Like living in a Man Ray photo. - V/A: _Variious_ 2CD (Intransitive). Pushes ALL my buttons. At least all my art-snob buttons. There oughtta be an nmperign track on it, but I say that about all CDs. Best of all, when I asked label-maestro Howie why there were two "i"s in the title, he replied, "cuz it's a 2 CD set." Take that, Coley! - Jean Street: s/t CD-R (Hanson). THIS is what I was hoping "IDM" music would sound like back in 1991. Well, all good things come eventually. Electronic music could stand to piss its pants a little more often than it does. Nobody likes a frowny-face! - The Flying Burrito Brothers: _Hot Burritos!_ 2CD (I dunno which label off the top of my head). Oh my god... - The Shadow Ring, _Lighthouse_ 2LP and Tart, _Radio Orange_ LP. Two bold strikes for the Anti-Naturals. The former is possibly the most pretentious album on earth, which is no mean feat in the decade that gave us Tortoise. The latter takes me to very bad parts of town at 3 a.m. with no ride home. Near-misses: - Sudden Infant: _Sidewalk Social Scientist_ LP (Tochnit Aleph). Fast, fun and furry. The Joke's still funny, 10 years later. - Crawlspace: _Dogs Began To Crawl, Snakes Began to Howl_ CD-R (Slippy Sound). Features a collab with Remora (the one that did _Narcoma_). A track with a title like "Farmer John Cale's Fresh Smoked" shouldn't be so beautiful and moving, I don't think. At least not in regular-people-world. - A Warm Palindrome, Feverdreams, Badgerlore: _3 Owls, Six Ears_ 3 way split CD(Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers). Didn't make the top ten since I didn't get to hear it until last week. None but the mighty Palindrome could conjure a choir of egg-slicers and make it sound like the gates of heaven. Get on your knees with me and beg them to stay together as a band (they're on the verge of breaking up). - Carly Ptak: _Music In Progress_ CD-R (Mystery Spot). See Jean Street descrip above, sans the Alibini-esque vocals. - Volvox: _Damage Begins At the Mouth_ (Dual Plover). Like listening to a To Live and Shave In L.A. record on 16 RPM. Really. - Vote Robot: _Ummo_ lathe-cut 7" (Hell's Half Halo). Sounds bad even by lathe standards, but the music within fits the crud well. Sad and yearning in ways electronic music usually isn't. - Green Monkey: _The Lotus Blossom Will No Longer Blossom Upon Your Island_ CD (Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers). Again, see http://www.monotremata.com/dead/issues/da43.htm. Bye bye High Rise. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a dirty sock that needs to be stuffed into my mouth. Cheers! -Chris From: Chris Groves 1) Merzbow - "Merzbox" 2) Mayhem - "Grand Declaration of War" 3) Boom Bip & Dose One - "Circle" 4) Kid Koala - "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" 5) Sudden Infant - "Sidewalk Social Scientist" 6) Kazumoto Endo - "While You Were Out" 7) Aube - "Triad Thread" 8) Nokturnal Mortem - "Ne Christ" 9) Kazumoto Endo - "Never Gonna Make You Cry" 10) Kid 606 - "Down With The Scene" From: Chris Jern Twelve very important things I have learned after reading all of this: 1) I am *extremely* glad that I have no RealAudio capacity - as the inexhaustable AQ staff efforts to expose the world at large to the best of the "unheard music" would largely reduce my (already) tenuous supply of free-spending money to roughly the equivalent of absolute zero. 2) Andee who works at AQ apparently has a label called tUMULt! 4) Those who live by the sword will no doubt die by it - Valhalla awaits. 5) Jern could never ever work at AQ without going completely insane from a neverending diet of Japanoise, twee pop, and black metal. 6) Y'all take "obscure" to completely new levels of obscurity. GAWD BLESS. 7) "Those who don't remember the 1970's will be doomed to re-live 'em!" 8) Canada & hippies - and Canadian hippies particularly - are nothing to fear, really - just try to keep downwind and you'll be fine. 9) Some day, some way, there *will* be a JIM CROCE cult-of-personality. (although I would agree this is more-or-less the same thing as #7!) 10) AQ should open a store in Chicago 'cuz ours all SUCK ASS JUICE. 11) Windy has too many "favorite" albums. (bah ha ha ha ha!!!) 12) "If it's from Finland, it's gotta be good!" and a special additional bonus oobservation: 13) In a superior alternative world, Raymond & Peter would have a weekly Claymation TV series on FOX or UPN - or Neil Hamburger would host "Survivor III" based around either trying to find affordable housing in SF or trying to avoid punk panhandlers with small children and/or dogs on a string along Haight St. From: Chris Lowe PJ Harvey Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea Sleater-Kinney All Hands on the Bad One Jurassic 5 Quality Control Outkast Stankonia ESG A South Bronx Story Deltron 3030 Sun Ra Lanquidity Blackalicious NIA Ego Trip's The Big Playback Raymond Scott Manhattan Research, Inc. From: D.B. Weiss Here is my Top Ten list for 2000, in alphabetical order: Boards of Canada, MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN Circle, PROSPEKT THE CONET PROJECT Francisco Lopez, UNTITLED 104 Midget Handjob, MIDNIGHT SNACK BREAK AT THE POODLE FACTORY The New Pornographers, MASS ROMANTIC Nile, BLACK SEEDS OF VENGEANCE Radar Bros, THE SINGING HATCHET Radiohead, KID A Weakling, DEAD AS DREAMS From: Dan Buskirk My Silly Ass Top Ten Of 2001 Yo La Tengo/And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out Ray's Vast Basement/On The Banks Of The Time Kid 606/Down With The Scene Songs Ohia/Ghost Tropic B. Fleischmann/Chorus Of Epmty Beds Panda Bear And Avey Tare/Spirit They're Gone A Silver Mt. Zion/Shafts Of Light Circle/Andexelt D'Angelo/Voodoo Matthew Shipp/Pastoral Composure From: Dan Koster A top 10 of 2000. Like it's fair to limit us to 10 when you all get to list as many as you want. Yeah, yeah, you own the store, so what? I demand the right to ramble! :-) oh, OK. Ten: Blectum From Blechdom -- The Messy Jesse Fiesta Brak Presents the Brak Album Starring Brak Kid606 -- Three-way tie between Soccergirl, Down w/the Scene, and PS I Love You LB -- Pop Artificielle (so I'm an Atom Heart lightweight, so what? Los Sampler's and XXX also rock the archipelago) Sinead O'Connor -- Faith and Courage Saint Etienne -- Sound of Water Self -- Gizmodgery Jimi Tenor -- Out of Nowhere various -- At Home with the Groovebox Robert Wyatt & co. -- Soupsongs Live there, I only cheated a little. From: dan schaaf lucky 13 of 2000 1.Dieselhed "Chico And The Flute" (bong load) 2.Cutthroats 9 "Cutthroats 9" (man's ruin) 3.Granddaddy "The Sophtware Slump" (v2/will) 4.Che "Sounds of Liberation" (man's ruin) 5.The Swinging Neckbreakers "The Return of Rock" (Telstar) 6.The Fucking Champs "IV" (drag city) 7.High on Fire "The Art of Self Defence" (man's ruin) 8.Jurassic-5 "Quality Control" (interscope) 9.Giant Sand "Chore of Enchantment" (thrill jockey) 10.Built to Spill "Live" (WB) 11.Pedro the Lion "Winners Never Quit" 12.Optigonally Yours "Excluviely Talentmarker!" 13.The Hot Snakes "Automatic Midnight" From: Daniel Siedler 1)Yo La Tengo "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" 2)Blonde Redhead "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons" 3)Modest Mouse "The Moon and Antarctica" 4)Go-Betweens "The Friends of Rachel Worth" 5)Sonic Youth "NYC Ghosts and Flowers" 6)Radiohead "Kid A" 7)Amon Tobin "Supermodified" 8)Elf Power "The Winter Is Coming" 9)Super Furry Animals "Mwng" 10)Clinic "Internal Wrangler" From: Dave Parks Pedro the Lion - Winners Never Quit godspeed you black emperor! - lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven Dirty Three - Whatever You Love, You Are Tarentel - Looking for Things, Searching for Things The Marquis de Tren and Bonny "Prince" Billy - Get On Jolly The For Carnation - s/t Pedro the Lion - Progress EP Air - The Virgin Suicides soundtrack The 6ths - Hyacinths and Thistles Eels- Daisies of the Galaxy From: Dave Power 1. Pedro the Lion-Winners Never Quit (jade tree) 2. Mates of State-My Solo Project (omnibus) 3. John Vanderslice-Mass Suicide Occult Figurines (barsuk) 4. Modest Mouse-The Moon & Antarctica (epic) 5. Oranger-The Quiet Vibration Land (amazing grease) 6. Crooked Fingers-s/t (warm) 7. Yo La Tengo-And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (matador) 8. Mike Levy-Fireflies (parasol/bus stop) 9. Grandaddy-The Sophtware Slump (v2) 10. Rumah Sakit-s/t (temporary residence) From: David Milsom Quickspace - Death of Quickspace (they keep blowing me away. i think its the same song over and over, but i don't care.) Will Oldham/Rian Murphy - All Most Heaven (it silly. its baroque. it has the dumbest album cover photos of the year. its brilliant.) Thomas Brinkmann - Rosa (click click click) Mazarin - Watch It Happen (this should be numero uno) Damon & Naomi - With Ghost (makes me feel all gushy) Sun Ra - Lanquidity (reissue) Delgados - The Great Eastern (hey! it is NOT as good as their 2 previous releases, but its damn good still) Major Stars - Space/Time (dude. this is some rock and roll.) Death Cab for Cutie - We have the facts, etc. (I tried not to like it, but failed.) Johnny Cash - Solitary Man (i couldn't not vote for this. god bless him.) From: deb a zeller 1. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump 2. The Zephyrs - It's Okay Not To Say Anything (lovely Scottish band on Mogwai's own label, Evol Records. New album due around Easter... please stock it!!!!) 3. Damien Jurado - Ghost of David 4. Kingsbury Manx - self titled (is this really out of print already?!) 5. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven 6. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out 7. Two Dollar Guitar - Weak Beats and Lame Ass Rymes 8. Delgados - The Great Eastern 9. Big Tobacco / Chappaquiddick Skyline (it's a Pernice tie! Can I do that?) 10. Low & Spring Heel Jack - Bombscare From: Diana Senechal 1) Hannah Marcus - Black Hole Heaven 1) Virgil Shaw - Quad Cities 3) Dirty Three - Whatever You Love, You Are 4) Dieselhed - Chico and the Flute 5) kid dakota -- So Pretty (EP) 6) Bjork - Selmasongs 7) V/A - Take Me Home: a Tribute to John Denver 8) U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind 9) Morphine - The Night 10) Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump From: Doug Orleans Here's my top ten, in order: Poster Children - DDD [spinART] Medea Connection, the - The Action Noise [Medea Connection] Tarentel - From Bone To Satellite [Temporary Residence] Major Stars - Space/Time [Twisted Village] High On Fire - The Art Of Self Defense [Man's Ruin] Air - Original Motion Picture Score for The Virgin Suicides [Astralwerks] Thingy - To The Innocent [Absolutely Kosher] Versus - Hurrah [Merge] Champs, the Fucking - IV [Drag City] Idyll Swords - II [Communion] Other runners-up: (these are all great records!) Hendrix Experience, the Jimi - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [MCA] Who, the - BBC Sessions [MCA] Don Caballero - American Don [Touch & Go] Bright - Full Negative (or) Breaks [Badabing] Moon Patrol - A Short Time On A Peaceful Planet [Fuzzburg] Lockgroove - Sleeping on the Elephant Fog [Krave] Hong Kong, the - Lights At Night [Turducken] Elf Power - The Winter is Coming [Sugar Free] Bardo Pond - CD-R Vol. 1 [Bardo Pond] Man or Astro-Man? - A Spectrum of Finite Scale [Touch & Go] Man or Astro-Man? - A Spectrum of Infinite Scale [Touch & Go] SubArachnoid Space - A New and Exact Map [September Gurls] SubArachnoid Space - These Things Take Time [Relapse] Ninewood - American Salt Lick [Vaccination] Charalambides - Sticks [Wholly Other] Charalambides - Home [Wholly Other] Radiohead - Kid A [Capitol] Davis, Miles - On The Corner [Columbia/Legacy] Laika - Good Looking Blues [Too Pure] In Out, the - A Living Memorial In Deutschland [Dark Beloved Cloud] Kid 606 - Down With The Scene [Ipecac] Quickspace - Flat Moon Society [Kitty Kitty] Cheer-Accident - !! Salad Days !! [Skin Graft] Various Artists - 2000 Teenbeat Sampler [Teenbeat] Doldrums - The Secret Life Of Machines [VHF] Lothars, the - Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas [Wobbly] Abunai! - Round Wound [Camera Obscura] Weakling - Dead As Dreams [tUMULt] Rachel's / Matmos - Full on Night [Quarterstick] Windy & Carl & The Lothars - & Windy & Carl & The Lothars [Blue Flea/Wobbly] Coltrane, John - Ascension [Impulse!] Queens of the Stone Age - RESTRICTED TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME [Interscope] Various Artists - The Pot Machine Turns You On, A CD given free with Ptolemaic Terrascope 29 [Ptolemaic Terrascope] Sea and Cake, the - Oui [Thrill Jockey] Trans Am - You Can Always Get What You Want [Thrill Jockey] Nine Inch Nails - Things Falling Apart [nothing] Aislers Set, the - The Last Match [Slumberland] Melvins, the - The Crybaby [Ipecac] Goatsnake/Burning Witch - Goatsnake/Burning Witch [Hydra Head] From: Edmond Cho Harry Bertoia - Unfolding Eliane Radigue - Kyema, Intermediate States Akira Rabelais - Elongated Pentagonal Pyramid Bob Marley & the Wailers - Soul Revolution parts I & II Scientist - Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires Maspyke - The Gong Show 12" Mr. Len - This Morning 12" Eardrum - Last Light Stephen Scott - Music for Bowed Piano Kid 606 - P.S. I Love You From: Eric Baecht OOIOO being my favorite,the rest in no particular order OOIOO Gold & Green Christine 23 Onna Sonic Youth NYCG+F Blonde Redhead-Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons Raymond Scott-Manhattan Research Haco-Happiness Proof Merzbox From: Eric Hardiman Here's my list of top ten records of 2000 (not in any particular order): 1. Hat City Intuitive - they must be clapping for... me! (Crank Automotive) 2. Radiohead - Kid A (Capitol) 3. Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day (Spinney reissue) 4. Faust - The Wumme Years box (ReR reissue) 5. Infesticons - Gun Hill Road 6. Zion I - Mind Over Matter 7. Sun Ra - Pathways to Unknown Worlds/Friendly Love (Evidence reissue) 8. V/A - Ethiopiques Vol. 8 - Swinging Addis (Buda) 9. Arab on Radar - Soak the Saddle (Skin Graft) 10. The Fall - The Unutterable From: flexicat in no order Amon Tobin "Supermodified" Yo La Tengo "And then nothing..." Shannon Wright "maps of tacit" Hot Snakes "Automatic Midnight" Dirty 3 "Whatever you love..." Conet Project Mark Kozelek "rock n roll singer" Bright Eyes "mirrors" Badly Drawn Boy "Stone on the Water" Rainer Maria "seven sisters" From: fred schaaf 1. Grandaddy "The Sophtware Slump" (v2/will) 2. Cutthroats 9 "Cutthroats 9" (man's ruin) 3. Jurassic-5 "Quality Control" (interscope) 4. Emmylou Harris "Red Dirt Girl" (nonesuch) 5. Jet Black Crayon "Low Frequency Speaker Test" (function 8) 6. Vandermark 5 "Burn The Incline" (atavistic) 7. Dieselhed "Chico And The Flute" (bong load) 8. Cave-In "Jupiter" (hydra head) 9. White Stripes "De Stijil" (sympathy for the record industry) 10. Rumah Sakit "Self-Titled" (temporary residence) 11. Moonie Susuki "People Get Ready" (estrus) 12. New Pornographers "Mass Romantic" (mint/blue curtain) 13. Reggie & The Full Effect "Promotional Copy" (vagrant/h&v) 14. Steve Earle "Trancendental Blues" (artemis) GAGE KENADY'S FAVES 2000 VOLCANO THE BEAR The One Burned Ma VOLCANO THE BEAR The Inhazer Decline BROADCAST The Noise Made By People BROADCAST Extended Play 2 AMON TOBIN Supermodified PINETOP SEVEN Bringing Home The Last Great Strike BLACK BOX RECORDER The Facts Of Life GRANDADDY The Sophtware Slump SUSANNE LEWIS Suzanne Lewis ANDREW HILL Dusk HIGH LLAMAS Buzzle Bee GREAT LAKES Great Lakes CALEXICO Hot Rail BELLE & SEBASTIAN Fold Your Hands Child... CHARLES ATLAS Play the Spaces DELGADOS The Great Eastern BEST SINGLES BROADCAST: Come On Let's Go HALF FILM: The Only Direction Is South REISSUES MARGO GURYAN: Take A Picture VASHTI BUNYAN: Just Another Diamond Day THE BAND: first four albums TRAFFIC: Mr. Fantasy Heaven Is In Your Mind NILSSON: British RCA twofers WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND: A Child's Guide To Good And Evil ORNETTE COLEMAN: Science Fiction SUN RA: When Angels Speak Of Love Pathways To Unknown Worlds Lanquidity OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL Presents: Singles & Beyond Actuel Reissues: Art Ensemble, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Don Cherry BOX SETS The Jimi Hendrix Experience various: Immediate Records box FAUST: The Wumme Years ARCHIVAL ENNIO MORRICONE: Gli Occhi Freddi Sella Paura various: Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Vol. 3 various: Where The Girls Are Vol. 3 SUN RA: Friendly Love Cymbals & Crystal Spears BOWIE At The Beeb Harry Smith Vol. 4 TERRY RILEY: Music For The Gift.. CURT BOETTCHER: Misty Mirage THE MILLENIUM: Again SANDY SALISBURY: Sandy RAYMOND SCOTT: Manhattan Research Inc. BEST NEW FAVORITE SONG: Go Away Boy by THE PEARLFISHERS from Caroline Now (did Brian Wilson really write this beauty in 1962?!) BEST NEW FAVORITE GROUP DISCOVERED IN 2000: U.S. MAPLE From: drew webster antaeus "cut your flesh and worship satan" [best album title award] coph nia "that which remains" mayhem "grand declaration of war" msbr/kengo iuchi "split" sigur ros "agaetis byrjun" burmese "monkeys tear man to shreds..." agents of oblivion "s/t" enslaved "maradraum" richard buckner "the hill" dj sushi "lost dub plates ep" symbiosis "crisis" narcissus "newwave techno homicide" Best Albums of 2000 by Robert Kirkpatrick (More or less in order) Bill Frisell 'Ghost Town' Clint Mansell 'Requiem for a Dream' (Best Soundtrack) Eyvind Kang 'The Story of Iceland' Zony Mash 'American Bandstand' Freight Elevator Quartet 'Becoming Transparent' Hoahio 'Ohayo! Hoahio!' Medeski Martin and Wood 'Tonic' John Zorn 'Xu Feng' Medeski Martin and Wood 'The Dropper' Isotope 217 'Who Stole the I Walkman?' Radiohead 'Kid A' From: niki @ thirty three degrees records in austin, texas In making my own list i had a VERY hard time keeping it to ten, so i split it into two top ten lists. top 10 "synthetic" 1. B Fleischmann "A Choir of Empty Beds" 2. Kreidler "s/t 3. Hermann & Kleine "the Kickboard Girl" EP 4. Senor Coconut y Su Conjunto "El Baile Aleman" 5. v/a "Cashier Escape Route" 6. Pluxus "Och Resan Fortsatter Har" EP 7. v/a "Putting the Morr Back in Morrisey" 8. Boards of Canada "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country" EP 9. Amon Tobin "Supermodified" 10. v/a "You gotta get more alive" 555 Recordings Compilation my real top ten in chronological order: 1. Raymond Scott "Manhattan research inc." 2. Yo La Tengo "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out" 3. Broadcast "Noise made by people" 4. Aislers Set "Last match" 5. Blonde Redhead "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons" 6. Belle and Sebastian "Fold your hands child you walk like a peasant" 7. Mooney Suzuki "People Get Ready" 8. Ladytron "Commodore rock" EP 9. Deltron 3030 "Deltron 3030" 10. v/a "Reproductions: Songs of the Human league" From: Jack Hankin Here are my lucky 13 picks for 2000: Cinematic Orchestra: (Remixes) L'altra: Music of a Sinking Occasion Pram: Museum of imaginary Animals Laika: Good Looking Blues Fontonelle (s/t) Broadcast: The Noise Made by People Rokia Traore: Wanite Conjoint: Earprints Sigor Ros: Agartis Byvjun Sad Rockets: Transitin Do Make Say Think: Goodbye Enemy Airships . . . Dylan Group: Ur-Klang Search The Mercury Program: From the Vapor of Gasoline From: Jeff Chang ALBUMS Baby Cham-Wow: The Story (Madhouse) Blackalicious - Nia (Quannum) Capleton - More Fire (VP) Common-Like Water For Chocolate (MCA) Docking Sequence compilation (BSI Records) Down By The River compilation (VP) Fela Anikulapo-Kuti reissues (Universal/Barclay) Ghostface Killah-Supreme Clientele (Epic) Gunz In Da Ghetto compilation (71/VP) Outkast-Stankonia (LaFace) Spragga Benz-Fully Loaded (VP) SoleSides Greatest Bumps compilation (Quannum) Twilight Circus Dub Sound System-Dub Voyage (M Records) SINGLES "Down By The River"-Morgan Heritage (VP) "Heavy Like Lead"-Anthony B (Kennedy International) "Hip Hop"-Dead Prez (Loud) "Love So Nice"-Junior Kelly (VP) "Man and Man"-Baby Cham (Xtra Large) "Protect Your Neck (The Jump Off)"-Wutang Clan (Loud) "Say What"-Singing Melody (Digital B) "The Next Episode"-Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (Aftermath) "They Gonna Talk"-Beres Hammond (Harmony House) "Whoa"-Black Rob (Bad Boy) "Who Let The Dogs Out"-Baha Men (Artemis) From: jerry teichmiller top 10 1 shellac 1000 hurts 2 enemymine the ice in me 3 harvey milk courtesy & goodwill toward men (reissue) 4 queens of the stone age R 5 twilight singers twilight as played by 6 outkast stankonia 7 thrones sperm whale 8 fucking champs IV 9 nash kato debutante 10 at the drive-in relationship of command From: Jim Flannery OK, OK. Current 93 Sleep Has His House Dean Roberts and the Black Moths Play the Grand Cinema Tarwater Animals, Suns and Atoms Sonic Youth NYC Ghosts & Flowers Burkhard Stangl/Christof Kurzmann Schnee Acid Mothers Temple La Novia Ennio Morricone Gli Occhi freddi della Paura Pinkie Maclure From Memorial Crossing Thuja The Deer Lay Down their Bones Marcus Schmickler Sator Rotas From: Joe Wright I'm a little slow on the uptake, and so a lot of my favorite albums this year were copyright 1999 (most notably, CDs from Mogwai, Dolly Parton and Kandia Kouyate, all of which I played more than the last three on this list.) 1. Selmasongs. Bjork. 2. The Friends of Rachel Worth. The Go-Betweens. 3. The Very Best of Abdullah Ibrahim. Abdullah Ibrahim. 4. Mass Romantic. New Pornographers. 5. The Rough Guide to The Music of Mali & Guinea. V/A. 6. Soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?. V/A. 7. And then nothing turned itself inside out... Yo La Tengo 8. Chanchullo. Ruben Gonzalez. 9. Antologia. Madredeus. 10. Hurrah. Versus. From: Jordan Perry The things I'm still listening to on a regular basis from 2000 1.) Psycho-baba: On the Roof of Kedar Lodge 2.) Burnt Friedman: Con Ritmo 3.) Primal Scream: Exterminator 4.) Carter Burwell: Hamlet soundtrack 5.) Avey Tare and Panda Bear: Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They're Vanished 6.) Weakling: Dead As Dreams 7.) Manilla Road: Crystal Logic 8.) Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: Troubadours from Another Heavenly World 9.) Phoenix: United 10.) Royal Trux: Pound for Pound 11.) Allan's and Andee's opinions From: Julian Curwin Ok, here's mine: Jim Black - AlasNoAxis Dave Douglas - Constellations (reissue) Dave Douglas - Soul On Soul Eyvind Kang - The Story Of Iceland Tin Hat Trio - Helium Pachora - Ast Kletka Red - Hybrid Bill Frisell - Ghost Town Marc Ribot - Muy Divertido Jamie Saft - Sovlanut From: Justin Davisson These are my Tops of 2000 (To name just a few) The Fucking Champs - IV (CD, Drag City) Enslaved - Madarum - Beyond the Within (CD, Necropolis) Weakling - Dead as Dreams (Double LP, Tumult) Finntroll - Midnattens Widunder (CD, Spikefarm) Nile - Black Seeds of Vengance (CD, Relapse) The For Carnation - S/T (CD, Touch & Go) Annbjrg Lien - Baba Yaga (CD, Grappa/Northside) Walls of Jericho - The Bound Feed the Gagged (CD, Trustkill) Cryptopsy - And Then You'll Beg (CD, Century Media) Yeti - Live at Sockmonkey (CD, self-released) Tarantula Hawk - s/t (CD, Life Is Abuse) Esoteric - Metamorphogenesis (CD, Aesthetic Death) Roy Montgomery - the Allegory of Hearing (CD, Drunken Fish) Time's Up - S/T (3" CD, Staalplaat) Drowningman - Rock N' Roll Killing Machine (CD, Revelation) Crispus Attucks - Destroy the Teacher (LP, Soda Jerk) Kontraattaque - Luchas, Tragedias... (7", El Grito) & live @ Mission Records Holding On/The Real Enemy - split ( 7", 1%) Lolita Storm - Girls Fuck Shit Up (CD, DHR) Hanin Ellias - 1993-1999 (CD, DHR) Good Clean Fun - On the Streets Saving The Scene From The Forces of Evil (Phyte, LP - Cradle of Filth parody cover) + live @ Gilman St. Shape of Despair - Shades of... (CD, Spikefarm) Hagalaz' Runedance - Volven (CD, Hammerheart/Well of Urd) Current 93 - I Have A Great Plan for this World (CD, EP, World Serpent) What Happens Next? - All releases and all 3 (or 4?) times I saw them live From: Kelly Corcoran Alphabetical w/o Reissues, based on frequency of personal listening: AC/DC "Stiff Upper Lip" Agents of Oblivion "Agents of Oblivion" Blonde Redhead "Melody of Certain Undamaged Lemons" D'angelo "Voodoo" Godspeed You Black Emperor "Lift Your Skinny..." Merle Haggard "If I Could Only Fly" Kid Koala "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" The Modernist "Explosion" David S Ware "Surrendered" Reissues: Fontella Bass "Free" Larry LeVan "Live @ the Paradise Garage" V/A "Bollywood Funk" Singles: !!! "Intensify" Alliyah "Try Again" Buzzcocks "Spirial Scratch" Jay-Z "Hey Papi" Madonna "Don't Tell Me" Madonna "Music" Nelly "Country Grammar" Mentions: A Guy Called Gerald "Essence" Art Ensemble of Chicago "Les Stances A Sophie" Atombombpocketknife "Alpha Sounds" Thomas Brinkmann "Soul Center 2" Elastica "The Menace" Jackie-O-Motherfucker "Fig. 5" Rock*A*Teens "Sweet Bird of Youth" Six Organs of Admittance "The Manifesto" Waxwings "Low to the Ground" From: Kevin Clarke favoritas alfabeticas 2000 apples in stereo : discovery of a world inside the moone badly drawn boy : the hour of bewilderbeest brothers in sound : family is for sharing clinic : internal wrangler king biscuit time : no style peaches : the teaches of peaches pram : the museum of imaginary animals radiohead : kid a six.by seven : the closer you get supergrass : supergrass ------- REISSUE : the steps [was that in early 2000?] From: Kevin S. Hoskins 1. Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight (Sympathy/Swami) 2. Cursive - Domestica (Saddle Creek) 3. Jealous Sound - s/t EP (Better Looking Records) 4. At the Drive In - Relationship of Command (Grand Royal) 5. Drowningman - How They Light Cigarettes in Prison EP (Revelation) 6. Samiam - Astray (Hopeless) 7. Seven Storey Mountain - Based on a True Story E.P. (Deep Elm) 8. Ann Beretta - to all our fallen heroes (Lookout!) 9. Jurassic 5 - Quality Control (Universal) 10. Resolve - My Stars... (Born + Over Records) From: Kevin Wong 1. Ex Girl "BIG WHEN FAR, SMALL WHEN CLOSE" 2. Dieselhed "CHICO AND THE FLUTE" 3. Bjork "SELMAS SONGS" 4. Neil Hamburger "INSIDE NEIL HAMBURGER" 5. Ex Girl "REVENGE OF KERO KERO" 6. The Wickerman "original soundtrack" (not the Iron Maiden album) 7. Anton Maiden 8. William Shatner "Transformed Man" 9. Pirate Fuckin' Radio 100(various) 10. Melt Banana "TEENY SHINY" From: Marc Weidenbaum 1. Amon Tobin - "Supermodified" (Ninja Tune) 2. Arvo Part - "Alina" (ECM) 3. Damon Bramblett - "Damon Bramblett" (TMG/Lone Star) 4. Aimee Mann - "Bachelor No. 2" (Superego) 5. Jake Mandell - "Quondam Current" (Mille Plateaux) 6. Radiohead - "Kid A" (Capitol) 7. Neil Young - "Silver & Gold" (Warner Bros.) 8. Thomas Brinkmann - "Rosa" (Ernst) 9. Medeski Martin & Wood - "The Dropper" (Blue Note) 10. Elliot Goldenthal - "Titus (Soundtrack)" (Sony Classics) From: Mark Del Lima this was a kaleidoscopic year for electronic music. it is so hard to decide which are the ten strongest. there were so many records that came close. some even contained tracks whose sublimity is so intense that the rest of the record serves as a fitting backdrop to these tiny but brilliant achievements. how about the top ten songs? do i give the nod to amon tobin for his smooth mass appeal? how about the hoards of compilations that close the gap between pop music and the avant-garde? why did the boards of canada do in four small tracks what most artists couldn't do in a two cd set? how about all of the retrospectives and re-releases? aarrrrgghhhh!!!!! ok. so i just want you to know that i didn't overlook the glowing achievements of a host of acts such as CiM, k.c accidental, MDK, arovane, nobukazu takemura, ladytron, capital k, mira calix, air, and even elf power, cat power, or sleater-kinney, the barbara manning singles collection, "the first of the microbe hunters", the wumme years... oh well...my theme for this year is "strangeness" in alphabetical order: boards of canada "in a beautiful place out in the country" -striking, courageous, understated, new blonde redhead "melody of certain damaged lemons" -angst-ridden, fragile beauty broadcast "noise made by people" -gorgeous. the best live band this year cromagnon "orgasm" -by far the most difficult reissue of 2000. steven stapleton must have heard this record tripping in the 70s gas "pop" -deus ex machina philip jeck "vinyl coda I-III" -exquisitely-crafted epics radiohead "kid a" -perfect follow-up to a perfect record yo la tengo "and then nothing turned itself inside-out" -especially if i can include the danelectro ep with takemura's remix v/a: clicks and cuts (mille plateaux) -ich bin ein materielles Mdchen v/a: new forms (raster-noton) -documentation of the leipzig concert series 1999, released 2000 (the exhibition at galerie fr zeitgenssische kunst in leipzig) v/a: xen cuts -american folk music. From: Matt Laferty Caveat: The new Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard records are the June Carter Cash and Hank III records of last year. My top ten list is as follows 1. Shirley Collins "The Power of the True Love Knot" Fledgling Genius, mind-melting love from the tones of Shirley's voice. "Lady Margaret and Sweet William," errr.... This is a reissue, sort of. 2. Octopus "Octopus" Calibre/ESP. Reissue. I love it when I find a new Donovan record. When it has a new Sabbath record, a new Bluesbreakers, and a new Zappa record built in, I'm doubly happy. 3. Various Artists "Grove's Emulsified Guitar Gods" WFMU giveaway with a pledge. Compilation put together by the esteemed "Ken Freedman." Good God, I didn't know how big a Takeshi Terauchi & Blue Jeans fan I was. When combined with John Berberian, Herb Remington, Phil Baugh and a great Speedy West track, you're on the way to blast off country. Fresh! Confession: Apparently I only listen to reissues. I know, I know. Squaresville. I don't even own a Roster/Noton cd. I'm ashamed. 4. Derek Bailey, Peter Brotzmann, Yoshisaburo Toyozumi "Live in Okayama 1987" Speaks for itself. What is lyricism anyway? Why is that infernal history television program on? 5. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior "Summer Solstice" Mooncrest. This isn't new. I'm sorry. 6. Clarence "Tom" Ashley "Greenback Dollar" County. Ashley's "Coo Coo Bird" and "House Carpenter" is known by everyone on the Smith tip, but you cannot discount how familiar "Short Life of Trouble" is. And ain't it true? Really? 7. John Zorn "Xu Feng" I don't think it sounds like a Kung Fu record at all. 8. Flying Burrito Brothers "Hot Burritos!" Now you too can figure out if you are a Hippie Boy or a High Fashion Queen, or for that matter, a Devil In Disguise. 9. Sandy Denny "Sandy at the BBC" No label. Not really just her, but the Fairport version of "Si Tu Dois Partir" is hi-larious. There is no date on this, but I know when it fell in my hands... 10. Vandermark 5 "Vandermark 5 Vs. Santo" Savage Sound Syndicate. Aah, a sort of new release. Live Vandermark blistering. STHLM.... From: Mello Jack Pulsinger/Tunakan - Schwanensee Remixed Fuehler - s/t DJ Dee Kline - "Got Your Number" (12" white label 2-step remix of OBD track) Soul Center 1 Wunder - s/t (Karaoke Kalk) Jimi Tenor - Out of Sight Primal Scream - Exterminator Tabla Beat Matrix The Slits - BBC Peel Sessions Steve Bernstein - Diaspora Soul (Tzadik) From: Michael Howes Discordance Axis - The Inalienable Dreamless (Hydrahead CD) Blackalicious - Nia (Quannum CD) People Like Us - Thermos Explorer (Hot Air CD) SPLIT: Coalition Against Shane/Thor - Keepin' the Dogs Away (13th Day CD) COLL: Barbaric Thrash Detonation (625 CD and 7") Good Clean Fun - On the Streets Saving the Scene From the Forces of Evil (Phyte CD) Anthem Eighty Eight - Define A Lifetime (No Idea CD) What Happens Next? - Stand Fast Armageddon Justice Fighter (Sound Pollution CD) Plutocracy - Sniping Pigz (Six Weeks CD) COLL: Strings and Strings (FBWL CD) Gaji - Focus\Fluid\Daub (ZK CD) Walls of Jericho - Bound Feed the Gagged (Trustkill CD) The Fucking Champs - IV (Drag City CD) Volapuk - Polyglot (Cuneiform CD) Farmers Market - Farmers Market (Winter & Winter CD) DJ Cheb I Sabbah - Maha Maya (Six Degrees remix CD) Negativland - True False Tour (live at Palace of Fine Arts, SF) COLL: Touch 00 (Touch CD) Haggard - the Bike City Called (Mr Lady CD) Christian Marclay/Otomo Yoshihide - Moving Parts (Asphodel CD) Envy - Angel's Curse Whispered in the Edge of Despair (H:G Fact CD EP) Damaged - Purified in Pain (Rotten CD) Kalibas - Eyes Forever Red (Howling Bull America 7") Brutal Truth - For Drug Crazed Grindfreaks Only! (Solardisk live CD) Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance (Relapse CD) SPLIT: Suppository/Agathocles (Obscene Productions CD) Randy Greif - Alice in Wonderland (Soleilmoon 5xCD reissue) People Like Us - Lassie House/ Jumble Massive (Caciocavallo CD reissue) Stock, Hausen and Walkman - Organ Transplant Vol 2 (Hot Air CD) Tom Cora - It's a Brand New Day (Knitting Factory live CD ) From: Michael Jacomella Here are my ten bests for 2000 - hard to pick just ten. I came up with about 20 and picked 10 from that and give the rest as an alt list. It struck me how subjective this is-- there could be the greatest most brilliant album but because I don't like the singer's voice or whatever it doesn't get picked. Oh well, tough luck eh? In no special order then: Hellfish And Producer - "Constant Mutation" Boards of Canada - "In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country" Sonic Youth - "NYC Ghosts And Flowers" Phillip Jeck - "Vinyl Coda l-lll" Klute - "Fear Of People" Nocturnal Mortum - "NeChrist" Oasis - "Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants" Queens Of The Stone Age - "Rated R" Jeff Mills - "The Art Of Connecting" Mass - S/T Equally as great-- Two Dollar Guitar - "Weak Beats And Lame Ass Rymes" Kyuss - "Muchas Gracias" P'Taah - "Compressed Light" Pluramon - "Bit Sand Riders" Aphelion - "Zugzwang" Amon Tobin - "Supermodified" Enslaved - "Mardraum" And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Madonna" Kid 606 - "Down With The Scene" High On Fire - "The Art Of Self Defence" Circulation - "Colours" Doctor Rockit - "Indoor Fireworks" Lexi Love - "Too Fast Times" Amen - "We Have Come For Your Parents" Jeff Mills - "Metropolis" From: Michael Manning - ATOMtm FEAT. TEA TIME "XXX" - CONJOINT "Ear Prints" - EARTH "10-1990" (reissue) - ELECTRIC COMPANY "Exitos" - MUSHROOM "Compared To What" 12"ep - NOBODY "Soul Mates" - SCIENTIST MEETS THE ROOTS RADICS s/t (reissue) - AMON TOBIN "Supermodified" - WEtm "deCentertainment" - XEN CUTS Ninja Tune comp. Honorable mention: MIRA CALIX "One On One", CURTIS MAYFIELD "Curtis" (reissue), MOUSE ON MARS "Instrumentals" (reissue), TABLA BEAT SCIENCE "Tala Matrix", YO LA TENGO "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out". and one live show: ATOM HEART + DAT POLITICS (9/22/00 @ Logan Gallery S.F.) From: Miss Erin Nicole Lewis In no particular order: 1. Jeff Buckley: "Mystery White Boy" 2. Mark Kozelek: "Rock 'n' Roll Singer" 3. Pinback: "Some Voices" ep 4. Grandaddy: "Sophtware Slump" 5. Mason Jennings: "Birds Flying Away" (this guy is *amazing* and no one seems to know about him!) 6. "Billy Elliot" soundtrack And now, for the Australian portion: 7!!!!!!!!! Augie March: "Sunset Studies" (Ra Records) 8. Darren Hanlon: "Early Days" ep (Candle Records) 9. the Mabels: "The Closest People" (Candle Records) 10. the Moles: "Untune the Sky" (reissue on Flydaddy) From: Mike Langlie 1. Raymond Scott "Manhattan Research, Inc." 2. OHM "The Early Gurus of Electronic Music" 3. Freezepop "Freezepop Forever" 4. Tin Hat Trio "Helium" 5. Plastic Nebraska " The Proudest Animal" 6. Kev Hopper "Whispering Foils" 7. People Like Us "A Fistful of Knuckles" 8. Optiganally Yours "Presents Exclusively Talentmaker" 9. The Anchormen "Punk Rock is Awesome" 10. James Kochalka Superstar "Carrot Boy, the Beautiful" From: Marc Schapiro, Roadrunner Records Top 10 List ----------- Opeth - Still Life Katatonia - Tonight's Decision Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R In Flames - Clayman The Juliana Theory - Emotion Is Dead The Gathering - If Then Else Disturbed - Sickness Elliott Smith - Figure 8 Kittie - Spit Snapcase - Designs For Automotion *also loved Nevermore, Shadows Fall & Chicane From: Nari 7 yo la tengo - and then nothing turned itself inside out 2 the for carnation - s/t 1 do make say think - goodbye enemy airship the landlord is dead 4 don caballero - american don 3 sea & cake - oui 6 isotope 217 - who stole the i walkman 5 godspeed you black emperor - lift your skinny fists 10 town & country - it all has to do with it 9 fontanelle - s/t 8 sonic youth - nyc ghosts and flowers From: Nick Tieder Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R Reggie and the Full Effect - Promotional Copy PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World At The Drive In - The Relationship of Command Outkast - Stankonia The Haunted - The Haunted Made Me Do It Johnny Cash - American III: Solitary Man COC - America's Volume Dealer U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind From: Nicole Blonder Ok fine you've twisted my arm. Here's my top ten of the year, in no particular order: Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain Doves: Lost Souls Songs Ohia: The Lioness Laurent Garnier: Unreasonable Behaviour Grandaddy: Sophtware Slump Elliott Smith: Figure 8 Cat Power: The Covers Record Various Artists: Badlands-A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska DJ Krush: Code 4109 From: Dugan Broadhurst 1. Radar Brothers - The singing hatchet 2. Jega - Geometry 3. Idaho - Hearts of palm 4. V/A - Putting the morr back in morrissey (Morr music) 5. Do Make Say Think - Goodbye enemy airship... 6. V/A - American breakbeat (Klangkrieg productions) 7. Tarwater - Animals, suns & atoms 8. Broadcast - The Noise made by people 9. Anti-Pop Consortium - Tragic epilog 10. The Pinkest Pee - Now I'm action oriented From: ozymandias G desiderata Here are my favorites for the year, some of which didn't come out in 2000, and in no particular order. I'm that kind of guy: Surgeon: Force + Form James Ruskin: Point 2 Peter Sutton and Karl O'Connor: Against Nature The Birmingham massive represents. Jeff Mills was the DJ of the year (this and every year -- go do some hunting on Napster if you don't believe me), but this crew kicked out some of the hardest, funkiest, and slickest pure techno I've heard for the last few years. _Force + Form_, in particular, has some of the most seductively polyrhythmic sounds ever shackled to a four on the floor backdrop. Simultaneously thought-provoking and ass-shaking, thus giving the lie to Descarte _and_ providing me with a good time. Weakling: Dead As Dreams In a year cursed with a bleak landscape for black metal, this monster slayed all and took no prisoners. All our semantic quibbles aside (I guess I can kind of hear the Nitsch, but I stand by all my earlier comments), this is the sort of extreme noise that made me interested in black metal in the first place, and is well-enough executed to slice right through whatever crust of jadedness has surrounded me. It's probably a good thing Weakling broke up, because I have no idea how they could top this. Radiohead: Kid A So predictable, but come on, this album was great. No songs particularly stick out as being especially wonderful (except maybe "In Limbo", which I just had to listen to over and over again), but there's a reason I listened to this album for three weeks without interruption -- it was an extremely cohesive, enjoyable set of songs performed as unpretentiously as possible given the circumstances. PJ Harvey: Stories of the City, Stories of the Sea Another no-brainer, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, it's slick, and it doesn't top _4-Track Demos_, which is slowly coming to be a 90s favorite of mine (that version of "Rid Of Me" sounds better every time I listen to it). But it has a pleasing mixture of the slick and the aggressive, and the 80s-style production goes well with the sunnier lyrical focus. Parts remind me of Midnight Oil in their finer moments, only with Polly Jane singing, and while that may strike you as a horrible or disturbing thing, it reaches very deeply into my past and leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy. "The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore" is another song I just can't hear enough. Noisegate: Suspended Animation Vol 1 Every element in its place, and a perfect balance of texture with silence. It'd be New Age if it weren't so great. It also gets bonus points for extra-great use of field recordings. I need to listen to this again tonight. It's great. Troum: Mort Aux Vaches Well, I sure am a dumbass for not discovering Maeror Tri sooner. This is just about perfect. Download: Effector Nobody who's not a goth wants to admit how much they loved Skinny Puppy back in the day, and apparently only me and three of my friends ever heard Phil Western's amazing work with Outersanctum back in 1993. But the idea of cEVIN kEY and Phil Western working together was always a good one, and each new Download album more comfortably fuses kEY's hectic experimentation and Western's psychedelic breakbeats. This album is a flat-out brilliant piece of crystalline electro-influenced IDM, and only the fact that they're not on Warp's dick kept these guys out of view of the bedroom electronica massive. I picked this one up on a whim and it did me right. Sparklehorse: Distorted Ghost EP "Happy Pig" is one of my other favorite songs of the year. Raw and poppy in a way that most music isn't anymore. Circle: Hissi _Andexelt_ is a strong runner up, but _Hissi_ just works a little better for me. _Andexelt_ gets a little too NWOBHM for me in places, where Hissi is straight-up great post rock like it ought to be done. The way it fuses jazz, progressive rock, and the mathier sounds works perfectly for me, and I swear I hear some Detroit Techno influences on how the songs are structured. I love it. I should point out that _Andexelt_ hit my D&D group like a bomb when I played it for them. Jeff Mills: Metropolis The last time Jeff Mills tried a concept album was his _X-103_, and this is at least as good as that. I haven't seen the film with the soundtrack, but that doesn't really matter to me. He writes the most obtuse melodies in techno, and when it works, it works great. Tinkly and simultaneously beautiful and challenging in the way that only his circular programmed patterns can be. Genuinely emotive and soulful while still being entirely electronic. It gives me hope for the future of techno. Plaid: Trainer If I'm going to talk about beautiful, crystalline melodies, I have to mention this disc (and probably Laurent Garnier's _Unreasonable Behaviour_, but that just barely didn't do it for me enough to mention it here). All that great old shit that trainspotters have been drooling over for years, in one place. I may disagree with the curation of the material, and I may wish that Ed, Andy, and Ken could all just get along, but this is some primal IDM shit. It's great. V/A: Mixed Up In The Hague Vol 1 More great, obnoxious protoelectro than you can shake a stick at. If you haven't heard "Sharivari" or "Spacerwoman" or the electro version of the Blade Runner Theme, you need this disc. This would make an excellent party mix. Inter-Ferenc has an amazing music library, and he obviously had fun making this CD. Highly, highly recommended. V/A: Global Underground 018 "But Forrest! You hate trance!" you say. True enough, but for some reason this double-CD DJ mix (done painstakingly with ProTools, no doubt), makes me feel all warm and oceanic in a way that not much music does anymore. A perfect accompaniment for playing SSX or Wipeout 3 on the PlayStation, or for making out, or for taking a nice hot bath. And I guess you could dance to it, too. I'd like to point out that this was an ass-poor year for black metal and jungle. Jungle's more or less spent as a creative force, and there was only a small handful of really interesting, visceral black metal albums (honorable mentions: Cradle of Filth, Gehenna, Behemoth, and Myrkskog, who deserve more praise than they got). I didn't find much 2000-vintage hip hop that really did it for me, but that was OK, because I had to play catchup on the last few years. Missy Elliott totally does it for me. I listened to a shitload more stuff than these, but these are the ones that struck me as "best". If I'd had more time to listen to it, the Go-Betweens, Six Organs of Admittance, or Mates of State albums might have made the list as well. From: paulo roquet 1. Bernhard Gnter . Brown, Blue, Brown or Blue (for Mark Rothko) [Trente Oiseaux] 2. Third Eye Foundation . Little Lost Soul [Merge] 3. Matt Shoemaker . Groundless [Trente Oiseaux] 4. Crawl Unit . Stop Listening [Ground Fault] 5. Aix Em Klemm . Aix Em Klemm [Kranky] 6. Eyvind Kang . The Story of Iceland [Tzadik] 7. Blek Ink . Blek Ink [Ba Da Bing!] 8. R.H.Y. Yau . The Hidden Tongue [Ground Fault] 9. Bloggs . Music for Multiples [Fresnl] 10. Tetsu Inoue . Fragment Dots [Tzadik] From: Paul Stonecannon Hope Sandoval: At The Doorway Again (EP) Jett Brando: The Movement Toward You Datach'i: We Are Very Well Thank You Saint Low (self-titled album) Mark Kozelek: Rock & Roll Singer Pooka: Monday Mourning (EP) The Third Eye Foundation: Little Lost Soul Lunasect: Long Lost Cody: Stillpoint Primer Fosca: On Earth To Make The Numbers Up From: Phil Kellum in no particular order. 1. hudson falcons--"desperation & revolution" (gmm) 2. flogging molly--"swagger" (side one dummy) 3. david gray--"white ladder" (ato) 4. mason jennings--"birds flying away" (self-released) 5. the the--"nakedself" (nothing) 6. grant lee phillips--"ladies love oracle" (magnetic field recordings) 7. amazing crowns--"royal" (time bomb recordings) 8. amazing crowns--"payback live!" (monolyth) 9. deftones--"white pony" (maverick) 10. the staggers--"the sights, the sounds, the fear, and the pain" (haunted town) From: Philip Raffaele 10. Boards of Canada - in A beautiful place out in the country (Warp) 09. MF Doom/MF Grimm - split 12" (Brick) 08. Tommy Guerrero - A little bit of somethin' 07. Belle & Sebastian - Fold your hands child... 06. Godspeed you black emperor! - Lift your skinny fists... 05. Modest Mouse - The Moone and Antarctica 04. bjork - selmasongs 03. solesides greatest bumps 02. bright eyes - fevers and mirrors 01. nigo - ape sounds From: Philip Sherburne It's a top 15, because I always overpack. And it's probably only about +/- 30% accurate, because on any given day I could swap out a good portion of the list for any number of other totally worthy records... but you know how it is. (Funny, I'm one of those music geeks that actually HATES top 10 lists...) 15 Full-Lengths 1) Luomo, Vocalcity, Force Tracks 2) Stefan Mathieu, Wurmloch Variationen, Ritornell 3) Cat Power, The Covers Record, Matador 4) D'Angelo, Voodoo, Virgin 5) Mika Vainio, Kajo, Touch 6) Losoul, Belong, Klang 7) Hefner, Residue, Inertia 8) Francisco Lopez, Untitled #104, Alien8 9) Pub, Summer, Vertical Form 10) Ken Ikeda,Tzuki [Moon], Touch 11) Sigur Ros, Agaetis Byrjun, Fat Cat 12) Nicole Willis, Soul Makeover, Sakho 13) P'taah, Compressed Light, Ubiquity 14) Doctor Rockit, Indoor Fireworks, Lifelike 15) Two Lone Swordsmen, Tiny Reminders, Warp From: Isaac at Quannum Here's my top ten of 2000, forgive the nepotism: Mikah Nine "It's All Love" DJ Quietstorm "Tight v.2" Blackalicious "Nia" Kid Koala "Drunk Trumpet" Cat Power "The Covers Record" Jay-Z "Big Pimpin" The Dirty Three "Whatever You Love, You Are" Sade "Lovers Rock" Le Tigre s/t Solesides Greatest Bumps runners up: Yo La Tengo Fela reissues Lee Hazlewood reissues Dr. Dre Console Jackie Mitoo From: Rael Lewis (1) Earth LP (2) Champs LP (3) Maher Shalal Hash Baz 2LP (4) Outkast 2LP (5) Go-Betweens LP (6) Aislers Set LP (7) Rock*A*Teens CD (8) Dirty Three LP (9) Charles Bronson 2CD (10)Ghostface Killah 2LP From: Phil redbear hannah marcus - black hole heaven saint low trembling blue stars - broken by whispers the delgados - the great eastern beaumont - this is...beaumont radiohead - kid a low & spring heel jack - bombscare ep melissa ferrick - freedom dusty trails snake river conspiracy - sonic jihad From: Mike Woodring In order of bestestness ... Samuel Beckett "... the whole thing's coming out of the dark" Current 93 "I Have A Special Plan For This World" Jeff Noon/David Toop "Needle In the Groove" Rothko "Forty Years To Find a Voice" At the Drive-In "Relationship of Command" PJ Harvey "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea" Soundtrack "Requiem for a Dream" Radiohead "Kid A" Philip Jeck "Vinyl Coda I-III" Ether "Music For Air Raids" From: Rick Lopez Mat Maneri BLUE DECCA William Parker PAINTER'S SPRING Eneidi/Parker/Robinson CHERRY BOX Ibarra/Chadbourne/Dresser/Morris PAIN PEN Ibarra's FLOWER AFTER FLOWER Anderson, Drake, "Kidd" Jordan, William Parker: 2 days in april Eneidi/Spearman/William Parker/Krall: Live at Radio Valencia Parker / Guy / Lytton and Marilyn Crispell: After Appleby Joelle Leandre Project Glenn Spearman: First and Last From: Rob Carmichael Ghostface Killah - "Supreme Clientele" (Epic) Zammuto - "Wiltscher" (Apartment B) Weakling - "Dead As Dreams" (Tumult) New Pornographers - "Mass Romantic" (Mint) Black Dice - "s/t" (Troubleman) Avey Tare and Panda Bear - "Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished" (Animal) Aislers Set - "Last Match" (Slumberland) White Stripes - "De Stijl" (Sympathy) Erase Errata - s/t 7" (??) V/A - "No New York (reissue)" (Island (Japan)) From: Russ Blackmar, KALX my top ten of 2000: "angola 70's: 1974-78" (compilation) kaminumada yohji "katana" eyvind kang "the story of iceland" los sampler's "descarga" stephen pearcy "before and laughter" "right in the nuts" (aerosmith tribute compilation) virgil shaw "quad cities" taj mahal travellers "august 1974" two dollar guitar "weak beats and lame ass rhymes" velma "cyclique" From: Ryan Stotz In no particular order: The White Stripes: De Stijl Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4 All the Fela reissues, but especially Coffin For Head Of State/Unknown Soldier Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out Weakling: Dead As Dreams Philip Jeck: Vinyl Coda I - III Swamp Dogg: Total Destruction To Your Mind/Rat On reissue Arvo Part: Alina Curtis Mayfield: Live/Live In Chicago reissue Don Cherry: Complete Communion reissue From: Sasha Frere-Jones Here is the full-length Top 30. In no order: 1. Clinic Internal Wrangler (Domino UK) Dirty, articulate, after something. Indie like they used to. 2. D'Angelo Voodoo (Virgin) Bed, Bath and Bong. Hear Questlove's lighthouse snare cut through the fog. (See Al Green for sound hierarchy, Prince for vocal harmonies and songs [cf. "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?"], ignore red herring M. Gaye.) 3. Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele (Epic) Hear the crispy Condoleeza Rice burner earner spit the sticky green Rickles pickles. 4. Jay-Z Vol.3 Life and Times of S. Carter (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam) It's Jay's world, we just live in it. Timbaland's 4 tracks here make the EP of the year, if you're pressed for time and have, like, morals. 5. Lynne, Shelby I Am Shelby Lynne (Mercury) Oh, God, I love you, please make more records. 6. MF Doom Operation: Doomsday (Fondle 'Em) I have 200 Quiet Storm records and I am so sad and I lisp and I am an MC. 7. OutKast Stankonia (LaFace/Arista) Bounce, create, shock, roll. 8. Rage Against The Machine Renegades (Epic) Overstatement s, ambient no! The sheer sound of this thing is its own song. (Nice Gang of Four rip on the inner sleeve.) 9. The Handsome Family In The Air (Carrot Top) You'll swear it's all classic country songs you've never heard before and then a word like "film" will catch your ear and you'll figure out some modern couple made it at home on a G3 and then you'll be even more freaked out. 10. Wu-Tang The W (Loud) If a Rubik's cube had soul would anyone buy it? 11. At The Drive-In Relationship of Command (Grand Royal). Fugazi lives! (One of these days I'm gonna listen to the lyrics, and boy, will I be sorry.) 12. Broadcast The Noise Made By People (Tommy Boy): The singer is real and the songs are, generally, too. And then there's all the 2001/1969 stuff. 13. Deftones White Pony (Maverick) Die Kreuzen lives! (One of these days I'm gonna listen to the lyrics, and boy, will I be sorry.) 14. PJ Harvey Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Island) Come down by the river and take off your shirt out on the street on the roof down by the sea, you man, you. 15. Disco Not Disco (Strut, UK) New York funk disco in the fucking house. Bow down. 16. Le Tigre (Mr. Lady) The chorus on "Phanta" is worth 3 albums. 17. Nelly Country Grammar (Universal): Steel drums, fucking lesbian twins, marimbas, bouncing so hard you end up high in the sky, boing. 18. Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999 mixed by DJ Pica Pica Pica (Comma, JAP) DJ Eye Eye Eye redefines ill, matching records by energy levels instead of BPM. 19. Ribot, Marc Y Los Cubanos Postizos Muy Divertido! (Atlantic): Imagine if good musicians always made good music. 20. Sigur Rs gtis byrjun (fat cat) I should really know better (One day I'm gonna translate the lyrics and, boy will I be sorry) 21. The New Pornographers Mass Romantic (Mint). Songs! 22. Ze, Tom Estudando O Samba/Correio Da Estao Do Brs (EastWest/Warner Brasil) Learn from the master. 23. Pinback This Is A Pinback CD (Cutty Shark) Pretty for weeks. 24. Delay, Vladislav Multila (Chain Reaction) Falls, rises, gets up, goes sideways, woah. 25. The 6ths Hyacinths and Thistles (Merge) I'm on the way up, you're on the way down. Sing my better songs. 26. Isole Rest (Playhouse) Disco not disco. 27. Yo La Tengo And then nothing turned itself inside-out (Matador) Slowing down without slowing down. 28. Richard Buckner The Hill (Overcoat) Who knew? 29. Quasimoto The Unseen (Stones Throw) No one can hear me, so I will cry through my funky pitch shifter. 30. Lyricist Lounge Vol. 2 (Rawkus) Did anyone even notice that this came out? Singles 1. Coldplay "Yellow" (EMI) 2. Company Flow "DPA" (Def Jux) 3. Destiny's Child "Say My Name" (Epic) 4. Bloodclaat Ganfsta Youth "Kill Or Be Killed" (Full Watts) 5. Isole "Beau Mot Plage" (Playhouse, FR) 6. OutKast "B.O.B." (Arista) 7. Queens of the Stone Age "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" (Interscope) 8. R. Kelly "I Wish" (Jive) 9. Sade "By Your Side" (Epic) 10. Wookie "Scrappy" (S2S, UK) This is Brian Roper in Dallas. Here are my favorites of 2000. 1) Aube and Zbigniew Karkowsi- "Mutation" 2) Bohren and der Club of Gore- "Sunset Mission" 3) Controlled Bleeding- "Our Journey's End" 4) Francisco Lopez- "Untitled #104" 5) Les Aissawa de Fes- "Trance Ritual" 6) Nurse With Wound- "Alice the Goon" (reissue) 7) Ora- "Aureum" 8) Recycler- "AlphaBhangraPsychedelicFunkin" 9) Sapera- "Snake Charmers of Northern India" 10) Miles Davis- "In a Silent Way" My wife bought me the original pressing LP from 1969 From: Steve Carll 1. Elliott Smith--*Figure Eight* 2. Ian Brown--*Golden Greats* 3. Miles Davis and John Coltrane--*The Complete Columbia Recordings* 4. Belle & Sebastian--*Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant* 5. Billy Bragg & Wilco--*Mermaid Avenue, Volume II* 6. Olivia Tremor Control--*Presents: Singles and Beyond* 7. Death Cab for Cutie--*We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes* 8. John Vanderslice--*Mass Suicide Occult Figurines* 9. Radiohead--*Kid A* 10.The New Pornographers--*Mass Romantic* A FEW ALBUMS I HAVEN'T HEARD YET THAT COULD SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE THE ABOVE LIST: 1. Guided by Voices--the *Suitcase* box set. 2. P.J. Harvey--*Stories from the City Stories from the Sea* 3. Fatboy Slim--*Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars* 4. Sade--*Lovers Rock* (I've always been a sucker for Sade.) 5. The Go-Betweens--*Friends of Rachel Worth* 6. Elf Power--*Winter Is Coming* From: steve levine not in any particular order Common -Like Water for Chocolate Radiohead - Kid A U2 - what the hell is the name of that new one? well- its good stuff St.Germain -Tourist D'Angelo-Voodoo Antibalas- these guys are a great Afrobeat band outta New York City. I miss going to your store. nt that impressed with the record shops in NYC. From: Stu C. of the Vinyl Diner Here is my top 10 for 2000: 1. Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby 2. Vinyl, a film by Alan Zweig about obsessive record collectors. I laughed a lot, mostly at myself. 3. Undiminished brilliance on the Constellation label: Godspeed's "Lift...", Do Make Say Think's "Goodbye..." and A Silver Mt. Zion's "He Has...". 4. V/A - The Breaks, Original B Boy Street Funk & Block Party Classics 5. Lee Ranaldo - Dirty Windows & Sonic Youth's nyc ghosts & flowers 6. Weakerthans - Left and Leaving 7. Dieselhed - Chico and the Flute 8. Mountain Goats - The Coroner's Gambit 9. Movietone - The Blossom Filled Streets 10. a)Sarah Harmer - Songs For Clem (a lost classic) b)Peaches - "Fuck The Pain Away" From: "Th MZA" (Mario Alipio!) TOP TEN RECORDS (all CDs, in truth) OF TH YEAR 2000 (in order of preference, more or less, mostly based on # listens x amount of pleasure per listen ... and not based too much I hope on how cool it will make me appear to people I don't even really know anyhow): #1 - IDLEWILD _100 Broken Windows_. These young men are about to blow up, and when they do I can be one of those idiots who says, "I was listening to them when they were not famous, therefore I am more valid!" #2 - SLEATER-KINNEY _All Hands on th Bad One_. Eye cream and thigh cream, how 'bout I-get-high cream! #3 - RYAN ADAMS _Heartbreaker_. A lot of albums *sounded* like they wanted to make me cry. This one came th closest to actually doing it. #4 - NEKO CASE + HER BOYFRIENDS _Furnace Room Lullaby_. God bless California, make way for th Wal-Mart! I hope they don't find you, Tacoma. #5 - CAVE IN _Jupiter_. Thanks, AQ! Also vies w/ Sleater-Kinney and Dirty 3 for best live show I saw in 2000. Dunno why Jets to Brazil picked these young men to open for them on their East Coast tour if they knew they (Jets) were just going to get smoked off th stage every night. #6 - DIRTY 3 _Whatever You Love, You Are_. Th saddest band I know of, also sometimes th most uplifting. #7 - WEAKLING _Dead as Dreams_. Thanks, AQ & Andee! Strangely, happy music for me. #8 - SUPER FURRY ANIMALS _Mwng_. My antidote for non-nutritious pop, but satisfies sweet tooth as well. #9 - MILK CULT _Project M-13_. Merci beaucoup, AQ! Like walking through different parts of a city where every neighborhood is having their own outdoor music festival, except every sound and style miraculously fits together. #10 - AMON TOBIN _Supermodified_. Grazia, AQ! I never danced to this, but I still liked it. This was not intentional, but I just noticed this: #s 6-10 are either wordless or have words I don't understand. Honorable: Yo La Tengo, Reggie + Full Effect (AQ!), Grandaddy, Eminem, Mekons ... and not Cat Power and not Belle & Sebastian Also must mention again--since I notice people are putting this on their 2000 lists even though I think it came out in 1999--th _Magnolia_ sdtk by Aimee Mann + Supertramp. Excellent movie but I know lots of people hate it, excellent soundtrack, too. Belated honorable mention of a 1999 album I completely missed but now love: BOWS _Blush_, featuring Luke Sutherland from LONG FIN KILLIE. And I miss Long Fin Killie, too. From: Thomas Chen favorites 2000 in no order hrvatski "raume" the fucking champs "iv" grandaddy "the sophtware slump" zion i "mind over matter" the oxes s/t (amazing live band. have you heard these guys?) cerberus shoal "crash my moon yacht" jets to brazil "four corner night" mouse on mars "instrumentals" v/a "rapid transit" badly drawn boy "hour of the bewilderbeast" From: Thomas Spoth 1. Death Cab For Cutie - "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" 2. The Delgados - "The Great Eastern" 3. Radiohead - "Kid A" 4. Sigur Ros "Agaetis Byrjun" 5. Grandaddy - "The Sophtware Slump" 6. The Dandy Warhols - "Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia" 7. Damien Jurado - "Ghost of David" 8. Badly Drawn Boy - "Hour of the Bewilderbeast" 9. Elliott Smith - "Figure 8" 10. Sunny Day Real Estate - "The Rising Tide" From: Tiffany Lee Brown 2000 Top Ten: 1. Two Ton Boa ~ Two Ton Boa 2. Ute Lemper ~ Punishing Kiss (import) Featuring songs by/with Tom Waits, Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy, Philip Glass, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello 3. Godspeed You Black Emperor! ~ Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven 4. Brain Warmer ~ Elliott Smith's Guitar (EP) 5. Yo La Tengo ~ And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out 6. Cat Power ~ The Covers Record 7. ex-Girl ~ Kero! Kero! Kero! (import) 8. Serge Gainsbourg ~ Versions Femmes (all female covers; import) 9. Sleater-Kinney ~ All Hands On the Bad One 10. The 6ths ~ Hyacinths & Thistles From: Tim Frommer 1. Sleater-Kinney - AHOTBO 2. Versus - Hurrah 3. Sonic Youth - NYC Ghosts & Flowers 4. Death Cab for Cutie - WHTFAWVY 5. Lois Maffeo + Brendan Canty - the Union Themes 6. PJ Harvey - SFTC, SFTS 7. Dnady Warhols - 13 Tales of Urban Bohemia 8. Aimee Mann - Bachelor no. 2 9. Ida - Will You Find Me 10. Kevin McCormick - Squall From: Tricia Cooke Yo La Tengo "And the Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" Badly Drawn Boy "The Hour of Bewilderbeast" The Delgados "The Great Eastern" Willard Grant Conspiracy "Mojave" The White Stripes "De Stijl" Kathryn Williams "Little Black Numbers" The Handsome Family "In The Air" Steve Earle "Transcendental Blues" Ani DiFranco "Swing Set" Looper "The Geometrid" From: Steve Piccione Xenakis-Persepolis(Fractal) Anti-Pop Consortium-Tragic Epilogue (75ark) Cerbrus Shoal-Crash my Moon Yacht (Pandemonium/NEI) Janek Schaefer-WOW (7" on Diskono) The Conet Project-Recordings of Shortwave Number Stations (Irdial) Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza-Musica su Schemi (ampere4) Lesser/Pisstank split 7" (555 recordings) Peter Eotvos-Chinese Opera/Shadows/Steine (Kairos) Suzaan Kali Fastaeu & Rafael Garret-Memoirs of a Dream (Flying Note) Kid 606 and friends vol. 1 (Meow001) From: TUCKER V PETERTIL Even tho what I listened to most was old Bob Marley and the Wailers' CDs, some of my faves were: Sinead O'Connor --Faith and Courage Built To Spill --Live Richard Buckner --The Hill Coil --Musick To Be Played In The Dark Vol.1 Nickel Creek --st --(Sugar Hill) Grandaddy --The Sophtware Slump Giant Sand --Chore Of Enchantment Elf Power --The Winter Is Coming Pedro The Lion --Progress EP Trembling Blue Stars --Broken By Whispers Modest Mouse --The Moon and Antartica From: D.R.Tyler Hoo boy now... tops of 2000, then. (in no order, cheese) 1) Lambchop, Nixon 2) Manishevitz, Rollover 3) Macha/Bedhead, "Believe" (from Macha Loved Bedhead) 4) Lungfish, "The Words" (from Necrophones), plus live at the Black Cat, Wash. DC 5) Sonic Youth, NYC Ghosts and Flowers 6) Oneida, "Pure Light Invasion" from Come On Everybody Let's Rock, plus opening for them and hearing their forty-fove minute loop of two bars from "Immigrant Song"... avant-garde? Kiss my ass! 7) Yo La Tengo, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, esp. "Night Falls On Hoboken (parenthetically, after seeing them live, I was able to scream into the bar I work at and bilk a bottle of bourbon from the 'tender saying, all breathless-like, "DudeIraandGeorgiaarecomin'downtoourpracticespacerightnowtojamwith usandtheydemandabottleofBOURBONbuddysojumponandtoit!" Procured said bottle and proceeded to hump a Farfisa for three hours. The Kapan-Hubleys, sadly, did not make it.) 8) Calibos, s/t 9) Hot Snakes, Automatic Midnight (might be '99, screw it) 10) Melt-Banana, "Warp Then Spin" and "Third Attack" from Teeny-Shiny Prediction for 2001 The Broken Hips, truly boss band outta Richmond VA featuring beauty harmonies and singing saw. They should have their album out this year. Wish for 2001 Tortoise finally puts out that all-Chuck Mangione-covers album they've secretly been sporting boners about since 1995. Reality for 2001 Chuck D will show up on Wes Borlund's solo album, which I'm guessing will be called Wild Schnapps Rampage on Ganymede. I'm pretty sure John Frusciante will be in there somewhere, too. Needs to be Mentioned in 2001 Mike Patton's Ipecac Records - any label that tries to put out three live Ministry albums should be applauded, maybe even supported. Death Watch 2001 I have a sinking feeling in my cirrhotic gut that Matador Records will bite the bag. From: vertonen Subject: top eight customer picks crawl unit: stop listening CD (ground fault) chop shop: kaput 3"CDR (generator) phonophobia: 79-83 LP (very good records) v/a: RRR 500 lock groove LP (RRR) eliane radigue: E = a = b= a + b 7" (povertech) government alpha: sporadic spectrum CD (ground fault) conet project 4 CD reissue (irdial) hafler trio: hijodmynd CD (die stadt) From: Mark Woodlief Here's my top ten (no particular order, or real degree of seriousness for that matter): XTC, Wasp Star(Apple Venus Vol. 2) TVT Amy Rigby, The Sugar Tree (Koch) PJ Harvey, Stories From The City ... (Island) Ultimate Fakebook, This Will Be Laughing Week (Epic/550) Radiohead, Kid A (Capitol) Starlight Mints, the dream that stuff was made of (See Thru Broadcasting) Sultans, Ghost Ship (Swami Recordings/Sympathy For The Record Industry) Ween, White Pepper (Elektra) Deathray, Deathray (Capricorn) Steve Earle, Transcendental Blues (E-Squared/Artemis) From: Wes Williams my fave rekkids of 2000. no real obscurities, so i won't bother with descriptions. also i should probably get back to work now. 01 richard buckner "the hill" (overcoat) 02 yo la tengo "and then nothing turned itself inside-out" (matador) 03 calexico "hot rail" (quarterstick) 04 murder city devils "in name and blood" (sub pop) 05 the rondelles "the fox" (teenbeat) 06 les savy fav "emor (rome written upside down)" (french kiss) 07 hot pursuit "the thrill department" (teenbeat) 08 at the drive-in "relationship of command" (grand royal) 09 the mooney suzuki "people get ready" (estrus) 10 the new pornographers "mass romantic" (mint) and the biggest contender for 2001 so far: lost sounds "memphis is dead" (big neck) brutal devo mayhem and melodies. features members of the reatards and the clears. From: Will York Eyehategod - Confederacy of Ruined Lives Nasum - Human 2.0 (for me this just edges out the Discordance Axis CD as favorite grind album this year) Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance Leo Cuypers Heavy Days Are Here Again Agents of Oblivion Vandermark 5 - Burn the Incline Don Byron - A Fine Line Dieselhed - Chico and the Flute Jettison Slinky - Dank Side of the Morn Anthony Braxton - For Alto reissue (parts of it, at least) And ... Neil Hamburger, Brak and Coyle & Sharpe. From: Eliot Lipp Kool Keith/Kutmasta Murt-Masters of Illution Kool Keith-Matthew Loyalty and Betrayal-e-40 Deep Puddle Dynamics Atmosphere Radiohead-Kid A From: Jaime Sena Shellac - 1000 Hurts Low - Dinosaur Act Radiohead - Kid A Current 93 I Have a Special plan 6ths - Hyacinths and Thistles Yo La Tengo - And Then Everything... EWdward Ka-Spel - Tanith and Lion Tree Casiotone foe the Painfully Alone Ice Cube - War and Peace Vol. 2 Sappington - s/t From: Gus Munem World Inferno Friendship Society - East Coast Super Sound of Punk Today! The White Stripes - De Stijl Skull Kontrol - ZZZZZZ... Brainbombs - Obey The Faint - Blank Wave Arcade Gogogoairheart - s/t Beautiful Skin - Revolve Trans Am - Red Line Arab on Radar - Soak the Saddle Kid 606 - Down with the Scene From: Jen Robinson 6ths Hyacinths and Thistles Radiohead - Kid A Yo La Tengo - And then Nothing... Tanith and the Lion Tree Trembling Blue Stars - Broken by Whispers Shellac - 1000 Hurts |