With January coming to an end, it seems only right that i divulge you my rest of the best for 2008 … 

  6-LEILA “BLOOD, LOOMS AND BLOOMS“

• If TIM BURTON had recorded an album for WARP this would be the result. The artwork and the title really defines the music, inviting you to a visually and imaginary musical world, like “Peter Pan’s Labyrinth” or “Alice’s Nightmare before Christmas” with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into a spellbinding opus. The songs are inhabited by sometimes childish vocals, or nightmarish cabaret atmospheres but always on extraordinary and imaginative beats, with the collaborations from sister ROYA, or the likes of  LUCA SANTUCCI, TERRY HALL from THE SPECIALS, and MARTINA TOPLEY BIRD. If you like the feel of this album, i suggest that you let yourself tempted by ”THE MURKY WORLD OF BARRY ADAMSON” where the ex BAD SEEDS, BARRY ADAMSON will infuse you with his atmospheric, cinematic, dark jazz. Or spend the night in GAVIN FRIDAY‘s chic opera gothic, cabaret burlesque with “SHAG TOBACCO“. 

 7-JAY REATARD “MATADOR SINGLES ’08“

• There is absolutely everything to like about this compilation of singles for MATADOR RECORDS, starting with the photo on the album cover, and for once it’s feel good to be a retard. Act like one too by turning up the volume of your hi-fi, and let yourself immerse in catchy melodies, clapping choruses, drowned by fuzzy guitars riffs, sometimes bathed in hooky new-wave synthesizer tunes. His music is taking it’s roots in punk but is also echoing the PIXIES. The songs are delivered at full pace leaving you asking for more and if you are sitting here ‘WAITING FOR SOMETHING’ to happen, it won’t kill you to listen to “BLOOD VISIONS”. Another killer album of fast and furious punk with reminiscence of ‘JOY DIVISION‘.   

 8-THE COOL KIDS “THE BAKE SALE“

• This album is a fresh blast from the past when hip-hop was about having fun and kids wore flip-flop, staying cool by the pool, slowly baking under a hot summer days. You will be TIC TIC CLAPPING to the spare and slick drums beats, the bare-bone production will have you thinking of THE NEPTUNES “THE NEPTUNES PRESENTS … CLONES”, the goofy rhymes and coolness of the flow will throw you back to the freshness of DE LA SOUL “3 FEET HIGH AND RISING”, and as the album progress what seemed like an emptiness, coldness in the music will grow into a rich, warm feeling and the boredom repetitiveness of the rhythm will evolve into a head nodding movement, to finally take you back right where you started, leaving asking for more and wanting to press the play button again and again.  

 9-NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS “DIG !!! LAZARUS DIG!!!“

• Dig!!! Keep digging!!! further into NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS extensive catalog as this is not their best record to date, like most reviewers would like you to believe, but it question of faith, as this opus is dedicated to the the ones ready to leap into the ring of fire that is the mythical, religious and dark work of KING INK. To start, this album seems to rise from the ashes, like Lazarus from the dead, of the previous and excellent, double offering “THE ABBATOIR BLUES / THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS”, and is also overshadowed by the ghost of last year, side project band, GRINDERMAN. Still it  has some great lyrics about religion, death, murder, and sex, with the usual touches of black humor, backed up by the ever lasting and creative BAD SEEDS band, delivering their classic sound of noisy and atmospheric wall of guitars riffs, bass and drums, with the occasional violin or organ, the all spined this time with psychedelia, but the all project seems diluted by the flood of the over extending fans demand. So why it’s in my top ten!?! Well because i am a true believer, a faithful devote, a voodoo child’s of The BLACK CROW KING. To understand how essential THE BAT’s obscure world is, you will have to go back … A LONG TIME MAN … when “THE FIRSTBORN IS DEAD”, along the Mississippi river muddy banks, and where “FROM HER TO ETERNITY”, their creation of blues, pyscho-rockabilly, gothic punk music was “KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS”, and “LET LOVE IN” for “TENDER PREY”. I let you be the judges … “YOU FUNERAL … MY TRIAL”.

 10-JAMES PANTS ”ICE CASTLES [THE COMING OF A NEW AGE]“

• ‘THE COMING OF A NEW AGE’ ideal words to sum up the year, and enter the new one, but this compilation mixed by the WHIZZ KID of STONES THROW is more likely to take you ‘BACK 2 THE FUTURE’ musical style of late 70′s, early 80′s synthesizer music, where like in the movie, the world has evolved into a strange, weird and funny place. So imagine if … the ‘ENTERPRISE’ had become the ‘LOVE BOAT’ astro-traveling across the Universe, with onboard a crew of extraterrestrial musicians spreading their spiritual, meditative and cosmic sound to elevate you to a state of extreme relaxation. The tunes, always on the edge of cheesiness, evolve from space jazz to, astro funk to, ethereal movie soundtrack and robotic disco, and you must have an hand off approach to the music if you are to fully experience the journey. Now having come this far out in JAMES PANTS ‘s galaxy , you should not meditate any longer and get grooving to the funkier beats of “WELCOME” and it will take you right ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’.

In no particular order here are some albums that define my sound-scape for 2008 …

ALIAS “RESURGAM” 

 BECK “MODERN GUILT”

FLYING LOTUS “LOS ANGELES” 

GANG GANG DANCE “SAINT DYMPHNA” 

JACKSON CONTI “SUJINHO” 

JUANA MOLINA “UN DIA”

KARL HECTOR AND THE MALCOUNS “SAHARA SWING”

KOUSHIK “OUT MY WINDOW”

MADLIB “BEAT KONDUCTA: VOL5: DIL COSBY SUITE”

MADLIB “BEAT KONDUCTA: VOL6: DIL WITHERS SUITE”

MADLIB “WLIB AM: KING OF THE WIGFIP”

OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ “OLD MONEY”

SON LUX “AT WAR WITH WALL AND MAzES”

SOUND DIMENSION “MOJO ROCKSTEADY BEAT”

ZACH HILL “ASTROLOGICAL STRAITS”

“Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.” MARY KAY ASH

2008 is now over, but here are last year Recommendations for The Nation … under a Groove !!!

1- WHY? “ALOPECIA“

• It was certainly worth the wait, and with his third album, Yoni Wolf, alias WHY?, has finally delivered the perfect album. Listening to his music will take you into the backyards of the United States, right to the back door of trailer park caravans, abandoned, rejected, forgotten, left over by the Bush presidency. The lyrics describe scenes of lo-life Americana, in a poetic style, with a large dose of dry humor, almost clownesque. The music has reminiscence of “MELLOW GOLD“ by BECK, with hard beats, electrified folk guitars, but with an addition of loopy and ghostly piano riffs, and choral choruses. Think of Dylan singing with a ghetto blaster at his feet, in the Bronx. If you can’t get enough of this album you can always enjoy the demos that are doing exactly what they say. If you are now addicted to WHY? then try his first and second album, respectively “OAKLANDAZULASYLUM” and “ELEPHANT EYELASHES“. Personally, i would also invite you to listen to “ALMOST LIVE FROM ANNA’S CABIN“.

2- CONNIE PRICE AND TKE KEYSTONES “TELL ME SOMETHING “

• Well … let me tell you something: “Don’t be fool by the name. What’s hiding behind this old seventies Jazz, or Funk band’s name is maybe after all not just a coincidence, but more like the King of Funk, Mister JAMES BROWN, Himself use to say: “What is it is what it is”, a perfectly oiled funk band, with remarkable featuring, from ALOE BLACC, BLOOD OF ABRAHAM, MYKAH 9, OHMEGA WATTS,PERCEE P, SOUP from JURASSIC 5, and WILDCHILD. If you digged the first “JAZZMATAZZ ” by GURU, this will take you one step closer to Hip-Hop and further down into the Funk. The instrumentals so effortlessly groovy, can also be appreciated on their own, like any good Reggae/Dub album. With or without vocals should not be the question you’re asking yourself, and instead you should let your body go with the Groove. If you want to listen to some more Hip-Hop blended with true oldie’s soundz, then i would highly recommend you G-LOVE AND THE SPECIAL SAUCE self titled album. It’s like listening to a vintage blues vinyl scratched with old skool hip-hop attitude. One of my favorite underrated album of all time.

3- TOBACCO “FUCKED UP FRIENDS “

• We all have some fucked up friends, but this one, TOM FEC, from BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW , will also fuck up your ideas on cheap eighties electronic music. It is hard to understand and believe that behind this wall synthesizers non-sense, with moog’s melodies in the background pierced by distorted blips, bloops and sonars, the all crushed by dirty beatz, sprinkled sometimes with fainted vocals or rap featuring AESOP ROCK, comes out some of the most simplest and catchiest tunes. Even thought some of you may find this album a bit repetitive or monotonous, I, at the contrary, personally think those tracks are the many stars of a milky way leading the way for our space odyssey. This album sounds like a ethereal version of JUSTICE “†”, and will appeal to all the fans of electro trash.

4- KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES “THE SUPREME GENIUS OF KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES“

• With a best of album named like that you know you are on for a joyous ride … so for all you, that took the cracked vintage sounds bus, last year, along with the BLACK LIPS , be sure to take a ticket for this show, best described as IGGY POP meets JAMES BROWN live at “Grease”Land. The edgy, distant, screaming voice of KING KHAN back up by his eight piece band, THE SHRINES, delivering some raw funk, soul psychedelia, juiced up with some groovy horns riffs, is sure to have you taking a trip down memory lane. If you enjoy this then you should try KING KHAN AND THE BBQ SHOW self titled album.

5- MADVILLAIN “MADVILLAINY 2: THE MADLIB REMIX“

• To you, all non MADLIB fans, listen to me as MADLIB fans, and you, MADLIB fans, listen to me with open mind. I have read reviews comparing the first “MADVILLAINY” to the second, or questioning if it was worth been the sequel, but they totally miss the point. MADLIB is like LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY , the best remixer, producer in his field and for his time, and people should be thankful for his productivity. The exact same persons that will later complain that his back catalogue is not being re-issued after his death, when they should have been appreciating what’s was there in the first place. As to my answers to the above questions … once passed the deception of having a “remix” rather than a “brand new” record for sequel, I think that MADLIB, The Bad Kid, delivers Another MADLIB Invasion, with beats as good as the first opus, that light up the awesome lyrics of MF DOOM, with a new aura. In conclusion, better off with a “Brand New Second Hand” than no record at all, and that’s exactly what you get. If you don’t know MADVILLAIN you must ABSOLUTELY listen to the CLASSIC and CULT HIP-HOP ALBUM “MADVILLAINY “.

To be continued …

But in the meantime remember all you funksters and space cadets that it is the law around here to wear your sunglasses.