Some Albums Through The Third Quarter of 2010

[koganbot]

Wrote this album wrap-up in response to Greg over on my singles thread, so might as well give it its own post. I've let album-listening slide, so I need to do lots of exploring. These are my top five:

Ke$ha's Animal: her vision or shtick is up my alley, and is pretending to come from an alley, but her lyrics could use stronger, more original

Comments

[askbask]

Someone said about e.via that "she just gets her hoes to strip for her" in reply to someone else pointing out the fact that she's usually in a hoodie with scantily clad girls dancing around her. Not entirely true, but...

She just released a teaser for her new song. This time there won't be any sex controversy, but maybe Nintendo gets her for copyright infringement instad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCDWdR3fdFE

Pick Up You, Attack!

[koganbot]

Any idea how the Korean lyrics translate into English? I'm wondering if "pick up you" means to imply "pick you up in some bar and go off and have sex" (if that's a Korean idiom; if not, how would "pick up you" translate back into Korean?) or is it just meant to make people think (as someone at allkpop suggests) of "Pikachu!"

(It seems as if the song might also be called "Bbik Kka Chu!" in which case the suggestion of Pokémon is likely to be deliberate.)

By the way, I just now discovered the lyricalmovement livejournal community, devoted to translating Korean song lyrics - mostly indie, they say, but I've linked a couple translations of E.via, whom I'd assume would be considered "rap" rather than "indie":

" Diary," which translates with raw, clumsy beauty, which is sort of what the lyrics are claiming about themselves:

this might sound like the lyrics you might pick up on the streets

Re: Pick Up You, Attack!

[askbask]

This youtube translation of Shake similarly goes for 'wonky' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zsg1g8sgFQ... )

Re: Pick Up You, Attack!

[koganbot]

Here's a new link for an Eng Sub "Shake," since YouTube killed the other one. This one gives us both "groggy" and "wonky."

[chuckeddy]

If it's any help, my top 100 albums of 2010 at the three-quarters point would look something like this, though obviously I'm still re-listening (at least to the ones nearer to the top), and the list is in flux by definition. Also, seriously doubt I'll include any reissues other than the Seger on my Pazz & Jop ballot, though the gospel one still has an outside chance if I'm stumped about what should go in my #10 spot (which, right now, would probably be occupied by Chely Wright, which is actually kind of spotty beyond four great tracks or so, I'd say.) Another problem is that so many albums on the cusp of my Top 10 (Coati Mundi, Sweet Angel, Far*East Movement, Laura Bell Bundy) are also likely to put singles on my ballot, and that kind of duplication always looks lazy, so I try to avoid it if I can help it. Another problem is my singles list seems sort of ad-hoc itsownself, and there are lots of ones on your list I haven't heard. Anyway, here

[koganbot]

Don't think I'm going to consider the Seger an actual album, not even a bootleg album. And the Everett is probably too early in 2009 for me to count; according to Wikip it was June 2009 (also, I haven't heard it yet). May try to go play the Jamey Johnson now, if my cranky CD player cooperates.

I've only heard the Seger, Allan Sherman, Traband, Ke$ha, Coati Mundi, and Chely Wright from your top 20. Haven't heard of Bigg Robb, Luther Lackey, or Sweet Angel, unless you mentioned them on Rolling Country and I forgot. And I don't know what "Radar Favourites" are.

[chuckeddy]

Radar Favourites is a weird and uncommonly warm-sounding Henry Cow/This Heat-related prog/fusion/experimental rock reissue from 1974 that came in the mailbox one day -- a real stretch, in other words, and I don't think I can even otherwise justify it being so high on that list except that I listen to it in the background a lot. (Can barely say anything else about it, regardless, and it has not even a remote shot at my Top 10.)

I'm counting Everett's barely distributed 2009 album as 2010, which is when it got issued on a bigger label with more distibution when I'd never heard of it before, by exactly the same logic as I counted Jamey Johnson's barely distributed 2007 album as 2008, when ditto. (Well, I guess Johnson's was inititally digital only, and Everett's may have been existed physically in its original form -- I've never seen a copy of the alleged 2009 version -- but they were both new to me in the year I voted for them. Though then again, so were a few hundred old '70s and '80s vinyl LPs I paid $1 for this year, but there's no

[chuckeddy]

Actually, come to think of it, I think Coati Mundi's full album comes out next week. (3-song EP was late 2009.)

And I obviously didn't mean to imply that I voted for $1 vinyl albums this year, even though that's sort of what I said. (Haven't voted for the Jace Everett, or anything else, yet either, obviously. But I'm pretty sure you knew what I meant.)

[chuckeddy]

PART TWO

Fefe Dobson

[anonymous]

What do you think about "Ghost", Frank? I couldn't find any mention it on here, so I'm not sure if you've discussed it already.

-Renato

Re: Fefe Dobson

[koganbot]

I know I've had discussions about "Ghost," but I think those discussions might have been via email with Jimmy Draper and Dave Moore. Jimmy likes the song and Dave loves it; I think Erika might too, if I remember right from her Tumblr. I'm more middling on it. It's a good song, but the chorus isn't as insinuatingly haunting as I want. I like "Stuttering" more, with its fierce tunefulness that manages to avoid jamming its sugar so hard into my ear that it hurts. Talked about it here:

Tongueful and tune-tied

Re: Fefe Dobson

[skyecaptain]

Erika was the one who introduced me to "Ghost"! She seemed to quite like it, though I don't think we've ever talked more about it.

[talrose]

One thing I notice is that neither you nor Chuck have any rap on your lists, unless you count Princesa, M.I.A., Kid Rock, Shangaan Electro, or Bigg Robb as rap, and I don't think I would. Off the top of my head, Big Boi, Rick Ross, Starlito, E-40, Shabazz Palaces, Curren$y, and Roc Marciano all made great rap albums this year. In fact, it's probaby the best year for rap albums since 2004! If you guys are interested in any of these I'd be happy to send you guys .zip files or CD burns, whatever your druthers.

I'd make a top 20, but my list is always changing the more I hear stuff. At the moment, I think my top 10 would look something like this:

1. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (4AD)
2. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma (Warp)
3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part 2: Return of the Ankh (Universal Motown)
4. Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer (Warp)
5. Rick Ross - Teflon Don (Def Jam)
6. Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal (Editions Mego)
7. Javiera Mena - Mena (Unión Del Sur)
8. Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool (Smalltown

[chuckeddy]

Thanks for this list, Talrose (whoever you are). Though from my list you left off at least Far*East Movement and Colt Ford, both of which albums I'm pretty sure have more rapping on them than Kid Rock (which has none) or Bigg Robb (which has just I little). (Fwiw, both Laura Bell Bundy and This Moment In Black History rap in at least one track on their albums, too.) (I'm not saying Far*East's or Colt's rapping is great, though.)

I really appreciate the zip-or-burn offer. But knowing my habits, I don't think I've ever gotten around to listening to a zip file of an album I wasn't expressly being paid to write about, and I'd feel bad if you took the time to burn those CDs and I gave up on them after just a couple songs, then never played them again (which, given my history with hip-hop albums over the past two decades, is highly likely. Somewhere along the line, new rap albums really started seeming like work to me, for some reason. Partly my fault, I'm sure. But mostly the music's fault.) I will though, try to find some time to figure

[talrose]

Have not heard Far*East Movement aside from what was reviewed on the jukebox, but I'm looking forward to hearing it when it comes out. Listened to the Colt Ford off of a prior list you made and didn't like it at all. Thought the idea took precedence over the music, if that makes any sense (and yes, the rapping was a barrier).

Don't worry, it's just an offer and no shakes if you guys wanna pass up on it! Just seeing that maybe you guys haven't heard these albums and was wondering if you wanted to. MCDE is actually just one guy, a German house producer, and this is a collection of all his early singles.

2004 had M.I.A. and Crunk Classics and Mannie Fresh, and also Madvillain, Ghostface, Cam'ron, The Streets, Kanye West, Masta Killa, De La Soul, Masta Ace, Jadakiss, Ludacris, etc.

and it's Ta1 from the Jukebox.

[chuckeddy]

Oops, duh -- Kid Rock's album has T.I. on one cut (same cut as Martina McBride!), so that's some rapping, I guess.

And Colt Ford's album has definitely soured on me a bit since it came out; played it again a few weeks back, and decided it doesn't really kick in til its second half. But I do still think a handful of songs come close to pulling the "idea" off.
Has a shot at my Nashville Scene ballot, but not Pazz & Jop.

My favorite hip-hop artists of the '00s, fwiw, were probably Trick Daddy and Field Mob, and maybe Trina. (Not that I pull any of their albums out all that much anymore either, tbh.)

Also, excuse all my typos above, as usual.