Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a drug were the drugs..

A couple of seasonal tunes for ya: Check Kelpe's splendid version of 'Silent Night'.

Kelpe- Silent Night

And from possibly the greatest Yuletide album ever, here's the Vince Guaraldi Trio's 'Christmas Time is Here'

Vince Guaraldi- Christmas Time is Here

So all that's left is to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks very much for stopping by these past 12 months, see you on the flipside..

2008 Part 3: Tracks/Singles

Onto the tracks & singles of the year: I've whittled this down to 25 tunes (which changes hourly). I'm sure there's loads I've missed but anyhoo...

25- Shocking Pinks- Cutout (Expanding Head Band Version) (Buy)

24- Gang Gang Dance- Vacuum (Buy)

23- Rustie- Zig Zag (Buy)

22- Fulgeance- Moonshake (Buy)

21- Yellow Power- Hai Samurai (Pilooski Edit) (Buy)

20- Dave P & Adam Sparkles- Sunday Night in Glasgow (Buy)

19- Deerhunter- Agoraphobia (Buy)

18- Siriusmo- Wow (Buy)

17- Zombie Zombie- Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free (Buy)

16- Sic Alps- Gelly Roll Gum Drop (Download)

15- Alter Ego- Gary (C2 Remix) (Buy)

14- Flying Lotus- LTWXRMX (Buy)

13- Subway- Simplex (Gatto Fritto Remix) (Buy)

12- Truffle Club- Gone Blue (Buy)

11- Teeth Mountain- Black Jerusalem (Buy)

10- Arthur Russell- Close my Eyes (Buy)

9- Atlas Sound- River Card (Buy)

8- Clinic- Tomorrow (DFA Remix) (Buy)

7- Ruby Suns- There are Birds (Download)

6- Simon Baker- Plastik (Todd Terje Turkatech Remix) (Buy)

5- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- More News from Nowhere (Buy)

4- Fan Death- Veronica's Veil (Erol Alkan Extended Rework) (Buy)

3- Poni Hoax- Hypercommunication (Joakim Remix) (Buy)

2- Why?- Good Friday (Boards of Canada Remix) (Buy)

1- Portishead- Machine Gun (Download)

We asked a few of our favourite artists what they thought of 2008:

Gang Gang Dance:

Favourite album of 2008? "Opera of the Phantom" by Bazaardvark.
Favourite track of 2008? "Alien in a Garbage dump" by Eric Copeland.
Best/worst thing in Music in 2008? Honesty/Trend.

Fulgeance:

Favourite album of 2008? Mathew Herbert "There's me & There's You"
Favourite track of 2008? Shape of Broad Minds "OPR8R"
Best/worst thing in Music in 2008? Best: Dorian Concept Live Show/Worst: Missil Live Show

Zombie Zombie:

Favourite album of 2008? Portishead "3"
Favourite track of 2008? Chromehoof "tonite"
Best/worst thing in Music in 2008? Worst : Death of Bo Diddley

Kelpe:

Favourite album of 2008? Lone - "Lemurian"
Favourite track of 2008? Portishead - "The Rip"
Best/worst thing in Music in 2008? Best - All City Records "7 x 7 series"

Saudade:

Favourite Album of 2008? Grouper "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill"/Fun Years: "Baby, it's Cold Inside"
Favourite tracks of 2008? Bonnie Prince Billy "Lie Down In The Light"/Grouper "Fishing bird"
Best/Worst thing in Music in 2008? BEST: the majority of records released by siltbreeze, night people, barge. records by grouper, sic alps, eat skull, crystal stilts, pillowdiver.. hospitals and wavves records are pretty good too. loads of new noisy ambient music. some great reissues and bootlegs. The community of musicians in Portland.
WORST: Disappointing records by some of my favourite artists. Widening gap between mainstream and underground music. A lot of shitty records being hyped just because they were recorded in 2 hours on 4 track tape recorders..

2008 Part 2: Compilations/Mixes/Reissues

Aphex Twin- Classics (Remastered) (Buy)



















Aphex Twin- Polynomial-C (Download)

Arthur Russell- Love is Overtaking Me (Buy)













Arthur Russell- Maybe She (Download)

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve- Ark 1 (Buy)























Beyond the Wizards Sleeve- Electric Bananas (Download)

On the Hour- Series 1 & 2 (Buy)
















DFA Presents Supersoul: Nobody Knows Anything (Buy)























The Gaslamp Killer- I Spit on your Grave (Buy)























Optimo- Sleepwalk (Buy)

JD Twitch- 60 Minutes of Fear (Buy)


















Metro Area- Fabric 43 (Buy)
















Neil Young- Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House (Buy)


















Nigeria 70- Lagos Jump (Buy)























Nigeria Disco Funk Special- The Sound of the Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79 (Buy)




















Not Wave- Rong Music (Buy)




















Dirty Edits Vol 2 (Buy)























Wooden Shjips- Volume 1 (Buy)























Wooden Shjips- We Ask you to Ride (Download)

Well Hung: 20 Funk Rock Eruptions from Hungary (Buy)





















Aphex Twin- Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (Remastered) (Buy)

2008 Part 1: Albums

10 Bon Iver- Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever ago























Late onto this one: A charming ode to a lost love: Utterly engaging. (Buy)

9 Zombie Zombie- A Land for Renegades























Kraut, disco, life, death & zombies: ‘A Land for Renegades’ was one of the more intriguing rides of the year. (Buy)

8 Beach House- Devotion























Came out very early in ’08, beautiful melodies played over delicate organs & drum machines. Delightful. (Buy)

7 Eine Kleine Nacht Musik- S/T






















Many records take their que from Germany’s Kraut era: Riton’s effort sounded like a loss artifact from the time, with added dancefloor Oomph. Very good indeed. (Buy)

6 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Dig Lazarus Dig!!!























After the Grinderman Lp, Nick Cave reconvened the Bad Seeds & produced another fine record. At 50 he has never sounded better. (Buy)

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- More News from Nowhere (Download)

5 Elbow- Leaders of the Free World

















Was never really into Elbow’s previous output, that all changed with ‘Leaders of the Free World’. From the Gospel Stomp of ‘Grounds for Divorce’ thru to the delicate ode ‘Friend of Ours’, the Bury quintet’s 4th Long player consistently delivered. (Buy)

Elbow- Friend of Ours (Download)

4 Gang Gang Dance- St Dymphna























Still the most bewildering, (& magical) release of the year: Every listen bears new fruits. Get involved. (Buy)

3 & 2 Deerhunter- Microcastle/Atlas Sound- Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
















Double whammy from Bradford this year- Atlas Sound came out in Feb & was dripping in delicacy, completely soundtracked the spring. ‘Microcastle’ showcased Cox’s songwriting skills perfectly. Prolific & excellent? A rare commodity these days.. (Buy/Buy)

Deerhunter- Saved by Old Times (Platts Eyott Session) (Download)

1 Portishead- Third

















Did you ever have the feeling that some records were made just for you? Sounds like Portishead spent the last 10 years listening to Can, Black Sabbath & The Silver Apples: Add Beth’s beautiful tones and you get one hell of a brew. Marvelous. (Buy)

Portishead- Deep Water (Download)

Other notables:

2562- Aerial
Benga- Diary of an Afro Warrior
Beck- Modern Guilt
Brael/Tokyo Bloodworm- Living Language
Cheveu- Cheveu
Clinic- Do it!
Deerhoof- Offend Maggie
Dodos- Visiter
Fleet Foxes- S/T
Flying Lotus- LA
Headhunter- Nomad
Hecq- Night Falls
Hercules & Love Affair- S/T
Hush Arbors- Ecstatic Peace
Indian Jewelry- Free Gold!
Ital Tek- Cyclical
Johann Johannsson- Fordlandia
Kelpe- Ex-Aquarium
No Age- Nouns
Padded Cell- Night Must Fall
Poni Hoax- Images of Sigrid
Rebotini- Music Components
Ruby Suns- Sea Lions
Saudade- The Hooded Ones
Sic Alps- U.S Ez
Spiritualized- Songs in A & E
Syclops- I’ve got my eye on you
Teeth Mountain- S/T
The Alps- III
Tussle- Cream Cuts

This has purple in it. Purple is a fruit..

Fulgeance's new EP on Musique Low is the mutts nuts, splendid collection of low-end, mid tempo delights; Glitchy, grubby, mucky Aceness. If your pining for new Modeselektor material, get yourself a copy of 'Low Club' immediately. Killer..

Fulgeance- Moonshake (Download)

Beach House's 'Devotion' came out in the first week of '08 & is one of those records that sounds perfect in any season. They've just put out new single 'Used to be' which is not on the album, and is brimming with Lo-Fi charm.

Beach House- Used to Be (Download)

Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try..

Regular readers may have noticed a few recurring themes on these pages- Optimo frequent more than most, but that's only because their the bees bloody knees. JD Twitch has recently compiled a new mix for RVNG entitled '60 Minutes of Fear' which features 22 classic/obscure punk rock tracks seamlessly mangled together. There's also an accompanying 10 inch which features 4 exclusive re-edits, including this one from The Mob. Pick this up as soon as you can as there ain't that many flying about..

The Mob- Witch Hunt (JD Twitch Re-edit) (Z Share) (YSI)

An exciting new collaboration to inform you about: Danton Eeprom & Ivan Smagghe combine as La Horse. Check the blurb: 'Strange voices, tortured guitars, pumpin' bass, and silly organs are some of the creatures that you'll meet during this spaced-out trip. It's rough, hot and mental'.
'Cyanide And Happiness' is their debut release & it's an exemplary slice of discoid excellence. One of those records that'll keep your dancefloor moving along very nicely indeed. Think the technical term for it is 'chugger'.

La Horse- Cyanide And Happiness (Danton Eeprom Remix) (Z Share) (YSI)

Yeah I believe in God, and I’m wondering where he is right now..

Some more material to fuel my ever growing Neil Young addiction- 'Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House' captures Young at 22, post Buffalo Springfield, on the eve of his solo career. Even at such a tender age his voice sounds like it's lived a thousand lives; You can get the CD/DVD combo here. A couple of tracks from it:

Neil Young- Mr Soul (Z Share) (YSI)

Neil Young- Expecting to Fly (Z Share) (YSI)

A little mutant Disco for a Monday? Erobique's 'Endorphinmachine' is beautifully twisted: Get busy & purchase the full release from the ever reliable Boomkat.

Erobique- Endorphinmachine (Z Share) (YSI)

Shut up- Or I'm gonna punch you in the throat..

Loud: Pyschdronerock of the highest order from Juan Trip: 'Fireplace' will certainly keep your cockles warm (Ho Ho). Out now on Citizen Records:

Juan Trip- Critical Mass Explode (Kissing the Floor) (Z Share) (YSI)

Quiet: Ewan Pearson was the selecta on BIS this week & his mix contains tracks from the likes of DJ Koze, Arthur Russell, Quixote & this delicate slice of ambience from Mountains. Get the full EP here.

Mountains- Blown Glass Typewriter (Z Share) (YSI)

Loud: I recently had a dream that we were headlining Glastonbury. I arrived at our time-slot to find the stage completely empty with no sign of my 'group'. There was a vast crowd lined up in front of the stage, but they were oddly quiet. I kept trying to phone people to find out just where the hell they were but there was no answer & instead of an answerphone kicking in, this weeks final tune started playing. Most odd.

Rhys Chatham- Drastic Classicism (Z Share) (YSI)

Have a good weekend.

I've been working steady for the past twelve years, minus the last three..

Gosh- There's a lot of music about isn't there. It's very easy for some records to slip through the net. Take Bon Iver's 'For Emma, Forever Ago', completely passed me by. It's been voted top of Rough Trade's & Piccadilly Records end of year poll, and it's an enchanting listen. Recorded in a remote cabin with only a portastudio to keep him sane, it certainly captures the essence of that and a whole lot more. Delicately awesome:

Bon Iver- Lump Sum (Z Share) (YSI)

Thanks to the lovely Liz for pointing me in the direction of Tobacco's 'Fucked Up Friends': Scuzzy beats & synths intertwine impressively:

Tobacco- Berries That Burn (Z Share) (YSI)

Arnaud Rebotini is one half of Black Strobe alongside Ivan Smagghe. He's recently broken out on his own & is preparing to release his debut long player 'Music Components', which is brim full of dancefloor mayhem. Check the Mega-fierce 'Decade of Aggression'. Pounding, pounding Techno music: Head over to RCRD Label & pick up a mini-mix of the album.

Arnaud Rebotini- Decade of Aggression (Z Share) (YSI)