In brief: Reflections on 2008

Pros: Obama's election...overcoming my dislike of flying to finally leave the UK again, not once but twice during the year...the wonderful Primavera festival and the beauty of Barcelona...Secret Chiefs 3's magnificent first ever UK show at Cargo; let's not wait ten years for the next one though, eh?...becoming an uncle to little Amy Jennifer...a host of highlights, but particularly Harvey Milk and Max Tundra at Supersonic...the BBC Radiophonic Workshop reissues...the continual resurgence of Aston Villa Football Club...Nina Nastasia at Green Man...My Bloody Valentine at the Roundhouse, still as sonically impressive as 16 years ago...being introduced to the books of Richard Brautigan...the continuing inspirational coverage of The Wire and Plan B...the near collapse of global capitalism hopefully precipitating a return to more socialist values...

Cons: Tim Smith suffering a stroke; get well soon Tim, please...the suicide of David Foster Wallace...Boris Johnson becoming London's mayor...still not reading enough...still not blogging enough...the monsoon conditions at Green Man...Girls Aloud's rotten new album...missing ATP again...there not being enough hours in the day to listen to the amount of music I'd like to...allowing tiredness and lethargy to prevent me from attending more gigs...London's free newspapers, objectionable on so many levels...my failure to truly reconnect with what I enjoy about living in London, something I aim to rectify in 2009...

Talksy's Festive Fifty

My 50 Favourite Albums of 2008

50. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (ATP)
49. Burning Star Core - Challenger (Plastic)
48. Toumani Diabate - The Mande Variations (World Circuit)
47. Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me (Rough Trade)
46. Machinefabriek - Dauw (Dekorder)
45. Boris - Smile (Southern Lord)
44. William Parker - Double Sunrise Over Neptune (AUM Fidelity)
43. Mike Patton - A Perfect Place (Ipecac)
42. Rings - Black Habit (Paw Tracks)
41. Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park (4AD)

40. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (Universal)
39. Abe Vigoda - Skeleton (Bella Union)
38. Melvins - Nude With Boots (Ipecac)
37. 2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)
36. Kasai Allstars - In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic (Cramworld)
35. Neil Landstrumm - Lord For £39 (Planet Mu)
34. El Guincho - Allegranza (Young Turks)
33. The Fun Years - Baby, It's Cold Inside (Barge)
32. Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday (Temporary Residence)
31. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual (We Are Free)

30. Birchville Cat Motel - Gunpowder Temple Of Heaven (Pica Disk)
29. Boredoms - Super Roots #9 (Thrill Jockey)
28. Deerhunter - Microcastle (4AD)
27. Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier (Southern)
26. Philip Jeck - Sand (Touch)
25. Jacaszek - Treny (Miasmah)
24. James Blackshaw - Litany Of Echoes (Tompkins Square)
23. Lucky Dragons - Dream Island Laughing Language (Upset The Rhythm)
22. Benga - Diary Of An Afro Warrior (Tempa)
21. Kayo Dot - Blue Lambency Downward (Hydra Head)

20.

Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements (Tomlab)

http://www.myspace.com/parentheticalgirlsband

19.

Stephan Mathieu - Radioland (Die Schachtel)

http://www.bitsteam.de/wp/?page_id=23

18.

Juana Molina - Un Dia (Domino)

http://www.juanamolina.com/eng_home.html

17.

Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics (Hassle)

http://www.myspace.com/rolotomassi

16.

Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista (Fonal)

http://www.myspace.com/paavoharju

15.

Max Richter - 24 Postcards In Full Colour (Fat Cat)

http://www.24postcards.co.uk/

14.

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster (Wichita)

http://www.myspace.com/loscampesinos

13.

The Advisory Circle - Other Channels (Ghost Box)

http://www.ghostbox.co.uk/theadvisorycircle.htm

12.

Fennesz - Black Sea (Touch)

http://touchshop.org/product_info.php?cPath=11&products_id=256

11.

Secret Chiefs 3 - Xaphan: Book Of Angels Volume 9 (Tzadik)

http://www.webofmimicry.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=63

10.

Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You (Domino)

http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/max-tundra/

9.

Growing - All The Way (Social Registry)

http://www.thesocialregistry.com/index2.html

8.

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp)

http://www.myspace.com/flyinglotus

7.

Harvey Milk - Life...The Best Game In Town (Hydra Head)

http://www.harveymilktheband.com/music.html

6.

Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)

http://www.myspace.com/deerhoof

5.

The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune)

http://www.myspace.com/thebuguk

4.

High Places - High Places (Thrill Jockey)

http://www.myspace.com/hellohighplaces

3.

Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (Type)

http://www.myspace.com/grouperrepuorg

2.

Marnie Stern - This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That (Kill Rock Stars)

http://www.myspace.com/marniestern1

1.

Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna (Warp)

http://www.thesocialregistry.com/index2.html

The Festive Fifty...Close, But No Cigar

Yep, it's that time of year again. After much cogitation, consideration and deliberation, my favourite 50 albums of 2008 have been decided upon. Check back next week to find out what's made the list.

2008 has been a cracking year for new music and it proved harder than ever to trim the list down to just 50 this time. So, while you're waiting on tenterhooks for the final selection, here's a whole host of cracking releases that almost made the grade, and on another day may well have done. All come highly recommended...

Oren Ambarchi & Z'ev - Spirit Transform Me (Tzadik)
Ascend - Ample Fire Within (Southern Lord)
Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (4AD)
Au - Verbs (Aagoo)
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD)
Bowerbirds - Hymns For A Dark Horse (Dead Oceans)
Christina Carter - Original Darkness (Kranky)
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (PIAS)
Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound (Arts For Art)
The Doubting Guest - Acid Sauna (Planet Mu)
Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull (Southern Lord)
Excepter - Debt Dept (Paw Tracks)
Fred Frith - To Sail, To Sail (Tzadik)
Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Modern Life (Matador)
Hauschka - Ferndorf (Fat Cat)
Ezekiel Honig - Surfaces Of A Broken Marching Band (Anticipate)
Ignatz - III (K-raa-K)
Indian Jewelry - Free Gold! (We Are Free)
Islaja - Blaze Mountain Recordings (Ecstatic Peace!)
Je Suis Animal - Self-Taught Magic From A Book (Perfect Pop)
Lau Nau - Nukkuu (Locust)
Library Tapes - A Summer Beneath The Trees (Make Mine Music)
Lone - Lemurian (Dealmaker)
Magik Markers - Gucci Rapidshare Download (Oscillation 3)
Matmos - Supreme Balloon (Matador)
MoHa! - One Way Ticket To Candyland (Rune Grammofon)
Nadja - Bliss Torn From Emptiness (Profound Lore)
Nisennenmondai - Neji Tori (Smalltown Supersound)
No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides - Bataille De Battle (Singing Knives)
Pete & The Pirates - Little Death (Stolen Recordings)
Portishead - Third (Island)
Pyramids - Pyramids (Hydra Head)
Sic Alps - US EZ (Stiltbreeze)
Tape - Luminarium (Hapna)
These Are Powers - Taro Tarot (Dead Oceans)
Times New Viking - Rip It Off (Matador)
Valet - Naked Acid (Kranky)
Venetian Snares - Detrimentalist (Planet Mu)
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Heartcore (Leaf)
Xiu Xiu - Women As Lovers (Kill Rock Stars)
Yo! Majesty - Futuristically Speaking...Never Be Afraid (Domino)
Zomby - Where Were U In '92 (Werk)

De Selby's Golden Hours volume 4

So here, at last, is volume 4! Hope you enjoy it...

Volume 4



Gang Gang Dance - First Communion
taken from the 2008 album St Dymphna (Warp)
These Are Powers - Cockles
taken from the 2008 album Taro Tarot (Dead Oceans)
Parenthetical Girls - A Song For Ellie Greenwich
taken from the 2008 album Entanglements (Tomlab)
Flying Lotus - Parisian Goldfish
taken from the 2008 album Los Angeles (Warp)
Tinchy Stryder - Six4Fire
taken from the 2008 album Cloud 9: The EP (Royaltyshare)
Sic Alps - Mater
taken from the 2008 album U.S. EZ (Stiltbreeze)
Japanther - Um Like Your Smile Is Totally Ruling Me
taken from the 2008 album Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt (Menlo Park)
King Midas Sound - One Ting (Dabrye remix)
taken from the 2008 12" Cool Out (Hyperdub)
High Places - From Stardust To Sentience
taken from the 2008 album High Places (Thrill Jockey)
Peverelist - Roll With The Punches
taken from the 2008 12" Roll With The Punches (Punch Drunk)

De Selby update

Jeez, it's been ages, sorry! The long overdue Volume 4 will be on the way this week...honestly!

In the meantime, it has been drawn to my attention that the embedded players on this site don't always work...apparently there's been a particular problem with Volume 3. If this is the case for you, then you can access all De Selby's Golden Hours on the 8tracks site at http://8tracks.com/talksy.

More very soon...

De Selby's Golden Hours volume 3

Brand new tracks from the wonderful new albums by Marnie Stern and Deerhoof this time out, plus the usual smorgasbord of delights taking in everything from highlife bounce to sonic splatter, psych folk to jazz harmolodics, sitar funk freakouts to stoner groove...

Volume 3



Marnie Stern - The Crippled Jazzer
taken from the 2008 album This Is It and I Am It and You Are It... (Kill Rock Stars)
Deerhoof - Eaguru Guru
taken from the 2008 album Offend Maggie (ATP)
Rings - All Right Peace
taken from the 2008 album Black Habit (Paw Tracks)
El Guincho - Antillas
taken from the 2008 album Alegranza (Young Turks)
Fucked Up - No Epiphany
taken from the 2008 album The Chemistry Of Common Life (Matador)
Ananda Shankar - Streets Of Calcutta
taken from the 1975 album Ananda Shankar And His Music (EMI India)
Pumajaw - Spangler
taken from the 2008 album Curiosity Box (Fire)
MoHa! - Too Smart Enough To Drink
taken from the 2008 album One-Way Ticket To Candyland (Rune Grammofon)
Ornette Coleman - Three Wishes
taken from the 1988 album Virgin Beauty (Portrait)
Grails - Predestination Blues
taken from the 2008 album Doomsdayer's Holiday (Temporary Residence)

The Dreaming

Apropos of nothing, bar the fact that I've been listening to Kate Bush's 1982 masterpiece today, here's a selection of videos from that album for your enjoyment. It's Kate Bush...no excuse needed!

Sat In Your Lap



Suspended In Gaffa



There Goes A Tenner