MUSING 
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Oh, How the Mighty Have (Almost) Risen…
The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 have come with their share of work-related travails. As of yesterday, the worst have passed. I’m spending today recharging and regrouping. One result is that I’ve finished making selections for the 2008 compilation.
The previous year was filled with new releases from a number of veteran artists who are among my perennial favorites. Sadly, though, most of the releases didn’t make it to the list below or the 2008 Faves list. As always, the criteria were a bit subjective—i.e., inarticulable and slippery. The main questions I asked myself about each disc were these: (1) Did I listen repeatedly to this recording? and (2) Is it consistent and original enough that I can imagine myself returning to it frequently in the future? The ones that received two no answers aren’t represented here or on the Faves list; those that got a single no are on the list below, while those receiving two affirmative replies will have one representative track on the compilation.
So, without further delay, here for your perusal is the list of releases that almost made it onto the compilation. You can get a glimpse of what made the final list, as always, over on the Faves page.
- Aterciopelados, Río
- Black Mountain, In the Future
- Lindsay Buckingham, Gift of Screws
- Lila Downs, Shake Away/Ojo de Culebra
- High Places, High Places
- Daniel Lanois, Here Is What Is
- Mercury Rev, Snowflake Midnight
- Murcof, The Versailles Sessions
- Nomo, Ghost Rock
- Radar Bros., Auditorium
- Joshua Radin, Simple Times
- The Sea and Cake, Car Alarm
- Ron Sexsmith, Exit Strategy of the Soul
- Jules Mark Shear, More
- Shearwater, Rook
- Sigur Rós, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaus
- Sun Kil Moon, April
- Vivian Girls, Vivian Girls
- Paul Weller, 22 Dreams
- Lizz Wright, The Orchard
