Hello, June Fool.

It has just struck me that I've recently spent a lot of time posting about new artists and/or new releases that I want to listen to but then provided precious little feedback on those that I have heard live or acquired as physical recordings. I'm still adding new ones, as ever, and I'll keep adding those but what I intend to do next is a resumé of the 2009 music that has caught my attention so far. I'm not sure of the format yet; perhaps it could be like an 'Amazon List' or maybe not, as that format doesn't allow much comment, but I can see certain points in favour of both approaches.
My inclination is to take the 'Ash' approach in reverse and to review my current six favourite releases from the first six months of 2009 at the rate of one a week. I don't know if I can do it but surely there would be no harm to at least try. They may not even be albums and some items may not be by UK artists or even readily available in the UK.
It is not, as such, a change of plan as I intend to continue adding the usual random 'Thoughts On Music' but rather a just a new challenge and if I only achieve one such each fortnight then I will still reach the end of 2009 in even time. That said, it might be good to slip in the occasional older one from time to time too, if only by way of comparison or contrast. No promises...

Hello June Fool is also the title of an album by East Coast indie rockers Madder Rose, which is a decade old now. I have mentioned it before and it still seems relevant to me but the self-titled Saint Low is just iconic.

My 2008 in Music (Part 2)

In my last post I mentioned that I'd split my best-of-albums into two lists. The first was what I regard as 'indispensable'. If you were to take the dozen of them away, saying that I didn't deserve to own them, these would be their replacements:

• Adele - 19
• Bellowhead - Matachin
• Duffy - Rockferry
• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
• Imelda May - Love Tattoo
• Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Sunday At Devil Dirt
• Kira Fontana - The Inner Revolution
• Mary Hampton - My Mother's Children
• Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
• Operator Please - Yes, Yes, Vindictive
• Shoreline - Time Well Spent
• Sons and Daughters - This Gift

They are, of course, in no way direct replacements but in toto these two-dozen albums define my 2008 album space fairly accurately - happy to indulge in that which is currently popular while also inclined to dive into what might seem, at least in the mainstream, currently slightly obscure.

I almost forgot this one, by a band that defy genre, gender and geography:

• Brazilian Girls - New York City

My 2008 in Music (Part 1)

It was difficult to reduce this category to just ten albums last year and so I added two later. This year that has proven impossible to all intents and purposes so this year I've decided to do it slightly differently.

I've chosen to split albums into two groups. The first of twelve (below) and the second (probably of ten or twelve) and, although you could argue that there will inevitably be a grey area between them, it might be worthy of discussion!
This is the first list and these are my most 'indispensable' albums of 2008. The selection is of course totally biased by my own tastes but this year two albums released by a major label feature on it, and justifiably so I feel. It is, as ever, a rather nebulous concept of a 'top 12' - there is no way that I'm going to attempt to put them in any order other than alphabetical by artist and without additional comment.

• Amy LaVere - Anchors and Anvils
• Beth Rowley - Little Dreamer
• Black Mountain - In The Future
• Carrie Rodriguez - She Ain't Me
• Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
• Duke Spirit - Neptune
• Eilen Jewell - Letters From Sinners and Strangers
• Jill Jackson - Jill Jackson
• Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
• Oh Laura - A Song Inside My Head, A Devil In My Bed
• Phantom Limb - Phantom Limb
• Xela - In Boca Al Lupo
  

It includes two 'major label' releases, which is up from just one in last year's (original) list, and it probably isn't a quirk of statistics. I suspect my next ten choices, which I shall reveal shortly, will show that to be a significant, if rather minor, change.