I started thinking about what some of the best things in music I'd found this year are. And thought maybe some would like to toss their hat in the ring.

I am a subscriber to Emusic and have found a ton of good stuff there. Some of which I'm actively looking for on cd. MP3's are nice, but there are a few where I'd just like to have the cd as well.

Anyway, I think I'm going to limit my selection to a top ten list for now.

Going in descending order: Artist - Album

10) East Bay Rhythm - A Little Love Will Help

9) Five Horse Johnson - The Last Men On Earth

8) Callenish Circle - My Passion Your Pain

7) The Atomic Bitchwax - Atomic Bitchwax

6) Acme Rocket Quartet - Acme Rocket Quartet

5) Buddy Guy - Breaking Out

4) Caustic Resin - Body Hate Love Body

3) Boss Hog - Whiteout

2) Carcass - Swansong

1) Garaj Mahal - Live Vol. I


The #1 pick here is also the reason I want to learn more about shorten files. This is one of the finest Jazz-Fusion-Progressive bands I've ever heard. Hell, they're one of the best bands I've heard - period. If you like something that on occasion sounds like Frank Zappa crossed with Jeff Beck, you should at least take a listen. Celtic Indian is a perfect example.

And to make your search easier: Click Here B)

Ah... someone else has discovered the wonderful treasure-trove of legitimate music freely available in Archive.org's Live Music Archive.

Shorten is fairly simple to use, although most here are less familiar with it than with other lossless algorithms. The simplest way to use SHN files - especially if you are inclined to transcode them to a more useful lossless format, such as FLAC - is through Speek's Multi frontend; unzip shorten.exe into the same directory as the frontend.

If all you want to do is decompress the SHNs you have downloaded to WAVs, simply use the -x switch with "Shorten" selected as your codec. Transcoding is just as simple: select your codec and desired encoding options (i.e., Codec: FLAC / Options: --best)... the batch file generated by the frontend will automatically include the necessary options for decompressing the SHNs and piping the output to the new encoder.

Hope this helps!
- M.

P.S. - A few shows worthy of mention:

Club d'Elf live at the Knitting Factory, April 20, 2000
Strangefolk at Crate Memorial Park, August 31, 2003
Henry Kaiser at the Fukuoka Dome, Kyushu, Japan, August 27th, 1994

P.P.S. - To wander slightly back on-topic, I should also mention a pick for 2003! So here is my sole nomination from the "new music scene" (most of the rest of my recommendations would be reissues from twent-five to thirty-five years ago): Thickfreakness by the Black Keys

What makes the Black Keys notable? Well, the first song of theirs I ever heard - "Set You Free" - sounds a Hell of a lot like Hendrix doing Muddy Waters on a really good night. But the group is two white kids from Ohio... go figure! It rocks harder than any new music I've heard in a looooooonnnng time.

M-

I got it dialed in with the shorten stuff now. MC has a shorten plugin now, thanks to ssamadhi97. I played around with two tracks and it does a convert to APE without a glitch. For me this works since I wouldn't trade the converted stuff anyway, and the tagging in shorten becomes rather moot after that.

I also have The Black Keys. Their on the right track, just need to change up what sounds a guitar can make. The album gets a little heavy after hearing the same basic riffs, and fuzz, one after another. But that said, I do like the band.

Thank for the links to the other shows, too! Will check them out.

M-

If you happen to stumble across this...


You should check out Fat Chelsea in the archives. Studio album by a band that (I think) disbanded after the drummer fell to her death. Shame, too.

Best genre guess: Contemporary Jazz. Very good sounding set of files due to studio recording, and a tight playing bunch of musicians.


And...

I find it hard to believe y'all listen to the same thing over and over and over again. How did you discover these?

Are you REALLY having trouble finding the Swansong disc? I didn't think it was that rare, or maybe it is just my area. Plenty of places online to find it too.

I never said I was having a problem finding any particular album. Just looking for some as they turn up. This was also just a list of 10 that have much appeal to me. Not an 'I can't find this' list.

ps - What's yours?

Mostly I lust after old out of print singles that I couldn't find, or if I did I wouldn't be able /willing to afford. I recently got my grubby hands on the More single by The Sisters of Mercy from some Australian company I have never heard of before. Came differently than my friends copy though. An old slimcase type package where my friend has a 12" record case with a large inlay and the cd somewhat loose inside. I would kill for the cd version of either Response Frequency or Grinding into Emptiness by Noise Unit. I have the LP and 12" single for Grinding into Emptiness but my conversion of that to cd wasn't extremely well done and the cd has a bonus track not available on vinyl. Hmm what else... I used to have an mp3 of "Everyday is Halloween" by Ministry in some 'Blacklight Remix' but I have no clue where that came from. Probably off of some vague sampler I will never find. I also want Ministry's Bad Blood single or the german version of Dark Side of the Spoon that has the Happy Dust b-side.

Thanks for the recommendation! I've added this to my list of shows to get (etree15 seems to be down tonight...) and will listen to it as soon as I've downloaded a complete copy.

- M.

Top 10 Albums Thus Far For 2k3 (not in order):
1) Big Boi - Speakerboxxx
2) Andre 3000 - The Love Below
3) Obie Trice - Cheers
4) John Mayer - Heavier Things
5) Blu Cantrell - Bittersweet
6) Jack Johnson - On and On
7) 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
8) The White Stripes - Elephant
9) Limp Bizkit - Results May Vary
10) The Neptunes Present.. - Clones

My top picks for 2003:

1. Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
2. Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
3. Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
4. ...
You get the picture

Iron Maiden - Dance of Death
IMHO the best Maiden album since Fear of the Dark


Fito Paez - Naturaleza Sangre
Well, Fito is Fito.. if you know what I mean..

Well, I have listened to some of his later stuff, and I think that Fito is no longer Fito, of you know what I mean

But I am actually puzzled by the "direction", if you may, that Fito would take on this album, being that he is single again...
You know, heartbreak makes great art.

Could you post a review?

Hands down best album of 2003: Tearstained - Final Thoughts

Iris - "Awakening"

Amazing stuff, trust me.

Ouch! Produced music warning! You won't remember most of those at year 2005. Listen to them but don't buy them.

Here are several good albums:
Kotiteollisuus: Helvetistä itään
Kraftwerk: Tour de France Soundtracks

And one great live cd/dvd:
Nightwish: End of Innocence

The rest of the year will definately bring some new good albums.

My favs of the year:

Elbow - Cast Of Thousands
Muse - Absolution
Blur - Think Tank
Radiohead - Hail The Theif
The Thrills - So Much For The City
Kings Of Leon - Youth And Young Manhood

Fluke - Puppy
Kopernik - Kopernik
Tipper - Surrounded

I am an Iron Maiden fan, but I cannot listen to this album. It sounds like the mastering engineer wanted to make it sound as bad as possible. After 10 minutes I need pills to cure the headache.

most of these haven't been mentioned yet. asterisks by the best five of my list:

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism*
Belle and Sebastien - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Rob Crow - My Room Is A Mess
Bleu - Redhead
The Long Winters - When I Pretend to Fall*
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief*
Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun
The Postal Service - Give Up
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak*
Manitoba - Up In Flames
Blur - Think Tank
Pinback - Offcell*
Rainer Maria - Long Knives Drawn
The Sea and Cake - One Bedroom

i like music. and i probably forgot something i really enjoy. oh well.

lets check my ten
1-The White Stripes - Elephant
2-A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
3-Metallica - st anger
4- Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power
5- Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon
6- Damien Rice - O
7- Dizzee Rascal - Boy in da Corner
8- The Strokes - Room on Fire
9- MUSE - Absolution
10 - British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power

that is not final ,we should check rlss that will come out at the end of the year

As of right now...

10. Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave
9. Motion City Soundtrack - I Am The Movie
8. Brand New - Deja Entendu
7. Cave In - Antenna
6. The Postal Service - Give Up
5. Billy Talent - Billy Talent
4. The Fever - Pink on Pink EP
3. Ima Robot - Ima Robot
2. The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn
1. A Static Lullaby - ...And Don't Forget To Breathe

I know, I lost a billion scene points by putting ASL ahead of the Blood Bros. Sue me.