måndag 9 Jan 2006, 5:58
Weekly Top Artists
Sunday Jan 1 - Sunday Jan 8
it is my first week of the year… obviously a good time to start analysing the music i listen to on a weekly basis*
1. Aesop Rock 44
one play each of Labor Days and Bazooka Tooth, plus a bunch of plays of one of my very favourite songs at the moment, 9-5ers Anthem.
"We the American working population hate the fact that 8 hours a day is wasted on chasing the dream of someone who isn't us, and we may not hate our jobs but we hate jobs in general that don't have to do with fighting our own causes. We the American working population hate the 9-5 day-in, day-out when we'd rather be supporting ourselves by being paid to perfect the pastimes that we have harboured based solely on the fact that it makes us smile if it sounds dope"
I'm not American, but the sentiment's universal. Aes remains the king of all.
2. Imogen Heap 41
interesting one, this… i don't think i'd paid any attention to Imogen Heap at all before this week, but now i love the song Hide and Seek so much that i even love it in the knowledge that it played over the season 2 credits to The Fucking OC. this may make me an emo fruit, but then again, i got told season 1 used Jeff Buckley's version of 'hallelujah', so i don't mind too much. after 41 plays, i've figured out the song structure (it being wholly a capella makes it pretty subtle and i spent the first 20 or whatever plays just checking all the different melodies out.) i quite like Let Go, Imogen's old band - well, i like the songwriting; the beats remind me of some coffee table toss like Lamb) - but it wouldn't really matter if everything else she'd done was rubbish after this song.
3. Oktober 38
one of my first last.fm discoveries, this… pretty good. Apparently Oktober is something to do with Demigodz in some way. he has jacked a bunch of Madlib beats from the Madvillain album and made an album called Madvandal out of it. i think the most satisfying thing about this is hearing someone spit over Sickfit, although it's probably a measure of Madvillainy's quality that MF Doom felt able to leave it as an instrumental.
4. TTC 34
my pal Joe aka Germlin lent me their album Bâtards Sensibles (and if one is going to be a bastard, one may as well be sensible about it, n'est-ce pas?) it's pretty great rollicking grimy French hip-hop. joe says he likes rappers with interesting voices, and i have to agree that TTC fit the bill even if one of them at times sounds comically akin to a kind of Gallic Trent Reznor. great beats, too. Germlin needs a user photo, by the way, so if you feel like it, you can go to his profile and vote on the official one from the adaadat website.
5. Madvillain 28
i reckon these listens are collected from spins of the Madvillain remixes by Four Tet and Koushik. not really listened enough to either to comment in depth, but hearing Kieran Hebden producing straight hip-hop beats is enjoyable.
6. 65daysofstatic 21
must've been out of the loop - i didn't even know they had a new album until One Time for All Time started appearing on everyone's end of year lists. one play for that - seems good, so far - and gave the Stumble.Stop.Repeat EP and Hole single a play each too.
7. El-P 20
just from random last.fm plays, i wouldn't be surprised. i'm currently making a definitive lazerface tag for El, Company Flow, Central Services and all the various other collaborations, productions and guest shots he's done for people. it'll be rad.
8. Blockhead 19
another 'best of 2005' one i didn't check out, Block aka Tony Simon produces beats for Aesop Rock and also puts out his own instrumental hip-hop on Ninja Tune. new album sounds good but obviously merits more listens as what can you really learn from one spin?
9. Deerhoof 18
more '05 surveying with Green Cosmos EP and The Runners Four. i think i've been mainly listening to the EP as i seem to know it a lot more than the album. good stuff, too. cf. my Blockhead comment, tho.
10. Belly 17
probably a couple of last.fm plays. this is mainly, however, the weekly contribution from my darling sibling when i forget to turn off the Windows Media plugin. this week she has exhibited better taste than last, when i was forced to contend with Nelly and KT Tunstall being placed in my top 10.
and that's all the weather!