As we move past the halfway point here in 2008, I figured nows as good a time as any to offer up a little Top 5 list on music so far this year.

Download the TOP 5 PODcast after the click, below all the gibberish…

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Constantines - Kensington Heights
Not too much to say on this one, just a solid rock’n'roll album. No more and no less. Like that middle bowl of porridge. They play the Troubadour tomorrow night and I’ve already got my fist at rocking altitude.
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Subtle - ExitingARM
Immensely gifted band I wrote about in a previous post. Chalk up another one for these guys throwing every color of paint at the wall and creating a fully fucking realized picture. This record is a mess of a knot to unravel though; multi-layered in concept and instrumentation, kaleidoscopic in word and rhythm. There’s a forward momentum here that borders on disorienting. And may I mention again the singer? This guy can roll off the English language let me tell you, with verbose streams surging so furiously at times they threaten both midwest levees and eardrums alike. It all boils down to an essential listen, if only to experience such frantic, vivid sounds contort themselves into something cohesive, something substantial.
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Tape - Luminarium
A sleeper of a remarkably well crafted and beautiful album. Blissfully calm on the surface with flickers of dubbed percussion and peacefully strummed guitar, it can easily fold you into a tranquil state. But listen closer and the edges are frayed. The electronics bend and distort, sweet notes warble sour just for a moment, unease rests below the surface. Sounds made by humans.
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Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull
Sloooooooow moving desert landscapes which flooooooow gracefully through the temporal lobe. Now these guys should’ve been out at Stagecoach! Listen actively and feel the heart rate go down.
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A Silver Mount Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Comprised of four songs beyond 13 minutes, each unfolding at an anxiously unhurried pace, only to then ignite triumphantly in volume… levity seems not the aim here. What is at stake is something much more serious, if a bit pretentious (I give a pass to Canadians though). Regardless, this is as good an audio representation of the tumult and frustration felt the last 7.5 years as anything I’ve yet to hear. Though it’s certainly not the type of baroque emotion you’d want to revisit very often, if heard at the right moment and in the right space, it’s close to captivating.
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TOP 5 PODcast
01. Constantines - “Brother Run Them Down”
02. Subtle - “Hollow Hollered”
03. Tape - “Parade”
04. Earth - “Hung From The Moon”
05. A Silver Mount Zion - “Blindblindblind”
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Download HERE
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And for the hell of it, a few more songs from other albums more than worth mentioning:

01. Spiritualized - “Baby I’m Just a Fool” (Songs in A&E)
02. Portishead - “Hunter” (Third)
03. Stars Like Fleas - “I Was Only Dancing” (The Ken Burns Effect)
04. James Blackshaw - “Past Has Not Passed” (Litany of Echoes)
05. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - “Midnight Man” (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!)
06. Grails - “Take Refuge” (Take Refuge in Clean Living)

DOWNLOAD
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