musique fantastique

For the past three years I've made annual 'best of' CD's, distilling the vast amount of music I've heard into one shiny shiny CD.  I give one to my sister every Christmas, along with whatever I picked out from her list, and she is continually surprised, probably because she has never listened to one of them.  Otherwise they go to friends and whoever I'm hanging out with at the time, usually I only make 8 or 10 or less, and keep one for myself.  A couple people, 4 at most, actually seem to appreciate them.  Last year the process went like this:  I made a list of the 40 or so CDs I'd bought that had an official release date of 2003 (or late late 2002 or very underground until 2003) and then rip the tracks I thought might make the cut.  I also go through my computer and select songs of albums i downloaded but never bought, which was a few dozen, like 50 cent, ted leo, the rapture, electric six, outkast, and the yeah yeah yeahs.  So all these songs, usually over a hundred, are listened to a billion more times, cuts are made, order is juggled, etc, until i finally have  a definite list.  So the whole process kinda takes a while, I put a lot of time into it.
 
Anyway, so this year i don't know if I'm going to make a CD.  For two reasons.
1.  Here is a list of CDs I've bought for the year:
         1. Mirah
         2. Sonic Youth
         3. The Streets
         4. The Fiery Furnaces (which I just bought yesterday)
      As you can see, way below my average.  Money is tight, and I can't afford to take as many gambles as I used to. 
 
2.  I'm moving in less than three weeks, and losing my dsl access.  A large portion of the best CDs are released in fall, and I won't be able to listen without buying (see #1).  I'm grabbing as much as I can now, but I know i'll miss something great.  As it is, every year I always let something slip through the cracks, and this year would be a major regression in quality.
 
So, we'll see what I've got come early December.  Maybe it's just that 2004 hasn't brought any surefire amazing songs that when I hear them, I immediately think of the end of the year, except for 'take me out'. 
 
Anyway, the real start to this post was supposed to be this:  I've listened to thousands of albums, and whenever I hear anything that I've never heard before, I always always always secretly cross my fingers and wish that this album/band will be amazing, and I'll have a new favorite band, and I'll have a vast discography of albums I've never heard to explore.  That doesn't happen much anymore, since I've heard a lot of music, and any band with many many albums has usually already been explored.  But when I was younger, it was great.  I bought 11 R.E.M. albums in a year, 12 sonic youth in two years, 6 pavement in a year, 5 elvis costello, lots of beatles, rolling stones, and stereolab, bands that all have many great records.  Nowadays, any band that releases a great new record has either released a bunch of crap previously, or is releasing their first album, upon which the follow-ups will pale in comparison.  I've heard lots of one-off great records, but none in quite a while (I still can't stand behind Franz Ferdinand 100%, though it's growing on me nicely, save for the last 3 songs). 
 
Three days ago I downloaded two songs by the Fiery Furnaces, one from their 2003 release, Gallowbird's Bark, the other from Blueberry Boat, released on Tuesday.  Together they totalled eleven minutes in length, and I must have listened to them about 10 times at least, while at work.  The next day I burned CDs of both albums.  I actually had downloaded the first record a few months ago, but hadn't given it much of a chance, and my computer speakers tend to hide a lot of great songs.  I listened to both these records a couple times each, and then yesterday evening I took a walk and bought their new record.  i really like the cover.  I listened to it some more, and the burned copy of the first one some more as well.  I will buy a legit copy of it soon.  Both of the records have flaws, and they probably will be forgotten in a couple decades, but I'm happy because I'm excited about them.  The band is just two people, brother and sister (for real!), and they are from new york though they grew up near Chicago.  You can read more about them and their two albums here.http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781EDA49AF7F20D7913A4ADDA672FE1BDF4AF4AE0721425AD3FB3247801166E368A18898DBAE39B366AEF931A65A0FD786EF56F6DC6F373C8FFEC61D&uid=SUB030407162208&sql=11:hz811v03zzua~T1
Though let me just say that they blend every possible style of music from the last 75 years, or more, lots of music-hall piano and blues riffs, lots of electronic noises and beats and lots of stuff way in between, sometimes all mixed together and sometimes completely seperate, and their first album is more accessible and their second album is a 76 minute crazy masterpiece and in between they released an awesome vinyl single that sounds nothing and everything like the two records.  (the onion gave them a bad review, or at least not stellar, but despite what it says, i disagree) Lately, the past couple years, I've been listening to a lot of simple music, simple melody, spare instrumentation, white stripes, mates of state, gossip, kills, yyy's, beat happening, etc, and this is nothing like that, for the most part, though of course there are moments.  And a 76 minute album?  who knew I'd actually buy one.  Last night I lied in bed and put it on my headphones, and tried to decipher it.  Good times.
 
Anyway, you can find those two MP3's here: http://www.insound.com/mp3/searchmp3.cfm?searchby=Fiery%20Furnaces  Enjoy, and keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.