Last chance for 2002!

Marz - Love Streams
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Dap Dippin
Ekkehard Ehlers - Plays
Howard Hello - s/t
Greg Davis - Arbor
Dabrye - One/Three
Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank The Cradle

*befuddled* I seem to keep popping up in ILX folks' dreams! Maybe I should hide.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Dap Dippin
A late 60s soul rekkid that just happens to have been recorded in 2002. Brand new, you're retro etc etc.

Ekkehard Ehlers - Plays
Ehlers (aka Auch) re-envisions recordings from film (?) luminaries in broad circles and unfolding loops. Included mainly for the two John Cassavettes tracks, which rank among the most gorgeous things I've heard all year.

Howard Hello - s/t
Temporary Residence kids juggle vocal scraps and organic snippets, result not unlike Books - Thought For Food.

Greg Davis - Arbor
More slushy DSP overtop some yummy synths and well-defined melodies. Acoustic guitar works remind me of the stuff from Yokota's Images comp.

Dabrye - One/Three
The best of Tadd Mullinix' three albums by far. Wonked out hip-hop beats chug behind a seasick haze of melody and gonzo arrangements. The loping jazz bit on the album's lead track is the best Mr. Scruff song, like, ever.

Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank The Cradle
If this was any longer than 30 minutes I'd probably hate it, but as it is, it's near perfect. Q: Who needs more mopey, double-tracked, faintly-whispered bedsit acoustic stuff? A: I honestly didn't think I'd care, but I do.

Oh no! Has this been done?

damien rice - o
the best singer-songwriter album in recent years. pungent, soulful and a cohesive musical whole. brilliant.

16 horsepower - folklore
black and fierce and absolutelymoving.

that's it. Just three.

I promise I'm not in this band. ;)

You're not getting this confused with the Eastern Developments record, are you? One/Three came out in June last year.

The three records I was referring to were One Three, Instrmntls and Winking Makes A Face..

But Allmusic lists it as 2001, which is weird, cause I distinctly remember both Dabrye records coming out at around the same time.

Aaron W to thread!

I also fear The Peter Parkers' Regular Urchin ep wasn't heard by enough shoegazing fans either, but I do what I can, Im just glad they finally got around to documenting their change in form since 97 or so.

Seriously though, if you didn't like them live, you probably won't be too much into the album. Did you think they were too arty and disjointed or something?

I saw the Young People show with Ira, and I remember saying something to the effect of, "Shit songs with arty song structures are still shit songs." He readily agreed.

"Otomo Yoshihide New Jazz Ensemble - Dreams"

I've really wanted to hear this since it came out but do not have access to a copy. Any chance there are (or could be) some .mp3s posted of some of the better moments/tracks? A description/review would be much appreciated as well. Thanks! I'd also like to hear or hear more about the Knead record (PSF).

I'll second the Young People reccomendation; their live shows are not so great, but this doesn't change my opinion of their record. 5 Rue Christine has released an excess of meaningful challenging neo-post-punk bafoonery...enough to get me excited about "new" music for the first time in a few years.

As for 'probable' masterworks:

Volcano the Bear has put out a couple things worth picking up this year (unfortunately largely limited to miniscule botique pressings).

The Music Tapes finished their second album, which is (was?) available by writing them directly (it may come out on Merge in a year or two).

haha no! I just meant I started an identical thread last year, and was looking forward to repeating the exercise (but was waiting for a few more critics' polls to appear before starting it). I have some ideas for this year's "most overlooked". I'll reveive this thread if my suspicions are confirmed over the next few weeks.

bootlegally speaking:
"Fateful Pavement," Dsico

Actually, that first came out in '99. (Sorry to be such a pedant, Scott... I really shouldn't get in the way of Metro Area praise.)

Only one I have that appears to have utterly bypassed ILM is The Venue - half meh, five-sixths great, one-sixth fucking legendary. If you haven't heard Mmhm! yet, you want to.

And Pop Ambient 2003 is out now. More New Age than ever!

Before I forget: a hearty public thank you to Andy K for turning me onto this incredible album.

Scott, I'm hearing from Fusion that they're trying to get Morgan in to Toronto for a DJ set before the year is up!

Am I wrong in thinking the Metro Area album just came out a month ago? Is the rest of the material a) recent? b) as good as the three-year-old single?

Six of its tracks originate from 12" singles that span '99-'01. Most of those were slightly edited to make the album flow better. The four other tracks (plus the intro) are completely new.

The only negative aspect of the album is that it doesn't include more of the old 12" material, like The Art of Hot -- my personal MA favorite.

Goodies, even if they're oldies. Plus:

The twenty CDs of YMO + related side projects I just got from Jeff in Michigan (remember him?). Jeff is the MAN.

Cinematic Orchestra have been slept on, though not as heavily as most of the other bands on this thread.

I saw Hella on the same night and was impressed with the playing, which was amazing, but I find that they're a good example of why complex songs doesn't mean entertaining songs. Though they dressed up as Pink & Brown for Halloween, and that was amusing.

Yeah, let me second that. I think I need to put that on a best-of list somewhere...

Ok, I'm listening right now. First off it has good singing by hoarse and strained female vocals. The chords are more pop than jazz. The sax melodies are good, the trumpet tone is bad and out of tune. Many of the songs are calm and relaxing except the last two that go total crazy. Some songs are relaxing in spite of the trumpet & sax playing random flurishes, and high pitch noises. All the electronic noises are in the background. All the songs have very different personalities.