Here we are at the end of another year, in fact almost the end of a new decade, and the musicians of the world continue to turn out amazing work. The CD industry continues to slump and digital sales are not filling the gap, yet amazingly I am able to play on average 26 new songs over 2 hours on my twice weekly radio show here in Portland. It’s an honor to be able to expose brand new music from artists old and newly discovered to both my blog readers and my listening audience too.

Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit Are The Very Best

So how does one come up with a smart list of hot bands? Who is deserving, and why? Well its never easy..I just went back through all the music submissions for just one week and extrapolated the numbers out over a year - in 2008 so far I have been sent, on average, 6,134 MP3s and 1,304 CDs. That’s a lot of music, [especially as I'm the main writer for Pampelmoose,] and creates lots of decision making every day as I try and filter the good stuff on behalf you the reader or the radio listener.

In a nutshell, I came up with this list based simply on which artist’s work stirred me the most as I listened to it as dispassionately as possible. To some it won’t make sense, to others it will because they understand the eclectic nature of my blog and radio show. Others still will be outraged that I didn’t include their favorite band and others will decry me as a self-serving-know-nothing music snob [this has happened in the past, sort of makes me proud] but its all water off a duck’s back at this point.

The Very Best represent to me all that is possible in music. Back in October when I first received the mixtape I was thrilled. I was equally thrilled to find today that Scott Plagenhoef at Pitchfork gave the mixtape a great review and how he shares my findings of their music ….”Mwamwaya and Radioclit are open here to everything from South Africa’s marabi and kwaito music to Hans Zimmer scores to French and American hip-hop to Michael Jackson– and in most cases, it’s the tracks that lean furthest away from the familiar that work best. The regal “Sister Betina”, BLK JKS collaboration “Salota”, and Radioclit productions “Funa Funa” and “Kada Manja” are as immediately likable as the rest of the mix.”
And in a moment of headiness created by listening to the mixes I wrote of how this mashing of cultures even beyond music may engender a more peaceful global society - Fighting Terror via Art, Supper, Double Club and Sapeurs.

Here’s the top ten winners, in order this year:

01. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit Are The Very Best [Mixtape]
Available for free here.
02. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!!
Buy Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! here
03. Nightmares On Wax - Thought So…
Buy Thought So.. here
04. Susanna - Flower of Evil
Buy Flower of Evil here
05. Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball
Buy Wrecking Ball here
06. Brightblack Morning Light - Motion To Rejoin
Buy Motion To Rejoin here
07. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology
Buy Cardinology here
08. Booka Shade - The Sun & The Neon Light
Buy The Sun & The Neon Light here
09. Ume - Sunshower EP
Buy Sunshower EP here
10. The Happy Hollows - Imaginary EP
Buy Imaginary EP here

Check out a track from each artist here:

The Very Best - Kamphopo
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Nightmares On Wax - 195lbs
Susanna - Jailbreak
Dead Confederate - Goner
Brightblack Morning Light - Hologram Buffalo
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Magick
Booka Shade - Dusty Boots
Ume - The Conductor
The Happy Hollows - Tambourine

Tags: BrightBlack Morning Light, Dead Confederate, MP3, Nick Cave, Pampelmoose, Portland, The Very Best

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Downloads, MP3, Music, Music Reviews, Portland, Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.