[dihansse]

Two albums of 2007 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation (2007) by The Wombats
Maybe a bit too poppy for my taste but hits like Let's Dance To Joy Division and Backfire At The Disco are fairly irresistible so the album moves up from the 59th to the 51st rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

North Star Deserter (2007) by Vic Chesnutt
Vic Chesnutt has always been known to steer his own course but here he has chosen to invite a number of guest musicians and I must say they really enhance the album especially on the longer and more electric guitar drive pieces like Everything I Say and Debriefing. Overall a fine album which ends up at the 40th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2008 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Some Are Lakes (2008) by Land Of Talk
Another one of those albums I didn't listen to in a long while and in fact is still not bad so it moves up from the 81st to the 41st rank of 2008.

And an album from my wishlist:

Free Somehow (2008) by Widespread Panic
And another good album from this newly discovered jam band with again a few very good long guitar songs like Walk On The Flood and Her Dance Needs No Body. Nothing revolutionary here but just good old guitar rock and maybe I should try one of their live albums because they should be very good. This particular album enters my year chart at the 19th rank.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2009 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Crooked Timber (2009) by Therapy?
Clearly this is not Troublegum any more and this must be one of their worst ones. The title track , somnambulist and Blacken The Page are ok but never reach the heights of their first big albums. It nevertheless climbs from the 88th to the 71st rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

The Mountain (2009) by Heartless Bastards
Let's start by saying that the title tracks is a hell of a good song with a great flow to the track. In the rest of the album the main flaw to me is the sound of the singer I don't really that much so the better tracks where the band goes in a bit of a jam like on the last track. This album lands at the 55th rank.

[dihansse]

These are two albums of 2010 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Beachcomber's Windowsill (2010) by Stornoway
I already had this album, which I bought on iTunes because of some good reviews, at a low place in my chart but after listening to it again it really think this is a boring and dated album and even Zorbing is not as good as I had in my memory. So I decided to remove it from my year chart.

And an album from my wishlist:

Dislocations (2010) by The Silence Kit
They really sound as a derivative Cure band on this album but somehow they do hit a chord. Not their best but ok for the 48th rank on my year chart.

[dihansse]

These are two albums of 2011 I listened to:

First an album I already know/own:

Dynamite Steps (2011) by The Twilight Singers
Being a fan of Afghan Whigs and Gregg Dulli it's a bit strange I know only this album from The Twilight Singers in which Dulli plays such an important role. I would even say that this album can rank amongst the better Afghan Whigs albums (except for Gentlemen which tops everything of course) and that's a big compliment. The songs are dark and great with as best examples Waves and On The Corner. A great album which moves up from the 43rd to the 17th rank of 2011.

And an album from my wishlist:

Widowspeak (2011) by Widowspeak
I already have few more recent albums from this band in my playlists but not yet their debut album from 2011 which is just Hope Sandoval/mazzy Star (but also Lush and so many other bands) heaven: whispered voices, cool guitars and kind of gothic sadness which finds its quintessence in the final great track Ghost Boy. This album is good enough for the 26th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2012 I listened to:

First an album I already know/own:

Company (2012) by Andy Burrows
Again one of these albums I hadn't listened to in a long time and I must admit I thought it would be mellower than I thought. But there are some rough edges round these songs and in some instances some tracks make me thing about one of my favorite bands: the Posies. So all in all a good album which moves up from the 42nd to the 28th rank of the year 2012.

And an album from my wishlist:

Nothing In Rambling (2012) by Helvetia
A fairly wobbly affair this album and I mean this in both senses, the singing and the fact that I don't really know how to judge it. It certainly has something but in my opinion it lacks good songs. Just ok for my year chart at the 53rd rank.

[dihansse]

Happy New Year to you all and also in 2026 I'm moving up doing my thing and listened now to two albums of 2013.

An album I already own/know:

Wise Up Ghost And Other Songs (2013) by Elvis Costello And The Roots
This must be one of the least inspired albums of this great songwriter/performer. I just don't feel most songs bring something new. Of course I can't just remove an album of his from my charts but this one goes from the 55th to the 63rd rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Almanac (2013) by Widowspeak
After listening recently to their debut album of 2011 which I quite liked, here is a go at their second album released in 2013: Almanac. I don't quite get the comparison made by Allmusic.com to Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks because I don't see much resemblance with the whispering voice of Molly Hamilton nor with the music. So still good dreamy poprock songs sang in a dreamy interspersed by the disruptive guitar playing of Robert Earl Thomas and it sounds absolutely perfect together. The songs are maybe not as good as on their first album but this still a worthy addition to my charts and it lands at the 43rd rank of 2013.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2014 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Salad Days (2014) by Mac DeMarco
This artist was some kind of an indie star the year this album was released and I also loved this album. But nowadays I'm not so convinced any more that this is really something so good. I still quite like his parlando style of singing and his slackish singing but somehow I have the feeling I have heard this all before (and after) so the album goes from the 49th to the 63rd rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

The Golden Age Of Glitter (2014) by Sweet Apple
I think I have discovered something new I (and maybe also other people) should have discovered a long time ago and that discovery is named Dave Petkovic who started with Cobra Verde, in Sweet Samantha and then was in some kind of indie supergroup, this Sweet Apple, and after that even joined Guided By Voice at the moment Robert Pollard got (briefly) bored with his normal band and especially Tobin Sprout and played on the for me great album Mag Earwhig!
But back to this particular album on which many of my heroes play or singing. J Mascis is playing drums and sometimes the guitar and Mark Lanegan is also singing on a number of the tracks here. I really like the voice of the Petkovic as well because he sounds a bit like Tom Dunne of Something Happens. And than that great first track, Wish You Could Stay (A Little Longer) which sounds really ecstatic and has some great soloing and the same goes for Troubled Sleep. Most of the other tracks are great as well although sometimes the band is a bit too much into glitter/grunge like on Reunion.
So a really good album which enters my year chart at the 31st rank and I will certainly try to discover the other albums by this band and the other bands Petkovic played in.

[dihansse]

And two albums of 2015 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

West Kirby County Primary (2015) by Bill Ryder-Jones
I didn't quite remember that this album was this good. The whole album seems to come from his deepest self and just has a great vibe. Two To Birkinhead is already great but Satellites just sounds fantastic with a totally infectious but haunting melody and again great lyrics. The whole album just shines so it is only normal that it retains its 8th rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

Picture You (2015) by The Amazing
I suppose this Swedish band will never be an absolute an absolute favorite but also this album is fairly enjoyable. At a lot of instances they sound very similar to what Mark Kozelek does and that's not really my favorite thing, but sometimes they rock a bit harder or do strike some sensitive chord and I like it a bit better. Just ok for the 59th rank in my year chart.

[dihansse]

I only listened to an album I already own/know from 2016 (no more albums on my wishlist from this year):

Devil Music (2016) by The Men
One of the contemporary bands I really like. But I haven't heard an album of theirs where the voice of Mark Perro sounds very broken and this is an album where they returned to their punk roots after three "pop" albums (which were equally good). This is reflected in the energy and unfortunately also a bit in the quality of the recording. But nevertheless there is a bunch of very good tracks here as the first two and Gun prove. A very good album which goes from the 12th to the 23rd rank of the year.