"Fight tuberculosis, folks."

For fans of: Silent Night, the Anacreontic Song, old junkies selling Christmas seals on North Park Street on Christmas Eve.
9

After repeated and frequented plays, this 16-minute cassette has grown on me immensely, and become one of my favourite releases of the year. Coming from Night People, who have already provided decent listening in 2008 with the latest Raccoo-oo-oon tape, and particularly Pocahaunted's Beast That You Are (another 08 pet of mine); this third release from Fingerpicker Miller offers more than just bluesy Fahey appraisal.
2

This is, without question, my favorite La Monte Young record. Originally recorded in 1982, the piece focuses solely on Young and Zazeela's tamburas as they pay homage to their teacher, Pandit Pran Nath. The tamburas swell and loop for 68:20, insistent bass figures run under the texturally rich, slowly changing harmonic drone, all recalling anything from Earth 2 to Alice Coltrane. There are few things better at filling space than this record.
8

One of the most beautiful releases I've heard in a long time. The 35 minute centerpiece, "Dream Tape Number One", features minimal, Cage-ian piano floating over a bed of guitar glitches, building, compressing, and falling apart over and over again. The epilogue, "Improvisation For Guitar and Piano", attempts to meld the two instruments into one over classic SoD washes of ambience. Surely destined for at least one memorable summer walk.
3

Originally released on the French label, this debut comes 4 years after Jimmy Bower and Joey LaCuze formed Eyehategod, and supposedly showcases them in their most "inexperienced" stages. Regardless, this record's sheer passion and power indefinitely sets it apart from other extended-muddy-chord sludge releases (noticeably, a Black Flag-induced hardcore influence that makes you want to call your parents fascists and set the cat on fire).
1

Even though I'm a huge Cat Power fan I was shocked to find this. Loren's liquid blues are the perfect foil to Cat Power's Joan of Arc-period whispers, gliding through the gaps of Chan's stark guitar, and giving her music a warmth she has never recaptured. Amazing, and perhaps definitive, versions of "Good Woman" and "Kingsport Town", and decent sound quality.
9

A live recording from their 2005 show (supporting Dinosaur Jr. with Bardo Pond). Raw, loud, noisy, and unmarred by any studio technicalities: this is the way the MMs were meant to be heard.

For fans of: amplifier violation, Harry Pussy, deadly hockey games, domestic violence, and not the Traveling Wilburys.
2
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