![[Yore - EP1]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/YoreEP12018197839W4UX_f-300x300.jpg)
I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.
Tags: dwele, fastball, purchase log, sigur ros, utada hikaru, x, yen town band, yore
![[Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AntonyandtheJohnsonsIAm30497_f-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
I remember not being much impressed with 2005. So much so, I made a half-arsed attempt at a Favorite Edition list and didn’t even call it such. It’s taken a lot of sifting to arrive at the present form of the list.
Other favorites of the year:
The list goes through much shuffling due to some late discoveries. I didn’t pick up Anthony and the Johnsons till 2006 and Ann-Sally much later. BLEACH wouldn’t be appointment viewing till the following year.
The extended list gets pared down a lot. Fuji Fabric, Sasagawa Miwa and toddle make room for Grizzly Bear and Levi Kreis.
I was so desperate to find entries, I included catalog titles from Gang of Four and John Zorn. In hindsight, that was the signal my priorities were starting to shift.
Toward the end of 2005, I relaunched this site as a traditional blog instead of the interactive zine it had been. My interest in Japanese popular music started to wane, and I reached an age where the music of my youth was being reimagined — some would say misinterpreted — by up and coming bands.
2005 marked the beginning of the end of Musicwhore.org ver. 1.0.
Tags: ann-sally, antony and the johnsons, bob mould, duran duran, enya, favorite edition, grizzly bear, kate bush, kawai kenji, levi kreis, madonna, rewind, sigur ros, sleater-kinney, yorico
![[BORIS - PINK]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/BorisPink2006191101_f-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
At the time, SLOTH LOVE CHUNKS edged Utada Hikaru for the top spot of 2006, but Ultra Blue has proven far more durable. This list has gone through quite a number of changes.
Other favorites of the year:
I’ve known about Boris for as long as I’ve been following Japanese music, but I never made time for them until I picked up Pink at Goodwill for $2. Well, hell …
I wouldn’t have listened to the Roots or J Dilla at the time. Hip-hop had diversified to have its own underground, and that was just so much history that I wasn’t willing to unpack. I’ve only started exploring hip-hop with any seriousness in the last year.
Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson was quite the late discovery. I didn’t pick up Neruda Songs till 2008, but it quickly became a favorite, dislodging Ex-Boyfriends completely off the list.
When I was first introduced to ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, I dismissed them as “eastern youth lite”. The joke was on me — I don’t even own an eastern youth album anymore, and I’ve purchased ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION on vinyl.
Tags: aco, asian kung-fu generation, boris, envy, favorite edition, furukawa miki, gnarls barkley, gossip, hajime chitose, j dilla, lorraine hunt-lieberson, nick lachey, now it's overhead, rewind, sloth love chunks, the roots, tokyo jihen, utada hikaru, vola and the oriental machine
![[The Dead Betties - Nightmare Sequence]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/TheDeadBettiesNightmareSequence-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
The further we get from the present day, the more we’ll find retroactive changes to the Favorite Edition lists. The 2007 list sees a lot of shifting in the Favorite 10, and a number of retroactive additions.
Other favorites from the year:
The cast recording for 2006 production of Company gets a retroactive boost, missing the Favorite 10 the first time out. A PBS broadcast of the revival directed by John Doyle went a long way in raising its ranking.
I didn’t discover the Dead Betties till a year and some change after the release of Nightmare Sequence, and it would have shot up to the Favorite 10 had I known about it. The album doesn’t lose its punch more than a decade on.
Rufus Wainwright’s Release the Stars and Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist fall of the list entirely. I think those albums earned their place on the Favorite 10 because I was not paying attention to what was happening in 2007, if the expanded list is any indication.
I’m not sure I actually like The National, but I remember catching the band’s appearance on Live from the Artists Den and thinking Matt Berninger was a tall drink of water. Boxer is rather fine album, nonetheless.
I would not have picked up Band of Horses without Renée Fleming. I get them mixed up with the Band of Heathens and Band of Skulls.
I didn’t actually like Sirens of the Ditch the first time I listened to it. I was just starting to explore Jason Isbell’s work after hearing Southeastern, and I wanted everything to sound like it. I had no context about his work with Drive-By Truckers. Sirens of the Ditch is closer to his work with the Truckers than his more recent albums, and that understanding goes a long way to building appreciation for his solo debut.
Tags: band of horses, bjork, elliott cole, explosions in the sky, favorite edition, jason isbell, kawai kenji, m.i.a., nico muhly, office, rewind, sasagawa miwa, soundtrack, stephen sondheim, the dead betties, the national, tokyo jihen, tommy heavenly6, ua, unkie
![[Santigold - Santigold]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SantigoldSantigold200852394_f-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
The Favorite Edition 2008 spurred this exercise to revisit lists from 10 years ago. While the Favorite 10 has only one change, the other favorites include a number of new discoveries.
Other favorites from the year:
It took me a year and a half to get around to Santigold. I’m not sure why I hadn’t, and I can’t remember what finally spurred me to do so. I’m just glad I did. Chris Walla, unfortunately, must make way.
Perfume, Jennifer Koh and Janelle Monáe are retroactive entries, replacing hey willpower, Bob Mould and VOLA AND THE ORIENTAL MACHINE.
I must have really been tough on Utada Hikaru’s HEART STATION — it didn’t even rank at the time.
Competition for this list was tough. Matt Alber and ZAZEN BOYS could have squeezed into the Favorite 10, and even Janet Jackson and R.E.M. turned out some decent work that year. The cup runneth over.
Tags: asian kung-fu generation, chris walla, emmylou harris, favorite edition, girl talk, janelle monae, jennifer koh, leo imai, mass of the fermenting dregs, matt alber, nico muhly, perfume, rewind, sam amidon, santigold, spangle call lilli line, the magnetic fields, utada hikaru, zazen boys
![[Alarm Will Sound - a/rhythmia]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AlarmWillSoundarhythmia522852FED_f-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
The 2009 list went through a revision, and subsequent discoveries from the year weren’t moving enough to dislodge anything.
Other favorites from the year:
In explaining the dearth of new releases on this list, I mentioned that I spent more time listening to catalog music, but like 2012 and 2011, I haven’t picked any more titles from 2009 in the 9 years that have passed.
It makes me think it wasn’t a terribly interesting time for discovery.
Tags: alarm will sound, and you will know us by the trail of dead, favorite edition, kronos quartet, leo imai, mono, office, onitsuka chihiro, rewind, sacha sacket, shiina ringo, the bad plus, tomosaka rie, utada hikaru, van tomiko, wendy and lisa
![[TOUMING MAGAZINE - Our Soul Music]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/TOUMINGMAGAZINEBokutachin57098_f-300x262.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
2010 was a solid year in music, led by strong showings from Shiina Ringo and Cocco. So this version of the Favorite Edition list doesn’t stray much from the original.
Other favorites from the year:
I was always a bit ambivalent about ranking LCD Soundsystem over Sade, so the late discovery of The Drums banished both from the Favorite 10.
I’ve been waiting for an album by Oriental Love Ring for more than 30 years, so learning it happened — albeit two years after it was released — meant something had to give. And it fell to Jónsi.
The final retroactive addition to the list is the debut album by TOUMING MAGAZINE. I try not to translate foreign language album titles, but since my traditional Chinese is non-existent, it’s safest to give a correct English title than a mangled transliterated one.
Google Translate says 我們的靈魂樂 is pronounced “Wǒmen de línghún lè”. The band says the title is Our Soul Music.
Tags: aco, cocco, favorite edition, jonsi, kimonos, lcd soundsystem, love psychedelico, oriental love ring, renee fleming, res, rewind, royal wood, sade, soundtrack, the drums, tokyo jihen, touming magazine
![[Edwin Outwater - From Here on Out]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/EdwinOutwaterFromHereOn57867DBVJ_f-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
Spotify finally arrived in the US in 2011, and at the time, digital releases meant iTunes downloads. Vinyl album releases still came with CDs to go with them.
Like 2012, the 2011 Favorite Edition doesn’t alter the original list very much, and releases from that year haven’t really made its way into my collection since then.
Other favorites from the year:
Jason Isbell and Frank Ocean are retroactive additions. I wouldn’t have been aware of either artist before 2011. nostalgia, ULTRA is probably Ocean’s best album, and Here We Rest shows Isbell prepared for the breakthrough of Southeastern two years later.
Kronos Quartet and The Decemberists get bumped from the Favorite 10 as a result.
Edwin Outwater is a late discovery but also emblematic of the music I was exploring at the time. His album with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony is about as literal as you can get with the term “indie classical”.
2011 was also the final year I lived in Austin, Texas. I didn’t get around to posting the year-end list till March 2012 because I was busy with my move to Seattle in January.
Tags: abigail washburn, chiara string quartet, death cab for cutie, duran duran, edwin outwater, favorite edition, frank ocean, itsnotyouitsme, james blake, jason isbell, john lunn, kimmo pohjonen, kronos quartet, kuriyama chiaki, matt alber, mo'some tonebender, now ensemble, rewind, samuli kosminen, steve reich, suisei noboaz, the decemberists
![[Cody ChesnuTT - Landing on a Hundred]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CodyChesnuTTLandingOnAH58620_f-300x300.jpg)
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
What I find most remarkable about the 2012 list is the number of albums listed under honorable mentions. The revised list has culled a lot of those titles. I probably listed so many because I didn’t feel passionate enough about any of them.
Other favorites from the year:
Cody ChesnuTT dislodges Scissor Sisters from the original list, and Frank Ocean jumps up a few spots. Otherwise, there are no remarkable changes.
If anything, 2012 has turned out to be something of a dud year. When I review my purchases in subsequent years, 2012 releases are scant, and most of the albums I bought that year only garner no more than a 3-star rating.
Tags: and you will know us by the trail of dead, asian kung-fu generation, cody chesnutt, duran duran, favorite edition, frank ocean, gaytheist, gossip, jeremy denk, oblivion dust, roomful of teeth, santigold, scissor sisters, solange, tokyo jihen, touming magazine, zazen boys
![[Sasagawa Miwa - Houjou]](http://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/BEST03182018197386LYUJ_f-300x300.jpg)
I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.
Tags: adele, alban berg, alice in chains, chris isaak, christine and the queens, david+david, dwight yoakam, everything but the girl, iron and wine, lizz wright, lyle lovett, purchase log, sasagawa miwa, thomas dolby, wayne horvitz, weezer