sets

A quorum was declared at Perez before the Bulls game last night when Oley walked in; quickly the discussion became dominated with plans for BIX. With varying levels of success we have in the past assigned blocks of time for control over the selection of songs. The consensus last night, was that we should try this again and as the night grew long other factors started to force some conditions on the blocks.

If memory serves, we should need about 5 hours to assemble the compilation, ideally this would begin about 4:30p. Selections during that time will be based on the final ranking (lists due on 2/6 at Noon) which will be available in hard copy at the big show as soon as I get there, and posted here (watch this space!) shortly thereafter.

Beyond that, I like the idea of completing the comp and moving on to hear some stuff from a smart playlist that would start:

• date added is in the range Jan 1 2008 to December 31 2008
• year is before 2008
• rating is * * * * *
  

And to give everyone a fair shake at getting a slot the the program should be about 45 minutes in length. So, somehow I need to skinny my list down from over 250 down to 9 or 10 tracks.

New applicants for these sessions will be considered based on their response to the following: List your top five albums released in 1979. Applications will be accepted until 6pm CST Sunday January 25th.

To continue the '79 theme, there will be a special 80 min set to kick the party off of Burn It approved excellence, plan to arrive on time. Sign up for sets in the comments; first come, first served. If you'd prefer a certain spot in the order you feel free to claim whatever floats your boat. Although, I have a feeling that Rock Band competitions will have something to say about who's runnin with the big dogs and who should've stayed on the porch.

Non-Pitchfork Reviewed Album

So as you may know I am a huge fan of the album Culture Reject. I am posting this to hedge against any potential controversy come BIX night. The album was scantly reviewed - with Pitchfork being the most notable ommission. Question is, does it's(my) inclusion fall within our guidelines for a 2008 release since the 'fork gave it no mind? It was releases way back in April so I doubt they're going to get around to it now. Thoughts...

some historical perspective

in recent discussions about my top 20 i've made no secret of my feelings of ambivalence about this year's offerings. to be sure, i've listened to plenty of good music but I wonder how much of could consider great. i was looking for some perspective and referred back to my file from 2k4, hoping that the distance of four years would reveal some clues. i found that and more.

the thing is, that year we didn't really do a top 20. everyone was given 100 points to allocate and there were a bunch of rules (hmm, trying to think where those might have come from...) regarding the maximum points that could be assigned to an album and how many albums had to receive at least one point, I cannot remember the exact strictures, but the idea wasn't one that stuck, even though clancy would probably approve of revisiting as he said that 10 albums seemed a bit much. in true chicago tradition, he should sell the rights to ranking of 10 albums to an interested party. those things are fucking valuable.

anywho, in 2k4 I ended up with 2 albums to which i only assigned 2 points, and I think that both of them are better than pretty much everything from this year. the albums in question are Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse and Morrissey - You Are the Quarry. there certainly is no guitar based album that sounds as good to me as Sonic Nurse and Morrissey's bag of vocal hooks in that album stand up against any pop/rock formatted stuff from this year. right now i have added both albums to the "party shuffle" playlist that runs almost continually in the front room (now wireless!). midway through sonic nurse and so far so great.

burn it artwork and t-shirts

Given the auspicious nature of this edition (best Ten since Pearl Jam?) we are going to reprise the use of artwork and will be ordering t-shirts for those interested. please use the comment section to indicate interest including the size(s) and quantity.