At last... 2008!

There's procrastination, and then there's procrastination. And then there's us, getting around to posting the all the AQ customers' favorites lists of 2008! Well, we've finally done it. You can find all those fascinating year end best of 2008 lists compiled here. Thanks to everybody who shared, and again, apologies it took us so long to get this page together. We promise, we'll force ourselves to do better with the best of 2009 lists (which we're already soliciting, please send your top tens or twenties to store at aquariusrecords.org, with TOP TEN 2009 in the subject line, deadline the end of January, w/ two $25 AQ gift certs to be won by random drawing btw). And by better, we mean we expect to get 'em up on our site BEFORE the end of 2010, in fact, let's be crazy and say before early spring!

So, go take a look at those 2008 lists, if anything, it's interesting to look at 'em now, just as a reminder of what you were listening to before 2009 took over. And also to make sure your 2009 Top Tens measure up to what you selected the year before!

Top tens time

Just a reminder, we're still accepting customer top 10 (or 12, or 20...) lists of your favorite releases of 2008, which we'll compile and post on our website in February. The deadline for submitting 'em is next Friday, 1/6/09. Please email your lists to store@aquariusrecords.org if you haven't already. And don't forget to include your name! We'll pick two entries at random to receive $25 aQuarius gift certificates.

The best-of-2008 picks by the aQ staff can be found here, on our list #308 (though we'll probably post 'em to a separate page eventually).

New Arrivals list #308 + "Top Tens"

In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we almost neglected to do a blog post calling attention to our latest New Arrivals list... here's a reminder, in case you were so busy with yuletide stuff and suchlike to notice, we sent out New Arrivals list #308 last Friday, the day after Christmas (a heroic effort on the part of Andee and the rest of the skeleton AQ-crew who hadn't gone off on vacation). You can find it on our website, here.
We didn't pick any Records Of The Week, but you'll see there were more than a few excellent contenders amidst the Highlights. Mainly, we just were worried that because of the Christmas/New Year's break that so many of our suppliers were taking, we couldn't or wouldn't be able to get enough of whichever one(s) we might have liked to pick for ROTW.

ALSO, on this list, you'll find the AQ staffers' favorite records of 2008 lists! Which means it's also time for you to send us your Top Ten lists for the year. Please email 'em to store@aquariusrecords.org.

And, everyone, have a very happy New Year!!

Remember what we're always sayin' about 1971?

That it would be pretty darn impossible to come up with a "top 10" list at the end of the year, if the year was 1971. 'Cause there were sooooooo many incredible releases, how could you pick? Well, the folks at the Peacedogman website (a great music-fan site that you rockers out there should be browsing anyway) have taken their best shot at compiling an annotated top 25 guide to 1971, demonstrating the difficulty of sorting out the mindblowing godliness of that year, music-wise... Black Sabbath, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Funkadelic, Comus, Can, Hawkwind, MC5, Alice Cooper (x2)... it makes us want to not even bother with the 2008 Top 20 lists we're working on right now!!

The Peacedog list is pretty right-on, we'd have changed the order and added/subtracted a few records for sure, but like we said, it's a difficult task. Take a look a the list, and then figure out what you could possibly take off - to make room for Flower Travellin' Band "Satori", Neu! "1", Pink Floyd "Meddle", Hampton Grease Band "Music To Eat", Los Dug Dug's, Leaf Hound "Growers Of Mushroom", Culpeper's Orchard, etc. etc....

Andee doesn't hate these bands

Just can't seem to stop blogging today... Thought some folks might want to take a look at this, it's the latest installment our pal Brandon Stosuy's metal column for Pitchfork, Show No Mercy. As a year-end wrap-up, he's got his top ten of 2008... along with similar lists from a bunch of cool folks with good taste, members of Krallice, Gates Of Slumber, Skeletonwitch, Ludicra, Matmos, Enslaved, and others. Among 'em, a metal top ten from AQ's own Andee! (And some of his picks, we even still have copies of in stock, maybe!).
Even cooler, one of the other top ten lists, by Cosmo of the Invisible Oranges blog, includes haiku about each album.