It’s that time of year again… We’re making our list and checking it twice, trying to find out who’s been naughty or nice. Yes, it’s our Album of the Year! More coveted than a shiny penny, more famous than the winner of last year’s X-Factor and guaranteed to start debate!

This year, to shuffle blame away from TLOBF HQ, we’re getting YOU, yes, YOU the reader, to vote for the albums YOU think are the best 2008 had to offer. We’ve whittled down a mammoth list of prospective albums to a mere 50. It’s tough work, but someone had to do it.

So, mouse button at the ready - get clicking! You can pick as many albums as you like, there are no limits. If you feel it’s worthy of “Album of the Year” status, then do the right thing and cast your vote.

If you need some help making that all-important decision, you can read our take on the albums listed in our 2008 archive here.

The poll will close on Friday December 12th.

There is a prize up for grabs for one lucky reader. Some very kind record companies behind the following 50 records have offered up a selection of prizes including: ultra-rare vinyl, posters, t-shirts and CDs by some of the nominees, plus a pair of tickets to see the sold-out Fleet Foxes show at London Roundhouse in February 2009. To be in with a chance of winning this mammoth and hugely exciting prize, enter your details at the bottom of this page. The lucky winner will be notified via email. Competition closes on Friday 12th December.

Continue Reading

Beach House are back with a brand new single ‘Used To Be’ which comes out via Bella Union on 27th November. Putting it bluntly, you really should buy it - it is without doubt the best thing they’ve recorded thus far and could well be one of my favourite singles of 2008. Like, seriously.

To coincide with the single release, Victoria and Alex are flying over to Blighty for a one off London show at Cargo on 2nd December. It promises to be a corker of a show and a sneaky chance to hear some brand new material from the duo’s as yet untitled third album which they are due to finish recording early next year. Exciting times indeed.

We have not one, but TWO pairs of tickets to give away for the show. The two winners will also receive both Beach House albums (self-titled and Devotion), a copy of ‘Used To Be’ on 7″ AND a Beach House T-Shirt. Sweeeeeet! To be in with a chance of winning simply answer the following question..

Which US State do Beach House come from?

Closing date is Wednesday 26th November. Email your answers to competition@thelineofbestfit.com including your name, address and a contact telephone number.

Winners will be notified by email.

School Of Seven Bells is the collective work of Benjamin Curtis, ex-guitarist from the Secret Machines and identical twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, previously of ambient post-rockers On! Air! Library! and occasional collaborators with Prefuse 73. The band themselves are named after the mythical South American pickpocket academy, the School Of Seven Bells which may or may not have existed in the 1980s, according to a late night documentary Alejandra once caught on US television.

Rich Thane says they sound like “the Postal Service having sex with Beach House”. We have yet to get reports of what those bands think about it…

See for yourself as the band will be in the UK for two special London dates from tonight, as part of the Sonic Cathedral nights.

School Of Seven Bells UK Dates:
Tue 28 October London Old Blue Last www.soniccathedral.co.uk
Wed 29 October London The Social www.soniccathedral.co.uk
Thurs 30 October London Pure Groove 6pm www.puregroove.co.uk

Look our for a track on this months Mixtape, but in the meantime, you can quench your thirst over at their Myspace page.

One of our favourite acts on TLOBF, Beach House, have announced a one-off date at London’s Cargo on December 2nd with ATP Concerts.

As a bit of a taster, they’ve recently recorded a live, one-take version of their new single ‘Used to Be’ (which is out on 27th Nov via Bella Union) in a tiny cove on a Beach in Australia. It’s ace:

p.s. Sorry Alex for chopping your head off in the thumbnail!

Whilst our chums Beach House were touring the UK a couple of months ago the folk at Black Cab Sessions managed to lob them into an unsuspecting taxi to film a version of ‘Heart Of Chambers’ from the much-loved Devotion LP. With the accompaniment of acoustic guitar and floor toms rather than the usual farfisa organ and reverb sodden slide guitar; the performance spawned a whole new dimension to the trademark Beach House sound - turning the track into a jaunty folk number. Suits them too so it does. Check out the performance below.

If we’re to quote The Cranberries (and why shouldn’t you?), “Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?”. As we’ve past the halfway point in this year of 2008, it seemed like a good time to look back. What have been the musical higlights of the year so far? We’ve had some absolutely corking albums released, from Fleet Foxes genre defying debut, to Elbow’s continued cultured and heartwarming release. It might surprise some of our readers what’s ended up on this list but one thing this exercise has made us realise, is that come the end of the year, there’s going to be a big pile of albums under the ‘Excellent’ heading…

So how did we decide on the final 10 albums? We asked all of our writers to email in their favourite 5 releases of the year thus far. Each album voted for was then given a point and entered into a highly technical spreadsheet - which left us with the following records… Continue Reading

Fleet Foxes photographs by Rich Thane.

It’s nice to suddenly find yourself at a gig that’s gone from being a slightly obscure “up-and-coming” type show to a full blown queue-round-the-block hot ticket in the space of a few weeks. Tonight’s sold out ULU Bella Union showcase is exactly that, with Fleet Foxes garnering 5/5 reviews in every broadsheet and monthly magazine going. Fame, it seems, is looking over their shoulder, and tonight’s gig feels like a significant moment in their rapid rise. Continue Reading

Photographs by Joshua Uziel

A late night concert (10 pm) at Bottom of the Hill’s intimate setting proved to be an apt time and place for the Baltimore duo Beach House. The two disco balls churning on their axes inside wooden boxes alongside Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally pooled red, blue, and green lights on the short ceiling. It looked like how the moon can reflect off the ocean onto creaky docks jutting out from the shoreline. The pooling swirls of changing lights coalesced on the roof as the droning organ sounds coming out of Legrand’s keyboard. Papercuts’ creator, Jason Quever, accompanied the duo on drums. Continue Reading

A Saturday night line-up of Fuzzy Lights, Beach House and The Resistance enticed my first visit to the Barfly, previously the Loft, since the venue changed hands. Few impressions remain of anything that marked this proprietary shift. Any new licks of paint have been blurred in memory through an ill-paced four pints. The formless black and white Barfly logo, painted in front of the beer pumps, seemed to be the only decorative indication of new ownership. Continue Reading