1 Hawksley Workman 365
2 Bohren & der Club of Gore 337
3 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 292
4 16 Horsepower 247
5 Tindersticks 225
6 Codeine 224
7 Clara Rockmore 214
8 Woven Hand 212
8 Pinetop Seven 212
10 Low 210
11 The Black Heart Procession 209
12 Queen 197
13 Tom Waits 195
14 Alice in Chains 194
15 Elliott Smith 187
16 Johnny Cash 179
17 Maximilian Hecker 172
18 The Vanity Set 170
19 Under Byen 167
20 Regina Spektor 164
21 Dirty Three 156
22 Joanna Newsom 150
23 The Tiger Lillies 146
24 Mogwai 139
25 Rasputina 138
26 Isis 133
27 Byla 130
28 Maia Hirasawa 127
29 Gamine 125
30 Antony and the Johnsons 124
31 Jan Johansson 123
32 Hägga 120
33 Soundgarden 116
34 The Album Leaf 115
35 Team Sleep 114
35 Okkervil River 114
35 Jackie-O Motherfucker 114
38 Sigur Rós 113
39 The Merkin Dream 112
39 Morphine 112
41 God Is an Astronaut 109
41 Fugazi 109
43 Julee Cruise 108
44 King Crimson 107
45 Galaxie 500 106
46 Phish 100
47 The Samuel Jackson Five 98
47 Gregor Samsa 98
49 Gogol Bordello 96
49 Richard Hawley 96
I'm not going to comment on all the artists, but I'll write a few words about my top 10.
Well I finally reached the magic 20.000. Well, what's so magical about it I don't know, but it's a nice and even amount to set as a checkpoint for future reference.
My insane obsession with Hawksley Workman last spring really set him apart from the rest of the field. To boost, he's an artist I discovered through this very site. Above all, it's the variety of his catalogue that blows me away. How he seamlessly blends genres like a madman and it all comes together fantastically. Oh, and he sings like a god.
The gloomy majesty of Bohren & der Club of Gore claims the runner-up position. Another artist discovered thgouh Last.fm, I've never heard anything as soothing, yet haunting at the same time. Doom jazz is the shit.
Nick Cave claims third place along with his Bad Seeds, but if this list would've spanned more than just a year he would be so far up on top it wouldn't even be funny. I've been a fan of him for over ten years by now, and his music still kicks my ass on a regular basis.
16 Horsepower is kicking it at fourth place, and deservedly so. David Eugene Edwards music practically knocked me out the first time I heard it and it's still some of the best stuff I've ever heard. I tend to favor Horsepower over Woven Hand, but not by much as is evidenced by Woven occupying eighth place on this list aswell.
Tindersticks awakened my love for chamber pop and I'm almost surprised that they're not placed higher than fifth. There are times when I practically don't listen to anything but Tindersticks. Stuart Staples is easily one of the best singers ever in my book.
And then there's codeine at number six. I wasn't even aware that I've listened to them as much as I have. That's probably because I almost only listen to Codeine when I'm horribly depressed. Which is pretty understandable since the defining quality of Codeine is how well their music fit as a soundtrack to all sorts of depression. In other words, the Codeine ratio is an indicator of how depressed I've been. And I had a really rough spring. Nuff said.
Clara Rockmore hypnotized me with her theremin voodoo earlier this year and has made it all the way up to number seven. An incredible virtuoso that has sadly been forgotten and overlooked. Some of the best and the creepiest (it's theremin music, after all) I've ever heard.
My love for chamber pop lead to my discovering Pinetop Seven a whole bunch of years ago. I had forgotten about them until late 2005, where I had a pleasant reunion with them. It's really good shit, and an almost tragically overlooked band. There's not nearly enough love for Pinetop Seven out there.
And coming in at tenth is Low. For a long time they were on top of my list when I had a period of slowcore obsession. I don't listen to them as much nowadays, but they're still a fantastic band.
So that's it for the 20.000 checkpoint I guess. We'll see how it looks the next time I can be arsed to summarize things. Until then.