The other day Guan came up with the idea that it would be nice to talk on his blog about music that he’d enjoyed this year, but in a manner different from the now all-too-ubiquitous list format. To counter mediocrity, he decided to present his Best Music This Year in dialogue form – the only problem with this being he’d need another person to, well, dialogue with.

I was the lucky second party chosen to converse with him on the subject, and what you’re about to read below is part 2 of the conversation. You can read part 1 over here.

[in part 1 we discuss favourite albums, getting hit by a surprise Radiohead release, and disagree over the genius of Panda Bear. as the first installment draws to a close, I express hope that Massive Attack's next album will be a return to form - which Guan chooses to not make a comment on]

Joe: He thinks I’m dreaming. Oh well, I guess we’ll find out next May (I think it was?) Because, I mean, Live With Me seemed like a step in a better direction to my ears…

Guan: Ah. You got me there. But good pick up, because Massive Attack with the mighty Terry Callier made for a very good thing indeed.

Guan: In that case, a song of the year?

Joe: I’m glad you put “a” in there…

Guan: heh

Joe: I’m pretty sure Melody Day by Caribou (from Andorra) would be up there. It seems to be resonating with me strongly as a “song of the year”. It’s one of those tracks that seems to come with its very own never-ending store of sunshine. Dan Snaith’s took a really good turn with that album as a whole, but that track is such a wonderful opener and single. Remarkably freeform and organic sounding for a bedroom / cut and paste record

Guan: Oh man, that’s so good I wish I’d picked it. *grumble* The aforementioned Burial, and his single Archangel would be pretty close for me.

Joe: Deserter by Matthew Dear might get up there as well if I’d given it more spins before now. Not sure why, but there’s something about it that stops me in my tracks everytime it comes on… or maybe it’s just the song I should listen to next! Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish.

Anyway… I realise this is becoming increasingly irrelevant in this modern age, but best album art?

Guan: Ooh, off the top of my head, Mirrored reflects the album so well (no pun intended) – all of the precision and ramshackle, gunmetal sleekness of Battles. Oh, in a similar vein, I liked the ghetto darkness of El-P’s disc. And Menomena’s supposed to be something else too.

Joe: I meant to get that LP (Friend And Foe by Menomena), but Red Eye sold out before I could get my hands on it

Guan: Ah. Well it’s also a great album that just sneaks into 2007, that we haven’t mentioned yet. I think it’s one of the biggest growers I’ve ever heard, especially with that fine line between improvisation, looping and togetherness as a band.

Joe: … and yet packing a punch at the same time – yeah, a really special record.

You know, as lo-fi as it is, I think I’m going to go with Yeasayer. it’s a really striking cover – it makes everyone do a double take every time they see it. Even though there’s halos from photoshopping and far from pristine, it’s just a well executed concept. a bit eerie, too

Guan: Nice pick!

Joe: One last thing: Wired speculated that as far as physical audio storage was concerned, vinyl may well surpass CDs in terms of popularity. Given that downloads seem to be taking the brunt of mainstream music traffic, what do you think? Or will we see other developments?

Guan: I think that sounds about right. It’s funny that Radiohead almost seemed to be leading both of those things – firstly in providing In Rainbows for download, secondly by not giving buyers of the discbox an option to not get the vinyl.

I’m not sure there’ll be too many other changes – I can see the music industry continue to have no idea how to cope. And overreact in various ways.

Joe: Yeah, not to mention that most new vinyl these days comes with a coupon for a download of the album.

Guan: Yeah, that’s really true. Your prediction?

Joe: I’m seeing a bit of a resurgence towards vinyl yeah, although I feel that we’re generally going to see less and less artists and bands just starting out making anything hardcopy. Which is kind of a shame, but it makes sense from a cost point of view.

But generally speaking, I don’t think CDs are going anywhere for a while, although I’m sure the major labels will begin to muscle into downloads even more than they already had done as time goes on …

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And thus concludes the interview! Thanks Guan!