best of 2008

any ideas?

i thanked you guys last year!!

[www.furious.com]

Baker's back! Only to ask a favor, of course, but still....

No records so far of original material that I loved as much as Spoon and Ike Reilly in 2007.


No Order / Probably forgetting some........

TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Ike Reilly - Poison the Hit Parade (B-sides, Demo Stuff, but better than most such collections because he's just a superior writer)

Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Westerberg : 49:00

The Whigs - Mission Control (a record most people hated, it's mainstream but it's good mainstream)

The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of Understatement



Post Edited (11-17-08 15:52)

matthew ryan vs the silver state
joe jackson-rain
paul westerberg-49 min
bob dylan-tell tale signs
raising sand-plant nkrauss - might have been released in 2007

hank iv - refuge in genre:



mayyors - megan's lolz:









Post Edited (11-17-08 14:52)

Damn, that time of year already!? Seems like the last couple months have been a bit slow, so I'm anticipating a revision before the xmas bumper crop.

There have been a lot of great reissues and EPs, but sticking with full lengths, here's an alphabetical top 20:

Black Keys: Attack & Release
Brightback Morning Light: Motion to Rejoin
Byrne & Eno: Everything that Happens Will Happen Today
Nick Cave & BS: Dig Lazurus Dig
Clinic: Do It
Diplo vs Santogold: Top Ranking
Exploding Star Orchestra: The ESO with Bill Dixon
The Fall: Imperial Wax Solvent
Flying Lotus: Los Angeles
Fred Frith: To Sail, To Sail
Human Bell: s/t
Izza Kizza: Kizzaland
Chiwoniso Maraire: Rebel Woman
Juana Molina: Un Dia
Nomo: Ghost Rock
Praxis: Profanation-Preparation for a Coming Darkness
Marc Ribot: Party Intellectuals
Squarepusher: Just a Souvenir
Thank You: Terrible Two
Rokia Traore: Tchamantche

It was honestly very difficult to pair this down - lots of good stuff this year so far.

There's a new Praxis? Who are the co-conspirators on it?

I just realized it was released a bit earlier in Japan, so I can probably bump it if I need the spot later. =)

It's the typical crew (Laswell/Brain/Buckethead) with lots of great guests, like Iggy, Mike Patton, Killah Priest... very solid.

discogs info

Usually wait for December for this, but for Baker, here it is.

1. Shannon McArdle – Summer of the Whore
2. Juana Molina – Un Dia
3. Deerhunter - Microcastles
4. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
5. Panic at the Disco – Pretty. Odd.
6. Juliana Hatfield – How to Walk Away
7. Portishead - 3
9. Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of Understatement
10. Drive By Truckers – Brighter than Creation’s Dark
11. Rosebuds – Life Like
12. Sons & Daughters – This Gift
13. Felice Brothers - Felice Brothers
14. Jolie Holland – The Living and the Dead
15. Neon Neon - Stainless Style

Post Edited (11-17-08 20:12)

The Drones - Havilah
TV on The Radio - Dear Science
Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of Understatement
C.W. Stoneking - Jungle Blues

Has anyone sampled proVISIONS yet?



Post Edited (11-18-08 05:54)

yep, that Drones release is definitely in the running, great to see that Ozzie RAWK tradition still thriving; lots of good stuff this year.

cool, i didn't know that drones album was out yet! red eye take me away...

RE- Ozzie Rawk tradition.
The new Eddy Current Suppression Ring release, Primary Colours, is out now, but I haven't heard it yet.
I think a couple of the good folks here had the s/t release on their 07 lists.

Aitch wrote:

> RE- Ozzie Rawk tradition.
> The new Eddy Current Suppression Ring release, Primary Colours,
> is out now, but I haven't heard it yet.
> I think a couple of the good folks here had the s/t release on
> their 07 lists.


new one sounds about like the first only dulled down a bit. still good, but i was expecting more. that ooga boogas album (romance & adventure) with eddy current is great, though!

Who's Eddy Current Suppression Ring?

Michael Toland wrote:

> Who's Eddy Current Suppression Ring?


[www.myspace.com]

primary colours is a goner

You read my mind - I was about to go searching for their MySpace page. Thanks for the short cut!

Since I'm gonna have to wait until a U.S. release, I'd love to hear someone's opinion/description of the new Drones record.

Michael Toland wrote:

> Since I'm gonna have to wait until a U.S. release, I'd love to
> hear someone's opinion/description of the new Drones record.


only 14.51 from red eye:

havilah at red eye

postage isn't too deadly if you toss a couple more items into the cart. the new johnny casino and you am i filled out mine!

here's a review:

[last-train-tocool.blogspot.com]

Yep, I definitely need this. Thanks for the info.

There's a new You Am I, too???? Plus a new Augie March. I love Australia.



Post Edited (11-19-08 16:02)

>
> There's a new You Am I, too????

DILETTANTES



Post Edited (11-19-08 15:54)

Wow, that's the ugliest record cover I've seen in a while. Not that it makes a difference.

At last year's Sydney Festival Paul Kelly arranged a tribute to indigenous artist Kev Carmody. The Drones did the song River of Tears which was just mind blowing.

[www.youtube.com]

Hi MB,
And the next thing i know is that all was wright with the world.

back to the top.

I don't get out much so who am I?

from what i've heard thus far...

break up society (get hip records)-nobody likes a winner.

Favorites from categories beyond favorite album:

Singles:
Darker My Love - "Two Ways Out"
Robyn - "Konichiwa, Bitches"
Black Kids - "I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You"
M83 - "Graveyard Girl"
Several others I'm forgetting but will think of later

Live Shows:
Drive By Truckers & Felice Brothers - the Pageant, St. Louis
The Cure - All State Arena, Chicago
Squeeze & Aimee Mann - the Pageant, St. Louis
Neko Case & Giant Sand - the Pageant, St. Louis
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir & Magnolia Summer - Off Broadway, St. Louis
Kid Rock - Scottrade Center, St. Louis

Reissues:
OMD - Dazzle Ships (of course)
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
Daniel Amos - Darn Floor, Big Bite
U2 - Boy (disc two especially)
The Individuals - Fields

Inexplicable hype of the year:
Vampire Weekend - Usually with heavily hyped bands I can at least see the appeal, even if I don't agree with it (ie, She & Him - I think the album is pleasant but minor, but I can at least see why people enjoy it), but I completely miss the allure of Ivy League preppies playing bland Afro-pop without bringing anything the least bit interesting to the table.



Post Edited (01-01-09 00:20)

Favorite Albums
1) Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2) EMC - The Show
3) Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
4) Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
5) Times New Viking - Rip It Off
6) Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
7) Vampire Weekend
8) Ruby Sons - Sea Lions
9) Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
10) Why? - Alopecia
11) Q-Tip - The Renaissance


Favorite Songs
1) The Fall - 50 Year Old Man
2) Black Kids - I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You
3) EMC - Dont Give Up On Us
4) Conor Oberst - Cape Canaveral
5) Lil Wayne - Mrs. Officer
6) Bon Iver - Re: Stacks
7) Why? - Good Friday
8) TV On The Radio - Halfway Home
9) Stephen Malkmus - Cold Son
10) Los Campesinos - My Year In Lists
11) Wolf Parade - Call It A Ritual
12) Drive By Truckers - Daddy Needs a Drink

(oops...forgot one of my favorite songs...)



Post Edited (12-09-08 07:20)

I didn't pick a song, but according to my Itunes the 2008 song I've played the most is the Gaslight Anthem's "Great Expectations" from a solid record - didn't realize I played it that much.

Though the album probably is a touch too Springsteen-ish for most...... this song isn't as much Springsteen as it is some goofed up suburbanites playing at being Dave Pirner .........romanticizing loneliness and wishing it was 1986.

This year was pretty meh - I'm not even sure I liked the stuff I liked.

[uk.youtube.com]



Post Edited (12-09-08 21:27)

While The Gaslight Anthem guys have a definite Springsteen vibe happening, they come by it honest (New Brunswick, NJ), and they come off as fairly well-adjusted kids who just like rock and roll.

Of course, the cynic would argue (to steal a line from Cameron Crowe's Singles), "that, a) they have an act, and that, b) not having an act is their act."

I just want everyone to know that I am going to rape and pillage (I am Norwegian and therefore a viking) all of your suggestions for the remaining slots on my Top 10. I've had my head down this year writing and missed a lot of new stuff. Great suggestions and quite a multi-faceted thread...

"(I am Norwegian and therefore a viking)"

You should start with Rip It Off in that case.

hey, y'know, TNV is pretty damn good too...

Well, it led to my discovery of the Shitgaze pigeonhole.

[ecx.images-amazon.com]

Most of the major sources have come out with their year end lists now, except for Pitchfork who have to wait until everyone has weighed in before they can be sure that their choice is suitably unexpected and out of left field.

But anyhow, according to everyone else this seems to have been the year of Fleet Foxes, TV on the Radio, She and Him and Vampire Weekend. Those four have been near the top of nearly every list that's come out. None made my top 15, so I concede that I am apparently not tapped into the zeitgeist of this particular moment in time.

I liked but didn't love three of the consensus top 4 (Fleet Foxes was probably #16 on my list, She & Him are pleasant enough and TVOTR was good but didn't have anything that grabbed me this time like "Wolf Like Me"), and I'm going to give Vampire Weekend another chance, not because they're on so many different lists but because they're on Nosepail's.

I seem to be the only person on the planet to have heard my favorite album of the year, Shannon McArdle's solo debut, on which she surveys the sad wreckage that remains of her marriage and her band, the late, great Mendoza Line. A great album that few people seem to have noticed was even released.

i'm working on my perfect sound list now--so i feel queasy about "releasing" it to the unwashed masses (i'm thinking satch here btw: GD dust bowler)--but these 5 are jockeying for top space

Hank IV Refuge in Genre
Eddy Current Suppression Ring Primary Colours
Drive By Truckers Brighter than Creation’s Dark
Deerhunter Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
Thomas Function Celebration


mccardle sounds great though

but what do i know? all i do is listen to gene clark

I have to admit I've not listened to the newest My Morning Jacket album yet, which is also turning up on a lot of the year end lists. But I have heard the song "Highly Suspicious" and if the rest of the album is as appallingly bad as that piece of crap, there are an awful lot of music writers who need to be getting their real estate licenses instead.

However, I've liked most everything else MMJ has ever done, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that "Highly Suspicious" is a solitary lapse in judgement.

Gotta say, though, it's far and away my nominee for worst song of the year. I'd rather listen to the Jonas Brothers mashed up with Toby Keith than ever hear that thing again.

including the only version of pachelbel's canon i'll ever need to hear again...

Fleshtones - Take a Good Look

Now more than EVER, it's 2008! - a mixtape sampler of some of my favorite gems:



I've kept to all new 2008 stuff only, no rehashes, reissues or comps of older tracks here. It's got a lot of genre action going on, but I think it's a smooth journey through them musical lands - lots of musical energy to kick that shitty year to the curb.

Get the Fuck Outta My House 2008, You Lyin', Cheatin' Bastid!!
(now with NEW! bonus hidden track error! - can you find it?)

ENJOY & Happy Holidays!



Post Edited (12-21-08 23:49)

brad,
i saw keane tonight.
right now even...

anyway the guy that sings w/a guitar slung across his shollda (didn't play it much btw) wore the same muthafuckin shirt as i had on!

FAVORITE ALBUMS:

1. GLASVEGAS (GLASVEGAS) - In a musical landscape that seems to be dominated by quirky, hyperkinetic, souless Pitchfork bands or Folk passed off as Alternative Rock, it's refreshing to hear some bands out there still taking the rock n' roll route with passion and abandon.
2. DE NOVO DAHL (MOVE EVERY MUSCLE, MAKE EVERY SOUND) - Retro and energetic while retaining an Alt-Rock sensibility. As good from beginning to end as any disc I heard this year.
3. LAST SHADOW PUPPETS (THE AGE OF THE UNDERSTATEMENT) - Earned perhaps the most spins on my iPod and CD player this year and easily matches or surpasses anything the Arctic Monkeys ever did.
4. HER SPACE HOLIDAY (XOXO, PANDA AND THE NEW KID REVIVAL) - Brisk, peppy, catchy and melodic without being annoying. The slower tracks are good too.
5. SPEEDMARKET AVENUE (WAY BETTER NOW) - A Swedish indie-pop gem. Reminds me a bit of Comet Gain and that can never be a bad thing.
6. BENJI HUGHES (A LOVE EXTREME) - A double album debut filled with off-kilter, discoish poppy love ballads that may be even better or perhaps worse than I think. Still sorting this one out.
7. VAMPIRE WEEKEND (VAMPIRE WEEKEND) - Solid but not as good as I had anticipated or hoped. It didn't help that they left their best song off the album (Ladies Of Cambridge).
8. MY MORNING JACKET (EVIL URGES) - Yes, despite the inclusion of the incredibly annoying Highly Suspicious, if they've released a better album I haven't heard it.
9. CHEAP TIME (CHEAP TIME) - 1977 all over again.
10. PANIC AT THE DISCO (PRETTY. ODD.) - I wonder at what point between 2005 and 2008 these guys got together and decided to leave mediocrity behind.
11. WILDERNESS ((K)NO(W)HERE) - 1979 all over again.
12. DUFFY (ROCKFERRY) - I guess I'm just a sucker for this type of stuff. I like this at least or more than Amy Winehouse's last album.
13. HUMAN HIGHWAY (MOODY MOTORCYCLE) - The best I've heard from the Alt-Folk crop.
14. CINEPLEXX (PICNIC) - Like the best songs on this year's Sigur Ros' album, the non-English speaking vocals are no impediment to the gentle melodies contained herein.
15. SILVER JEWS (LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, LOOKOUT SEA) - In many ways, Cassie Bergman's stellar vocals are the perfect compliment to her husband's deadpan vocal delivery and only serves to improve on an already solid set of songs.

FAVORITE SONGS NOT CONTAINED ON ANY OF THE ABOVE ALBUMS:

1. Sabali - Amadou & Miriam
2. Sitting - White Denim
3. Death - White Lies
4. Golden Bear - Alejandro Escovedo
5. Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon
6. Sleeper Hold - No Age
7. Profanity Prayers - Beck
8. Keep Your Eyes Ahead - Helio Sequence
9. Some Are Lakes - Land Of Talk
10. Lights Out - Santogold
11. Great Expectations - Gaslight Anthem
12. You Can't Do That To Me - The Ettes
13. Miles Davis & The Cool - Gaslight Anthem
14. Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur - Sigur Ros
15. Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus


BIGGEST SURPRISE
Panic At The Disco - Pretty. Odd.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night

MOST OVERRATED
Bon Iver - For Emma

GUILTIEST PLEASURE
The Black Ghosts - The Black Ghosts
Teenagers - Reality Check
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

SOLID RELEASES UNABLE TO BE CROWBARRED INTO MY ALBUM OR SINGLES LIST
Evangelicals - The Evening Descends
Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
Ruby Suns - Sea Lion

BEST ALBUM I INEXPLICABLY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH INTEREST IN BUT PROBABLY SHOULD
The Kills - Midnight Boom

BEST 2007 RELEASES THAT I DIDN'T HEAR UNTIL 2008
Bedouin Soundclash - Street Gospels
The Underground Railroad To Candyland - Bird Roughs
Wyclef Jean - Carnival Volume II
The Blakes - The Blakes