Best Music of 2008!

It's been a pretty good year for new music I thought...some folks are complaining about it but I think they're a bunch of whiners.
This is an incomplete list because I'm sure there are some outstanding albums that I just didn't hear. In no particular order here's
some winning moments from 2008:


Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Less pretentious than Radiohead, much more creative than Coldplay...This one won the coveted Mercury Prize in England this year.
This is the first Elbow I've heard though good things have been said for almost everything they've done. The production is awesome
on this, not too compressed and lots of subtle richness to the sound. This album has my vote for the best song of the year...it got
played daily, loudly, for the weeks after the election - track 10 'One Day Like This'.



Black Keys - Attack and Release
The White Stripes should be this good. Great voice, great -and odd- drumming, production by Danger Mouse is incredible with lots
of unexpected and subtle sounds and instrumentation. This is just an album that I feel like putting on a lot, don't get sick of at all,
and sounds good turned up loud or sitting in the background.

Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold
This gets tons of play in our house and car...a fave of both me and Emily which is no small feat. There's a heavy 80's sound to this album
...we're talkin' Grandmaster Flash synths and Sister Sledge grooves. Thick. The raps and stories flow but stay real, smart, and poignant
(one almost makes me cry even...). Plus he's local guy done good - support Slug and buy this. Oh, and again, awesome production (ala'
Ant) - great headphone album.



Antony & the Johnsons - Another World ep
He could sing about skunks pooping and he'd make my list. When Antony chooses to sing about rebirth, love, loss, and absolute transformation,
well...he had me at pooping. This is a gorgeous lil' 45 rpm album. 5 songs that are a teaser for the full length due in January. The sound
production is exquisite - gorgeous piano from Antony, sparse but perfect instrument accompaniment. Their last awesome album, I Am a Bird
Now, won the Mercury Prize two years ago (which Elbow won this year).
Plus, it's got friggin' Kazuo Ohno on the cover (the Butoh dancer).
Really a gem of an album.


Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
I love Spacemen 3. Deerhunter is making the music of an adolescent Spacemen 3. Shoegazing punk that's bored, pissed off, and kinda
confused and awkward about who the hell they are. I'm glad that Bradford Cox (Deerhunter dude) is friends with Jay Reatard...they're
both putting out some super fun, poppy-as-hell-but-you-need-to-give-it-a-good-listen-to-hear-it kinda' music.
Plus, I got to see them at the Triple Rock a few weeks ago (thanks for going Maggie!). A really good show that fleshes out my enjoyment
of the album even more.


Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Lovely stuff. This is the kind of music that should have been made ages ago...so many people in the world making things - someone should
have come up with just the right combination of a few guitar strums and some words that would make this album redundant but Bon Iver
hit it just right and, yes, this is lovely stuff.

Watch 'til the 3:10+ minute mark and see if you don't get a little shiver...



Shearwater - Rook
Jonathan Meiburg not only has an awesome name, he's got a voice the likes of we don't get to hear very often. Think Jeff Buckley or the underrated
Mark Hollis (from Talk Talk)...almost a croon that has an unholy range and is able to make the space around the notes mean as much as the sound.
I tend to think Shearwater sound a bit like Midlake and they both share a lyrical penchant for Falconers, flocks of birds over winter fields, and other
rusticnesses. It's a quiet listen that can feel too slow but if sat with, it's a great album that surpasses most anything else over the past couple years.



Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness
This album, along with her Born Heller release, scares the hell out of me. Her voice - she's an opera singer drop-out, the guitar - psychedelic as fuck
and just 'off' sometimes but mostly gentle and restrained. It's the unexpectedness of how fucked up her music is that is so great and so disconcerting.
All the components, esp. her voice, lead you to forgotten 70's folkies or maybe lost Germanic 78rpm recordings from the 1920's. Listen to 'Indelible
Rainbows', late night, with a glass of scotch and headphones, and see what doesn't get exorcised.

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
One of the best songwriters ever. Really, his name should be mentioned alongside Neil Young and Joni Mitchell more often. This album finally feels like
John Darnielle is back in form. I haven't spent enough time with this one yet to Love it but I think I will. Mountain Goat songs are weird 'cause they don't
feel addictive or overly poppy, they're even a bit annoying...but the good ones get deep under your skin and come up often and unexpectedly - over and
over. There are some gorgeous female vocals on this one too which is a nice contrast to his nasally voice. I've made more art based on lines from Mtn. Goat
songs than any other music. I think this album's got a few paintings in it too.


Honorable Mentions:

Jay Reatard - Matador Singles
Hammer, I Miss You is one of the best songs of the year.
Probably should just be on the list...great songs but not all top notch.

Ray LaMontagne - Gossip In the Grain
very nice album...not as strong as his last one imo ('Til the Sun Turns Black).

Wire - Object 47
I don't have this one yet but if I did, it'd probably make the list. I love Wire (see my post
last month) and saw them at First Ave. a few months ago. Great show!

No Age - Nouns
not as strong as last years Weirdo Rippers...saw them at Triple Rock this year, good show.

WovenHand - Ten Stones
pretty good but not great...have to be in the mood for this heavy bastard.

Black Mountain - In the Future
I like that one of the women in the band said,"we don't try to totally rock out, we like to kinda'
rock". A good album that has that prog/Black Sabbath/folk rock sound that I like.