2008 was a pretty rough and ugly year. Reading the year end best of lists on various websites, I realise there's a lot I missed this year but none of it seems overly remarkable. Last year the glut of amazing movies and albums overwhelmed me and I was catching up for months but this year, I don't feel that same urgency. I pretty much heard and saw everything I wanted to in 2008 and look forward to starting 2009 and putting this year behind me. There seemed to be a collective holding of breath anticipating and hoping for a sea change which may have caused pop culture noise to be more of an afterthought than it usually is in my life. Whatever the cause, I acquired very few albums this year and very few of them stand out along the best of previous years but let's examine them anyways, shall we?
Radiohead - In Rainbows - I know this was released in 2007 digitally but I'm a Luddite and had to wait for an actual physical copy before I would listen to it so this counts as 2008 for me. Good album, not my favorite of theirs but it has some stellar songs including "Nude," "All I Need" and "Videotape." Is there any band out there less fun than Radiohead? They are so serious - on album, in interviews, in videos. They are as grim as the most severe black metal band and their music is about as anti-joyful as you can get. I still love their music but it takes a rainy day or bad news to make me want to join in their misery.
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago - A perfect winter album and nearly a perfect album in any season. Spare and achingly gorgeous. I don't understand a single lyric but it rarely matters as the emotion pouring forth is enough to carry the themes of loss and sadness that creep into every crevice of these songs.
Wye Oak - If Children - A friend from Baltimore sent me a copy of this album when the band still called itself Monarch but then they signed to Merge and re-released this debut to thunderous silence. I'm not sure how much of a splash this album made but I hold it in high esteem and love its melancholy dreamy mindset. It's one of those records where all the songs sort of blend into each other in your mind and I can never remember how any specific song sounds but as a whole, it's a wonderful soundtrack for a lazy weekend day.
Animal Collective - Water Curses - Continuing their journey into the subconscious, Animal Collective once again floor me with their all out insanity, bizarre sound explosions and incredibly affecting vocal freakouts. "Water Curses" is wonderful enough already even before the sped-up, merry-go-round out of control sample on the chorus and the blips, beeps and screaming on "Street Flash" are some of the most touching sounds I heard all year.
Cat Power - Jukebox - I would say this is the biggest disappointment of the year but I didn't have high hopes for it anyways so it didn't really surprise me when I got a collection of limp covers and soul music sucked of all soul. The R&B by the numbers back up band doesn't do anything for me and her whispery put-on of a voice on some of the tracks makes me so sad. She used to write incredibly personal songs that sounded like no one else and for two albums now she's been wearing an ill fitting costume. Here's hoping her dalliance with Memphis and the 60s is coming to an end.
Ratatat - LP3 - Solid a a rock. This band bores some people but not me. I found this album to be quite a step forward for two guys who keep rewriting the same song. "Shiller" is quite possibly the greatest lead off track of the year and "Black Heroes" is the best album ender with everything in between these bookends making me shake a little action as I do the dishes.
M83 - Saturdays = Youth - The Kate Bush renaissance has begun. I've read a lot of reviews of this album mentioning the obvious 80s New Order, Flock of Seagulls and Jesus and Mary Chain influences but there's a lot of semi-operatic "Running Up That Hill" type music on here too. As wonderfully nostalgic, awkward and overdramatic as you'd expect from one man's tribute to his adolescence with a beautiful, endless drone to close it out and carry you back to the modern age.
Jay Reatard - Singles '06-'07 & Matador Singles '08 - Ever since I first heard "Night of Broken Glass" I've been obsessed with this guy and his dirty, hirsute compadres. I think I like the raw, home recorded earlier singles better but the last few songs on the Matador album point the way to an interesting future. He nails straight ahead revved up punk/rock but can also sing a pretty tune or two. Who knew such a maniac could also make you shed a tear?
Crooked Fingers - Forfeit/Fortune - This was Britt Daniel's favorite of the year and it's slowly becoming mine. This one took me the longest to warm up to of all the Crooked Fingers albums but it's stunning as usual with the most disturbing cover of the year. Eric Bachmann continues to toil away in relative obscurity but songs as stellar as "Let's Not Pretend (To Be New Men)," "Cannibals" and "Your Control" deserve more attention than they've received. Maybe he should consider adding some Memphis soul to his diet to garner the attention his talents warrant. Just look what it's done for Chan Marshall.
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2 comments:
i've completely come back around to the bon iver album even if he bored me a bit the other night on letterman.
and, of course, i completely agree on crooked fingers.
i was so disappointed by jukebox that i can't let myself anywhere near her latest covers record. shtick be gone soon!
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