Best Albums of 2008

Rating: Not reviewed


1. "Dear Science" – TV on the Radio
It's ironic that the two greatest bands of the decade have "radio" in their names, a medium that has relatively no use for them. While TV on the Radio hasn't done anything as radical as release an album for free on the Internet, it is challenging Radiohead as the band that has created the most wild, paranoid adventures in hi-fi in the 2000s. "Dear Science" is bursting with horns (provided by Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra), handclaps, cold "Kid A" synthesizers, urgency and righteous fury. "Dancing Choose," the best rap song of the year, is a diatribe against the media, advertising and complacency. On "DLZ," singer Tunde Adebimpe laments, "Fuck your war / 'Cause I'm fat and in love / And no bombs are fallin' on me for sure / But I'm scared to death / That I'm livin' a life not worth dying for. All the cynicism, so appropriate in 2006 with the release of "Return to Cookie Mountain," almost seems out of place in the dawning of the Age of Obama (if the hype is to be believed), but on the glorious march of "Golden Age," TVotR prove they still believe in a better place, even if it's coming like a "natural disaster."

2. "Hold On Now, Youngster..."/"We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed – Los Campesinos!
In 2008, Los Campesinos!, riding a wave of hype from the 2007 EP "Sticking Fingers Into Sockets," released "Hold On Now, Youngster..." and "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" – the former the band's debut LP, the latter a recording the band frustratingly refuses to classify as an album, EP or other official form of follow-up – and both are an exuberant expression of youth making joyful (indie) noises. "Youngster" serves as a full-length introduction to the Welsh septet's wit and blissful music, a blending of shouted choruses, xylophones and rampant guitars. "Doomed" advances the band's modus operandi in every way in songs like the title track and "Miserabilia" that contain more depth – both sonically and lyrically – while remaining just as poppy and clever. This two-pronged attack is a promising sign of great things to come.

3. "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends"/"Prospekt's March" EP – Coldplay
The ability to craft a great pop record is a much-maligned effort in this holier-than-thou indie-centric culture, but for anyone who truly loves music and loves being moved by it there can be no greater accomplishment (though in 2008, two bands did admittedly do it better). Coldplay is now the sole band that consistently produces great pop and the group is unswervingly underestimated because of it. It would be one thing if Chris Martin and Co. had been creatively stagnant and spent the whole of the 2000s rehashing torch songs like "Yellow." To its credit, the band has steadily worked to push its sound forward, slowly evolving it so that its conceivable it could release something on par with "Revolver" or at least (at least!) "Rubber Soul." In the meantime there is "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends," an album that's grandiose yet unpretentious and, thanks to excellent production from legendary producer Brian Eno and Arcade Fire producer Markus Dravs, experimentally rewarding, especially on the colossal orchestration of the title track, the emotional consolation of "Lovers in Japan" and the percussive madness of "Lost!" The "Prospekt's March" EP in some ways outstrips the already great LP with the bonus of "Glass of Water," "Now My Feet Can't Touch the Ground" and "Life in Technicolor II," further proving just how much Coldplay has to offer to those who are willing to embrace great pop.

4. "808s and Heartbreak" – Kanye West
Kanye West's breakup album "808s and Heartbreak" is covered with too much ice for there to be "Blood on the Tracks." Using the Auto-Tuner vocal distorter as an aural distancing effect, West sings and raps about the dissolution of his engagement to Alexis Phifer with a bitterness that hardly invites empathy, though that frozen rage is nonetheless relatable. That's especially impressive given West's lyrics are still flossy. The difference this time, as on the song "Welcome to Heartbreak," is he's lamenting how all the Louis Vuittons and cars can't fill the void left by a broken heart. Compare Pink's "So What" to West's "Amazing" – both are about being rock stars in the wake of breakups, but while "So What" is a bratty middle finger to Pink's ex-husband, West's song is a dirge that undercuts his boasts, revealing being a star is worthless for West without someone to love. "Love Lockdown" is a minimalist and primitive expression of a stopped heart. "Street Lights," in which passing lights serve as a metaphor for passing memories, taps surprising reservoirs of honesty and emotion. On the song, West says, "I know my destination / But I'm just not there." It takes a real man to admit he isn't one yet, and his journey toward maturity should be a rewarding experience for music fans.

5. "Fleet Foxes"/"Sun Giant" EP – Fleet Foxes
With its EP debut "Sun Giant" and self-titled LP debut, Fleet Foxes paints an American pastoral in the colors of folk from the past (Appalachian roots music, sunshiney folk like the Mamas and the Papas and folk-rock like The Band) and the present (Grizzly Bear and Iron & Wine). The Seattle-based quintet, led by Robin Pecknold's crisp vocals and the production of Phil Ek (Modest Mouse and The Shins), compose (in the strongest sense of the word) beautiful melodies that evoke picturesque rustic splendor – songs like "Sun It Rises" and "Blue Ridge Mountains" actually somehow sound exactly what the titles name.

6. "Hercules and Love Affair" – Hercules and Love Affair
The voice of Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons is so often used to haunting effect it comes as a surprise to realize one can dance to it. That's exactly what DJ Andrew Butler did by teaming with Hegarty – as well as Nomi Ruiz and Kim Ann Foxman – and creating Hercules and Love Affair. Impressively, the music is just as muscular and romantic as the name implies. On "Time Will," Hegarty pleads for fidelity ("I cannot be your half a wife") while Butler drops a synthesizer bass line and bends noises around Hegarty's voice. "Hercules' Theme" is a song built for disco strutting and "You Belong," about a lover being with another for the night, is a full-frontal acid house assault. On an album full of dico rave-ups, "Blind" takes the crown for its hard-charging locomotive rhythm, contagious trumpet bridge, Hegarty's Donna Summer-worthy vocals and the climactic bass breakdown. Butler and Co. have crafted a verdant and unique record that's swooningly bombastic.

7. "In Ghost Colours" – Cut Copy
Cut Copy's sophomore effort "In Ghost Colours" deliriously bridges the gaps between electronica, pop and rock for a sound that would be classic had it been released any time in the last 30 years. "In Ghost Colours" offers a near embarrassment of riches, from the synthesizer lust of "Hearts on Fire" to the traumatic, "Waiting for Godot"-like experience of waiting for that someone special at a club of "Lights and Music" to the rocky relationship reassurance of "Out There on the Ice," all New Order-worthy dance tracks of temptation, confusion and blue Mondays. When Dan Whitford sings, "There's something in the air tonight / A feelingthat you have that could change your life," that something, that feeling, comes "In Ghost Colours."

8. "For Emma, Forever Ago" – Bon Iver
After leaving his band DeYarmond Edison, Justin Vernon retreated to a Wisconsin cabin for the winter and spent four months writing and recording new songs under the name Bon Iver (loose French for "good winter"). The resulting "For Emma, Forever Ago," is an earnest, heartbreaking and altogether beautiful album about loneliness and lost love with the idyllic imagery of Henry David Thoreau. Bon Iver's music is full of plaintive strumming, falsetto cries and esoteric poetry like "Only love is all maroon / Lapping lakes like leery loons." It isn't all melancholy, though – the instrumental "Team" is nearly muscular enough for a "Friday Night Lights" training montage and "For Emma" is almost jangley with its horns and haunted guitar. But perhaps the single most devastating moment in music this year is when Bon Iver calls out "Who will love you?" on his breakout song "Skinny Love." Bon Iver's debut is one of slow-burning and quiet heartache.

9. "Nouns" – No Age
Of the trio of lo-fi, tinnitus-inducing garage bands that put out records this year – including Times New Viking and Blood on the Wall – No Age seems most likely to be remembered in the same league as the punk legends to which its deeply indebted. Drummer-vocalist Dean Allen Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall pack a mammoth sound into "Nouns" despite being a two-piece and having less than opulent production values. Songs like "Sleeper Hold" and "Eraser" are as fuzzed-out as My Bloody Valentine and as chaotically controlled as Sonic Youth. In the distortion and clamor are slick melodies that capture the sound of being young and raucous.

10. "All is Well" – Sam Amidon
In what was a banner year for the neo-folk movement that saw acclaimed releases from Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Horse Feathers, The Tallest Man on Earth, Sun Kil Moon, The Ruby Suns, Lackthereof and Grand Salvo, Sam Amidon's "All is Well" somehow fell through the cracks, even though one suspects had the exact same album been released under the name "Sufjan Stevens" it likely would've made most critics' end of the year top 10 lists. The sound of "All is Well" is the definition of timeless. The album, like Amidon's other two solo LPs, is a collection of traditional folk songs re-interpreted with new melodies and minimalist arrangements designed to break the hearts of a whole new generation of listeners. Amidon's soft, tentative voice and loose phrasing are always perfectly suited to songs like "Prodigal Son," about a young man who returns home to acknowledge the wrong he's done, and the title track, in which a dying man finds relief in the weight of his sins finally being lifted. "Saro," based on the traditional "Pretty Saro," is perhaps the best synthesis of Nick Drake-like sorrow and the Illinoisemakers orchestration of Stevens. Amidon's voice cracks when he hits the high notes as he sings, "I wish I was a poet / Could write infinite / I'd write my love a letter / One she'd long understand / I'd send it by the water." Behind his aching voice, strings swell and woodwinds flutter until the heart is rended. Amidon breathes new life into these songs, making them his own while paying proper respect to their heritage. The songs are moving and startling, the sound of truly, ageless music.

11. "Microcastle/Weird Era Cont." – Deerhunter
12. "Third" – Portishead
13. "At Mount Zoomer" – Wolf Parade
14. "You & Me" — The Walkmen
15. "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)" – Erykah Badu
16. "Tha Carter III" – Lil Wayne
17. "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" — The Drive-By Truckers
18. "Saturdays = Youth" — M83
19. "Meπ suπ eyrum viπ spilum endalaust" – Sigur Rσs
20. "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!" – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
21. "Shapeshifters" – Invincible
22. "The Airing of Grievances" — Titus Andronicus
23. "The Chemistry of Common Life" — Fucked Up
24. "Santogold" – Santogold
25. "Saint Dymphana" – Gang Gang Dance
26. "Rook" – Shearwater
27. "The Vivian Girls" – Vivian Girls
28. "Exit" – Shugo Tokumaru
29. "Where I Go You Go To" – Lindstrψm
30. "This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That" – Marnie Stern
31. "Midnight Organ" – Frightened Rabbit
32. "Receivers" – Parts & Labor
33. "Women" – Women
34. "Mixtape About Nothing" – Wale
35. "Uproot" – DJ /rupture
36. "Lie Down with the Light" – Bonnie "Prince" Billy
37. "Devotion" – Beach House
38. "Youth Novels" – Lykke Li
39. "From the Great American Songbook" – Tom Carter & Christian Kiefer
40. "Happymatic" – Hilotrons
41. "Soft Airplane" – Chad VanGaalen
42. "Visiter" – The Dodos
43. "Object 47" – Wire
44. "Treny" – Jacaszek
45. "Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes" – The Music Tapes
46. "Rising Down" – The Roots
47. "Furr" – Blitzen Trapper
48. "Parallax Error Beheads You" – Max Tundra
49. "II Trill" – Bun B
50. "In Ear Park" – Department of Eagles

Posted Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/archives/001073.php