Jan 05, 2009 09:29 pm I'll get back to this. But once again you've managed to list several I have on my list as well. Although my list is huge, I'll narrow it down later.
Best music of 2008
Posted on Jan 05, 2009 03:31 pm
Tadpui
I am not a crook's head
Member Since: Mar 14, 2003
I find myself unable to resist doing this every year. These lists are usually meaningless to everybody except the author (especially considering that very few people on these boards share even a shred of the same tastes in music with me), but I can't help it. If you're at a loss for ideas on how to spend those spare iTunes downloads, maybe give some of these a try.
In no particular order, here are my favorite albums of 2008:
- Rooks by Shearwater
Probably my album of the year. The frontman was a member of Okkervil River, the authors of my undisputed album of the year last year (The Stage Names, for the curious). It's a melodramatic and mellow folk/rock album which I think perfectly captures the state of indie rock at the time it was released.
- For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
Near-perfect acoustic album with a cool backstory (look it up, pretty much every review of the album mentions it).
- Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
This was Pitchfork's album of the year this year, and with good reason. A blend of CSN&Y and the Beach Boys set in a modern folk style. Terrific vocals and melodies.
- Real Emotional Trash by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
If you love electric guitar, you'll at least like this album. He's got the coolest guitar gear this side of the Mars Volta.
- Stay Positive by The Hold Steady
Minneapolis band that can do no wrong in the current indie scene. Imagine AC/DC or Guns N Roses with Elvis Costello plugged in as the front man. That sounds a lot weirder now that I've typed it.
- Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend.
Fun summer album.
- Furr by Blitzen Trapper
A late entry, this one was an immediate favorite. For anybody who listened to their genre-spanning debut, they picked the alt-country Grateful Dead meets the Beatles direction and ran with it. Super awesome album. Probably my runner-up for album of the year.
And my "old album that's new to me" entry for this year is Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon.
Released in 2003, the former Red House Painters dude exchanged his moniker for Sun Kil Moon and put out a mostly-acoustic mellow album with some well-placed downtuned electric guitars.
So what new stuff did you pick up this year?
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Jan 05, 2009 09:29 pm I'll get back to this. But once again you've managed to list several I have on my list as well. Although my list is huge, I'll narrow it down later.
Jan 07, 2009 12:11 pm I guess Noize and I are the only 2 people that actually listen to contemporary music?
Jan 07, 2009 12:26 pm New Toadies - No Deliverance
Other than that I don't listen to much as I spend most of my time on the guitar.
Jan 07, 2009 12:34 pm I listen to older stuff =/
Occasionally I listen to new things, but mostly what i hear on radio or itunes radio.
Not very spectacular, i'm afraid.
Jan 07, 2009 12:46 pm Oldies indeed, I have been listening to the 50's doo waa station lately, trying to get some inspiration from a time when bands were successfull for the music and not the videos.
Jan 07, 2009 01:25 pm Death Magnetic - Metallica
I've not stopped listening to it.
Jan 07, 2009 05:34 pm And I have not forgotten about the thread either. I'm just trying to catch up and compile my list.
Jan 07, 2009 06:38 pm My list is on the way, Tad. Not surprisingly, we have a few albums in common (like the Fleet Foxes one that you turned me on to.)
Gimme a couple a more days.
Jan 07, 2009 09:38 pm Eh, you don't have to go and plan out a formal dissertation on this year's music or anything :-D
Just post it as you think of it. I'm just curious as to what everybody has been turned on to this year.
Captain, I agree on looking for bands that don't rely on runaway press releases and videos for exposure on MTV. All the stuff I mentioned in my favorites are lesser-known bands that do exactly what you say: get by on the strength of their music, not the strength of their publicist.
PJK, that's a big reason why I feel compelled to start a thread like this around this time of year: to provide some exposure to stuff that you might not have heard of. If you're disenchanted with modern music, give a listen to some of everybody's suggestions from this thread and you might actually find something new that you will end up digging! There's so much good music being made each year and unfortunately none of it is being played on the radio or MTV.
Oh, and I forgot a BIGGIE favorite from this year:
- In Rainbows by Radiohead.
This one leapt up to become my 2nd or 3rd favorite Radiohead album. This one got a lot of play from me this year. They really gave me what I wanted as a fan, which is a compromise between Thom's eccentric electronic tendencies with the rest of the band's ability to simply rock.
Jan 07, 2009 09:42 pm i didnt like in rainbows at all. where are the hooks, the tight structures? nothing leaped out at me.
****, i dont recognize most of that stuff in the first post here. and i need new music. but peeps' tastes are so quirky. i need something that rocks (or is acoustic) and has cool chords and hooks.
Jan 07, 2009 09:48 pm I dug In Rainbows. I don't have any particular defense as to why. Reckoner is awesome. But when since The Bends has Radiohead been about tight structures and hooks? Personally I like the odd forms and song structures...I just kind of dig that kind of thing (to a point). Try the band Sunset Rubdown for some VERY oddly-structured and rather formless songs that still work in an odd rock sense. Or the Unicorns album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? for some meandering songs that still retain lots of energy and interest.
Furr by Blitzen Trapper is a mix of electric and acoustic stuff with a lot of great chord progressions. Hell just the first track off of that album is a workout for your chord chart!
And The Hold Steady certainly rocks. Give them a listen if you're in the mood for a guitar-driven rocking backing band and some intelligent (if slurred and smooshed) lyrics.
Turning people on to new music is my goal here. So hopefully at least one or two people go listen to samples from some of this stuff posted by everybody in this thread. iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, Napster all allow listening to song snippets for free with no software downloads required.
Oh, and yet another one that I forgot to add:
- Arm's Way by Islands.
Their follow-up to Return To The Sea, which is one of my all-time favorite albums. They're the remnants of the band The Unicorns, although a key member left before this album was recorded. He took some of the fun-loving attitude of the band with him. But these songs are complex, bloody pieces that are crammed full of key changes, off-the-wall interludes, and a thick bramble of instruments layered together. This one isn't nearly as strong as Return To The Sea but after several listens it really grew on me. there's just so much happening in each song, it took a while to digest it all.
Jan 08, 2009 05:53 am excuse me? ok computer was all about tight structures. that album is quite logical and very well thought out. and the hooks are large, impactful. it's hooks combined with unusual structures, but it's actually very similar to the bends in a lot of ways. that album knows what it's doing and it tells you what it's doing.
when i heard in rainbows, literally nothing jumped out.
when music gets into things other than the hook, it becomes a different art form for me.
Jan 08, 2009 05:54 am to turn people on to new bands in this thread, please post youtube stuff.
and don't even think about challenging that idea about ok computer. if you do, you're wrong. and i will be mad. you have to know theory to know why this is so. i don't know if you do. i hope you do.
Jan 08, 2009 06:48 am Getting pissed about someone else's taste in music - or anything else - makes no sense to me whatsoever. Unless of course, I'm forced to hear it while stuck at an intersection. If it sounds good, who gives a rat's about theory?
I listen to big bands.
Jan 08, 2009 07:38 am Good point Tad (turn on, tune in, etc).
I'll check some of this stuff out, as my listening is pretty dusty =).
Jan 08, 2009 07:41 am Has any new music been made since about 1985?
Jan 08, 2009 07:47 am i'm not pissed about anyone's taste in music. i just really don't wanna have to defend the idea that ok computer is highly structured and contains many hooks, because it is and does. it's more similar to the bends than any of the more experimental stuff that came later.
i was having beers at the time, when i wrote that.
Jan 08, 2009 11:01 am Sorry, not interested in debating the merits of various Radiohead albums. I like their music, and I liked In Rainbows. Sorry you don't. I'm not making you defend anything.
Jan 08, 2009 11:07 am I tried really, really hard not to like the latest Elbow album.
Tried.
Why the heck do I like it that much?
I didn't like the new Radiohead. Didn't really speak to me.
Loved the Amy Winehouse stuff (yes, she is a complete chav, but she sure can sing pretty). "Love is a losing game" is possibly one of the best songs I've ever heard. Moon/June/Balloon/Soon?....three chords?....Meh. Superb.
Madame Blavatsky Overdrive - Idiot Jones will have his day.
Couple of chaps from MIRV. Poppy, and a little disturbing, but cool.
Jan 08, 2009 11:45 am Elbow is one of those bands that I keep hearing mentions of, but I've never listened to. I'll have to check them out.
I had to look up "chav", never heard that one before. But now that I know what it means, how about that Lily Allen? Did you see that clip of her hosting some awards show just ****-faced drunk alongside a very disapproving Elton John? She actually told him to **** off! Who tells Sir Elton John to **** off?!?
Jan 08, 2009 11:51 am Deleted By TallChap
Jan 08, 2009 11:59 am Tried to link to some videos, but embedding had been disabled.
Jan 08, 2009 12:21 pm Izzy Stradlin - Concrete (www.chopaway.com)
Weezer - Red Album
The Offspring - Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace
Jan 08, 2009 04:09 pm I'll start here and add as I can remember them.
Tadpui has several I picked up on this year on his list including and in no particular order. Vampire Weekend, Blitzen Trapper, The Hold Steady, OBon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Sun Kill Moon were all on my playlist this past year.
One that caught me by surprise was Drive by Truckers Brighter then Creations Dark.
On the heavy side Slipknot All Hope is Gone has really been in the player for awhile in the car. I just can't get enough as I think they have grown a great deal creatively.
Flobots Fight with Tools really dug in for me and I guess I would almost rate it my favorite of 2008. Even though it was actually released late 2007 I personally didn't really catch it until early summer of 2008. We listened to it constantly. It reminds me of before Tuna left for the Army. And while down there that is all we listened to. As well after we got back, Ray and I had it in at least two or three times a week.
Rob Perez, Blues Syndrome and HRCer.
Scott Albert Johnson, Umbrella Man. Kind of a Blues sort of thing going on with him.
And I got turned on to a lot of indie stuff via The 61 as well. I'll list em as I think of them.
More to come.
Jan 08, 2009 04:41 pm Here is my list of albums released in 2008 that I listen to the most (that must mean I like them the most!)
Black Ice by ACDC. It rocks unashamedly. I have worn the virtual grooves off of my CD. It's the first physical CD that I have bought in a long time, and only because I had to go to Wal-Mart to get it.
Ragged Wood by Fleet Foxes. Tadpui turned me on to this one. I love the mellow sixties vibe. Can't stop listening to this one.
Dan Baird & Homemade Sin (Self-titled) Rootsy, alt-country-rock-ish. My favorite genre. Good stuff.
Vagabonds by Gary Louris. Former Jayhawks member. I love his songwriting and I love his voice.
Peace Queer by Todd Snider. Actually an EP. One of my all-time favorites. Very political and very weird. Like a car wreck and you just can't look away.
Sugar Mountain Live at Canterbury House 1968 by Neil Young. Before Crazy Horse, before CSN&Y...there was just Neil and his guitar. Awesome.
Fearless by Taylor Swift. I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I didn't love this album. Teenage female angst, yes. But I have to hand it to anyone who can go to Nashville and get a deal recording their own songs. Sure, her star will burn out soon enough, but right now she's on fire.
There you go...that's what I have been lstening to. (I hope that last one doesn't get me kicked off of HRC!)
Jan 08, 2009 04:58 pm Taylor Swift is SO FREAKING HOT! She's only 19...which, while not technically illegal, still makes me a pretty creepy old man.
Jan 08, 2009 05:22 pm I never liked Radiohead, even OK Computer. I was pumping the death metal during that era and have found bands I like much better in my later years.
Just saying....
Jan 08, 2009 06:42 pm Yeah, Taylor is a looker, but I like her for other reasons too...no...really...I do...
Dang! I can't believe I forgot to include "Mudcrutch"!! I love that album!
Jan 08, 2009 08:06 pm yeah that post of mine was kind of rude.l i noticed it at the time and thought about erasing it. but it had been a while since i'd had a good random outburst.
Jan 08, 2009 08:55 pm Thanx Jim, thats another. Black Ice does indeed rock just like AC/DC has rocked all along. Call it a formula or whatever, it works for me. And honestly, AC/DC has Ray practicing his guitar every day.
Also.
The Mars Volta, The Bedlam in Goliath
The best of The Vines
All the NIN stuff that was released this past year. And yes, I liked it all. Odd as some of it was I found a place for it.
Shadow 5
Hollywood Undead, Swan Songs. Ray turned me onto this at Xmass. Interesting twist on a few different styles of music. A bit heavy and oddly rap like at times.
Jan 09, 2009 02:22 pm There was a terrific series on TV called "Live at Abbey Road" where bands would set up at the hallowed studio and play live (duh!).
Amazing. Got to be exposed to some new music, and some older stuff was revisited. The musicianship was amazing, although a few bands were just terrible (Def Leppard, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primal Scream, Iron Maiden I'm looking at you). Some were incredible:
Joan Armatrading, Gnarls Barkley, The Kills, The Hoosiers, Elbow, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Herbie Hancock, Alanis Morrisette and many more...
Hope there's another series. I can't stand airwave radio (endless chatter, ads, and crap music for the rare gem), and this is an excellent source for hearing new stuff.
Of course, the tips from the HRCers are fantastico.
Jan 09, 2009 04:02 pm Chili Peppers were terrible? The songs themselves or the performance?
Jan 09, 2009 06:15 pm I have to second Noize on the NIN and the new Slipknot. I've really been diggin those. I've also been enjoying Mudvayne The New Game.
Jan 09, 2009 09:50 pm Most of you know I listen to christan metal... and this year was an off year as 2007 was loaded with good stuff...
lots of oddness this year so you can probably expect that to bleed over into the mainstream for 2009
rock wise one of my 2008 favorites was Fireflight 'Unbreakable'
Most odd of 2008
Capital Lights -Outrage
... great song but felt I needed to reaffirm my manhood after watching the video...
favorite 'oddity' of 08 is:
House of Heroes - 'In The Valley Of The Dying Sun'
... aka the 'every genre song'-- not to keen on the video... I always think of it as a western...
Jan 09, 2009 11:19 pm Tall Chap, that's why I listen to a public radio station. www.thecurrent.org is the only station that has a preset in my car. OK, well the only one I use. Otherwise it is CD's.
zek, speaking of Christian. I've been listening to the last 2 releases from Junkyard Prophet. One is a bit hip hopish and the latest is back to the heavy stuff. They cover the ground from almost acoustic to all out grindcore.
Jan 10, 2009 12:46 am Looks like they're a group local to the twin cities, pretty good at what they do... I just don't think people want to go through rapcore again anytime soon still. :)
Jan 10, 2009 12:12 pm I had been holding off on this post. Mainly because I had to think if there were any new songs out there that I was listening to.
I can't think of a single album that I liked all the way through, but there was a couple of songs that I found to be OK this year.
Linkin Parks Shadow of the day I liked. A little different for them.
Muse Starlight. I hated the 80's. And this song has a lot of elements from the 80's. But, there was something about it that I liked.
Vampire Weekend's A-punk was good. Strange Ska influenced song that was catchy.
Other then that, I have been going back to the older stuff that I like. For me there's not that much out there that catches my attention.
Where are the new generation of punks? No one out there to pick up the torch from where the Ramones and The Clash left off? Mike Ness I guess was trying. But he is a little too much of an ***.
Jan 15, 2009 10:00 pm Just thought of another one.
Los Lonely Boys - Forgiven
I'm going to have to see these guys live some day. I've watched one of their DVDs and they're incredible.
Jan 16, 2009 04:06 pm Another one I can't believe I forgot: Jakob Dylan's solo debut, "Seeing Things". Very good album...listening to it right now.
Jan 16, 2009 07:53 pm Both very good as well. But sadly were not huge in my CD rotation this summer. I Know I was all over the board this summer on what I listened to though.
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