Patrick's List

Hello Paulies 2008.

Thanks Itty and Niki for being the first to go. I’m usually much quicker to post. I was down in Tijuana for a week and then couldn’t get a plane back to Seattle. We’re having a bit of a snow issue up here. I ended up renting a car with four other strangers and driving from San Francisco. 20 hours later with a bad cold and cough, I was back in the northwest for Christmas. I am now ready to post my list.

Overall, I think it was a weaker year in music. Nothing really stood out to me. Albums that were critical favorites (Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio) weren’t that great to me. It may be more a reflection of where I am in my life, but nothing really grabbed me. That’s not to say there weren’t things I enjoyed. Here are ten albums I liked more than others.

1. Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
I had the most fun with this album this year, so therefore it’s my number one. This is a continuation of my enjoyment of Simian Mobile Disco from last year.

Untrust Us - Crystal Castles

2. Magnetic Fields, Distortion
This came way back last January. I got into the Jesus and Mary Chain via this record. California Girls is a great song.

3. David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
I love anything David Byrne touches. Life is Long is one of the best songs he’s written. I’m excited to see him in concert in February.

Life Is Long - David Byrne and Brian Eno


3. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
I think Itty put it well. It didn’t do it for me as the last two, but I still enjoyed it.

5. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
This is a solid album all the way through. It’s more rewarding after each listen.

6. Santogold, Santogold
Yes, it’s derivative of MIA and half the songs are used in commercials, but I still enjoyed the album.

8. Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair
I never really like Antony and the Johnson’s, but the songs in which he sings are some of the best. It’s a good album from DFA.

Blind (Full Album Version) - Hercules And Love Affair

8. Sigur Ros, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
I never really got into Sigur Ros before, but I found this to be a good album. The faster pace works really well.

9. Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
I’ve always like Okkervil River and I finally got to see them this summer at Sasquatch.

10. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals / Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
Both are fun in different ways.

Other highlights from 2008.

Best concerts.
Sasquatch. Best value in indi rock: highlight was seeing the Breeders play Cannonball.
Jesus and Mary Chain. Just like Honey was perfect.
Justice. There was no one cooler in 2008 than these two French dudes. I went to the after party.

The Wire.
I got hooked on this show. Anyone who’s seen it loves it. Therefore you should see it too.

The Election.
It was a great night and election. I was somewhere in this crowd.



Soul Music.
I too got into Sam Cooke and others. There’s a great soul dance night in Seattle that’s pretty sweet.

Getting Engaged.
Probably the biggest thing for me this year was getting engaged. Whoop, whoop.

Peace and good luck in 2009.

-Patrick

fa la la la la.

Niki Papadopoulos.

The argument that we've shifted from an album culture to a singles culture has been made in many places.  I will not continue it here but rather will forge ahead like an extremely large animal in a store full of breakables.

For me, 2008 was the year of the summer ballad.  Partly because of all the great shows in McCarren Park, few of which I actually attended, and partly because of some fun backyard barbecues with Courney Miller's iPod piped in.  But mostly because it was a kickass summer.

So here goes, in no particular order, "My Favoritest Musical Sounds from 2008":

1. The Teenagers: "Feeling Better."  From the 2008 album, "Reality Check."  You may remember the Teenagers as the snarky, heavily-accented French synth-pop group who made everyone's ears burn at the shameless profanity in 2007's  "Homecoming."  "Feeling Better" is almost as mean-spirited, but it's poppy and anthemic, and while the premise of the song is parody, you still get a taste of that eternal theme: the special bond between distraught youngsters and their rock & roll.  "The Streets of Paris" off this record is pretty good, too.

2. The Ting Tings: "Great DJ."  I love an insta-hit, and this one from a previously obscure British duo takes the cake as the ultimate summer dance song.

3. Cold War Kids:  "Hang Me Out To Dry"  OK, ok, I only like this song because I first heard it while sitting in Nita Nita's garden this summer sipping a dark & stormy and reading some trashy novel.  But what more is there to life?

4. MGMT: "Time to Pretend."  If the Jefferson Airplane's "Lather" could write a song for himself, this would be it. Is there anything sadder in the world than growing old? And is there anything more smug than two twenty-somethings writing a sonic-boom-busting-balled about it?  Couple this with "Kids" and the rest of the album "Oracular Spectacular" and you've got yourself a deal.  

5. Girltalk, "Feed the Animals":  I've only heard pieces of it (how do you know? you ask) but holy smokes is this a good record.  It's heartening to know that the musical trick that brought us the Tori Amos/Nirvana techno split also produces batshit crazygood dance music.

6. Fleet Foxes "White Winter Hymnal":  The revival of folk and bluegrass finally reaches the SXSW crowd in full force.  If hipsters reach any further back into musical history for inspiration, we'll all be digging Pavarotti on wind-up Victrolas  by 2010.  Mark my words.  But this tune is meticulously executed where it could be maudlin, and that's what separates this wheat from the banjo-playing, heartbreak-singing chaff.  And, it's pretty gorgeous to boot.

7. Sigur Ros, "Gobbledigook":  Did you know this song has no time signature?  Bob Boilen was way too excited about that.  This, too, is another song that's essentially about running around McCarren Park tipsy and sun-dazed with your friends.  Trust me, that's what they're saying in that Laplandish lilt.  And yes, Itty, I agree, seeing them at the MoMA was gorsh darn fun.

8. Mates of State, "My Only Offer" Once lyrically cloying and sounding not unlike two cats making love on a warm summer's eve, these two have finally made a good record, of which this song is representative.  The toning down of the caterwauling is probably a result of having  quiet down their band practice because the babies were sleeping (Here ends, I promise, the slightly mean-spirited yet ultimately lighthearted teasing about being a grownup).  But the result is good, and the slightly muted approach perhaps one they should have adopted years ago.  C'est rock.

Old/other stuff I really got into/discovered this year: 

-Sam Cooke.  From a frigid night in Jersey in 2007, conveniently before the election of BHO. 
-Wilbur de Paris.  Thank you, Bob Boilen.
-Dinah Washington.  Thank you, thrift store across the street from The Thing before it moved to Montrose.
-Records in general.
-Podcasts.  The above-mentioned Bob Boilen's "All Songs Considered," along with KEXP's "Music that Matters," are wholly responsible for any new music I may have heard.  (Can you tell my internet's been busted for the past 2 months?)  Also heard: The Sound of Young America, This American Life, A Prairie Home Companion, Planet Money with Adam Davidson, Marketplace, CBC's Canada Reads, Book Tour, B&N's Meet the Writers, It's All Politics, and the New Yorker's Campaign Trail.  All more or less new to me.

Cheers and Merry Christmas.

N

First & Worst - Itty takes the cake

** Edited December 30, 2008

When initially planning this list, for some reason I felt that I had listened to a lot of new music over the past year.  However, when I went back to look at the new music I had acquired, I couldn't find many albums that stood up for multiple listens.  It was probably that I was just out of it though...

Here is my list of musical things from the past year that I really liked.  In all things, I tend to like extremes of joy and sadness, and it seems pretty apparent in my musical choices.   Also, one year, I won't have Dr. Dog in there. 

1. Sigur Ros @ MoMA

Despite being really into going to this show, I had never been a huge Sigur Ros fanatic.  More like a semi-casual listener.  I thought this show was amazing though, in that it really showcased the way that SR plays to the extremes that I mentioned above.  Extra points for the fantastic Olafur Eliasson exhibition and getting our picture in BrooklynVegan.

2. Dr. Dog - Fate

Did everyone hate this album?  It got no love as far as I've seen, but I thought it was just as good as their last album.  Gritty vocals, great harmonies and song-writing.  Dr. Dog! 

3. Love is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up All Night

I will love this band forever and ever.  Ecstatic joy!  It makes me go weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

4. Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust

The MoMA show made me appreciate all of SR's albums more.   I liked that this album turned more upbeat and playful in comparison to older albums.  Lots of joy.

5. ***Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams

This was added a few days after the initial posting.  I originally thought this album came out in 2007, but according to AllMusic, it's 2008.    I really loved this album.  It's more melodic than previous Destroyer albums and more palatable, but there's still that eccentricity and electricity.

6. Neil Young - Sugar Mountain

Same goes for Neil Young.  The little talking parts in between songs work really well.  I admit that I idealize that time period and listen to way too much Buffalo Springfield, so I'm probably just way too biased.  

7. Max Richter - 24 Postcards in Full Colour

This man continually makes the saddest albums.  Listen to it while walking on a snowy evening and soon you'll find yourself on your knees in tears.  So good. 

8. Arthur Russell's emergence

Paul and I recently caught a viewing of the Arthur Russell documentary Wild Combination.  While being perhaps a bit long, it definitely was a good overview of the shy genius.  I'm always impressed by the idea of immortality.  Russell's work outlasted the man and that kind of fascinates me.

9. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

This album was just good.  Their albums always are.  I have nothing else to say.

10. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

I feel like it's easy to like M83, but that ease makes me wonder whether this should be on my list.  I listened to this album quite a bit though so here it is. 

Here are the older musical things I obsessed over this year, in chronological order:

• The Wrens' Meadowlands album...absolutely perfect.
  
• The last Les Savy Fav album has a great opening sequence of songs that rocks harder most everything else. 
  
• 16 Horsepower should be on the Carnivale soundtrack
  
• CSNY
  
• Ratatat hip hop remixes.  Glock Nines from Vol. 2 is hot!!
  
  
  
  
• The Blade Runner soundtrack
  
• The SOS Band and other Jam/Lewis productions
  
• J-Live's All of the Above is just as good as The Best Part
  
• The Bird and the Bee - simultaneously annoying and invigorating
  
• Bob Seger - blue collar, awesome, and very underrated  
• The old man at the Hunter College 6 station singing "I've Been Loving You Too Long"
  
• Syd Straw - Miss Fingerwood is a great songwriter
  

I'd much rather expound about the awesomeness of any of these things as opposed to a lot of the new music I heard this year.  Here's hoping for better luck next year.  I have a feeling that I'm just going to be listening to Neko and Dr. Dog like always.   

Peace,

-Itty

More Lists

Need more prompting? Here to help.

Here's Vibe's 80 best songs of the year (or at least half of them):

Click it

And XXL's top ten rap albums of the year, giving number one to the new Q-Tip:

Click it

But what about country? Here's PopMatters' list of the top 10 country albums of the year:

Click it

Which takes us to Paste's alt-country world, giving their number one to She & Him:

Click it