Catching Up on Lost Time...

Hello Paulies,

This marks my return after absence in 2008. Reasonably inexcusable, considering I'm a charter Paulies member. But, I didn't have much to say about 2008. So, let me gloss over it now, before I go planters on the decade-that-was.

MICROCASTLE/DEERHUNTER - If you wrote a 2008 Paulies entry, chances are I didn't read it. I DID, however, do a word search through last year's postings for the words "deer" and "hunter." To the best of my knowledge, the only reference to Microcastle was an honorable mention from Eamon. Suffice to say, Microcaste was the best album of 2008... by a wide, wide margin. From start to finish, each song is beautiful and new and hard-but-listenable. "Nothing Ever Happened" makes my head explode, and should be the subject of more misplaced Bohemian Rhapsody/Paranoid Android comparisons. Want one song? Try "Never Stops." This album makes me wish I did drugs. And though I don't, Microcastle is still head and shoulders over anything I've heard the past few years.

FOR EMMA, FOREVER AGO/BON IVER - "Skinny Love" is one of the memorable songs of the back half of the decade, and Monsieur Iver's voice is tremendous. Makes you wonder if Tunde Adebimpe should release an album of acoustic guitar music.

THE FAME/LADY GAGA - Clearly, the most important pop music of 2008 and likely 2009. Can't believe she released a new album a month ago, while singles from her first album are still tearing up the charts. Say what you will about Lady Gaga (and there's much to say), but this is great pop music. Just Dance? Yes, please. Poker Face? Ok then. Paparazzi? Keep it coming. 

YOU & ME/THE WALKMEN - I feel like all their songs sound the same... generally, in a good way. That said, "I Lost You" was a highlight of the year. The rest of the album? Not as good, but the same.

THE WIRE (SEASONS 1-5) - When I suggest Arrested Development is the best sit-com of all-time (which I genuinely believe), it comes with an understanding of the relativity of the statement... that a damn good argument could made for Seinfeld. I mean, I can't argue w/ Seinfeld. It's less that Arrested Development is the "best" anyway, but rather that it's my "favorite" comedy... and more importantly, like all of these conversations, it's up for discussion, debate and diverging opinion. Not The Wire. The Wire is the best dramatic series in tv history. It's beyond argument or debate, like the common knowledge that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player ever... or the oh-so-obvious reality that The Beatles were the greatest rock band ever. It's incredible how layered the series is. The best social commentary on civic failure you can find, a remarkable thread of plotline after plotline, theme after theme. There are twenty remarkable characters (at minimum), each more complex and heartwrenching than the last. Anyway, I missed the boat entirely, and never saw it when it ran on HBO (in large measure because I didn't get HBO). But, over the past 12 months, I've watched all five seasons... and frankly, DVD-binging is the best format to digest it, since hour-long episodes aren't always enough... and one week waits are just too much.

 

Alright... with those loose ends out of the way, 2009 it is...

 

Matt Levine