I Kissed a Paulies and I Liked It

All Katie Perrys aside, I think that 2008 was a great year for music in general. Sure there was no knock-down number one, but hey- quantity over quality is fine with me. Figuring out what I like best is a very scientific process, as you can see from the image to the left. My top ten:

10. 808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West: I'm for things all Kanye, but I do fear that Kanye the Personality may have overshadowed what's great about this album- something very different on the pop-scene.

9. Volume One - She & Him: I think M. Ward could make anything sound good.

8. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver: Best breakup album of the year (sorry, Ye). This could only be made in the midst of cold weather, lo-fi means, and that crushing feeling.

7. The Renaissance - Q-Tip: How long has it been since Q-Tip's last album? Almost a decade? This should be getting more press. Listen to "Won't Trade."

6. Real Emotional Trash - Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: The best balance of SM's old virtue of quirkiness, and new virtue of guitar theatrics.

5. At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade: If one song could propell an entire album to awesomeness, it is "Kissing the Beehive": over ten minutes of Wolf Parade firing on all cylinders.

4. You & Me - The Walkmen: I agree with everything that Eamon has already said about this album, but I would like to add one thing: they stop trying to sound different, but still sound so unique compared to everything else.

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: I'm not surprised that this is a top album of the year on many lists. I like it because it takes the Brian Wilson melody-thing that so many bands are down with right now and actually couples it with some cool, melodic songs.

2. Furr - Blitzen Trapper: Really a shocking album. Who knew these guys had this in them? They pick up stylistically from The Band (for one) and make it current. My top track: "Black River Killer."

1. Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust - Sigur Rós: The Martin Scorsese of 2008. Maybe this isn't their best album ever, but it is still great, and it makes you return to their entire catalogue. They're a totally deserving band that often defies words (pun intended). The concert at MOMA has already been mentioned, you can watch it here.

Non-2008 Albums I (Re-)Discovered
Cease to Begin - Band of Horses; Fear of Music - Talking Heads; White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground; This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About - Modest Mouse; Tapestry - Carol King; Dirt - Alice in Chains; Perfect from Now On - Built to Spill; Bach's Fugues- fugues will be the auto-tone of 2009.

Best TV Show of 2008
Seems like it's between 30 Rock, Mad Men, and The Wire. I'm going with The Wire because it's my last chance to give it the award.

Best Live Show of 2008
I'm going to cop-out and say any Boston Celtics game. Do a YouTube search for Gino+Boston+Celtics to see what I mean.

Best Movie of 2008
My short list is The Dark Knight, Young at Heart, and Slumdog Millionaire. Each does something totally different for me.

Best Website of 2008
You mean besides ObsoleteVernacular.com? Definitely hulu.com. For those of us without a DVR or a Tivo, it's amazing.

Best Book of 2008
Of the very few 2008 books I've read this year, Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow and I Don't Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges stand out. Take that Dawkins and Hitchens.

Best Gift I Received in 2008
This thing.

- Michael Grandone

Eamonn Aiken's List

My top 10 this year is really more a top five. Some almosts... Deerhunter, Titus Andronicus, Nick Cave... maybe in 6 months they'll register. I'm rather cut off from culture nowadays so I don't really get to hear much unless I'm recording it. For now, there are five. Last year was killer, this year was meh. I'm sure I'll look back upon it fondly though when the inevitable and near-approaching semi-ironic 90s revival takes over. Here's a hasty wine-fueled list. I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

5. Sigur Ros "...title.." : I have nothing of worth to add to what's been said. The expected beauty plus teases of something new; the tempo increase suits them.

4. The War on Drugs "Barrel of Batteries"(EP)/"Wagonwheel Blues"(LP) : from the name and Berkley College Of Music stoner look I assumed I'd hate them and then three minutes into the set I'd pushed my way to the front of the room to listen more closely. Vocals channel Dylan/Springsteen without feeling a sham over shimmery psych-instrumentation and loops. I like the feel of the EP a little more (mainly just the mix of Arms Like Boulders.) Dunno if it still is, but was a free download from Secretly Canadian a few months back.

3.5 Li'l Wayne : I haven't heard a song from it but what a goddamned cover!

3. Frightened Rabbit "Midnight Organ Fight" : sort of record that sounds familiar, no type of instantly-latched-upon quirk to set it apart other than the singer having a similar accent as the I Would Walk 500 Miles song from Benny & Joon. But what it is - totally solid, catchy, well crafted pop songs produced again by the man who brought you the last National and first Interpol record. Continues to be an enjoyable listen despite my having seriously overplayed it earlier this year.

2. Fleet Foxes : I love Simon & Garfunkle too!

1. Walkmen "You & Me" : After their last record being a serious exercise in yaaaawn I didn't really expect a lot. Then I started hearing these radio sessions and webcast things, them playing Leonard Cohen and Royal Trux songs and there was that Nilsson cover record... and they were great, not just phoning it in anymore. They've always channeled a 60s/early 70s sorta feel, and perhaps it was the full acceptance of it that made this record work so well. I saw a quote from their guitarist to the effect of "we got good when we stopped trying to sound different." This record absolutely killed everything else this year for me, is far and away their best, and their live show is back on par as well. The record is perfectly paced; "In the New Year" is still giving me shivers.

I give a plug to some friends called The Dustys who's EP comes out in the next few days. Sorta Beach Boys harmonies/70s psych-metal/T-Rex adoration.

--
http://www.eamonn-aiken.com/

Two Pieces from the Times

As the rest of you prepare your lists and consider what to discuss from 2008, I'm submitting these two pieces from the New York Times.

1. In Jon Caramanica's concert review of a recent Lil Wayne concert in New Jersey, Caramanica declares Lil Wayne to be the music story of 2008. As evidence, L.W. sold more records than anyone else in '08; his album sold faster than anyone else's album in its opening week; and it recently earned the most Grammy nominations all time for a rap album. So, is the pride of New Orleans, LA really the story of '08?


2. In a cover story for the Arts page on Sunday, chief pop critic Jon Pareles writes about the expanding overlap between new music and marketing use. Pareles gives it a new spin though in these few paragraphs:

The question is: What happens to the music itself when the way to build a career shifts from recording songs that ordinary listeners want to buy to making music that marketers can use? That creates pressure, subtle but genuine, for music to recede: to embrace the element of vacancy that makes a good soundtrack so unobtrusive, to edit a lyric to be less specific or private, to leave blanks for the image or message the music now serves. Perhaps the song will still make that essential, head-turning first impression, but it won’t be as memorable or independent.

Music always had accessory roles: a soundtrack, a jingle, a
branding statement, a mating call. But for performers with a public profile, as opposed to composers for hire, the point was to draw attention to the music itself. Once they were noticed, stars could provide their own story arcs of career and music, and songs got a chance to create their own spheres, as sanctuary or spook house or utopia. If enough people cared about the song, payoffs would come from record sales (to performer and songwriter) and radio play (to the songwriter).

. . .

And as music becomes a means to an end — pushing a separate product, whether it’s a concert ticket or a clothing line, a movie scene or a Web ad — a tectonic shift is under way. Record sales channeled the taste of the broad, volatile public into a performer’s paycheck. As music sales dwindle, licensers become a far more influential target audience. Unlike nonprofessional music fans who
might immerse themselves in a song or album they love, music licensers want a track that’s attractive but not too distracting — just a tease, not a revelation.

To me, this is a genuinely persuasive thesis on how marketing use (something this generation blithely accepts) has perceptible detrimental effects on the creative process (something we still hold sacrosanct).

So looking back, Modest Mouse was completely unbiased in the writing of "Gravity Rides Everything," then just by chance Nissan wanted to use it in an ad, and then out of necessity Modest Mouse obliged and made a quick buck, right? So goes the basic narrative of indie rockers using their music in commercial ventures. But maybe, says Pareles, it isn't so simple after all...

-PGJ

Matt Young== 2008 Paulies List

Hi everybody, here's my list of top 10 albums. All in all I'd say it has been not quite as strong as 2007, but still good nonetheless.

1) FLEET FOXES - s/t
I know these guys are getting a lot of critical love this year, but I think it's totally deserved. No album came out this year that I listened to or enjoyed more than Fleet Foxes. One of those great albums that I kept finding new bits to come back to. They come from this strange indie-folk background that I've always liked but never quite loved until now. An altogether outstanding album, and an easy pick for first place for me.

2) M83 - "Saturdays=Youth"
Holy crap I can't stop listening to Kim & Jessie. Solid album too, but Kim & Jessie has to be the single of the year for me (followed closely by Your Protector by Fleet Foxes and Kids by MGMT while we're at it). Completely weird, hypnotic album and an excellent live show.

3) SIGUR ROS - "Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust"
Not a perfect album, but a welcome new direction for this band. I don't think that they're ever going to make another Agaetis Byrjun, which is sad, but this is a nice way to go and probably their strongest effort since. I just wish they'd taken the risks they took on the first half of the album and carried them into the second half as well. Makes me think their next album is going to complete their reinvention.... and as nice as that will be, I'll still hope that someday they'll turn into a metal band.

4) ANDREW BIRD - "Soldier On" (EP)
It's only an EP, but it came out in 2008 and is responsible for getting me hooked on Andrew Bird. The Trees Were Mistaken is beautiful.

5) PORTISHEAD - "Third"
Awesome. Listen to We Carry On.

6) THROW ME THE STATUE - "Moonbeams"
Steve Lenzen turned me on to this band, and they're excellent, generally unheard of find. They sound an awful lot like the Dismemberment Plan's "Emergency & I," especially the song Your Girlfriend's Car. If you like that album you'll like these guys.

7) RATATAT - "LP3"
I listened to the song Shempi and was so convinced that they took the Lost Woods theme from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that I wound up playing my roommates copy of Twilight Princess all the way through just to get back to the lost woods. In other words, huge points for Ratatat.

8) GIRL TALK - "Feed the Animals"
This time he uses Boy Girl song from Aphex Twin, Whoop there it is by Tag Team, No Diggity by BlackSTREET and some Of Montreal. Predictably amazing.

9) MGMT - "Oracular Spectacular"
Kids was everywhere this year, but Time to Pretend and Electric Feel are two other good ones. Good album, but not sure if I'm going to give a damn in a year.

10) FUCK BUTTONS - "Street Horrrsing"
Good stuff... listened to this more than Holy Fuck, which also has cuss words in the name and also sound sort of similar. Are they all trying to be a David Byrne/Brian Eno team though? I dunno, I gotta get my hands on some more David Byrne/Brian Eno albums.



Also listened to this year and think are awesome but made albums not in 2008:
The National
M.I.A.
Andrew Bird
Yeasayer
The Knife
Bill Evans
Sonny Rollins
Yann Tierson

What I'd like to listen to from 2008 but haven't yet:
El Guincho - "Alegranza"
Of Montreal - "Skeletal Lamping"
Cut Copy - "In Ghost Colours"
The Cool Kids - "Bake Sale"
TV on the Radio - "Dear Science"

Disappointments in 2008:
Weezer - the Red Album. Weezer's officially dead to me. That's it. This album is a complete joke. Their songwriting has been outsourced to their fans and they look to chocolate rain for inspiration for (extremely expensive) music videos. I finally realized that this is NOT the same band that put out Pinkerton and the Blue album, and I'm embarrassed that I held out this long to come to that conclusion. I guess I always harbored some sort of notion that the band that put out those two albums must have something still in the tank, but I guess I was wrong. They're just not the same band is all. So f*ck Weezer, f*ck their shitty music, they've criminally abandoned everything that made them worthwhile and now they suck.   ...and thus concludes my disappointments for 2008! [smiley face]



That's it! Thanks Paul... and keep the lists coming -- I usually find some new albums here. Get on it!

Matt

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

NPR's List

It feels like I've been listening to Bob Boilen & NPR's All Songs Considered for years - but maybe it's been just one. All the same, the show recently did their best of/wrap-up episode, and it's very much worth a listen:

Click me

The other essential music radio show-cum-podcast, Sound Opinions out of Chicago, also did their extremely excellent best-of list recently. Check that:

Click here

So listen in and then let's see some lists. 

The Pitchfork 50

In case you haven't seen it yet, Pitchfork just unveiled their top 50 list:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/148001-the-50-best-albums-of-2008

And here's their top 10:

10. DJ/rupture. "Uproot"
9. Hercules and Love Affair. "S/t"
8. M83. "Saturdays=Youth"
7. Vampire Weekend. "S/t"
6. TV on the Radio. "Dear Science"
5. Deerhunter. "Microcastle" / "Weird Era Cont."
4. Cut Copy. "In Ghost Colours"
3. No Age. "Nouns"
2. Portishead. "Third"
1. Fleet Foxes. "S/t"

Only one "old timer" on the list, with Portishead. TV on the Radio making their obligatory best-of appearance (has any band's first three albums made so many critic's lists, ever?). And then all the young dudes, with Fleet Foxes continuing their dominance as the critical darling record of the year.

We're Launching!

While you waste time putting your list together, browse some other lists:

* Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of the Year
* Q Magazine's Best of List
* My record report from Jan., Feb., March 08
* Filter's various lists of best albums