total shredder. her last record (in advance of the broken arm) was amazing too.
09. king khan and the shrines - the supreme genius of...
2008 was a great year for throwback garage - and apparently a good year for throwback psychedelia (although i've yet to hear anything as good as say twink, or captain beyond, etc). But this record is a fucking burner front to back - classic king khan, super catchy and succinct. go back and check out the king khan and bar b q stuff too.
08. department of eagles - in ear park
its like the members of grizzly bear can do no wrong.
07. uuvvwwz - 9 songs cd-r
amazing. hard to explain. if the girl from deerhoof didn't speak complete nonsense - they might sound sort of like that. sexy deerhoof. that's what i'll say. limited run of 500 lps from It Are Good Records. 499, because i just ordered one.
06. high places - high places
quote the thrill jockey - "High Places’ songs contain a fascinating range of aural layers: bells and bird calls over a wash of ocean waves; mallets hitting mixing bowls over treated guitar and glockenspiel; Mary's reflective vocals over Rob's homemade beats. The result is an imaginative and spacious amalgamation of sounds with a unique, almost Caribbean undertone that is as immediate as it is refreshing."
05. grouper - dragging a dead deer up a hill
i wanted to include a video here - but there really aren't many good videos of grouper. there's one where she's sitting at a table making one noise for 30 seconds. but i mean, i just described it completely. great haunting, echo-ey amazing record. and easily the best album art of 2008.
04. the war on drugs - wagon wheel blues
digital age americana. a really solid record that mixes the familiarity of springsteen with the shoegaze leanings of my bloody valentine with maybe some electronic sounds... etc.?
03. beach house - devotion
seriously, no words. just watch.
02. the walkmen - you and me
i was one of those people that slept on the walkmen. i always knew they were really good - but i would always pass on going to see them live and never really got excited to hear a new record - etc. aside from their cover of Pussycats i never listened to one of their full albums. this album is ridiculously good. the recording is amazing, and front to back there's not a skip track on it. seeing them live on the tour for this record was the first time i'd been really jealous of a band in a long time. check it.
01. why? - alopecia
easily my favorite and most listened to record of the year. and in 2006, i believe, why? also took my top spot with elephant eyelash. yoni wolf is an amazing songwriter, great lyrics - every project he's involved with is gold.
3 comments:
I didn't listen to a whole lot of new stuff this year, but what I heard was pretty damn okay. You got Beach House right and I didn't even know Dept of Eagles had a new one. Now I have something to look forward to when I get out of work. Also to note:
-the new Radio Dept single, Freddie and the Trojan Horse (it'll be nice if the full length that was supposed to come out in May ever gets released)
-Bodies of Water's A Certain Feeling
-Chuck Regan and Austin Lucas's team-up album Bristle Ridge
-I hear Los Campesinos has a new one. I'm sure it's good. They're a guilty pleasure of mine and guilty pleasures are always good.
-Dead Confederate's Wrecking Ball
-Tokyo Police Club's Elephant Gun
I'm sure a lot more good things came out this year, but I've deliberately kept myself under the musical radar for the better part of '08.
man. i love that bodies of water record. going back to my list at the mid point of 2008 - bodies of water was definitely on it.
i've never heard radio dept. i'll have the check that out.
Yeah, you def need to hear Radio Dept. It's considered "Nu Gaze" (fucking idiotic label yet oddly fitting), but the new single is probably the poppiest they've done. It's definitely danceable. It's also their first blatantly political song. Sounds like Sweden deals with the same bullshit we do.
I forgot to add the new M83 album. There's a couple of songs that fall a bit short, but overall it's typical, beautiful, brilliant M83.
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