with little reasons. (Album mini-review-things are kind of okay. the song ones are mostly hella-dumb) BEST ALBUMS AND EPs (LP)Honorable Mention: 808s & Heartbreak; Kanye West... Rabbit Habits; Man Man... Saturdays = Youth; M83... London Zoo; The Bug... New Amerykah Part One - 4th World War; Erykah Badu... Stuff I didn't get a chance to listen to: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds... Sand; Philip Jeck... Cities of Glass; AIDS Wolf... The Chemistry of Common Life; Fucked Up... Overrated as all hell: Dear Science; TV On The Radio ... In Ghost Colours; Cut Copy ... Tha Carter III; Lil Wayne... 25 High Places; High Places Like others have said, a less pretentious Person Pitch-- less pretentious but only barely less good. 24 Traced in Air; Cynic Synth + metal + Jazz = good, somehow. The hyper precise playing never feels pedantic or overdone and the space-y songwriting really shines. 23 Life... The Best Game In Town; Harvey Milk As opposed to the above's mostly smooth floaty feeling among the sludge, this album drenches itself and whatever genre or reference it can find in noisy distortion. 22 Lie Down In The Light; Bonnie "Prince" Billy Songwriting balancing between the subtle and the painfully obvious puts some strangely risque or oddly depressing or sweetly devotional lyrics to uplifting country. 21 Los Angeles; Flying Lotus/Crystal Castles; Crystal Castles It seems wrong but feels appropriate; smooth paradoxically organic instrumental trip-hop tied with harsh ecstatically dystopian chiptune/dance-punk. 20 Vampire Weekend; Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is the complete distillation of Collegiate smugness, but DAMN if they don't turn smugness into an artform. 19 Klutch.xls is Human; Klutch.xls Heartfelt lo-fi dreampop-- simple as that, really. 18 This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That; Marnie Stern Virtuoso fingertapping work melds seamlessly with Stern's cute-as-a-button stream-of-consciousness pop-metal songwriting. 17 Hold On Now,Youngster...; Los Campesinos! Maybe not the best punk or twee or whatever album, but of anything it is the most gleeful, even when the angst hits, Los Campesinos have their tongue in their cheek with vocal interplay to die for. 16 Heretic Pride; the Mountain Goats Darnielle's lyrics always rock, but this album hits a few highpoints both lyrically and compositionally for him, shying away from his usual anti-folk charms for new tricks 15 Devotion; Beach House Smooth warm dreamy slow-core with chilling vocals, this music feels like a pessimist hopelessly in love, floating but still chained. 14 The Mixtape About Nothing; Wale Biting commentary, sarcastic wit, and modern existentialism colour this unique little hip-hop concept album with a concept that is funny in the first place (one big Seinfeld reference). 13 Visiter; the Dodos Dance-folk with sweet lyrics, great musicianship, a sparse production, and superbly tight composition make this more than just a good Animal Collective ripoff group. 12 Nouns; No Age Shoegaze gets a shine with this two-piece's proper debut; simple pieces deceptively more complex than they seem, often too strangely catchy for music that attempts to destroy pop structure. 11 Skeletal Lamping; Of Montreal A sharp departure from Hissing Fauna, Skeletal Lamping warps synthpop and funk to their limits (with occasionally dopey lyrics) and make another great piece. 10 Microcastle; Deerhunter Indie pop with reference to everything from The Ronettes to Neu!, from ABBA to My Bloody Valentine, from Brian Eno to Shit & Shine-- and it works. 09 Weird Era Cont.; Deerhunter If Microcastle was a performed play, this was everything backstage, but there's a certain beauty to watching a great crew work, seeing the process, this "bonus album" makes the whole experience richer. 08 For Emma, Forever Ago; Bon Iver This album is a lonely cabin in the woods; it's harsh, slightly unfinished, but cozy, warm, and intimate; Thoreau wrote Walden, Jules Vernon created For Emma, Forever Ago. 07 Songs in A&E; Spiritualized Like Microcastle, this album is a balancing act. From folky undercurrents, Shoegaze throwbacks, prog-ish arrangements to soul and blues, to pure goddamned pop, this circus doesn't dissapoint. 06 "Couples"; the Long Blondes The giddy funk-punk of two years ago gets a little funkier and a lot bitchier with this outing, owing to some real in-band breakups, makes lovelorn angst a party of a time. 05 Fleet Foxes; Fleet Foxes Some of the best vocal harmony work around and some great folk composition and arrangement are on this confident debut 04 Alegranza!; El Guincho Bedroom Tropicalia; warm mash-up samples, cute summery melodies, Latin rhythms-- this album is a vacation in Spain for 40 minutes. 03 Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel; Atlas Sound The personal introverted side to Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.'s exhibitionism. Mostly calm foggy soft tunes-- but still lots of hints of noise-pop. Themesongs for being sick in bed. 02 Third; Portishead The most frightening album of 2008; unsettling juxtapositions abound with oppressive rhythms and soulful operatic vocals and superbly affecting lyrics. 01 Street Horrrsing; Fuck Buttons. Complete utter noise made into lush beauty. A wasteland cultivated into a strange garden of anthemic drones, tinkling synths, cathartic screams, and hypnotic rhythms. A demon holding your hand and frolicking. (EP) 5 Spectrum, 14th Century- Final Fantasy Final Fantasy's most confident effort, and also its geekiest; a concept-EP about the world Pallett created for D&D makes for some all around great songs. 4 Another World- Antony & The Johnsons Antony Hegarty's affected vocals are just as affecting as ever on this new pseudo-cabaret EP. Features all the old tricks and a few new ones as well, being a preview for the upcoming The Crying Light. 3 Water Curses- Animal Collective The B-sides from Strawberry Jam, essentially, but by no means bad. From the lush, glossy title track to the wide open spaces of "Street Flash", there's some good finds here. 2 No Way Down- Air France One of the most calming records made since Vladislav Delay's Anima or even Eno's Music for Airports. Air France manages to be laid back and relaxing as well as infectiously catchy and tight at once. 1 Sun Giant- Fleet Foxes. More original by just a step or two than Fleet Foxes, which makes all the difference. Chilling vocal harmonies, songs moving from meandering to anthemic on a dime, and unpretentious lyrics make this a small masterpiece of a debut-release. BEST TRACKS Honorable Mention: No Matter What by T.I. ... Gobbledigook by Sigur Rós ...
An Eluardian Instance by Of Montreal ... Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks by
Los Campesinos! ... Alice Practice by Crystal Castles... Collapsing At Your Doorstep by Air France... (songs <6 minutes) 40 Love Lockdown; Kanye West Sure, it's basically minimal-Daft-Punk, yet it's still the most complete artistic statement he's made in years and despite overtness, it's heartfelt and hits hard. 39 The Golden Age; TV on the Radio They may be ripping off LCD Soundsystem, David Bowie, and Prince simultaneously, but they do a fucking great job of it (at least here). 38 Sabali; Amadou & Miriam This is creative synthpop. The build is warm and fuzzy. I guess this blind couple's sense of composition is what got better with the loss of sight. 37 Fools; the Dodos Somehow sparse and aggressive, and also almost quaintly with the energy of disco. 36 Offend Maggie; Deerhoof This quaint little indie pop tune, with faintest hits of Gagaku, is pretty damn cool. 35 The Kramer; Wale Really witty lyrics and really witty sampling/production. 34 See/Saw; Jay Reatard As always, extremely quick excitable and painfully catchy punk rock tune. 33 Lights in the Sky; Nine Inch Nails Maybe I just like this one because it's so painfully different than most of NIN's work? 32 So Everyone; Bonnie "Prince" Billy Maybe Will Oldham's best single tune, richly devotional arrangement, soulful vocals, awesome composition, and lyrics.... About fellatio?... lol, whut? 31 Prime; Marnie Stern Confusing lyrics, comfusing composition, confusing arrangement-- great song. 30 Angry (Feat. Tippa Irae); The Bug (Just go dance to it. Go mosh to it. Whatever) 29 From Stardust To Sentience; High Places Have you ever played EarthBound for the SNES? This is like the sanctuary music. And that is wonderful. 28 Big Trouble; Man Man Like a Cough Syrup trip at Mardi Gras. 27 Round The Hairpin; the Long Blondes Punk-Funk goes Krautrock. 26 Ladies of the World; Flight of the Conchords So it's a dumb comedy song, but seriously: It's honestly clever and even honestly well composed. 25 Knee Deep At ATP; Los Campesinos! The most heartfelt and poignant track they've done. Really smart lyrics and.... stuff. 24 Song For Jo; Scarlett Johansson Her only original off the album is full of lush ambient earthy bliss. 23 Courtship Date; Crystal Castles The perfect balance between the smooth chip-tune of "Untrust Us" and the harsh chip-noise of "Alice Practice". 22 River Card; Atlas Sound Tinkly pop like that of Phil Spector, except by a gay angsty extrovert with Marfan Syndrome. 21 Nothing Ever Happened; Deerhunter Powerful indie-pop, just the right amount of noise, just the right balance of song-to-jam-- leaving you "waiting for something,f or nothing" without sacrificing the awesome. 20 Antillas; El Guincho A rich montage of sounds and rhythms, synched perfectly in this sunny little groove. 19 Heretic Pride; the Mountain Goats How can a song about being burned at the stake be so uplifting and powerful? 18 4 Ghosts I; Nine Inch Nails Reznor may have some trouble with Eno-esque ambience, but he can still make a damn good Industrial instrumental. 17 The Rip; Portishead A chilling arpeggio continuously and loosely plays throughout with heartbreaking vocals probably about either heroin or lesbians. 16 Soul on Fire; Spiritualized A little bit pop, a little bit soul, a little bit shoegaze, a little bit folk-rock, a lotta fucking awesome. 15 Eraser; No Age The most oddly written pop-song in years is also one of the best to come around. 14 White Winter Hymnal; Fleet Foxes Short, sweet, pastoral, beautiful, it is the closest thing to a Christmas Carol actually being a good song. 13 Lovecraft in Brooklyn; the Mountain Goats Tight, tense lyrics mesh perfectly with the semi-hard-rock feel of the song and the terror of the subject matter. 12 You Don't Glow; Klutch.xls Sweet lyrics, cute subject matter, melancholy tone; has anyone made a more beautiful song for their cat? 11 The Wolves (Act I & II); Bon Iver The choral chants and calls drift above a slow steady guitar and the desperate percussion, this song feels like breaking it off with someone, but not really letting go. 10 The Couples; the Long Blondes As clever as it is bitter. She'll just as soon serenade you as she will slap you in the face. 09 Náttúra- Björk Tribal beats to match Mo Tucker or Panda Bear put over creepy-ass samples of Thom Yorke warbling and Björk's first major solo endeavor in Icelandic somehow manages to be better than anything she's put out in ten years. 08 Let The Beat Build; Lil Wayne A one-man-jam of sorts. It's a simple sample replayed simply, Lil Wayne milking it for all its worth in his braggart-y off-the-cuff style. The beat builds better than you could possibly imagine. 07 Walcott; Vampire Weekend Catchy, cute, cheeky, somehow this complete inside-joke of a song works as a great climax to Vampire Weekend's first effort. 06 English House; Fleet Foxes Powerful vocal harmonies soar wonderfully over this strangely catchy art-folk-pop tune. 05 Gila; Beach House The lush textures and layers never turn into kitsch even amongst the nonsensical lyrics. Just a few minutes of foggy candlelit beauty. 04 Water Curses; Animal Collective Lushly arranged, ecstatically performed, and just kind of wacky. 03 Machine Gun; Portishead Portishead try their hand at minimalism and industrial at the same time and by god it works like magic. Black Satanic Death Magic, mind you, but still. 02 Graveyard Girl; M83 The most gloriously adorable, gleefully innocent, and sweet tune of the year. A loving ode to the quaint outsiders? An tongue-in-cheek critique of them? Who cares, you just can't help but love the Graveyard Girl. 01 The Butcher; Final Fantasy. In such a geeky and narcissistic idea as composing music based off your own D&D world is, this works amazingly. Pallett's voice is confident, almost arrogant, as a god figure in this song, selfconciously singing about sacrifces the people of "Spectrum" make to him and thie possible armageddon. As always, Pallet's got a great handle on string composition, but now adds production effects, full brass section and all of it a tour-de-force. (>6 minutes) 10 Feed The Animals; Girl Talk This hour-long megamix would be the most danceable thing if it wasn't so fucking hilarious with its nonsensical mindboggling overlaying and sampling. 09 Poor Jackie; Man Man A long meandering cabaret type tune, and as Weill would have wanted it, about depravity and murder. 08 Blind; Hercules and Love Affair Coming from a man who hates the fuck out of disco: This song kinda rocks. 07 Colours Move; Fuck Buttons A summation of everything off Street Horrrsing, using many samples from earlier in the album, this tracks feels the most dreamlike, ending on the same tinkly synth that begins the album. 06 We Carry On; Portishead One of the most cacophonous pieces from Third, and somehow manages to be danceable and exciting while still being oppressive and depressing. 05 Sweet Love For Planet Earth; Fuck Buttons The best intro a noise-pop/noise-ambient album could get from those two Bristol-ians. Adds one thing after another, building the noise into a lush soundscape, delicate yet violent. 04 Jodi; the Dodos Cryptic ecstatic folk about moving seperate ways-- and encompasses the emotions therein from anger to grief to relief to hope to dread to confusion. 03 Bright Tomorrow; Fuck Buttons The thing everyone says is the best description: The soudtrack for the End-Of-The-World Party. 02 Calvary Scars II Aux Out; Deerhunter The A-side take of a B-side track from the B-disc of an "A" album. Takes the slightly awkwardly worded little tune about Christ's Crucifixion and adds a cool jam that straddles the fence between exciting and ambient. 01 Play Me As Loud As Possible; Tom Bancroft. Maybe it's not say as "original" as Lou Reed's feedback epic Metal Machine Music, but this 13-minute-long 4-track-recorded one-man-jam just plain sounds better. The soundscape feels really full and has more variety and feeling than Reed's album, I'd say. But maybe I'm just being pretentious. BEST OF INDIVIDUAL ASPECTS Composition -Street Horrrsing; Fuck Buttons -Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel; Atlas Sound -Third; Portishead, Lyrics -Who Killed Amanda Palmer; Amanda Palmer -Heretic Pride; the Mountain Goats -"Couples"; the Long Blondes, Vocals -Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP; Fleet Foxes -Third; Portishead -Hold on Now, Youngster; Los Campesinos!, Guitar -This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That; Marnie Stern -Nouns; No Age -For Emma, Forever Ago; Bon Iver, Bass -"Couples"; the Long Blondes -Skeletal Lamping; Of Montreal -New Amerykah Part One - 4th World War; Erykah Badu, Percussion -Visiter; Dodos -Nouns; No Age -Microcastle/Weird Era Cont; Deerhunter, Keyboards -Devotion; Beach House -Vampire Weekend; Vampire Weekend -Saturdays = Youth; M83, Digital -High Places; High Places -Crystal Castles; Crystal Castles -Alegranza!; El Guincho, Samples -Feed The Animals; Girl Talk -Tha Carter III; Lil Wayne -Alegranza!; El Guincho Production -Dear Science; TV On The Radio -For Emma, Forever Ago; Bon Iver -Songs in A&E; Spiritualized. TOP ART Best Album Cover -Who Killed Amanda Palmer; Amanda Palmer -Microcastle; Deerhunter |