I've been sitting on this one for nearly a full month, and by this point it's damn well time to get this bastard updated (yet again) before I have a true behemoth on my hands.
First off, the rules remain the same as on previous lists, meaning that with the exception of reissues and singles, everything's game: regular albums, compilations, best-ofs, you name it. I've heard every one of these albums the whole way through AT LEAST a few times each. And yes, I've personally purchased every album on this list: none of that Limewire bullshit for me. There's still a veritable cum-dumpster full of albums that will be out in the coming months, so it's safe to say this list will scarcely resemble the one I wind up putting out somewhere around Christmas '08. I'll be putting out a list including all the remaining '08 "Eagerly Anticipated"s that I can think of sometime reasonably soon.
Blah blah blah, shut the hell up, get to the list. Okay. But first, honorable mentions to a couple of album-less singles: Chairlift's sugary sweet "Evident Utensil" and O'Death's galloping "Spider Home." Fine songs, both.
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1.) Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull -- In many ways, this is the most remarkable album in my entire collection: never in my life have I ever encountered anything -- powders, pills and potions included -- that manages to totally and unconditionally soothe, regardless of the circumstances. Seriously. Neighborhood kids making a racket? No worries. Family members driving you up the fucking wall? Not a problem. Car alarms starting to really, really piss you off? BRING THAT SHIT.
I liked Earth's previous incarnation as doomy dronesters, but The Bees' brand of repetitive, dreamy twang totally smokes anything else of theirs that I've heard. Make no mistake, though: this is not good driving music, nor is it much good for drinkin'. (Or, presumably, drinking and driving, although I haven't tested that one out.) And no, this album does not rock. But what it does manage to do is so welcome that I'll be relying on this album for a very, very long time. No joke, sidle on up next to this one and you'll find yourself thinking someone replaced your Folger's Crystals with straight up smack.
2.) The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust -- By reverting to the template put forth on 2003's excellent Chain Gang of Love, Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have once again hit upon a winning combination: perfect melodies, thrifty songwriting, plenty of Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz, near-telepathic harmonies, and their own should-be-patented dirty/sexy aesthetic. Song of the Year candidates: "Dead Sound," "Aly Walk With Me," "Hallucinations."
3.) The Magnetic Fields - Distortion -- Just as on 1999's landmark 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt tosses out a whole mess of poppy goodness, yielding several unmistakable gems in the process. Unlike 69 Love Songs, however, each of Distortion's 3-minute-or-so nuggets are fittingly swathed in a haze of distortion worthy of the finest Jesus and Mary Chain (or Raveonettes) records. A nice collection of songs, even if -- only occasionally, mind you -- you find yourself tempted to hit the skip button for a couple numbers ("Please Stop Dancing" and "Mr. Mistletoe," notably). Song of the Year candidates: "Drive on Driver," "California Girls," "The Nun's Litany" and "I'll Dream Alone."
4.) Blood on the Wall - Liferz -- Immature, lo-fi, garagey, and as fun -- and welcome -- as free blow. Sure, you'll find yourself playing the "sounds like..." game throughout this album, but c'mon, that's part of the fun: brother-sister duo Brad and Courtney Shanks make no attempt to disguise their Sonic Youth/Pixies worship. For the record, according to iTunes this is my most listened-to album of '08. Yay! Song of the Year candidates: "Junkeee... Julieee," "Sorry Sorry Sarah."
5.) Tapes 'N Tapes - Walk It Off -- In what has to be easily the most puzzling hatchet job of the year, famed producer Dave Fridmann overloads these songs to near-unlistenable levels, complete with fartin' bass (check out the first chorus of "Headshock," jeez Louise). It's as though the band sought to erase any memory of the glowing Pavement/Pixies comparisons brought on by their excellent debut, The Loon, and by adding little other than sheer volume, the production manages to completely overwhelm any subtleties these songs could have ever had (there's nothing here as hauntingly understated and beautiful as The Loon's "Manitoba," for example). It's a testament to the strength of the material that several of the songs manage to shine through Fridmann's attempt at making the record sound like a low-bitrate mp3. I for one probably would have preferred hearing the demos. Song of the Year candidates: "Le Ruse," "Time of Songs," "The Dirty Dirty."
6.) Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust -- Much has been made of the band ditching their trademark bowed-guitar sound, but (thankfully) the grandiose, uplifting qualities of Sigur Ros' music remain. When describing this album, it's easy to get bogged down by discussing the most obvious, soundbyte-worthy qualities: there's a song sung in English ("All Alright"), a couple tunes display a newfound jauntiness (most evident on album opener "Gobbledigook"), and the lush orchestration, but make no mistake, this is very much a Sigur Ros record, and a fine one at that. Song of the Year candidates: Lots of good ones, with the flat-out adorable "Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur" leading the pack thus far for me.
7.) The Futureheads - This Is Not the World -- After these guys stunk up the joint with '06's downright putrid News and Tributes, fans had reason to think The Futureheads had completely jumped the shark, but This Is Not the World re-establishes them as juggernauts in the spiky/angular/uber-energetic category of post-punk. Joyous? Fun? Hells yeah, although the band would have done well to throw a couple of downtempo curveballs (think "Danger of the Water" or "Hounds of Love" from the debut album) into the mix, as well as relying a bit more on their awesome four-part harmony vocals. Song of the Year candidate: "Walking Backwards," "The Beginning of the Twist."
8.) Times New Viking - Rip It Off -- What is it about Ohio lo-fi bands? Not since GbV crawled out of the basement for good a little over a decade ago has a lo-fi band been as deserving of excessive critical praise as these guys. In this interview, when asked "what was the tipping point that made you sign with Matador?" Times New Viking guitarist Jared Phillips begins his answer by stating "Alien Lanes," which, without even reading any further, sums things up nicely. And although the melodicism of Rip it Off doesn't necessarily approximate the awesomely schizophrenic kitchen sinkism of mid '90's GbV, the enthusiasm, immediacy and FTW/DIY style does. Song of the Year candidates: "Teen Drama," "The Wait."
9.) Goes Cube - Not What You Thought EP -- Say no more. This band is great, and it's only a matter of time before the powers that be wise up and hand Goes Cube a kickass record deal. Go here to download a new/unreleased/totally asskicking track by these guys. Song of the Year candidates: "Goes Cube Song 57," and the "Goes Cube Song 54" into "Goes Cube Song 50" medley.
10.) Torche - Meanderthal -- Critics have been creaming their collective Levis over Torche's near-perfect blend of heaviness and pop sensibilities, and it's no wonder: these guys are both riff-tastic and hooky at the same time. Song of the Year candidate: "Across the Shields" is probably '08's best so far.
11.) Portishead - Third -- After over a decade of dormancy, Portishead manages to break new ground instead of resting on their trip-hop laurels. As original, inscrutable and downright creepy as ever, Third incorporates the best of elements "old" Portishead by relying on painstaking production and harrowing vocal performances, while still sounding nothing like their previous work. This one's really a "grower;" revealing more with every successive listen; I won't be shocked if Third manages to crawl up nearer the top of the list by year's end. Song of the Year candidate: "The Rip."
12.) Boris - Smile -- It's tough not to compare subsequent Boris outings to their 2006 (or '05, depending on which part of the world you live in) masterpiece, Pink, so why fight it. Like Pink, this album has a few straight-edge barn-burners, some meatier tracks and a lengthy noise suite to cap it all off, and there's nothing nearly as great as "Farewell." This album is still a fine listen without seeming like it required much effort; I'm not sure whether that speaks well or poorly for the band. The real gem here is in the hypnotically dubby "My Neighbor Satan," which evokes the greatness of Bill Laswell's Charged project. Come to think of it, I'd love to hear a Laswell/Boris collab. Make it happen, Southern Lord! Song of the Year candidate: "My Neighbor Satan."
13.) Russian Circles - Station -- I loved '06's Enter (that year's fourth-best record) because it married the flash-fingered virtuosity of thrash to the atmospherics of straight-up post-rock. Like, imagine if somehow Stuart Braithwaite had wandered into a Puppets-era Metallica jam session. (Fuck yeah!) Although Station relies less on guitarist Mike Sullivan's incredible chops -- to the album's detriment, in my opinion -- songs like "Harper Lewis" and especially "Verses" are undeniably beautiful melodies. Song of the Year candidate: "Verses."
14.) The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever -- Some nice instrumentals, some great '90s-ish alt-rock, and some more reflective pieces. Nothing groundbreaking, but still worthy of many, many listens. Song of the Year candidate: "Pinkies."
15.) King Khan and the Shrines - The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines -- If you're into Rhino's incredible Nuggets box set (and who isn't), then this album is for you. Imagine top-notch garage-psych married to throat-shredding classic soul worthy of James Brown himself and you've got a pretty good idea as to what this one sounds like. Song of the Year candidate: "Crackin' Up," a Bo Diddley cover.
16.) Thalia Zedek Band - Liars and Prayers -- Remember when Rick Rubin's late-career recordings of Johnny Cash (notably the cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt") went to great lengths to establish the pain and world-weariness of the man's voice? Liars and Prayers has that in spades, utilizing the band's most unique instrument -- Zedek's voice -- to great effect. Musically and thematically, this album has much in common with previous Zedek outings although here it sounds as though she's been gargling with Dran-O in the intervening years since '04's stellar Trust Not Those in Whom Without a Touch of Madness. Song of the Year candidates: "Body Memory" and "Lower Allston."
17.) Witch - Paralyzed -- I absofuckinglutely loved their debut (#6 on my 2006 Best Of Albums list) and although this one doesn't have anything as immediately awesome as "Seer" or "Rip Van Winkle" it still seriously rocks. This time around, the songs are leaner and faster paced, adding a whiskey-n'-crank-tinged breath of Motorhead to the preexisting Sabbath/stoner template.
18.) The Kills - Midnight Boom -- I felt that The Kills perfected their dark, beat punk/no wave dramas on No Wow, so the slightly gussied-up, gimmicky feel of singles "URA Fever" and "Cheap and Cheerful" is a bit disappointing. Midnight Boom was supposedly heavily influenced by schoolyard chants and cadences, which succeeds most notably on the standouts "Hook and Line" and "Sour Cherry" but comes off as grating on cuts like "Alphabet Pony." Also notable is the successful foray into Luscious Jacksonish territory with the uberchill "Black Balloon." Uneven record but still very listenable and catchy throughout. Song of the Year candidate: "Hook and Line."
19.) Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson -- Not sure what to think of this one. On the one hand, Robinson often manages to evoke greatness in his songs (Dylan, Petty, even Neil Young), but on the other I can't help but be a bit wary that I'm being duped by the whole confessional junkie angle, one to which I'm obviously susceptible (um, Please Kill Me is one of my favorite books). Is this really sincere? To quote Johnny Rotten, "ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Yeah, kinda. Song of the Year candidate: "The Debtor."
20.) Cheap Time - Cheap Time -- These guys sound like Richard Hell fronting the Heartbreakers. Or Johnny Thunders fronting the Voidoids. Or both. Or something. Song of the Year candidate: "Too Late."
21.) Endless Boogie - Focus Level -- These guys have built up quite the cache of hipster cool in all the right ways. They have friends in high places (Stephen Malkmus famously prodded them to open for him at Bowery in '01), cool jobs (Matador art department; professional record collector), they've put out a couple of long out-of-print releases on tiny labels, and uh, apparently they like to party. What they've created is a record perfect for drinkin,' card-playin' and cigar smokin': no worries if ya hafta get up an' take a leak (or blow a rail), the songs will still be chooglin' away when you get back to the table. Song of the Year candidate: "Coming Down the Stairs."
22.) Black Keys - Attack and Release -- See, I'm not such a big fan of garage bands consciously trying to clean up their sound, and this album is a perfect example of why. When critics write about the Black Keys needing to "switch up their aesthetic" and that "things had gotten stagnant," I wonder why everyone just couldn't leave well enough alone. Also, I'd like to humbly invite the Black Keys back into the garage, and Danger Mouse to stick to writing shitty music for retarded twelve year olds.
23.) Jay Reatard - Singles '06-'07 -- Earlier this year, I traveled a total of four hours (two hours there, two back) to catch a Jay Reatard live set at Bowery which clocked in at a robust 23 total minutes. Live, he's a revelation, but on record he falls into the "good not great" category. I haven't heard any of his '08 singles (a few of which are supposed to be fucking awesome), and I'm definitely looking forward to the Matador compilation of said singles which is supposed to be out in a couple of months.
24.) Los Straitjackets - Los Straitjackets in Concert -- I love Los Straitjackets, especially in the live setting, but this album would have benefited from being seriously edited down, to, say, maybe 45 minutes or so. Take the classics ("Casbah," "State Fair," "University Blvd." "Pacifica," etc.) and throw on a bunch of the theme song covers (Batman, Titanic, Munsters, Magnificent Seven, Midnight Cowboy) and you'd have a fine set of songs. As with most live experiences, when you can't actually be there, less is more.
25.) Danava - Unonou -- These days it's stylish to reference Sir Lord Baltimore as an influence, but the first half of this album is likely as close as I've ever heard a modern band come to matching that band's primal greatness. (Sadly, no singing drummer, though.) Along the path of riff-heavy stoner metal, this is miles and miles superior to the Black Mountain record. At times, these guys take the unusual step of basing songs around unconventional Dan Deaconish synth loops, which stand out gloriously amongst the usual crunchy sturm und drang. And, at times, all of this somehow manages to work marvelously. Unfortunately, the album fades a bit down the stretch, ending in a colossally embarrassing misstep with a godawful ripoff of Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand." The first few songs are great, though. Song of the Year candidate: "The Emerald Snow of Sleep."
26.) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges -- My first run-through of this album had me pegging it as the year's worst, and although it does suffer dramatically in comparison to Z or Okonokos, it appears as my intial survey was a bit too harsh. No, it's not awful, but it's not that great either. And put me in the camp that actually likes the mildly controversial "Highly Suspicious" -- it's easily the catchiest song on the record. Also, it's funny to imagine the frowny faces that had to be made in order to record the background vocals. Song of the Year candidate: "Highly Suspicious."
27.) Dub Trio - Another Sound is Dying -- Chops, chops, chops, and more chops on these instrumentals, with very little actual "dub" present, unless you count a couple of brief, spacey interludes crammed between the breakneck mathy riffing. At first one may think Biohazard or Helmet, but I'd say these guys sound most like the latter-day, unappreciated era of Faith No More, which is only fitting considering their place on Mike Patton's Ipecac label, their history as Patton's touring band for his Peeping Tom project, and Patton's turn on guest vocals on the creepy "No Flag."
28.) Howlin' Rain - Magnificent Fiend -- As I've written before, I really, really, really miss Comets on Fire, and it's a bit of an unfair disadvantage to any Howlin' Rain record, even a good one, that it is simply not Comets. And it's not that Magnificent Fiend is a bad record; far from it, but in addition to being a bit too reserved for my tastes it lacks any truly *great* songs (like "Calling Lightning With a Scythe" and "The Hanging Heart" from the self-titled debut). Nonetheless, there are some entertaining instrumental passages, not to mention stunning soloing on "Lord Have Mercy" and "Goodbye Ruby."
29.) Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing -- Another album that's improved the more I've listened. Like much experimental/progressive/ambient, it's probably best listened to on the train home after an exhausting night of excess and debauchery.
30.) Young Knives - Superabundance -- Among their British soundalike counterparts, these guys are better than Kaiser Chiefs but worse than The Futureheads. So they're okay. Their live show is highly recommended.
31.) Crystal Antlers - Crystal Antlers EP -- I saw these guys live recently, and my thoughts on this EP are exactly the same as they were for the live show: with very few minor exceptions, these guys sound exactly like Comets on Fire, who are one of my favorite bands of all time. Not that it makes any sense to award originality for its own sake, but it's still tough for me to unconditionally stamp the seal of approval on such a blatant ripoff, no matter how good it sounds. I'll keep listening to this one, and hopefully eventually I'll figure out something non-derivative about it, in which case it will probably find itself twenty-or-so places higher on the year end list. Hmmm.
32.) Grails - Take Refuge in Clean Living -- I need more time with this one, but thus far I've really enjoyed this when I've been stoned, not so much when I haven't been stoned. I bet these guys get that a lot, though.
33.) Beach House - Devotion -- Some very nice songwriting on this one, but the absolute lack of any dynamics at all makes it sound a bit to pharmied-out to be truly awesome. Song of the Year candidate: "Heart of Chambers."
34.) The Breeders - Mountain Battles -- It's not an awful album, it's just wildly inconsistent. Of course, I was hoping for some garagey GbV-ish pop like Last Splash, but alas that bird has flown. There are a few charming songs ("Here No More," "Overglazed," "Bang On") but there's just too much filler.
35.) Meshugga - Obzen -- The label on the front of this one
reads: "EXPERIENCE THE HEAVIEST, MOST DEVASTATING AUDIO ATTACK EVER
CAPTURED IN 52 MINUTES AND 25 SECONDS" which pretty much sums things
up. The band's assault is relentless and unwavering, with arguably the
most sophisticated bass drumming I've ever heard, but listening to the
full thing in one sitting is (literally) a bit of a beating. Oddly enough, although this album (obviously) sounds nothing like Beach House, both albums are best taken in small doses.
36.) Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts EP -- Not an iota of originality on this one, although the songs are tuneful enough, especially "Shattered Shine" and "Through the Floor." If you think Paul Banks apes Ian Curtis, check this guy out.
37.) Dead Meadow - Old Growth -- On the album's excellent opening track, "Ain't Got Nothing (To Go Wrong)," these guys cultivate an addictive groove, chooglin' along like a whiskey-fueled Creedence jam session. But the act gets old after a few tracks, drifting into jambandish aimlessness and never really taking the listener into balls-out RAWK!!! territory.
38.) Beck - Modern Guilt -- I'm not the world's biggest fan of DangerMouse. And although previous Beck producers have worked wonders with his material, that material was already at least good. Although there are a couple of decent songs on this album, for the most part, the songs are lackluster, matching DangerMouse's "fabled" production beat for dreary beat. I'm hoping this one will be a "grower," but who th' fuck knows.
39.) Robert Pollard - Robert Pollard Is Off to Business -- I've long advocated that Uncle Bob split once and for all with studio svengali/multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias. Not because they're incapable of making good music together: Fiction Man and From a Compound Eye were great; the Bubble and Zoom EPs had their moments, and much of late-period Guided by Voices was recorded with Tobias at the helm. No, it's because somewhere along the way, over the past couple of years, Bob n' Todd forgot how to rock. Although this is Bob's best new record -- including side projects -- since '06's good-not-great Normal Happiness, I'm still uncomfortable with the amount of autonomy Tobias has over the proceedings: remember, in the halcyon days of GbV, Bob was always at his best churning out tunes by the bucketload and recording them with whatever and whomever he had at his disposal at the moment, instead of allowing one (non-Bob) person (Tobias) to play almost all of the instruments himself. While this isn't a bad record, it still sounds mature, and maturity has never suited Uncle Bob. Nor should it.
40.) Birds of Avalon - Outer Upper Inner EP -- To be sure, I need more time with this one but thus far it reminds me a lot of last year's Bazaar Bazaar LP: competent (if unspectacular) music, with a Robin Zander soundalike crowing above it all.
41.) Ratatat - LP3 -- Not gonna lie: I'm not finding that this one merits too many repeat listens. Odd, because there's probably little difference between this and either of their first two records, which I liked. It's possible that the sameness has finally gotten to me.
42.) Oxford Collapse - The Hann Byrd EP -- Many artists have clauses in their contracts stating that the parent label gets first crack at putting out a given release, and if the parent label passes on said release the band is allowed to farm the record out to another label. If that's the case, it's understandable that Sub Pop would have passed on this one. Where Oxford Collapse's previous album, Remember the Night Parties, set the standard for summer rockin' (at least to me), this one falls short.
43.) Growing - Live at Floristree 1.26.08 -- Useless if you're not high, although if you are high you may find the repetitiveness kinda groovy.
44.) Under Byen - Siamesisk -- To me, Under Byen's catalog consists of two types of music: dramatic, white-knuckle post-rock with arty Bjorkish flourishes, and limp new-agey noodling. This EP, recorded with a full orchestra, unfortunately is neither here nor there: neither intriguing enough to warrant multiple listens, nor bad enough to skip outright.
45.) The Sword - Gods of the Earth -- Too samey. Plus, the kinda fuzzy quality of the recording does a band like The Sword -- who should be recorded with precision and clarity in mind -- no favors.
46.) Awesome Color - Electric Aborigines -- One song has the line "there's nothing wrong/with what we say." Au contraire, mon frere: there's everything wrong with what you're saying. Actually, the lyrics are so inexcusably godawful that a perfectly decent Stooges-y raveup is totally ruined. Lots of "right/tonight/light" rhymes, over and over and over a-fucking-gain. Seriously, the guy would have been better just yelling random phonetics or reading out of the phone book.
47.) Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel -- I really wanted to like this one (considering how awesome the Deerhunter album was -- #3 on last year's Best Of Albums list) but you're not going to find any great songs here, although Bradford Cox' DIY sound manipulation and production trickery is amusing at times. All in all just too druggy and tossed-off sounding.
48.) Nine Inch Nails - The Slip -- '07's Year Zero was a crock of unadulterated shit, marrying half-baked political rants (yes, we hate Dubya too, we get it already) to uninspired, rote Trent-by-numbers tunelessness/melody avoidance. Well, the political bile may be gone on The Slip, but the crappy music remains.
49.) Various Artists - Disco Not Disco 1974-1986 -- Again, I have no earthly idea why I picked this up, but if you like your disco lo-fi-ish this might be your cup of tea.
50.) No Age - Nouns -- Meh. Must be yet another sign that I'm getting old, but I think these guys are the most overrated thing out there today.
51.) Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood Soundtrack -- Useless without the context of the movie (which is excellent). I've heard that Master Greenwood apparently ripped off a bunch of other avant-garde-ish composers to make this, which I guess somehow makes it even worse.
52.) Black Mountain - In the Future -- The "heavy" riffs are derivative and uninspired, the folky interludes are substanceless, the songs plod, and that "LITE BRITE LITE BRITE LITE BRITE" bullshit is about as much fun as a kick square in the balls. I like hard rockin' stuff that sounds good when you're high; this album just sounds like the musicians were high when they made it. To quote my pal Beefy D., "this is hard rock for people who like Rusted Root."
53.) Robert Pollard - Superman Was a Rocker -- Take it from this Pollard fanatic: this album fucking sucks. Believe me, nobody wants Bob to step up his game more than I do, but any way you slice it this album is a depressing waste of time/money. Where Bob used to craft incredible melodies seemingly effortlessly, this album just makes him sound tired, old, and lazy.
54.) Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual -- Basically, the musicians are Lords of the Underworld, and the vocalist is a ritalin-ed up Timmy. Lots of screaming over a bedding of non-descript loud riffage. Somewhere, Phil Collins is outraged.
