Tuddd's Muddd

The 99 Best Songs of 2009

Okay.  So, late last year, I spent all day putting together a list of my 75 favorite songs of 2008, complete with mp3s of *rare live versions* of many of the songs and links to videos on YouTube of the songs being played live.  And again, it's not like I really care about how many page views this blog gets, but it's a bit of a sobering deal when a list you've slaved over gets fewer hits than a picture of Grimace saying "Fuck Tim".  I mean c'mon now, people.

So, needless to say, this list took less work than that.  How much less, you ask?  Enough that I'm not even going to finish this intr

------

1.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero" -- Yup, it's clicheed.  In fact, one could question the point of maintaining still yet another crappy blog tagging It's Blitz as Album of the Year and "Zero" as the year's finest song.  While we're on the subject, one could probably also question the utility of playing Baseball Stars for like 17 straight hours. But then again one should probably just get off my case. 

2.) The Crocodiles - "I Wanna Kill" -- Posing + Preening + Hilariously bad lyrics + THE GREATEST CHORUS IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC EVER.

3.) Boston Spaceships - "How Wrong You Are" - This is the best *new* song Robert Pollard has written since "The Best of Jill Hives" in 2003.  Yes, there have been some good-to-great songs since then, but many of them ("Go For the Exit," "Be It Not for the Serpentine Rain Dodger," "Accidental Texas Who," etc.) are gussied-up versions of stuff he came up with forever ago.  Not so this one.  As if you care.

4.) Pissed Jeans - "False Jesii pt. 2" -- If I were to begin regularly dancing in a manner befitting this song, the world would have many, many more falling chandeliers.

5.) Jay Reatard - "There Is No Sun" -- Mr. Reatard slows it down, throws on some strings, and winds up with what sounds like "Don't Stop Now"'s misanthropic cousin. 

6.) Smith Westerns - "My Heart" -- These lo-fi kiddies' finest song.  Awesome guitar lick at the end kills me every time. 

7.) The Thermals - "Bottom of the Sea" -- This song has a simplicity to awesomeness ratio of 1.

8.) A Place to Bury Strangers - "Ego Death" -- If you've seen APTBS at any point over the last two years you've probably seen them open their set with this (I always thought it was called "Gimme Acid").  Oliver Ackerman sounds like Peter Murphy on this one. 

9.) Baroness - "The Gnashing" -- Sounds a lot like Torche's "Across the Shields," a/k/a '08's second best song.

10.) Wolfmother - "Far Away" -- Let me see your cigarette lighters!  

11.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Skeletons"

12.) The Raveonettes - "Bang"

13.) Kylesa - "Unknown Awareness"

14.) Big Business - "The Drift"

15.) Crippled Black Phoenix - "200 Tons of Bad Luck"

16.) Kylesa - "To Walk Alone"

17.) Fuck Buttons - "Olympians"

18.) Crippled Black Phoenix - "Rise Up and Fight"

19.) The Thermals - "How We Fade"

20.) Pelican - "What We All Come to Need"

21.) Heartless Bastards - "The Mountain"

22.) The Antlers - "Two"

23.) The Thermals - "When I Died"

24.) Death - "Politicians In My Eyes"

25.) Fever Ray - "Triangle Walks"

26.) A Place to Bury Strangers - "In Your Heart" (Cereal Spiller remix)

27.) Atlas Sound (ft. Laetitia Sader) - "Quick Canal"

28.) Built to Spill - "Oh Yeah"

29.) BOAT - "Interstate 5"

30.) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "The Tenure Itch"

31.) The Crocodiles - "Sleeping With the Lord"

32.) Built to Spill - "Things Fall Apart"

33.) Crippled Black Phoenix - "444"

34.) The Raveonettes - "Wine"

35.) King Khan & BBQ Show - "Anala"

36.) Baroness - "Swollen and Halo"

37.) Dan Deacon - "Red F"

38.) The Raveonettes - "Break Up Girls!"

39.) A Place to Bury Strangers - "Keep Slipping Away"

40.) Russian Circles - "Malko"

41.) Kylesa - "Scapegoat"

42.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Runaway"

43.) Built to Spill - "Done"

44.) Crippled Black Phoenix - "A Hymn for a Lost Soul"

45.) Oxford Collapse - "Search Party"

46.) Goes Cube - "I Hold Grudges"

47.) King Khan & BBQ - "I'll Be Loving You"

48.) Julian Plenti - "Only If You Run"

49.) The Thermals - "I Let it Go"

50.) The Crocodiles - "Summer of Hate"

51.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Little Shadow"

52.) Smith Westerns - "Tonight"

53.) Red Fang - "Whales and Leeches"

54.) The Raveonettes - "Suicide"

55.) A Place to Bury Strangers - "Dead Beat"

56.) Julian Plenti - "Games for Days"

57.) The Thermals - "You Dissolve"

58.) Heartless Bastards - "Witchy Poo"

59.) Goes Cube - "Saab Sonnet"

60.) Cheeseburger - "Commin' Home"

61.) Fuck Buttons - "The Lisbon Maru"

62.) Your Nature - "Sands"

63.) Pissed Jeans - "Half Idiot"

64.) Dead Mellotron - "I Hate the Way Things Are"

65.) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Young Adult Friction"

66.) Sian Alice Group - "Close to the Ground"

67.) White Denim - "All Consolation"

68.) Them Crooked Vultures - "Elephants"

69.) Maximo Park - "The Kids Are Sick Again"

70.) Fever Ray - "If I Had a Heart"

71.) Wolfmother - "Caroline"

72.) Melvins (remixed by John Duncan) - "AAHHH"

73.) Pissed Jeans - "Dream Smotherer"

74.) Seventh Void - "Heaven is Gone"

75.) Fuck Buttons - "Surf Solar"

76.) Alice in Chains - "A Looking in View"

77.) Goes Cube - "Bluest Sky"

78.) Times New Viking - "Those Days"

79.) White Denim - "Sex Prayer"

80.) Dex Romweber Duo - "Picture"

81.) Wolfmother - "Back Round"

82.) Boston Spaceships - "A Good Circuitry Soldier"

83.) Portishead - "Chase the Tear"

84.) Dinosaur Jr. - "Oceans in the Way"

85.) LiveFastDie - "Amputated"

86.) A Place to Bury Strangers - "I Lived My Life to Stand in the Shadow of Your Heart"

87.) Wolfmother - "California Queen"

88.) Franz Ferdinand - "Ulysses"

89.) The Dead Weather - "I Cut Like a Buffalo"

90.) Heartless Bastards - "Sway"

91.) Crippled Black Phoenix - "Burnt Reynolds"

92.) Baroness - "A Horse Called Golgotha"

93.) O'Death - "Mongoloid"

94.) LiveFastDie - "Camero Shit the Bed"

95.) Goes Cube - "The Only Daughter"

96.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Hysteric"

97.) Dead Mellotron - "I Woke Up"

98.) The Dead Weather - "60 Feet Tall"

99.) Jay Reatard - "It Ain't Gonna Save Me"

The 10 Best Albums of 2009

 

    Ah, 2009; I barely knew ye.  Not.  This was one hell of a long-ass year.  Personally, I flirted with sobriety and vegetarianism for a couple of months before finally realizing, "that's gay."  I remained careerless, volunteering full-time for about 6 months at a not-for-profit before realizing that I loathe the residents (and transients) that populate the particular neighborhood in the Bronx where the not-for-profit was located with such vitriol that a stroke couldn't be too far off in my future.  Not to mention that the scumbags who worked there also misled me about the eventuality of me being offered a paying job, but to paraphrase a great American, "it'll take more than you semi-literate cheese-dicks to wipe the smile offa my face."  A healthy dose of holiday flatulence to you all.  BRAAAAAAP!!!!

    Otherwise, '09 was okay.  My first foray into the lucrative world of selling useless crap to morons on eBay has gone decently.  It's nice for a change to be spending time doing something where my success is directly analogous to how much work I put in.  Also, for the second straight summer I managed to avoid making any real super-close drug buddy-type friends in Brooklyn, which is good for both my liver and my nostrils/septum.  ["Hell is other people, of course..." --Stephin Merritt]  I continued my absurd show-going schedule, as well, seeing over 90 shows in a calendar year for the third year running.  Not to toot my own horn, but for a fat piece of shit, I kinda rock. 

    Of course, 2009 was also the year that I began flagrantly shirking my self-mandated (or not mandated!  T'heh!) duties here at the Muddd.  Looking back over my year's editorial output (or lack thereof!  T'heh!) there's a definite slowdown in comparison to previous years, but the real ass-dragging began in earnest in mid-October.  Starting October 15th, each successive weekend was jam-packed with gratuitous self-indulgence of the finest order.  In order, thru early December, accounting for every weekend:

--Cruise to Bahamas;

--Bachelor Party in Delaware;

--Trip to Los Angeles; weekend in the desert at a music-festival-that-shall-go-unnamed;

--Wedding at a Yacht Club in a lovely south Jersey resort town;

--my own birthday, celebrated at a Metallica concert at MSG;

--Splendid wedding at a picturesque, historic hotel in Pennsylvania;

--Thanksgiving with the fam;

--A bunch more shows at MSG by a band that shall go nameless; trip to Charlottesville with friends to see the same band.

(Note: this is not to be taken as an excuse for why I stopped Muddding.  I'm just bragging.)

    So, here we are, and it's year-end list time.  W00t W00t!  The rules for this are the same as always: pretty much anything is fair game here except reissues.  And for the record I heard over eighty albums during '09 in preparation for writing this very list.  More lists will follow over the next couple of weeks.

    Anyway, on with the show.

------ 

   

1.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz -- Man oh man.  I spent pretty much all year trying to pretend like this wasn't the best album of 2009, secretly hoping that each successive new release would top It's Blitz and knock it out of the coveted (bwahaha) top Muddd slot.  And why?  Self-loathing New Yorker reverse-envy?  Maybe.  Because I think many of their earlier efforts are super-overrated?  Possibly.  Because '07's Is Is EP represented such an awesome sonic transformation for the YYYs and I was kinda hoping they'd continue in that noisy, crunchy vein?  Yeah, kinda.  Is it because Brian Chase was the catcher on my junior high baseball team (true story)?  Who knows. 

    But fuck it.  (And while I'm at it, "fuck you" too, pal.)  To quote Professor Murder (the fictional one), "the science is too tight."  The songwriting here is *incredible*, and the production is so masterful it borders on sheer arrogance.  And what a hodgepodge of jamz: you get your coked-up ravers, tingly-hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck ballads, and all modes of discoey shit over the course of these ten tracks.  Yes, a song (or songs) for all seasons.  If the damn kids today had any idea what good music sounded like, this would have been the album of choice blaring from convertibles, dorm rooms, and "portable music players" galore.  And maybe it was.  (I don't know any kids.)   

------

2.) The Thermals - Now We Can See -- Okay, fine, the answer to your question is "no."  And the question is "is it better than The Body, The Blood, The Machine?"  Okay, I take that back; the answer is "fuck no" and a playful-yet-steadfast cockpunch.  But so what.  Despite being dragged down ever-so-slightly by a few sappy turds and being largely devoid of "Here's Your Future"-style thrasherz, the artists formerly known as Hutch n' Kathy manage more often than not to make the mid-tempo three chord deal not only worthwhile, but rockin', fist-pumpingly joyous, and poignant all at the same time.  And you can't beat that with a bat.   

------

3.) Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy -- "What about Canada" indeed.  To me, this is the most *consistent* Built to Spill album ever, with the usual peaks n' valleys smoothed out into a (mostly) pleasantly pleasurable listening experience.  The album's first half consists mostly of mid-tempo guitar rockin' pieces, with side B taking it down a notch into more slower/introspective/stoned territory.  To be sure, any of the album's final 5-or-so songs would have fit neatly as a sweet album closer.  But yeah, one hell of a solid album.  As Doug Martsch sings on "Things Fall Apart," "don't know how to say thanks for being alive."  Right back atcha, kind sir. 

------

4.) Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport -- Not sure how else to put this, but this album splits the difference ALMOST EXACTLY between Dan Deacon and Yanni.  In other words, awesome.

------

5.) Baroness - The Blue Record -- I liked the shit out of 2007's Red Album (#15 on that year's year-end best-of list), but noted -- rather dickishly, in retrospect, that the vocals were kinda boring.  Well, whaddya know: The Blue Record's singing is better- a whole heaping shitload better.  And they've ramped the urgency on this one to the point of their debut EP, "First," while further refining their bonecrushingly southern-fried sound.  For those who care about such things, "The Gnashing" winds up rivaling Torche's "Across the Shields" as catchiest heavy song of the decade.  Fuckin' great album, and Baroness are truly a great fuckin' band, even if this asshole doesn't think so. 

-----

6.) Crippled Black Phoenix - The Resurrectionists/Night Raider -- As hackish (guilty as charged!) as this comment may seem, the length of this double album is really n' truly both it's best and worst quality.  Yes, the bloated run time allows for some flat out time-wasters (like the main offenders from 2007's A Love of Shared Disasters), but the great tracks are almost too well-executed to be true.  The fact that a lot of the material sounds... how you say... "familiar" leads one to think that it's a ton of ripoffs, which isn't exactly the case.  It's more that the ambience is nice n' cozy n' warm and, yes, "familiar," and who on god's green earth doesn't like nice n' cozy n' warm?!  Seriously, it's fucking freezing outside!  OK, fine, I admit it; they're shamelessly aping Pink Floyd pretty much throughout the entire album.  Happy?

------

7.) King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl -- DON'T WORK BLUE KID, YOU'LL NEVER WORK THE BIG ROOMS!  Mercy me, I just can't get enough of this Nuggets-meets-Sam-Cooke-meets-bathroom-wall-poetry nonsense.  For all the retardedness of the lyrics to "Anala" (yes, it's about what you're thinking), if you don't melt with the middle "ooo-ooo-ooo" doo wop-inspired section then I just don't know what to tell ya, bub.  If you're the type of person who's easily offended by off-color song lyrics you'll probably want to hurl, but then again if that's you, you should probably eat a box full of these. 

------

8.) Kylesa - Static Tensions -- These guys own sludge.  Herein lie at least three legit song-of-the year contenders, and the (slightly) lesser stuff is damn good too.  But make no mistake: this is not simple paint-by-numbers stoner pablum (see: Black Math Horseman): there's enough muscular crunch and polyrhythmic dizziness to keep you on your toes whether you've been ripping phat tubez or not.  But to be safe, go rip some tubez anyway.  And not that you asked but their live show is also amazing.

------

9.) The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control -- Considering how much I love this fucking band (2003's Chain Gang of Love is, in my estimation, the finest album by anyone ever), it makes sense that I'm hypercritical of each successive release.  And with all the public hemming and hawing about the Raves searching for a new producer for In and Out of Control, it's odd that the production is so godawful on this one.  To wit:

--2002- Whip It On - raw, garagey production befitting the minimal nature of the songwriting.  Self-produced.

--2003- Chain Gang of Love - helmed by Richard Gottehrer, the guy who wrote songs like "I Want Candy" and "My Boyfriend's Back," and produced Blondie.  GREAT production, mixing J&MC distortion with girl group sweetness, which pretty much defines the successful aspects of the Raves' whole friggin' aesthetic to this day. 

--2005- Pretty in Black-- production largely bereft of distortion, but still manages to retain the trademark Raves darkness.  Gottehrer again. 

--2008- Lust Lust Lust-- self-produced, with the distortion back at the fore.  "Aly Walk With Me" has a minute-plus "distortion solo," for fuck's sake.  Also in '08 they put out a bunch of EPs that were experimentally well-meaning even if all the music contained therein wasn't always up to snuff.  Nothing wrong with screwing around with the ol' blueprint every so often.

--2009- In and Out of Control-- back again to less distortion.  Somehow, Thomas Troelson manages to make these songs sound like a bunch of fucking demos what with all the boxiness and compression.  

    One of these things is not like the other things.....

    Seriously though, how do you fuck this up?  Fortunately, the songwriting of Sune Rose Wagner is still there, as it presumably always will be.  

------

10.) Melvins - Pick Your Battles -- I'm guessing I like live albums more than you do.  Which begs the question- why did I leave the recent Nirvana Live at Reading set off my list?  Well, to be honest, I forgot.  But frankly my dear, I've had that show in perfect-crystal-clear-soundboard quality for several years in bootleg form, so it's a little tough for me to get excited over something I've been eviscerating for the sake of mixtape betterment over the last 6 years or so. 

    Why do I bring this up in the middle of a review for a Melvins record?  Well, speaking as someone who's read nearly every Melvins interview that exists on the web (and there's plenty), it's tough not to notice that practically every interviewer ever brings up the Melvins'/Nirvana connection at some point.  Infuriatingly, it's not just clueless n00bz that fall prey to this; even the seemingly "hipper" interviewers manage to get in an annoying question or two about "how annoying it must be that EVERYBODY STILL ASKS THEM ABOUT KURT COBAIN."  Dude, you're doin' it too!  Sheesh!  (And now, so have I, sorta.  Ah crap).

    Anyway, this particular record consists of about 18 minutes of early-ish Melvins stuff from a show played in Berkeley 20 years ago, and 40+ minutes of music from two different shows from Boston in '08 (with the dudes from Big Business, of course).  And it's not that the greatness of the song list that makes this a worthwhile outing, but more that the Melvins are great live.  Riff after riff after riff after riff.  Good shit.

------

I'll eventually have more reviews up.  Who knows when that will be, though.

The 75 Best Songs of 2008

   

    Yes, this is just like thousands of other crappy blog lists that you'll come across, with one wrinkle: in honor of the spirit of giving/sharing that accompanies the holiday season (and because sharing is caring, duh) I figured I'd give a little something back to those of you who happen to traipse through this here Muddd, in the form of primo tunage.  However, since I'm not too keen on giving away copyrighted stuff, I've tried to include kickass high quality *live* bootlegged versions of as many songs on the below list as I could find.  I say "tried" because a few of these are pretty poor quality-wise, and because (obviously) I wasn't able to track down live versions of anywhere near every song.  (Anyone have any Cheap Time bootlegs?  How about Cheeseburger?  Blood on the Wall?  Didn't think so.)

    That being said, the way in which this list was executed was pretty fucking retarded, since I'm just now realizing shit like I forgot to put any King Khan on here, among other notable omissions.  The only real rule is that I'm not including tracks from live albums which already have been put out on albums, otherwise this list would be full of Thermals and Los Straitjackets songs.  Again, since I'm already noticing my own errors on the list ("Go for the Exit" should be way higher, for one), I'll probably use the comments section to amend errors.  Actually, after having spent damn near a full day on this, it's more likely that I'll never actually look at this list again. 

    Nonetheless, blah blah blah, on with the list.  To avoid confusion, the arrow thingies ------> signify a downloadable mp3, and pretty much any other link goes to somewhere on YouTube.  Don't say I never did nuthin' for ya.

------------

1.) "Nothing Ever Happened" by Deerhunter    ------>Download 06 Nothing Ever Happened

Notes: I'm looking to poach as little as possible here... NYC taper has a couple good recordings from Deerhunter shows this year here and here, both of which I attended.  The best live version of this song I've ever seen/heard is on Youtube here, from Baeble music's capture of the song of August's McCarren Park show (with soundboard audio!) which I also went to. 

2.) "Evident Utensil" by Chairlift                     ------>Download Chairlift 2008-11-19 

Notes: This download is actually a 12-minute long mp2 of Chairlift's November BBC session, and as such it's comprised of the following tracks: 1- introduction/interview 2- Bruises 3- interview 4- Evident Utensil 5- closing comments.  Also, here's a live video from the After the Jump Festival, which I actually attended, skipping Chairlift's set because I had no idea who they were at the time.  Boooo me. 

3.) "Across the Shields" by Torche                   ------>Download 07 Across the Shields 

Notes: I'm aware that this MP3 doesn't sound that great, but high quality Torche boots are apparently tough to come by; I have a couple other live versions of this song with this one being the least awful.  Watch this for the best Youtube has to offer for this song.

4.) "Dead Sound" by The Raveonettes            ------>Download 02 Dead Sound 

Notes: This is the best of the six live versions that are currently littering Tuddd Archives... a fantastic recording right here.  Here's the music video (prob'ly the best music video I've seen all year), and here's video of a sweet-ass acoustic version.

5.) "Heart of Chambers" by Beach House

Notes: Yeah, no luck on finding live audio versions of this anywhere, but here's the music video.

6.) "California Girls" by The Magnetic Fields    ----->Download 1-02 California Girls

Notes: Drastically different arrangement than the feedback-swathed album version.  More of a chamber pop thing going on here, which is nice, and here's a video version of the same performance the download is from.

7.) "The Day That Never Comes" by Metallica    ------> yeah, not gonna happen.

I actually have an excellent live version of this song but I'm not about to unleash Metallica's phalanx of lawyers upon myself.  Here's an oddly truncated live version from Jools Holland and here's the actual music video.

8.) "Twilight at Carbon Lake" by Deerhunter     ------>Download 12 Twilight at Carbon Lake

Notes:This version is okay, but (again) head here for a superior version captured by NYC taper.  Live video: check.

9.) "Verses" by Russian Circles

Notes: I got nuthin' mp3-wise.  Here's a good version from Youtube though.

10.) "Walking Backwards" by The Futureheads

Notes: Again, a big fat fucking donut.  Here's the puppet-infested music video, although I'll warn you that it's a music video which is presented in the style of "the making of the music video," which is annoying and gay. 

11.) "For Malena" by Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog

Notes: Yeah, nada.  Who knows if this song has ever even been performed live.

12.) "The Nun's Litany" by The Magnetic Fields        ------>Download 2-08 The Nun's Litany

Notes: Just as "California Girls" above, this "Disortion" nugget gets the chamber-pop treatment.  Shirley Simms handles vocals on the album version, but live Stephin Merritt takes the reins.  Here's an interview/solo performance (with bouzouki!) starring Merritt.

13.) "Hallucinations" by The Raveonettes        ------>Download 01 intro _ Hallucinations 

Notes: Has a brief KCRW tag at the beginning, but fuck yeah it's a great version.  This is an awesome pro-shot live video of the song.

14.) "That Was Just Your Life" by Metallica   

Notes: See #7 above.  Same story here.  This is an excellent live version, complete with creepy/lame staged "backstage all access" retardedness.  To avoid the poopy parts, skip to about 3 minutes in.

15.) "Aly Walk With Me" by The Raveonettes    ------>Download 06 Aly, Walk With Me 

Notes: Man, KCRW sure knows how to mix the Raveonettes, which is more than I can say for some music venue soundguys.  (Terminal 5, I'm looking at you.) Live/acoustic version here, and Sune n' Sharin discuss the song (rather inanely) here.

16.) "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" by David Byrne and Brian Eno ------>Download 02 Everything That Happens Will Happ

Notes: Anyone know why he didn't do a show in NYC on the last tour?  Anybody?!

17.) "Drive On Driver" by The Magnetic Fields     ------>Download 2-07 Drive On, Driver

Notes: Third of four songs on this list from Distortion.  Here's a live video from Oslo.

18.) "The Rip" by Portishead                            ------>Download 02

Notes: Great song.  Radiohead digs it, too. 

19.) "Sick and Tyred" by Times New Viking       

Notes: Nothing to offer, although this implies that there's a forthcoming music video.  Huzzah.

20.) "Highly Suspicious" by My Morning Jacket    ------>Download 2-10 Highly Suspicious

Notes: I was tempted to use the version from their June show at Radio City (which I attended), or the one from their legendary Bonnaroo set (which I didn't), but this version just sounds better.  This is the video of the performance from Bonnaroo.

21.) "Hook and Line" by The Kills                     ----->Download 03 Hook and Line

Notes: Rare acoustic version.  I think I remembered reading somewhere that this was the first time they had performed this song ever, which explains the brief confusion at the beginning.  Here's a live video from Glasgow, missing the first few seconds of the song, but shot in black and white from pretty much underneath VV. 

22.) "Goes Cube Song 54" > "Goes Cube Song 50" by (you guessed it) Goes Cube

Notes: Can't find anything relevant videowise.

23.) "Junkee.... Julieeee" by Blood on the Wall

Notes: Watch this.

24.) "Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur" by Sigur Ros        ------>Download 06 Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur

Notes: Flat-out frickin' adorable.  Here's the "official video" and here's a live video of the song from LA.

25.) "The Crippled Jazzer" by Marnie Stern

Notes: Oddly enough, I couldn't find anything for this song, but check below for the "Transformer" video.

26.) "Never Stops" by Deerhunter                    ------>Download 02 Never Stops

Notes: Once again, allow me to direct you towards the NYCTaper website for a superior version.  Live video: I was at this show.

27.) "Time of Songs" by Tapes 'n Tapes

Notes: I couldn't find anything, although I'm starting to wonder why I didn't put "Headshock" on this list somewhere.

28.) "Ain't Got Nothin' (To Go Wrong)" by Dead Meadow    ------>Download 02 Ain't Got Nothing (To Go Wrong)

Notes: Live video here.

29.) "Coming Down the Stairs" by Endless Boogie

Notes: I got nothin'.

30.) "Half Asleep" by School of Seven Bells                ------>Download 06 Half Asleep

Notes: Best I could find on the video front was this partial. 

31.) "Goes Cube Song 57" by Goes Cube                        ------>Download Goes Cube - Song 57

Notes: Here's a version of this song from a show I was actually at.  Warning: volume is super low on this one.

32.) "Chemtrails" by Beck                                           

Notes: This guy has a live mp3 available, and here's a live video.

33.) "Jellybean" by Cheeseburger                                ------>Download Cheeseburger - Jellybean 

Notes: That's from the a sampler which was put out to promote Cheeseburger's Vice/Colt 45 tour.  Videos from that tour's stop at Glasslands are available here; look closely enough and you'll notice me drunkenly grabbing for the mic throughout the set.  Cringe.

34.) "My Neighbor Satan" by Boris                            ------>Download 1-07 My Neighbor Satan pt. 1

Notes: This one was split into 2 halves, so the second half is here: ------>Download 1-08 My Neighbor Satan pt. 2 _ intro

35.) "Batcat" by Mogwai                                               ------>Download Mogwai2008-09-13t14_vbr

Notes: Head over to Archive.org for way too much live Mogwai.  Live footage here; music video here.

36.) "Turn Tail" by Young Knives                                ------>Download Young Knives 2008-08-26

Notes: Just like the entry for Chairlift above, this one is an mp2 from a BBC session.  This one's a little longer, lasting about 17 minutes.  The tracklisting: 1- intro/interview 2- Dyed in the Wool 3- interview 4- Turn Tail 5- closing comments.  High quality/pro-shot live footage here.  Official video here.

37.) "Sorry Sorry Sarah" by Blood on the Wall

Notes: Indeed, the cupboard is bare on this one, so y'know what?  Here's a video of another awesome song of theirs with a chick's name in the title.

38.) "World Long Gone" by Scars on Broadway

Notes: Haven't seen any live audio circulating from Daron Malakian's post-SOAD band, but here's a live video and here's the actual (censored) big-budget music video for the song.

39.) "Teen Drama" by Times New Viking                    ------>Download 05 Track 05

Notes: For your viewing pleasure, live video.

40.) "The Dirty Dirty" by Tapes 'n Tapes

Notes: I've seen these guys twice and both times there's been an absolutely awful sound mix, which fortunately isn't the case here.

41.) "Too Late" by Cheap Time

Notes: "Too Late" is the first song on this video.

42.) "I Hate Nobody" by Oxford Collapse

Notes: Zero-zip-zilch-no-nada-none-nothing.

43.) "Young and Beautiful" by The Raveonettes

Notes: I don't think they've played this song live yet, so I think I'll go against the constraining motif of this list and cheat a little. 

44.) "Block My Eye" by Death Vessel

Notes: The well appears to be dry.

45.) "I Got Mine" by The Black Keys                        ------>Download 03

Notes: Live on Letterman!

46.) "They Say" by Scars on Broadway

Notes: Sweet live version or official music video version.

47.) "Le Ruse" by Tapes 'n Tapes

Notes: Couldn't find anything, not that I looked all that hard.

48.) "The Emerald Snow of Sleep" by Danava

Notes: I have a few boots from their '08 tour, but they didn't play this song on any of 'em.  Maybe it's tough to reproduce the synth loops live?  Who the fuck knows.

49.) "Lost Coastlines" by Okkervil River                ------>Download 10 Lost Coastlines

Notes: Video of the first time they ever played this live.  Also, the music video.  YAY!!!

50.) "Pinkies" by The Big Sleep

Notes: Here's a cool unplugged version of the song.

51.) "Lower Allston" by Thalia Zedek Band

Notes: Never seen Thalia Zedek/Come boots anywhere. 

52.) "Billy Fish" by The Melvins                        ------>Download 04 Billy Fish [9_14_08 Netherlands]

Notes: Live video.

53.) "Shiller" by Ratatat

Notes: Live video right here.

54.) "Face to Face on High Places" by School of Seven Bells

Notes: Live video.  Probly their most MBV-influenced song.

55.) "One Fine Day" by David Byrne and Brian Eno        ------>Download 01 One Fine Day [11_8_08 Upper Darby

Notes: Here's a video of the Young at Heart chorus backing up DB.  Friggin' beautiful.

56.) "Sinking the Blade" by Early Man

Notes: I was totally expecting not to be able to post anthing for this song, so I was pleased to find this.

57.) "Silence" by Portishead

Notes: I have a live version of this badboy but it's ruined by static.  This isn't a bad consolation prize, though.

58.) "Another Person" by Jay Reatard

Notes: I just looked at the clock, and apparently I've been working on this useless list for 7 straight hours, stopping only to make a sandwich.  Starting to hate myself. 

59.) "I'll Dream Alone" by The Magnetic Fields

Notes: Yeah, I got nothing.

60.) "Transparency" by White Denim

Notes: Welcome to donut city, population Tuddd.

61.) "Bruises" by Chairlift

Notes: See above (#2 on the list specifically) for a download that includes this song.

62.) "Spider Hole" aka "Vacant Moan" by O'Death        ------>Download 03 Spider Home

Notes: The song comes named two different ways: "Spider Hole" on the single, and "Vacant Moan" on the record.  Of the two I prefer the rougher single version.

63.) "Buriedfed" by Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

Notes: Music video here.  Live footage here.  My life in here.

64.) "Bruno's Torso" by Death Vessel

Notes: jklfasdjklsdfjakljasdlksdjaklajfklsdjfklajsdklafjsdklafjsdklajfsdklajflas.

65.) "Transformer" by Marnie Stern

Notes: Music video here.

66.) "Without a Sound" by Torche

Notes: See #64.

67.) "Crooked Head" by Fucked Up

Notes: Daytrotter has a great live version of this song, along with others, here.  And here's live footage of this song from their marathon 12 hour show in NYC.

68.) "Sweet Love for Planet Earth" by Fuck Buttons    ------>Download 05 Sweet Love for Planet Earth [2_12

Notes: Live video.

69.) "We're Gonna Rise" by The Breeders                    ------>Download 10 We're Gonna Rise

Notes: Yes! We have no videos.  We have no videos today!

70.) "Shempi" by Ratatat

Notes: Live video here.

71.) "Shea Stadium" by Marnie Stern

Notes: Yeah, right.

72.) "Four Beds for Boat" by BOAT

Notes: Scrappy, scrappy, scrappy!

73.) "Eye" by Witch

Notes: I found nothing, but face it, "Witch Eye" is pretty much search engine-proof.

74.) "Go for the Exit" by Boston Spaceships                ------>Download 2-09 Go for the Exit

Notes: Couldn't find anything video-wise.

75.) "American Names" by Sebastien Grainger

Notes: Take it.  Just take it already!

The Best Albums of 2008 (so far) [updated yet again]

   

    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.

----------

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.

   

The Best Albums of 2008 (so far): Update-- The First Quarter (list #16)

    I liked the way this post turned out, so what better time for an update than a week or so after the year's first quarter has come to a close.  WRT the earlier list, stuff has changed position and a ton of new shit has been added as I've seen fit. 

    The usual rules apply: this list includes pretty much everything I've heard this year thru the end of March -- the only releases that are officially off-limits are reissues, singles, one-offs, etc.*  Let's rock.

*[On that note, an honorable mention slot goes to O'Death's excellent "Spider Home" single.  I've been a fan for awhile now and this is the best song they've ever written.]

----

22.) Robert Pollard - Superman Was a Rocker -- Take it from this Pollard fanatic: this album fucking sucks.  By my count Bob's last decent (non-archival) releases were way back in '06 and 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.

21.) 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. 

20.) Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood OST -- I don't understand all the critical love for this-- it's as though rock journalists want to kiss Radiohead's ass by proxy.  All this is is a bunch of boring quasi avant-garde piano tinkling.  At times you may find yourself thinking "hey, that part sounds kind of like the Psycho theme" for a few seconds but honestly that's as good as it gets.  Pass.

19.)  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.

18.)  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.

17.) Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing -- The first track is excellent, the last track is decent, and the rest of the album is a total waste of time, meandering and going practically nowhere.

16.) 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.

15.) Under Byen - Siamesisk -- To me, Under Byen's catalog consists of two types of music: harrowing, dramatic 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.

14.) 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 unwavering assault is relentless, with arguably the most sophisticated bass drumming I've ever heard, but listening to the full thing is (literally) a bit of a beating.

13.) 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 great soloing on "Lord Have Mercy" and "Goodbye Ruby."

12.) 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.

11.) Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull -- This album continues in the vein of the "new" Earth sound, replacing downtuned drones with slow-motion twang.  Adding Bill Frisell, the world's greatest guitarist, broadens the palette ever so slightly -- you might not even notice he's there but that's only because you'll be so relaxed you'll think that someone replaced your Splenda with smack.  (How's that for a Folgers challenge?)  Listening to this one I'm reminded of the quotes on the back cover of Earth's fifteen-year-old Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Edition touting the music's medicinal qualities: "...found it difficult to think of the things that disturb me..." and "I feel very alert yet very calm... Wonderful after a hard day." Or, more tellingly, "MY TENSION HEADACHES HAVE DISAPPEARED!" Mine, too.

10.) 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."

9.) Goes Cube - Not What You Thought -- I admit it, my initial enthusiasm for this EP has cooled a little, but I'm still digging the fuck out of this.  More than probably any other artist on this list, Goes Cube seems to fit in with what's going on in "alternative" radio these days.

8.) 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.

7.) Beach House - Devotion -- If you liked their debut, you'll love this one; if you didn't care for the debut then this isn't likely to change your mind.  The hazy, dreamy atmospherics remain the same but the songwriting has improved, notably on "Gila" and "Heart of Chambers."  Victoria Legrand's phrasing remains excellent, as well: seriously, if the "ancient wi-hi-hi-hit" line in "Heart of Chambers" doesn't do it for you, then I just don't know what to tell ya, jack.

6.) 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. 

5.) The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever -- I think this one got a bad rap.  Because everyone seems to mistakenly equate "instrumental" with "post rock" these days, stuff that should be just labeled "instrumental" gets docked points because it's not as grandiose as Godspeed or Mogwai, which is a stupid shame.  And in addition to this record's stunning instrumentals, songs like "Pinkies" and "Bad Blood" hearken the best of mid '90s alt rock.      

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. 

3.) Magnetic Fields - Distortion -- Undeniably great pop songs.  My appreciation of this one has only grown over time, primarily because the sequencing totally ruins the first half of the album's flow.  Why the lugubrious "Old Fools" and "Mr. Mistletoe" aren't cordoned off from the sugary goodness of "California Girls," "Drive on Driver," "The Nun's Litany," "Zombie Boy" and "I Dream Alone" is beyond me.  So, to recap, this album's flow is, um, not good, but taken as a group of songs it's fantastic.

2.) Times New Viking - Rip It Off -- In this interview, when asked "what was the tipping point that made you sign with Matador?" 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. 

1.) The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust -- By starting Lust Lust Lust with "Aly Walk With Me," the longest track in their catalog, the Raveonettes are making a statement that goes beyond "this song is awesome" (which it is): by now, if you haven't warmed up to the Ronettes-by-way-of-Jesus and Mary Chain aesthetic, it's doubtful you ever will.  By going back to the distortion-drenched pop of Chain Gang of Love, The Raveonettes successfully revisit the beautiful/filthy dichotomy that they wielded so successfully on that album, harmonizing like the Everly Brothers while uncorking tales of jealousy, heartbreak, drugs and dirty, dirty fucking. 
    This album is like licking a lollipop that's covered in pubes.  Wait, no, that's a terrible analogy... fuck, I'm trying to go with the whole "sweet/filthy at the same time" thing.  Maybe "this album is like freebasing pixie sticks."  No, that doesn't work either.  Maybe "this album is like fingerbanging Mrs. Butterworth."  No, definitely not that.  Fuck it, I give up. 

---

That's all for now.  See y'all at Pissed Jeans Friday.