Tuddd's Muddd

The 40 Best Albums of 2008

    I've been sittin' on this bad boy for a week and a half, so even though there's at least 5 albums that I meant to listen to which will tragically go unheard, it's time to get on my horse up in this piece.  Listening-wise, I'm a hundred-plus albums into 2008 and hooooo mama am I ready to flip the calendar into '09.

    You may or may not notice that this list lacks many staples of this year's Top Albums lists that you'll find elsewhere, which is for the simple reason that I didn't bother buying 'em.  That stuff won't be on the list because it failed to impress during whatever brief shot I gave it, be it SNL performance (Vampire Weekend), radio session (MGMT), live set (High Places), or the band's previous work, of which I'm the only person I know who doesn't like it (TV on the Radio).  As for the rest of the list, I'm still working on finishing up reviews for all of the other albums I heard in '08, but who the fuck knows when I'll get around to posting that one.  

    For this list, all the usual rules apply: these are all albums which I personally bought, so by actually spending a shitload of money on recorded music instead of stealing it like the rest of you deadbeats, I'm hopefully digging myself out from under a decade-and-a-half of karmic debt, slowly but surely.  (That's how it works, right?)  Also, reissues are not permitted, which is why you won't find the Bosco deal on here, or the Dennis Wilson joint.  But otherwise anything else is permitted: EPs, compilations, live albums, you name it.  In the name of RAWK, let's have at it, shall we?

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1.) Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull -- 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 -- unconditionally soothe, that is -- is so welcome that I'll be relying on this album as a stress reliever for a very, very long time.  No joke, sidle on up next to this one and you'll find yourself thinking someone replaced your Folgers Crystals with straight up smack.

2.) The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust -- By opening this album with "Aly Walk With Me," the longest and most distortion-heavy song in their catalog, the Danish twosome draws a line in the sand: if you don't absolutely love The Raveonettes by this point, then you never will.  And by returning 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, plenty of Psychocandy-esque fuzz, near-telepathic harmonies, and their own should-be-patented dirty/sexy aesthetic.  Although Lust Lust Lust largely shies away from the genre-hopping of 2005's Pretty in Black, this year's four (count 'em, four) other Raveonettes releases (and a solo album) manage to provide Wagner with an outlet for his more experimental side(s).  Song of the Year candidates: "Dead Sound" (#4), "Hallucinations" (#13), "Aly, Walk With Me (#15).  "Blush," "You Want the Candy" and "Blitzed" are also great.

3.) The Magnetic Fields - Distortion -- Like usual, Stephin Merritt tosses out a whole mess of poppy goodness, yielding several unmistakeable gems in the process.  Unlike past works, however, each of Distortion's 3-minute-or-so nuggets is swathed in a haze of distortion worthy of the best Jesus and Mary Chain (or Raveonettes, for that matter) records.  Yes, there's a few bummers on here, but if you wield your skip button right, you're in for quite a treat.  Song of the Year candidates: "California Girls" (#6), "The Nun's Litany" (#12), "Drive on Driver" (#17), "I'll Dream Alone" (#58).  I also like "Three-Way," "Zombie Boy," and "Courtesans" quite a bit.

4.) Metallica - Death Magnetic -- Replacing baby-eater/Nazi/child pornographer/gift-giver Bob Rock at the boards, superultramegaproducer Rick Rubin famously challenged Metallica to "write the second half of Master of Puppets."  Yeah, that wasn't going to happen, but what they wound up with mirrors ...And Justice For All, and almost eerily so: there's an opening song which sounds a lot like "Blackened," legit Metalli-classic at track 4 ("The Day That Never Comes"), a 9+ minute kickass instrumental and a relatively brief shot of molten fury to close the album.  Now, to be sure, some remnants of Metallica's "lost period" (a/k/a the last two decades) remain, notably the cringetastic "Chicken Soup for the Aging Metalhead Soul"-style self-help lyrics.  But before 2008, had I been asked which staple of my teenage years would seemingly against all odds roar back into relevance, I probably would have chosen Guns N' Roses, based on their track record of "practically nothing" over the last 17 years vs. Metallica's track record of "a lot of crappy music since Justice."  But boy, would I have been wrong.  Song of the Year candidates: "The Day That Never Comes" (#7) and "That Was Just Your Life" (#14).  But they're all pretty good except "Judas Kiss."

5.) Times New Viking - Stay Awake EP -- These arty Ohioan lo-fi devotees have long professed their admiration for Guided by Voices, and this EP is their best approximation of "classic" period GbV's awesome melodicism.  Short and sweet, without a duffer in the bunch.  Song of the Year candidate: "Sick and Tyred" (#19), but fuckin' a, they're all money.

6.) 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 unabashed Pavement/Sonic Youth/Pixies worship, and neither should you.  Song of the Year candidates: "Junkeee... Julieee..." (#23), "Sorry Sorry Sarah" (#37).

7.) Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust -- 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; a coupl'a tunes which display a newfound jaunty positivity; a lack of the band's trademark bowed guitar sound; super lush orchestration.  But make no mistake, this is very much a Sigur Ros record, and probably the most uplifting record of the year.  Song of the Year candidate: "Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur" (#24)

8.) Tapes 'n Tapes - Walk It Off -- All year I was trying to think of a reason to dislike this other than Dave Fridmann's totally blown-out production, and, at last, I couldn't.  The songwriting is just too strong here, even if the mix is way, way too harsh.  Although there's nothing as subtly awesome as The Loon's "Manitoba," "Time of Songs" comes damn near close, and the rockin' songs (especially "Le Ruse," "The Dirty Dirty" and "Headshock") do, in fact, rock.  But buyer beware: turn down your subwoofer or you're going to need some new speakers (and maybe some new neighbors).  Song of the Year candidates: "Le Ruse" (#27), "The Dirty Dirty" (#40), and "Le Ruse" (#47), with "Headshock" just barely missing the cut.

9.) School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms -- Meticulously concieved without being heavy-handed, this breezy electropop masterpiece is based around the splendid vocal harmonies of the lovely Deheza twins (Alejandra and Claudia), layers of ooey-gooey synth, and former Secret Machines dude Ben Curtis' bend-but-don't-break peppy hip-hop beats.  In a fair universe, this fine album would yield several chart hits, but alas, the world is filled with assholes who have terrible taste in everything.  Song of the Year candidates: "Half Asleep" (#30), "Face to Face on High Places" (#54), and "My Cabal" should be up there somewhere, too.

10.) David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today -- Who'd'a thunk that: 1.) Byrne/Eno would regroup for a follow-up to Bush of Ghosts and 2.) the ensuing result would be so coherent, bordering on MOR and 3.) said album would feature several outstanding cuts.  (Well, I guess that last one is pretty reasonable.)  A very optimistic, affirming pop album.  Song of the Year candidates: "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" (#16), "One Fine Day" (#55).  Everyone else seems to like "Strange Overtones" quite a bit, but I prefer "My Big Nurse" along with the other two.

11.) Goes Cube - Not What We Thought and Hutchinson EPs -- Few bands 'round these parts have had as much positive bandwidth devoted to them as Brooklyn's mighty Goes Cube.  Which makes sense: they mix incredibly heavy riffs, stunning chops and attitude straight out of a Dischord manifesto.  Face it, it's only a matter of time before the powers that be wise up and hand these guys a kickass record deal.  'Til then, get to know 'em while they're still playing the small rooms and putting out self-released EPs.  Song of the Year candidates: Goes Cube Song 54 > Goes Cube Song 50 medley (#22), and Goes Cube Song 57 (#31), although I'm also partial to Hutchinson's "Gravestones Like Chess Pieces."

12.) The Thermals - Live at the Echoplex -- If 2008 was the year of the "solid-if-unspectacular" album, this good-not-great live album's placement on the list is more indicative of a void in the Tuddd Archive: high-quality live Thermals (other than their Daytrotter session and Pitchfork.tv's awesome Don't Look Down mini-set) is apparently hard to come by.  Unfortunately, this appears to be a straight, unaltered 'board mix, meaning that the vocals are way too prevalent in the mix and the guitar too low, but Kathy Foster's all-meat-no-filler basslines thankfully come across loud and clear.  Song of the Year candidates: I disqualified live tracks from the Best Songs list, but this one's jampacked with all your favorite Thermals favorites.

13.) 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.  Fortunately, This Is Not the World takes a step in the right direction towards re-establishing The Futureheads as postpunk juggernauts (sub-category: "spiky/angular/uber-energetic").  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 candidates: "Walking Backwards" (#10), with "Think Tonight" and "The Beginning of the Twist" also as standouts.

14.) 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," the title cut, and especially "Verses" are undeniably beautiful melodies.  Song of the Year candidate: "Verses" (#9).

15.) Torche - Meanderthal -- Critics have been creaming their collective Levis over Torche's near-perfect blend of heaviness and pop sensibilities (I'm lovin' Earfarm's "Melvins-meets-what-the-Foo Fighters-should-sound-like" comparison), and it's no wonder: these guys are both riff-tastic and hooky at the same time.  Great, great listen, and probably my favorite album to make multiple appearance during setbreaks at live shows in '08.  Song of the Year candidates: "Across the Shields" (#3), "Without a Sound" (#66).

16.) Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Continued -- Aaaah, fudgesicles.  I'm conflicted about where to rank this album, and for many reasons.  First off, Deerhunter are absolutely one of my favoritest bands (I've seen 'em live six times this year).  I ranked Cryptograms #3 on last year's Best Of Albums list.  When it comes to Microcastle proper, the first few tracks and last several tracks are better than anything anybody else has done this year, although the album's middle proves mushy.  What's more, it took me at least 50 listens before I figured out that Cryptograms was totally fucking awesome, and Weird Era definitely has similarly impenetrable-at-first qualities.  And although I have to admit to a little bit of disappointment about the band's refusal to release a "definitive" version of "Calvary Scars" (the Microcastle version is too short; Weird Era's too long), allow me to remunerate for them with the following: Download 02 Calvary Scars .  (Yes, there's a little static during the first few seconds, but after that you're golden.)  Song of the Year candidates: "Nothing Ever Happened" is the year's best song, and "Twilight at Carbon Lake" (#8) and "Never Stops" (#26") aren't far behind.

17.) King Khan and the Shrines - The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines -- This one's a real crowd-pleaser.  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 and you've got a pretty good idea as to what this one sounds like.  In an informal polling of "People That Have Visited Me At My Apartment or Ridden Shotgun in My Car 2008", this album easily comes out on top.

18.) Krallice - Krallice -- To me this album sounds like a cross between a nuclear holocaust and vigorous, relentless genital mutilation. 

19.) Portishead - Third -- After over a decade of dormancy, Portishead manage to break new ground on this newest long-player, instead of simply conjuring nostalgia by resting on their trip-hop laurels.  As original, inscrutable and downright creepy as ever, Third incorporates the best elements of "old" Portishead by relying on painstaking production and harrowing vocal performances, while still sounding nothing like their previous work.  Song of the Year candidates: "The Rip" (#18) and "Silence" (#57). 

20.) Times New Viking - Rip It Off -- If there's a theme to the top portion of this list, it would have to be "I like albums that are filled with distorted pop songs."  Seriously, look above: numbers 2, 3, 5, 8 and 16 all line up neatly under that description.  Listening to this album evokes similar feelings to those first few glorious listens of Alien Lanes or Bee Thousand, with the pedal firmly to the metal in an immediate, melodic vein.  Only unlike GbV, who always seemed to succeed in spite of their primitive recording techniques, Times New Viking's genius is in making the hiss and distortion into an actual instrument in and of itself.  (I'm aware that last sentence makes little-to-no sense, but fuck it.)  Song of the Year candidates: "Teen Drama" (#39).  "The Wait" and "My Head" both also rock. 

21.) Boris - Smile -- A good album, but one gets the feeling Boris could shit something like this out in their sleep (to coin a phrase).  You have breakneck barn burners in the vein of Pink's "Woman on the Screen," slower numbers, and the compulsory lengthy slab of drone that closes the record -- all pretty standard, really.  The new ground that's broken can be found 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.  Southern Lord, make it happen!  Song of the Year candidate: "My Neighbor Satan" (#34)

22.) Viking Skull - Doom, Gloom, Heartache and Whiskey -- Man, I loves me some good ol' fashioned meat-n-taters stoner metal, which begs the question why I don't randomly check out more music similar to this.  A New Year's resolution for '09 perhaps?  Anyway, these guys' sound falls somewhere around Bad Wizard's whiskey-n-meth party rock and more traditional Sabbath-worship.  (A winning combo.)  And you have to root for any band that proclaims in song their desire to "drinky-drinky-drink, drink-drink-drink, drink 'till we shit our pants."  Song of the Year candidate: The title track is friggin' great, although I hadn't heard it in time for the Best Songs list.

23.) White Denim - Exposion -- Although this album isn't able to capture the raving lunacy of their live show, it's still a tasty collection of jams.  Sonically these guys represent a nice amalgam of Creedence, Allmans, Nuggets, scrappy soul outfits, and your favorite garage bands.  Song of the Year candidate: Transparency (#60)

24.) Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08 -- As a fan of much of the esteemed Mr. Reatard's music, this is undoubtedly his most cohesive collection yet, which is odd when considering that its material is drawn from the 7" sides that comprised his Matador singles series.  To be sure, he's still DIY, just with a little more variety as to the instrumentation.  The world eagerly awaits his next offering, set for release in the early months of '09.

25.) Early Man - Beware the Circling Fin EP -- These guys are another band with a highly anticipated upcoming '09 release on tap, and this EP serves admirably as a tide-you-over placeholder until the full-length is released.  These guys do the Judas Priest/Kill 'Em All thing better than anyone.  Song of the Year candidate: Sinking the Blade (#56).

26.) Melvins - Nude With Boots -- Adding the members of Big Business to their roster hasn't changed the way The Melvins operate, and why should it -- anyone who's ever heard/seen Big Business immediately notices the sonic debt they owe to Buzz Osbourne and Dale Crover.  Similar to previous releases, Nude With Boots has plenty of sludge, ranging between deceptively poppy numbers and slower doomy shit.  Song of the Year candidate: "Billy Fish" (#52).

27.) Chairlift - Does You Inspire You -- Loved these guys' live show both times I saw 'em with Caroline Polachek's impeccable vocals framed poifectly by the sparse instrumentation provided by her bandmates.  The album plays out similarly, with some majorly diverse pure pop styles on display.  From Erasure's bubbly electropop to Annie Lennox' confident songcraft, even to grandeur worthy of The Cure.  Song of the Year candidates: "Evident Utensil" (#2), "Bruises" #61.

28.) 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" (#21).

29.) 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" (#50).

30.) Thalia Zedek Band - Liars and Prayers - Just as Johnny Cash's raspy howl said as much as his lyrics, as do Thalia Zedek's leathery vocal cords at this stage in her career.  Many gloomy artists seem to revel in a "light at the end of the tunnel" theory of songwriting, but Zedek largely eschews any thoughts of redemption in most of her songs, much to her credit.  Song of the Year candidate: "Lower Allston" (#51).

31.) Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07 -- In the Red Records helpfully collects many of Reatard's out-of-print vinyl sides on this one, including alternate versions of several Blood Visions tracks.  Good shit.  Song of the Year candidate:  "Another Person" (#58).

32.) 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" (#41)

33.) Witch - Paralyzed -- I loved Witch's debut record (#6 on 2006's Best of Albums list) and although this one doesn't have anything as immediately awesome like "Seer" or "Rip Van Winkle," it manages to de-emphasize the Claypoolish vocals, which is an improvement.  By and large, the songs are leaner and quicker paced, adding a Motorheadish to their rock solid Sabbath template.  Good shit.  Song of the Year candidate: "Eye" (#73)

34.) Young Knives - Superabundance -- Among their British post-punk soundalike counterparts, these guys are better than Kaiser Chiefs but worse than The Futureheads.  So they're pretty good.  Song of the Year candidate: "Turn Tail" (#36).

35.) Boat - Topps EP -- I liked their last full length (perhaps a bit underrated at #35 on last year's list), and their live show also hit home.  This l'il 4-song morsel continues in the vein of adorable scrappiness, but you'd be a fool to deny these melodies.  A fool I say!!  Song of the Year candidate: "Four Beds for Boat" (#72) made the list, and I fucked up majorly leaving "Bee Buzz" off.

36.) Death Vessel - Nothing Is Precious Enough for Us -- There's plenty about Joel Thibodeau that sets him apart from other contemporary "neo-trad" folk artists.  First, the gender-bending vocals and flawless upper register make for a pleasant listening experience.  And second, the songwriting is just so much better than that of Devendra and other freakfolkies as to render them kinda irrelevant.  Solid follow up to '05's Stay Close, which I also liked quite a bit.  Song of the Year candidates: "Block My Eye" (#44), "Bruno's Torso" (#64).

37.) Mogwai - Batcat EP -- This teaser EP seemed to bode well for those (all four of us) that dug the direction the band took on '06's Mr. Beast with the title track reminiscent of Beast's Pelican-esque "Glasgow Mega-Snake."  Unfortunately the Hawk Is Howling album proved to be boringly mediocre, with "Batcat" the belle of the ball.  Song of the Year candidate: "Batcat" (#35)

38.) 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 usually more.

39.) Sian Alice Group - 59'59 -- This music traverses the same territory as the live show: simple and pretty ("As the Morning Light"), stuff a bit darker ("Way Down to Heaven"), tracks that sound kind of like Mogwai ("Kirilov") and stuff that wouldn't sound out of place on the new Portishead album ("Contours").  Overall, this album shows off a style that's vaguely gothy post rock, and the vocals are stunning.  Is there some filler?  Sure, and they probably should have cut the album down to match their usual 40-45 minute set length, but for the most part I'm diggin' it.

40.) Scars on Broadway - Scars on Broadway -- Well, it's clear from comparing this (effectively Daron Malakian's solo debut) to last year's Elect the Dead (by System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian) who contributed what to System: Malakian the tight, blatantly poppy metal riffing, apocalyptic lyrics and the bathroom humor; Tankian the ranting homeless guy-style sloganeering ("PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION!"), the apocalyptic lyrics and the bathroom humor.  Although this is probably too slickly produced, it never approaches anything like Linkin Park or whatever, so that's good.  Song of the Year candidates: "World Long Gone" (#38), "They Say" (#46)

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.

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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 Futureheads at Bowery Ballroom, June 17th, 2008

    I've enjoyed a bit of a love/hate relationship with The Futureheads.  The good: their first album, which took the off-kilter rhythms of classic post-punk acts like Gang of Four, sped 'em up and added four part harmonies, was one of my favorite records of '04.   More good: saw them later that year at Bowery and once each in both '05 and '06 at Webster Hall, excellent performances all.  For the record, the Futureheads live experience is an affair just as tight and twice as caffeinated as their albums, which is also good.  The bad: their follow-up News and Tributes, was one of the worst records of 2006, shifting the lyrical focus from goofy lightheartedness to faux-mature gloom.  And the music just flat out sucked.  More bad: the band suspiciously cancelled their entire Fall '06 American tour due to "injury" despite continuing unabated with their European tour less than two weeks later.  Fishy, no?  As those of us who had prepurchased tickets to their show at Brooklyn's Warsaw learned, Ticketmaster service charges are not refundable, no matter how much one bitches and moans.

    So, it comes with great joy that I can enthusiastically report that the new Futureheads album, This Is Not the World, is splendid, and their live show remains firmly in the category of "fucking awesome."  Which made me happy, because before actually hearing the new album for myself last week I had been sorely tempted to go to the Endless Boogie record release show at Mercury Lounge instead. 

    It was great to see a sold-out Bowery greeting the band, and they responded in kind, bringing the energy, clever banter and (most importantly) an impressive setlist.  Opening with "Decent Days and Nights," the boys from Sunderland tore through most of their best songs, including "Meantime" from the debut, several new ones ("Broke Up the Time," "Walking Backwards," "This Is Not the World," "Think Tonight" -- introduced as "this one sounds a bit like Queen" -- "Hard to Bear," and the two singles, "The Beginning of the Twist" and "Radio Heart"), featuring only one News and Tributes song ("Skip to the End"), and "Area" (from the Area EP) before the closing triumvirate of "Hounds of Love," personal fave "Carnival Kids" and "Man Ray."  The band implored the crowd to participate at every turn, beckoning a shout here, sing-alongs, plenty of clapping and even a bit of pogoing.  By the time the band finished their encore with "He Knows" and "Piece of Crap," I was sweaty and satsified.

    As they mentioned several times during their set, this was just a one-off show and they'll be back in the fall for a proper US tour, so if they're coming to your town don't hesitate to attend, but make sure you wear comfortable shoes, 'cuz yer gonna dance.

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Thalia Zedek and Retribution Gospel Choir at Mercury Lounge tonight.  See you there. 

Good shows in NYC, June 8th -12th, 2008

It's been awhile since I did one of these, and since today's too hot for me to consider actually accomplishing much of anything, why not fire one of these bad boys back up.

By the way, Friday night's Holy Fuck show at Music Hall of Williamsburg was probably the best show I've seen so far this year, only rivaled by the first time I saw them in March and the incredibly awesome Pelican/Priestbird/Austerity Program at MHOW last month.

As always, thanks goes out to Oh My Rockness, without whom I'd have to spend a shitload more time researching venues/show times than I already do. So, let's get started, shall we?

Sunday, June 8th

Jamie Lidell at Bowery Ballroom:

why I'm not going: It's just too hot to listen to some dude crooning. There's no way I'd be able to make it through the whole show without petulantly storming out.

These New Puritans with School of Seven Bells and Effi Briest at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

why I'm going: I know nothing about These New Puritans, but I've seen School of Seven Bells twice (once at Mercury Lounge opening up for Sam Fogarino's side project and once at Terminal 5 on the Blonde Redhead/Raveonettes bill) and I dig 'em. Their electronic jungly thickness really is well suited to smaller rooms so we'll see how their shit holds up. I saw Effi Briest open up for the Kills at Southpaw a couple of years ago and they kind of reminded me of a more gothy Sugarcubes.

Gnarls Barkley with Battles at Fillmore/Irving Plaza:

why I'm not going: this is a MySpace Secret Show, and apparently you have to jump through some hoops to get tix to this. I saw Battles twice last year and got a full aerobic workout each time, so yeah, I'm on record as absolutely adoring Battles' live show. Gnarls Barkley I just don't get.

Monday, June 9th

The Young Knives at Mercury Lounge:

why I'm probably going: These guys are often compared to The Futureheads, whose boisterously energetic debut album I loved -- it was my 4th favorite record of '04. Of course, 2006's embarassing News and Tributes saw The Futureheads trying to shoehorn themselves into more pensive, mature, and ultimately boring territory. Having not heard The Futureheads' new record yet (or, for that matter, anything The Young Knives have ever done), I'm obviously hoping things wind up more "Carnival Kids" than "Thursday."

Tuesday, June 10th

The Breeders at Webster Hall:

why I'm going: well, I bought tix to this show before I heard Mountain Battles, which, truth be told, is a pretty crappy album. I'm pretty indifferent to Pod and like everyone else in the world I think Last Splash is fuckin' awesome, but the new one just sounds burned out and exhausted. Not terribly psyched about this.

XYZ Affair at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

why I wish I was going to this instead of the Breeders show: Oh My Rockness describes these guys as "Weezer meets Queen meets Ben Folds (but, you know, better). Sounds right up my alley. Sigh.

Wednesday, June 11th

Swervedriver with Dirty on Purpose at Bowery Ballroom:

why I might go: Swervedriver's on their reunion tour and although my knowledge of them is based pretty much solely on their MySpace page, I'll probably check them out. Dirty on Purpose is another local band that has the word "dirty" in their name ("Dirty" is the new "Crystal" is the new "Wolf" is the new "Black"!) who I've been meaning to check out, so that's a plus.

Thursday, June 12th

Bang Camaro with The Giraffes at Bowery Ballroom:

why I might go: I saw part of Bang Camaro's set earlier this year at Music Hall of Williamsburg, at this show although because they made the fatal mistake of following the mighty Cheeseburger's set I drunkenly stumbled out without getting much of a feel for Bang Camaro, so maybe I should give them a second chance. And as far as The Giraffes, I caught them at Bowery Ballroom sometime last year, and they kind of reminded me of Faith No More meets Les Savy Fav, with a lot of beer-throwing, which was kinda neat. From what I could tell these guys have a pretty insane local following.

Swervedriver at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

already wrote about these guys. Move on.

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I'll try to complete this week's show some time when I can figure out what the fuck is wrong with my HTML skills, and why the new TypePad compose screen is such a piece of dogshit. Till then, Tuddd out.