2008 Audio Favorites

First things first: Josiah already has a nice list, and I share some of his feelings expressed in the first paragraph – I don’t hear enough albums to say, “these are unequivocally the best albums released this year.”  However, I do listen to quite a bit, although not everything I loved this year came from 2008.  The best example is that I finally came around on Arcade Fire (I realize that took forever), specifically their debut, “Funeral”.  Anyway, my list will reflect that just a little.  I’ve divided it into segments, and cheated a little by not numbering it.  There are a lot of albums from this year that I still want to hear – Fleet Foxes “Sun Giant EP”, Duffy “Rockferry”, Cool Kids “The Bake Sale”, and many more.  I’d be more confident if I’d heard those, but oh well, here’s the list:

Just Missed
This category is basically albums that I’ve heard songs from, or even the whole album, but not frequently enough to put it on the master list.

• She & Him – “Volume 1″ (I like “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here” a lot)
• MGMT – “Oracular Spectacular” (“Time to Pretend”; “Electric Feel”)
• Death Cab for Cutie – “Narrow Stairs” (“No Sunlight”; “Cath…”; plus their previous work is great)
• The Last Shadow Puppets – “The Age of the Understatement”
• Los Campesinos! – “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed”
• Tokyo Police Club – “Elephant Shell” (“In A Cave”; “Juno”)

2007 Releases that for one reason or another have a place on this list

• Bon Iver – “For Emma, Forever Ago”
  If you want to hear the backstory, look elsewhere (it’s pretty much everywhere anyone has ever written about this band).  Justin Vernon’s voice is very expressive, which means this album is very emotional.  I wonder if it had been recorded traditionally if it would have the same gravity, but that’s beside the point.  This is a beautiful, soul-bearing folk record.  “Skinny Love” is one of the best tracks of the year.  It didn’t make the main list because it was self-released in 2007, then saw wider distribution this year.  It’s still wonderful.
• Radiohead – “In Rainbows”
  A couple of songs off this album made my fav songs of ‘07, but I didn’t do a “fav albums” post last year.  Like Bon Iver, Radiohead self-released “In Rainbows” in ‘07 with their “It’s Up to You” pricing scheme, but it saw a physical release on 1.1.08, so it (sort of) qualifies.
• The National – “Boxer”
  My friend Matt was all over this last year, and he wasn’t alone.  I finally got it (courtesy of eMusic) this year, and he’s right – it’s great.  “Fake Empire”, perhaps its best song, seems much bigger than it is, and has hypnotizing polyrhythmic piano, while “Mistaken for Strangers” is a rollicking rocker.

2008 favorites (for real) in alphabetical order

• Coldplay – “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends”/”Prospekt’s March” EP
  Easily Coldplay’s best album, plus a solid EP?  They had a good year.  It’s possible that this album is underrated, actually (no kidding): “Lost!”, “Lovers in Japan”, “Viva La Vida” and “Violet Hill” are some of the best songs of 2008, plus album closer “Death and All His Friends” is breathtaking, and the EP has “Prospekt’s March/Poppyfields”, another great song.  Coldplay is one of the biggest bands in the world thanks to fantastic singles and great melodies, among other reasons, and some of their best happened this year.
• Conor Oberst – self-titled
  Bright Eyes frontman Oberst released an album under his real name this year, and it was pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a singer/songwriter’s self-titled “recorded on sort-of vacation in Mexico” album.  To be honest, I’ve never owned a Bright Eyes album, but Oberst really has a way with melodies and is a great songwriter.
• Fleet Foxes – self-titled
  Maybe my favorite album this year.  It’s really warm, folky, and sort of timeless.  The harmonies are insanely beautiful – everyone in this band can sing really well.  “White Winter Hymnal” is probably my favorite song of the year, and one of my favorite songs, period.  This is probably the album  on this list I would tell someone they must hear.
• Gentleman Jesse – Introducing Gentleman Jesse
  note: the band name and album title sometimes have “& his Men” tagged onto them.
  Anyway, this is a really great, ragged, throwback guitar pop album.  The recording is sort of slapdash, but it’s supposed to be.  This is really a fun record, full of singalong choruses, melodic guitar solos, and catchy hooks.
• Los Campesinos! – “Hold On Now, Youngster…”
  One of the most energetic albums I’ve ever heard.  LC! sounds really unique, and youthfully exuberant.  This is pretty much an indie pop guitar album, but that sells it short: the instrumentation takes some chances (i.e. glockenspiel) and the vocals are energetic, almost shouty.
• Santogold – self-titled
  Album opener “L.E.S. Artistes” is another of my favorite songs of the year.  In sections, this album sounds like the last 30 years of punk, new wave, underground pop, and indie rock in a blender (in the best way).  Santi White has a pretty distinct voice – the best way I can describe it is probably “yelpy” but that sounds bad.  You’ve probably heard a couple of these songs on commercials, by the way.
• Sigur Ros – “Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust”
  The songs are shorter and feature less orchestral growth and resolution, but this is still unmistakeably Sigur Ros.  This is probably my least favorite of their albums among the ones I’ve heard, but it’s still among the year’s best.
• Vampire Weekend – self-titled
  Get past the Ivy League backstory and Ralph Lauren sweaters and these guys are just making great pop songs with varied instrumentation and influence.  “A-punk” is one of my favorite songs this year.

Filed under: Uncategorized , 2008, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Coldplay, Conor Oberst, Cool Kids, Death Cab for Cutie, Duffy, Fleet Foxes, Gentleman Jesse, Los Campesinos!, MGMT, Music, Radiohead, Santogold, She & Him, Sigur Ros, The Last Shadow Puppets, The National, Tokyo Police Club, Vampire Weekend

My Gen 2008: Day After

I’m sure the videos will get posted by the usual suspects soon, but for now let me just say that last night’s show was probably the most entertaining student event I’ve been to here.

Setlist and comments…

Intro – Nice enough medley.  Actually, much of it was pretty impressive.  I’m not sure why the “Umbrella” section was so long, so low, and so much different from the actual song.  Enh.  The intro slideshow was rather…tedious.

“Clocks” by Coldplay -  It’s pretty easy to forget how great this song is, because you’ve probably heard it to many times in contexts where it doesn’t fit.  Bopper sold the Chris Martin bit perfectly – Make Trade Fair equals sign on the hand, enthusiasm, hand gestures, cascading piano triplets, hollering encouragement to the audience and bandmates.  It sounded good, too, down to the vocal harmonies and the abrupt ending.  This set the bar high for the whole show.  One of my favs.

“All You Wanted” by Michelle Branch – A pleasant enough rendition of a pleasant enough pop song.

“Hysteria” by Muse – YES.  Okay, the bass here was tremendous, the energy was high…this was probably the finest song of the night in my opinion (the paper gave it silver, after “Apres Moi”).  This was, technically, very difficult, and they very much KILLED it.  Also – they did it as a trio (as does Muse), which was the most impressive to me (I half-expected they’d use 4, until I was told otherwise).

“Jumper” by Third Eye Blind – To some extent, recognizable songs work better in this format, as more people are interested in the performance, recognize the chorus, and so on.  The vocal part here is difficult, and Jordan did a fine job of it.

“Apres Moi” by Regina Spektor – Easily the most unique, weird, unusual performance (I mean that in the best way).  It’s always great when acts take a bit of a chance with costumes, song choices, the theatricality of their act, etc., and it pays off for them.  It did here.

“Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys – Tons of energy, tons of Sammy II guys, and it was going to feature my guitar until Scott broke a string and had to go to a backup.  Rob dropped his pick, which was too bad.  Same with the tempo problems.  Still a lot of fun.

[Intermission] – Now is as good a time as any to talk about the skit narrative.  They covered the usual topics, but I appreciated the angles, especially the “Pastor Mark” skit and the Beat Poet.  The singing bee kept the audience entertained.  The fashion show was goofy (not bad goofy, just goofy).

“Idioteque” by Radiohead – Okay, I suppose for uniqueness, this is right up there with “Apres Moi”.  Very adventurous, and the performers were obviously enjoying themselves.  Luke’s vocals got buried in the mix during the second or third verse, but this was still lots of noisy fun.  Loved the dancing

“We Both Go Down Together” by The Decemberists – pretty much nailed it.  A fun song.  A band from my high school used to cover this song all the time.  Nice minor touches, too.

“Ready to Run” by Dixie Chicks – sounded nice.  I could take or leave the Dixie Chicks, though – mainly leave.

“9 Crimes” by Damien Rice – Everyone was SO QUIET for this one.  This is a song with a lot of gravity, and they nailed its subleties.  Nice job, Kayla and Bitsy!

“Slide” by the Goo Goo Dolls – Bopper does it again.  Good to see Looper up there with his mandolin.  At this point, everyone is charmed by Bopper.  Seriously.

“It’s Gonna Be Me” by *Nsync – Another favorite.  This is another of those “perfect for My Gen” sorts of songs, and the guys did a great job and had fun with it.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Bopper, Chris Martin, Coldplay, college, Damien Rice, Dixie Chicks, Dropkick Murphys, friends, Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Granch, Muse, Music, My Gen, My Gen 2008, Nsync, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Sammy II, The Decemberists, Third Eye Blind