The Year That Was 2008 - Music and Other Ramblings
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Frightened Rabbit “The Midnight Organ Fight”
The first time I listened to this album I think it was about 4 songs in that I almost turned it off. I couldn’t get past the fact that it felt like I was listening to a guy actually trying to sound like that goofy looking dude from The Proclaimers. Then I got to the end and made a mental note to revisit later. 100+ spins later and I guess you can say I got over my initial reaction. I still have this weird feeling that I’m not supposed to like them but I guess that’s what makes life interesting! The songwriting alone is reason enough to like them. “You must be a masochist to love a modern leper on his last leg.” C’mon now, that’s good stuff! Standout tracks include “The Modern Leper”, “Fast Blood”, “My Backwards Walk”, and “Keep Yourself Warm” which includes the lyric of the year “it takes more than fucking someone you don’t know to keep warm.” That seems pretty logical to me.
HONORABLE MENTION
Elbow “The Seldom Seen Kid” Not their best album, but pretty darn close. Best of all, they finally get the respect that’s alluded them for far too long by claiming the Mercury Prize this year. They’ll never amount to anything in America. Why? Because we’re stupid I guess. Best track goes to “One Day Like This”
Death Cab For Cutie “Narrow Stairs” Say what you want but the dude writes better songs than your favorite band. Sure, there are some duds on the album, but name 2 records you like released in the last 5 years that don’t have any duds on them. Speaking of duds, skip to track 4, “Cath”…damn good one to start with.
STINKER OF THE YEAR
Spiritualized “Songs in A&E” Now I’m not one to advocate drug use. Drugs are bad. They ruin lives, they tear up families, and they can kill you. Don’t believe me? Catch an episode of Intervention. But it’s hard to argue against their, dare I say, positive influence on musicians. Take Jason for instance. Now I can’t say for sure but I would guess he was probably doing some wacky shit when he made those Spacemen 3 records. And the wackiness continued as he reinvented himself as Spiritualized. But then he almost dies, has a kid, cleans up his act (not sure of the order here) and low and behold, this stinky pile of poo is unleashed. What a complete suckfest. Guess what Jason, your “charm” was your ability to hide your lack of lyrical creativity behind layer upon layer of gorgeous hypnotic music; bring the vocals up in the mix, strip away the instrumental goodness and what are you left with? Your songwriting, which is pretty painful to have to sit through. This is the guy that gave us the line “All I want in life’s a little bit of love to take the pain away.” I think he stole that line from my 8th grade science book cover. And the irony is, that was one of his highlights. Anyway, here’s to hoping he finds his way again…back to the pipe!
NOT SO HONORABLE MENTION
Too many to mention, and too easy to take cheap shots
LIVE SHOWS OF THE YEAR
Built To Spill @ The Troubadour Absolute perfection. What could have been a miserable evening turned out to be my show of the year. Packed house, nowhere to stand but in the back corner where the sound is muffled and the view is dreadful, and hot as hell. 1 minute into song #1 I get tapped on the shoulder…turn around and it’s the doorman escorting us up to the VIP section with two seats in perfect view of the stage and the crowd. Doug and crew deliver a memorable set, especially considering it was “Perfect From Now On” from start to finish. May be the last chance I’ll ever get to see them live…couldn’t have asked for better.
Radiohead @ Hollywood Bowl They never disappoint. Period.
AC/DC @ The Forum Who knew? These guys are all like 100 years old and still deliver the goods. My ears are still ringing and the show was 3 weeks ago. God bless them.
The Black Angels @ SxSW Good ole fashion 60’s-ish droney magic, which is usually a recipe for disaster, but not in their capable hands.
Taxi @ Key Club/Terraplane Sun @ O’Brien’s Do yourself a favor and support local musicians…that don’t suck, like these guys. Good people doing what they love…making good music. Now that’s a winning combo.
REST IN PEACE
2 bands that will be sorely missed…
Six By Seven What, you never heard of them? I’m shocked. (See comment above re: America.) Underappreciated, unknown, underrated. Yep, they sure were. 10+ years was enough I guess. The only disappointment I have is the fact that I never got a chance to see them live. I actually went to the Reading Festival several years ago with giddy anticipation of seeing them play on one of the side stages only to get there and find out they canceled. But hey, at least we’ve still got Nickelback. Do yourself a favor and track down their second album “The Closer You Get” and play songs 1-3 at maximum volume. I guarantee you won’t be disappointment. If you are, I’ll give you your money back. And call you names.
Aereogramme One day I woke up and it seemed like every indie rock band was doing the loud-quiet-loud thing. Was it just me? Aereogramme did it too, but the difference is they did it really well. And they weren’t afraid to throw strings into the mix, which can very easily backfire in the wrong hands. These guys just got better and better with every record they released. Check out the Seclusion EP and their last record “My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go.” Funny, my heart still has a wish that they didn’t go. (Somewhat irrelevant sidenote…they may have broken up in 2007, in which case I’ll just say I’m writing about it now since I never did a list in ‘07).
Footnote
I listened to a TON of music this year…probably moreso than I have in very long time. When I listen to a lot of music I tend to jot down albums that seemed to not suck and deserve a second listen. Problem is, I don’t have a great deal of discretionary time anymore. So I’m always left with that difficult decision of going back and giving albums a second chance or listening to something new. Here’s where you come in (for those of you that actually made it this far…I salute you). You tell me…should I go back and give any of these a second chance?
The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Black Mountain - In The Future
The Breeders - Mountain Battles
Brightblack Morning Light - Motion to Rejoin
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Brendan Canning - Something For All Of Us
Clinic - Do It! and Funf
Colour Revolt - Plunder, Beg and Curse
Constantines - Kensington Heights
Darker My Love - 2
Dead Child - Attack
Dead Confederate Wrecking Ball
Dead Meadow - Old Growth
The Duke Spirit - Neptune
Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Horse Feathers - House with No Home
Damien Jurado- Caught in the Trees
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
The Kissaway Trail - The Kissaway Trail
The Lord Dog Bird - The Lord Dog Bird
Magnetic Fields - Distortion
Magnetic Morning - A.M.
Cass Mccombs - Dropping The Writ
Pontiak - Sun on Sun
Portishead - Third
Radar Brothers - Auditorium
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Russian Circles - Station
Sigur Rós - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Sons & Daughters - This Gift
Sun Kil Moon - April
Tapes ‘n Tapes - Walk It Off
Ten Kens - Ten Kens
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
The Uglysuit - The Uglysuit
The Walkmen - You & Me
The Wedding Present - El Rey
Wye Oak - If Children
…and finally, a quick shout out to Harley. Is it possible to still hurt 3 months after you put your dog down? I guess so. I think a little piece of me died that evening. RIP Big Worm.
3 years ago • Notes