If you ask me, 2008 was a stellar year for music. Some time in my mid-20s, it seemed like music stopped affecting me as much as it once had. I continued to spend astronomical amounts of money on music, but for years I’d buy a record, listen to it a few times, and never really return to it. This year, for whatever reason, I started to really enjoy just listening to music again. It had been years since I had the experience of listening to an album and immediately starting it over from the beginning and listening again, and at least half of this list has gotten that treatment on numerous occasions. I don’t know if I had some kind of awakening or if music has gotten better. Or is there a connection to the fact that I spent all of 2008 on LSD? Who really can tell?
But anyway, here are the things I loved this year. I assigned them an order based on how much time I spent listening to them. If you have anything to add, please do so in the comments!
1. Los Campesinos, Hold on Now, Youngster: This record is so good I have allowed it to co-exist on my Top 10 of All Time list. Pretty much everything else on that list has been there for at least 10 years. Therefore, this is the best record I’ve heard in the last 10 years.
I can’t explain why I like this album so much. The first few times I listened to it, I thought, “all these songs sound the same.” The more I listened, the more complex it became … the interplay between the vocalists, the instrumentation, the flow of the songs, and especially the hooks … although it may sound like a sloppy mess at first, it soon becomes clear that this is artfully-controlled chaos. With clever, surreal lyrics to boot. A sample:
You said “send me stationary to make me horny”
So I always write you letters in multicolors
Decorating envelopes for foreplay
Damn extended metaphors, I get carried away
On the back of a natural disaster,
Fixed with parcel tape and with kids sticking plasters
Nothing says ‘I miss you’ quite like
Poetry carved in your door with a Stanley knife
This is what it sounds like to be young. And I’m the 33 year old guy who’s listening to this at top volume and pumping my fist as I drive around LA with the windows rolled down, pretending I’m going to pick my friends up and take them to a keg party in the woods where the air smells like burning leaves and no one is worrying about the future. (Listen to tracks right here. Recommended: “My Year in Lists” and “Death to Los Campesinos!”)
2. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend: There are those who will immediately discount my entire list based on this choice. Vampire Weekend is crazy polarizing. They’re rich kids doing afro-pop. They wear sweaters on stage and sing about partying on Cape Cod. They got tons of hype before the album come out, and the backlash was almost immediate. I don’t care what the haters say; this record is one catchy pop hit after the next. It’s the best Police album Squeeze ever released. I’m not going to link to any Vampire Weekend songs, because you probably either love them or hate them already. Or, if you don’t know: now you know.
3. Born Ruffians, Red, Yellow, and Blue: What a great freaking year for the herky-jerky! If there is one thing that always gets me, besides a pop hook, it’s a herky-jerky rhythm. See also: Talking Heads ‘77, Television’s Marquee Moon, and the Feelies’ Crazy Rhythms. What exactly is herky-jerky? I can’t really define it, but t’s like Justice Potter Stewarts’ famous definition of pornography: I know it when I masturbate to it.
I saw Born Ruffians open for the Hidden Cameras last year at the Echo in Echo Park (side note: if you ever get the chance to see the Hidden Cameras live, do so even if you have never heard of them. They do not disappoint). I immediately bought and became obsessed with their EP. This year, their full-length came out and put all other Talking Heads imitators to shame by not really sounding like the Talking Heads at all. If you pick this up, spend a few extra bucks and get the Born Ruffians EP, because you must own this song, which epitomizes the herky-jerky and is also one of the most perfect songs ever.
4. The Knux, Remind Me in 3 Days: This is where the numerical system starts to break down. Although I probably listened to the number 5 record more often this year, I just got this album about 2 months ago, so I’m still in the honeymoon phase with it. The Knux are a duo from New Orleans who migrated to L.A. to spearhead what some are calling the hipster-rap movement, which is hip-hop made by guys who wear skinny jeans. Whatever it’s called, this is the most immediately-striking hip-hop debut I’ve heard since De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising. Which was a long time ago and crazy good. So this is a high compliment. In this song, the Knux answer the question “what if the Clash were a hip-hop band?” in a far more satisfying manner than Big Audio Dynamite ever did.
5. Phantom Planet, Raise the Dead: Poor Phantom Planet. First, they were the band that the kid from Rushmore was in. Then, they were the band that recorded the theme song from The O.C. And all the while, they’ve been trucking along, churning out one great pop album after the next and getting pretty universally ignored for it. Raise the Dead is a theme-album about cults filled with devastating hooks and fist-pumping anthems. Please explain what there could possibly be to not like in that description. You can listen to the whole damn album right here.
6. Santogold, Santogold: 2008 is the year that artists finally figured out how to incorporate indie-rock, hip-hop, pop, and electronic music into one mix without sounding like the Judgment Night soundtrack. Trust me, no one had done it before 2008. And after 2008, anyone who tries will forever be compared to Santogold. Nice job, Santo!
Why is the Internet so awesome? You can listen to her entire album online, too! Your first stop should be the song “Lights Out,” which is the best Blondie song Prince ever wrote.
7. Blitzen Trapper, Furr and Wild Mountain Nation: Okay, Wild Mountain Nation was actually released in 2006. But it didn’t start rocking my stereo until this year, and Furr is even better, so screw you for being a purist. Blitzen Trapper is music to listen to at dusk on a mountain while you are a hawk. A lot of people obsessed over the Fleet Foxes record this year, which I agree, is a lovely album. But for my money, Blitzen Trapper did it first, and did it best. Don’t let their name fool you: they are not German. Don’t let the album cover fool you: they do not sound like Def Leppard. If you are a fan of the Band or the Byrds or Gram Parsons or Uncle Tupelo and feel like no one does soulful, white people music anymore, go here and listen to the song “Furr”, guaranteed to make you feel i-ree.
8. My Little Airport, (some unintelligible string of Japanese characters): I don’t know anything about this band. Sarah’s old boss sent her this record, and it’s been in constant rotation since she passed it along to me. Most of the song titles are in Japanese. I think they’re a Japanese band that sings French pop songs. I have no idea if you can even buy their album in the States, so basically I’m encouraging you to either illegally download it or totally ignore this recommendation. Here are some videos. Good luck with that.
9. R.E.M., Accelerate: People are dicks. This album is balls-out great, but when it was released, everyone whined about how it wasn’t as good as good R.E.M. Everyone is wrong. This is their best album since Automatic for the People, and the single “Supernatural Superserious” belongs on every R.E.M. greatest hits compilation forever.
10. Johnny Flynn, A Larum: I bought this one on the strength of this video. Flynn writes moving English folk songs in the vein of a slightly less militant Billy Bragg. The song in the video, “Brown Trout Blues,” is the perfect song to cry to when you’ve just had your heart broken. Hopefully I will never have my heart broken again, but if I do, it’s good to know that Johnny’s in my corner.