My Top Ten Albums of 2008
by Snickers
#1- Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Not too many bands put out albums as fully rich as Fleet Foxes did with their full length debut album this past year. The album combines the sunny harmonies of early era Beach Boys and slathers darker sounds upon them as if Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd had suddenly been resurrected. Robin Pecknold is the most complete sounding vocalist to hit any scene since Beck in the 1990’s, and his mastery of blending with his bandmates is astounding. White Winter Hymnal and English House are two of the best tracks this past year and if you missed out on this album, do yourself a favor and introduce yourself to the best acid-folk outfit to come around in ages.
#2- Deerhunter - Microcastle
Deerhunter thrived at psychedelic garage punk when Cryptograms was released in 2006, sounding like Pavement drenched in liquid LSD. With Microcastle, Deerhunter cement themselves as some of the best dramatic, creepy soulful garage music around. The song Little Kids is a hymn to life and a fantastically depressing look at growing old all at the same time, while Nothing Ever Happened is the equivalent of hearing what Buddy Holly would have sounded like had he played CBGB’s in the late seventies. One of the most complete albums of 2008, it is one rock record that should not be missed.
#3- Portishead - Third
Having not released an album to the starving masses (like myself) in almost 12 years, many figured Portishead would simply follow the traditional resurrection route of putting a so-so trip-hop record out and calling it a day. Apparently Geoff Barrow and crew had other ideas, because they crafted a masterpiece of factory sounds and haunting guitar licks that will leave most spellbound for the entire listen. Rides home in the rain with this playing will have most anyone looking out of their windows and wondering if the shadow they just seen was something even scarier than the sounds of this work.
#4- Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
This was not a really great year for hip-hop and electronic music for me. I found myself revisiting a lot of older bands’ live stuff to keep me satiated. Flying Lotus at least, thankfully, was one guy who came through for me this past summer with this album of stoned-out-of-your-fucking-gourd beats and melodies that make Timbaland want to sit in a corner and cry for mommy. Camel is the showstopper track here, but the album as a whole defines what hip-hop beats are going to sound like for the next six years and I compare this album to another defining moment in beat making, DJ Shadow’s Entroducing. Both are the bridges of sound that led their respective eras in originality.
#5- Jay Reatard - Singles ‘08’
Jay Reatard is a genius, and that’s all there is to it. Despite the not-so PC name, Jay and his crew bust out the best overall rock music of the past two years. Releasing something along the lines of 15 singles in the past year on vinyl, here we get them all collected and sounding a lot like how the White Stripes would if they never had hit it big. Jay also does a masterful job of taking late 50’s era pop music and putting the punk stamp of approval on it. Basically put, this album will rock your socks off.
#6- Vampire Weekend –Vampire Weekend
Here is a band that has seen a TON of airplay all over the planet and the exposure has done nothing to tarnish what is, at its bones, an amazing pop record. Taking the best of the Talking Heads, throw in some Franz Ferdinand and add a dash of Peter Gabriel, and you have this debut album from Vampire Weekend. Cape Kwanza Kwanza is one of the top 5 tracks of the year hands down and I’m looking forward to hearing what these guys can produce over the next few years.
#7- Beck – Modern Guilt
Beck is Beck. Bringing along DangerMouse on this album was a good move and it shows by injecting those old soul samples with fresh beats and lyrics from Beck to make a very good album of solid rock music. Gamma Ray is probably my favorite overall track of the year, and it’s about as catchy as anything the Beatles did in their day, and that’s an enormous compliment from me. The albums closer, Volcano, is vintage Beck emotionally and musically, sounding like a good b-side to something from Odelay, letting fans know that this troubadour isn’t leaving anyone’s iPods anytime soon.
#8- Be Your Own Pet – Get Awkward
I first came across BYOP about two years ago when I seen a picture of lead singer Jemina Pearl, and she was so fucking hot, I had to download the music to see if there was any substance to it. I was pleasantly surprised to find some of the best power punk I’ve heard since Blink-182 back-in-the-day. Get Awkward is even more focused than their first album, and blisteringly fast songs like the Kelly Affair and others really show that there is still a future for girl fronted punk bands to really punch a hole in the scene. It’s a bloody shame they broke up near the end of the year, but if you like hearing a really hot girl sing about how she wants to party all night with you and you can actually get down with it? A+ in my book.
#9- Harvey Milk – Life is the Best Game in Town
Upon the very first listen of Harvey Milk’s new album, you immediately are floored by the fact that stoner metal could actually still sound this full of life. The chords crash with a cobra like hiss, finishing like a nuclear explosion of sludge. The title tracks’ best line, “Life is the best game in town, and death goes to the winner” is an anthem to anyone who dives into life headfirst and you’ll be raising your fist, and banging your head old-school Metallica style by the end of this great album.
#10- The Black Keys – Attack and Release
This is the second album DangerMouse helped put together on my list. I guess I must like the dude. I’ve been hearing the Black Keys for a while now, and was lucky enough to see the Akron boys play at the old Lime Spider before they completely blew up by touring with Beck four years ago. Thankfully they haven’t changed much. Attack and Release finds Dan Auerbach’s blues fueled voice and scratchy guitar in full form, while DangerMouse puts roughly ten percent of the music through his typical hip-hop treatment, and crafts a beautiful blues rock record with a modern twist. Definitely a winner for this fan.