Songs of 2008

Here it is: our favriote songs on 2008. Yes, I realize that it is a ridiculous idea to be able list the best songs of the year, but it is just too fun to not try.

30. Santogold: Les Artistes

29. Fleet Foxes: Winter White Hymnal

28. The Walkmen: Donda Esta La Playa

27. White Denim: All Truckers Roll

26. Paavoharju: Kevätrumpu

25. Animal Collective: Street Flash

24. Memory Cassette: Surfin

23. White Denim: Heart From Us All

22. Grizzly Bear: While You Wait For The Others

21. Flying Lotus: Parisian Goldfish

20. The Walkmen: In The New Year

19. Spiritualized: Death Take Your Fiddle

18. No Age: Eraser

17. Vampire Weekend: A-Punk

16. Diplo & Santogold: Icarus

15. Buraka Som Sistema: Sounds of Kudoru

14. The Black Keys: Psychotic Girl

13. Beck: Modern Guilt

12. Vampire Weekend: I Stand Corrected

11. El Guincho: Palmitos Park

10. Portishead: The Rip

9. Beach House: Used To Be

8. Spiritualized: Soul on Fire

7. The Black Keys: Strange Times

6. Animal Collective: Water Curses

5. White Denim: Shake Shake Shake

4. Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit: Kamphopo

3. Department of Eagles: No One Does It Like You

2. Beck: Chemtrails

1. Grizzly Bear: Two Weeks

Album of the Year 2008

So its that time of year for end-of-year list. We are gonna kick it off with our albums of year list (to be followed by a song and concert list). It was tough and some of our favorite albums had to get kicked to the curb, but we eventually got it down to 10. Here it is:


10. El Guincho: Alengranza. Drawing comparisons to Animal Collective, El Guincho truly presents us with a tribal version of Person Pitch. The hazy overlayed sampling, dance music pattern brings Panda Bear to mind, yet this album is distinctly unique. Definitely one of the most unique albums of the past 12 months (and the winner for album artwork of the year).



9. Elanoora Rosenholm: Ala Kysy Kuolleilta, He Sanoivat. Getting a shipment of records from Finland's Fonal label was the most thrilling package I got all year. The foreignness of the music was fascinating and this record showed why Fonal quickly became one of my favorite labels. This Nordic pop proved more enchanting with every listen. The opening track, Tammen Vorjossa, is up for song of the year around here.

8. Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit: The Very Best Mixtape. A big thanks to Gorilla vs. Bear for introduction us to these guys. The early leaks were some of my favorite songs of summer and kicked off a late year Afro-pop craze. With high expectations surrounding the release of the mixtape, Esau stepped up. With songs like Dinosaur on the Ark and a cover of the Beatles's Birthday, its not hard to see why this was far and away the best mixtape of the year.



7. Animal Collective: Water Curses EP. Continuing their tradition of releasing an EP to complement each of their LPs, Water Curses proves a fitting follow up to Strawberry Jam. The title track is up their for song of the year, while Street Curses feels like vintage Animal Collective, if that's possible (probably not).





6. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend. What hasn't been said about Vampire Weekend? After all the hype piled on these guys before they even released an album, it was inevitable that there would be a backlash in the blogosphere (perhaps deservedly so). Over the summer I had an off and on relationship with this album, at times resenting them and at others believing they were the Second Coming. In retrospect, this was irrepressibly fun album of the summer and will prove a fitting example of "What 2008 sounded like."


5. Spiritualized: Songs in A&E. The story of Jason Pierce's near death experience is an omni-present spectre throughout the album, in which Spiritualized once again hits its stride musically. Pierce's voice and lyrics portray a despair and weariness of one confronted with death, which proves more amazing once you learn that most of the album was completed before his bout with pneumonia. Spiritualized's amazing rendition of their new material at ACL also help solidify this as some of the best music of the year.


4. Portishead: Third. If anyone was gonna release two classic genre defining albums, wait 11 years, put out the most haunting album of the year, play Cocachella, then seemingly disappear again, it would be Portishead. The Rip and Hunter prove that Third belongs up there with Portishead's other two trip-hop masterpieces. Third is great enough for us to forget the long wait, which hopefully doesn't happen again (please!!!)



3. Paavoharju: Laulu Laakson Kukista. The second Fonal album on here, Paavoharju have crafted a most unique and unusual album. The Finish born-again ascetic Christians put together an amazing mix of ambiance and more "traditional" song structure. Laulu Laakson Kukista is one of those albums that you discover some new nuance with every listen that magnifies the beauty. This hazy record is one of the most fascinating things I have listened to in a long time.



2. White Denim: Workout Holiday. While there might be a little homerism with this Austin band, White Denim was far and away my favorite Rock band this year and they translated the raw energy of their shows onto vinyl with Workout Holiday (It was a tough choice between Exposion and Workout Holiday). In a year where I slid away from traditional rock, bands such as White Denim kept me tethered to primal spirit of rock embodied by White Denim. This album was this year's translation of that spirit and in the process, one of the best albums of the year.

1. Beck: Modern Guilt. Perhaps this was one of those albums that hit me at just the right time, but Modern Guilt was my favorite album of the year almost at first listen. Beck once again solidified is position as one of the most versatile artist of our generation. Having already embraced everything from Brazilian Funk to Freak Folk, Beck uses a 60's minimalist sound here, which is perfectly complemented by Danger Mouse's production. Beck sings of an exestentialist dread ever present in the modern world with Orphans and the ethereal Chemtrails. This was the album of this year in which everything came together perfectly for me.


Just missed the cut: Flying Lotus: Los Angeles, Sigur Ros: Með suð í eyrum við spilum end, The Walkmen: You & Me, No Age: Nouns

Paavoharju: Laulu Laakson Kukista

Its getting to be that time of year that everyone starts to compile their best albums of the year. So we are here to highlight one that should be in the running for many people's list, but sadly will probably not be.
Coming from Finland, Paavoharju is a band made up of born-again ascetic Christians that have sequestered themselves from society (the first album was recorded in a cave). Laulu Laakson Kukista, their second album, builds upon their debut, devolping a unique meld of lo-fi, electronics, and folk psychedelics (quite a description, but listen to and youll see what we mean). This stunning record sets the tone with the first track which drifts in and out of a haze, followed by the stunning, more classic pop song structure, Kevätrumpu. Throughout the record, the contrasts are the main building point. Paavoharju comes from dub ambience to Nordic Indie pop , from haunting female vocals to folkier male singing. They are able to make these contrasts flow together in way that few other groups have been able to. More importantly, they are able to create an irrepressable beauty in each track, at times haunting and others soothing (ditto with their linear album artwork). For those of you looking for the perfect fall or winter album, put Paavoharju at the top of your list.

Animal Collective: Brothersport

Animal Collective's new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, is our most anticipated album of 2009 (They did give us two of the best albums of 2007 in Strawberry Jam and Panda Bear's Person Pitch), so we have been snatching up any sneak peeks we could get. In what is already sounding like a classic, Brothersport can be heard at about the 50 second mark

http://podcasts.lesinrocks.com/inrocks/podcast/jd/JD_THE_DJ-Podcast_104.mp3

Of Montreal

Of Montreal was for us the show of the year. Its tough to know where to start with this band. They showed a propensiitiy to continually top themselves. Musically, it was a great show. They played all their hits and even did a Franz Ferdinand cover (Take Me Out) for the encore. However, Of Montreal was much more than that. Kevin Barnes, and his alter-ego Georgie Fruit, is up there with the greatest showmen of our times. His many costumes always seemed to themselves (our favriotes were Cardinal and covered in shaving cream). The rest of the band proved quite eccentric charchters themselves. Its tough to truly describe the experience, but we will just say that by the end when men with pig masks on and carrying tubes shooting out feathers, it actually seemed to make sense.

Upcoming Austin Shows

Why do we love Austin? Well, it is the Live Music Capital of the World. Here is a sample of great upcoming shows that we highly recommend you check out

Of Montreal: 11/14 at Fiesta Gardens
This indie-pop band hailing from Athens, Georgia comes to Fiesta Gardens on the heels of the release of their eccentric new album Skeletal Lamping. While we have never been diehard fans, we have heard their live shows are simply amazing (Think Flaming Lips + Ziggy Stardust). We look forward to seeing what Kevin Barnes, in his Georgie Fruit person (which he amazingly describes as "in his late forties, a black man who has been through multiple sex changes") has in store for us.

Ghostland Observatory: 11/14-11/15 at Stubbs
One of Austin's most buzzed about groups, Ghostland, whether you like their music or not (and we do), provides one of the best shows on the planet. Their gig at Austin City Music Hall was mind-boggling and was our favriote concert last year. Tickets are gonna be damn near impossible to get, but if you can you are in for the night of your life (expect lasers, dancing, dracula capes, dancing, vocoders, and more dancing).

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band: 11/21 at Stubbs
We hadn't heard him live until ACL this year and he provided a very enjoyable set. While we're not familiar with most of his work (need to get on that), expect an fun concert. Recommended, especially if your looking for something to do that night. However, we have to admit we will be at...

Gang Gang Dance: 11/21 at The Parish
Princes, Gang Gang Dance's collaboration with London's Tinchy Stryder, has been our favorite rap (and by far the best grime) song of the year. It proved the stepping stone to rest of Gang Gang's new album Saint Dymphna, which has been receiving, quite deservedly, rave reviews (expect one here soon). This is our most anticipated show of the near future. Get excited for this one.

Little Joy: 11/29 at The Parish
Little Joy has proven to be one the the last couple month's most enjoyable albums. The side project of Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti. We looking forward to seeing how it will translate live. On another note, the Strokes need to start touring again, seriously.

Also look for the Heartless Bastards on 11/22 at Stubbs Indoor

Exposion: White Denim

White Denim has been building quite a buzz around Austin recently. From their feature in Rolling Stone to their gig at ACL to their endless posts over at Gorilla vs. Bear, White Denim has proven to be the band on everyone's lips. All this from a fantastic 7" Lets Talk About It and a record, Workout Holiday, that wasn't even available in the US. Exposion, their US debut, proves that live up to all the hype. Although their are only 4 new songs not on Workout Holiday, Exposion is well worth the $29.99 we payed for the fan club membership (comes with the record and Lets Talk About It 7").

The album starts off with several tracks that show the slower side of White Denim. IEIEI proves to be our favorite with its chorus deserving of many hits to the repeat button. WDA and Heart From Us All build up the album to the climax of Shake Shake Shake. This track has what might be our favriote bass line of the year (check out the music video, its awesome), and is absolutely infectious. This continues with All You Really Have To Do Now. The album closes with Sitting, a noticeably different and longer version from Workout Holiday. Sitting proves a fantastic closing track, as it breaks down the song for the final couple minutes.

Overall, this album showcases the development of White Denim from the early demos we first heard close to a year ago and proves to be a front runner for album of the year. It is, simply, a must buy (although we also have to recommend Workout Holiday if you can get your hands on a copy).

See below for the album hookup
http://app.topspin.net/artist/76118/home?account_id=76118