Sunday, December 28, 2008

2008 Music #2

The 2008 albums I actually bought in 2008:

Black Keys "Attack and Release": Two guys playing dark dirty blues, this might be their best album.

Raconteurs "Consolers of the Lonely": Full of the dark/light grace and roots music of good Zep.

Foxboro Hot Tubs "Stop Drop & Roll": Sharp lyrics and great 50s garage sound from Green Day. Very very repeatable.

TV on the Radio "Dear Science": Yay Brooklyn! Sophisticated quirky sound and vocals, brash and sweet and keeps you engaged. Rolling Stone picked this as album of the year but I like it anyway. TV's earlier album "Cookie Mountain" was great too.

Beck "Modern Guilt": As deep as you need it to be. Quite melodic too. He might be getting old.

Kaiser Chiefs "Off With Their Heads": Loud Brit pop/rock with catchy riffs and singalong lyrics. Their 2 other albums are great too.

Elvis Costello "Momofuku": Press Play and be magically transported back to the late 70s! An entirely pop and rhythm-driven approachable new EC album. My god.

Kings of Leon "Only By the Night": A pretty good kick-ass assortment of songs in southern-rock style.

Mudcrutch "Mudcrutch": Tom Petty in disguise with his 1st band, gone back to blues and country rock stylings he kinda let alone for a while. A repeater.

MGMT "Oracular Spectacular": Boys angst without the emo. I almost wish I didn't feel like a cougar listening to this. These guys kick the Jonas Bro's collective arse.

Switches "Lay Down the Law": More well-crafted Brit pop/rock, reminiscent of Kaiser Chiefs and the Coral and Franz Ferdinand. Every track keeps it moving along.

Wolf Parade "At Mount Zoomer": Very alt, Reminiscent of the Shins and Interpol, with similar twang and depth to the sound. Crunchy.

Moby "Last Night": Pleasant, not spectacular, a bit heavy on the 'ludes.

REM "Accelerator": Middle age sucks. But they can still write melodies that sound like the 80s.

The Pete Best Band "Hayman's Green": Sounds like a "lost Beatles album," a tuneful 60s memoir in music. Reminiscent but not derivative. Sweet and thoughtful.

Black Francis "Svn Fngrs": Pretty much what you'd expect from Frank Black's more Pixie-ated alter ego. Hard sounds, growling/howling vocals and weird lyrics. Fun!!

Nada Surf "Lucky": A pleasant mellow set of semi-memorable pop songs that sound older than 2008. That's all. Not a bad thing.

Fleet Foxes "Fleet Foxes": I didn't expect to like this but I do. Alt folk? Alt choral? Late-night bad dreams music. Listen with the lights on.

Stephen Malkmus "Real Emotional Trash": Moody and strange. Might be dangerous. I like it!

Counting Crows "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings": No surprises, and that's a good thing from this band. Only 1 or 2 cringe-worthy tracks.

Carbon/Silicon "The Last Post": No surprises from Mick Jones' latest project, but a good beat and you can skank to it.

Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend": A few great tracks with great hooks, the rest meh. Gotta love the "M79" song...my fave bus!

My Morning Jacket "Evil Urges": I HATE the 2 singles "I'm Amazed" and "Touch Me" so I trashed them, but I like the title track a lot, and a couple of the quirkier other tracks. I liked their old album Z more. Still, I'm glad they're getting lots of attention.

Death Cab for Cutie "Narrow Stairs": A few memorable radio tracks, the rest ain't bad either. A more diverse set of sounds for them. Nice pop hooks.

Snow Patrol "A Hundred Million Suns": see above.

Coldplay "Viva la Vida": see above. Brian Eno must be stopped.

Haven't listened yet:

David Byrne & Brian Eno "Everything that Happens will Happen Today"

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds "Dig Lazarus Dig"

Bob Dylan "Tell Tale Signs - Bootleg Vol 8"

The Stills "Oceans Will Rise"

The Killers "Day and Age"

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