My 17 Favorite Albums of 2008

Ok, I know 17 is a strange number, but basically if it's not on this list, I would not be willing to recommend the album, even if a couple of songs on it are good. Later posts will include albums I feel lukewarm about, as well as those that I haven't had a chance to listen to. For now, the top 17:

17. No Age-Nouns: Seventeen is probably a fitting number for this band, who got their name from their show policy to allow those under 18 to attend their shows. Lame gimmicks aside, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall's (those could be great porn names) debut full-length album is pretty darn good. The band weaves inventive guitar melodies through a layer of noise throughout Nouns, and the result is a promising debut record.

If you're willing to sift through a little bit of noise and feedback, there are some beautiful riffs on this album. Eraser sounds like Spunt and Randall lifted a guitar line from The New Pornographers, while Teen Creeps showcases their ability to move beyond the laconic guitar riff and write fully developed songs. Even when No Age fully form their songs, they are in and out quickly, to great effect, as witnessed on Here Should Be My Home and Ripped Knees.

However, this ability is not always on display. If anything, this album suffers from lack of structure. Some of the tracks seem to go nowhere (Keechie, Sleeper Hold), but that might just be something that comes with time, or maybe I just don't fully understand noise pop. Either way, this is an exciting album for a band that is still coming into its own.
16. Women-Women: I've always been a sucker for the lo-fi guitar sound, so it comes as no surprise that I really like this album. The opener, Cameras, sounds like it was recorded in the same studio as My Morning Jacket's The Tennessee Fire, but with fuzzier guitars. Of course, the song is gone as quickly as it came and immediately morphs into Lawncare, a 4 minute noise-pop exploration. And, I guess, that's why this album is so frustrating for me. Much in the way that the Olivia Tremor Control buffered their moments of brilliance with long stretches of sound, Women seem to hold out on hitting those great moments for a few songs at a time, and that's what holds this album back.

The song after Lawncare, Woodbine, is more of the same, until the band gets to Black Rice, which I wrote about in my favorite songs of the year section, and which is the best song on the album. There's nothing really complicated about Black Rice, it's just a simple riff that the band expands upon throughout the song. The rest of the album is mainly 1-2 minute tracks that are mostly instrumental, but contain the occasional vocal.

Personally, I would love to see Women forgo the noise-pop and focus on the hooks that seem to come so easy to them. Maybe at this point in the list I'm leaning too much on future promise, but this band could be great. Of course, that's their prerogative and regardless of the noise vs. hooks debate, I will still be looking forward to their second effort.
15. My Morning Jacket-Evil Urges: A disappointment, surely, as a whole. But not a failure. While I skip Librarian, Two Halves, and Look At You every time I listen to Evil Urges, the rest of this album is just as good as any other MMJ output (I happen to like Highly Suspicious, though from talking to others this seems to be a highly polarizing track). However, it is only "as good" as their other albums, and I don't think it improves upon Z overall.

While the sounds on Evil Urges is different, it wasn't a complete surprise for anyone who had heard some of their demos, which provided covers of White Rabbit, Downtown, Take My Breath Away(amazing cover), and Rocket Man among others. Suffice it to say that MMJ have diverse musical influences, and expecting a singular sound out of them over their career would have been a mistake. Highly Suspicious is their take on Prince, while Two Halves sounds like they're apeing James Taylor (and no, I don't regard that as a good thing).

Of course, MMJ are at their best when they're expanding on their own sound. Touch me I'm going to Scream Pts. 1&2 are both deserving of their place in MMJ's catalogue, and Smokin from Shootin is a nice bridge between the two. Aluminum Park sounds like a B-side from Z, but, um, in a good way if that's possible. When it comes down to it, I wouldn't pick Evil Urges over any other album by MMJ, but I would pick it over most of the music out there.
14. Man Man-Rabbit Habits: I recently listened to Paul and Linda McCartney's Ram for the first time, and, somewhat surprisingly, it has changed how I view any output from Man Man. That's probably unfair to Man Man, but I can't help feeling that their whole career is just doing derivative takes of McCartney's Monkberry Moon Delight. Rabbit Habits is a delightful album to listen to, and definitely a step above their last release, Six Demon Bag, especially in its consistency.

This is another band plagued with the qualifier that you don't really understand them/appreciate them until you've seen them live. And I believe it. But if that energy fails to translate to Man Man's studio efforts, it doesn't make the album any better knowing that I need to see them live. It may be the case that the louder, faster songs, which often sound dull on the record, are amazing live. But I'm still a huge fan of their unique style of piano balladry, on exhibit in Doo Right and Rabbit Habits. These slower songs come through great on the album, and Honus Honus's gravelly voice is particularly affecting.

Ultimately, Rabbit Habits is more listenable from end to end than anything not in my top seven, but doesn't hit the high points that albums 8-13 hit.
13. The Black Keys-Attack & Release: For better or for worse, DJ Dangermouse is all over this motherfucker (both this list and this album). What the fuck does he know about producing blues-rock? Here, he has helped (hindered?) the Black Keys release a good album, but one well below what they are probably capable of. Those saddened by this may look forward to Dan Auerbach's solo debut this spring, hopefully not produced by Dangermouse.

Attack & Release starts off well, All You Ever Wanted is a great introductory track, with the organ and fuzzed out guitar in full effect. The album isn't missing for intensity, as the second track, I Got Mine, finds Dan Auerbach snarling over his guitar with Patrick Carney's cymbals reverberating in the background. Psychotic Girl uses a beautiful banjo line to draw the listener in, but kind of falls flat after that.

A lot of the songs here have a few great lines or riffs, but grow tired before the song ends. Lies has a great opening ("You said the moon/was ours/you said the moon was ours/to help me today/the sunlight is only gonna take love away"), but the chorus is heavy handed and the rest of the song doesn't contain much that the listener didn't get out of the first minute. Remember When Side A is a waste, while Side B is a great blues rocker. Maybe a better producer gets a little more out of Auerbach and Carney here, maybe not.


12. Okkervil River-The Stand Ins: It was always going to be hard to live up to their last album, The Stage Names, and this is a respectable effort at doing so, even if not wholly successful. I listened to an interview with Will Sheff on All Songs Considered as he explained the thematic differences between the two albums and I can now see why I enjoyed The Stage Names a bit more.

The good on this album is tunes like Lost Coastlines, Singer Songwriter, Calling and Not Calling My Ex, and Pop Lie, which pick up where the last album left off, with rollicking guitar lines and not too much attention to fictional characters. The bad is where the band maybe lets themselves gets too caught up in this concept. Starry Stairs, a song about a porn star (I forget which one), contains some really painful lines ("they ask for more/what do you think this fanclub is for?") which really kill the song. Blue Tulip, while not a bad song, takes a little while to go anywhere as Sheff pulls out some dramatic vocals. The killer for me, however, was the awfully titled Bruce Wayne Campbell Interview on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979. Not only did I have to google Bruce Wayne Campbell to find out that was the real name of former glam rocker Jobriath, but I also had to listen to this crappy song.

Perhaps it is unfair to compare this effort to their last, but every band is doomed to be compared to any earlier records, and Okkervil River can be no different here. That said, they have relased another batch of stellar songs, and despite my bitching, this is better than most of the other rock out there.

11. Beck-Modern Guilt: Count me among the skeptics of the ascension of DJ Dangermouse, and despite the prominent position here, I'm still not convinced. As most fans and critics noticed, about half this album is great, and about half is seriously wanting for more polishing/scrapping. My quick and dirty approach would have you listen to tracks 1, and 3-6, while skipping the rest of the album.

I've always thought Beck was at his best when doing his more melancholy songwriting, whether in partial jest during Loser, or in all seriousness for Sea Change. The title Modern Guilt excited me for this reason, I saw the possibility of Beck taking an epic look at the "plight" of a male about to enter middle age. Beck succeeds, at least partially. Chemtrails, Orphans, and Walls all find Beck sounding about as alone and hopeless as he has ever sounded, and Dangermouse's production on these tracks is immaculate.

Chemtrails sounds like Beck is singing his vocals from the bottom of a well, and he is especially affecting when he tell us "all I can see from these scars is hope/but all I can see in this night are boats sinking." Orphans, the opener, is a little more upbeat musically, but finds Beck struggling along the same lines lyrically ("how can I make new again/what rusts everytime it rains/and the rain it comes and floods our lungs/we're just orphans in a tidal wave's wake"). Modern Guilt is a huge success in these five tracks, with Beck articulating the fear of ageing as well as it has been done in song form. However, I find myself struggling to even try to the annoyingly repetive songs like Soul of a Man and Gamma Ray, which could both use some more time in the studio by both writer and producer. Profanity Prayers and Volcano don't suffer from repetitiveness, but from being mostly inconsequential when compared to the rest of the album.

10. Randy Newman-Harps & Angels: Randy and I grew up together, which may be why he gets more of a look than a lot of the older artists who did not make this list (and most of whom I didn't even listen to). And by grew up together I mean I listened to his classic 1977 album Little Criminals while riding along in the backseat of my parents' car on every trip we ever made. For the uninitiated, Randy's style is usually less song-oriented and like he's telling a story that's so well-told it sounds song-like.

During the title track, Randy Newman imagines his conversation with God (god?) as they're discussing his life. It sounds a lot like a lot of our conversations will or might sound--"You ain't been a good man, you ain't been a bad man, but you been pretty bad. Lucky for you, this ain't your time. Someone very dear to me has made another clerical error, and we're here in a bit of a wild goose chase. But I'm gonna tell you a few things that'll hold you in good stead when it is your time. When they lay you on the table, better keep your business clean." Hilarious, yet poignant, all at once. Which is Newman's style.

On A Few Words in Defense of Our County, he compares Clarence Thomas' status as an African American to that of Pluto as a planet (ok, a stereotype, but cleverly done so I'll give it to him). But, he also has some great wisdom about taking G-dub's disastrous reign in a historical perspective ("now the leaders we have/while they're the worst we've had/are hardly the worst this poor world has seen"). It's a refreshingly funny view, and Newman gives it even handedly, neither deriding Bush too much nor too little. Even better: "A President once said 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,' now we're supposed to be afraid, it's patriotic in fact, and color-coded. And what are we supposed to be afraid of? Why, being afraid! That's what terror means doens't it? That's what it used to mean."

9. The Walkmen-You & Me: We're going to go ahead and call this one a comeback. I saw it blossoming when The Walkmen blew Spoon off the stage at the Carolina Theater this spring, and saw it come to fruition on this album as well as a great show they played at the Cradle a couple of months ago. Of course, like a lot of albums on this list, You & Me is only about halfway formed, and really drags during the second half of the record.

The album's start is immaculate. Donde esta la playa lays the groundwork for the comeback: "Well it's back to the battle today/but I wouldn't have it any other way." Of course, they're still bearing the scars of the past ocuple of years ("there/is still sand in my suitcase/there/ is still salt in my teeth"). On the Water give a little more of a taste, but Leithauser holds back a little bit here, not fully letting himself or the band go until the last minute of the song. The high lasts through In the New Year, my favorite song of 2008.

Unfortunately, and maybe inevitably, The Walkmen take a step back after In the New Year, a remarkably honest and probalby emotionally taxing track. Seven Years of Holidays is almost too slow to really catch hold. Postcards from Tiny Islands is slow to build, as is Red Moon, though both are worth the wait. The rest of the album, save The Blue Route, feels like scar tissue, the leftovers from a tough couple of previous years, but necessary to get the band to where they are now. The real turning point will probably be the next album--which can only be seen as a relapse or a realization.

8. Department of Eagles-In Ear Park: The Department of Eagles is more or less Grizzly Bear, of Yellow House fame, with Fred Nicolaus and Daniel Rossen leading the way as opposed to Ed Droste. In Ear Park, named for the park frequented by Rossen in his youth, is an outsanding companion to the Grizzly Bear work, and sounds, in a lot of ways, just like it. Just like a Grizzly Bear record, there are some ridiculous high points, and then a couple of songs that are just noise.

In Ear Park is an album focused on nostalgia, from song titles like No One Does It Like You, to moments in Herringbone where Rossen tells us about moments that "you won't get to relive them/or even to explain them/to your next of kin." More sad remiscing on Classical Records: "do you/listen to/your classical records anymore/or do you/let them sleep/in their sleeves/where they weep?"). And while the backward-looking lyrics imply a sad record overall, the music is more upbeat, and probably the strong suit of In Ear Park. Bells, guitars, pianos, organs and more abound, [insert requisite Brian Wilson reference here].

I could have done without Therapy Car Noise or the first half of Floating on the Lehigh, but in almost every song the band is able to hit that "wow" moment were the melody just comes together in a perfect way. This is more than a stopover between Grizzly Bear albums, this is an album that is to be celebrated in its own right.

7. Kanye West-808s and Heartbreak (A spirited defense of Kanye, not that he needs it): First, a little perspective. 808s was released on the heels of two traumatic events for West, the accidental death of his mother, and the breakup of him and his fiancee. So, Ye shuts himself off, writes these songs, and with only the help of the 808 drum machine and the ever-present Auto-tune, records 808s. For fans dismayed by the turn of sound and tone, don't worry, Ye's followup in the series of College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation--Good Ass Job, is still coming as far as we know. This is just an artisitic and cathartic detour, and luckily West lets us listen.

I admire West for a few things here. First, he is brutally honest--on Say You Will, he admits that "I wish this song/would barely come true/I admit I/still fantasize about you." On Coldest Winter he relates his insomnia to his ex as well as discussing his inability to get over her. Second, West retains his sense of humor. On the album's middle section, when he starts fighting back a little bit, he does so with humor, telling his ex that she's "just another L.A. girl" on the hialirously titled Robocop. The tracks lacking humor, Love Lockdown and Street Lights are not critiques of his ex, but more of West himself.

Third and finally, I really see this album as a big "fuck you" to everyone else. Instead of doing the next predetermined album in his series, he took a break and wrote with just himself and a drum & effects machine. Instead of just singing on the album and just using autotune to correct tonality and missing keys, he uses it to obscure his voice, giving him an artificial distance from the listener which is offputting at first but effective in the long run. He also lets his songs play out, meaning that instrumental elements that would be cut off in normal Kanye albums are left to run in songs like Bad News, Say You Will, and Love Lockdown. It is the classic case of an artist induldging themsevles, and in this case, it worked out for the better.

808s really only suffers when Kanye lets anyone else in on the therapy. Amazing is ruined by the out of place Young Jeezy, and Lil Wayne sounds similarly awkward in See You in My Nightmares as he squeals over the 808. Those moments aside, Kanye has created a magnificent detour in his career trajectory. I have a feeling that in the long run, this will be seen as Kanye West's Pinkerton, with the album panned at first (though less so than Pinkerton), then accepted as his masterpiece later.

6. Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes: This album has a classic feel to it that few other albums released this year, or even in the past 10 years have. And while the album could have been released in the 60s without anyone blinking an eye, it doesn't feel old or tired now either. Part Crosby Stills Nash & Young, part early My Morning Jacket, the Fleet Foxes have crafted one of the most surprising records of 2008.

The most immediate and most important thing on this record is the vocals. The CSNY comparison comes from the amount of harmonizing on this record, and how well done it is. Almost every track leads in with the vocals and fades out with them, and rightly so. They are so good, in fact, that they make songs that don't really appear to be about anything sound interesting. Unlike other bands, the Fleet Foxes are able to take the sound they perfected in live performances and translate it onto a record.

I think, however, that the key here is the guitar work. Songs like Blue Ridge Mountains, Sun Rises and Ragged Wood wouldn't be the same without the beatuiful picking by Skyler Skjelset (who, at least live, did most of the heavy lifting with the guitars). While not the focal point, it moves the songs along and does much more than just prevent the Fleet Foxes from being a talented acapella group.

5. Times New Viking-Rip it Off: Don't be put off by the feedback-laden sounds which dominates this album. Underneath the layers of fuzz are strong melodic riffs and songs which have no filler--this isn't noise-pop, this is just great indie rock under a layer of noise. In Rip it Off, Times New Viking has just over 30 minutes of great indie guitar pop.

This is a loud record, so much so that it became my favorite album to put on in a crowded area when I was trying to obscure the noise around me. Being only 30 minutes long however, I don't have much to say here. You're just going to have to trust me and give this one a listen.


4. Blitzen Trapper-Furr: Regardless of having the second worst cover on this list (MMJ's Evil Urges wins out by a mile here), Furr represents a strong follow-up to last years Wild Mountain Nation. Sonically, Blitzen Trapper land somewhere between the Allman Brothers and Dungeons & Dragons, and that is what both scared me and excited me leading up to Furr. Or, moreover, I was worried that Blitzen Trapper would release something that was a little too weird for my liking, and forgo the more folksy songs like Badger's Black Brigade, Country Caravan, and the title track, that I thought carried Wild Mountain Nation. Count me among those who did not want to hear tracks like Sci-Fi Kid, or even look at track titles like Woof & Warp of the Quiet Giant's Hem again.

Luckily for us, Furr expands on the more folksy country rock and blues sound that Blitzen Trapper has cultivated. The title track is perhaps the best song they've recorded thus far, clean musically and structurally, but still non-obvious in its lyrics. Sleepy Time in the Western World is an opener which wouldn't sound out of place on a Wilco or Bob Dylan album. Perhaps this uniformity in sound was brought on by Eric Earley, who is listed as the composer for all of Furr's tracks (whereas the whole band was listed for most of Wild Mountain Nation's songs).

The uniformity in sound doesn't mean that BT have lost their creativity. Instead, it seems like they let it flourish in more controlled ways, like on Saturday Night, where a simple piano line is used to provide a little funk. They even, with mild success, explore the art of composing a suite on Echo/Always On/EZ Con. The album lags a couple of times when it gets too slow (Not Your Lover, Lady on the Water), but overall fulfills a lot of the promise shown on Wild Mountain Nation.

3. The Dodos-Visiter: I think this band blew up at SXSW (yeah, I wasn't there), but for me I think it was the sheer loudness of the album, made by 2 young men from the West Coast, that got me hooked. After hearing this album for the first few times, I excitedly emailed a friend that it was somewhere between The White Stripes and The Magnetic Fields, "but in a good way." So I'm not sure what I really meant by that, but I can still see the White Stripes connection--the band is loud and quick, a la Little Room, but you're not going to find any of the electric guitar antics that have become the trademark of the White Stripes. Visiter is instead defined by the "urban folk" rockouts that mark songs like Joe's Waltz, Paint the Rust, and Jodi.

The other half of the album is filled with questions of patriarchy (Fools) as well as love songs well above the caliber of those found in any Michael Cera movie (Winter, Ashley, Undeclared). Despite the fluctuation of subject matter, the consistent sound provides a good flow, making it more like an earlier White Stripes album rather than some of the later ones that sound like singles collections. This flow is aided by tracks such as the minute-long Eyelids, which by itself mean little but ties the album together, and by the way tracks like Walking and Red & Purple are tied together through sound, providing a seamless transition between the two.

The album comes in at #3 because it is more consistently listenable than anything below it on this list. There are few lulls in this album, and certainly no duds. That said, the two albums besting Visiter are a bit more ambitious in their sound and content.


2. TV on the Radio-Dear Science,: Man, TVOTR rocked my top 20 songs, how could they not be #1? Well, you'll have to read #1 for that, but, #2 ain't bad at all. This was my first real experience with TV on the Radio, as I skipped out on most of the absurdly titled Return to Cookie Mountain(with the exception of the tragically beautiful I was a Lover). Thankfully, the myriad outlets declaring this album great convinced me to take a listen.

The album is able to convey a single feeling without having to stick to one, monotonic sound. The album is loud, with huge synthesizers and drums coming in on the opener, Halfway Home, before we get humming background vocals and handclaps interspersed with the drums for percussion. The sounds has you locked in the knees for two minutes before the falsetto vocals come and you buckle--the whole sound changes, and it's hard to catch your breath. Wait for the next track, Rinse, Repeat. Lyrically, this album reads as a both and indictment of a past love as well as the past 8 years. And while those goals often result in awkward or embarrasing hangups, the music and words flow so smoothly that you'd be forgiven for not noticing any of the actual content, and just focusing on the way they contrast sonically.

This is not a guitar heavy album, most songs start and end with percussion, but the guitar on tracks like Crying, Red Dress, Shout me Out is striking--quick, affecting, but not overdone. Often, TVOTR will go for half a song without the guitar, and then bring it in for a change of tone or tempo. Dear Science, may not be an easy album to get in to, it's over 50 minutes long and all but two of the eleven songs top 4 minutes. That said, each song is rewarding, even if some are not as immediate as others.

1. Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago: I was caught first by the opening stanza--I am my mother's only one, it's enough/I wear garment so it shows--sad, mysterious, haunting and beautiful. This stanza opens up the world explored by this album, recorded in a remote Wisconsin cabin. The soulful yet lonely album by Justin Vernon and his band, aka Bon Iver, is the best album this year. Unlike the early work of Iron & Wine, For Emma has a full sound, but remains uncluttered in a way that The Shepherd's Dog could not.

Bon Iver wins out here because this is a full album without any weak tracks (and because both of my top two picks have commas in the album titles). The high's are not as high as parts of Visiter or Dear Science, but this is an album in the purest since of the word, and a great one at that. And despite sparse arrangement, the tracks are varied. The Wolves Acts I & II comes off as slow mountain gospel while For Emma uses horns and a slide guitar as the instrumentation while Vernon's strumming keeps the beat.

It also is #1 because, at least judging by his predecessors (Sam Beam, Elliot Smith, Nick Drake), this is the best its going to get. Maybe that's too sentimental and too disillusioned, but these sorts of albums rarely get better (cf. the Allmusic review, which seems to believe the opposite). I think once you start adding too many elements to something as pure as For Emma, it gets cluttered, sloppy, and average.

As compared to The Dodos or TV on the Radio, there is less room for expansion on For Emma, which is ironic considering it is probably the most simple album of those three. I think it's because part of the beauty of this album is the simplicity, and if you take that away you lose a lot of the greatness (not to mention The Shepherd's Dog again but...). Maybe I'm selling Mr. Vernon short, but I get the sneaking suspicion that The Dodos and TVOTR will best their efforts this year, while he may not. And so, we should be thankful for what he gave us this year.