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Admittedly, this year marks a pretty significant dip in my musical pursuits, about half as many mixtapes, half as many songs collected. Still when push came to shove, I was unwilling to whittle down my choices to the usual ten picks, and so for the first time I present a top twelve. The songs are in no particular ranking order and span the gamut from ambient to pop. A lot of the familiar players show up (evidence that I have not strayed too far from what I know). My one significant find of the year is Eluvium, and while I believe his album ‘Copia’ came out in 2007, it only crossed my radar this year.
enjoy.
Side A
01 In The New Year – The Walkmen
02 Ghosts – Hologram
03 Family Tree – TV on the Radio
04 Breaking it Up – Lykke Li
05 Dead Vine Blues – Grails
Side B
06 Indoor Swimming at the Space Station – Eluvium
Indoor Swimming at the Space Station – Eluvium
07 Jesus for the Jugular – The Veils
Jesus for the Jugular – The Veils
08 Paper Planes – M.I.A.
09 Factory (live) – Martha Wainwright
Factory (live) – Martha Wainwright
10 Blackfly Rag – Carl Spidla
11 Midnight Man – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Midnight Man – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
12 Indefinable – Essie Jain
This discussion currently has 10 responses.
January 5, 2009
Midnight Man is great, (as is everything else on that disc). Great list.
January 6, 2009
Before I had listened to Dig Lazarus Dig a friend of mine told me it was not one of his best albums but then I heard it for myself and its just this sort of crazy Nick Cave that I most respond to. That said the deinitive Cave album is No More Shall We Part… agreed?
January 6, 2009
both the new Nick Cave and Hot Chip albums got lukewarm responses when they came out, and those same people are now putting them both on their top 10 lists everywhere.
January 8, 2009
Just making my way through this list.
Hologram – I do like the raw, gritty, indie feel to this. I will listen to more.
TV on the Radio – It’s TV on the Radio. Nuff said.
Lykke Li – Hadn’t heard of this band before. Goes along nicely with my female, bubble-gum music of the year (We Should Be Dead, SOns and Daughters, Ting Tings, etc). I like it and it’s catchy. Though all of this is likely just a phase and will probably wear off soon.
–the b-sides
Eluvium – sounds like a band I would like, but this particular song doesn’t do much for me. I thought it would crescendo into something great (ala Explosions in the Sky), but it just sort of flat lines all the way through – with some weird shit thrown in at the end just to be weird.
The Veils – bad ass.
M.I.A. – Everyone knows this one. It’s too rich and catchy not to like. Also being featured on the likely Oscar winning film this year helps. In fact, this is maybe the song of the year for the masses and the audiophiles.
Martha Wainwright – Mmm. This is good. Sort of Nicole Atkins meets Sandy Rogers meets Nora Jones. Beautiful and bluesy.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – I tend to agree with Nick Cave’s lighter/softer side, but this alright.
Essie Jain – Another I hadn’t heard of. It’s good. Nothing earth shattering, but good.
January 8, 2009
Yeah, love Paper Planes, as overplayed and silly as the song is. The first time I heard it was cruising the freeway by the ocean in LA too, so fond memories are attached.
Nick Cave can do no wrong.
Love the inclusion of The Walkmen, of course.
January 8, 2009
Martha’s more famous song of the year was Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole, which I should have maybe added also… that chorus with that sweet voice just works so well.
As for Eluvium, the song that I was thinking reminded me of the score to Revolutionary Road is called something like… oh shit, I can’t remember which is weird because the title is something ‘remembering what you’ve forgotten’… its a great song, but not of 2008.
Lykke Li was something I scrounged from end of the year lists of my favorite sites and thought this sounds good.
January 10, 2009
Current favorite song:
January 11, 2009
I have that album. The sum of its parts is better than the whole. It doesn’t have much flow, but I could listen to any single song at any time.
I feel the same way about the last Yeah Yeah Yeahs album.
January 11, 2009
I’ve heard of Santogold before, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard any of her actual songs. That song is very catchy and the video, so whacky. I love it.
July 8, 2011
This informiaton is off the hizool!