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defrogIt occurs to me that I haven’t yet done some kind of 2008 retrospective yet. But the more I think about it, the more I reckon there’s no point. You were there, after all.
Anyway, you’d all much rather hear me express my feelings about 2008 in terms of music and cinema, I’m sure. Lucky you. Because it’s about that time.
Actually, 2008 wasn’t a great year for me in terms of new music. As usual, age and geography played a role, so there’s probably lots of neat stuff I missed. But overall, not that many albums really knocked my block off this year. Plenty were, at best, dependable and a good listen, but even acts I normally enjoy handed in albums that were disappointing (Bloc Party), average (Madonna) or pointless (the B-52s, 16+ years later).
Okay, we did finally get a new GN’R album, but I’m under contract to buy it in mainland China, where it’s banned. (I can’t go into details, but let’s just say there’s a free Dr Pepper riding on it.)
Anyway, as I suspected last year, it seems like today’s acts are having to rely more and more on mining the past to come up with anything “new” (Loudon Wainwright III actually did an album covering his own songs). Not that this is a bad thing – not if it convinces the young people to explore old back catalogs and come up to their parents and say, “Have you ever heard of this band called Blue Oyster Cult?”
We can only hope.
DISCLAIMER: Based on music I actually bought in 2008, and therefore a useless metric for everyone else. Also, I spent enough time on this without having to get all the links for these albums, so for more information, just Google whatever interests you, cos that's what I would have done.
TFI’S DEF 20 NEW LPs OF 2008
1. Sons & Daughters, This Gift (Domino)
2. The Duke Spirit, Neptune (Shangri-La Music)
3. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig! (Mute)
4. Mix Market, Shiawase no Elephant (Elephant Music)
5. The Fall, Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary)
6. CSS, Donkey (Sub Pop)
7. Calexico, Carried To Dust (Quarterstick)
8. Martha Wainwright, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (Drowned In Sound Recordings/Nettwerk)
9. Ladytron, Velocifero (Nettwork)
10. Jonathan Richman, Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild (Vapor)
11. They Might Be Giants, Here Come The 123s (DisneySound/Idlewild)
12. Bob Mould, District Line (Anti-)
13. The Herbaliser, Same As It Never Was (!K7 Records)
14. Seasick Steve, I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left (Warner Bros)
15. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) (Universal Motown)
16. The Presets, Apocalypso (Modular)
17. Electric Eel Shock, Transworld Ultra Rock (Double Peace Records)
18. Loudon Wainwright III, Recovery (Yep Roc)
19. The Death Set, Worldwide (Counter Records)
20. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (Sunday Best)
TFI’S DEF 20 NEW LPs OF 2008 [EXTENDED MIX]
1. Sons & Daughters
This Gift (Domino) Second full-length LP from Scottish band whose debut album in 2005 blew me away. This time, they’ve improved the formula by tempering their folk-punk roots with a pop edge. Stunningly good, horribly underrated.
2. The Duke Spirit
Neptune (Shangri-La Music) Like Sons & Daughters, The Duke Spirit knocked me out with their debut three years ago, and opted for a more hook-laden approach for their follow-up, with incredible results. And, like the above band, by rights they should be bigger than Coldplay.
3. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Dig, Lazarus, Dig! (Mute) Proving last year that even his side projects are better than most artists’ main careers, Cave came back from the Grinderman sessions fired up to record one of the most invigorating Bad Seeds albums in recent memory. You’d never know he was 50 based on this swaggering evidence.
4. Mix Market
Shiawase no Elephant (Elephant Music) New album from what must be Japan’s best kept secret: Mix Market, which does basic anthemic girl-fronted pop-punk, and they do it very well. Not as consistently invigorating as previous releases, but Mix Market remains one of the few bands that can cheer me up when I’m depressed.
5. The Fall
Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary) I confess, I’m a latecomer to Mark E Smith’s band – I’ve known OF them for 15+ years but have only recently started listening to them. Apart from Smith’s demented rambling, what I like about this LP is that the songs vary enough in sound and style that I never really knew what was coming in the next track.
6. CSS
Donkey (Sub Pop) Second album from Brazilian art-punk band. Music critics who loved their debut have bashed this follow-up for, as near as I can tell, sounding like a real band and not a bunch of art-school kids horsing around. As usual, I have no idea what they’re talking about – everything I liked about the first LP seems to be here: catchy tunes, and Lovefoxx.
7. Calexico
Carried To Dust (Quarterstick) I’ve been a fan of Calexico for some time, but last year’s attempt to go mainstream with more “proper” songs didn’t really work for me. This time they went back to the dusty widescreen pieces and Tex-Mex-influenced ballads that won me over years ago. That’s more like it.
8. Martha Wainwright
I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (Drowned In Sound Recordings/Nettwerk) Second album by the daughter of Loudon III and sister of Rufus. On paper she’s closer to her dad’s songwriting style, but she sets herself apart with layered and occasionally quirky arrangements, and comes across more like a linear version of Kristin Hersh. Bonus points for best album title of the year.
9. Ladytron
Velocifero (Nettwork) Fourth LP from synthpop band that continues more or less where Witching Hour left off, but a little heavier. Not quite the mind-blowing experience of the previous album, but still good, and it grew on me after several listens.
10. Jonathan Richman
Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild (Vapor) I’ve been a fan of Richman for years, and he hasn’t really varied the formula for his last few albums – acoustic guitar, minimal accompaniment, whimsical lyrics about love and art – but he’s always had an earnestness to his work that keeps roping me into his world. This album is no different.
11. They Might Be Giants
Here Come The 123s (DisneySound/Idlewild) Following up their alphabet album (Here Come The ABCs), this one is songs about numbers that they’ve done for the Disney Channel. And having seen what passes for music programming on the Disney Channel, I guess it’s good that kids are getting their intake of Hannah Montana diluted with TMBG.
12. Bob Mould
District Line (Anti-) Mould’s second post-retirement album, in which he continues to blend his trademark loud guitar sound with electronica effects. It’s nothing he hasn’t done before, but as he’s one of my biggest influences as a guitarist, I still love listening to him do it.
13. The Herbaliser
Same As It Never Was (!K7 Records) Sixth album from jazz/hip-hop duo who usually aspire to recreate the kind of funky music that soundtracked gangster films in the late 60s/early 70s. It hasn’t always worked for me, but this is one of those times where it does – good tunes and good guest vocalists. A good party album.
14. Seasick Steve
I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left (Warner Bros) Major label debut from a man with the ultimate blues CV – he used to be a homeless train hobo, and has spent most of his life traveling. His slide-guitar blues stomp is pretty standard, but enjoyable – and authentic enough for Nick Cave to co-write a song with him.
15. Erykah Badu
New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) (Universal Motown) Fourth LP, and her first in five years. Badu goes high-concept with an album purporting to be a sort of state-of-the-nation social commentary. It’s a little too weird for that, but that’s also part of its charm. Fans of Outkast probably already have a copy. Part Two is due out next month, incidentally.
16. The Presets
Apocalypso (Modular) Second album from Sydney synth duo that I found out about watching Rage on the Australia Channel at 2am. If Pet Shop Boys were more psychotic, or if Soft Cell had been more butch, they might have ended up sounding like this. Which I think is what I like about it.
17. Electric Eel Shock
Transworld Ultra Rock (Double Peace Records) Fourth album from Japanese trio heavily indebted to 70s/80s metal. Hardly original, but they have the same enthusiasm as Tenacious D and a goofy sense of humor to match. Big dumb fun.
18. Loudon Wainwright III
Recovery (Yep Roc) In which Wainwright (father of Rufus and Martha) decides to cover himself, digging deep into his back catalog and revisiting his early songs from over 30 years ago. It’s easy to write it off as the project of a man out of ideas, but it’s hard to argue with material this good, and for the most part it works.
19. The Death Set
Worldwide (Counter Records) Debut album from duo that make lo-fi overexcited bleepy punk, equal parts Ween and Atari Teenage Riot (only less angry). It shouldn’t work, but for some reason their sheer insane enthusiasm resonates with me on the same level that, say, Bis once did.
20. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (Sunday Best) Second album from teenage brother/sister trio so in love with the 1950s that they recreated Chess Studios out of vintage analog recording equipment (including old ribbon microphones) just to make this record which is mostly covers of old R&B, jump blues and Hawaiian rock’n’roll numbers. Comes across more like a high-school project in that sense, but it’s a pretty good one.
Okay. Official illegal compilation coming in a week or so.
Studio tan,
This is dF
Anyway, you’d all much rather hear me express my feelings about 2008 in terms of music and cinema, I’m sure. Lucky you. Because it’s about that time.
Actually, 2008 wasn’t a great year for me in terms of new music. As usual, age and geography played a role, so there’s probably lots of neat stuff I missed. But overall, not that many albums really knocked my block off this year. Plenty were, at best, dependable and a good listen, but even acts I normally enjoy handed in albums that were disappointing (Bloc Party), average (Madonna) or pointless (the B-52s, 16+ years later).
Okay, we did finally get a new GN’R album, but I’m under contract to buy it in mainland China, where it’s banned. (I can’t go into details, but let’s just say there’s a free Dr Pepper riding on it.)
Anyway, as I suspected last year, it seems like today’s acts are having to rely more and more on mining the past to come up with anything “new” (Loudon Wainwright III actually did an album covering his own songs). Not that this is a bad thing – not if it convinces the young people to explore old back catalogs and come up to their parents and say, “Have you ever heard of this band called Blue Oyster Cult?”
We can only hope.
DISCLAIMER: Based on music I actually bought in 2008, and therefore a useless metric for everyone else. Also, I spent enough time on this without having to get all the links for these albums, so for more information, just Google whatever interests you, cos that's what I would have done.
TFI’S DEF 20 NEW LPs OF 2008
1. Sons & Daughters, This Gift (Domino)
2. The Duke Spirit, Neptune (Shangri-La Music)
3. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig! (Mute)
4. Mix Market, Shiawase no Elephant (Elephant Music)
5. The Fall, Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary)
6. CSS, Donkey (Sub Pop)
7. Calexico, Carried To Dust (Quarterstick)
8. Martha Wainwright, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (Drowned In Sound Recordings/Nettwerk)
9. Ladytron, Velocifero (Nettwork)
10. Jonathan Richman, Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild (Vapor)
11. They Might Be Giants, Here Come The 123s (DisneySound/Idlewild)
12. Bob Mould, District Line (Anti-)
13. The Herbaliser, Same As It Never Was (!K7 Records)
14. Seasick Steve, I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left (Warner Bros)
15. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) (Universal Motown)
16. The Presets, Apocalypso (Modular)
17. Electric Eel Shock, Transworld Ultra Rock (Double Peace Records)
18. Loudon Wainwright III, Recovery (Yep Roc)
19. The Death Set, Worldwide (Counter Records)
20. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (Sunday Best)
TFI’S DEF 20 NEW LPs OF 2008 [EXTENDED MIX]
1. Sons & Daughters
This Gift (Domino) Second full-length LP from Scottish band whose debut album in 2005 blew me away. This time, they’ve improved the formula by tempering their folk-punk roots with a pop edge. Stunningly good, horribly underrated.
2. The Duke Spirit
Neptune (Shangri-La Music) Like Sons & Daughters, The Duke Spirit knocked me out with their debut three years ago, and opted for a more hook-laden approach for their follow-up, with incredible results. And, like the above band, by rights they should be bigger than Coldplay.
3. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Dig, Lazarus, Dig! (Mute) Proving last year that even his side projects are better than most artists’ main careers, Cave came back from the Grinderman sessions fired up to record one of the most invigorating Bad Seeds albums in recent memory. You’d never know he was 50 based on this swaggering evidence.
4. Mix Market
Shiawase no Elephant (Elephant Music) New album from what must be Japan’s best kept secret: Mix Market, which does basic anthemic girl-fronted pop-punk, and they do it very well. Not as consistently invigorating as previous releases, but Mix Market remains one of the few bands that can cheer me up when I’m depressed.
5. The Fall
Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary) I confess, I’m a latecomer to Mark E Smith’s band – I’ve known OF them for 15+ years but have only recently started listening to them. Apart from Smith’s demented rambling, what I like about this LP is that the songs vary enough in sound and style that I never really knew what was coming in the next track.
6. CSS
Donkey (Sub Pop) Second album from Brazilian art-punk band. Music critics who loved their debut have bashed this follow-up for, as near as I can tell, sounding like a real band and not a bunch of art-school kids horsing around. As usual, I have no idea what they’re talking about – everything I liked about the first LP seems to be here: catchy tunes, and Lovefoxx.
7. Calexico
Carried To Dust (Quarterstick) I’ve been a fan of Calexico for some time, but last year’s attempt to go mainstream with more “proper” songs didn’t really work for me. This time they went back to the dusty widescreen pieces and Tex-Mex-influenced ballads that won me over years ago. That’s more like it.
8. Martha Wainwright
I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (Drowned In Sound Recordings/Nettwerk) Second album by the daughter of Loudon III and sister of Rufus. On paper she’s closer to her dad’s songwriting style, but she sets herself apart with layered and occasionally quirky arrangements, and comes across more like a linear version of Kristin Hersh. Bonus points for best album title of the year.
9. Ladytron
Velocifero (Nettwork) Fourth LP from synthpop band that continues more or less where Witching Hour left off, but a little heavier. Not quite the mind-blowing experience of the previous album, but still good, and it grew on me after several listens.
10. Jonathan Richman
Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild (Vapor) I’ve been a fan of Richman for years, and he hasn’t really varied the formula for his last few albums – acoustic guitar, minimal accompaniment, whimsical lyrics about love and art – but he’s always had an earnestness to his work that keeps roping me into his world. This album is no different.
11. They Might Be Giants
Here Come The 123s (DisneySound/Idlewild) Following up their alphabet album (Here Come The ABCs), this one is songs about numbers that they’ve done for the Disney Channel. And having seen what passes for music programming on the Disney Channel, I guess it’s good that kids are getting their intake of Hannah Montana diluted with TMBG.
12. Bob Mould
District Line (Anti-) Mould’s second post-retirement album, in which he continues to blend his trademark loud guitar sound with electronica effects. It’s nothing he hasn’t done before, but as he’s one of my biggest influences as a guitarist, I still love listening to him do it.
13. The Herbaliser
Same As It Never Was (!K7 Records) Sixth album from jazz/hip-hop duo who usually aspire to recreate the kind of funky music that soundtracked gangster films in the late 60s/early 70s. It hasn’t always worked for me, but this is one of those times where it does – good tunes and good guest vocalists. A good party album.
14. Seasick Steve
I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left (Warner Bros) Major label debut from a man with the ultimate blues CV – he used to be a homeless train hobo, and has spent most of his life traveling. His slide-guitar blues stomp is pretty standard, but enjoyable – and authentic enough for Nick Cave to co-write a song with him.
15. Erykah Badu
New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) (Universal Motown) Fourth LP, and her first in five years. Badu goes high-concept with an album purporting to be a sort of state-of-the-nation social commentary. It’s a little too weird for that, but that’s also part of its charm. Fans of Outkast probably already have a copy. Part Two is due out next month, incidentally.
16. The Presets
Apocalypso (Modular) Second album from Sydney synth duo that I found out about watching Rage on the Australia Channel at 2am. If Pet Shop Boys were more psychotic, or if Soft Cell had been more butch, they might have ended up sounding like this. Which I think is what I like about it.
17. Electric Eel Shock
Transworld Ultra Rock (Double Peace Records) Fourth album from Japanese trio heavily indebted to 70s/80s metal. Hardly original, but they have the same enthusiasm as Tenacious D and a goofy sense of humor to match. Big dumb fun.
18. Loudon Wainwright III
Recovery (Yep Roc) In which Wainwright (father of Rufus and Martha) decides to cover himself, digging deep into his back catalog and revisiting his early songs from over 30 years ago. It’s easy to write it off as the project of a man out of ideas, but it’s hard to argue with material this good, and for the most part it works.
19. The Death Set
Worldwide (Counter Records) Debut album from duo that make lo-fi overexcited bleepy punk, equal parts Ween and Atari Teenage Riot (only less angry). It shouldn’t work, but for some reason their sheer insane enthusiasm resonates with me on the same level that, say, Bis once did.
20. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (Sunday Best) Second album from teenage brother/sister trio so in love with the 1950s that they recreated Chess Studios out of vintage analog recording equipment (including old ribbon microphones) just to make this record which is mostly covers of old R&B, jump blues and Hawaiian rock’n’roll numbers. Comes across more like a high-school project in that sense, but it’s a pretty good one.
Okay. Official illegal compilation coming in a week or so.
Studio tan,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2009-01-12 06:11 am (UTC)Good list.
I have the Sons and Daughters album, and Seasick Steve,and I'm keen to get the Bob Mould and Erykah Badu stuff. The Presets are pretty good, given that they are totally not my thing (I wish 80's retro synth pop would just go away and die). I am tempted by Calexico and Herbalizer fromy our descriptions.
Shiawase no Elephant means "happiness' elephant", unless I've lost even more of my Japanese than I thought. I'll check out Mix Market; I saw some bands that sound similar busking at at Yoyogi-koen when I was in Tokyo a couple years ago and I thought they were all pretty good.
I saw Old Nick perform last Wednesday and he played a lot of DIG, LAZARUS--it sounds amazing live. (Last time he played a lot of stuff from LYRE/ABBATOIR, which is beautiful and clever and intricate, but DIG is fucking Rock and Roll.
-- JF
-- JF
no subject
on 2009-01-12 12:20 pm (UTC)http://www.myspace.com/mixmarket07
Or the JapanFiles US site:
http://www.myspace.com/mixmarketjapan
no subject
on 2009-01-12 12:08 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-01-12 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-01-12 12:50 pm (UTC)Calexico is defintiely a band worth checking out, and the new album is as good place to start as any.
no subject
on 2009-01-12 12:52 pm (UTC)Spoiler alert: we're going to have one album in common, though I can always make a last minute change and put Ladytron on it.
Developing....
no subject
on 2009-01-13 03:15 am (UTC)