12.25.2008

Erin's Top 50 Albums of 2008

50. David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens
Will Happen Today
49. Fujiya and Miyagi – Lightbulbs
48. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
47. Johann Johannsson – Fordlandia
46. Fennesz – Black Sea
45. Dan Friel – Ghost Town
44. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
43. Stereolab – Chemical Chords
42. Experimental Dental School – Jane Doe Loves Me
41. Beach House - Devotion
40. The Dodos – Visiter
39. Times New Viking – Rip It Off
38. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
37. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
36. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
35. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
34. School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
33. Takka Takka – Migration
32. Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Ed Squire – Lost Wisdom
31. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
30. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
29. Marnie Stern – This Is It and I Am It…
28. People Under the Stairs – Fun DMC
27. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
26. Man Man – Rabbit Habits
25. Clark – Turning Dragon
24. Sigur Ros – med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalausr
23. Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual
22. Benjamin Brunn and Move D – Songs From the Beehive
21. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

20. Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too

Where You Go I Go Too is best described as an experiment in pacing: the songs develop patiently, but never fail to reach dramatic climaxes. Apart from developing his already lush sound palette, Lindstrom experiments with polyrhythms ala Steve Reich, making this epic three-song journey a memorable one.

19. Nomo – Ghost Rock

On Ghost Rock, Nomo veer away from writing typical jazz charts and direct more attention towards exploratory 1-chord passages. The same deep grooves and bombastic horn lines are present, but Nomo’s latest album evokes a fresh, innovative sound, that is hard to come by in the realm of jazz-influenced music these days.

18. The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me

With their latest self-reinvention, The Notwist have broken out of the German indie scene and made an album of memorable pop songs and cutting-edge compositions alike. Between the charm of “Gloomy Planets” and the tension of “Alphabet”, The Devil, You + Me is an album with few dull moments.

17. Koen Holtkamp – Field Rituals

In creating the best ambient album of the year, Holtkamp has made an important move for the music of his increasingly static genre. Field Rituals isn’t merely a minimalist exhibition, but a beautiful interaction between digital sound and organic space. Truly a wonderful achievement.

16. Mason Proper – Olly Oxen Free

From the beginning, Mason Proper has been a group of musicians with a distinct and charismatic quality. Olly Oxen Free marks the band’s first release that demonstrates the band’s full abilities as musicians and pop/rock contemporaries, and does so in a cohesive, poetic fashion from start to finish.

15. Deerhoof – Offend Maggie

I’m tired of hearing people bitch about Deerhoof coming up short on this one. If you ask me, they took their sound in yet another new direction, and executed it nearly to perfection (in typical Deerhoof fashion). Offend Maggie is more theatrical than previous Hoof records and hearing the band become increasingly intricate with their arrangements is truly a marvel.

14. Dungen – 4

Dungen are a band with a spirit of a jazz combo, and for the first time they have been recorded as such. The sounds on 4 are not as grandiose as Ta De Lungt, but the lush production of the band’s latest album is absolutely delicious, not to mention highly complimentary to the band’s traditional, no-nonsense aesthetic.

13. Jonas Reinhardt – Jonas Reinhardt

The term “krautrock” is being tossed around quite a bit these days. For anyone interested in better understanding the style’s reemergence, Jonas Reinhardt’s self-title debut would be a great place to start. This is not to say that Reinhardt’s record is nothing more than a trite homage to Neu and Cluster – the voicing of the rhythmic and harmonic elements set this album apart from its predecessors. Jonas’ own description of the album perhaps does it the most justice – “a spirited conversation between, man, machines, and the ecstatic truth of the chaotic unknown”.

12. Hercules and Love Affair

The DFA just keeps cranking out gems. This time, an unlikely pairing of Antony (from Antony and the Johnsons) with the traditional DFA cast has produced an album of unforgettable struts, dancefloor hits, and downright funky music. While the album has its weak tracks, moments like “Blind” cannot be ignored, and it is safe to say that Hercules and Love Affair have made an extremely significant installation in the realm of disco-punk records.

11. Atlas Sound – Atlas Sound

Bradford Cox must take the man of the year award in the music world. Aside from his work with Deerhunter, he introduced us to his personal project, which is a brilliant marriage of shoegaze, ambient, and you guessed it: doo-wop. Cox’s stereo imaging gives the album gorgeous spatial characteristics and the diversity in track selections is also refreshing.

10. El Guincho – Allegranza

Repetition doesn’t often sound this good. MPC wizard, El Guincho, showcases a knack for creating playful trances with the help of his eclectic sample collection. The fact that that Allegranza was largely improvised makes the record feel like a true performance, which is interesting because it consists almost entirely of non-instrument playback.

9. No Age – Nouns

I got into No Age last year and found myself asking a fairly simple question in the face of all the hype: “what is so special about this band?” It’s not an easy question to answer. Maybe it’s No Age’s reminder that raw power is just as important (if not more so) as technicality in rock music. Maybe it’s No Age’s interesting placement of ambient interludes in the midst of their more riveting numbers. Nouns is a sweaty record filled with energy – most definitely a landmark record of ’08.

8. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

Decent Folk records come and go, but artists with this great a grasp on harmony rarely enter the indie rock spotlight. Fleet Foxes could be like any other Folk record if it weren’t for its walls of harmony, made even more lush by the warm production – hall reverbs splash from speaker to speaker as the band moves through perhaps the most intimate album of the year.

7. Pattern Is Movement – All Together

The greatest thing about this record is that there is nothing that sounds quite like it. Pattern Is Movement has come across a sound that is equal parts Debussy and Dirty Projectors, and it is indeed an alluring discovery. The band’s strength lies in its incredibly strong cadence patterns and voice leading; passing tones soar in and out of the band’s brief yet gripping songs, as the songwriting ability of this duo becomes hard to ignore.

6. Hauschka – Ferndorf

Since its revolutionary inception, the art of the prepared piano has seen little innovation. Over the years it has been used largely as the foundation of minimalist composition, but German composer, Volker Bertelmann’ work as “Hauschka”, reinvigorates the technique with beautiful harmonic comprehension and ornate chamber orchestration. This is modern classical music at its best, and Ferndorf’s thematic elements tell an unforgettable story.

5. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing

A throbbing pulse and a visceral drone – this is the makeup of one of the year’s most peculiar and thrilling albums, Street Horrrsing. What Fuck Buttons do is capture the human spirit at its most primal. There is something distinctly organic about the jarring turbulence created by Fuck Buttons, and the listener can closely relate to the seemingly impenetrable trance of Steet Horrrsing. John Cage was once noted for saying, "if something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all." Street Horrrsing is stunning proof of this once-provocative claim.

4. TV On the Radio – Dear Science

If you want a glossy pop record with no fear of modest experimentation, look no further than Dear Science. I won’t get many to agree with me, but this is hands down TV On the Radio’s best album to date. The pop sensibility here is dazzling, and it doesn’t sound nearly as sterile as Cookie Mountain, production-wise. When I listen, I feel like this is the Songs In the Key of Life equivalent of our generation – certainly not as pivotal, but nonetheless one of the best records in a long time to make itself very accessible without sacrificing artistic merit.

3. Portishead – Third

This is the music of our nightmares and our deepest fantasies. Portishead take us to a place where we feel naked and vulnerable, yet empowered by emotion. The result is truly breathtaking, and the band’s stirring, almost vulgar, orchestrations have never been more strangely beautiful. A comparison to Unknown Pleasures would seem unconventional, but Portishead’s dramatic use of minimalism and brutally confrontational melancholy certainly brings that 1979 classic to mind.

2. Deerhunter – Microcastle

When Microcastle leaked in the early summer, Bradford was devastated for one reason – it was supposed to be a “winter album”. This is the sign of an artist who has carefully taken every consideration in the process of crafting his work. And certainly we can see what Cox meant. Microcastle has an undeniably breezy, winter sound marked by the cold and the longing for warmth. The album pivots wonderfully on a series of standout tracks, and doesn’t forget to embellish the band’s trademark soundscapes. Deerhunter has trumped Cryptograms in only a year’s time and given us what could become a classic, making the band one of the acts in rock music today.

1. Shugo Tokumaru – Exit

It is a shame that the year almost went by without me discovering this record. Thank God it didn’t. In today’s music industry there is a demand for musicians with certain agility – something that Shugo Tokumaru ingeniously demonstrates through his meticulous arrangements and ornate bedroom symphonies. It comes as a shock to find out that Exit was recorded entirely in Tokumaru’s Tokyo apartment given the intense amount of layering and superb production on this album. Shugo Tokumaru’s has crafted a work of art that would make sense as a pop record, film soundtrack, score of chamber music, and everything in between. What is Exit? Such specifications are not important – what matters is that Tokumaru has given us a glimpse into the mind of one of today’s most whimsical and daring composers. A+.

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