Asher’s Top 10
Written by ashkap on Tuesday, 16 of December , 2008 at 8:13 pm
10) Skeletal Lamping - of Montreal
For over a decade now of Montreal has been making off-kilter, innovative pop music. This year, Kevin Barnes and crew lost it. 2007’s Hissing Fauna was a hint at what was to come: the years wackiest, most disjointed album. At times it sounds like classical indie-pop, at others like a Girl Talk song if the only source material was glam, funk, and sex. Like the substances that inspired its creation, Skeletal Lamping is fun and safe in small doses, but over-listening can get shit crazy in your head.
An Eluardian Instance - of Montreal
9) Dear Science, - TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is one of the most solid bands on the planet, and with this release they further demonstrate their dominance of rock and roll. Favored by critics, Dear Science is at times beautiful, intense, and sad, but entrancing from the beginning. Many of the tracks carry a lonely sound similar to Radiohead’s electronic days, but the unique vocals and rhythms make all the songs stand out.
Dancing Choose - TV on the Radio
8.) In Ear Park - Department of Eagles
In lieu of a Grizzly Bear LP in 2008, we got instead perhaps a greater gift; In Ear Park. Granted, it features most of Grizzly Bear and sounds pretty much like Grizzly Bear. The Tape did an extensive review of the album when it was released, which can be found here.
7) Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
MBAR, as he is very affectionately known around The Tape headquarters in North Hollywood, has fallen under the radar in 2008, which is kind of hard to do considering two things: the internet, and that this album is really, really good. This young singer-songwriter is working on three various album projects which should show up in 2009, and if they are as good as this record then MBAR should become a huge name in the music world very soon. Check it out, it’s not what you think.
6) Microcastle - Deerhunter
While their Cryptograms LP was impossible for me to get through, Microcastle was on repeat for weeks. Equally accessible and deep, it changed every time I listened to it. It has a little bit of something for everyone, which is to say that my mom likes it just as much as you will.
5) med ium spiderjuice eye-rum skeet endlast - Sigur Ros
Sigur Ros has always been one of my favorite bands that I don’t listen to enough, but this year’s release proves that this band makes the most beautiful music in the world. Early single Gobbledigook threw everyone off, but the rest is pure Iceland, and the breakdown of Festival is probably the band’s career peak. Hold out until the end. It’s worth it.
4) HLLYH - The Mae Shi
If this album was played at every party in the city, every person in Los Angeles would be walking around with two black eyes and one big smile.
Lamb and the Lion - The Mae Shi
3) At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade
Wolf Parade is essentially two bands in one. This album consists of 4 songs by Spencer Krug, 4 by Dan Boeckner, and 1 collaboration. The Dan songs are some of the best work the band has ever done. The Spencer songs are not, but they’re still good. It doesn’t live up to their first album, but it is still amazing, and the co-written finale “Kissing the Beehive,” an 11 minute epic, is one of the best tracks of the year. Write more songs together, guys. It’s what a band does.
2) For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
The Story of Justin Vernon has been told many a time on the internet, and if you have a computer and like music you have probably heard it. If not, Google is your guide. For Emma is one of the Tape favorites, and one of the most moving albums of the decade. Their live show was one of the best I saw this year. Let’s just pretends “Woods” didn’t happen.
1) Visiter - The Dodos
Visiter captivates me. It makes use of few instruments, barely any effects, and yet it is the most creative album of the year. The bare-bones band has earned comparisons to Animal Collective, kings of experimentation, complicated sampling and doing the electronic mess-around. The guitar playing is masterful, but it is the drums, placed often as a leading instrument, that make the record so unique. Lyrically the album stands out among its peers; for all his accolades, Bon Iver’s lyrics are simple and often repetitive, but the Dodos’ are constantly interesting and narrative, shifting with the nature of their music and driving the songs along as much as the drums. Visiter is full of imagination (the packaging is covered in kid doodles) and end of the album especially stands out as lyrically and musically fantastic. It made me come back all year, and I’m not done completely grasping the album, but I know it is my favorite release of 2008.
Category: Miscellaneous
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Comment by wally
Made Saturday, 3 of January , 2009 at 4:30 pm
love year-end best-ofs, and these tunes are great! thanks!
