2009/01/12
I thought about eschewing my best of 2008 list, because end-of-year lists are somewhat trite, and a lot of people start trying to either one-up everyone else or they get very same-old, same-old. But the fact of the matter is that I haven't listened to the same shit that every other indie music critic has, and I have a self-selected sample of around 200 records that were released last year that I listened to. There was some really good music released in 2008, and of course, as always a ton of shit.
The situation as it stands is that I have heard one of, but not both of the albums that keep showing up on every indie critic's best of list. I have heard the self-titled release by Vampire Weekend, and was not impressed, but I have not heard the self-titled release by Fleet Foxes, which I'm not convinced I would like if I listened to it, even though it is on the list to get around to "eventually."
There is also the situation that there are two albums from 2008 that I have in my possession but have yet to listen to. Those would be "Eternal Kingdom" by Cult of Luna, and "Mountain Battles" by The Breeders. I do not anticipate either of these records being wrecking-balls to my current list, so I'll just ignore them for now, I might review them both at some point, even though post-metal is a very difficult genre to truly criticize due to its amorphous nature.
On to the list:
01.
One Day as a Lion - Self-Titled EP
The Best fucking thing released last year was the Self-Titled debut EP by One Day as a Lion. It is a very powerful keyboard and drums record recorded by Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine and Jon Theodore, once of The Mars Volta. It feels like punk with a taste of Hip-Hop and the CD cost me less than eight dollars all told. The vinyl version of the EP is a bit more expensive, but is on 180gram audiophile grade virgin vinyl, it is a must-have. Theoretically there is a full-length album coming. Which I will believe when I have it in my grubby hands.
10/10
02.
Portishead - Third
I have been a Portishead fan since way-back-when. The first time I saw the video for "Sour-Times" on MTV after-hours I was hooked. The new album is the first to ever hit the Billboard charts in the United States, for whatever that counts for these days, which isn't much, but it is a step. Third was an album that was many years in the making, and anticipated since 1997. To come out as strong as Misters Barrow, and Utley, and Ms. Gibbons did on this long-anticipated album is amazing. Portishead did everything right for a long-anticipated record, where Guns N' Roses did everything wrong. Though the scope of the bands' radars is vastly different. I'm still shocked by the abrupt ending of "Silence" when I listen to the album.
9.6/10
03.
Meat Beat Manifesto - Autoimmune
Yet again, I have been a MBM fan for along time. I think I started listening at Subliminal Sandwich and went retroactive. I actually let my expectations for this album fall because I hated At the Center which I felt was a failed piece of dubstep filth. I bought Autoimmune not knowing whether to expect more of the same or if it was a return to form for Mr. Dangers and company. Luckily, it was as good as, and probably better than Subliminal Sandwich and Actual Sounds + Voices. Both of which I found to be brilliant techno-industrial records, if not as dubby as some of their other work. However, "I Grab the Mic" is an awesome dub song.
8.8/10
04.
Meshuggah - Obzen
I am a metal fan, and I am a progressive rock fan, and almost everything Meshuggah does is right up my alley. Obzen was a continuation of their technical Progressive-Metal masterwork. Since they migrated away from their Thrash-Metal roots I do not think that this band has made a single mis-step. Re-recording Nothing with eight-string guitars to tighten up their sound was one of the better Ideas they've had, and I'm not usually a big fan of re-recordings, Dimmu Borgir's re-recording of Stormblåst seemed a bit overwrought to me as did Cradle of Filth re-recording everything from their early catalog to put onto a double-CD cash grab. But I feel that Meshuggah were making, and have again made the most brutal music I have ever heard. It is heavy, and angry, and technically proficient. The only gripe I have, and I can't truly gripe about this one, because I love electronic music, is that none of the drums on the album are live. All of the drums are programmed, but luckily they do not feel that way.
8.7/10
05.
Bloc Party - Intimacy"
A lot of people get offended when their Indie darlings veer off into a direction of which they don't particularly approve. This seems to be the case with the latest Bloc Party. Record, but I loved it. I think that everything about Intimacy was a stroke of genius, from incept, to final release. I've already reviewed this album, so I'll let that stay where it is, but the band's technique for release was wonderful. Once the album was recorded, mixed, and mastered they offered it for sale on their website for a very fair price, and the purchase netted you both a digital download and a physical copy. Then the band decided to add a bonus track, and gave that out to those who had already download the album. Then in the U.S. they put a number of bonus tracks and remixes on the record that was shipped to indie record shoppes, but not those shipped to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Target. Seeing that I only shop at my local indie shoppes this mightily impressed me. I like your business plan indie band from England, and I also like your music.
8.2/10
06.
Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles
This album was a great mix of very clever lyrics, and incredibly good turntableism. I was turned on to this record by the single "Thou Shalt Always Kill" which renewed my faith in music that gets popular in Britain but never quite makes it to our sorrier shores. Somehow that big island in the north-Atlantic keeps producing incredibly interesting interpretations of what us "colonists" have been doing poorly for years. The best thing about Angles is the lyrics that Scroobius Pip spits at a fair beat. There is a lot of insight into the human condition, and the state of modern-art in those words.
7.7/10
07.
Slipknot - All Hope is Gone
I have been a Slipknot fan from the first time I saw one of their records, and I have written a lengthy essay/revew about their first self-titled album. Yet again, I love metal, and I love variety, and I love technical proficiency. Slipknot have very obviously mellowed since their inception in the mid-90's but they have also deepened. The message is no longer simply a first-person espousal of rage and anguish, it has become something more. The rage and suffering are still there, but they vary in form. The music is still brutal, but it is more layered and complex and interesting. The band has had nine members since they began releasing albums, but they've learned to use that to much greater effect. I doubt that they'll ever become the next great progressive-metal band, but they'll certainly record a great progressive song at least once in their career. They had to fight The Game (of G-Unit) for their #1 spot on the Billboard charts, but I think they deserved it. Also, who says pop-music can't break your neck?
7.5/10
08.
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
TV on the Radio released a new album this year, it was fucking awesome. next. No, seriously, there should not need to be an explanation for this sort of thing. They went on tour with NIN for Return to Cookie Mountain and did sound-checks with Peter Murphy, they recorded with David Bowie, how much more convincing do you need that TVotR are the best Indie band of their generation? oh, and guess what, they're still on 4AD records.
7.4/10
09.
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
I keep reading shit from "fans" about how Kings of Leon only go downhill with every release, but I think this is that typical indie guilt thing where everybody thinks that "I really liked their early material." What keeps happening with Kings of Leon is that their songwriting gets tighter, and more mature with every album they release. Sure, they might have hit a peak with Because of the Times but only just barely. Only by the Night is smarter, and wiser than their previous recordings, even if "Sex on Fire" seems juvenile.
7.3/10
10.
United Nations - United Nations
I didn't actually buy or hear this album until after the new-year but it is fucking amazing. The band which is comprised of Geoff Rickley of Thursday, Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw and Head Automatica, and a cast of unknowable characters is amazing. You are not allowed to know who is in the band because of contractual issues with their respective labels, but they are a hardcore powerhouse. Think Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and early Cave-In. Everything about this band is brutality incarnate. from the opening bar to the fading crescendo this album is amazing. They would like to bill themselves as a Grindcore band but I think that they are doing themselves a disservice with that label. It is heavy, it is mostly indecipherable, but it is hard and it is great. There are melodic moments that are nearly breathtaking, even if they only last for 15 seconds. Ask yourself this, if you hear an album that takes twenty-five minutes to listen to how do you feel at the end? if the answer is exhausted you have the right record.
9.1/10
Honorable Mention:
Here's the thing, I give 10 albums their places in my list, and this year they're roughly in the correct order of best to not best from what I've heard. Honorable mention is reserved for records that I liked, or in some cases loved, but just don't deserve a spot in the top ten for whatever reason. This year it is an experimental album and a covers record. Draw your own conclusions.
I probably would have put Last Stop: Crappy Town by Reggie and the Full Effect at #11, so I did.
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
This is a great record for what it is, but it isn't truly a record. I liked Trent's idea to release a quarter of the thing as a free download, then put two additional tracks on the DVD multi-tracks. it's brilliant, but ultimately it is a lot of experimental ambient drone. He gets an A for effort, and even an A for execution, but it is what it is and that's an experiment.
6.4/10
Black Light Burns - Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey
Two years in a row Black Light Burns make my Honorable Mention list. This year it isn't for lack of effort so much as the fact that they released a record of covers and instrumentals. I really like this record, but covers can't net you a real spot in the list, and instrumental out-takes from your album, no matter how good they might be, don't win the race either.
8.2/10
Katy Perry wins the Boner prize, do you really have to ask why?
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