Best Music of 2008

Just Missed...
Cool Kids - Bake Sale EP
Flobots - Fight with Tools
Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
The Killers - Day & Age
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
Republic Tigers - Keep Color
Santogold - Santogold
Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)
Kanye West - 808's & Heartbreak

And on to the top 15:

15. Heiruspecs - 10 Years Strong: A bit of a retrospective and not really a "new" album per se, but what a selection of tracks from one of my favorite hip-hop groups. They still put on a terrific show, with live instruments and beatboxing, and a couple tracks on this disc were actually recorded in the Rath at the Memorial Union on the UW campus. Plus, they're kinda local (Twin Cities), and the MC's name is Felix Da Housecat. Awesome.

14. Emmanuel Jal - Warchild: A strong international album from a Somalian refugee who moved to Canada, Jal's Warchild overflows with emotion and resonance from his time spent in war-torn Africa. The beats are funky, the lyrics are poignant, and it all fits together nicely into a visceral music experience.

13. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: I should probably have this one higher, but simply haven't listened to it for awhile. VW lived up the their enormous hype and then some, crafting light, Afrobeat-influenced songs that require very little attention to enjoy, yet remain in the back of your mind forever. The uber-catchy "A-Punk," "Oxford Comma," and my favorite, "M79," with its string accompaniment, are the perfect soundtrack to kickin' back by the pool over the summer with a few boat drinks.

12. Janelle Monae - Metropolis: The Chase Suite: The little 7-song EP from the former Outkast backup singer/dancer is a fresh slice of funk/soul/R&B that I luckily happened upon this year. Oddly enough, this sounds more like Prince than anything but the master himself has put out in the past 5 years, making it a regular in my CD rotation. It's funky and enjoyable and short enough to keep your attention.

11. Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine: And what a ray of sunshine it is! You would be hard-pressed to find a more relaxed, happy-go-lucky album than this one. Fun numbers like "Trashcan" and "People C'Mon" exemplify the band's vibe and help make this album eminently listenable.

10. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals: Obviously, at this point fans know what they're getting from a Girl Talk album. Crazy mashups and a nice party game of 'Guess all the samples'. Greg Gilles' latest sounds more coherent than Night Ripper, due in part to longer samples blended flawlessly together in a never-ending tapestry of party mayhem. He blends seemingly disparate elements together so well that it's actually difficult to stop listening, let alone hit 'repeat' on the player.

9. Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster...: Wow, do these guys (and girls) have a lot of energy! Not only did the follow this acclaimed debut with another whole album in the same year, they never seem to get tired! Every song is bursting with exuberance and bells and whistles repeatedly show up out of nowhere. Rather than distract the ear, everything just adds to the cacaphonous bliss.

8. Dr Dog - Fate: Fate is like a warm blanket for your ears. It's like the prodigal son going home for the holidays and being greeted with open arms and a big bowl of soup. This is warm, lovely music and while some people have dismissed it as a bit old-timey and formulaic, it certainly has enough gusto to soother the indie soul.

7. Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement: And out of left field, Alex Turner (of the Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (of the Rascals) came together to create a wonderful album full of classic 60's pop tunes. The sweep of these songs are magnificent and the pacing and song structure are flawless. Any of the songs could have been a theme song for a Sean Connery-era James Bond movie. Who knew the snide, literate voice of the Monkeys could come up with such emotional, fully-realized chamber pop?

6. MGMT - Time to Pretend: Another album that's now been around for what seems like forever (it came out in January 2008), MGMT have quickly risen to the top of their own little universe. The opening notes of "Time to Pretend" are enough to hook just about anyone, but stick around for the wavering horns and lyrics, and the psyched-out disco vibe of "Kids" and "The Electric Feel," as well as the musical mayhem beyond. It's both fun and refreshing to hear music this polished that it still sounds unfinished and scrappy. Just plain fun.

5. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins: I'm convinced that Will Sheff will end up being looked back upon as this generation's indie Bob Dylan, spewing storyboard lyrics about love and fame that carry double and triple meanings to the masses who sit fully ready to absorb them. At some point, there has to be some sort of letdown, as he and his bandmates simply can't keep making better and better albums. It's not logically possible, right? "Lost Coastlines" is one of the best songs of the year (especially live) and the acid lyrics of "Singer Songwriter" make you want to leave our consumer culture entirely. Beautiful, as always.

4. Born Ruffians - Red Yellow & Blue: Somehow, this is still flying under the radar. Maybe because it's their debut album. Maybe because they're from Canada. The Born Ruffians are certainly well-versed in their indie forefathers, creating music that wouldn't sound out of place in the 80's or 90's, but it's the combination of these influences with their bouncy, danceable start/stop rhythms that really pushed this album over the top. Tracks like "I Need a Life" and "Badonkadonkey" (best song title of the year) up the ante and hit you in the gut as well as the brain and ears.

3. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today: A late release could not stop this reunion album from securing a high ranking. As Ron, the owner of Strictly Discs described it to me: "Imagine leaving Wisconsin in February for somewhere tropical. Now imagine the feeling you have stepping off the plane in that tropical locale after leaving 15 degrees, snowing, and dark. That's this album." And you know what? He's exactly right. It's so warm and inviting, I can even believe Byrne's description of the album as some sort of "techno/gospel/funk" music. Hopefully, it doesn't take another 27 years before Eno and Byrne get together again.

2. Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight: while everyone and their mother fell in love with the Fleet Foxes (can't do it--it's the beards, I think), I found Frightened Rabbit's major-label debut a much more satisfying affair. Hailing from Scotland, they sound kind of like a cross between the Dave Matthews Band and Coldplay, but far better than either of those acts have ever been. Their lead singer has the most emotionally descriptive voice I've heard in a long time, conveying misery, longing, desire, despair, and joy with ease, and when the rest of the band gets going, as on "Old Old Fashioned" and "The Twist," the only words that come to mind 'rollicking good time'. Plus, they got a song on the TV show, "Chuck," which I suppose gives them some mainstream cred as well.

1. Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel: A crazy debut album from across the pond, Fantasy Black Channel lived up to all the chatter I read beforehand and then some. The wholesale kitchen-sink mentality of making music is applied liberally here, crafting not so much songs as musical experiences. It seems like every song attacks the eardrums from multiple angles and seismic shifts in tempo and melody show up at unexpected and intriguing intervals. Essentially, it sounds like some guys got together and tried to re-create a Girl Talk or Avalanches album in the studio with live instruments. It's crushing. It's weird and funky. Most of all, it's awesome.

Viva la Terrain Park!

With all the snow we've gotten this year, I've been able to build a little terrain park in the backyard. Pretty awesome. Should be ready to ride this weekend, if not sooner.

Best of 2007

Now we're getting there...(you'll notice more in-depth analysis this time around, as well as actual numbers)

Best Music of 2007

Honorable Mention:
Blue Scholars Bayani
Feist The Reminder
Galactic From the Corner to the Block
New Pornographers Challengers
Rentals The Last Little Life EP
Mark Ronson Version
Yeasayer All Hour Cymbals

#15. Kanye West - Graduation:
Great closing salvo for West's "trilogy" of albums. Exultant beats, hammering bass, quick-witted lyrics. Mr West is at the top of his game here and the album as a whole really feels like the pinnacle he's been striving to reach ever since The College Dropout introduced him to the world.

#14. K'Naan - The Dusty Foot Philosopher:
The son of a Somalian musician/refugee and a refugee himself, K'Naan speaks from the heart about his childhood (or the approximation of one, at least). All kinds of Afro-beat and world rhythms are incorporated in these songs, lending a lighter touch to the heavy themes he's talking about most of the time. Eccentric and entertaining at the same time.


#13. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights:
Classic soul album. Puts Amy Winehouse to shame. Jones's voice is just so smooth and the horn section is so spot-on, it feels like you're at some ballroom in the 60s. Brilliant.


#12. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible:
A terrific album in it's own right, really, but it still has to be judged in relation to their brilliant debut masterpiece, Funeral. "Keep the Car Running" is one of my favorite songs of the year and Win Butler continues to make deeply emotional songs come across as effortless. And man, what a live show they put on.


#11. Handsome Furs - Plague Park:
One of the many side projects of the guys from Wolf Parade, Plague Park is predominantly Dan Boeckner and features even more lilting melodies and sweeping atmospheric shifts than Wolf Parade's debut the year before. The highlight is "Sing, Captain!," a slow-building anthem with deep emotional resonance.


#10. Immaculate Machine - Fables:
I gotta admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for anything Kathryn Calder does. As the touring replacement (and, I believe, now a full-time member) of the New Pornographers, or with her old group, Immaculate Machine, she is striking in both her voice and instrumentation. This record sounds similar to NP in the same way A.C. Newman's solo album did: a little softer and blurrier around the edges, a little more ramshackle in the delivery. And just as moving. The intricate harmonies woven throughout the songs showcase Calder and her bandmates' ability to craft exquisite pop gems.


#9. White Stripes - Icky Thump:
Welcome back, White Stripes. We missed you during your dalliance in the blues (though you still employ it subtly throughout this album). You've even branched out into some sort of Irish jig this time around, as well as what sounds like bolero music from Ennio Morricone. Well done indeed. This is foot-stomping, fist-pumping, rawk music.


#8. Fratellis - Costello Music:
Despite also being a strong front-runner for dumbest album of the year, the Fratellis debut is tons of fun in a summer-day-at-the-beach, sing-a-long kind of way. Almost all the songs have singalong verses and huge rollicking choruses, and the lyrics are dumb enough to be tongue-in-cheek (or are they?).


#7. M.I.A. - Kala:
And in the hot revolutionary female rapper category--we have M.I.A. Even before "Paper Planes" took off, this album was fantastic from top to bottom. The world music influence on her music is obvious, but it's the way she incorporates all the seemingly jarring elements into a seemless tapestry of sound that really makes you want to stand up and protest, or at least dance a whole bunch.


#6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago:
A lot of year-end lists have this one in 2008, because that's when it got a major release, but it was first self-released in 2007. Good old Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver), from Eau Claire, WI, spent the winter in a little cabin writing and recording these heart-aching, beautiful songs. Curl up with a blanket on a cold winter night and lose yourself in them.


#5. Panda Bear - Person Pitch:
Just weird interesting music. Also features the best 12-minute pop song I've probably ever heard.


#4. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga:
Other than being an incredibly frustrating title to type, Spoon's latest continues to up the bar they set with each previous album. "The Underdog" is one of the greatest songs of the decade and the craftsmanship throughout Ga is phenomenal. It's simply a great album to listen to, over and over and over again.


#3. K-os - Atlantis: Hymns for Disco:
For some reason, K-os has gotten very little press here in the United States (he's from Toronto). I can't understand why. This is his second consecutive album that really ups the ante for what we as listeners can (and should) expect from a hip-hop album. Various elements of gospel, Afro-beat, electronic, mariachi, even fiddle music pop up throughout Atlantis, making for an enjoyable ride through K-os' sonic landscape. "Valhalla" and "Fly Paper" are two of the strongest tracks, but really, all of them are worth repeated listens. Let's hope his musical ambitions aren't stunted by an apparent lack of interest from mainstream music culture.


#2. Okkervil River - The Stage Names:
Like Spoon, these guys get better and better, both musically and lyrically, on each album. The opening three tracks of Stage Names are unbelievable, and should be required listening for anyone who....well, just anyone, I guess. By the time "John Allyn Smith Sails" winds down with its "Sloop John B" outro, Will Sheff and company have taken you on such a journey of hope and desperation and anger and joy that it's a good thing the album doesn't go on any longer. "Unless It's Kicks" is easily my song of year, maybe multiple years...


#1. Hallelujah the Hills - Collective Psychosis Begone:
...but one song does not a top album make. HtH beat out Okkervil River partly because their entire album is so strong. Partly because of their kitchen-sink mentality to instrument choice, band membership, and even lyrical prowess. But mostly because this album is so damn good. There's slow songs, fast songs, quiet songs, loud songs, quiet/loud...never mind. It's another album noboby knows about, and it's always amazing to play a couple of these songs for someone who really enjoys music and see them react to hearing something so new and different and engaging. Love it.

Best of 2006

Best Music of 2006 (partial list) in alphabetical order:
Belle & Sebastian The Life Pursuit
The Dears Gang of Losers
The Divine Comedy Victory for the Comic Muse
Electric President Electric President
The Essex Green Cannibal Sea
Format Dog Problems
Girl Talk Night Ripper
Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere
Ima Robot Monument to the Masses
Islands Return to the Sea
The Knife Silent Shout
Margot & the Nuclear So-and-Sos Dust of Retreat
Mates of State Bring it Back
Pink Spiders Teenage Graffiti
Professor Murder Rides the Subway (EP)
Scissor Sisters Ta-Dah!
Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars Living Like a Refugee
Regina Spektor Begin to Hope
Strange Fruit Project The Healing
Tapes 'n Tapes The Loon
Tilly & the Wall Bottoms of Barrels
M. Ward Post-War

Best of 2005

So obviously I'm backtracking a little bit here, but I thought laying some groundwork would be appropriate. And these are in no particular order

Best Music of 2005 (partial list)
Kaiser Chiefs Employment
Bright Eyes Digital Ash on a Digital Urn
Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree
Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary
New Pornographers Twin Cinema
Okkervil River Black Sheep Boy
Danger Doom The Mouse and the Mask
Mike Doughty Haughty Melodic
Blackalicious The Craft