Best of 2008

Top 10 Albums of 2008 (in alpha order)…
The Abbasi Brothers - Something Like Nostalgia
Balmorhea - River Arms
Benoit Pioulard - Temper
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Deerhunter - Microcastles / Weird Era Cont.
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes / Sun Giant (ep)
Max Richter - 24 Postcards in Full Colour
Peter Broderick - Float / Home
Why? - Alopecia

Just Missing Out…
2562 - Aerial
The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain
Alias - Resurgam
Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior
Breathe Owl Breathe - Ghost Glacier (ep)
Deadbeat - Roots and Wire
The Dodos - Visiter
Hauschka - Ferndorf
Horse Feathers - House with No Name
iTAL tEK - Cyclical
No Age - Nouns
Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Port O’Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
Small Sur - We Live in Houses Made of Wood
Starkey - Ephemeral Exhibits
Sunken Foal - Fallen Arches
Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends
Zomby - Where Were U in ‘92

Best of the Rest…
Aidan Baker - Fantasma Parastasie
Ass - My Get Up and Go Got Up and Went
Au - Verbs
Azeda Booth - In Flesh Tones
Battle of Land and Sea - Battle of Land and Sea
Barry Lynn (Boxcutter) - Balancing Lakes
Blitzen Trapper- Furr
David Karsten Daniels - Fear of Flying
Distance - Repercussions
DJ/RAPTURE - Uproot
The Drift - Memory Drawings
Fjordne - The Last Days of Time
Frontier Ruckus - The Orion Songbook
Grails - Doomsdayer’s Holiday
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Up a Hill
herq - Night Falls
James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
Johann Johansson - Fordlandia
Koushik- Out My Window
Leila - Blood, Looms and Blooms
LITE - Phantasia
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez - Why is Bear Billowing
The Lord Dog Bird - The Lord Dog Bird
Matthew Robert Cooper - Miniatures
Our Sleepless Forest - Our Sleepless Forest
Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
Pete and The Pirates - Little Death
Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
Sleeping In The Aviary- Expensive vomit in a Cheap Hotel
Tape - Luminarium
Three Trapped Tigers - Three Trapped Tigers (ep)
The Uglysuit - The Uglysuit

Well Worth a Mention…
Ben Benjamin - The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin
The Black Keys - Attack Release
Black Mountain - In the Future
Brightblack Morning Light - Motion to Rejoin
Chad Van Galen - Soft Airplane
Dr. Dog - Fate
Dungen - 4
Erik Levender- Kondens
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Gavin Bryers, Philip Jeck, Alter Ego - The Sinking of the Titanic
James Pants - Welcome
Lackthereof- Your Anchor
Marching Band - Spark Large
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Mr Scruff - Ninja Tuna
The New Year - The New Year
Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart
Roots Manuva - Slime and Reason
The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion
School of Language - Sea from Shore
Shearwater - Rook
These United States - A Picture Of The Three Of Us At The Gate To The Garden Of Eden
Wolf Parade - At Mt. Zoomer

The Sight Below - No Place For Us (free EP)

The “No Place for Us” EP is a three-song introduction to The Sight Below’s hopeful sonic gloom. On the release—his first for Ghostly—the reclusive, Seattle-based producer smears his waterlogged guitar in broad, oceanic strokes, swirling the haze around his tracks’ tantalizingly subtle electronic beats. It’s a sound that encompasses shoegazers’ obsessive tone layering, ambient’s mood-setting sprawl, and techno music’s horizon-spanning momentum at once. The EP opens with “No Place for Us,” a diamond-studded haze of hiss and pulse that recalls a beat-driven cousin of William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops; from there, “With Her Kiss (I’d Pass The Sky)” sends distant foghorns floating over a tiny kick and hi-hat; and on the melancholy closer “Twice Failed,” the artist preserves time in an ether bottle, all bleary-eyed piano and glinting nostalgia.

http://ghostly.com/releases/no-place-for-us

Bleep Clash Compilation @ www.bleep.com

Free Bleep Clash Compilation. all you need is an Bleep account.

TRACKLIST:
01 - These Days (Dntel Remix) (3:26) - People Press Play
02 - They Have A Name (2:26) - The Chap
03 - Minerva (Radio Edit) (5:44) - Mr Copy
04 - Didn't I Furious (3:29) - Pivot
05 - Lower Allston (4:37) - Thalia Zedek
06 - Golem (4:29) - Principles Of Geometry
07 - Negative Thinking (2:15) - The Death Set
08 - Puree Hiphop (2:06) - Gable
09 - Fade And Saturate (6:13) - Fairmont”

Enjoy!

Ass - My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went

I like Ass! Oh yes, but not in that way…

It's hard to fathom why Andreas Soderstrom called his solo project “Ass” whether he’s referring to a donkey or the lumps on the top of your legs, it's beyond me, but don’t let the name put you off.

With little more than an acoustic guitar he manages to conjure genuine melancholy within suspense, using swift time changes and expertly quick strummed/picked guitar, clanging and Buzzing strings fold into soft hypnotic melody and back into more heavy strikes. His hypnotic style is reminiscent of folk legend John Fahey but with the added bonus of the occasional horn blast. Each track veers into folk, blues and country, with a sprinkling of electronic dust. The majority of the album is instrumental, which in some ways, is a shame as he’s got a great voice - see "Wheels and Wings" for an example - I think you'll agree he should use it more.

My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went is one of those albums that is mellow but still grabs your attention from start to finish, leaving you wanting more.. In fact, in a word, its Ass-tounding.

90/100
Emusic /Headspin Recordings

David Karsten Daniels - Fear Of Flying

Release Date: 28/04/08
Label: FatCat

This album is desperately moving. Approach with caution if your heart is made of anything less than steel.

Fear of Flying is a collection of emotive songs written about David’s family members spiraling in to old age, and ultimately their mortality, his feelings on death, life and faith. Whilst reflecting on his own fear of everlasting darkness he ponders on everybody’s thoughts and feelings. How do you feel about death? What will you do? Whilst being reassuring he also expresses a lack of sympathy towards other peoples fears. Possibly, this is cathartic.

Even the title “Fear of Flying” suggests that he has fears but it’s not actually that he has a fear of flying but a fear of the passage between being a land creature on earth to then fly into the sky, into heaven, into the unknown.

The music, at times, is bare - just a nylon strung guitar and his soothing voice. At others he is accompanied by distant organs, flutes and in the heightened moments there are grinding guitars, distorted drums, oboes and saxophones. All well arranged, so much so, it’s passable as pop, with an element of noise which never spirals out of control.

Daniel does make light humour out of his religion and death in “Oh, Heaven Isn't Real” by exclaiming that “heaven is lie / it’s just a little thing that's there to make you feel better”, which offers you a haven from the initial bruising. Also on “Everytime A Baby is Born” he asked the question “Do you cry / Everytime a baby is born?” then why cry when person dies. Suggesting that it’s one and the same thing and with that in mind its easier to cope. And in “Falling Down” he jokes whilst plummeting in mid-flight of a car crash how perfect an end it would be - being altogether “with my boys”.

The subject matters are strong and deep. But the impression I get is that he is saying that as much as we fear death we should embrace it. Smile in the face of adversity. Therefore, it is not all doom and gloom.?

The album concludes sweetly with the Lords Prayer being song over a chorus of crickets at moonlight. Gently caressing you, like a Mother's warm hug before lights out.

89/100

HMV / 7 Digital

Ghostly Swim

Free Ghostly International Album here, courtesy of Adult Swim: http://www.adultswim.com/willi

Benga - Diary Of An Afro Warrior

In many ways “Diary Of An Afro Warrior” is simplistic, but it’s to the point, which is its real quality. The beats are crisp and the synth’s bleep out like Morse Code. The clean, heavy sub-basslines seem to be the main focal point and are the driving force behind the overall sound.

Unlike Burial's dark narrative, which I love, Benga brings a vibrant, crunked up, instrumental sound that is more suited to clubs than darkened bedrooms. He wants to get you moving and none more so in the track “Night”, which could be the best single of 2008. Still early days though.

You’ll uncover many different styles and influences here, that work well together. African beats, tribal chants, techno keys and dub basslines on “Light Bulb”. Classic IDM akin to Luke Vibert on “Someone 20”. Techno mixed with Dub, there is a lot going on, blurring genres and it works. It’s yet another unique angle on Dubstep.

Considering that this is his first full album its amazingly well accomplished. There is not one weak track on this album, which is an accolade in itself, 14 tracks of solid gold is some achievement.

The first real stand-out dubstep album of 2008.

86/100

emusic / boomkat

The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain

http://www.myspace.com/theacorn
http://www.paperbagrecords.com/

Oh Canada, I think I love you?

So much good music seems to be coming out of Canada nowadays, it is quite literally cascading out of there like a flood.

Glory Hope Mountain is about, front man, Rolf Klausener’s Mother’s life. Reflecting on her childhood in Honduras within 12 vignettes. From being surrounded by natures beauty to the brutal devastation of a village flood. Most of these songs sound summery and breezy, reflecting the environment she would have been in. Played on a banjo, mandolin, drums, horns, electric and acoustic guitar, and what sounds like clanging bottles and bits of wood..

I think its fair to say that the Acorn are an experimental folk band with a tribal flame burning in their hearts, which makes them sound similar to Akron/Family and the Angels of Light, whilst retaining their own style. I also think, in the more delicate and tribal free tracks, there are glimmers of Califone (Glory) and in places Sufjan Stevens (Oh Napoleon) which is a no bad thing. These tracks cleanse the palette for the next juicy installment of primitive folk, giving the album a good flow. Its a consistent album, packed full of sincere stories and glorious music, that shouldn’t fail to impress. It has certainly impressed me.

On the final track ‘Lullaby’ goes “I will wash over you / I know your heart is true / little mountain of mine” sounds retrospective of the emotions Rolf may have experienced through the albums conception and this line sums up what Glory Hope Mountain is about.

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emusic / amazon

The Dodos - Visiter

The San Francisco based duo's new release ‘Visiter’ carries on nicely where the brilliant ‘Beware of the Maniacs’ left off. If you have never listened to that then I strongly recommend you do or at least try the track ‘Men’ which is a brilliant "men vs women" song. You can get a sample session on daytrotter.

I truly believe the Dodos are offering something fresh. It could be described as psych-folk-pop with a blues rock twang. Finger picked guitars, primitive stomping drum beats and lyrics that expose their delicate nature being pounded out with honesty. The results are outstanding. See for yourself...

http://www.dodosmusic.net/
http://www.dodosmusic.net/audio.html#
emusic / amazon

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Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue

Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Release Date: 25/03/08
Label: Secret City Records

http://www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals
http://www.plantsandanimals.ca

I love it when an album comes along and blind sides you, which is exactly what happened when I first listened to Parc Avenue. In fact, I haven’t quite got over the initial impact, it has totally dominated my music playlist for over a week now, I just can’t stop listening to it. As you may have already gathered, I like this album, I like it a lot. End of the gush-fest.

Fundamentally Plants and Animals are a Canadian Jam Band made up of three core members. But, don’t let the words Jam Band put you off, they are more than that - They offer a hybrid of rock, folk, a pinch of jazz and a dollop of well crafted pop. They even roll out into an “Extra Golden afro-beat riddim” on closing track “Guru”. What makes them unique to most jam bands is there songs are not aimless or drawn out for the sake of it and they maintain the all important pop staple of the verse into chorus hooks.

"...the beauty of the earth and all the wonders that inhabits it..."

The album opens with the gospel sounding line “What’s gonna happen to you / you have woke up too soon / and found the world rearranged / and now your feelings have changed / say good bye to before / you‘re not welcome anymore…” could this be a comment on Religion or the lack of belief in this Apocalyptic era? Maybe? But, they go on to express that “we are all apart of one another…” and we should appreciate the beauty of the earth and all the wonders that inhabits it, before it’s too late. I agree.

These guys know how to have fun and their lyrics are mainly tongue ‘n cheek comments. At one point they can’t contain there laughter as they build up into a repetition of an increasingly funny pronunciation of the God fearing word “Mercy”. What’s wrong in taking the piss out of life, if anything, that’s how everyone should live, right? You get the sense that they really enjoy what they do and if that’s all that’s left, then, so be it.

Parc Avenue is a very pleasurable listen - Smiles guaranteed.

Sample Tracks:
Feedback in the Field
Faerie Dance

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Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
Release date: 05/11/2007
Label: we are free

http://www.yeasayer.net/

Saharan inspired indie that sandblasts the ears in a gentle wave. It's all refreshingly different. Tribal sounds with an 80's edge. They are kind of like a more accessible Tinariwen - blended into the likes of Fleetwood Mac or Peter Gabriel - Grab a grain!
Check out the excellent 2080 and Sunrise

Their UK tour kicks off tomorrow:
05.03.08 - Wed - Birmingham, UK @ Bar Academy
06.03.08 - Thu - London, UK @ ICA
08.03.08 - Sat - Glasgow, Scotland @ King Tuts
09.03.08 - Sun - Manchester, UK @ Night & Day
10.03.08 - Mon - London, UK

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Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
Release date: 03/03/2008
Label: Domino Records

Noodle, Noodle, Noodle. I don't know what it is with Mr. Malkmus, but, since he's been joined by the Jicks, he's become more and more obsessed with his noodling guitar sounds. I loved his self titled album, and I liked "Face the Truth", but, I am afraid it seems like he's on the dreaded downward spiral.

First track "Dragon Fly" is not the most inspiring of starts to an album. They malaise into a meandering noodle fest fit for a slow motion air guitar face off, with streams of verbal nonsense. In fact, the first few tracks are bursting with childish nonsensical lyrics like "a dragon fly wants a piece of pie" and "do a little Willie hopscotch, like me". Come on Steve, this is just pointless. I know his style is random, and at times it can be brilliant, but this is just ridiculous.

"...more noodles than Wagamama's..."

It does get better though, I am glad to say. Title track "Real Emotional Trash" is an upbeat rockabilly rumble of a track that has a great whirling sound that blasts out just as he screams "please me". Please me it does. Then into "Out of Reaches" which has more noodles than Wagamama's. But, there is some soup within the bowl - in the form of a great chorus line - which saves it.

As a whole, this isn't a bad album, it's just a little disappointing. I wasn't expecting it to sound like a new Pavement album, in fact that would be more disappointing, I was just hoping it would be on par with his earlier solo releases. He has set the standards high and he is still great at putting together songs with perfect pop structures. I just wish there was less noodle and more soup.

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Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Release date: 28/01/2008
Label: XL

Four well educated preppy boys make up the quartet that is Vampire Weekend, named after a movie made by lead singer Ezra at college. Now graduates Ezra Koenig (vocals, guitar), Rostam Batmanglij (keys & vox), Christopher Thomson (drums) and Chris Baio (bass) formed at Columbia University, where their fan base grew strong through campus gigs and then more widely by internet exposure on blogs and MySpace. It's here they proclaim to be “…specialists in the following styles: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", "Upper West Side Soweto", "Campus", and "Oxford Comma Riddim." Some of these also happen to be the names of their songs.

"...a global patchwork sheet, eccentrically woven into something bohemian and refreshingly different."

United by a love of African music, their sound is primarily based around Afrobeat percussion - this reflects moments of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and could be seen as jumping on the "tribal pop" band wagon of, the successful Brooklyn band, Yeasayer. To be fair to them though, they do demonstrate a wealth of other influences that will detach them from this pigeon hole. You will notice elements of Brit-pop, American Indie, Reggae and New Wave. There are even moments of Baroque, courtesy of Rostam’s keyboard. This may sound like a strange combination but it all comes together really well, like a global patchwork sheet, eccentrically woven into something bohemian and refreshingly different.

They definitely paid attention during class, with songs like, “Oxford Comma” Ezra comments on the use of grammar and descriptivism. Expressing why there should not be just the one way of doing anything. In their first single "Mansard Roof" they even drop a little bit of history into the equation with the line “The Argentines collapse in defeat / The admiralty surveys the remnants of the fleet”.

Their wealth of influences and clever lyrics will no doubt impress a lot of people but will inevitably leave many others baffled. Some may even write them off as being a novelty, a flash in the pan even. The “Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” if they want straight-up indie, but, only time will tell if that's what they truly want.

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Pete and the Pirates - Little Death

Pete and the Pirates - Little Death
Release date: 17/02/2008
Label: Stolen Recordings

Reading's five-piece “Pete & The Pirates” debut “Little Death” scrapes in at just over 35 minutes. In fact, most of these songs shoot past at more than 20 songs per hour, basically they are short and fast.

Tommy Sanders, of the brilliant Tap Tap, sings upbeat pop tunes about love and insecurity but more importantly about getting drunk, picking up women and waking up the next day with a steaming hangover and a head, or should that be bed, full of regret... I say bed as there are numerous references to the place of slumber, as if maybe it’s a protest against having to sleep when there is so much fun to be had.

"You might find yourself, embarrassingly, humming and toe tapping in the middle of Tesco’s"

Tom revisits Tap Tap’s “She Doesn't Belong To Me” that demonstrates how his new band have moved out of the bedroom and into the studio, the overall production is more polished. That said, all the warbles and slips are still there, retaining the charm of “Lanzafame”, which could have so easily have been lost.

“Little Death” is packed full of ecstatic grinding guitars, blistering bolts of thunder drumming, super fast hand-claps and heightened screams of drama. But, it's all so politely delivered. Each song is simple, yet captivating, and will rattle around in your head. You might find yourself, embarrassingly, humming and toe tapping in the middle of Tesco’s. At least you've been warned.

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Balmorhea - River Arms

Balmorhea - River Arms
Release date: 12/02/2008
Label: Western Vinyl

Texan duo of Rob Lowe and Michael Muller, otherwise known as Balmorhea, named after a small Texan town of Lowe's childhood upbringing. "River Arms" 14 sparse movements blend folk and classical styles to create beautiful daydream music that have got me through many miserable commutes to work.

Their songs evoke contradictory feelings of cold and warmth - melancholy and joy.

Personal highlights are the acoustic guitar playing on "Wind and Sea" and the delicate finger picking combined with a warm shimmering cello backdrop on "The Summer". Also, "Greyish Tapering Ash" slow train rattles along like a mysterious soundtrack to something that could be cinematic. Which then blends straight into the beautiful piano piece "Baleen Morning" filling you with hope and breathlessness. I only wish they would have dropped "Context" which is 4 plus minutes of distant voices and pointlessness. This is only a minor blip though, as a whole, "River Arms" is a fantastic album that should be enjoyed as much as possible.

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Breathe Owl Breathe - Ghost Glacier EP

Breathe Owl Breathe - Ghost Glacier EP
Release date: 11/02/2008
Label: Emusic

Comprised of Micah Middaugh (guitar, vocals), Andréa Moreano-Beals (cello, vocals) and Trevor Hobbs (percussion) — the Michigan trio Breathe Owl Breathe explore the many wonders of Mother Nature. Singing tales of a frozen sabertooth Tiger trapped inside a giant glacier, an orphaned turtle brought up by frogs, and all kinds of other creatures that once graced the earth that still inhabit their minds eye. Told from a viewpoint as feral and simple as their subjects.

"...a forest landscape that is as calm as a stream, with ripples of unpredictability, that's as real as nature itself."

Middaugh's deep, grizzly bear, vocals are uncannily similar to Bill Callahan's (Smog), they even seem to share the same mannerisms. Combined with Moreano-Beals, as pretty as a songbird, high notes you are placed within a forest landscape that is as calm as a stream, with ripples of unpredictability that's as real as nature itself.

This EP is exclusive to eMusic

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Boxcutter - Glyphic

Boxcutter - Glyphic
Release date: 29/10/07
Label: Planet Mu

Planet Mu's Barry Lynn's second album Glyphic sways through many different genres but is filed under Dubstep. Carrying on from the brilliant Oneiric this album demonstrates just what a creative mind the man has. He likes mixing things up whilst maintaining a constant flow. Sub basslines swoop and flow throughout wrapping everything together nicely, giving it that trademark dark undertone of the dubstep genre. That said, there are only a few tracks with Dub bass and 2 step beats, most of this album is based around the 'Breaks' akin to the likes of 'Four Tet' and 'Amon Tobin' with a blend of classic electronic IDM styling of Planet Mu's boss µ-Ziq.

All in all, you have one of the most essential electronica albums of 2007!

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