I love extreme music fans. They’ll get pissed at you if you’ve never heard of their favorite ridiculously obscure band and they’ll get pissed at you for making their favorite ridiculosuly too popular.
I’m not even sure I’ve listened to 10 albums in 2008, but here’s what I got…
Liked
Alanis Morissette - Flavors of Entanglement
Ben Folds - Way to Normal
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Counting Crows - Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Weezer - The Red Album
Alright, Nothing Special
Emiliana Torrini -Me and Armini
I also don’t know if I’ve heard 10 new albums in 2008, so I’ll just list new albums I got in order of how much I like them even if some of them were from 2007. Since those that are from 2007 were still on their tours in support of those albums, they still count
A Different Light - Sherwood. The best compressed pop-punk I’ve heard. I’ll give them a pass on the audio compression since they are on freakin’ MySpace records
Pretty. Odd. - Panic at the Disco. Changing their sound to more of a fuller, symphonic sound would normally mean I would drop them like a hot Madonna*, but the singing is still so good that I listened to it long enough for the album to grow on me. Claiming that they’re “still the same” on the opening track is a bit deceiving, though, although We’re Still Starving is admittedly itself much like AFYCSO.
Underdog Alma Mater - Forever the Sickest Kids. Slightly too much hip-hoppy and non-traditional beats to be the number one pick, but “Catastrophe” would feel at home on early 90’s college radio.
New Surrender - Anberlin. Listenable but much the same as Cities, with the standout of Ex Malo Bonum: not so much a breakaway song from their earnest piano-driven songs and guitar riffs of Cities as a synthesis of the two into one epic song of Armageddon.
Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie. The songs are well-written, but mostly only caught my ear on the first listen, much like neo-folky adult progressive. But “No Sunlight” makes this album worth it for me, as I do not have access to high speed internet to only buy a song at a time.
the first artist I could think of who abuses trends, kicks them into the dirt and buries them. I mean, why does every freakin’ emo artist suddenly decide that what they really wanted to be all along is the next Queen, Rush, or Beatles?
When I read this thread, I thought, How sad it is that I don’t know 95% of the artists here, to say nothing of the albums in particular. I couldn’t even name ten albums released in 2008. And I call myself a musician…oy. So I decided to stop whining and start listening…after all, I can think of a handful of songs that are now favorites of mine after having been introduced to them via the SDMB (“Sweet Ones” by Sarah Slean and “Nothing But Flowers” by Talking Heads come to mind).
This is a daunting undertaking. I spent two hours on youtube and itunes just listening, and I’ve only made it through a handful of the artists mentioned. The main issue is knowing which songs to listen to from each album, or from the artist in general, if I’ve never heard them before. I try to start with the songs that are the most popular, since getting hooked on one tune will generally motivate a closer listen to the others. But the popular ones aren’t always representative, nor are they always the best. (I’ve yet to go through the songs posted by HoboStew, but looking forward to it).
So far I have two new albums on my must-buy list:
Vampire Weekend: I’d heard of them but had been resisting. But it seems this one made everybody’s top five, and fifty gazillion Elvis fans can’t be wrong. The song that hooked me was “Kids Don’t Stand a Chance”
Jenny Lewis (Acid Toungue): I just want to say it should be illegal to be both that hot and that talented. The song that got me was “Next Messiah”
This is all by way saying thanks to everyone for sharing. I think I’m like a lot of people, who, as they get older, tend to fall back more on time-tested music they already know and love. There is so much great new music out there, and it’s all so accessible in our modern world.
Here’s links for my top 10 songs. Some i could only find live versions, some are myspace pages that you might have to click on the player for, but its the best I can do:
Thanks much. Further revelations from the above include “White Winter Hymnal” and “A Heady Tale” and “Vertigo.” And “Golden Age” is going to require more listening. The MGMT stuff is really good but doesn’t move me as much, at least not right away. That Jason Mraz tune is a study in how to write a perfect pop song.
Sadly, I didn’t find a lot of music in 2008 that I really liked. The only full albums I downloaded were:
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static
The Killers - Day & Age
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
Weezer - Red Album
Jason Mraz - We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things
and throw in some one-hit wonders and Top-40 pop songs.
I simply don’t have the time to scour the internet for the latest hits and I don’t hear any new music other than whatever happens to be on VH1 or MTV when I get ready in the morning. And it would literally take a week to play all the music listed in this thread.
Here are the contents of the “Best Of” CDs I’ve made so far for this year. Some of these I now regret adding, but they impressed me enough initially that I put them on:
Disc 1
Los Campesinos! - Death To Los Campesinos!/2. Frank Turner - The Real Damage/3. Bob Mould - The Silence Between Us/4. Goldfrapp - Happiness/5. Magnetic Fields - Drive On Driver/6. Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa/7. Basia Bulat - In The Night/8. Wisely - Through Any Window/9. Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card/10. The Battle of Land And Sea - The Beautiful Ones/11. Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor/12. Jason Collett - Out Of Time/13. Supreme Beings Of Leisure - Swallow/14. The Raveonettes - Dead Sound/15. Robyn Hitchcock - Love Affair/16. The Dirtbombs - Ever Lovin’ Man/17. Beach House - D.A.R.L.I.N.G./18. R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious/19. Headlights - On April 2/20. Bon Iver - Skinny Love/21. Pete & The Pirates - Mr. Understanding/22. Cat Power - Blue/23. Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom
Disc 2
R.E.M. - Living Well Is The Best Revenge/2. Threat From Outer Space - Space Out/3. Bob Mould - Stupid Now/4. Gnarls Barkley - Run (I’m A Natural Disaster)/5. Billy Bragg - I Keep Faith/6. Yes King feat. Prezident Brown - Tomorrow Is Another Day/7. She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here/8. Andrew Bird - The Water Jet Cilice/9. Magnetic Fields - Too Drunk To Dream/10. Portishead - Machine Gun/11. Why? - The Vowels Part 2/12. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Gardenia/13. Destroyer - My Favorite Year/14. Adam Green - Tropical Island/15. Luckyjam - The Best I Can/16. Plants And Animals - Bye Bye Bye/17. The B-52s - Funplex/18. Clinic - Free Not Free/19. Cassettes Won’t Listen - Paper Float/20. British Sea Power - Waving Flags
Disc 3
Cajun Dance Party - Colourful Life/2. Kelley Polar - A Feeling of the All-Thing/3. The Indelicates - Our Daughters Will Never Be Free/4. Morrissey - That’s How People Grow Up/5. Cut Copy - Lights & Music/6. No Kids - For Halloween/7. The Roots - Rising Down/8. Tapes 'n Tapes - Hang Them All/9. Jamie Lidell - Out Of My System/10. Robert Forster - Pandanus/11. Crystal Castles - Vanished/12. The Breeders - Bang On/13. The Teenagers - Homecoming/14. Envelopes - Heaven/15. Radar Bros. - When Cold Air Goes To Sleep/16. My Teenage Stride - Skin Lieutenant/17. Flight of the Conchords - The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)/18. Fuck Buttons - Bright Tomorrow/19. The Whitsundays - Bring it On Home
Disc 4
Portishead - Silence/2. Foals - Olympic Airways/3. Del the Funky Homosapien - Bubble Pop/4. Cajun Dance Party - The Race/5. The Wedding Present - The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend/6. Ladytron - Ghosts/7. Robert Forster - Demon Days/8. Clinic - The Witch/9. Gentle Touch - Expectations/10. The Indelicates - Julia, We Don’t Live in the 60s/11. Chessie - Intercity/12. Thao - Bag of Hammers/13. The Dodos - Fools/14. The Hush Sound - Honey/15. Jim Noir - Don’t You Worry/16. The Young Knives - Turn Tail/17. Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts/18. Isobel Campbell & mark Lanegan - Come On Over (Turn Me On)/19. The Notwist - Hands On Us
Disc 5
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement/2. All India Radio - Far Away/3. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal/4. The Radio Dept. - Freddie and the Trojan Horse/5. Wolf Parade - Language City/6. Sigur Ros - Inní mér syngur vitleysingur/7. Blondfire - Pretty Young Thing/8. Gang Of Four - Second Life/9. Wye Oak - I Don’t Feel Young/10. Beck - Gamma Ray/11. Gnarls Barkley - Going On/12. Woodhands - Dancer/13. This Is Ivy League - London Bridges/14. M83 - Graveyard Girl/15. Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart/16. The long Blondes - Guilt/17. Duffy - Mercy/18. Billy Bragg - I Almost Killed You/19. No Age - Eraser/20. Richard Hawley - Lady’s Bridge/21. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Go Away
Disc 6
Styrofoam - After Sunset/2. Tokyo Police Club - Listen To The Math/3. Black Affair - Japanese Happening/4. Scary Mansion - Sorry We Took All Yr. Money/5. Jamie Lidell - Little Bit Of Feel Good/6. The Old Haunts - Outside Of Divided Time/7. Dengue Fever - Seeing Hands/8. Bon Iver - For Emma/9. Santogold - You’ll Find A Way/10. The French Kicks - Said So What/11. Benga & Coki - Night/12. The Dirtbombs - Wreck My Flow/13. Maybe It’s Reno - Days Like Cups/14. Correcto - Do It Better/15. Ratatat - Mirando/16. Thomas Function - Can’t Say No/17. Magnetic Fields - The Nun’s Litany/18. Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!/19. Nomo - Rings/20. Ponytail - Die Allman Bruder
Disc 7
Wire - One Of Us/2. Dr. Dog - Hang On/3. Times New Viking - Drop-out/4. Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines/5. Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80 - Fire Dance/6. Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning - Love Is New/7. The Faint - The Geeks Were Right/8. Carla Bruni - Le Temps Perdu/9. These New Puritans - Elvis/10. Spiritualized - Soul On Fire/11. Nine Inch Nails - 1,000,000/12. Neil Halstead - Sometimes The Wheels/13. Pas/Cal - Summer Is Almost Here/14. The Cool Kids - Black Mags/15. Tilly & The Wall - Pot Kettle Black/16. Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire/17. Primal Scream - The Glory Of Love (Single Version)/18. You Were Always - All The Books I Read/19. Free Kitten - Roughshod/20. Doleful Lions - White Lotus Day
Disc 8
Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes/2. The Walkmen - In The New Year/3. Stereolab - Three Women/4. Bloc Party - Mercury/5. Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80 - Many Things/6. Ida Maria - I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked/7. Rotary Ten - I Fear The Field/8. Bitter:Sweet - The Bomb/9. Professor Murder - Flex-It Formula/10. Black Kids - I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You/11. Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno - Cuidad Del Swing/12. Mercy Arms - Half Right/13. Friendly Fires - On Board/14. Red Light Company - Meccano/15. The Notwist - Good Lies/16. Esser - I Love You/17. Junkie XL feat. Electrocute - Mad Pursuit/18. Noah & The Whale - 5 Years Time/19. The Dandy Warhols - Love Song
Disc 9
Marching Band - For Your Love/2. R.E.M. - Man-Sized Wreath/3. Matthew Sweet - Sunshine Lies/4. Ra Ra Riot - Dying Is Fine/5. Minisnap - New Broom/6. School Of Language - poor Boy/7. The Cure - The Perfect Boy (Mix 13)/8. James Hunter - Carina/9. Sonny J - Can’t Stop Moving/10. 13ghosts - Beyond The Door/11. Cut Off Your Hands - You & I/12. The Uglysuit - Chicago/13. The Little Ones - Morning Tide/14. Of Montral - An Eluardian Instance/15. Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You/16. Azeda Booth - In Red/17. Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud/18. Alphabeat - Fascination/19. Sparkadia - Morning Light/20. Brian Wilson - Midnight’s Another Day
…aaand I’ll finish this next week, because I’ve got to catch a plane in 5 hours and really shouldn’t be wasting my time typing all this out right now. Good night.
Only 8 (Most of the ‘new’ music I’m still listening to I’ve found is from late-2007):
Demi Lovato – Don’t Forget
John Zorn – The Dreamers
LL Cool J – Exit 13
Girls Aloud – Out of Control
Nikka Costa – Pebble to a Pearl
Santogold – Santogold
Duffy – Rockferry
The Veronicas – Hook Me Up (Released in the states in 2008)
I don’t have 10 but some albums I’ve liked this year:
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Santogold: Santogold
M.I.A.: Kala (I say this one makes it in because I heard about it this year:D)
Michael Franti & Spearhead: All Rebel Rockers
Wolfmother (again, doesn’t count I know)
Josh Rouse, not because he released anything memorable this year but I discovered him this year.
I don’t like most of the new indie bands of 2008. They all sound a little too folksy, low-fi and underproduced for me (I went and listened to samples of the artists from some of these lists). My favourite albums of all time do not include Nickelback, however ;). More like Matthew Sweet, Sublime, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, Pixies, TMBG and other such 90s-heavy fare. My favourite album of all time is Urge Overkill’s Saturation.
Much like Cisco & msmith I had only heard of a few of the bands many of you suggested-though I do listen 103.1 when I’m not listening to NPR. I will note this seems to be a somewhat recent phenomenon. I was still really into most indie bands up till 2005 when I was still in school. They just don’t sound “rocking” enough to my ears.
Music that I really didn’t like: The Fleet Foxes. I was expecting something great because I had heard a lot about them but I couldn’t even listen to a 30 second sample.
FWIW, I wasn’t grabbed by it after the first couple of listens, but I have to say that it is definitely an album worth spending some more time with. Truly great.
Another one that takes awhile is Bon Iver - Forever Emma Ago, which I would almost have as my best for 2008.
Man, I can’t wait til I have the time and energy to pay attention to new music again. I’ve bought one new album this year and can only name one other album that’s come out, and that’s only because it was on the news.
I used to have a job where music was a major part of my daily routine and I got exposed to a lot of stuff, but I don’t listen to the radio or have much exposure through other means these days, so it just drifts by
Didn’t know she had a new one! The only one I have by her, Love in the Time of Science, sounds to me like what Bjork would sound like if she was only interested in selling albums by repeating her voice style on Birthday. (One of the few instances where I wish someone would sell out.)
If her latest album is like that as well, I’ll get it, even if it is nothing special
