When 2008 started, I was sure it was going to be awesome. “It’s going to be two-thousand-great,” I told anyone who would listen, ignoring the various signs (MTV ringing in the New Year with Tila Tequila, hints of economic collapse, etc.) that things wouldn’t exactly go as planned. Or even be much good at all. But at least there was music to help the seemingly endless parade of bad news plod along a bit more jauntily, right?
THE GOOD: Getting back into R & B full-throttle thanks to Ne-Yo, Erykah Badu, Estelle, and Solange; Ida Maria’s twitchy “Oh My God,” which I am going to try and have every person I know hear at least once over the course of the coming months; Prince and Jarvis Cocker owning gigantic open spaces; Ne-Yo turning girls into goo.
THE BAD: You don’t want to hear about the bad aspects of my 2008. (And honestly, typing a blow-by-blow out would just depress me all over again.) So instead I’ll note that I often hate making lists because even though they’re supposed to be overviews, they’re inevitably of the specific moment at which the list was made, which means that completely worthy entrants will get slighted, or pushed out by space limitations, etc. Here’s a “sorry” to Black Mountain’s In The Future, the Air Miami demos that were reissued by Teen Beat, Panic At The Disco’s Pretty. Odd., Deastro’s “The Shaded Forests,” The Academy Is…’s Fast Times At Barrington High, Jazmine Sullivan’s “Bust Your Windows,” and the Robin Thicke record that was mysteriously forgotten about by everyone.
THE WHAAAA? Before August, if you had said that I would have put Billy Joel on any list that didn’t count down the reasons my ninth-grade social studies class was completely absurd (hi there, three-day lesson on “We Didn’t Start The Fire”), I would have laughed so, so hard. And yet, his show at Shea Stadium was totally solid, not only because of his undeniable showmanship but for the ways it stoked my nostalgia about growing up on Long Island.
ALBUMS
1. Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman (Def Jam)
2. Portishead, Third (Mercury)
3. Santogold (Downtown)
4. Solange, Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen)
5. High Places, 03/07-09/07 / High Places (eMusic Selects / Thrill Jockey)
6. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Vol. 1: Fourth World War (Motown)
7. Fall Out Boy, Folie A Deux (Island)
8. Hercules & Love Affair (DFA)
9. Estelle, Shine (Atlantic)
10. Beach House, Devotion (Carpark)
11. Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella)
12. Maybe It’s Reno (Teen Beat)
SINGLES
1. Ida Maria, “Oh My God” (RCA UK)
2. Lloyd ft. Lil Wayne, “Girls Around The World” (Universal)
3. The Duke Spirit, “The Step And The Walk” (Artist First)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, “Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!” (Anti-)
5. Lykke Li, “Little Bit” (Atlantic)
6. Sybris, “Oh Man!” (Absolutely Kosher)
7. Headlights, “Cherry Tulips” (Polyvinyl)
8. TV On The Radio, “Golden Age” (Interscope)
9. Beyoncé, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” (Sony)
10. Gym Class Heroes ft. Estelle, “Guilty As Charged” (Fueled By Ramen / Atlantic)
11. Girls Aloud, “The Promise” (Polydor UK)
12. Alphabeat, “Fascination” (EMI Europe)
LIVE SHOWS
1. Prince @ Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
1. Jarvis Cocker @ Union Park, Chicago
3. Ne-Yo @ Madison Square Garden, New York
4. Fall Out Boy @ North Star Bar, Philadelphia
5. Kirsten Ketsjer @ Mohawk, Austin, Texas
6. Portishead @ Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
7. Wye Oak @ Union Hall, Brooklyn, N.Y.
8. Ponytail @ Ms. Bea’s, Austin, Texas
9. Billy Joel @ Shea Stadium, Flushing, N.Y.
10. Black Mountain @ Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
11. Mussels @ Homeslice Pizza, Austin, Texas
12. Bring Me The Horizon @ Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y.
@tim_loves_cats: They were just really good. The crowd going completely berserk helped.
You got to go around the country to see rad shows…you can’t complain about 2008 any more.
@MayhemintheHood: um… no, sorry. that’s not how it works. i fully realize that i’m very lucky in that respect, but yeah.
I just started my running 2009 list solely to apologize to Robin Thicke for leaving his album outta my top 20. (Anthony Hamilton, too.) But I did compile a pretty good consolation prize “Top Ten on My Yacht” list to go along with my real list. In some ways, this is more accurately how I felt about 2008.
1. Robin Thicke - Something Else
2. Studio - Yearbook 2
3. The Very Best - Very Best Mixtape
4. Solange - Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams
5. Anthony Hamilton - The Point of It All
6. Al Green - Lay It Down
7. Beyonce - I Am…Sasha Fierce
8. Taio Cruz - Departure
9. Rex the Dog - The Rex the Dog Show
10. Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha
I had a “We Didn’t Start the Fire” assignment as well! Billy Joel was a boon to social studies teachers everywhere.
@Maura Johnston: @dabug:
I gotta peep this Ida Maria track. Seems like it is quite the bees knees. And a loud, giant HOLLA(!) and tip of the hat to you for placing Solange’s disc in your top ten.
My Own Private 2008 (love that title by the way) is as follows:
ALBUMS:
01/Erykah Badu/New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
02/Hot Chip/Made in the Dark
03/Of Montreal/Skeletal Lamping
04/Friendly Fires/Friendly Fires
05/Jenny Lewis/Acid Tongue
06/Solange Knowles/Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
07/TV on the Radio/Dear Science
08/The Cool Kids/The Bake Sale EP
09/Conor Oberst/Conor Oberst
10/Vampire Weekend/Vampire Weekend
SINGLES:
01/Beyonce/Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
02/Jason Mraz/I’m Yours
03/Solange Knowles/Sandcastle Disco AND I Decided, Pt. 1
04/Madonna feat. Pharrell/Give it 2 Me AND Cut Copy/Lights and Music
05/Coldplay/Viva La Vida
06/Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown/No Air
07/Panic at the Disco/Nine in the Afternoon
08/Lil Wayne/A Milli AND Lollipop
09/Estelle feat. Cee-Lo/Pretty Please (Love Me) AND Jazmine Sullivan feat. Missy Elliot/Need U Bad
10/Ne-Yo feat. Jamie Foxx and Fabolous/She Got Her Own (Miss Independent RMX)AND The Dream/I Luv Your Girl
@dabug: @Tauwan: @Tauwan: Word on the Solange love. It’s also my #6.
@Tauwan: Are you sure you’re not cheating off my test? I see a few too many similarities in the albums & singles lists for this to be a “coincidence”…
Since I still haven’t published my list to my blog, I’ll go ahead and spill it here. [N.B. It was very hard to make a "Top 10", as the bottom rungs could have been filled by any of 15-20 albums, but here's how I felt the day I closed the polls for good, around early-December...]
1) Lil Wayne
2) P!nk
3) Kanye West
4) Ne-Yo
5) Estelle
6) Solange
7) Robyn
8) R.E.M.
9) Sugarland
10) Panic At The Disco
Oh, what the hell… my ten favorite songs (singles? psh) of the year.
10) The Rapture, “No Sex for Ben”
9) The Hold Steady, “Slapped Actress”
8) Munga, “No Fraid A”
7) Johnny Foreigner, “Lea Room”
6) Vampire Weekend, “A-Punk”
5) Lil Wayne, “A Milli”
4) Ida Maria, “Keep Me Warm”
3) The Ting Tings, “Shut Up and Let Me Go”
2) Vampire Weekend, “M79″
1) Ida Maria, “Oh My God”
My Top 10 Favorite Songs Released in 2008 (sorry, no “Paper Planes”):
1. Los Campesinos! - Death to Los Campesinos!
2. Why? - The Hollows
3. Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time
4. Pendulum - Propane Nightmares
5. Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
6. Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor
7. Florence and the Machine - Kiss With A Fist
8. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars
9. School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
10. Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows
Ten Great Albums of 2008 That Most People Didn’t Pay Attention To
1. Bauhaus - Go Away White
2. The Indelicates - American Demo
3. ¡Forward, Russia! - Life Processes
4. Liam Finn - I’ll Be Lightning
5. The Broken West - Now or Heaven
6. Darker My Love - 2
7. Operator Please - Yes Yes Vindictive (US/UK release was this year)
8. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
9. Wire - Object 47
10. The Automatic - This is a Fix
Ten Artists Whose Records I’m Waiting for in 2009
1. My Bloody Valentine (please?)
2. Arctic Monkeys
3. Silversun Pickups
4. Franz Ferdinand
5. Muse
6. Arcade Fire
7. Doves
8. Wilco
9. Rose Dougall (formerly of the Pipettes)
10. The Thermals
100 Favorite Albums list is here: [rateyourmusic.com]
Bring Me The Horizon? A bizarre inclusion, to be sure.
Albums:
1. Monkey: Journey To The West
2. Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid
3. The Notwist, The Devil, you + me
4. The Cool Kids, The Bake Sale
5. M83, Saturdays = youth
6. The Dears, Missiles
7. Beach House, Devotion (thanks for the tip Maura)
8. Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak
9. British Sea Power, Do You Like Rock Music?
10. Spiritualized, Songs in A&E
Live Shows:
1. Monkey: Journey To The West, Sottile Theatre, Charleston SC
2. Lupe Fiasco, Congress Chi.
2. Jarvis Cocker, Pitchfork Chi.
3. Working For A Nuclear Free City, Schubas Chi.
4. M83, Empty Bottle Chi.
5. Toumani Diabate, Logan Square Chi.
6. My Bloody Valentine, Aragon Chi.
7. Radiohead, Lollapalooza
8. Kanye West Lollapalooza
9. Elbow, Park West Chi.
10. British Sea Power, Empty Bottle Chi.
11. Amadou and Mariam, Lollapalooza
12. Spiritualized, Pitchfork Chi.
13. Modeselektor, Sonotheque Chi.
14. Foals, Subterranean Chi.
15.. Dizzee Rascal, Pitchfork Chi.
My album picks seem sort of pedestrian this year…maybe I needed comforting?
2008 Albums (in no particular order)
Sheryl Crow - Detours
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One
Van Morrison - Still On Top: The Greatest Hits (3-CD Version)
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Foxboro Hottubs - Stop Drop And Roll!!!
Alanis Morissette - Flavors Of Entanglement
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs
2008 Songs (Ditto)
Sheryl Crow - Love Is Free
Erykah Badu - Amerykahn Promise
Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Counting Crows - Hanging Tree
The Raconteurs - The Switch And The Spur
Gnarls Barkley - Run (I’m A Natural Disaster)
Tony Allen - Where The Streets Have No Name
R.E.M. - I’m Gonna DJ
Madonna - Give It 2 Me
Mudcrutch - June Apple
Foxboro Hottubs - Dark Side Of Night
Maroon 5 - If I Never See Your Face Again
Alanis Morissette - Incomplete
Coldplay - Lovers In Japan
Weezer - Heart Songs
Ben Folds & Regina Spektor - You Don’t Know Me
Christina Aguilera - You Are What You Are (Beautiful)
Oasis - Bag It Up
The Cure - Freakshow
Pink - Funhouse
Songs (not just singles):
1 - Hercules & Love Affair, “Blind”
2 - Goldfrapp, “A&E”
3 - Kleerup / Marit Bergman, “3AM”
4 - Solange, “Sandcastle Disco” & “I Decided, Pt 2″
6 - Kylie, “The One”
7 - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, “Heartbreak Make Me a Dancer” & “Off & On”
9 - Annie, “I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me”
10 - Alphabeat, “Fascination”
+ Katy Perry, “Hot n Cold”; Heidi Montag, “Overdosin”; Little Jackie, The World Should Revolve Around Me”; Neon Neon, “Raquel”; Ladyhawke, “Back of the Van”; Cyndi Lauper, “Into the Nightlife”; Sugababes, “Every Heart Broken”; Jonas Brothers, “Burnin’ Up”; Little Boots, “Love Kills”; Chris Brown, “Forever”; etc. etc.