Heavy Rotation: The Best Music of 2008
Over the last couple months I’ve been comprising some of my top music for 2008 to consolidate some of my recommendations. I was planning on making something to incorporate into Tune Muncher, but time has not been on my side. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to see my efforts go to waste. Here are my recommendations.
Impressive Debuts
- Flobots
- The Black Ghosts
- MGMT grew on me. I didn’t like at first, glad I came back
- Justice
- The Asteroids Galaxy Tour first heard on the new iPod Video commercial
New To Me
Bands I got turned on to in 2008
- The Virgins – The Virgins
- Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
Established Awesomeness
Artists I listen to who put out strong albums in 2009.
- The Black Keys – Attack & Release, my vote for top album of 2008
- Beck – Modern Guilt
- We Are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery, sophomore release just as awesome as With Love and Squalor
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Thievery Corporation – Radio Retaliation
- Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul
- Panic at the Disco – Pretty. Odd., I’ll be first to admit I hated this album when it first came out. It completely lacked the energy and intensity that I loved in the first PATD album, but it grew on me over time. There are some excellent tracks on this disc.
The Best Tracks
Infinite Repeat
- The Tings Tings – “Shut Up And Let Me Go”
- MGMT – “Kids Oracular”
- Estelle – “American Boy Ft. Kanye West”
- Kings of Leon – “Sex On Fire”
- My Morning Jacket – “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Part 2″, best beginning and ending to a song released in ’08
- Air France – “Collapsing At Your Doorstep”
- Justice – “Genesis”
- Grum – “Whoa”
- M83 – “Kim & Jesse”
- The Virgins – “Rich Girls”
- Hot Chip – “Ready For The Floor”
- Death Cab For Cutie – “I Will Possess Your Heart”
- Panic at the Disco – “Nine In The Afternoon”, best viewed here.
- Stars – “The Ghost Of Genova Heights”
- My Robot Friend – “Robot High School” (In Digital Form Remix
- Of Montreal – “Id Engager”
Best Albums of 2008
1 requirement – strong from start to finish, never skip a track.
- Beck – Modern Guilt
- The Black Ghosts – The Black Ghosts
- My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
- MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
- Kings of Leon – Only By Night
- M83 – Saturdays = Youth
Let Downs
- Cold War Kids – Loyalty To Loyalty, didn’t hold my attention
- The Dears – Missiles, totally changed their sound, no good tracks. Can’t keep members together: Wikipedia.
- Fujiya & Miyagi – Lightbulbs, same sound only, nothing new, not as good
- The Presets – Apocalypso, no stand out tracks like “Girl and the Sea” or “Steamworks” on their previous album.
- Ratatat – LP3, I falls way short compared to Classics
- Dungen – Tio Bitar, doesn’t compare to Ta Det Lungt
- Taproot – Our Long Way Home, doesn’t compare to their previous releases.
- Hot Chip – Made in the Dark, I had high expectations for this album because I played “Ready For The Floor” x 100000, but the rest of the album is meh.
- Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs, maybe I’m being harsh but I was looking for an album to rival Transatlanticism and never got it.
EPIC FAIL
- The Killers – Day & Age
I’m always waiting for The Killers to bring me back to the heyday of Hot Fuss. I always leave disappointed. On the first single “Human” Brandon Flowers asks “are we human or are we dancer” a play on a Hunter S Thompson proverb. What a stupid song. The horns in “I Can’t Stay” was horrid enough to stick hot needles through my ear drums. The Epic Failure of another piece of crap album by a band I once loved is enough to turn off the dial permanently. I am never listening to The Killers again. What an EPIC waste.
Best Concerts of 2008
- The Black Keys @ The Orpheium
- VAST @ Harper’s Ferry
- Ambulance LTD @ The Middle East
- Band of Horses @ The Paradise
- Rogue Wave @ The Paradise
- The Go! Team @ The Paradise
Best Compilations
- Lounge Anthology
- Indie Rock Playlists
Where Are They?
- The Avalanches – Air France reminded me of them
- Sean Lennon, 8 years between his debut (1998) and his sophomore release (2006), I’m not holding my breath
- Muse
Rediscovered
Back from the dead. Oldies but goodies.
- 311 – 311, I still could sing along with “T&P Combo”. That surprised the hell out of me.
- VAST
- Sean Lennon – Friendly Fire
- Second Coming – Second Coming, “Soft”
Music Resources
Give a listen to some of the artists/albums/tracks I’ve mentioned on these sites.
- Hypem, check out their 2008 Zeitgiest
- delicious.com/somedirection17/music
- The Yellow Stereo
- Aurgasm
- Last.fm
- Pitchfork Top Albums of 2008, Pitchfork Best Tracks of 2008
- Tune Muncher
What’d I miss? Let me know in the comments!
