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Best of 2008, part 1 – 20 to 11
Wow…I really dropped the ball on the top 10 list…since it’s so late in the year, this is truly the season when the soapbox gets dragged out and hot air bellows forth from the pontificator, in the guise of year-end best.There were a lot of great releases and i’ve got at least 30, so I’ll split ‘em into a ‘new release’ and ‘live/reissue’ category. let the air flow begin!
#20 – Cat Power – Jukebox (Matador)
CHAN MARSHALL’s always been a shrewd re-interpreter of others’ songs, and this second full-length venture into the dog-eared songbook proves her smoky/soul chanteuse re-birth is a good one.
#19 – Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord)
DYLAN CARLSON is likely responsible for birthing the doom/drone metal label Southern Lord, so it’s apt that he’s found a home on STEVEN O’MALLEY’s imprint. The amount of volume turndown from early Earth records is impressive; the energy is still there, just far less obvious. A gorgeous vinyl edition was just released, if you are into that sort of thing.
#18 – Destroyer – Trouble in Dreams (Merge)
I didn’t know anything about DAN BEJAR’s main project at all, but after seeing NEW PORNOGRAPHERS late last year, and getting a copy of this record to review for another site, I was suddenly all ears. An ornate style of writing that could find equal parts KEVIN AYERS and DAVID BOWIE.
#17 – Minisnap – Bounce Around (Magic Marker)
Everyone knows how well ROBERT SCOTT can write and perform a pop song, whether it’s with his main outfit THE BATS, or any of the other worthy bands he’s been a part of (*THE CLEAN*, THE MAGICK HEADS, THE WEEDS, etc). Well KAYE WOODWARD and the rest of the Bats show that they can steer the boat more than ably when Robert’s not around. Pop sleeper of the year; search this one out!
#16 – Crystal Antlers – Crystal Antlers (Touch and Go)
This would be a fantastic EP had COMETS ON FIRE never existed, but it comes off a tad derivative if you are even a bit familiar with the scorch and flame of ETHAN MILLER and company. Still, it holds my interest pretty well and I’m interested in hearing a full-length.
#15 – Howlin’ Rain – Magnificent Fiend (Birdman)
And speaking of ETHAN MILLER, his second LP from his side-project is a dandy of sun-soaked SoCal rock. Much less dependent on the JERRY GARCIA vibe of the debut, this is a somewhat mixed bag that sports three totally killer songs, which vaults it this high into my countdown. Listen to “Calling Lightning Pt 2” and you will be instantly transported into a blindingly white Super Beetle convertible blazing down the PCH, the wind whipping yr hair across yr face while the air is filled with a tinge of salt, courtesy of the breakers off Big Sur. Yeah, that sounds good right about now, while I’m tucked into the early part of a New England winter.
#14 – Natural Snow Buildings – The Snowbringer Cult (Students of Decay)
A most maddening band…this mysterious French duo make beautiful drones in micro-editions, which means that even the most die-hard fans have a next to impossible task getting some of the releases (editions of 33? really? why bother?). This double CD (containing both the joint effort of NSB, as well as their solo projects ISENGRIND and TWINSISTERMOON) was pressed in a massive number of 1000, so getting a copy wasn’t so bad. Now if they can only provide that sort of number for the rest of their output…to be so willfully perverse about providing music to their fanbase is very odd. This band is a ringing endorsement for peer-to-peer file-sharing, as that’s the only way you will be able to hear a large chunk of their music. Which is a shame.
#13 – Giant Sand – proVISIONS (Yep Roc)
HOWE GELB continues to put out fantastic music shaped only as he can…how TOM WAITS can command an audience far larger is a question for the ages, really. He’s well past surviving the loss of his rhythm section (you may know them better as CALEXICO) and continues to put out probing, perplexing, singular, desert-scorched introspection.
#12 – Melvins – Nude with Boots (Ipecac)
KING BUZZO and DALE CROVER deserve elevation as top musical icons of the last ~25 years…innovative, hilarious, unpredictable, and thoroughly ennervating in a live setting. The joint venture with BIG BUSINESS is now two records old, and continues in the very fine and deep footprints from where (a) Senile Animal left off. Crushing Zep riffs, skin-stretching dirges…it’s here. Come get it.
#11 – Barn Owl – Raft of Serpents (Root Strata)
A fragile chrysalis of a CDR…life is breathed into the gossamer creature at a slow pace, but enough to unfold, unfurl, unravel…and ultimately soar. Aching beauty, the freak-folk tag be damned to eternal hell. In terms of distribution, see NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS.
