best of 2008, part 2 – ten to one
the rest of the countdown of the year’s best releases (not including live or reissued recordings)
#10 – Baby Charles – Baby Charles (Record Kicks)
Wow…where did this beauty land from? If you have a few Stax/Volt records in yr collection, perhaps are familiar w/ the Funk Spectrum or Pulp Fusion comps, or have an account w/ web vendor Dusty Groove, definitely check this stellar debut out. Funk and soul done up so tight, such a nice sound. If you were blindfolded and forced to make an invisible jukebox declaration before the vocals kicked in, 90% would say it’s a long-lost METERS record. Top that.
#9 – Ulaan Khol – I (Soft Abuse)
STEVEN R SMITH knocks another one out of the park. Not quite at the same apogee of the HALA STRANA material, but not that far off. A couple of listens to II show that the streak is intact. One of the most underrated guitarists of our time.
#8 – Endless Boogie – Focus Level (No Quarter)
Truth in advertising. These guys wring all the living gunk out of a riff, then stretch it out to the vanishing point. Twin Les Pauls fused together into a celebration of the groove, ‘70’s rock-style. Trust me, the boogie is endless. Punch your ticket and get on the ride.
#7 – Drive-By Truckers – Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West)
Workingman rock, with more than a dose of lyrical poignancy and clarity. Melodies that NEIL YOUNG would like to call his own, power that any Southern Rock band has equaled.
#6 – Religious Knives – Resin (No Fun)
Pass the pipe, I think I’m good (kind of). Sorry for that lame YO LA TENGO pun. These punishers take the tribal MO TUCKER beat and pump the guitar chord/keyboard chord mantra until it’s tattooed into yr frontal lobe. This generation’s SPACEMEN 3? It could be a lot worse. This is excellent.
#5 – Bar Kokhba Sextet – Lucifer, Book of Angels Vol 10 (Tzadik)
For those that thought JOHN ZORN ran adrift of ideas after the first Masada song book, he’s showing plenty of expansion during the second volume. That he’s corralled the same amazingly talented cast can’t hurt, and doesn’t. You’ve got the sonorous style of MARC RIBOT matched with the facile and dextrous MARK FELDMAN, ERIK FRIEDLANDER and the usual cast of characters. Make some more room in Z section of your collection, it will need it.
#4 – Dungen – 4 (Kemado)
Some folks have complained about the lack of guitar pyrotechnics like “Panda” provided…don’t let them steer you away. The greatest Swedish-language psych band has parlayed a keyboard-fueled record right near the top of their discography, a hair under last year’s Tio Bitar. I’m sure that GRUFF RHYS is jealous he didn’t write the lovely “Det Tar Tid.”
#3 – Grails – Take Refuge in Clean Living (Important) / Doomsdayer’s Holiday (Temporary Residence)
It’s tough to separate the two excellent releases that Grails bestowed upon this world, so they are bundled tightly in the #3 slot…instrumentalists of the top tier, mixing post-rock moves with sub-continent Asian melody lines, topped by a sheen of silky smooth textures, the finest in the land.
#2 – James Blackshaw – Litany of Echoes (Tompkins Square)
JAMES BLACKSHAW impressed the hell out of me when I saw him play in Boston in ‘07, his 12 string open-tuned guitar sending waves upon waves of resonating harmonics along with the prodigious melody lines he was carefully picking out. This record is the apex of his recordings so far; opening with an unexpected piano piece, the record really delves to the meat of the issue in the next few songs. Brilliantly cascading, utterly transfixing.
#1 – Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling (Matador)
At last these Glaswegians deliver their magnus opus…they have never been shy about revealing the depths of how their simple and beautiful lines develop, build, crash and recede upon the listener’s ears, but this time there is absolutely no filler…none. That was my complaint all along, where amazing moments like “Christmas Steps” or “You Don’t Know Jesus” or “Friend of The Night” were left to idly drift along with lesser tracks. “The Sun Smells Too Loud” is perfect mid-70’s BRIAN ENO and the massive closing quartet of starting with “I Love You, I’m Going To Blow Up Your School” and ending with the wall-shaking “The Precipice” is truly as good as it gets. My neck hair was standing at attention during their ATP set.
