The Year In Music
Dec. 10th, 2008 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexsarllDavid Devant have new material! And Brontosaurus Chorus do too, but that doesn't come as quite such a surprise, them not having been however many years now without any. Still, let joy be unconfined! Anyway, it's that time of year, isn't it? The NME have printed their predictably predictable list, so I might as well tell you what were really the Albums of the Year, 2008.
1. American Demo - The Indelicates
2. Hold On Now, Youngster... - Los Campesinos!
3. Stay Positive - The Hold Steady
4. Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond
5. Third - Portishead
6. Made In Sheffield - Tony Christie
7. Do You Like Rock Music? - British Sea Power
8. The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
9. Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
10. Twenty One - Mystery Jets
11. 4:13 Dream - The Cure
12. CSI: Ambleside - Half Man Half Biscuit
13. Red - Guillemots
14. We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed - Los Campesinos!
15. The Cross Eyed Rambler - Paul Heaton
16. White Elephant - The Vichy Government
17. "Couples" - The Long Blondes
18. Out Of Control - Girls Aloud
19. Made In The Dark - Hot Chip
20. Adorata - The Gutter Twins
21. Gravity Calling - Flipron
22. Devil's Tavern - The Blow Monkeys
23. Last Holiday Before Divorce: Deleted Scenes From An Unfinished Sequel - Luxembourg
24. The Painted Side Of The Rocket - Fosca
25. Heretic Pride - The Mountain Goats
26. In Case Of Emergency - Madam
27. Snowflake Midnight - Mercury Rev
28. Saturnalia - The Gutter Twins
29. The Slip - Nine Inch Nails
30. Neptune City - Nicole Atkins
31. Isle Of Grain - One More Grain
32. Gatekeeper - Scarlet's Well
33. Bittersweet World - Ashlee Simpson
Obviously this excludes albums which had a few ace tracks and tried to hang a load of filler off them, or just went on a bit (The Saturdays, Keane), as well as the not-really-albums, however good, such as compilations (Belle & Sebastian, Long Blondes) or live albums (Greg Dulli, MCR), But beyond that, I've tried to exclude acts who've made the same album several times before, even if it is still pretty good (Tindersticks, Ladytron), or brave but not entirely satisfactory experiments (The Magnetic Fields, various instrumental download albums); this is not a list of precursors or echoes, of ones for the fans, but of albums sufficient unto themselves.
As for singles - or I suppose we should just say 'tracks' nowadays...it wasn't a bad year, but there was no Song Of The Year, was there? By which I mean something both brilliant and ubiquitous, an 'Umbrella' or 'Get Ur Freak On' or 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'. 'Wearing My Rolex' felt like it could be that song, but it was too early and didn't hang around like it ought to have done, ditto 'Ready For The Floor' (in spite of that brilliant proto-Dark Knight video) and Hercules & Love Affair's 'Blind'. MGMT's 'Time To Pretend' and Black Kids' 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You'...too hipster to win over the world, perhaps? Both wonderful, though. I think the song which'll probably take me right back to 2008 in years to come is 'I.W.I.S.H.I.W.A.S.Gay'; alas, if it does conquer the rest of the world, it's not going to be 'til next year now.
Best book title I've seen recently: Building Confidence - For Dummies.
1. American Demo - The Indelicates
2. Hold On Now, Youngster... - Los Campesinos!
3. Stay Positive - The Hold Steady
4. Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond
5. Third - Portishead
6. Made In Sheffield - Tony Christie
7. Do You Like Rock Music? - British Sea Power
8. The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
9. Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
10. Twenty One - Mystery Jets
11. 4:13 Dream - The Cure
12. CSI: Ambleside - Half Man Half Biscuit
13. Red - Guillemots
14. We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed - Los Campesinos!
15. The Cross Eyed Rambler - Paul Heaton
16. White Elephant - The Vichy Government
17. "Couples" - The Long Blondes
18. Out Of Control - Girls Aloud
19. Made In The Dark - Hot Chip
20. Adorata - The Gutter Twins
21. Gravity Calling - Flipron
22. Devil's Tavern - The Blow Monkeys
23. Last Holiday Before Divorce: Deleted Scenes From An Unfinished Sequel - Luxembourg
24. The Painted Side Of The Rocket - Fosca
25. Heretic Pride - The Mountain Goats
26. In Case Of Emergency - Madam
27. Snowflake Midnight - Mercury Rev
28. Saturnalia - The Gutter Twins
29. The Slip - Nine Inch Nails
30. Neptune City - Nicole Atkins
31. Isle Of Grain - One More Grain
32. Gatekeeper - Scarlet's Well
33. Bittersweet World - Ashlee Simpson
Obviously this excludes albums which had a few ace tracks and tried to hang a load of filler off them, or just went on a bit (The Saturdays, Keane), as well as the not-really-albums, however good, such as compilations (Belle & Sebastian, Long Blondes) or live albums (Greg Dulli, MCR), But beyond that, I've tried to exclude acts who've made the same album several times before, even if it is still pretty good (Tindersticks, Ladytron), or brave but not entirely satisfactory experiments (The Magnetic Fields, various instrumental download albums); this is not a list of precursors or echoes, of ones for the fans, but of albums sufficient unto themselves.
As for singles - or I suppose we should just say 'tracks' nowadays...it wasn't a bad year, but there was no Song Of The Year, was there? By which I mean something both brilliant and ubiquitous, an 'Umbrella' or 'Get Ur Freak On' or 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'. 'Wearing My Rolex' felt like it could be that song, but it was too early and didn't hang around like it ought to have done, ditto 'Ready For The Floor' (in spite of that brilliant proto-Dark Knight video) and Hercules & Love Affair's 'Blind'. MGMT's 'Time To Pretend' and Black Kids' 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You'...too hipster to win over the world, perhaps? Both wonderful, though. I think the song which'll probably take me right back to 2008 in years to come is 'I.W.I.S.H.I.W.A.S.Gay'; alas, if it does conquer the rest of the world, it's not going to be 'til next year now.
Best book title I've seen recently: Building Confidence - For Dummies.
