LPTJ Best of 2008 Thread

[RavingLunatic]

I remember that thing about the last few songs in a row seeming like a really long outro. It's like the opposite of "Meadowlands" by the Wrens, which takes way too long to get going.

Oh, man, you gotta be kidding me. "Happy" has always been my favorite song on that album. I mean, I guess you could claim that that 1:22 intro song is too long, but I kinda like that one as well.

[coldforge]

Did you end up reposting that list?

Nope, and the idea leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I spent at least an hour and a half preparing the original post.

Why exactly did you murk it? Did you have some kind of Robert Smith moment, you pussy?

[Thermofusion]

I reread it the next morning with a hangover and cringed at the superciliousness of how it was written, basically.

[dieblucasdie]

If we're going to start murking ill-advised drunken posts I have a lot of work to do

[dieblucasdie]

Seriously though, Thermo, you don't have to do a whole thing but at least post a list.  That goes for the rest of you slackers, too.  The more lists the better.

[davy]

If we're going to start murking ill-advised drunken posts I have a lot of work to do

Ha!

My big-time list w/scans and clips is coming up. I regret that I'm not going to find the Jay Reatard comp in time to give it a chance.

[YojimboMonkey]

fucking get drunk and recreate that list thermo

[Thermofusion]

I'm guaranteed to do at least one of those things

[Thermofusion]

01. Hilary Hahn Schoenberg/Sibelius Violin Concertos
02. The Roots: Rising Down
03. Jay Reatard: Matador Singles '08
04. Jukebox the Ghost: Live and Let Ghosts
05. Bevort - Schmidt: Playground +1
06. Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles
07. Fiery Furnaces: Remember
08. Elliot Carter: String Quartets 1 and 5
09. Sun Kil Moon: April
10. Devin the Dude: Landing Gear

This time without the lame per-album commentary and mp3s. Just a few comments about my top pick: the cultural schism that has surrounded Schoenberg's work has endured long past the point of embarrassment and I hope to God that Hahn's recording of his concerto goes a little ways toward repairing it. It's still telling, though, when what to me is an empirically superior disc in concept, execution and performance to everything else I've heard this year under the classical umbrella only appears at the top of two Top 10 lists (Time Out New York & Denver Post), only warrants an honorable mention by Alex Ross and gets knocked to #2 by the eight-thousandth recording of Bach's violin partitas on Amazon. Guys, this recording has completely changed how I feel about Schoenberg, and I liked him to begin with. This concerto runs the gamut: playful, tortured, anxious and melancholy, and Hahn has a microcosmic understanding of every phrase, figure and note. Her tone is gorgeous, her technique impeccable and she renders every moment full of the kind of emotion few of us thought post-tonal Schoenberg capable of. I always unfairly passed over his serial work in favor of his students Berg & Webern's twelve-tone stuff, and thanks to this disc I look forward to spending a huge chunk of 2009 correcting that error. Thank you, Hilary Hahn, for 1) demonstrating that when you approach twelve-tone music with an open heart and an open mind, old tired tropes about the unfeeling, mathematical chilliness of serialism start to vanish into the ether, where they belong, and that 2) Schoenberg deserved better all along.

Oh, and I didn't mention it in my last post on the subject, but the take on the Sibelius concerto on this disc is fantastic as well. The last movement in particular will kick your fucking ass.

Hilary Hahn: Schoenberg Violin Concerto op. 36: I. Poco Allegro (drop.io)

[Andrew_TSKS]

I remember that thing about the last few songs in a row seeming like a really long outro. It's like the opposite of "Meadowlands" by the Wrens, which takes way too long to get going.

Oh, man, you gotta be kidding me. "Happy" has always been my favorite song on that album. I mean, I guess you could claim that that 1:22 intro song is too long, but I kinda like that one as well.

I don't know which track that is, but personally, I feel like two of the first three tracks should have been removed from the album or at least moved to later on. One of the slow, quiet songs would have worked as an intro, but three? It's too much.

[alistarr*]

i agree - i think the opening three are three of the best (if not the three best) songs on the album, but i think that they either could have done with breaking them up a bit, or continuing that mood. as it is, getting basically a whole side into the record before anything upbeat happens, when the upbeat songs arrive they just feel out of place.

[davy]

Man, I am fucking EXCITED about this Dexateens album! "You're Gonna Love Me" is one of the very few songs I've heard since I started this 2008 binge earlier this month that has seriously slapped me stupid. Fucking awesome song. Gives me that lovey-dovey tummy-twisting sensation.

If you're in the Blitzen Trapper camp, or have ever wanted to hear what Moby Grape would sound like at the bottom of the basement stairs, go HERE and download the album for free (legally!).

[davy]

And now I'm listening to Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson's Rattlin' Bones. Killer americana duet...they're married, for what it's worth. This is fantastic! My list is really starting fill out, now. This ought to teach me to stick with the music I like the best...

Here I was in 2008, whining about what a crappy year it has been for new releases. Meanwhile, all this amazing music is being released in my favorite genres, right under my nose. I guess I was trying to get back in touch with my indie past or something. Oh well.

[Nick Ink]

But I'm kind of biased since he stole my name for his book.

Which are you- the ass or the angel?

Ah, very good.

No, this is me:

[Danen]

For what it's worth (as I try to FINALLY get my list in order - thanks Fennesz and Fire on Fire for solid December releases that screw everything up), the trend in albums that tire out about halfway through is frightening. In opposition to the argument regarding the Wrens (and I remember being a part of that original argument a few years ago, and agreeing that it starts slow and then kicks in), this is a year for albums that burn out after about four songs. The evidence:

1. TVOTR - The opening three songs blow my mind. "Golden Age" is pretty great and then it becomes one long midtempo song after another. Good, sure, but what happened to the diversity?
2. Destroyer - First four songs = new horizons, great moments, killer lyrics, pop surprises. Then two LOOOOONG middle pieces that I like but which mess with the flow and then what sounds like an ep of Bejar outtakes. What the hell?
3. Fleet Foxes - Again, killer opening tracks. Great harmonic moments bleeding into each other, but how many really listen to the last few songs?
4. The Hold Steady - see above.
5. Deerhoof - Great opener, really solid for a bit and then it sounds like they put the album on "deerhoof by numbers" and leave it there.
6. American Music Club - opening five songs are among their best. But the second half could be "any-Eitzel."
7. Nick Cave - sure, I've glossed on the greatness of much of this, but how many return to the meandering last track? Could someone PLEASE tell artists to stop mimicing "Desolation Row" type of song structures?
8. R.E.M. - openers = awesome. Closers = so-so.

Just some points...

[kyle]

I was poor this year.

New stuff I liked:

Hot Lava - Lavalogy
Torche - Meanderthal

[Doctor Bob]

Ah, very good.

No, this is me:

Obviously you now need to write a book called King Cave, with very similar artwork.  We even have a thread waiting for you!

Now, I think it's time to revise my list, maybe with a few samples.

[Babar]

But I'm kind of biased since he stole my name for his book.

Which are you- the ass or the angel?

Ah, very good.

No, this is me:

wait, so your last name is actually Ink?

[Doctor Bob]

Nick's lost his voice, so perhaps I should answer for him.  In a neat trick, 'Nick Ink' represents both 'Nick writing' - y'know, for use in e-mail and the like - and 'Nick in Korea' [Nick In K].  I don't know his real surname.

Ask me another- Biggins, coldforge, basophil, ralphvirus...

[coldforge]

I know his real surname! It's incredibly, adorably English.

[Babar]

Nick Fondlesworth, that's what i'll call him

[Robert]

I know I mentioned it in my initial list, but I feel that I must jump back in and say that the more I listen to Come, Reap by The Devil's Blood, the better it gets. 

Seriously, this records is amazing.  There are some songs you can listen to on their Myspace page, if you want to...

[jebreject]

Alright, so I'm just going to post a finalized list. There are a number of albums that I never got around to; so be it.

01. Farms in Trouble - The Gas Station Soundtrack
02. Boris - Smile
03. Helms Alee - Night Terrors
04. Harvey Milk - Life ... The Best Game in Town
05. Times New Viking - Rip It Off
06. Pigs on Ice - National Savage
07. Fucked Up - Chemistry of Modern Life
08. Young Widows - Old Wounds
09. Black Mountain - In the Future
10. SM and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
11. Jay Reatard - Singles
12. Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
13. Silver Mt. Zion - Thirteen Blues for Thirteen Moons
14. Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
15. Melvins - Nude with Boots

***EDIT BECAUSE I FORGOT LOCAL STUFF WHICH INCLUDES TWO OF MY TOP RECORDS, INCLUDING MY FAVORITE OF THE YEAR***

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

4. The Hold Steady - see above.

Dude, Stay Positive -> Magazines -> Joke About Jamaica -> Slapped Actress was the strongest way to close an album this year.  Otherwise I agree with you.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Also, about a week ago I was going to discourage davy's mad dash for list-worthy things because usually in transit you find things that appeal to you on an immediate, superficial level that you may revisit five months later and find undeserving.  For the records you poured real energy into this year are the ones that will stay and remain fixtures on your list, etc. etc.

Well, I'm a hypocrite.  I've listened to Leviathan's Tentacles of Whorror and the self-titled Lurker of Chalice in preparation for Massive Conspiracy Against All Life, because goddamn my list is lacking in metal and Leviathan was the band that most interested me from the talk at the Decibel thread.

What I've listened to thus far is really good!  but I hear Massive takes that "really good" to "really great."  Looking forward to it.