LPTJ Best of 2008 Thread

[davy]

Yeah, more often than not, the stuff from my lists that really stick with me are the albums I found trying to fill out my top 20--i.e. more or less accidental discoveries.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Holy shit the Leviathan tracks on the Xasthur/Leviathan split have made so excited to dive into Massive that I am going to do it right now.

[Andrew_TSKS]

8. R.E.M. - openers = awesome. Closers = so-so.

Oh dude, no way! "Horse To Water" and "I'm Gonna DJ" are two of my three favorite songs on the album (the third is the opener, "Living Well Is the Best Revenge", so I don't entirely disagree with you), and they're the last two! I think if it lags anywhere, it's tracks 7 through 9, but I even like "Mr. Richards" even though it's kind of low-energy, so really, I think it sustains well all the way through.

[Nick Ink]

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

Woooaaahhh!!

Closer than you think, Babar Gudmundgolfjohanssenbjornson!

[Nick Ink]

Hmm, I'm not sure how I'm going to pull this list off now, without falling victim to the capricious and ephemeral whims of passing fads and trends.

Problem is I tend to swing through phases of listening to a particular type of music. This Fennesz album has kicked me into a full-throttle, winter blizzard of gritty, granulated electronic soundscapes. All I can listen to at the moment is Tin Hecker, Lawrence English, Fennesz, Aidan Baker, Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yellow Swans, Chihei Hatakeyama and Machinefabriek.

This doesn't bode well for Vampire Weekend's prospects.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

All I can listen to at the moment is Tin Hecker, Lawrence English, Fennesz, Aidan Baker, Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yellow Swans, Chihei Hatakeyama and Machinefabriek.

The patriotic part of me is saying Birchville Cat Motel!

[Nick Ink]

All I can listen to at the moment is Tin Hecker, Lawrence English, Fennesz, Aidan Baker, Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yellow Swans, Chihei Hatakeyama and Machinefabriek.

The patriotic part of me is saying Birchville Cat Motel!

I do want to love BCM, but I haven't quite managed to yet. What would you say is his finest work?

[RavingLunatic]

I didn't include the Strugglers' The Latest Rights in my previous top-25, but I really should've, and I want to make it up to them here. They play a kind of indie-rock that's maybe slightly tinged with Americana, not entirely unlike the National. It's a really consistent album from beginning to end. The lyrics, at least on the songs which I've paid enough attention to to decipher them, are really strong as well. The singer's got that kind of deep, slightly gravelly voice that I love. Here are my two favorites though:

Strugglers - Latest Rights - 04 - Jonathan
Strugglers - Latest Rights - 01 - Morningside Heights

The dude who runs Yer Bird Records, Morgan King, is the guy who introduced me to them (on another forum). They are not on his label though; they're on some label called Acuarela.

[davy]

This doesn't bode well for Vampire Weekend's prospects.

Look at the big picture, Nick! We need that VOTE.

[alistarr*]

i mean we're giving you dauw aren't we? this has to work two ways!

 

[edison]

I like Vampire Weekend and all, but that album and Dauw definitely aren't on the same level.

[davy]

i mean we're giving you dauw aren't we? this has to work two ways!

 

I care nothing for Dauw! This Machinefabriek movement is giving me a headache!

Plus, every time I see the name, I read it as "machine of a break."

[davy]

Hey guys, let's not start a new thread just because this one is over 20 pages. Two threads would complicate the tallying, I think.

[Nick Ink]

cue 27 replies saying 'cool', 'okay davy' and 'well, i don't know about that now', taking us to page 23


I'm in the 'cool' camp. forever.

[coldforge]

I'm in the 'cool' camp. forever.

well, i don't know about that now

[dieblucasdie]

Yeah I was thinking I'd start a new thread for the results.  Maybe try to limit posting to this thread just for lists themselves.  There's that other 2008 thread for discussion.

[Almanzo]

Hello! Here are my favorite albums of the year:

1. Lil' Wayne - "The Carter 3.1" [my own personal version of the album, making cuts and substitutions from mixtape tracks and "The leak," as seen here: lifeafterrecords.blogspot.com ]
2. Starflyer 59 - "Dial M"
3. Mount Eerie - "dawn" and "lost wisdom" (tie/both issued at the same time)
4. Magnetic Fields - "distortion"
5. Cool Kids - "The Bake Sale"
6. Arthur Russell - "love is overtaking me"
7. Portishead - "third"
8. Max Tundra - "Parallax error beheads you"
9. The Foxglove Hunt - "Stop Heartbeat" (sleeper album of the year by a mile)
10. Cut Copy - "in ghost colours"

I'd he happy to offer YSI's of anything.

[Ignatius]

I'd like to revise my favorite album of all time so it includes my favorite b-sides and also shuffle the order of things a little bit. Is this the place where I can do that?

[Almanzo]

I'd like to revise my favorite album of all time so it includes my favorite b-sides and also shuffle the order of things a little bit. Is this the place where I can do that?

That would be a cool thread idea. Start it! I have a few in mind that I'd contribute (hello, "Miss Sweeney!")

[andronicus]

I think we may even already have one in here somewhere, maybe started by davy (who I know has a similar thing he did with Weezer's last album).

[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***

[Almanzo]

I keep forgetting about the Jay Reatard singles, because I bought them individually as they came out rather than waiting for the CD comp. Holy crap is that guy in top form right now; "see saw" and "always wanting more" are like two of the greatest things I've ever heard. His next proper full-length is going to tear the internet in half.

[Danen]

I keep forgetting about the Jay Reatard singles, because I bought them individually as they came out rather than waiting for the CD comp. Holy crap is that guy in top form right now; "see saw" and "always wanting more" are like two of the greatest things I've ever heard. His next proper full-length is going to tear the internet in half.

Or maybe not. Sometimes I think artists do their best when limited to two sides of a '45. You can't have filler, not really. You can mess about on the B-side, sure (or as he does with the Deerhunter cover, still the most baffling moment of the singles to me, though a cover song is a perfectly viable option for a single) but you have to have tracks that deserve to be on a single. My hope is that he takes that aesthetic and makes a full-length out of it. My guess is that he will, but I wouldn't bet on the full length to be better simply because the singles were so good.

On a similar note, I think the ep/mini album format has done many artists well this year. As weird as all these multiple releases were, I've arrived at the opinion that limited space is a good thing for many artists. Mount Eerie's records have gotten way better, for me, since he focused on simple sessions. Beck radically improved on his last two albums by limiting "Modern Guilt." Vivian Girls had a pretty perfect 25 minutes, and I'll take that over the filler that inevitably would have clogged up a longer record. It's an old argument, but I see the benefits this year. I've already made the argument that many albums were hindered by looooong second halves with little to say, and in contrast there are many other albums improved by limiting space.

[davy]

Beck radically improved on his last two albums by limiting "Modern Guilt."

Disagree. The Information was one of my favorite records that year. It had some filler, but the best tracks were better than anything on Modern Guilt. As a whole, the new album just feels slight to me.

[Danen]

Beck radically improved on his last two albums by limiting "Modern Guilt."

Disagree. The Information was one of my favorite records that year. It had some filler, but the best tracks were better than anything on Modern Guilt. As a whole, the new album just feels slight to me.

Now here's a middle-ground I'll meet you on: the best songs on "Information" are better than "Guilt." But man, that album is SOOOO long, and it piddles about in several places. There's only a few songs on "Guilt" that nail me, but I like the feel of the album. It bounces along nicely and then is over. gotta say - it's not going to crack my top 20 (it's fallen into the "almost made it" 20 - 30 list), but it was a good album. "The Information" simply has too many "by the numbers" tracks to stand as a full-on album for me. Personally, I kinda hope he makes another acoustic sorta album next, but "Modern Guilt" was an interesting diversion.