Seattle Subsonic

LB’s Favorite Non-NW Albums of 2008

January 2nd, 2009

I know we’ve all officially flipped the calendar into 2009, and we’ve already had several other lists, but here’s one more look back at this past year (that’s 2008, stoners), with some non-local favorites to complement my NW edition. I think year-end lists are cliché in lots of people’s eyes, but, in reality, it’s more of a personal record-keeping exercise for me, and I enjoy cataloging the year in music as my ears heard it. I’ll be able to look back at this in a few years and remember what was so great about 2008. Unless Al Gore blows up the internet.

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10.  Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (Last Gang)

You might ask yourself why I’m including an apparent creative crook in this list, but the truth of the matter is that, when it came to some early online demos, no real infringement ever took place. The Toronto duo, comprised of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, has always been up front about their sampling, and they do a damn fine job of it. Their sonic creations gesticulate and gyrate as if you’ve taken a healthy snort of coke, bought a Gameboy, an Atari, and a Sega, miraculously fused them with a synthesizer and some other geeky tech-gear and somehow crafted music from it with an NES controller. And then your freaky, shrill girlfriend has stopped by to scream in your ear about it. It’s not as cacophonous as I’m suggesting, but it is ferocious, it is futuristic, and it is worth your time.

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9.   Saint Dymphna - Gang Gang Dance (The Social Registry)

GGD’s 4th LP was a bit of a late addition to the list, but after repetitively listening to this record for the past 10 days—not to mention their entrancing live show—I’m convinced this New York outfit is doing something truly unique. Easily switching gears between psychedelic trance rock and Middle Eastern-tinged freak outs, the foursome’s perpetual, percussion laden neo-tribalism experiment easily hypnotizes (I’m actually under a spell right now). Vocalist Liz Bougatsos, who recalls either Bjork or a doped up Kate Bush depending on the song, uses her voice more as an instrument than as a vehicle for lyrics. “House Jam” is the best song on the record, and probably one you’ve heard before, but there are plenty other organic-electro jams here to kick your inner native into gear.  [Live Show Review]

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8.   Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Anti-)

Did we doubt Nick Cave’s transition from Goth piano balladry to lewd and lascivious garage rock? I didn’t, but that’s probably because I’ve only become a fan of Cave and his Bad Seeds in recent years. Truthfully, though, if you love Murder Ballads or Let Love In, I don’t see how you can’t be pleased with this modern day version of Cave’s distressed God, pussy, and murder mantra (see “Moonland” or “Jesus of the Moon” for the old Nick). One thing the man hasn’t lost is his ability to tell a story, though. Who can successfully re-imagine the resurrected Lazarus winding up in an American soup queue, or contemplate the world’s “deepening socio-economic divisions” while simultaneously quipping that he himself feels like “a vacuum cleaner, a complete sucker”? Why, Mr. Nick Cave can.  [Live Show Review]

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7.   Made In The Dark – Hot Chip (Astralwerks)

I’m surprised I haven’t heard a ton of people raving about this hard-and-soft-hitting dance record from Hot Chip. Personally, I think it’s dazzling. “Out At the Pictures” is a slow-building fist-pumper (as any British electro song can be) that might make you either peel out on those Goodyears or drunkenly shimmy barefooted across the dance floor, laughing like a hyena the whole way. “Hold On” has a funky, spy-caper beat and a ludicrous hook (“I’m only goin’ to heaven / if it feels like hell / I’m only goin’ to heaven / if it tastes like caramel!”). Of course, it wouldn’t be Hot Chip without the sappy white-boy R&B of the title track and “In the Privacy of Our Love”. Easily one of the best dance records of 2008.

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6.   Antidotes – Foals (Sub Pop)

There are so many compelling aspects to this striking debut, but what sticks out most in my mind is its remarkable tempo. It never quite slows down, but it never feels too quick or overwhelming either, with the uber-talented Walter Gervers providing most of the propulsion with his bass. Most ears will immediately pick up the sounds-like-insects-by-design distinctiveness of Jimmy Smith and singer Yannis Philippakis’ guitars—and for good reason: it sounds amazing—but the pulsing freneticism elicited from each and every instrument makes this Oxford band a pure pleasure. Here’s to hoping they shed the Bloc Party comparisons rather quickly.  [Live Show Review]

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Top 5 after the jump.

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5.   Lust Lust Lust – The Raveonettes (Vice)

Sune Rose Wagner, the Raveonettes’ creative force, is an interesting subject. He’s a tall, Gothic-looking Dane living in New York obsessed with 50s Hollywood pop and squalling Scottish shoegaze. His partner in crime, the lovely Sharin Foo, helps him vocalize the seedy, sunny fantasies that bounce around his head. Songs like “You Want the Candy”, “Hallucinations” and “Dead Sound” may sound innocent at first, all happy and catchy and nostalgic, but the lyrics reveal something more subversive is at play. Using vintage Fenders, their familiar wraith-like vocals, an echo-y snare/tom combo, and a few keyboard fills, the Raveonettes finally hit black gold with their third full length, a harrowing tale of heartbreak, drugs, death, lust, lust and more lust.

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4.   Dear Science – TV on the Radio (DGC/Interscope)

Call them art-funk, or tech-rock, or whatever other genre mish-mash you want to conjure, but the bottom line is that TV on the Radio is clearly in a league of their own. Most of us thought Return to Cookie Mountain was their magnum opus, but it turns out the Brooklyn fivesome had much more in their funky bag o’ music tricks to wave in our face. Weaving the familiar themes of modern-day poetry, emotive falsetto choruses, white-noise electronica, old skool hip-hop percussion, and the unmistakable afro-beat horn section, TVotR made one the most listenable avant-garde records in recent memory. Honestly, if you’re not listening to this band, you need to start.  [Full Album Review]

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3.   In Ghost Colours – Cut Copy (Modular Interscope)

In another world or time, I might’ve described Cut Copy as a “guilty pleasure”, but despite a childhood suffering through Christianity, “guilty” is the last thing that comes to mind. The Aussie new-wavers, led by Dan Whitford, took dance elements from all decades to fashion a bouncy and brash disco/dj/rock record that intravenously pumps energy into its listeners. Let the the house-disco barn burner “Lights and Music” light up your night, or the quick tempo bass slaps and sleek sentimentality of “Out There on the Ice” make you think twice about hooking up with that hottie. Or simply air-guitar to “So Haunted”, a highlight of a song that sandwiches a bright, poppy chorus between blurry guitar riffs, finishing with a deliciously 80s synth-embellished outro.  [Live Show Review]

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2.   Microcastle/Weird Era Continued - Deerhunter (Kranky)

For me, Deerhunter was one of those precious, moment-defining treasures you find when you aren’t really searching for it (or you were and just didn’t know it). Captivating, mesmerizing, astonishing, mystifying—whichever superlative I use won’t be sufficient to describe this band’s brilliance. Microcastle/Weird Era Continued, and more specifically Bradford Cox, peers through a fractured prism to imagine elegant punk and alluring, artsy garage-pop that sounds neither aged nor contemporary, coming across as beautifully contemplated as it is hypnotically repetitious. “Nothing Ever Happened” might be as close to perfection as one band can get, and also the shortest 6-minute song you’ll ever hear.  [Live Show Review]

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1.  At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade (Sub Pop)

I waited a long time for Wolf Parade to release a follow up to Apologies to the Queen Mary and cement themselves as one of the best bands of this decade. Lo and behold, At Mount Zoomer came riding down the hill like a fiery heroic knight to accomplish just that. Dual songwriters Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner found solid footing with Zoomer’s lengthy 9-track prog-pop odyssey, from the dark, meandering and propulsive centerpiece in “California Dreamer” to the emotive, inspiring, and altogether affecting “Language City”. Despite some overall stylistic revisions, Krug’s voice, along with Boeckner’s “hearts on fire” temperament and Arlen Thompson’s above-the-fray drumming remain defining elements of the Montreal band’s eerily melodic, keyboard-and-guitar-driven sound. Contrary to popular belief—and without question in my mind—THIS was the best album released by Sup Pop in 2008.  [Full Album Review]  [Live Show Review]

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Honorable Mentions (aka Other Albums I Really, Really, Really Liked)

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The Odd Couple – Gnarls Barkley

Oracular Spectacular – MGMT

Youth Novels – Lykke Li
Consolers of the Lonely – The Raconteurs
Midnight Boom – The Kills
Santogold – Santogold
A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night – Love is All
Donkey – CSS
Nouns – No Age
Saturdays = Youth – M83