My Top 10 Albums of 2008

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2008
By: John Bullock
1.Deerhunter-Microcastles/Weird Era Cont.
Combining doo-whop with shoegaze, this year Deerhunter took the promise of their dense debut, and capitalized on it. Songs like “Never Stops” have joyous melodies that are covered with layers of noise. “Microcastle” is similar, dream like guitars come swelling when the drums kick in, and Cox’s vocals soar. The guitar playing on this album is really astounding, but the rhythm section is what holds it all together. “Nothing Ever Happened” is a great example of this, a very steady tight drum and bass combo is the backbone to this song. Throughout the album, Cox’s lyrics are distant as always, but still intensely relatable. “Eliminate what you can’t repair / Nothing ever happened to me / Life just passing flashed right through me”. Don’t let the sister disk be forgotten either, Weird Era Cont. is a phenomenal leftovers disk that shows how good this band really is. “Calvary Scars II / Aux Out” starts of slow and burns and builds to an earth shattering finale. While seeing them live, this part was phenomenal, all 3 guitars were churning together and brooding, while the bass and drum pounded away underneath. This was perhaps the best last song I saw live all year, and that is truly saying something. This is by no means the most original album of the year, but in the tradition of guitar bands like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, and the Velvet Underground before them, Deerhunter create a dreamscape of guitar sounds that has one foot in the past, but is still focused intently on the future.


2.Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant: “What a life I lead in the summer / What a life I lead in the spring”, the cerebral vocals that open up the first song from their EP are unlike anything I’ve heard this year. When they came out on stage and starting singing those lines, shivers ran up and down my spine. The word beautiful doesn’t do it justice. There are so many great moments on both of these albums, that it is hard to name a few of my favorites. During “Drops in the River” when Pecknold sings “You hesitate so my memory fade, I'll hold to the first one / I wouldn't turn to another you say, on the long night we've made / Let it go.” and his vocals soar, the distorted guitar comes in. Or during Mykonos when the instruments drop off for a minute and the beautiful vocal melodies are left to say “Brother you don't need to turn me away / I was waiting down at the ancient gate” and then the instruments come back in. Or when the piano comes crashing down in on “Blue Ridge Mountains”, guitars come in churning, and he sings “In the quivering forest where the shivering dog rests”. OR during “He doesn’t know why” when he sings “There’s nothing I can do” over and over again triumphantly. I could go on for hours. One of my favorite moments from all of music this year, is when seeing them live, Pecknold came out to do an encore by himself. I was front row and his voice quivered and soared as he sang “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”. After strumming a few chords the last words rang out into Solar Culture “I don’t know what I have done / I’m turning myself into a demon”. I stood there for a minute or so, breathless.


3.Why-Alopecia: Yoni Wolf, to me, is one of the most intriguing people in music today, and this album is his darkest. The lyrics on Alopecia are weirdly personal, almost too close to the artist “Jerking off in an art museum john til my dick hurts / the kind of shit I won’t admit to my head shrinker / not even in a whisper to my own little sister / I just act like a dick and talk shit when I‘m with her” but hilarious none the less. The production on this album is exceptionally well done, all the songs sound crisp and tight. The bass is pounding, and all the instruments are all at perfect levels. There are few people who can capture a scene or a feeling like Mr. Wolf does, especially with such wit. For example, on “The Hollows” he sings “In Berlin I saw two men fuck / In a dark corner of a basketball court / just the slight jingle of pocket change pulsing”, but it is not just the wit of the line, but the jingling guitar that comes in right after that line that makes it brilliant. There are some insanely clever lines on “The Fall of Mr. Fifths”, like when he corrects himself for using a preposition at the end of a sentence “I never said I didn’t have syphilis / Miss Listless / Hard like the bricks I pound my fists with / I mean she’s hard like the bricks that I pound with my fists”. Funny, witty lines like these spot the album. Even though it never reaches the greatness of Elephant Eyelash, Alopecia is still great, a dark deep look inside the mind of Yoni Wolf, nasally vocals and all.


4.TV on the Radio-Dear Science: On this album, TV on the Radio hit the ground running, and never let up. The opening track, “Halfway Home”, starts off steady, (with good Ramonesque backing vocals and nice hand claps to boot!) and then blooms when Adebimpe sings “Is it not me? / Am I not folded in by your touch?” the drums pound and keyboards swell, it is a truly great opener. As for the rest of the album, there are a lot of funk/R&B influenced songs, (Crying, Golden Age), but the real treat on this album are the ballads. “Love Dog” maybe my favorite song of theirs ever, tinted with nostalgia and a slight urgency like most of their songs. “Something small has / sparked up in me / as a dog cries for a master / the sparks are swirling faster” Adebimpe sings, as horns toot around him. David Sitek, as always, does a phenomenal job with producing the album. The levels are perfect in every song, and they take full advantage of their horn and string arrangements.


5.Wolf Parade-At Mount Zoomer: Less anthemetic, and without the distorted keyboards that made their first album one of the best of the decade, Wolf Parade seemed less like a band and more like 2 songwriters who play together in a band than ever. Despite this, there are a number of great songs on this album. “Kissing the Beehive” is one of the few that reaches the heights of their first album. When Krug wails “Jonathan, Jonathan, waterfalls are running thin you know / Here’s a holy grail for you to hold / Fire in the Hole! Fire in the Hole!” over the galloping drums, there is a sense of urgency that is unmatched throughout the rest of the album. Boeckner’s songs are much stronger on this album then they’ve ever been, and “Language City” and “Soldier’s Grin” are both great songs. During “Language City” he yelps “Oh the long bitter road / let us down / Oh the ringing telephone / there’s no one around”, over a simple bass line. Lets hope the long bitter road for Wolf Parade includes an album as great as Apologies to the Queen Mary.
6.Sigur Ros- Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust: This album sees Sigur Ros continue their great journey as one of music’s most original artists. It is fitting that the albums name translates into “With a buzz in our ears, we play endlessly”. The standard Sigur Ros elements are here, horns, dramatic strings, beautiful vocals, great melodies, but they bring less new ideas to the table this time around. “Gobbledigook” is the main exception, which draws from Animal Collective-esque vocals and driving percussion. The songs on here are strong, the only problem is after hearing “Gobbledigook” I wish they would’ve experimented more.


7.Chad VanGaalen-Soft Airplane: What drew me in about Chad VanGaalen in the first place were his animations. Seeing the animation he made for “Molten Light” made me look twice at his music, and I’m glad I did. “Willow Tree” opens the album with an optimistic take on death. “When I’m dead is when I’ll be free” VanGaalen sings over a simple banjo riff and a horn section, the song is achingly pretty. Other highlights include the crunchy “Bare Feet on Wet Griptape”, where he asks “How long will you be in pain?” and “TMNT Mask” which uses great electronic beats to make VanGaalen’s high voice seem isolated and dissonant. The album opens on an optimistic note, and closes with a somber one. “Rabid Bits of Time” has echos of Neil Young in it, and VanGaalen simply states “No one knows where we go when we die”.


8.Department of Eagles-In Ear Park: One of the nicest sounding, well produced albums of the year, In Ear Park recalls West Coast pop music from the 60s like Van Dyke Parks. You can close your eyes during “No One Does it Like You” and see kids dancing at school formals 40 years ago to it. It’s that timeless. “I tried so hard / but no one does it like you” Dan Rossen sings on it over a happy bass line and cycling guitar riff. This is one of the greatest pop songs of the year no doubt. Rossen uses great backing vocals and echo effects to his advantage on Phantom other, that put a new sheen on this album that is truly 60s at heart. The album is a summer pop record, covered in ice; another great effort from Rossen, that only makes me more excited for the new Grizzly Bear album early next year


9.The Walkmen-You & Me: I’ve known about the Walkmen for a long time now, having seen them open for Modest Mouse in 2004, and hearing “the Rat” played repeatedly places I went. They were one of the most hyped bands of the first half of the decade, and now, after being dropped off a major label “You & Me” comes out. All the things that made the Walkmen great are still there, the raspy vocals that recall Dylan, the tight rhythm section, great organ parts and their crunchy guitars. But for the first time in their career, to me, they craft an album that isn’t just a collection of singles. The album unfolds into a great middle section that holds a great trio of songs “In the New Year”, “Seven Years of Holidays” and “Postcards from Tiny Islands”.
All of which are better than anything on their last album. “Long Time Ahead of Us” is one of my late night favorites, “Oh and shadows to my left / And to my right /Oh and tomorrow will rise /And the sky will be bright / Long time ahead of us / Goodnight /I’ll never change / Now that I got you” Leithauser croons over horns, soft guitars, and a tapping drum. This is the Walkmen without the pressure of putting out hit singles for the major label, and it sounds great.


10.Man Man-Rabbit Habits: Man Man is one of the few bands who are truly miles better live than they are in studio. This album does nothing to change that, however it still includes a bunch of great cuts, which are some of the most energetic of their career. “Mister Jung Stuffed” opens the album with great example of their work, they still sound like they could be pirates singing on the high seas, and Honus’s voice still reminds me of Tom Waits. Their lyrics are as funny as ever on “Top Drawer” Honus sings “You wonder where true love went / 'Cause a breeder in your bed don't butter your bread” over clacking drums and distorted keyboards. “Whalebones” closes the album on a strong note, the song is somewhat of a lounge song, with sax and banjo. The love song shows Honus speaking in metaphors, “He's tired of being human / He wears her close to the bone as though she were his own skin” and you can feel his aching heart. I’m still waiting for the day when they release a live album/DVD and this album got a whole lot better when I saw it live, but the songwriting ability here is undeniable.

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the red hue of the horizon burns brightly in the night
tall, outcast, the telephone poll stands alone,
sahuaro's spot the skyline,
as the stars shimmer light in the night

i look at my breath as it pushes out of my lungs
yellow fog, underneath the light
the concrete beneath my bare feet
a train calls from the distance

The cows are at it again

THE FUCKING COWS ARE AT IT AGAIN
said farmer Joe.
THE CHICKENS ARE FUCKING AT IT AGAIN
said his wife Charlene

Their yellow red beaks
and spotted sides
glistened in the moonlight

Shitting on the red, paint peeling side of the barn.

I watched as they sighed,
Sighing with sadness as they relieve themselves

Their eyes look at the moon

Duck Duck Goose

the birds fly high
green bean scream
breaks the dull
to roads going to going
days going

Duck Duck Goose
Fuck Duck Goose
Fuck Duck Moose
Fuck You Loose

Fuck War Loose
With Yr. Goose

When all is gone

When all is gone
turn out the light
so the bright cold flesh
of past nights will be
gone

And the glow of earth's
red hue can return to it's
green and bluish mold

Piss poor ant freak
jumping out a 5 story building
Thud

Have you ever seen
an animal
kill itself
so serene?

When the glass creaking dark pane shatters
and the red dust gets wet down by the rain
and music pours out of old elevators without remorse
and people decompose in the ground like all

things.

Bloody Cold Bathroom Wall

Cleaning out the candy box

bloody stains on the wall

of the cold metal box

Shit on the bathroom wall
finger painting fingers crawled
from point a to c to b
to all for all in all to see

Fuck trees connect
Clouds show what memories disect

IAM

Falling down clown
Brick red bakes,
make your books
fall like cakes,

To all who fall
and break their neck

Make up smears
mixes with blood
tears and sweat
and pieces of mud

pooling out of
your face and ground

Piss and Salt

Piss and salt
melt the snow
and my dick shrivles up

Missed the train
the lights scatter the night
dirt and ash cover the bone,
and the sirens go woo hoo in the night
and as my feet crunch wind blows cold
and the ants scurry against the tick tock of time
and the night grows colder and the sky darker with twinkling bits of dust in its eye

but the ants still scurry still,

into the
dark

into the
cold

into the
piss and salt and snow