My Favorite Albums of 2008
This year’s list of my favorite albums is a lot less pessimistic than last years. 2008 saw a lot of happy returns from great artists that I’ve been following for a long time, and I have to be honest, I can’t think of too many bands that irritated me enough to justify a section of “bands that make me hate music” like I had in 2007. Writing about and reviewing music for PopMatters, ALARM, and The Phoenix this year has been a much more rewarding experience, and it’s nice to be able to look back at the year in music with some positivity.
So what follows are my ten favorite albums of 2008. I do not claim these are the “best” albums, because such classifications are pointless. All I can tell you is that these are excellent, high-quality albums worth checking out. I’ve included some audio streams as well, so you don’t have to take my word for it.
- Related Posts:
- My Favorite Books of 2008
- My Favorite Albums of 2007
My Favorite Albums of 2008
1. David Byrne and Brian EnoEverything That Happens Will Happen Today
(My Review @ The Phoenix | Blog)
Buy At Amazon: CD | MP3s
I should have known better than to expect something similar to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, but I was still surprised at how bright and relaxed the first Byrne/Eno album in 27 years sounded. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is an extraordinary record, and a nice reminder that the contemporary work of both David Byrne and Brian Eno is not merely an afterthought to their earlier material. As I noted in my review, the album bears striking similarity to Paul Simon’s Surprise, which Eno produced, but Byrne’s remarkable vocals on tracks like “The River” and “Home” make this a distinctly personal and entertaining effort.
David Byrne and Brian Eno | “The River”
2. Nico MuhlyMixing the minimalist classical of Philip Glass with the adventurous post-rock of Bjork and Sigur Ros, Nico Muhly’s Mothertongue is a rapturous, inventive album that found me at just the right time. The album’s three suites are quite different in tone and style, yet all concern searching for meaning and focus in an uncertain time. “Mothertongue,” with its slew of addresses, phone numbers, and placenames, is a collection of information age detritus, and Muhly reaches into the swirling din and pulls out form and shape. It’s the most Glass-ian of the pieces. The final suite, “The Only One” chops up an American folk standard to great effect, and uses the soulful vocals of singer Sam Amidon to whittle a way into the heart.
Nico Muhly | “Mothertongue Pt. 1: Archive”
3. Robert PollardRobert Pollard is Off to Business
(My Review @ The Phoenix | Blog)
Buy At Amazon: CD | MP3s
After several disappointing attempts to get a handle on the solo career of Mr. Pollard, I was very happy to finally be excited by some of his post-Guided By Voices work. Robert Pollard is Off to Business is the well-edited, well-composed blend of arena and indie rock that the man has been trying to make for years. It features a small number of long songs, as opposed to his usual M.O. of dozens and dozens of half-baked ideas. “Gratification to Concrete” and “The Blondes” ride beautifully sonorous melodies that persist in the mind for weeks, and deliver plenty of warm feelings when most needed. Though I wasn’t as satisfied with his next release, Brown Submarine, just knowing that Pollard still has what it takes to make an excellent record is enough to keep me on board.
Robert Pollard | “Gratification to Concrete”
4. Fern KnightI’ve long been a fan of Fern Knight, and this self-titled release only confirms my love for Margaret Wienk’s deep, dark noir folk. The album is roughly divided into three sections: the first deals with the Margaret Wienk storybook, the lush and forbidding pastoral settings she’s developed over her previous two albums, with “Bemused Pt. II” and “Sundew” aptly capturing an Arcadian aura. The second emerges into the fringes of the real world, specifically the Aran Isles, where Wienk’s poetry and the nature of reality blend and blur. The third is a dismal lament, a dark meditation on environmental doom that’s quite harsh yet not off-putting. Wienk’s work deserves greater recognition, and I think this album was a strong move in the right direction.
Fern Knight | “Bemused Pt. II”
5. Zach HillI never liked the mathy inclinations of Hella and liked their more coherent, structured later work even less, so the ferocity and potency of Astrological Straits really bowled me over. Gone solo, Hill is a virtuosic drummer, and somehow transforms his kit into a lead instrument, forcefully driving every track deep into the red and straining to keep the songs from derailing into chaos. The chanting, repetitive chorus of “Keep Calm and Carry On” has a spooky, mantra-like resilience, borderline hypnotic, like the irresistible come-on’s of a dangerous cult. Perhaps a double album was stretching it; in any case, Hill’s work really impresses, an experimental rock effort that really does rock.
Zach Hill | “Keep Calm and Carry On”
6. Vijay IyerTransitional music for transitional times, Vijay Iyer’s Tragicomic is an intellectual, musical journey through the trials of the 21st century. Iyer’s influences are avant-pianists like Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill, men who could turn melodies into insights and chords into blunt objects. The theme of the disc is that tragicomedy is a virtue that has helped the human race persist in times of strife and division, when nothing is going right. Somehow, in those moments, hope still lingers. “Macaca Please” is a good example of this, jumping off of former Senator George Allen’s (R-VA) slur toward an Indian-American, Iyer and saxophonist Rudresh Manhanthappa squall for a time before battling down the ugliness with a delicately beautiful piano melody.
Vijay Iyer | “Macaca Please”
7. TV on the RadioThis is probably the first TVOTR album I can listen to free from the encumbrances of the expectations I formed listening to Young Liars in 2003. Enough time has passed that I’m not continually disappointed that the band I fell in love with failed to fully reappear on their subsequent albums. Dear Science sounds fresh to me, and though the band from Young Liars still has not shown up and the band has straightened out their act a bit, I can get on board with it. “Crying” in particular is so soulful and yet gorgeously accented with those pixilated melodies, it’d be hard to refute the song’s appeal.
TV on the Radio | “Crying”
8. Black FrancisI had long been against any new album from the Pixies, but Svn Fngrs cruelly dangles a taste of what could have been before a hungry audience. “Garbage Heap” sounds like it was almost certainly meant for an aborted Pixies comeback LP, with the twisting, sharp guitar licks and dreamy, sweeping wave of a chorus. What’s worse is that it’s really, really good. Though it’s a short, 7-song mini-album, Svn Fngers demonstrates that Black Francis is still solid, and songs like “Half Man” and “Seven Fingers” are as good as anything else he’s done.
Black Francis | “Garbage Heap”
9. Matthew Robert CooperThough Miniatures is not that far removed from Matthew Robert Cooper’s past work as Eluvium, bearing the same minimalist post-rock soundscapes and delicate piano interludes as 2007′s brilliant Copia, there does seem to be a difference in the scale. Where Copia was a fully-realized, intricately staged performance, Miniatures is a surreptitious look into the artist’s workroom. The nine, unnamed tracks are sketches and they reverberate as if they were being played in a vast, empty room for no one in particular. The pieces are so small and intimate that listening to them feels voyeuristic. In some places, Cooper can be heard turning pages or shifting in his seat. He weaves plaintive melodies across Miniatures, altering their tone and textures with shifts between solemn pianos and droning organs that wring emotion from every note. It’s rainy day music.
Matthew Robert Cooper | “Miniature 4″
10. Bill Dixon with Exploding Star OrchestraBill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra
(My Review @ PopMatters | Blog)
Buy At Amazon: CD | MP3s
Rob Mazurek made my list twice last year, with the Chicago Underground Trio’s Chronicle and the first Exploding Star Orchestra record, We Are All From Somewhere Else. I’m happy to include the second ESO disc this year, as it’s a spectacular collaboration with one of avant-garde jazz’s towering figures, trumpet player and composer Bill Dixon. Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra pairs the adventurous yet well-structured ESO with a bandleader intent on disrupting and disassembling any sense of coherence in search of beauty. It’s a very unique and exciting pairing, one that provides plenty of hidden treasures among its vast expanses of sound.
Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra | “Entrances (Excerpt)”
2 Comments Add your own
1. Jeff | November 24th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Nice. Surprisingly enough, I’ve only heard one of these albums. That’s kind of rare. I’m usually used to seeing people pile on the Coldplay and Death Cab and stuff like that. Btw, I write for ALARM too…you have anything in the newest issue?
2. mpb | November 24th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Couple reviews, Boston Spaceships and Death Vessel. I’ll be working on some features for the next issue. Thanks for stopping by!
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