For our next big list, Sheri and I are churning out a mixtape version of our favorite songs of all time, with a 20 song tracklisting encompassing our musical tastes for all time. However, because that is such an arduous affair and neither of us really had time to work on it, we're taking a break from our list comparison event. Instead, this week I'll do another list I'd been intending to get to: my mid-year favorite albums of 2008.
Once again, these are favorite albums of the year, not necessarily best...whatever exactly that would entail anyways. I also only included seven albums, as these are the only albums that have been released so far that I think can legitimately make my end of year list.
Also, check out my muxtape of my favorites along with assorted other tracks I enjoy here, all for your listening pleasure.
1. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - Self Titled
Favorite track: Birds (On a Day Like Today)
Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground is the brainchild of soon-to-be indie rock god Kirk Huffman (former bassist of my favorite band Gatsby's American Dream) and Kyle O'Quin (keyboardist from Gatsby's self titled album), and for a child of the 90's, this album gives me a little piece of what it was like to live in the 60's.
It's psychedelic rock at its finest, at times jammy, dreamy, and grandiose as all get out, it was my most anticipated album of the year coming in and blew me away even after I got my hands on it. Lyrically bizarre but told through gloriously sweet vocals brought to you by Huffman, the true star of the album is the dense soundscapes the band creates with a massive amount of instruments. To say they are original doesn't cut it, they make music like no one else does today.
To seal the deal, I saw them at Sasquatch and they played half the album in stellar fashion, both perfecting and reinventing the sound brought on the album within the same performance.
This band should be in every music aficionados regular musical rotation, and I can't wait for more of the world to bask in their glory. Blow minds baby, indeed.
2. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
Favorite track: Tesselate
This is an album I've already raved about within my blog here, but I'd like to emphasize once again how superb this debut is. I was a fan of their A Lesson in Crime EP and I saw them at Bumbershoot last year, but I felt as if they had a chaotic energy that would be better suited if focused in a more structured sound.
With Elephant Shell, they did that to a stunning degree, channeling all of the talent that poured out of them into eleven tracks of sheer rock gold. My most listened to album this year so far.
3. Vampire Weekend - Self Titled
Favorite track: M79
I'm unsure as to whether or not anyone who reads blogs has heard of this band. They've received absolutely no hype whatsoever.
Oh wait, nevermind...they are the most hyped band so far this year by far. I get confused sometimes.
However for once, the hype is worth it as this band's debut is a breath of fresh air. It recalls one of my favorite albums that my mom had me listen to quite often when I was younger (Paul Simon's Graceland) but at the same time, it is its own animal altogether.
It's brilliantly orchestrated and wonderfully simple, and frankly if we had one new artist (alternately forward thinking and respective of the past) like this band ever year the world of music would be a very better place right now.
See what I said about this album before here.
4. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Favorite track: You Can Do Better than Me
I know, I know, as recently as this blog post, I said that this was my favorite album of the year. But that was over a month ago. I mean come on, how can you expect me to maintain my opinion for that long?
Truth be told, I still say it's Death Cab's best album yet. Its a very well put together album that reaches new heights for the band while taking them in directions they had yet to go before, while still providing the same thing we'd expect from a Death Cab album. However, it is a very tough year and the three above this album could not be denied.
5. Jamie Lidell - Jim
Favorite track: Wait for Me
This album I'd say is the most unexpected of any on my list. I'd never had any experience with Jamie Lidell, his type of music isn't really my thing, and really, there wasn't a lot of hype behind this album.
But this is the most joyous of any album I've heard so far this year. Lidell brings back the fun and impassioned singing that I love Motown for and layers it upon incredibly catchy piano and drum based beats. This album is designed to get your toes tapping and to get you singing while you drive.
This is the feel good hit of the summer, except it is just me that is treating it like that. Not only that, but it gets better with every spin.
See my original write up about this album here.
6. Styrofoam - A Thousand Words
Favorite track: Bright Red Helmet
I just picked up this album recently after hearing "Bright Red Helmet" on UAA's college radio station KRUA (88.1 = best station in Anchorage), and before then I hadn't even realized this high quality electronic outfit was releasing a new album. I'd been a big fan of their previous album, but I must admit, this one may be even better.
This album has less well known guest stars than 2004's Nothing's Lost (come on, that album featured Ben Gibbard and Andrew Kenny), but makes up for it with songs that are more well put together and instantly catchy. While Styrofoam never reaches the same high they did with Nothing's Lost's standout track "Make It Mine," the new album is more consistently engrossing and the overall performance of vocalists are superior.
For fans of the Postal Service and glitchy electronic indie pop, this one is highly recommended.
7. Islands - Arm's Way
Favorite track: In the Rushes
I went on and on about this album in this post, but I just want to say once again that this band really took a big step in my eyes with this album. Islands were another band that I thought were too chaotic to ever really become a favorite of mine, but they tightened up their sound and really released an exceptional album.
Plus, there is a partial cover of one of my favorite tracks off the Rushmore soundtrack on the album, which earns them major kudos.
There you have it. My favorites to date, and listed below I have albums that need more spins but could get on there, honorable mentions, and releases I'm very interested in that I haven't had a chance to explore yet.
Need more spins: M83 – Saturdays = Youth, Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Honorable mentions: My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges, The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely, Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords, The Mars Volta – Bedlam in Goliath
Haven't listened to yet: The Hold Steady – Stay Positive, Portishead – Third, Ghostland Observatory – Robotique Majestique, No Age – Nouns, Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin – Pershing, Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer, Fleet Foxes – Self Titled
Favorite albums of 2008 (so far)
Capitalist Pig Tuesdays - Week of 4/22
Once again, I'm back with my Capitalist Pig Tuesdays segment, where I break down the best buys being released on this very day, along with convenient links to where you can purchase it and stream the album if you so please! If there is anything that stands out to you that I missed, please let me know because I am always looking for new things.
This week is a week of a few very exciting purchases, namely on the music side. Without further ado, here it is!
Album of the week: Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
Ho hum. Great album, one of the best of the year so far. Already wrote about it, so I won't waste your time - I'll simply link you to it here.
Also, feel free to stream it for yourself in its entirety here.
Best album this week not made by Tokyo Police Club: Flight of the Conchords - Self Titled
This week we see the debut release of New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo, also known as Flight of the Conchords. For those that are not familiar with their comedy or their superbly hilarious HBO show (that I wrote a bit about last August, clink link to read), they are also known as Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement (or by their rapping alter-egos the Rhymenocerous and the Hip-Hopopotamus) and they may have released the best indie album pretending to be a comedy album (or is it best comedy album pretending to be an indie album?) of the year.
This album does it all, from taking you through PG rated raps about having tea with your grandmother, to Barry White/Marvin Gaye inspired ditties about getting down with your old lady, to a bizarre track influenced by David Bowie which also happens to be about David Bowie, shockingly titled "Bowie." In the show, most of their songs were only acoustic guitar based, but here they bring in a slew of other instruments (including a beat laid down that is an electric mandolin - booyah!), and it makes their sound far more full.
I can't tell if I should be even trying to review this seriously, as I don't know if it's serious or not. Either way, it's awesome, and should be checked out (along with their show) immediately. I'm extremely excited to be seeing the deadly duo in May at Sasquatch. They will definitely rock my party.
Feel free to stream the album in its entirety here.
Hip Hop Album of the week: Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold
Well Slug and Ant are back, but it hasn't really felt like they've gone anywhere as they just released a compilation of previously unreleased tracks called Strictly Leakage at the end of last year, along with three EP's just last year. So the Minneapolis duo is nothing if not prolific. However, does that dilute the quality?
Not one bit. This album is every bit as good as previous releases like Seven's Travels or You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, but perhaps there has been a bit of maturation in their sound. Track "Guarantees" shows off this maturation quite a bit, as it is for the most part all soulful guitar combined with some light singing and rapping from Slug. It's stripped down rap at its best and something new for the duo. Atmosphere continues to produce some of the best hip hop in the industry today with this album. This comes very recommended.
The album is no longer stringing, but feel free to check out a couple tracks on their Myspace page.
DVD Release of the Week: Cloverfield, directed by Matt Reeves, written by Drew Goddard.
Although everyone thinks that there is a one man show behind this film (JJ Abrams, I'm looking at you), I think Reeves and Goddard deserve a lot of credit for putting together both a top notch monster movie and one where we actually care about the characters. A lot of the kudos I think have to go to Goddard on the latter subject, as his characters are developed quickly and are taken in consistently interesting and surprising directions. The key to a good monster movie is you have to want the people to survive, and they make that happen. If that didn't happen, all of the CGI in the world couldn't do anything to save this movie.
It is intense though, and it is very scary at times. It's a very riveting experience, and I fully recommend watching in darkness with a group of people who will take it seriously. It is a movie that really fits in theaters better than anywhere else, but considering that is no longer an option, do what you can to simulate it.
However, I'm unsure as to whether or not this is a "buy now" movie. It's very entertaining, and it's engrossing, but I'm unsure about how well it will work on repeat visits. I'm looking around for a good price, otherwise I may wait for Black Friday like I am with Juno, as this is assuredly going to be bargain basement on that glorious day. But it's a must rent for sure, and I recommend it to anyone in that regard. I'm just tentative to say it's a movie that deserves to be purchased.
The Year in Music to Date
There has been a bunch of great new music so far. Even better, I've been discovering a lot of music I missed from last year, such as Albert Hammond, Jr's solo debut Yours to Keep, Pinback's exemplary Autumn of the Seraphs, Ghostland Observatory's bizarrely genius Paparazzi Lightning, and White Rabbits' debut Fort Nightly. I definitely missed big time on all of them.
With that said, there are three albums this year that have stood out above the rest for me. Two I've raved about the bands already, with two self titled debuts coming out from Vampire Weekend and Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground respectively (review for Kay Kay may be coming...depending on something I'm looking to put together). But the other album is a bit of a surprise that I like it so much, especially when I say it is on par with the other two.
On April 22nd, Tokyo Police Club is releasing their first full length album titled Elephant Shell, and of course it is out there for the grabs if you so choose. I checked it out, mainly to decide if I will buy it when it comes out and the answer is an emphatic "yes!"
The guys in Tokyo Police Club are all very young (definitely younger than yours truly) but their music is remarkably technically solid and scatterbrained simultaneously. They had only released a pair of EP's before this, neither of which in my opinion really gave the idea that they were capable of an album so cohesive and consistently fantastic. I liked their material, but it really took seeing them at Bumbershoot last September for me to really get them. Well, that and the release of this album.
Elephant Shell maintains the kinetic nature of their previous material but manages to tighten it up into something that resembles a whole album. Instead of being disconnected two minute burn outs of songs, they now have pop sensibilities and the sense of connection that really makes their sound not only palatable, but addictive. Before they had all the elements of a delicious post-punk extravaganza, with their spacey keyboards, the hand claps, the gang vocals, but they didn't have the experience to tie it all together. Now? The whole is finally greater than the sum of the parts.
Take a look at single "Your English is Good." This track is a perfect example - I could legitimately see this becoming the feel good hit of the summer, as it is so toe tappingly great with the shoutalong background vocals and the repetitively genius keyboard lines, I can't imagine anyone not asking "who is this?" by the end of it (which is an incredible 3 minutes and 11 seconds after the beginning, quite possibly a new record for the band). If any track is representative of the step they've taken, that track is.
Want something that is catchy, driving, and a little bit off the beaten path? Pick up Tokyo Police Club's debut Elephant Shell April 22nd. It's a great album, albeit not exactly the world's longest one, clocking in at slightly less than half an hour. Also, if they come near you check them out for sure. Not only do they totally rule live, but they are really nice guys who seem to really care about putting on a good show.
