As covered before, I’m not very good at keeping up with things on here. I know. I should really make an effort to get my shit together and actually update more often. Considering all of the exciting things that have been going on with music lately, it would certainly make sense.
I think that with the year just over the halfway point, it’s a good time to run down my 2008 collection so far and sort out the good from the bad. So rather than continuing to blather on pointlessly, let’s get to this:
A Silver Mt. Zion – 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons
This is one of those albums that makes me wonder why there was a time when I disliked post-rock more than just about anything else. These guys haven’t done anything this great since they were in Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Ellen Allien – SOOL
I loved her collaborative release with Apparat, but short of that I’ve never exactly been a huge fan of Allien. I could get into her stuff occasionally, and do enjoy a couple of her LPs, but this one is just embarassing for all involved.
Amp Live – Rainydayz Remixes
It makes me wish that they hadn’t let him release it after all. Awful.
Steve Aoki – Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles
Not only one of the worst mixes I’ve heard this year, but one of the worst I’ve heard ever. It basically consists of Aoki going “HEY! CHECK OUT ALL THESE PEOPLE I KNOW!” It’s about an hour of name-dropping and a constant who’s-who of the dance music that was big at the time it was released. No crate-digging, nothing to separate it from the barrage of bedroom mixtapes available online for free, and nothing at all even remotely interesting. Aoki, from what I’ve heard, is a good live DJ, but this mixtape doesn’t exactly show it.
Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
Deer (get it?) Bradford Cox:
Please stop making awesome albums that make me completely neglect the vast majority of my acquisitions.
A-Trak – Running Man
Regardless of what a lot of people seem to be saying, this is more or less my favorite commercial mix of the year. A-Trak has a way of making music that’s kind of so-so sound really fresh and exciting (see: Dirty South Dance) and this album–which is being called his first LP for some reason–is no real exception.
Autechre – Quaristice
I never thought I would say this about an Autechre album, but this is fucking boring. Maybe I’ve just gotten so sick of the whole “IDM” thing that I no longer feel any real connection to clickity-clack beats and ambient synths, but I really expected more from these guys. They’ve never disappointed before, so I think my expectations were fair and justified, but this album just fails to deliver on every conceivable level.
The B-52’s – Funplex
The joke is over. Please leave now.
Beach House – Devotion
Maybe I just don’t “get” these guys, but both this and their last album didn’t impress me at all. It’s just…bland. Boring. It’s the audio equivalent to beige.
Black Devil Disco Club – Eight Oh Eight
It’s pretty much more of the same, but that isn’t really a problem to me. Actually, come to think of it, he’s pretty much just made the same album three times now. Still, though, I like it. It’s more creepy Italo-disco with bizarre vocals, dense electronics, and the same beat carrying the course of the album. Nothing great, but definitely enjoyable.
Black Mountain – In the Future
Why is this getting such lukewarm reviews? It’s one of my choice rock albums of the year. Definitely something I’d recommend without a second thought.
Bobmo – To The Bobmobile & 3000% Yes
Much like Hostage, Bobmo is doing dance music that blends the currently trendy hard electro sounds coming out of Europe with old school rave sounds. The result isn’t anything amazing or groundbreaking, but fuck me if it isn’t fun as hell.
Booka Shade – The Sun & The Neon Light
Well, guys, at least your last album was good. So far you’re one for three. Better luck next time.
Boris – Smile
Another album getting some pretty underwhelming reviews for reasons that I cannot fathom. Maybe it’s just my Boris fandom getting in the way, but I think this is on the level of, not necessarily their best, but definitely their stronger work.
Boys Noize – Oi Oi Oi Remixed
Remix albums. What’s the deal? The plus side here is that with standout remixes and edits by Feadz, A-Trak, Para One, Apparat, and Surkin, this is one of the few collections of remixes that I can actually enjoy. It doesn’t come anywhere near the original LP, but it’s still a solid set.
Cadence Weapon – Afterparty Babies
Rollie Pemberton has a habit of making me laugh just seconds after dropping a verse so venemous that you almost miss the barbed jokes that he sticks into them. His lyrical prowess is definitely his strongest selling point, and he doesn’t disappoint on his second album. The beats are solid, though I found myself more impressed with the sounds on Breaking Kayfabe. Overall a good album.
Crookers – Knobbers
Crookers are shit hot right now. Their remixes (along with The Bloody Beetroots) are probably the most in-demand at the moment, and they get dropped in just about every single mixtape that I’ve heard for the past four or five months. Hell, their remix of the Chemical Brothers’ “The Salmon Dance” has got to be one of the most overused tracks I’ve come across in quite a while. This EP is basic Crookers fare: thudding kick drums, handclaps, and loopy synths. Basically, it’s awesome.
Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
What happened? Seriously, they released such a ridiculous string of solid singles and EPs before finally hustling out their debut LP that I figured the album was a sure thing. Turns out all that stuff they didn’t already have out wasn’t really worth releasing. The middling, boring tracks that flesh out their established standards bring the album well below “awesome” and into “yeah it’s okay” territory.
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
It’s getting some good response, but that doesn’t help the fact that it’s somehow even more bland and uninteresting than their last pile of overly derivative nonsense.
Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Hey, Ben Gibbard. No one wants you to write songs that run upwards of nine minutes long. In addition, no one wants that nine minute track to be the album’s first single. Oh wait, for the single version you edited out the ridiculous four minute introduction. So why the fuck do you need it in there for the album version? Honestly that ruined this album for me. It breaks up the whole thing with four minutes of pointless wankery that could have easily been left out. Not to mention that, shy of some attempts at what I guess is supposed to be “progressive” sounds, it sounds like everything else they’ve ever done. And frankly, Death Cab were never that exciting to begin with.
Deerhunter – Microcastle
“Oh hi there, awesome album. How are you? Oh what’s that? Oh the new Deerhunter? Well I guess I should go then, awesome album. Because I have to go listen to what is basically a far better album than you.” Yeah Microcastle is great.
Does It Offend You, Yeah? – You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into
Actually, yes it does offend me. Or rather, more specifically, it offends my ears.
DSL – Invaders
Ed Banger has really fallen off the radar this year, and when this is the kind of stuff they’re releasing it’s no surprise. It’s like the worst of their old catalogue wrapped into one boring electro-rap album. Like TTC for dummies.
E-603 – Something For Everyone
This thing with mashing up underground and indie stuff with mainstream hip hop acapellas is getting out of control. It’s a good thing, then, that E-603 does it so fucking well. Check this out. Seriously.
Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
Drone metal gods Earth have been steadily cranking out solid material since they dropped back into the spotlight a few years back. Their first “true” LP since returning is no exception. It’s good old Earth drone and doom with their newfound mix of Americana and country tossed in for good measure.
Feadz – Happy Meal EP
What I said earlier about Ed Banger is kind of ridiculous if the only EB release you’ve heard this year is the latest from Feadz. Not only does it include the mind-blowing single “Edwrecker”, but every track here follows suit with that song’s punishing drums and fluid synths. Easily the best of the label’s cannon so far this year.
Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
It’s funny. That’s really it. Though I will say that “Inner City Pressure” is somehow a legitimately good song. The album is good for a chuckle, especially if, like me, you’re a fan of the show.
Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
Why is everyone so into this album? It’s so….boring. It’s really not that interesting at all. Probably the most overrated album of the year.
Gameboy/Gamegirl – Golden Ghetto Sex
Jesus Christ this is so fucking bad. I mean…it’s awful. The beats are fun, and that in and of itself is almost redeeming, but fuck…those rhymes are so fucking terrible. But…why do I love it so fucking much? I can’t help it. It’s awful, but I love it.
Genghis Tron – Board Up The House
More cybergrind/math metal from Genghis Tron. They’ve upped the ante a bit on their electronics, incorporating a more diverse lineup of softsynths and drum samples. The sound is a little more fleshed out and it has a lot more meat to it. One of my favorite metal releases of the year so far.
Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
Overall, it’s good, yeah. But…it just doesn’t feel quite as fluid as Night Ripper. Could be worse, but it also could have been a lot better.
Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
This is kind of what I’ve been hoping to see coming out of the DFA offices for a couple of years now. Antony Hegarty’s vocals alone add a touch of flair to the overall sound that sets it apart from a lot of dance music seeing wide release these days, but the disco revival synths and beats just put it in a class all its own. True there are other artists doing similar sounds, but they’re not doing it nearly as well as this.
Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
Disappointment embodied. I think my face fell about ten feet when I heard this the first time. It’s not horrible–not even close–but I wouldn’t hold your breath to see it on my year end best-of lists.
Hot Water Music – Till The Wheels Fall Off
It’s Hot Water Music. That’s all you need to know. Do you like Hot Water Music? Well then, like me, you’ll like this. Do you not like Hot Water Music? Well then you won’t like this. It’s a collection of B-sides and rarities from the course of their career, and it acts as a nice summary of their lesser-known works.
Junkie XL – Booming Back At You
His Elvis remix was terrible. Based on that, guess how this album turned out?
Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
As someone who was somewhat late to the Lil Wayne game (I didn’t really get into him until last years Da Drought 3) I can’t say I have any problems with this one. Maybe it runs a little long at some points, but overall I think it’s my favorite hip hop album of ’08 so far.
M83 – Saturdays = Youth
Much like Before The Dawn Heals Us, Saturdays = Youth is pushed along by powerful drums, massive sweeping synths, angelic vocals, and pure 80s bombast. To put that all simply, it’s great, and is more than likely going to wiggle its way into my final top 10 this year.
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
YAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN.
The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
This album is probably sitting right near the top of their expansive discography, in terms of their best work. It doesn’t add a whole lot to their tried-and-true formulas, but it works incredibly well.
MSTRKRFT – Bounce
MSTRKRFT fans have been waiting since The Looks came out for some fresh material (I don’t think the 2007 re-edit of “Street Justice” counts) and this new single delivers. Featuring vocal work from N.O.R.E. and Thunderheist’s leading lady Isis, the track is a big, booming, grinding electro rap track. Back that one up with the rolling, pounding B-side “Vuvuvu” and you have what is basically their strongest single to date.
Neon Neon – Stainless Style
Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip? Seriously? I still can’t really come up with a viable reason for why this oddball pairing works. It does, but I’m not sure why. The album isn’t really great, or even one of my favorites for the year so far, but it’s definitely not bad. It celebrates 80s pop in a way that few other artists right now are really doing well, no matter how hard they try.
No Age – Nouns
I’d still rather take the EP/singles compilation Weirdo Rippers, but this one is definitely worth checking out if you liked their breakthrough release.
Portishead – Third
Finally! A “reunion” album that isn’t massively disappointing! Granted, Portishead never really broke up, per se, but with over 10 years between LPs, they might as well have. They radically redesigned their sound here, which is great because let’s face it, no one really needs to see trip hop return. The new material is just as good, if not better, than anything on Dummy.
The Presets – Apocalypso
Meh. It definitely has some great songs, like “My People”, but the overall album is flat.
The Roots – Rising Down
I’ve been consistently blown away by The Roots since I was in high school and heard Things Fall Apart. That’s probably why it bothers me to be so disappointed in this album. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard, but I definitely wouldn’t put it on the list of stuff to look more closely at when it comes time to make my year-end lists. It’s just incredibly mediocre.
S’Express – Stupid Little Girls
Aside from the JBAG remix on here, there’s nothing terribly spectacular about S’Express’ sudden return. It can be missed out on if you’re not already a fan.
Santogold – Santogold
Why are people making such a big deal out of this chick? Seriously, there is absolutely nothing at all remarkable about this album. Wasn’t she supposed to be “the new M.I.A.” or something? Because it’s just that I don’t recall M.I.A. releasing boring, middling exercises in genre-hopping.
SebastiAn – Motor
I think this goes to further my assertion that the Ed Banger label is losing its grip on the alternative dance music scene. SebastiAn was, at one point, one of the label’s hottest producers. Here, and with his contribution to this year’s Ed Rec compilation, he sounds like he’s relying on the same formulas time and time again.
Suffocate for Fuck Sake – Blazing Fires and Helicopters on the Front Page of the Newspaper. There’s a War Going On and I’m Marching in Heavy Boots.
After a few of my peers hyping this band up as if they were the next big thing in hardcore, I caved and decided to check this album out. Ultimately we wind up with a cross between Godspeed You! Black Emperor and, I don’t know… Melvins or something with bits of Slint tossed in. The result of that mixing is borderline unlistenable at times.
The Teenagers – Reality Check
Oh hi there, Mr. #1 Contender For Worst Album Of All Time. How are you? I can’t understand how anyone on Earth can have anything even remotely positive to say about this piece of shit album. Avoid at all costs.
Times New Viking – Rip It Off
It’s Times New Viking. That’s all you really need. If you’re into lo-fi noise-pop then you’re going to love this. At the very least, it’s easily as good as last year’s Present The Paisley Reich. Or maybe even a bit better.
The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
I’ll repeat the review that I wrote on the albums RateYourMusic entry:
The full album title should be “We Started To Come Up With Some Original Ideas, But Came Up With Nothing, So Here’s A Bunch Of Recycled Bullshit Instead”.
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Severely overrated. Severely.
Various Artists – Ed Rec Vol. 3
And here it is, the year’s best document of just how far from grace Ed Banger Records has fallen. Out of 12 tracks, it’s only Mr. Oizo’s “Minuteman’s Pulse”, SebastiAn’s middling “Dog” and Feadz’ Spank Rock collaboration “Back It Up” that save this from being a total disaster.
Ricardo Villalobos – Enfants
This EP is so gentle and repetitive that it could be hypnotizing. Also, it’s excellent.
There’s probably some other material I could be covering here, but I started this at about 11:00 AM yesterday. Having worked on it off and on for fifteen hours now, I think it’s time I put it to rest. I have plenty of stuff from 2008 that I haven’t even had time to listen to yet as well, so there might be another one of these before the year end stuff starts getting written up. Who knows?
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