My Album Lists for 2008

Two posts in one day, but this one is not accompanied by a compilation-- just scroll down to the next entry for today's podcast.

My 30 Favorite Records of 2008:

01. Damian Jurado, Caught in the Trees
02. Crooked Fingers, Forfeit/Fortune
03. The Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound
04. Jonathan Richman, Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild
05. Paul Westerberg, 49:00
06. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
07. The Dutchess & the Duke: She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke
08. The Tallest Man on Earth: Shallow Grave
09. Cobra Verde, Haven’t Slept All Year
10. Chad VanGaalen, Soft Airplane
11. Army-Navy, Army-Navy
12. Drive-By Truckers, Brighter Than Creation
13. Capstan Shafts, Fixation Protocols
14. Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Gentleman Jesse & His Men
15. Ezra Furman & the Harpoons, Inside the Human Body
16. Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron, Lost Wisdom
17. The Lucksmiths, First Frost
18. The Wedding Present, El Rey
19. Matthew Sweet, Sunshine Lies.
20. Blitzen Trapper, Furr
21. What Made Milwaukee Famous, What Doesn’t Kill Us
22. Pelle Carlberg, The Lilac Time
23. Okkervil River, The Stand-Ins
24. She & Him, Volume One
25. Sun Kil Moon/Mark Kozelek, April/The Finally LP
26. Centro-matic/South San Gabriel, Dual Hawks
27. Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
28. Jay Reatard, The Matador Singles ‘08
29. Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal
30. Shearwater, Rook

Ten more that were hovering nearby (in alphabetical):

01. American Princes, Other People
02. Billy Bragg, Mr. Love & Justice
03. Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst
04. Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, Dirt Don’t Hurt
05. The Mountain Goats, Heretic Pride/Satanic Messiah ep
06. R.E.M., Accelerate
07. Robert Pollard, Robert Pollard is Off to Business
08. The Rosebuds, Life Like
09. Sloan, Parallel Play
10. TV on the Radio, Dear Science

Eight stellar debut full-lengths that have me hopeful of the future that didn't quite make my top 40:

1. Down By Avalon, Down By Avalon
2. The Weakends, The Weakends
3. Ty Segall, Ty Segall
4. Liam Finn: I’ll Be Lightning
5. Dead Trees: King of Rosa
6. Crystal Stilts, Alight of Night
7. Titus Andronicus, The Airing of Grievances
8. Women, Women


Five that could have been much better:

1. Bob Mould, District Line
2. Stephen Malkmus, Real Emotional Trash
3. Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
4. Magnetic Fields, Distortion
5. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs

25 More Faves from 2008

Okay, the Boss has a new one out this week. This really isn't a video, but at least you can listen to the single (from the movie The Wrestler which I don't think has yet played here in Chattanooga) in its entirety.



Rounding out my year in songs, here's the third volume of my favorite songs of 2008 (also in alphabetical and sans commentary) with apologies to all the songs that didn't make the cut:

2008 - Volume 3

01. The Magnetic Fields, "The Nun's Litany" (2:58)
02. Mark Kozelek, "Finally" (2:13)
03. Michael Cera & Ellen Page, "Anyone Else But You" (1:57)
04. The Mountain Goats, "Sax Rohmer #1" (3:40)
05. Nada Surf, "From Now On" (2:36)
06. Of Montreal, "Gallery Piece" (3:48)
07. Pelle Carlberg, "Nicknames [Feat. Karolina Komstedt] (3:45)
08. Photon Band, "Where Did the Love Go? (3:41)
09. The Raconteurs, "Old Enough" (3:57)
10. Robert Pollard, "No One But I" (3:39)
11. She & Him, "Sweet Darlin'" (2:41)
12. Shearwater, "Century Eyes" (2:18)
13. Sliver Jews, "Aloyisius, Bluegrass Drummer" (1:54)
14. Sloan, "All I Am Is All You're Not" (3:03)
15. Sons & Daughters, "Iodine" (3:02)
16. The Spinto Band, "Summer Grof" (2:26)
17. Stephen Malkmus, "We Can't Help You" (3:04)
18. Titus Andronicus, "Titus Andronicus" (3:13)
19. TV on the Radio, "Golden Age" (4:14)
20. Ty Segall, "You're Not Me" (2:42)
21. The Weakends, "Devil By My Side" (2:39)
22. The Wedding Present, "Palisades" (3:52)
23. Wolf Parade, "The Grey Estates" (3:27)
24. Women, "Group Transport Hall"(3:27)
25. You Am I, "Beau Geste" (3:12)

Total Time: 1:14:55

Download it here: 2008 - Vol. 3

More Favorite Songs of 2008 (To be cont'd)

I'm sure you all heard that O'Reilly used footage from this season's 24 to help make his case for torture. That made me think of this:



Anyway, here are 25 More Great Tracks from 2008 (In Alphabetical by Artist and sans commentary):

2008 - Volume 2

01. The Baseball Project, "Jackie's Lament" (3:26)
02. Beck, "Modern Guilt" (3:15)
03. Billy Bragg, "M for Me" (2:42)
04. Black Francis, "Half Man" (2:33)
05. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "I'll Be Glad" (2:44)
06. Boston Spaceships, "Go For the Exit" (2:23)
07. The Breeders, "It's the Love (2:28)
08. Crystal Stilts, "Shattered Shine" (2:52)
09. The Dead Trees, "My Friend, Joan, She Never Asks" (4:14)
10. Death Cab For Cutie, "No Sunlight" (2:40)
11. Deerhunter, "Never Stops" (3:05)
12. Dengue Fever, "Tiger Phone Card" (3:37)
13. DeVotchKa, "Head Honcho" (3:45)
14. Down by Avalon, "Losing Ground" (2:51)
15. Dr. Dog, "The Old Days" (3:42)
16. Eagles of Death Metal, "Wannabe in LA" (2:16)
17. Glasvegas, "Geraldine" (3:45)
18. Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, "Up on the Floor" (3:43)
19. Islands, "Creeper" (3:15)
20. Jay Reatard, "Always Wanting More" (2:10)
21. Jonathan Richman, "When We Refuse to Suffer" (2:19)
22. The Killers, "I Can't Stay" (3:06)
23. Liam Finn, "Better to Be" (3:49)
24. Los Campesinos! "Drop it Doe Eyes" (2:44)
25. The Lucksmiths, "California in Popular Song" (3:52)

Total Time: 1:17:04

Download it here 2008 - Vol. 2

My Favorite Songs of 2008 (To be cont'd)

I hope you all got to revel in your patriotism this week. I don't know if you caught Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger doing Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" at the Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert, or as I like to call it, Obamapalooza. I'm not ashamed to admit, I had a great big lump in my throat during that performance. I would have posted the actual footage-- you can still find it on Youtube, but I'm sure HBO will be taking all those down soon.

Anyway, I've started finalizing my year in music. It was tougher than usual, because I picked up so many new things over the last couple of months of the year (and really right into January). Lesson learned. I'm going to try to stay on top of it this year. There are a few albums that I don't think I gave a fair shake. C'est la vie. Here's my first list and the first of three compilations of great 2008 tunes:

25 FAVORITE SONGS OF 2008

01. “Lost Coastlines” by Okkervil River – Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff duet on this instant classic, from The Stand-Ins. (5:32)

02. “The ’59 Sound” by The Gaslight Anthem – Springsteen for a new generation, from The ’59 Sound. (3:10)

03. “Something in My Life is Missing” by Paul Westerberg – Introspective Westerberg at his finest from the download only 49:00. (3:45)

04. “Gillian Was A Horse” by Damian Jurado – [Spoiler Alert!] From my favorite album of the year, Caught in the Trees. (3:21)

05. “Supernatural Superserious” by REM – Best song from a fine effort from the Godfathers of College Rock, from Accelerator—dig those Mike Mills background vocals! (3:25)

06. “Into the Stream” by The Tallest Man on Earth – Nobody ever really deserves the “new Dylan” tag, but Sweden’s Kristian Matsson is as worthy as anyone, from Shallow Graves. (2:47)

07. “A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend – I guess it’s no longer cool to like these guys, but I think they were a band worthy of the hype, from Vampire Weekend. (2:18)

08. “Phony Revolutions” by Crooked Fingers – DeVotchKa helps out on this amalgam of influences, from Forfeit/Fortune. (3:09)

09. “Furr” by Blitzen Trapper – This particular song reminds me of “Ooh La La” and that’s never a bad thing, from Furr. (4:08)

10. “Sultan” by What Made Milwaukee Famous – WMMF will never be accused of sparking a new sound, but there is something comforting about a band that you feel as though you’ve heard before, from What Doesn’t Kill Us. (2:46)

11. “Always a Friend” by Alejandro Escovedo – This song is perhaps the very definition of Rock & Roll, from Real Animal. (3:38)

12. “Dark as Days” by Army-Navy – Harkening back to the Posies’ best work, Army-Navy are one of the new torchbearers of power pop, from Army-Navy (3:42)

13. “Middles of June” by The Capstan Shafts – There seemed to be a bit of a lo-fi renaissance in 2008, and this has a very Tobin Sprout-era GBV feel to it, from Fixation Protocols. (1:51)

14. “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes – The first song I heard from this band, sadly the rest of the album did not measure up to this wonderful track, from Fleet Foxes. (2:27)

15. “Byrdgirl” by Matthew Sweet – Tambourine, jangly-guitars, and sweet harmonies, what more can you ask of Mr. Sweet? From Sunshine Lies. (3:18)

16. “Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife” by Drive-by Truckers – The musical arrangement on this song is pretty amazing. Piano, bango, pedal steel, driving back beat and yet it still comes off as a very simple tune, from Brighter Than Creation’s Dark. (3:06)

17. “Rat Patrol and DJs” by Centro-matic – I’ve been slow to embrace Will Johnson, but I’m starting to come around, from Dual Hawks. (2:47)

18. “For Emma” by Bon Iver – Another band that I’m not quite as smitten with as others, but I can’t deny the beauty of this song, from For Emma, Forever Ago. (3:41)

19. “Sidewalks” by Gentleman Gesse & His Men – I love this mid-tempo rocker, which sounds like it could have been done by the Shangri-Las or the Flirtations, from Gentleman Jesse & His Men. (2:31)

20. “Willow Tree” by Chad VanGaalen – The lead track from VanGaalen’s wonderful third album, Soft Airplane. (3:14)

21. “Home in the Highrise” by Cobra Verde – Perfect pop from Cleveland’s Glam rockers, from Haven’t Slept All Year (3:13)

22. “You Swan, Go On” by Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron – Okay, I have an unabashed love for Julie Doiron’s voice, but the real surprise for me is Mount Eerie, who I had never heard before. From Lost Wisdom. (1:25)

23. “Take Off Your Sunglasses” by Ezra Furman & the Harpoons – Equal parts Violent Femmes and Bob Dylan, from Inside the Human Body. (3:36)

24. “Strangers” by The Dutchess and the Duke – This wasn’t recorded in 1967? From She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke. (2:00)

25. “Watch as They Go” by American Princes – “Open Letter” from 2006 is one of my top five songs of the current decade, this one is pretty great too. From Other People. (3:32)

Total Time: 1:18:05

Download it here:

2008 Vol.1

So, what were your favorite songs of the year?

Seventy-five of the Best Holiday Tunes Known to Man!

Only one entry for the month of December, but you get three fabulous compilations! Just a quick heads up, be on the lookout for my January entry as I plan to make a best of 2008 compilation (or two).

The story behind this month's compilations is pretty simple. A few years ago Gabrielle and I put together a compilation of holiday music that we both enjoyed. We liked it so much that we ended up making copies of it and giving them away to our friends and family. We got mostly favorable reviews for that disc, and we decided to try to do it on a semi-regular basis. We are now up to volume three in the Christmas Redux series, and the third will be the first distributed via this blog. Of course since not all of you got the first or second volumes, I am posting the first two volumes up as well. Please take note, if you are one of the original recipients of the Christmas Redux Volume One, we did make some changes last year. We think we greatly improved it with songs by Low, the Figgs and Roger Miller (and that Bob & Doug McKenzie song was just too damn long)-- so you may want to download the new, improved version available here. Without further adux, here are seventy-five (76 if you count the "Dick in a Box" SNL video!) of the best holiday tunes known to man . . .

[Which reminds me, if you have a suggestion for future editions in the Christmas Redux series, please feel free to leave a comment-- thanks!]

Christmas Redux One:

01. “The Christmas Song” by the Raveonettes
02. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love
03. “Just Like Christmas” by Low
04. “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” by Buck Owens
05. “All the Right Reasons” by Dressy Bessy
06. “Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag” by Gary Walker
07. “Christmas Eve” by the Galaxies
08. “Run Run Rudolph by Dave Edmunds
09. “Christmas Spirit??” by the Wailers
10. “Santa Claws” by Vermont
11. “Santa Claus” by The Sonics
12. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid
13. “O, Little Town of Bethlehem” by the Young Fresh Fellows
14. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Pedro the Lion
15. “Little Drummer Boy (Up the Kyber)” by the Hoodoo Gurus
16. “Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?” by the Staple Singers
17. “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” by the Ramones
18. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by Bruce Springsteen
19. “2000 Miles” by the Pretenders
20. “I Want an Alien for Christmas” by Fountains of Wayne
21. “Merry Christmas Girl” by The Figgs
22. “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes
23. “Old Toy Trains” by Roger Miller
24. “Happy Christmas (Was is Over) by John & Yoko with the Harlem Community Choir
25. “Auld Lang Syne (Alternate Mix) by the Beach Boys

Time: 1:14:41
Download it here:

Christmas Redux One

Christmas Redux Two:

01. “Frosty the Snowman” by the Ronettes
02. “Christmas All Over Again” by Tom Petty
03. “Someday at Christmas” by Stevie Wonder
04. “Winter Wonderland” by the Cocteau Twins
05. “Joseph, Who Understood” by the New Pornographers
06. “Spotlight on Christmas” by Rufus Wainwright
07. “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses
08. “Christmas Celebration” by B.B. King
09. “Jingle, Jangle” by The Rockfield Chorale
10. “Father Christmas” by the Kinks
11. “Jingle Bell Rock” by the Ventures
12. “Thanks for Christmas” by the Three Wisemen (XTC)
13. “Christmas Ain’t Christmas Without the One You Love” by the O’Jays
14. “Peace on Earth-Little Drummer Boy” by Bing Crosby & David Bowie
15. “Everyday is Christmas” by Swag
16. “Holiday Spirit” by the dB’s
17. “The Christmas Song” by Weezer
18. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by the Cadillacs
19. “Purple Snowflakes” by Marvin Gaye
20. “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues
21. “Jingle Bells (Buala Bas)” by the Clancy Brothers
22. “So Much Wine” by the Handsome Family
23. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” by John Prine
24. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Death Cab for Cutie
25. “New Year’s Revolution” by Graham Parker

Time: 1:16:20
Download it here:

Christmas Redux Two

Christmas Redux Three:

01. “The Christmas Sound” by the Swimmers
02. “It’s Christmas Time” by Yo La Tengo
03. “Put the Lights on the Tree” by Sufjan Stevens
04. “Your Christmas Whiskey” by the Minus 5
05. “Silent Night” by the Primitives
06. “Your Christmas is Going to the Dogs” by the Eels
07. “All That I Want” by the Weepies
08. “December 25th” by Desmond Reed
09. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by the Crystals
10. “Santa’s Beard” by They Might Be Giants
11. “The Mods of Christmas” by Zumpano
12. “Christmas” by the Buzz of Delight
13. “Egg Nog” by Luna
14. “X-mas Song” by the Fireflies
15. “Christmas in Baghdad” by the Black Lips
16. “Donna and Blitzen” by Badly Drawn Boy
17. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Bright Eyes
18. “Merry X-mas Everybody” by Slade
19. “Christmas Celebration” by Weezer
20. “Last Christmas” by Erlend Oye
21. “Rock Around the Christmas Tree” by Daniel Johnston
22. “Baby, Please Don’t Get Stoned (It’s X-mas) by Je Suis France
23. “Christmastime” by Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
24. “She’s Coming Home” by the Wailers
25. “Space Christmas” by Shonen Knife

Time: 1:10:36
Download it here:

Christmas Redux Three


P.S. If you stumbled upon this blog entry first, please check out my entry for December 2009 here: Christmas Redux Volume Four.