I will be kind and post my year-end mix at the top of this journal with my ranked list and commentary afterward for those who want to read it.
2008 Year-End Mix
As always, my year-end mix consists of one volume of two songs from each of my top 10 albums and another volume of one song from each of my next 20 (actually, this year it’s 22; I just couldn’t trim it any further). In case you don’t want to download the entire thing, I tagged the songs which, as of this writing, are available on last.fm in full.
THE BEST http://www.[spam] Lie - Okkervil River
2.
Reasons Not To Be An Idiot - Frank Turner
3.
Love Ire & Song - Frank Turner
4.
People C'mon - Delta Spirit
5.
Trashcan - Delta Spirit
6. I Don’t Always Know What You’re Saying - Ladyhawk
7. Fear - Ladyhawk
8. The Snow Leopard - Shearwater
9. On The Death Of The Waters - Shearwater
10.
Damn Me - Otis Gibbs
11.
Ain't Nothin Special - Otis Gibbs
12.
this land is our land redux - Slim Cessna’s Auto Club
13.
Everyone Is Guilty #2 - Slim Cessna’s Auto Club
14.
Iowalta Morningside - Twilight Hotel
15.
Sand in your eyes - Twilight Hotel
16.
Semaphore - James
17.
Waterfall - James
18.
In My Arms - Teddy Thompson
19.
Slippery Slope (Easier) - Teddy Thompson
20. Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979 - Okkervil River
THE REST http://www.[spam]
1.
On a Saturday - Herman Düne
2. Fight Fire With Fire - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
3. Story Of The Grandson Of Jesus - Cloud Cult
4. We Couldn’t Tell - Lonesome River Band
5.
What Do You Do When You're Lonesome - Justin Townes Earle
6.
Death Take Your Fiddle - Spiritualized
7. Down On The Ground - British Sea Power
8.
I Got Ideas - The Whigs
9.
Hey Clown - Firewater
10. Garden Suite - Have Gun, Will Travel
11. Make Her Fall In Love With Me Song - George Strait
12. It Came Out Of The Wilderness - Pete Molinari
13.
The Sound Of Life - The Coal Porters
14. Swashbuckler Blues - The Theater Fire
15.
Army of Ancients - Dr. Dog
16. Suffering Jukebox - Silver Jews
17.
Today's Lesson - Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
18. Fire In The Western World - The Dirtbombs
19. Lost In The Light - The Heavenly States
20.
Good Days Bad Days - Kaiser Chiefs
21. My Cousin - Frida Hyvönen
22. I Keep Faith (solo) - Billy Bragg
FAVORITES OF 2008
My top 5 were easy picks; there’s rarely been stronger top 10 contenders in my book. After that it got harder, with so many albums that I think are really great. In fact, though the albums are listed in roughly descending order, as I got lower, the room for movement got larger so that on any given day things in the bottom half of my top 10 may move one or two positions and by the time I get to 20 or 30 an album may move as much as 5-8 spaces depending on my mood and what I’ve most recently listened to. There are still so many albums I like that didn’t even make this list. I bought almost 100 albums released this year and heard another 75-100 that didn’t interest me enough to buy them.
TOP 10 ALBUMS (* artist heard for the first time this year)
1. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
These guys are moving into Billy Bragg territory for me now. By that I mean that the love has a permanent depth rather than an exciting newness. Like the courtship is over yet the person (or band in this case) has now become a part of you that you couldn’t live without. I love every single one of these songs (though I do believe the original version of “On Tour With Zykos” -- called “Girl I Knew, Guy I Met” when performed solo at Schubas in Feb ’06 (all Okkervil fans should listen to this recording) -- was better than the final). I'm still not sure about the interludes. I read or heard an interview with Sheff that indicated something along the line that their melodies are contained within songs in that portion of the album, but I need to listen with better ears to get that. They aren’t as exciting as the interludes from the BSB Appendix, but not unpleasant either. When I first listened to the album there were two things I didn't like. Repeated listens have changed my opinion regarding "Lost Coastlines," in which I initially thought the bass was
way too loud; it now works for me. However, the one and only thing I ever
hated on an Okkervil recording was the sleigh bells linking “Singer Songwriter” and “Starry Stairs;” I think it’s totally out of place and am
really, really curious who decided to put it there and why. I absolutely love every other aspect of this album. I know this is something I regularly repeat, but I’m not a person who is totally blind and deaf to those I love. I will be ready to admit and accept when something less than stellar comes out of these guys, but thus far I have seen absolutely no evidence of that happening (with the exception of the sleigh bells). I have rarely, if ever, experienced a band that I felt I could so objectively defend against any naysayer. The changes that happened within the band this year were very sad for me. Fortunately, based on the one song that has been created since then -- “Singer Songwriter” -- I think the band will survive just fine, even if I greatly miss Brian's and Jonathan’s roles in this band.
2. Otis Gibbs - Grandpa Walked A Picket Line
I’ve been listening to this since February and have listened to it far more than any other album this year except Okkervil. And I love it more and more as time goes on. In fact, this probably should be ranked 1.5 instead of 2. As much as I loved his earlier albums, Otis’s writing has really developed here. The album contains so many of my favorite lines this year (Caroline lives her life inside a daydream; the hardest thing about living is getting by day to day; it’s hard to believe what you don’t know; etc.). He had a great bunch of players join him on this recording:
Don Dixon (bass),
Al Perkins (pedal steel, dobro),
Will Rigby (drums),
Chris Carmichael (fiddle),
Tim Easton (mandolin, harmonica, vocal), and
Amy Lashley (vocals), making the fantastic songs sung by Otis’s rough/smooth voice become even more outstanding. It also has my favorite kind of production -- thanks to producer
Chris Stamey -- letting the songs speak for themselves yet polishing it enough that it sounds like more than a home recording. Oh, and for those interested in buying, it’s had a complex release date (which seems to be happening with albums more and more). It is currently released in England and The Netherlands (maybe all of Europe, not sure), and you can currently buy it from cdbaby in the US (
http://cdbaby.com/cd/otisgibbs4), but its official US release date is January 20, 2009. (I chose to include it in 2008 because I’ve been listening to it for 11 months and it is available for purchase now.)
3. James - Hey Ma
The past three albums by James have been hit and miss for me. Though there are some songs I like on Whiplash and Pleased to Meet You, overall they don’t do much for me and I don’t listen to them. Now consider this band basically split up 7 years ago, and I didn’t have great hopes for the new album. Boy was I wrong. In fact, when I got it there were a few songs I loved right away, but many I thought were just okay. I really wish I had noted which ones, because I now love every song on the album and can’t imagine which ones took me awhile. I know I loved “Hey Ma” right off the bat, though admit it comes a bit late (they simply didn’t release anything since 9/11/01). Like Okkervil (among other bands), they put depressing or solemn lyrics to a punchy beat. It’s a mix I’ve always been partial to. Sure Hey Ma hasn’t stood the test of time yet, but I can easily see it sitting among my favorite James albums years down the line.
4. Frank Turner - Love, Ire & Song
I guess I should start with the fact that I don’t read much about Turner so while I believe his songs have a strong autobiographical bent, I don’t know that for certain. I do know there’s a group of people who don’t like autobiographical songs. I don’t get that. Maybe my mind just expands enough to find that the singer isn’t so different from me and the experiences that I or people I know have, but they speak to me as much as songs that aren’t autobiographical. In fact, I’m not sure why it matters whether something is true or made up if the lyrics are interesting. On the one hand there is kind of a youthful, life philosophy to most of Turner’s songs, but on the other there’s the complexity brought about by age. The title song is one of the best at showing the dichotomy as he wants to revisit his ideals of youth but can’t shake his cynicism even as he attempts to do so.
5. *Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
A very bipolar album with songs swinging back and forth between loneliness and being in love. I don’t really pay much attention to what’s popular or not, but it seems to me like this guy should be pretty big. Musically I think it could fit in with the MOR crowd. I know that doesn’t sound very appealing to your typical music geek (e.g., last.fm user), but this is the best of what that can offer. It reminds me quite a bit of Josh Ritter’s Historical Conquests in that way.
6. Shearwater - Rook
If you happened to read my “favorite shows of 2008” post you know that I’m incapable of describing this band. So I’m going to cheat and quote the
Faronheit blog: “What particularly sells this band and this album is Meiburg himself, both in the verbose lyrical tales he writes and the theatrically compelling vocal performances he gives on every single song. The man sells his pompously overblown verbiage by belting it to the rafters and inflecting such emotion he could make the telephone book sound like a thrilling novel. And I haven't even gotten to the gorgeously tempered instrumentation, where pianos and acoustic guitars and violins and clarinets and horns mix together and make sweet, sweet love to your ears. Perhaps the best way to describe "Rook" as an album is to say it sounds like the soundtrack to a movie where a man takes an extensive journey through the woods and encounters horrible weather and dangerous animals. It's epic, it's sweeping and gorgeous, and most of all, it feels completely organic.” What drops it down to number 6 is that I think Jonathan's falsetto is over-used. I love his entire vocal range, including the falsetto, but would prefer if he had more of his "other" voice on this.
7. *Twilight Hotel - Highway Prayer
It’s a very long album, but the songs are so diverse that I never get bored. In fact picking two songs for my mix became difficult because I often try to pick something that’s representative of the overall sound of the album -- unless there’s one song that stands out so far from the others -- but in this case there is no overall sound. In broad terms they’re a Canadian folk duo consisting of Dave Quanbury and Brandy Zdan both of whom do the vocals, though the album has a full band. It was produced by
Colin Linden of Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, who also plays on it. Another contributer was
Richard Bell, this being the last album he played on before he died. In fact, an interesting final, unnamed track on the album is an instrumental duet of Bell and Linden -- I'm not sure I own any other album containing a song where the album's artist doesn't play on it.
8. Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Cipher
The album is held together with four brief songs all titled “An Introduction To The Power of Braces:” but changing after the colon to include Arms, Legs, Teeth, and Faith. This is gothic country in all it’s terrifying religious fervor. I love “Children of the Lord,” but I took pity on anyone who may listen to my year-end mix and omitted it so they could avoid its insidiousness. The whole album is filled with extremely catchy melodies alternating with the dark gloom.
9. Ladyhawk - Shots
They’re from the same area (Vancouver) and on the same label (Jagjaguwar) as Black Mountain and I wouldn’t even say their music is entirely dissimilar, but I find Ladyhawk’s songs to be much punchier. Stated another way, it seems as though Ladyhawk mixes in hard rock or post-punk, while BM has a strong metal influence. At the same time, however, Ladyhawk (and BM for that matter) has a very contemporary (or indie) sound. I’ve read comparisons to Neil Young, which I really hear on some of their guitar solos -- I’ll take a melodic guitar over a screeching metal one any day. Like their previous work, I think the lyrics on Shots are very good, even if they’re simple. It’s music that you can rock out to, but you can also sit and really listen to it.
10. *Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine
Start with loads of 60’s rock, throw in a bit of soul, a dash of modern indie rock (particularly in the very-screamy vocals), and a pinch of Americana. It’s a beautifully paced album. And I love the lyrics, though if heavy-handed bothers you, you may find fault there.
The next group of favorites:
11. *
Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
12.
Lonesome River Band - No Turning Back
13. *
The Coal Porters - Turn The Water On, Boy!
14.
Frida Hyvönen - Silence Is Wild
15.
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love And Justice
16. *
The Whigs - Mission Control
17. *
Spiritualized - Songs In A & E
18.
George Strait - Troubadour
19.
The Theater Fire - Matter And Light
20.
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
21. *
The Heavenly States - Delayer
22.
Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts
23.
Nick Cave - Dig! Lazarus, Dig!
24.
Firewater - Golden Hour
25.
Dr. Dog - Fate
26. *
Herman Düne - Next Year In Zion
27.
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
28.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt
29.
Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
30. *
Pete Molinari - A Virtual Landslide
31.
The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded
32. *
Have Gun, Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall As Giants
Albums I bought within the past couple weeks, have listened to one time or not at all, and thus weren’t considered for my year-end list (after all, I’ve got to stop sometime):
Colour Revolt - Plunger, Beg, and Curse
Local H - Twelve Angry Months
Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies - Northern Echoes
Romi Mayes - Sweet Somethin’ Steady
Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch
Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
Submarine Races - Hard To Look At And Easy To See
TOP 5 SONGS OF 2008
1. "Damn Me" - Otis Gibbs (it would probably have been my song of the year anyway, but the violin part makes it unquestionable)
2. "Pop Lie" - Okkervil River (it’s actually impossible for me to pick a favorite Okkervil song so I picked the one with my favorite moment on the album, Will's voice singing "week by week it climbs up and comes on, and we're feeling alright though we know it's all wrong" at 2'11"-2'17" -- most especially the word "all.")
3. "Lost In The Light" - The Heavenly States (white soul mixed with old-fashioned rock 'n' roll? whatever it is, it's one of the catchiest songs I heard all year with the best hand claps)
4. "Slippery Slope (Easier)" - Teddy Thompson (devastating live, brought a lump to my throat and tear to my eye)
5. "The Sound of Life" - The Coal Porters (banjo love and a mention of Don Reno, oh yeah!)
After coming up with my list, I noted with an asterisk the artists on my list whom I hadn’t listened to prior to this year. I did this because sometimes I feel like I pay too much attention to new (to me) artists and at the same time, especially as I age, I don’t want to be the kind of person who never listens to anything new. I’m pretty pleased with the distribution I found.
Miscellaneous thoughts on non-top 10 albums:
Kaiser Chiefs - I guess these guys are my Matchbox 20. They’re mainstream and get little to no respect among the music fans I spend time with (or critics, for that matter), but I love them greatly. The one popular Brit band of recent years I can say that about, while I miss what others see in bands like Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, or Arctic Monkeys. In addition to greatly liking their sound, which hasn't changed much over their three albums, their songs have a rather unique characteristic of frequent repetitiveness which I think they make work.
George Strait - George seems to have the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality. This album is nothing new from what he’s been doing for over 30 years: different very good songs, same sound, same gorgeous voice, and same wonderfully modest production.
Dirtbombs - It was really hard deciding what to do with this one. I absolutely love most of it -- a top 15 album, maybe even top 10. But I really, really dislike “Pretty Princess Day” and “They Have Us Surrounded.” Enough to initially make me think this album wouldn’t be represented on my year-end mix. But then I re-listen to the album and fall in love with the beginning of it again before it moves to the spottier back half.
Frida Hyvonen: It was a hard choice between "Dirty Dancing" and "My Cousin," but I fell hard for the line “would you be the dad of the children I most likely won’t have, is that how much you like me or is it not even close” the first time I heard her sing it live two years ago so I had to go with that one on my mix. This album took longer than her first two for me to love (the melodies on many of the songs aren’t as catchy), but I now think all of it is really great except the last song, “Why Do You Love Me So Much.” Who knows, maybe in another couple weeks I’ll love that one, too; it's already beginning to grow on me.
Billy Bragg - This may not be songwriting at a pre-Mermaid Avenue level, but it’s a whole lot better than England, Half English. Some really great songs mixed in with some mediocre. This isn’t an album I’d use to try and show why he’s my all-time favorite artist, but it’s one I can definitely recommend to people. I have the deluxe version, which includes the regular album as well as a disk of all the songs performed solo (à la Okkervil’s The Stage Names last year). Depending on which song it is, I sometimes prefer the band and other times the solo versions.
Firewater - I like it a lot, but it’s too long. If I randomly pick any song I like it, but listening straight through -- as I do -- it tends to lose my attention about 2/3 of the way through.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Another very long album, but it’s so beautiful that I don’t tire of it. Like many others, I'm a sucker for Lanegan's voice. I found the first collaboration of these two to be too boring and never bought it, but, vocally, Mark has a much larger role in this album and it makes all the difference. It’s been so long since I listened to the first one that I’m guessing on this, but I think I also like the songs better on this new album.
Pete Molinari - Skiffle makes a comeback!! At least, that’s what it sounds like to me.
1/3/09 edit: I just want to have Okkervil's postcard history at my fingertips; this won't be of much interest to anyone else. 120 people voted in this year's poll. I'm thrilled Okkervil got first place this year, despite the fact that the next highest any of my top 10 placed was 35 and only 5 of my top 10 made it to the top 100.
Okkervil’s history in Postcard's Top 100 poll:
2000 Stars Too Small To Use - didn't make list
2002 Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See - 4 votes (69th place; 0 1st place votes) 171 ballots
2003 Down The River Of Golden Dreams - 5 votes (72nd place; 1 1st place vote) 165 ballots
2005 Black Sheep Boy - 23 votes (10th place; 4 1st place votes) 132 ballots
2007 The Stage Names - 41 votes (2nd place; 7 1st place votes) 133 ballots
2008 The Stand Ins - 43 votes (1st place; 9 1st place votes) 120 ballots
The Whigs
