Song: Hang On
Album: Fate
Artist: Dr. Dog
Selected by: Justin Farrar
Date: January 2, 2009
The Dog is loved for its sweet harmonies and even sweeter hooks. But here, they tap a different brand of energy. “Hang On” is the Beach Boys and Warren Zevon smoking a pack of cigs and getting all funky at nine in the morning. Brilliant! The band has never sounded so pained, so totally ALIVE.
Song: Golden Age
Album: Dear Science
Artist: TV On the Radio
Selected by: Stephanie Benson
Date: January 1, 2009
Admit it, even if you're staring into the toilet, cursing that last festive drink, there's still a glimmer of hope that the coming 365 days will be your greatest yet. It's the undeniable power of January 1. This New Year's, we'll let one of the best alt rock singles of 2008 help spread the happy vibes to your 2009. So, clap your hands because "there's a golden age comin' round."
Song: Skinny Love
Album: For Emma, Forever Ago
Artist: Bon Iver
Selected by: Nate Cavalieri
Date: December 31, 2008
Much like the record from which it comes, this tune has the kind of hushed, snowed-in intimacy that you might expect from a guy who broke up with his girlfriend, split up his band and headed to a hunting cabin in the Wisconsin woods to ride out the heartbreak. Justin Vernon's one-man band, Bon Iver, won apt comparisons to Elliot Smith and turned out the slow-grow record of 2008. By the time its done, those of you who aren't curled up in the fetal position sobbing will want to take your head out of the oven.
We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what Swedish metalheads In Flames had to say about the year in music.
Favorite album:
Who the hell released albums this year? [Laughs] I think, this is not a metal band but it’s a band called Glasvegas, from Scotland. That is an amazing album. I mean it’s kind of depressing in a way, but to me it’s in an uplifting way. A lot of darkness and sadness in the songs and everything, but to me I find beauty in these things as well. A lot of my friends were like “how can you listen to this stuff?” I love when things go in a new, darker and more depressed stage.
We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of
their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what auto-tuned R&B sensation T-Pain had to say about the year in music.
Why Your Album Deserves To Be In Year End Best Lists
I really don’t know. A lot of good albums came out this year. You get me. Everybody hearing all the hits I’m making for everyone. The hooks that I’m doing and the concepts I’m coming up with. It’s an album of that.
Song: Lollipop
Album: Tha Carter III
Artist: Lil' Wayne
Selected by: Toshi Kondo
Date: December 30, 2008
After creating a near-frenzy with countless stellar mixtapes and guest appearances, would 2008 see Lil Wayne break through as a bonafied superstar or wilt under the almost unrealistic expectations? Wayne chose the former, using auto-tune on this sexually explicit serenade with singer-songwriter Static Major (Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Timbaland) to create the hottest club song of the year, and propelling Tha Carter III to 3 million copies sold.
George Jones once called 1970 "a good year for the roses," and though the fellow who made my very favorite album this year accurately suggested that his records be alphabetically filed "somewhere between Jennings and Jones," he apparently thought 2008 was a good year for mowin' down his ex-wife's roses with a tractor instead. Another hint is that, though legend has it he created his highly introspective current album in quiet seclusion after a life-changing breakup while letting his beard grow, he is amazingly not Bon Iver! Also, he and the fellow who made my second-favorite album of the year both have the same last name! Which last name somehow appears nowhere among my 51st-to-100th or 101st-to-150th favorite albums of 2008! Guess I've just got a thing for Johnsons. Not to mention grumpy old white guys who mess up their lives a lot. Psychoanalyze that how you will. And Happy New Year!
Continue reading "Chuck Eddy's Best Albums of the Year Countdown, Part 3: Numbers 1 - 50" »
We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what Camila Grey from Uh-Huh Her had to say about the year in music.
Favorite Album of The Year:
MGMT-Oracular Spectacular
Favorite Rapper of the Year:
Kanye West
Continue reading "Best of 2008: Camila Grey (of Uh Huh Her) " »
We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what New York champagne-popper Jim Jones had to say about the year in music.
Big Events of 2008 That You Address On Your New Album
I’ve been finished with my album so I didn’t get a chance to mention anything about a black president and all that type of sh*t there. But my albums always talk about the recession. We been in a recession. It’s called poverty. That’s what my album reflects. All my n*gg*s in the hood that’s coming up hopeless and trying to struggle to make a dollar. It ain’t easy because they ain’t giving no jobs so we hustle to get ours.
So, all I want to say is the same thing I've said every year this decade: If you think hardly any good albums came out this year, you weren't looking very hard. Period. Otherwise, the main thing I realized while compiling the list below is what a really good year 2008 was for rock from Australia (which is where numbers 51 and 52 come from, plus at least four others -- five if New Zealand counts.) Otherwise otherwise, see numbers 101 to 150. And for numbers 1 to 50, wait a couple days. Those'll be even better, I promise!
Continue reading "Chuck Eddy's Best Albums of the Year Countdown, Part 2: Numbers 51 - 100 " »
Song: Paper Planes
Album: Kala
Artist: M.I.A.
Selected by: Philip Sherburne
Date: December 29, 2008
Multicultural ambassador M.I.A. had her work cut out for her in a year that saw America elect a mixed-race president with roots in Kenya, Kansas and Hawaii. But her "Paper Planes," an ambivalent look at globalization, logged some serious mileage, soaring through the airwaves to explode in countless remixes and cover versions.
Ground rules: (1) Only albums I actually listened to were eligible. Which means I didn't include albums that I didn't hear. Pretty obvious, right? But worth noting, even if nobody making lists like this ever does, given the thousands upon thousands of albums I didn't hear (the overwhelming majority of which I have no interest in, and wouldn't have liked even if I did hear them, but what the heck.) (2) I included reissues, but not ones that merely repackaged old albums that've always existed. (3) I also included a few albums that came out in late 2007, but nobody noticed until 2008. That said, on with the show!
Continue reading "Chuck Eddy's Best Albums Of The Year Countdown, Part 1: Numbers 101 - 150" »
We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what Chicago MC/actor Common had to say about the year in music.
Big Events of 2008 That You Address On Your New Album
I wrote about Obama. It was more in a way of talking about the change that I see happening in the world when people were started to get inspired by what Obama was doing. The hope that everybody had in their eyes and all the unity and energy that we got out there going right now. I have a song called “Changes” that’s really is symbolic to that and it really could be Barack Obama’s inaugural song because it is something that really deals the positive changes and seeing a better day for the youth and the future. So that’s one song that I could say that revolves around a big event that happened. You know, to be honest, a lot of the rest of the songs on the album is more just about having fun and enjoying life. There was so much trouble and people were going through so much that I wanted this music to be a release. To be something for them to let go, take their minds off of it, feel some type of inspiration, and just think about fun, smiling, and kicking it. I wanted that to create that energy because I knew people were going through so much.
Song: Seven Principles
Album: Selections 1976-1988
Artist: Sweet Honey in the Rock
Selected by: Sarah Bardeen
Date: December 26, 2008
Get into the spirit of Kwanzaa -- which begins today. Tune into the uplifting harmonies of American a cappella institution Sweet Honey in the Rock as they sing about the holiday's seven principles.
We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of
their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what acclaimed remixer Morgan Page had to say about the year in music.
Favorite Album Of The Year:
Fleet Foxes
Favorite Rapper Of The Year:
Kanye West
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