Another top somethingorother

Well, here it is 2010 & I never finished my best of 2008 blog post. Somehow that also kept me from producing any other sort of post for the last year. I decided to just leave this guy as is & post it before moving on to the best of 2009, which you will see shortly! Promise!

Sometimes I like to fancy that someone cares what I think about music. You may have heard me slyly insert that I was once a college station DJ or perhaps interject that "this sounds like the lovechild of Six Organs of Admittance with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum." Anyway if you're down for some musical masturbation I have for you
RUSS'S TOP ALBUMS OF 2008

2008 releases
1. Chad VanGaalen, Soft Airplane (Sub Pop)
I purchased this album after hearing a single song on the radio. To be honest I was more thrilled that the TEXT function had worked & I'd gotten the name of the artist without having to listen to one of the vapid DJs on NC State's radio station THE REVOLUTION. Apparently their revolution was to start doing immature station ID's, giving themselves DJ names like "the fox," and taking paid advertisements.
Surprisingly enough, the album is entirely listenable (despite some obscurity scattered throughout). His songwriting is often captivating, even humorous. Take, for instance, "I can hear the cries of the dead/ Maybe it's your neighbor beating his dog in the basement." Some might find his delivery whiny, but I believe it's the kind of controlled warble you might get from someone like Thom Yorke. Still, it likely fails what I like to call
THE PARENT TEST FOR NEW MUSIC
a. Does the music fall into one of the accepted categories of white people music: folk, cookie-cutter rock, inoffensive dance/disco, covers of songs we already know the words to?
b. Will the lyrics cause one to blush in mixed company?
c. After passing the above, will the disc be skipped anyway in favor of ZZ Top?

In other news, I decided (ill-advisedly) to purchase his earlier album Skelliconnection after enjoying this one so much. Though still enjoyable, I found it to suffer from unimaginative drumming and production... and just a bit too pop-y (a word I've said often but never attempted to spell). I was reminded of Grandaddy's third album Sumday and what a disappointment it had been (inversely from VanGaalen chronologically) after The Sophtware Slump. In addition to that coincidence the fact that their tone is unmistakeably similar.

2. Animal Collective, Water Curses EP (Domino)
It's no secret that I have intense feelings... sexual feelings towards Animal Collective. Now, initially it was all negative. Immediately following their release of Sung Tongs in 2004, I was working at the college radio station all hours. One afternoon I was called and told I could come in an hour later due to a scheduled interview. This was pretty common, though it was rare I had even heard of the band. I came in during the interview to pull records for my show & occasionally crossed paths with members of the band. They wore old clothes and had a haze that followed them like stale pot smoke. Since they were touring, they had likely not showered in weeks & smelled like they'd been dumpster diving, a distinct possibility. What followed was pure contempt, and, mind, I had never heard their music. Assuming it was some hippie bullshit I passed it over in the following months. Eventually I heard the full album & came a little. I discretely purchased Sung Tongs and, a challenge at that time, the bulk of their material. As time passed I attended several shows of theirs through the much lauded Feels release. In 2007, Panda Bear (a founding member) put out my favorite album from that year. The same year saw the release of Strawberry Jam. Okay, I've been rambling for awhile here, but the idea of putting an EP on a top 10 list is to say that this record was, as best as I can tell, an apology for Strawberry Jam. The tour that followed, which I unabashedly enjoyed, had them pretty much playing the album. Previous shows had been mostly noise (though enjoyable), and I think the band began to feel they had sold out. Succinct yet soulful, Water Curses was the stepping stone between Person Pitch and Animal Collective's spectacular 2009 release, Merriweather Post Pavilion.

3. Hercules & Love Affair, Hercules & Love Affair (DFA)
It's a curse of mine that I will buy just about anything from DFA. The label is run by two guys who also do remixes (as is my understanding). After a spectacular pair of label samplers/remixes, they went on to produce two chapters of fun remixes (mostly off-label) that are incomparably playable. So I confess that picking up H&LA was more an indulgence in DFA than my knowledge of their work, which was nonexistent. The reviews I have read attribute the success of this record to the input of Antony. Though he appears to be only a guest artist of sorts, I had viewed him from the outset as a quintessential part of the band (if you can call it a band). His vocals actually sound more like a deep-voiced female, and a quick glance at any biography will nod to the reasons behind that. The result is a passionate act of disco that is not stale top 40 wankage. Though the lyrics are not, by themselves, expressive, their delivery lends them credence. "You Belong" (to him tonight) has a kind of desperate urgency that makes me start dancing, as if for my life. I had it playing at the store once & went to the back to fill a cup with ice. I started groovin' at the ice machine when a young girl spotted me on her way to the bathroom. She joined in with six year-old vigor, and I knew at that moment that this was a music that transcended generations.

4. Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles (Last Gang)
Anyone who was around me during the summer months of '08 knows I played the hell out of this album.

5. No Age, Nouns ()

6. Benjy Hughes, A Love Extreme ()

7 . Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend ()

8. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular ()

9. Department of Eagles





Honorable Mentions
1. She & Him, Volume One (Merge)

New to Me
1. Bark Bark Bark, Haunts ()