The Post Holly's Friends Have Been Waiting For!

...Paul's Favorite Music of 2008! I know, my dears, you can hardly wait to sink your pretty little teeth into it. Careful, though, not to smudge your lip gloss.

If I hadn't already alienated you enough with my musicfan ramblings, I suppose this was the stake in the heart. Sorry. We will post more holiday pictures soon. Ish.

2008- nonmusically speaking- was one of the biggest in recent history. The birth of the greatest chunk of chub-laden cool around. The at-long-last release of Paul Jacobsen & The Madison Arm. The return of my parents from 3 years in England. Our first house. Trips to Hawaii, Chicago, San Francisco. The best band I've ever played with. Great shows. And more. Any list would need to start with those things. But this is an albums list. Once I lick the stamp on this one, maybe we can do a broader list (or two, because why not? No one's making you read).


Of course this will be wordy.

NEW ALBUMS

Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago

My favorite album of the year (Though, if you're really indie and wear multiple scarves in August, you would tell me that- officially- the album was released in 07. Thank you. Now go crawl back in your tawntawn.). For over a month, everyday, someone would IM me some new clip of the band doing something amazing. It's haunting. It's sad. It's cathartic. It's beautiful. The album is probably perfect and they've continued to reinvent the songs ever since. I can't recommend this one highly enough. Start with Skinny Love and Re:Stacks, but they're all good.

Jason Collett- Here's To Being Here
I totally failed in my attempts to evangelize anyone to this fine record. I don't suppose that'll end here. But the Broken Social Scener made a fine, fine folky rocky record. It has echoes of Harry Nilsson and Dylan and a ton of 70s singing and/or songwriting.

Matthew Ryan Vs The Silver State
Thanks to my friends Ryan Tanner and Eric Boam for not giving up on me with Matthew Ryan (like I am with all of you and Jason Collett). I'd think I had overlistened to the album, swear it off, and then a MRVSS song would pop up on random and floor me. Again. It happened just yesterday. It's a little like if Springsteen were more despondent and had Achtung Baby-era U2 behind him. Sort of. You can't go wrong with It Could've Been Worse, with the line "her blonde hair was the setting sun. her mascara was born to run" or Dulce et Decorum Est, which boasts the line "heroic in a failing way, for some of us it goes that way."

The Felice Brothers- s/t My friend Dave came over to recommend this album. I warned him, "As long as it's not Dylan-ish." (I had been listening to nothing but Bob for about a month and needed a breath.) He replied, "Try it anyway." Brash, sweet, sauced, stumbling, mumbling, rambling, and, yep, very Dylan-ish. It doesn't hurt that Leo lights up everytime "Love Me Tenderly" comes on. The kid LOVES that song.

Frightened Rabbit- Midnight Organ Flight Either I can't recommend this album enough or I can't recommend it because of its bad language. But, um, I like it. Emotional, raw, honest, with production that matches the great songs. And unfortunately some pub language.

The Hold Steady- Stay Positive WHOOOA-HO-HOOOO. (SLC, mark your calendars for April 11.) I wrote a REALLY lengthy review of this album for a sports/music blog called The Black Converse. You can read it HERE.

Retribution Gospel Choir- s/t Gotta be the first time a song has been a frontrunner for Song of the Year back-to-back years. Breaker is just that good. Alan Sparhawk, I love you. The movie about his other band, Low, called I Could Be Your Murderer is a very interesting take on a guy losing his marbles for a bit. Part of the interviews are filmed while Alan sits in the parking lot of his ward. His honesty and forthrightness are admirable.

Teddy Thompson- A Piece of What You Need Yes. I play favorites. And not just because he has red hair and is Richard Thompson's son. Something about Teddy Thompson's approach and especially the voice really gets through to me.

Damien Jurado- Caught In The Trees Still play favorites. And leaned a little towards the sad this year for whatever reason. Damien Jurado's songs will probably never be hits. But I think the years will show him as one of our better songwriters. And this is an unsurprisingly solid collection of songs that fits right in with the rest of his catalog.


Leona Naess- Thirteens And the favorites play on. The lack of critical love for her last 2 records borders on criminal. In a pretty great year, one of my big disappointments was getting pulled off the bill of her show with Ray LaMontagne.

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down- We Brave Bee Stings & All Thanks to Chris and Anna at Slowtrain. Go check out their store and they'll recommend you something you'll love. Thao's music is just pulsing with life. Try the infectious Bag of Hammers or Fear and Convenience.

The Weepies- Hideaway (Is it me? Or does that album art stink? The only way I'm taking that back is if it was drawn by Lil' Weepie Jr. or somebody with a terminal illness.) Praising this album won't garner me any scene points (though, as anyone who's seen my tally lately will attest, it's a pretty much a lost cause). Oh well. The melodies and writing are great, if not as wall-to-wall as their last album.

Doug Burr- On Promenade The best Ryan Adams album that Ryan Adams didn't release this year. It's like Heartbreaker-era RA. It sort of fits with Fleet Foxes, whose album I pretended was My Morning Jacket's new album, just to make me feel better.

TWO FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD RECORDS WORTH YOUR $
The Mollies- Yours Around The Roses The Madison Arm played a show with this band this year and their quirky, smart record wormed through my ears Wrath of Khan-style. Except if Khan were played by Bjork in a flapper dress and Spock wore vintage cufflinks and played the saw.
The Devil Whale- Like Paraders Brinton Jones is one of the great writers around, Marcus Bently is a storehouse of great guitar ideas, and it's no secret that Jake Fish is the man, not to mention the first-string tambourinist in my RockBand.com Fantasy Rock Band. That these songs finally have a home is good enough.

SOME OLDER ALBUMS REVISITED
Low- Things We Lost In The Fire
The Beatles- Love Leo loved this album is his first months.
Bob Dylan & The Band- The Basement Tapes
Fugazi- The Argument I loved 13 Songs for so long that I didn't want to threaten its pedestal by branching out. This year I picked up The Argument and the pedestal expanded. HELLO, SCENE POINTS!
Cracker- Greenland. More favorite-playing.
Grant Lee Buffalo- Mighty Joe Moon

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Blitzen Trapper- Furr
Jenny Lewis- Acid Tongue
Sun Kil Moon- April
Fleet Foxes- s/t
the new Sigur Ros (as if putting the title here would help at all)
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals- Cardinology
Rachael Yamagata- Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart

THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES
Randy Newman- Harps And Angels. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but this didn't seem like it quite carried on the momentum of Bad Love
My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges. I was a little bit over the top in my angst against this album. But it just did nothing for me.

STILL HAVE TO GIVE AN EAR TO
The Gaslight Anthem, Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, Santogold, Mates of State, Nick Cave, TV On The Radio, Portishead, Shearwater, Death Cab For Cutie, Department Of Eagles, MGMT, Calexico, Delta Spirit, Grand Archives, Dr. Dog.

SORRY BUT
Vampire Weekend was not good. And, this will be really popular (but no one reads this far anyway), the Coldplay album was, well, overrated. And not just because of their ridiculous Les Miserables costumes.


ANY RECOMMENDATIONS?