My Exceedingly Long 2008 Year End List

So the 2008 is but a mile marker in the rear-view at this point, but I told enough people that I was going to put up a “Look Back On What I Was Enjoying For The First Time In 2008” that I kind of had to make it happen.

I should say, this was one of my favorite years of music listening ever, so this is probably longer than you’d like. I recommend breaking it into chunks. So without further ado:

Look Back On What I Was Enjoying For The First Time In 2008
(You can DL all the mentioned music here -1.23gb- or do pick and choose by artist)

1. Aaliyah/Timbaland DL

I’ve loved Timbaland for a long time, but was pretty exclusive to his rap work, which means I was missing out on his very best. He and Aaliyah made some of the greatest music I’ve ever heard. There isn’t a ton of it, which is tragic, but what’s there is just phenomenal. Realizing what an unstoppable pair they were, it’s hard to listen to something like Justin Timberlake’s “My Love” without thinking how much better she would have sounded on it.

ON SERIOUS REPEAT:

One In A Million (One in a Million)
Heartbroken (One in a Million)
Try Again (Ultimate)
Hot Like Fire (One in a Million)
More Than A Woman (Aaliyah)

Seriously, if you listen to nothing else on this list… Aaliyah - One In A Million (also if you get the FLAC there are a few super low bass tones that are totally lost on MP3s)

2. More Talking Heads DL

A quote from last year’s round up: “I think every year I get a bit deeper into Talking Heads. It’s never a ton at once, just a song here a song there.” Well, that was last year. I admit, I used to find the Talking Heads way too jittery for me. So either I was wrong or I’ve gotten way more jittery. You tell me. Mega-recommendation on “Found a Job”, with amazing lyrics revolving around a couple that watches too much TV and David Byrne’s advice on how they can fix it. Plus there’s a killer breakdown at the end. “If your work isn’t what you like, than something isn’t right”.

Warning Sign (More Songs About Buildings and Food)
Found a Job (More Songs About Buildings and Food)
Seen and Not Seen (Remain in Light)
Mind (Fear of Music)
The Book I Read (Talking Heads: 77)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (Speaking in Tongues)

3. Brian Eno DL

So beyond producing the Talking Heads best stuff, and co-writing David Bowie’s, Mr. Eno made some ambient tracks that are on a whole other planet. They tend to expand all around you, and beg for a different kind of listening. It doesn’t bare much similarity to the pop song experience that tries to get inside you and make you empathize with the feelings in it. Instead it’s an experience more like backpacking through the mountains; you move through the pieces slowly, as the sounds build a grand landscape, getting different perspectives on the repeated phrases as you go. It’s not heart-thumping — but breath-taking, and well worth the time.

Discreet Music (Discreet Music)
Wind on Water (Fripp & Eno)
1/1 (Ambient 1/Music for Airports)

4. Clifford Brown & Max Roach DL

What a combo. The definition of fresh. Some of the most genuinely human jazz I’ve heard. It’s not about the extremities of human emotion, but rather the feeling of contentment. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Clifford Brown was staunchly opposed to heroine and alcohol, but you really get the sense that he’s able to take the good with the bad and see all that life has to show. I can’t imagine having the perspective he did at such a young age. He died at 25, leaving only 4 years of recorded music behind. Man…

Daahoud (Clifford Brown & Max Roach)
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing (At Basin Street)

5. Thelonious Monk DL

For the most part, I think Thelonious belongs in the section below on Jazz Dudes who I just put on and don’t worry about what track is playing, which ends up meaning I don’t really remember what I like, but he’s just so good I had to have him up top. He puts every note in a unique place, making him a hell of a listen on every track. And I love how he composes his horns, I’m addicted to what I call “double horn” (real technical right?). That’s just how I like ‘em, Monk. In terms of recommendations, can I just say everything? …Fine, here are the first three track on three great albums.

Jackie-Ing (5 By Monk By 5)
Monk’s Dream (Monk’s Dream)
Brilliant Corners (Brilliant Corners)

6. Atlas Sound (Deerhunter) DL

I’m not that crazy about the “indie” scene these days, whatever that means, but Atlas Sound really stood apart from the rest. It’s a record I would love to send to myself in high school — I would have loved it. Wonderfully textured, it’s true bedroom music, dreamy, but obsessive. Taking the things I like about Bjork and combining them with the things I like about the Deftones is an impressive move, and Bradford Cox did it with real gusto!

Deerhunter had some really good tracks too, but I generally find their drums pretty damn boring, which took away some major points, and made them feel like mere solid “indie”. Mr. Cox (lead singer) seems like he does better when he’s by himself, and I hope he does more as Atlas Sound in the future

Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom (Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel)
Atlas Sound - Quarantined (Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel)
Deerhunter - Agoraphobia (Microcastle)
Deerhunter - Never Stops (Microcastle)

7. Philip Glass DL

What I love about minimalism is the sense that it seems to deal with the matter of its subject as opposed to the emotion. Looking at its material through a lens of scientific curiosity. Things are divided up and examined. Altered and repeated. Even when an emotion is the subject, its for the sake of examination and not just relation. This is definitely an oversimplification, but I’m young to the music and this is my initial impression. SUE ME!

Opening (Glassworks)
Floe (Glassworks)
Knee Play 1 (Einstein on the Beach)
Part 4 (Music in Twelve Parts)

— Big up to the Bang On A Can Festival for leading my way into more Minimalist work. Look forward to this year’s.

8. Ornette Coleman DL

Also a Jazz guy who should really be down in the upcoming “can’t keep track of what I’m listening to section”, if not for his 1971 album Science Fiction, that grabbed my attention like a delicious slice of vodka pizza. Absolutely one of the greatest things I’ve heard. But it’s not like I’m skipping on his earlier stuff, people, this just made my head pop in a specific way.

What Reason Could I Give (Science Fiction)
and a bunch more…

9. Dinosaur, Jr. DL

Alt. grunge at it’s finest. If all they made was “Little Fury Things”, they would have succeeded in my book. I haven’t listened enough to make a best of, but that’s because what I have found is so good it just get stuck on, well…

Little Fury Things (You’re Living All Over Me)
Freak Scene (Bug)

10. More John Coltrane DL

The more you can get your hands on the better, right?

Like Someone in Love (Lush Life)

11. Kid Creole & The Coconuts DL

Finally got around to listening to the Mutant Disco compilation that Kaveh recommended me a few years back, and this group took my cake. A great wedding band gone mad with power, it’s adventurous early 80s sunshine funky pop done with some great technical skill, and a lot of innovation. Also the vocals always remind me of Dirty Projectors, which can’t be bad. Oh, and if you really listen to the lyrics on “Annie I’m Not Your Daddy”, it’s pretty hilarious.

Annie I’m Not Your Daddy (Remix) (Mutant Disco compilation)
I’m a Wonderful Thing Baby (Mutant Disco compilation)

12. More Kanye West DL

I’m just as surprised to find Kan Yeezy here as you are. But the fact is he did a handful of tracks that I was pumping on the regular, and he was probably the best rapper on the auto-tune. Plus, to be completely honest, 808s & Heartbreaks is growing on me… At least he’s takin’ real risks, even if he is jumping the incubation period a bit.

T.I. - Swagga Like Us (ft. Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne) (Paper Trail)
Young Jeezy - Put On (ft. Kanye West) (The Recession)
Paranoid (808s & Heartbreaks)
Street Lights (808s & Heartbreaks)

13. Fuck Buttons DL

Pretty noise. Modern war music, really. There’s no good and evil; they sound the same. You’re not cool, you’re not boring, you’re just wrapped up in your own headphones on the way to work letting your heart rub around in unfulfillable blood-lust. You’re a domesticated barbarian, and that’s okay. Or at least I am, and maybe it’s not. (ed: Too Fight Clubby?)

Sweet Love For Planet Earth (Street Horrsing)
Colours Move (Street Horrsing)

14. Spacemen 3 DL

This is a zoner of a band. Subliminally psychedelic. Notable for it’s evenness. It always manages to center me. Thanks space people.

Walkin’ With Jesus (Perfect Perscription)
Honey (Playing With Fire)

15. Michael Rother DL

Ratatat you just got BUSTED! Or maybe just intensely influenced. And there’s nothing wrong with that really. There should be a lot of music that sounds like this. Rock music for some other dimension. Pretty easy to love, I think. Great bike riding music too.

Sonnenrad (Sterntaler)
Orchestrion (Sterntaler)
Katzenmusik (Katzenmusik)

16. Boredoms DL

I get the sense that no one in this band did well on school tests. Maybe had some trouble with focus? They don’t seem to be able to divide anything up and say “this is the kind of thing we do in our songs”, which isn’t to say they’re music isn’t well composed, it is, just that nothing seems off limits. It’s amazingly pure in that sense. An innocence, in that they don’t seem to work with the context of the sound elements, just on the sound. Strangely pleasant. Boadrums 99, anyone?

Seadrum (Seadrum/House of the Sun)
7 (Rebore Vol. 0: Vision Recreation)
Super You (Super Ae)

17. Steve Reich DL

Reich seems to feel his surroundings more than Glass, who seems more contemplative. Honestly, I don’t know how to talk about this stuff. It’s cut-up trance for ensembles. It’s great. What else do you want from me?

Section II (Music For 18 Musicians)
Part 2 (Drumming)
Come Out (Early Works) — origin of the “I had to like open the bruise up and let some of the bruise blood come out to show them” sample you may have heard.

18. More Young Jeezy DL

Jeezy picks some of the best beats in the market. And on his third album, The Recession, things are no different. DJ Toomp, Drumma Boy, Midnight Black, Shawty Redd (who kinda flops). Nothing’s changed since the first album, but his formula is still working, amazingly well. I would say it’s his most consistent album yet. Never change Jeezy, never change.

Don’t You Know (The Recession)
Get Allot (The Recession)
Put On (ft. Kanye West) (The Recession) (prod. Drumma Boy)

19. Black Dice DL

I feel very similarly about Black Dice as I do about Fuck Buttons.

Gore - (Load Blown)
Smiling Off (Broken Ear Record)

20. No Age DL

I’ve never been good at talking about No Age. I really like something about them, but I can’t put my finger on it and I still feel like their best stuff is yet to come. I will say they mix their records at full blast and they sound like angry high school kids who can really play.

Teen Creeps (Nouns)
Neck Escaper (Weirdo Rippers)
Miner (Nouns)

21. My Bloody Valentine

The live show kind of ruined them for me. It was my introduction to them and it was the loudest/most physically powerful music I’ve ever heard. So it’s hard to go back to the comparative thinness of the records. They’re good, it’s just hard to feel what I felt before. This entry is kind of sad, isn’t it.

RECOMMENDATION:
Their live show…

22. Flying Lotus DL

Let’s be honest. J. Dilla opened a serious can of worms with Donuts. It’s a game changer that he’ll never be able to follow-up (RIP). Thankfully, other musicians heard it too, and are continuing on that pioneering path. For my money (and most everyone else’s it seems), Flying Lotus is the man to watch. Los Angeles isn’t Donuts, but that it can stand in the same sentence is impressive enough. Kudos.

Breathe. Something/Stellar STar (Los Angeles)
Melt! (Los Angeles)

23. More Missy Elliott DL

Feeling the Timbaland/Aaliyah R&B led me back to old Miss E. Some real gems that silly rap fan-boys like me may have skipped over in their youth.

Friendly Skies (ft. Ginuwine) (Supa Dupa Fly)
Beep Me 911 (Supa Dupa Fly)
Take Away (ft. Ginuwine) (So Addictive)

24. The Evens DL

Never ate a whole album of theirs, but a song here or there. No word of more Fugazi, so I gotta find some way to fill the void, and this is as close to The Argument as it gets.

Shelter Two (The Evens)
Cut From The Cloth (Get Evens)
Around The Corner (The Evens)

25. Faust DL

To be honest I don’t even remember what I like about Faust, but I definitely rated all the songs on Faust IV at least a 4/5 so clearly something’s working. I think it’s that they jumps all around stylistically, but always makes it work. Pretty wonky for Krautrock. And really beyond that way beyond that label.

Picnic on a Frozen River, Deuxieme Tableux (Faust IV)
Krautrock (Faust IV)

26. Wavves DL

A late find for me. It’s in the No Age/Times New Roman school of fidelity which is to say mega-lo-fi. Certainly a poppier style than No Age, which is actually fun to hear in the overload EQ. Nothing to write books about, but a pleasing development, you don’t hear pop-punk-rockers go for this style that often.

Loser Year (Wavves)
Wavves (Wavves) — yeah, you read correct. The song is called “Wavves” by the band Wavves on the album Wavves. Awesome.

27. Diplo & Santogold DL

I couldn’t get into Santogold’s solo album, it just felt contrived for some reason, so it was nice that Diplo made a path that worked for me. It’s not all great, but it is an enjoyable headphone party, which is all you need sometimes.  Comes complete with a couple of standouts like…

L.E.S. Artistes (XXXchange Mix ft. Movado) (Top Ranking)
I’m A Lady (Diplo Mix ft. Amanda Blank) (Top Ranking)

28. Olivier Messiaen DL

Colorful, deep, and restrained. I don’t know everything I should about classical music, but I’m taking a class in it this year, so hopefully in 2010, I’ll be dropping serious classical music knowledge all over this shiz. Oh, and how the hell does this guy get a LASER sound out of an orchestra? Impressive.

Introduction (Turangalila Symphony)

29. Grouper DL

Haven’t heard enough to be specific, but I like the feel. It’s folk with a scooge hupe of ambient. It works nicely (unlike “scooge hupe”). Low key, and sad enough for all the Popiks in my life (you know who you are).

Disengaged (Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill)

30. Davy Graham DL

Who is this jazz-folk guitarist? What is he doing with the stupid name of Davy Graham? And why haven’t I been hearing him sampled? This is hard-bop guitar from a folk perspective. Early 60’s England. Really doesn’t make much sense to me. Like the dude covers Mingus’ “Better Get Hit In Yo Soul”. Nice little drummer he’s got himself though. Maybe it’s just a novelty, I dunno.

PS. Apparently, he just died. So if you’re the kind of person who likes music better once the artist dies… than you’re a bad person.

Don’t Stop The Carnival (The Guitar Player)
Better Get Hit In Yo Soul (Folk, Blues & Beyond)

31. More James Blackshaw DL

Haven’t gotten too deep into his latest album, but he’s still doing everything right, and reaching out to do it differently. Put me in a trance, Mr. Blackshaw.

Gate of Ivory (Litany of Echoes)
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Jazz Guys I Know I Like, But Never Remember To Rate Their Tracks

Bud Powell

Enjoyable pianist who sounds like Big Baby Jesus how he keeps rambling in the background. Seriously Bud, I love it sometimes, but give your throat a rest every now and then.

Freddie Hubbard

A truly enchanting trumpeteer. RIP

Hank Mobley

Tenor Saxist with a particularly smooth style.

McCoy Tyner

Coltrane’s piano man. With some great albums of his own, he turns out to be a solid hard-bop bandleader.
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Single Track Hoe-Down!!!!!!!!!! DL all

Aphex Twin - Donkey Rhubarb

This was my bike riding anthem this summer. Sun sparkling off the Hudson, dodging the cursed rollerbladers on the bike path. I can feel it now. Sound-aphile music. (Donkey Rhubarb single)

Birdman - 100 Million (ft. Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy & Rick Ross)

The mix could be a little better (or maybe I’ve worn down the MP3), but really one of my favorite songs of the decade. It’s just fucking huge. Panoramic. Like 3D IMAX big. Cool & Dre on the constantly expanding production. (5*Stunna)

Black Flag - Rise Above

Uh…great punk? Also “TV Party” is amazing if you’ve got a minute. Lovin’ It. (Rise Above)

Blondie - Attack of the Giant Ants

I love this drumming. I love this title. I love this song. La la la la! Oh, and watch out for the ants. They really do attack. (Blondie)

Bullion - You Still Believe In Dee (Beach Boys/J. Dilla mash-up)

That this guy put together a whole album of Pet Sounds/J. Dilla mash-ups means I’m definitely not alone on this planet, in terms of music tastes, which is nice. That he did an even half-decent job means god probably has those tastes too. (Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee)

The Byrds - Have You Seen Her Face

Killer harmonies, bud. Let’s move to San Fran, and live in our VW. Hippy-Dippy-Doopy. I do really love this song though, and I did go to Bard, so who am I to judge. (Younger Than Yesterday)

The Cars - Touch and Go

I wish I liked The Cars as much as I liked Blondie. There’s just not enough good music, IMO. But this one makes the cut. Galloping rhythm guitar and a nice little off-kilt beat. Uh-oh. (Panorama)

Delta 5 - You

British Post-Punk gem from 1980. Poppy as all fudge (but in the very best way). You-you-you-you! Gets tiresome after a while, but until it does… (Singles and Sessions: 1979-1981)

Dirty Projectors - Police Story

I never got into 2007’s Rise Above for some reason. I think because I liked 2005’s Getty Address so much, but I did finally stumble on this track which most people probably already know is great. Whoops. (Rise Above)

DMX - Niggas Done Started Something (ft. The Lox and Ma$e)

Okay, I’m cheating here.  I’ve loved this track since the day it came out, so what this is really about is letting all y’all know that this track is still really good. Also I wanted an excuse to link to DMX’s amazing interview regarding last year’s election. So funny. So sad. (It’s Dark and Hell is Hot)

Fabolous - Suicide

Fabolous is probably the best wordplay rapper working right now, and he pretends to be tough while he does it which is cool. And the hot-ass track courtesy of the ridiculousy named “Neo Da Matrix” certainly helps. Can we get a CDQ, NahRight? (There Is No Competition)

Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning

I know I’m not exactly crate-digging here, but hey it was new to me and it’s a damned good song. What do you want me to do about it? (In The Wee Small Hours)

Gang Gang Dance - Vacuum

I still swear that’s a My Bloody Valentine sample. Can anyone confirm? Nice regardless. (Saint Dymphna)

John Adams - Negative Love

It’s a bit unfair to include this in the “Single Track Hoe-Down”, but it’s more fantastic than the words I can muster, and I can get away with being brief here. So raspberry to you, and ups to John Adams (even though his Doctor Atomic opera wasn’t the greatest).

PS. Dude looks like Fred Armisen, right?
(Harmonium)

Jon Brion and Shelley Duvall - He Needs Me

From the Punch-Drunk Love OST. Heard it before. Loved it before. Finally remembered to DL it for repeat listenings this past year. Fun fact: This song is remixed from a song off the Popeye movie OST. So whimsically tender and fragile. (Punch-Drunk Love OST)

Kid Cudi - Day N’ Night

I didn’t catch wind of this one ‘til the end of the year, but easily one of the top five Rap tracks of the year, maybe number one. Sparse, spacey, night music. A clear brainchild of an ATLiens listener. Good to know this kind of music is still getting made. (Day N Night single)

Lil’ Louis & The World - I Called U

Separated from a novelty song by a ridiculously thin line. I don’t know how you pitch this song to someone to get them to help you make it or sell it or play it in the club. If only all house music was this fun. (From The Mind of Lil’ Louis)

Lil’ Wayne - A Milli

No love for Carter 3 ‘round here, what a waste of a ton of money and buzz, but plenty of love for this endlessly rolling sub-rocker.

Final Jeopardy Answer: “What is a goon to a goblin?”
Trebek: “That’s correct, and how much did you wager?”
Contestant: “A Milli. A Milli. A Milli. A Milli…” (Carter 3)

Lou Reed - Crazy Feeling

I listened to this a gillion times while trying to write a song about a “Perfect Couple”. It never came together, but this song is so damn feel-good, I don’t regret a single play. (Coney Island Baby)

Moto Moto (Will.I.Am) - Big and Chunky

If I’m at all honest with myself, I’ll admit that I played this song a lot more than is excusable.  And I’m still mad that it meant I had to like a Will.I.Am song. (Madagascar 2 OST)

Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

I always focused on Outkast post-(big breath in)-Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik partially because that album seemed more like Pharcyde than I was used to from them, and partially because of that cumbersome fucking title. But for what it is, it’s nice and funky in that swampy kind of way. Totally solid, just not a mind blow like most there stuff. (Southerplayalisticadillacmuzik)

Rick Ross - Money Make Me Come

Produced by Drumma Boy, who’s really one of the best out there these days (read those credits, bwoy), the thing that keeps me fiending for this track is that fine-cut chorus. And yes, I look fucking ridiculous singing along with it. “Money make me cum. Money-money make me cum…” What can I say, I like money. (Trilla)

Snoop Dogg - Sexual Eruption

I don’t think I need to convince anyone that I’m a fan of this song. I am a bit let down that we haven’t heard more from the song’s producer Shawty Redd who I really want to believe is a genius. We’ll see. And can we all just be thankful one more time that Snoop Dogg was high enough to do this track. Or maybe sober enough, we’ve all heard the kind of stuff he does when he’s really high.

The Tuss - GX1 Solo

Rumor has it the Blueprint classic… or rather that The Tuss is actually Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin). I don’t know. But whether it is or isn’t, The Tuss is capable of some dope acid-funk. Also check “Fredugolon 6” of the same EP. (Confederation Trough)

UGK - Int’l Players Anthem (ft. Outkast)

I somehow skipped this back in the 2-00-7. Ooh wee. DJ Paul & Juicy J need to bring their best more often, cause when they do, we get “Stay Fly”s and pieces like this. I’m kind of confused why bigger rappers aren’t tapping them. Kanye should at least get them to co-produce some shit. (Underground Kingz)
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Still Mad About

Vampire Weekend

Never cared for it. Still don’t. You can’t make me. Na-Na, Boo-Boo.

Fat Joe

He should be forced to donate his beats to rappers who don’t seem like they’re embarrassing their children. Get a real job Fat Joe.
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Still want to read more of my drivel? Here’s last year’s list.