1. MGMT, “Time To Pretend” from Oracular Spectacular
Well I guess most people have probably heard this by now. When I first heard about them towards the beginning of this year, and Sam simultaneously gave me their music, we both jammed on this album incessantly for a while. Luckily his thing was “Kids”, mine was this tune - both are tour de force celebrations of analog glam dance rock, courtesy of Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev producer Dave Fridmann. Sam just had the good sense to pick the tune that didn’t end up in the film “21″, among other oversaturations. But y’know, I just couldn’t sacrifice this one. It is by far the most-listened-to track on my iPod ever (according to my iTunes, since adding “Oracular Spectacular” on March 3rd, I’ve spent a total of 15 hours playing just this one song), and every time I think I’ve grown sick of it and will put it away forever, it comes on some day I’m in the back of the store or something, and I’m blown away all over again. If you’re not already sick of this song, I hope you enjoy it! …And if you don’t know this song, I guess I can probably count on you not knowing the rest of my list, so thank you!
2. james, “Hey Ma” from Hey Ma
Boy am I a dope sometimes. I only discovered the band james through a recommendation this year. And immediately I had a headslapping V-8 moment. I mean this is a band that bridges the gap from new wave and post-punk through 90’s anti-grunge bright jangly pop rock, and are still active and relevant today. They connect the dots nicely between when U2 stopped sounding like this and when U2 started sounding like this again. They’re from Manchester. They’re oft-produced by some guy named Brian Eno. They’ve been around long enough to have their own influencees: The Helio Sequence’s “Lately” is an unapologetic love-letter to the james “sound”, and even (I know this is blasphemy) The Fireman’s “Sing The Changes” seems to feed a bit off james’ exuberant “Laid”. And I’d never even heard of them until a few months ago! Yeah that still happens to me sometimes. Not that I really mind, it just spurs me on through a new door to discover more music, even entire genres or scenes, of which I was previously unaware. So between picking up james’ timely new album, tracking down their backlist, and branching out to contemporaries like The Go-Betweens and The La’s, I’ve added a lot of new music to my soul this year. Here I’m glad to share my favorite song from the new album, a wonderfully pointed derisive attack on our current American president and his foreign policy. Thankfully this sort of thing suddenly seems a bit dated, and I don’t mind a bit.
3. Mates Of State, “Get Better” from Re-Arrange Us
Another gift from Sam, this album became one of my favorites of the year. I love Tegan & Sara, I love Rilo Kiley, but they didn’t have anything new this year (discounting Jenny Lewis’ sleepy solo stuff), so this will do nicely. It works pretty well after the last song too, beginning as it does with the lyric, “Forget all your politics for a while”. It also is the first in a coincidental trilogy of songs on my list whose titles are concerned with being “better”.
4. Pete & The Pirates, “Mr. Understanding” from Little Death
I came across this while sifting through mountains of year-end “best of” lists, recommendations, etc etc - all in a vain (read “narcissistic”, not “fruitless”) attempt to improve my own year-end list. As per my usual process, I checked out a song, then another song, then another… I was reminded of what George Martin said about first meeting The Beatles, that he was trying choose who would be the solo star he could pick out of the band and lift up out of moptopped obscurity, and nothing was inherently obvious - until it hit him like a ton of bricks, that it was the whole package that was working so well. Here I was looking for a good song or two, and found one of my favorite albums of the year. I’ve since given copies to a few friends, with the always evolving description that this kinda sounds like what it might have been like if Ian Curtis’ medication had worked, he’d stayed alive, Bernard Sumner had eschewed synthesizers for singing close harmony, they went out on tour with The Jam and really developed this new exuberant sound, and voila! You’ve got this irrepressably happy album that sounds like it was found on vinyl at the back of a bin labeled “Manchester, 1980″. This song in particular features a melodic riff of the type where you can picture the band jamming one day and someone launches into the tune and they all break off laughing, looking at each other and saying, “yeah we can’t really get away with that, can we?” Then you can picture them later that night, unable to get that melody out of their heads, suddenly calling each other up and getting back in the studio as soon as possible to record what just might be a hit single if they can pass that melodic meme onto the world. With this wonderfully fun and spontaneous image in mind, I was a bit hesitant to actually find out anything about these guys, I guess fearing that their public image would somehow be at offputting odds with what I hear coming through in their music - but then I broke down and watched the video for this song that came free with the download of the album. And what a treat (and relief) it was to see a couple of young guys having a blast putting together the kind of home-made video I used to make with my bandmates ten years ago - just singing into the camera, popping flashlights on and off, rhythmic edits, clever stop-action stuff, lots of self-deprecating humor… It personally made me love these guys all the more, and this song especially, simple as it may be, just good old romping repetitive single note chugging harmonic post-punk madness. A division of actual joy. I dare you not to like this song. I triple dog dare you.
5. Gnarls Barkley, “A Little Better” from The Odd Couple
The second in my “Better” trilogy, this is a wonderful example of Cee-Lo and Dangermouse’s “The Beatles Meet Sly And The Family Stone” style of production. I really don’t have a lot of deep analysis about this one, I just love the thumping sampled beat (something sorely missing from most hip-hop production these days), the “Sun King”-reminiscent bassline and the touches of cavernous reverb that punctuate the vocals here and there. It also ends with the sound of a film projector running down, one of those anachronistic sounds (a telephone bell ringing, a tape rewinding) that has lived on in pop culture meaning long after its source context has gone the way of the 8-track. For a recent example, the second Hellboy film just came out on DVD, and it contains a bit where Abe Sapien is listening to one piece of music and hastily changes it to another as Hellboy enters the room. This action is accompanied by the familiar but incongruous sound of a needle being yanked across vinyl - something that for generations to come will be recognized for its meaning if not for its origin. A similar example happens in modern film when the bad guy walks into the rollicking bar and the jukebox stops playing! As if it’s the pinstriped piano player reacting to the sudden pall of dread in an old Western bar! Really, think about it. I obviously do, too much. And I lied, I apparently did have a lot of analysis about this one…
6. Okkervil River, “Calling And Not Calling My Ex” from The Stand Ins
Probably the best-written song on my list this year, this features recognizably literal yet poetically arranged word imagery, and a clever bouncy rhyme scheme that never becomes pretentious or gets in the way of the story at hand. The story happens to be about wistfully wishing well to your ex, and its final concluding line reminds me of the similarly themed “You Could Be Happy” by Snow Patrol, that appeared on my list last year.
7. Adele, “Cold Shoulder” from 19
It’s come to my attention that I may have potholed this from Sam’s lawn… Sorry man, but you gave me this! ha ha ha. Again, this year had no Amy Winehouse, no Sharon Jones, no Dap-Kings. But it did have Sharleen Spiteri, Nikki Costa, She & Him, and Adele; this wonderful slice of old-fashioned smoky R&B/soul, another of my favorite albums of the year. But I’m sure Sam will have more to gush about this, so I’ll let him (and this song) speak for me.
8. The Magnetic Fields, “California Girls” from Distortion
Another recent historic area of music I’ve been spelunking through has been what some seem to oversimplify as the “Shoegaze” era of music. In general I guess it’s supposed to refer to introspective music played by introspective musicians to introspective crowds, all so “into” the music that nobody acts out in any way that would distract from the pure essence of just playing, or listening to, said music - often (as Alan put it best) swaying back and forth with head down, gazing at one’s shoes. I dunno, having missed out on the scene in the late eighties and early nineties (in favor of following the evolving hip-hop and techno side of things), that seems like a ridiculous over-generalization, but hey they called stuff “grunge” once too. I don’t really know about the scene, but the corresponding music seems to start off with the ear-piercing-fuzz-tone / soaked-in-reverb interpolations of Phil Spector’s girl-group wall of sound that The Jesus And Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine plucked wholly out of thin air. It then continues on with the droning neo-psychedelia of Spaceman 3 and Galaxie 500 being added into the mix, all that pretension stripped away by Sonic Youth and Pixies, and finally tops off with people like The Dandy Warhols and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tying it all back into good old R&B-riffing rock ‘n’ roll. I found a lot of great music from the recent past, but I’m also pleased to report that people like The Magnetic Fields (and later in this list, The Raveonettes) are still pulling this stuff off without sounding camp or kitsch, reaching all the way back to The Jesus And Mary Chain for that Spector-On-Mars sound. Basically, music that now fits well with Spector’s choice of lifestyle (and hairdo). This is the less popular version of this Left-Coast-lampooning song, featuring the lower male voice of the group, but I far prefer it.
9. Sparks, “Good Morning” from Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
Wow. The spirits of ABBA, Queen and Enya are all still alive and kicking in this song. At first, I was overjoyed to find that some new group I’d never heard of was pulling off this outrageously glam sound. Then I found to my chagrin that it was some very old group I’d never heard of. Sparks have been around in one form or another, doing this kind of music, since back before “glam” was a section at your local record store. HA! Like you have a local record store anymore. On a personal side-note, I do feel I have to apologize to Mandel for “stealing” this one - when I first heard it, my instant reaction was, “Wow, I have to show this to Mandel!” …Then my end-of-the-year-itis kicked in and I selfishly kept it for myself and this list. Sorry! But I look forward to having my mind blown by the songs my esteemed colleague does come up with. One things’s for sure, if his list contains any more music like this track, we’re all going to need a nice big shot of insulin…
10. We Are Scientists, “After Hours” from Brain Thrust Mastery
Modern English’s “Melt With You” is unapologetically one of my favorite songs of all time. And I guess I’m hardly alone there. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Helio Sequence, Film School, Editors, The Killers, The Bravery etc… there seem to be many bands out there that have modeled their entire catalog (whether through evolutional influence or intelligent design) after new-wave post-punk anthems like “Melt With You”, “Just Like Heaven” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. And I’ve got zero problem with that, it’s brought back (or if you look hard enough, sustained throughout) a favorite and formative musical genre in my life. This year this is the song that best delivers on its obvious influences without ever crossing over into parody. It also contains one of a few things I’ll point out in my list this year, what I’ll refer to as “producer moments”, bits I can easily point to as examples of what music producers “do” - something I’ve had to try and explain in ephemeral terms many times in my life. In this song, it comes at the 2:57 point, when the line “no one has the guts to shut us out” is repeated. Setting aside that the repetition itself may have been the producer’s suggestion, we get to the actual moment and we hear the drums cut out and the vocals suddenly awash in reverb, enhancing the plaintive emotion of the singer. But what’s really cool is how the producer has heard that this works best if you leave just the beginning of the first word in the phrase (”no”), then quickly cut off the unprocessed vocals and replace them with nothing but reverb. This enables the listener to immediately identify that the upcoming phrase will be a repetition of what was just said, only this time the words are unimportant. What is important is the sound of the moment, the emotional atmosphere that is suddenly injected, then retracted as the drums build back up into the chorus. A chorus which now strategically has the first lines missing, to better let the emotional shift of that break and return sink in, as well as not let the refrain get too boring. There’s also a backwards reverb, a fading up lead-in to the chorus line of “time means nothing”. This adds to the anticipation of the return of the refrain, what you have become used to hearing over this piece of music. Adding the fade-in backwards reverb enhances what the listener’s brain is already doing at the moment: sitting on the edge of its mental seat, actually hearing the upcoming vocals coming before they happen. As the esteemed Dr. Frank N Furter best put it, it’s all about “antici……………….. pation” Anyway yeah, that’s the kind of thing an attentive producer does. And sure, it may have been someone in the band who suggested these moments, but my point is it doesn’t matter who suggested it, at that moment they were producing! As I’ve oversimply described my job many times, producing is hearing what isn’t there yet. You hear where music should “go”, as if in a specific direction, but you can’t point to it anymore than the 2D character in Edwin A. Abbott’s “Flatland” could point “up”. It’s impossible to convey or communicate, you just have to jump up and seize the moment and tell the girls to say “da doo ron ron ron” over and over for no reason other than you heard it in your head. (Or in the case of this song, for some reason an accordian, a sitar and a fiddle all make fleeting blink-and-you-miss-it appearances in the second verse, as if the ghost of George Harrison was haunting the mixing board) You hear a lot in your head as a producer - which is probably why some end up going ’round the bend, recording silence in the wilderness, calling for more cowbell, or just showing up at their murder trial looking like the Groom Of Frankenstein. Ariel Rechtshaid certainly has a long way to go before facing that particular fork in the road of sanity, but for now I’m glad he’s gone spare enough to give us one of the best- produced rock songs of the year.
11. The Raveonettes, “Dead Sound” from Lust Lust Lust
Speaking of Phil, here’s more of that Spector-broadcasting-from-Mars sound. This has an even stronger visceral connection to the old girl-group sound considering we’ve got ethereal female vocals leading the charge. Behind that there’s a thick bed of earpiercing fuzzy guitar, which breaks off into earpiercing sweet chimes every once in a while. And “earpiercing” pretty much sums it up. This is the aural equivalent of sharpening a candy cane and then jamming it through your eardrum: the sweetest thing that’ll ever make your ears bleed.
12. Why?, “These Few Presidents” from Alopecia
Whoa, who? Why? Well why not. This is from my favorite album of the year. There I was as the Fall approached, comfortable and content in the unshakability of MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular” as my favorite album, then this came along shaking its head and waving a big sonic bat behind its back to whack some updated sense into me. The album is just all the hell over the place, running the gamut of hip-hop, fuzzy shoegaze, bright pop rock (the last Rickenbacher guitar not owned by Paul McCartney or Roger McGuinn pops up in one song), eerie harmonies, quirky lyrics, it’s kinda like The Flaming Lips are running down the street one way, and MC Paul Barman the other, and they get their chocolate in each other’s peanut butter. That’s not a euphemism, at least for anything but constantly evolving and entertaining music, never settling for repeating something good, always trying to find the next left field to pull something out of. I first fell in love with this song, but the whole album is a trip well worth taking.
13. Death Cab For Cutie, “Your New Twin Sized Bed” from Narrow Stairs
This is pretty standard fare from the most consistantly entertaining pop group to be named after an obscure bit in a Monty Python film. But it does contain another couple of “producer moments”, specifically the fading in backwards echoed words “I guess” during the first verse, and the explosion of vocal reverb at the bridge, reminiscent of the gated effects used on David Bowie’s voice in “Heroes”. It’s also just great to hear a song these days that has a bridge at all. My friend Benn was recently lamenting the lack of fun song structure, especially the bridge, in today’s popular music. I agreed, and postulated that it may be the effect of hip-hop and electronica dumbing down what audiences demand from their music these days. To clarify - I’m a huge fan of both hip-hop and electro, and have faithfully followed their evolution since the mid 1980’s. But it’s true that with a band, a bunch of guys and gals standing around actually playing instruments, interesting musical changes just pop up all the time. The bassist screws up and the rest of the band likes it better, the drummer subtly changes tempo to fit the mood, the xylophonist suggests that sliding in a diminished fifth would really rock, it’s just the way bands have been doing music forever. But when you’re working with drum machines and keyboards and samplers, the temptation to just find a groove that works and leave it that way is hard to resist. Mainly because if you “feel” that a change should happen at a certain point in the song (a lifetime of Lennon/McCartney training kicking in), you can’t just point to the guitarist and say, “now go la-la-LA!” You have to find another sample, or program a different keyboard loop, or a fill on your drum machine. I’m good at drum programming, I’ve been doing it since 1985, and I’ve been sampling drum loops since 1986. None of that is ever as easy or as spontaneous as the random fills and changes a real drummer comes up with, fueled by the emotion of the moment. So while yes, I love hip-hop and electronica, I lament the influence that “find a groove and you’ve got your song” approach to songmaking (and subsequently songwriting) has had on modern popular music. With most songs on the radio these days, once you’ve heard the first 30 seconds, it’s just lather rinse repeat after that. And sure, an easy defense would be to point out that hip-hop, in sampling funk and soul, is continuing the tradition of groove those genres had. Well yes… BUT one must remember that even though they’d find a groove and jam on it incessantly, they always remembered to (as James Brown so famously cried out) “take it to the bridge!!!” Thank you Death Cab For Cutie for remembering to take The Godfather at his word.
14. Lily Allen, “I Don’t Know” from MySpace
I really wish Miss Allen would finally put out an album of these new songs she’s been debuting, in various stages of completion, on her MySpace page. But she’s had a rough year, lots of ups and downs, and if she wants to wait until everything is done to her satisfaction, who am I to complain. Luckily I grabbed this song off her page while it was still available. I’ve tried to clean it up a bit, but it’s from a low-quality MP3 and hell, that’s for the best, we’ll all line up to get the real thing once it becomes available. Oh, and for anybody out there who remembers the children’s science show “3-2-1-Contact!” on PBS in the 80’s: the music for this one is oddly reminiscent of the theme song for that show. It’s the answer! It’s the reason! Why everything happens! Enjoy!
15. Vampire Weekend, “A-Punk” from Vampire Weekend
Okay, at first glance, just more poser hipsters playing at being Hard-Fi or (shudder) The Kaiser Chiefs. But then suddenly you realize that it’s not just ska guitars… What is that, pan-flute? Steam organ? A squeezebox? All set over a barnstormer of a bassline, dipping and diving and finishing off each phrase with a just a sprig of harmony… This one song keeps it pretty simple and enjoyable, but check out the rest of the album as well. It’s finely crafted catchy pop, but done with the experimental edge of Talking Heads or Paul Simon. Yeah that’s it - this is the sound of a world where “Cecilia” and “Mother And Child Reunion” were as epically influential as “Roadrunner” and “Anarchy In The UK”.
16. Doomtree, “Dots & Dashes” from Doomtree
It’s getting close… One of these years, I won’t have any hip-hop on my year-end list, and the world shall weep. Well I guess not really. But hell, hip-hop’s been in my life since 1984, I’ve followed it through some tough times before (it turns out Hammer did hurt, a lot), but this year I had to go looking further than usual for some interesting hip-hop to include on here. Once I (quickly) waded past all of T-Whoever / Li’l Whoever’s thousand or so reggaeton-infused issues of Gigantic Asses, and swam out to find something deeper, I found myself in dire need of water wings. Sure, MURS had a pretty good album, and his song “Can It Be (Half A Million Dollars And 18 Months Later)” has a great hook and politically charged lyrics, but it just didn’t fit musically with anything else on my list. Roots and J-Live had reliable, typical albums, no particular stand-outs. Del, The Mighty Underground, Lyrics Born, they all had disappointing entries this year, albums yielding at the most one or two interesting songs. Then fairly late in the game, it was Doomtree to the rescue! Featuring wonderfully musical and varying production, female and male vocals, and attention to song structure rarely found in hip-hop these days (as previously ranted about), this was the most pleasant of surprises. This song’s also got another of those producer moments: in the last verse, where the guy takes over lead vocals and the loop drops out but the organ chords keep chugging, I was listening and suddenly realized that the high guitar stab that had so wonderfully punctuated the loop earlier in the song should make a re-appearance on its own. And so I pointed to the speaker right at the moment when it was “supposed” to pop up again, and hey presto! Hands raised in triumph, I knew I’d finally found the kind of hip-hop song I’d proudly include on this list. I only hope there’s more of this in the future, and less of… well, turn on MTV. No wait. Don’t. Just don’t.
17. Noah And The Whale, “5 Years Time” from Peaceful, The World Lay Me Down
Damn commercialism! I discovered this song and was just overjoyed something this fun and catchy hadn’t been appropriated for a Prius commercial or something. Unfortunately I don’t watch enough TV, for I found out later that it actually had been used in a car commercial, for Saturn! Dejected but not without hope (I mean it’s only Saturn!), I still intended to proudly show off this “discovery” to all of you. And then I was in Starbucks the other day and it was piping out of their speakers. Bah. Anyway, I’ll still include it here, hope you’re all not sick of it by the time this post is published. The song grabbed me right away, quirky and jumpy, and it struck me as being the best eels song from this eels-less year - albeit with ukelele substituting for guitar, and male and female harmonies subbing for E’s mopey drone. Still, I’d would love to see eels perform this sometime as an encore or something, it seems made to be MOE’d.
18. Earlimart, “Before It Gets Better” from Hymn And Her
And now to the best Aimee Mann song from this year! Which is unfortunate, considering Aimee Mann actually did release an album this year… But I like this hypnotic pulsing track better than anything on Mann’s album, so here you go. As far as producer moments, this has a couple, but they’re things I hear that I would have suggested had I been there, things I hear not happening in the song and I miss them. But since I can’t aptly communicate that to you in words, I won’t even try. Rest assured I still obviously love this song enough to present it to you here.
19. M83, “Graveyard Girl” from Saturdays=Youth
This was another really pleasant surprise, and one that I don’t mind showing up on lots of other “best of” year-end lists. The album can best be described as a soundtrack for some long-lost John Hughes film circa 1987, complete with beds of “shoegazey” guitar, whispery analog synths, ethereal reverbed vocals, mechanically precise “She’s Lost Control” style drums, spoken word bits about how much it sucks to be a teenager, etc… And yet it has a fresh clean “new song smell”, it never just seems like some homage or parody of that long-lost day-glo decade. There’s actually a lot of 1980’s showing up in songs here in 2008, something perhaps worthy of an entire other post. Hmmm…
20. Blitzen Trapper, “Furr” from Furr
This was a last-minute replacement for Fleet Foxes’ CSN-does-Pet-Sounds “White Winter Hymnal”, which you’ve probably heard, and even worse seen for sale next to your morning latte-chino or whatever. It struck me as strangely symmetrical to replace Foxes with Furr, as long as I don’t get splashed with red paint or anything. Anyway as far as this song - hey, who misses Cat Stevens, raise your hand! Here you go, here’s a good old folky fable for you, complete with playful limerick rhyme scheme and rambling melodic arrangement, and oh yes, a feedback echo on a harmonica, something I don’t know if I’ve ever heard before. This was the last discovery 2008 had waiting for me, but it’s last not least, and has proven to be one of those songs I just keep playing over and over. Hope it does the same for you.
21. She & Him, “Sentimental Heart” from Volume One
I remember thinking when I saw “Elf” that Zooey Deschanel actually appeared to have a good singing voice - kinda lazy and charming, a perfect fit for her Margaret Whiting half of the duet she sings with Will Ferrell. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who noticed, as bluesy popsmith M Ward sought her out for an album of old-fashioned Dusty Springfieldian torch songs. It works best in small doses, but this track is my favorite. And capping off the general nostalgic feeling is the old-fashioned way it ends, fading off just as everything is really hitting its stride. In fact, this and the similarly old-fashioned-sounding “California Girls” are the only songs on my list to have a proper fade-out. Leave ‘em wanting more, I guess. Miss Whiting would be proud.
22. Ruckus Roboticus, “A Child’s Introduction To Drums” from Playing With Scratches
I think this guy has been creeping around my vinyl collection while I’m out at work or something. He’s cobbled together a bunch of fun samples from children’s records, set them to thumping hip-hop beats, and given us a wholly entertaining album for fans of DJ Shadow, The Avalanches, Z-Trip, Cut Chemist, Dan The Automator etc. This track is a celebration of drums, or as Napoleon once put it, “Leetle theengs, heeting eech othaire!!!”, and I’ll gladly use it to close out my 2008 with a bang.
Update: Now with MP3 goodness!
Download: MGMT, “Time To Pretend” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: James, “Hey Ma” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: Mates Of State, “Get Better” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: Pete & The Pirates, “Mr. Understanding” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: Gnarls Barkley, “A Little Better” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: Okkervil River, “Calling And Not Calling My Ex” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: Adele, “Cold Shoulder” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: The Magnetic Fields, “California Girls” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: Sparks, “Good Morning” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)
Download: We Are Scientists, “After Hours” (mp3)
