My 2008 Itunes playlist can keep me occupied for ceaseless hours. It is an eclectic mix ranging from straight up dirty folk to electronic dance rage to some fine indie rock tunes and everything in or around. As the year comes to an end lets stop and take a gander at some of the ridiculously awesome albums of 2008.
January: MGMT-Oracular Spectacular, Electric Dance Rock music at its finest. Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser started out rockin in school together and have basically exploded into an indie sensation.
Feburary: Hot Chip -Made in The Dark, 13 tracks of electro dance goodness, these guys could get even the scroogiest of scrooges to bust a move on the dance floor.
March: The Dodos - Visiter, Not only are the lyrics poetically powerful but Meric Long, the lead singer, has an enchanting voice. The guitar and drums are some of the best I have heard in a long time.
April: The Presets - Apacolypso, The best track off the new album is “Talk Like That.” This group is blessed with the sexy skill of incorporating the organ into a sick dance floor track.
May: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid 18 years in the bizz, this might be their best album yet.
June: Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes, their first full length album. Self described as “baroque harmonic pop jams,” the quintet have created a beautiful, hauntingly poetic sound.
July: Black Kids - Partie Traumatic, keep an eye on these kids, their indie rock tunes are going to be around for a while.
August: Lykki Li - Youth Novels, The Swede’s first album is a smash. 17 tracks full of amazing lyrics, beats, and rock. We love her.
September: TV On The Radio - Dear Science, The 16 track album (including remixes, and some bonus tracks) follows the feel of previous TV On The Radio albums but sounds more refined and refreshing.
October: Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping, They are not from Montreal, but rather from Athens, Georgia. Either way they know how to entertain. ”Of Montreal will never get ya down”
what more could you want? Oh wait, theres a 12 minute video on there too. Formed in 1982 this collection of tunes is the best of the best, making it the 5th compilation album of The Smiths to date.
December: Cat Power - Dark End Of The Street, The Queen of smokey blues numbers, Cat Power, brings us an EP of six tracks recorded during her Jukebox sessions, four of which are previously unpublished.
Monday, September 29th, I went to see the Dodos at Spiegelworld.
Yes I agree, Spiegelworld is a weird name and although it sounds, and looks, like some sort of strange circus it is actually a pretty incredibly sweet spot to hang out. The view of Manhattan’s bridges is ridiculous and the options for activities at S-world are all good choices. A visitor to “the world of Speigel” could dance, eat, drink, sit and stare at the sites and/or attend a concert or theatrical performance depending on the night. Oh! and I cant forget to mention the comfy hammock seats they offer those who wish to sit and stare.
Au opened up for The Dodos. I had not heard anything Au had done before this eve and they blew me away. Au is the work of multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland and an interchangable cast of musicians. Luke’s ear wrenching mixture of beautiful piano and leg thumping drums, coupled with his curious vocals (he sings any where from sweet sounding ballads to screaming and screetching) has made Au a very popular band in Portland, Oregon where Luke is from.
“We were worried about you guys getting your 20 bucks worth, but Au made sure of that just by showing up.” -Meric Long lead singer and guitarist for The Dodos
I have only been into The Dodos for a month and so I was very excited to see them live. Something changes a persons opinion when they see a band live, it basically makes or breaks their listening relationship with the band. My listening relationship with The Dodos is still intact. So very much intact that I want to listen to them until my ears bleed and I dream about their songs in the middle of the day. The duo killed it. I am a huge fan of heavy drums and clever lyrics therefore, The Dodos are right up my alley. I highly recommend checkin them out.
Meric Long, the lead singer, has an enchanting voice. The guitar and drums are some of the best I have heard in a long time.
Youth Novels, The Swede’s first album is a smash. 17 tracks full of amazing lyrics, beats, and rock. We love her.
what more could you want? Oh wait, theres a 12 minute video on there too. Formed in 1982 this collection of tunes is the best of the best, making it the 5th compilation album of The Smiths to date.
