Justin Vernon. Courtesy rcrdlbl.
A whole 17 days before the year ends, we did it. We summarized the best our favorite music of 2008 on our humble blog, and its name was Justin Vernon. The Jagjaguwar re-release of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, our favorite album of the year, made it into six of our nine lists, all in the top five (that was a lot of single-digit numbers, more coming). The lists had three mentions of “re:stacks,” two of “Skinny Love” and one of “Lump Sum.” Some other numbers after the jump.
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Kanye West. Courtesy morethings.com
For more of the Top 10 Tracks of 2008, click here.
10. Bloc Party. “One Month Off.” So Intimacy wasn’t exactly A Weekend In the City, which wasn’t exactly Silent Alarm. But on “One Month Off,” Bloc Party reminds us all that they’ve still got it. Put simply, any song I play so loud on my computer that my speakers break deserves some recognition.
9. TV on the Radio. “Love Dog.” Making a Top 10 songs list without some Dear Science, track is a lot like making it through middle school without having a really awkward encounter at a school dance: it’s possible but not actually believable. There were at least five different Science, songs that could have made it on this list, but I went with the album’s most abstract track and elusive. I would call it “haunting,” but I hate that word. Let’s go with “gripping” instead.
8. The Kooks. “See the Sun.” I am not winning a lot of cool points with this track from what many have described as a formulaic album from a mediocre band. Nonetheless, “See the Sun” is an excellent track that blends together a variety of tempos and conflicting sentiments. Somehow, “See the Sun” shows us that even break-ups have the potential to be pretty good times. (more…)
MGMT. Courtesy gangsounds.com
For more of the Top 10 Tracks of 2008, click here.
10. T.I. ft. Rihanna. “Live Your Life.” Admittedly I’m not crazy about T.I.’s verses, but if you didn’t sing along with Rihanna’s angelic chorus at some point this year, you missed out.
9. Yael Naim. “New Soul.” Sure, it makes for a catchy Mac ad. But Naim’s girl-in-the-Big-City/Garden-of-Eden story of a new soul entering this strange world and her slightly choked confession of “making every possible mistake” (specifically the one following the bridge) are as real as it gets.
8. Vampire Weekend. “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.” Any song from this groundbreaking album could be on here; however, “Cape Cod’s” minimalist lyrics paint an iconic picture of sweaters, linens and Louis Vuitton that makes this album worthy of its hype.
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Courtesy prettymuchamazing.com
Chris Barth of Pretty Much Amazing does a… well, pretty much amazing job of summarizing the Year-End List phenomenon in music blogs. Specifically, he muses about how something he loves about music can turn out so wrong, making some astute observations along the way:
How can Paste Magazine’s top two albums – the best two records produced in the last year – not even merit mention in Blender’s top thirty-three? (Sidenote: the explanation for this is that Paste is crazy)
He even includes a list he calls “The Thinking Man’s Commandments for Making Best-Of Music Lists” where he states how Year-End Music lists should work. Here is number three:
Your list isn’t comprehensive, I promise. There will always be someone asking “where is ____?” Cut to the chase and admit that you didn’t listen to the whole Bon Iver album because you were too busy spinning “Skinny Love”. That you couldn’t get to the Brian Eno/David Byrne collaboration because it was your girlfriend’s birthday and you were slaving over a romantic mixtape. That you don’t like Beck, so you have no idea how his new album is. All Year-End lists should be titled “My/Our/Readers’ Year-End Favorites” or something of that nature.
After reading this post, I thought it was a good time, since we are halfway through our series, to see how our own lists stack up thus far to the rules he proposed (including the ones in the picture at the top).
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Lykke Li. Courtesy thefader.com.
For more of the Top 10 Tracks of 2008 series, click here.
10. Noah & the Whale. “5 Years Time.” I worry that this song, with it’s pleasant whistling and tinkling message of love, will get people to buy more Saturn’s. That would be awful.
9. Sigur Ros. “Gobbledigook.” Departing from their previous soft, instrumental work, Sigur Ros reinvented themselves with their first single off of their new album, med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust. The song’s rapid percussion and rhythmic guitar strums build up to a jubilant release. In the case of the Icelandic people, such a release contains a lot of nudity. (more…)
