Photo courtesy Department of Eagles
For the first of the Top 10 Tracks of 2008 series, click here.
10. Estelle featuring Kanye West. “American Boy.” Dare I post this too? Rightly so. Estelle’s social commentary of the male specimen in the U.S.A. is definitely worth a shout out (i.e. our boys are 5’7” and wear baggy jeans, but apparently they pack some serious heat). Go America!
9. Hot Chip. “Ready For the Floor.” The British electropop group has perfected the art of repetition with this track. Dancing was hip in 2007, but people weren’t ready to conquer the floor until this song dropped.
8. Department of Eagles. “Teenagers.” Grizzly Bear disappointed with their latest album, but Daniel Rossen more than compensated with In Ear Park. This track in particular stands out; the combination of haunting merry-go-around music and sweeping piano chords captures the dissonant essence of youth.
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Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. Courtesy Darcy James Argues.
10. Estelle featuring Kanye West. “American Boy.” Leave it to a girl from overseas to sing the best song about Americans this year. And leave it to Kanye to only make it better.
9. Pete and the Pirates. “Knots.” A beautiful piece of guitar pop that will seem longer than its 2 minutes and 14 seconds once it logs a week of playtime inside your head.
8. Jamie Lidell. “Little Bit of Feel Good.” 2008′s best soul track, hands down, from 2008′s best soul album, hands down. Jamie Lidell is single-handedly striving to make Motown relevant in the age of computers.
7. Okkervil River. “Singer Songwriter.” If this song sounds as though it’s about you (or your girlfriend), don’t get mad; just appreciate the incredible perceptiveness of Will Scheff’s lyrics.
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Courtesy: avclub.com
Fresh off of our 1200 word review of Kanye West’s newest release, 808s and Heartbreak, comes Chuck Klosterman’s 1700 word opus to the much-anticipated Guns and Roses album, Chinese Democracy.
Klosterman writes with the confidence you would expect from a man who is continually hailed as the nation’s go-to guy when it comes to anything pop culture. He is also a lifelong G&R fan, which also definitely helps. It’s a perceptive and witty review, but let’s just say I am thankful I didn’t have to copy-edit this. My favorite line: “A song like ‘Shackler’s Revenge’ is initially average, until you get to the solo—then it becomes the sonic equivalent of a Russian robot wrestling a reticulating python.” I have no idea what this means, but I am definitely intrigued.
Courtesy of vulture, I found out today that Kanye West believes he is the Michael Jordan of this generation.
“I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s me settling into that position of just really accepting that it’s one thing to say you want to do it and it’s another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan.”
Wake up Mr. West, how many times did Michael Jordan assault the paparazzi? Less than two, right? Not a very clutch performance today Yeezy. Meanwhile, Kanye’s competition for “voice of our generation” (at least in terms of other rappers using the autotune) just released a new mixtape today with beats from T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” and Outkast’s “The Art of Storytelling, Pt.4.” Check out Lil Wayne’s Dedication 3.
