The Fader has just posted part one of its year-end “Listmania 2008,” which offers something a little bit more unconvential than most year-in-review lists. Some of the best rankings include:
Top Five Band Names That Consist Primarily of Gender References
5. Man Man
4. She and Him
3. Me and Women
2. Women
1. Girls
There are also three different lists pertaining exclusively to Lil Wayne. Among them:
Top Ten Things Lil Wayne Doesn’t Do, According to Lil Wayne On Tha Carter III
10. Owe you, like two vowels
9. Rap, he films movies
8. Fantasize
7. Have to get his tooth fixed
6. Write sh-t, cuz he ain’t got time
5. Have the answer
4. Wanna finish
3. Know what you are on
2. Give a f-ck if you see him
1. Care
They also remind us of Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig’s college blog and their favorite tertiary characters from The Wire. For the rest of the post, check here.
UPDATE: Check out part two here.
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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Justin Vernon. Courtesy New York Press.
10. Lil Wayne. Tha Carter III.
Tha Carter III makes a case for itself from virulent opener “3Peat” all the way to the amusing political piece “Don’t Get It.” The concept is simple: fill an entire album with songs that sound like singles, paired with worthwhile guest-appearances and Lil Wayne’s singular, codeine-laced style. The voice of hip-hop in 2008 was Weezy, not Ye. -Brian Contratto
9. Sun Kil Moon. April.
By now, Mark Kozelek fans know what to expect from his music. The Ohio-born musician makes the case for classic songwriting. April is stripped down, instrumentally sparse–just as, if not more, honest and powerful than anything else in 2008 and as good as anything from his past two decades of music-making. -Andrew Hibbard
8. Vampire Weekend. Vampire Weekend.
Had Jack Kennedy skipped out on politics and moved to Africa, this could be the soundtrack to his life. Vampire Weekend is marked by its catchy vocals, catchy guitar, catchy drums—hell, even the album cover is catchy. Don’t believe the hype and don’t listen to the backlash; these four gentlemen deserve an honest listen. -Kevin Lincoln
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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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These guys are *definitely* funky soul brothers...
… in which Your Critic realizes to his horror how little new music he listened to this year. This is perhaps a double-edged sword; on the one hand, I’m sure I’ve missed some great stuff, and some mediocre stuff (Actually, I know I have missed some of both: I have shamefully not yet all of the assuredly mediocre 808s, undoubtedly brilliant Tha Carter III, allegedly interesting Bon Iver, great for sure TVOTR, etc. etc.). On the other hand, it means some respite from the standard hipster-trash picks of the rest of my staff (he says pompously). For those of you not swilling PBR, or even for those who are, here we go:
10. Ratatat. “Shempi.” LP3 is a tad bit weaker for my money than Ratatat or Classics, but there’s still some great toe-tapping (or raving) stuff. This is probably the hookiest track on the record, and since I just listened to it, it will be in my head for the next three weeks now.
9. Whiskeytown, “The Rain Won’t Help You (When It’s Over). The first of three cheats on this list; this track is old, but it was just released on the must-have expanded edition of Strangers Almanac–one of the best records of the ’90s. Despite Ryan Adams‘ prolificacy, this one’s a cover of an Alejandro Escovedo tune. No worries; it’s got all the hallmarks of classic Whiskeytown: Great Ryan vocals, depressing lyrics and tasty Phil Wandscher licks. (more…)
