1) Andy Harp really wanted to ride the merry-go-round
2) Forget the Double Down... this burger has two Krispy Kreme donuts for a bun.
3) These little piggehs were snorgling in the swine barn.
4) Indiana is pretty.
5) Little kitteh versus big doggeh
6) This character from Sherman's March
7) Making completely dairy-free banana honey sorbet with dark chocolate and raspberries
8) Finding my middle school year book
10) And a collection of cartoons I drew in high school. Good to know it wasn't all self-flagellation and bad poetry, as I remember it.
11) Locking my keys in my car with the engine still running. This kindly DePauw police officer who jimmied the lock-- and who, I would like to point out, refused to give me a hug afterwards.
12) Seeing Cho-baby and realizing that she's still as grubby a baby as ever
13) Kappas being put up in the Walden Inn for two weeks while the house is cleaned of an amount of black mold sufficient to declare the place uninhabitable.
14) Shannon's decoration of Laura's door. This may have been the best part of the entire weekend.
15) Making it a Mike's Hard kind of night
16) Pillow talking for hours with the sweetest baby ever to walk on two legs (Baby Snuggle)
17) Watching Robin Hood
18) William Wegman won't stop popping up in conversation
19) Swimming in the Crick with Baby Snuggle
20) These strong young pups who were undertaking acrobatic feats to bathe their enormous dog in the agricultural runoff that is the Crick
21) Finding this little guy in the sand
22) Alex Thompson's swim trunks
23) My muffler falling off in the middle of 465
24) Eating Pizza Hut bread sticks while I contemplated how I would resolve that snafu
25) Momma having an Extreme Chocolate Blizzard ready for me when I finally arrived home from this entire fiasco of a weekend (and the ensuing stomach ache)
1) Beulah - The Coast Is Never Clear A lot of nostalgia here. But I still think that the lyrics to this album are excellent... god, I love every second of this thing. 2) Of Montreal - Aldhil's Arboretum/Satanic Panic in the Attic I had way too intense of a love affair with Of Montreal to choose just one of these. So "Aldhil's" because it was the first Of Montreal album I ever listened to (a gift from my bubby along with a mess of other Elephant 6 gems!) and "Satanic Panic" because I think it is from my favorite era of oM's evolution. Super poppy, super complicated melodies (but not totally erratic like they started off and drifted into with "Hissing Fauna" and after), FUN AS HELL. One of my very favorite live shows was "Satanic Panic"/"Sunlandic Twins" era. 3) Spoon - Gimme Fiction/Kill the Moonlight Again, I can't choose. "Gimme Fiction" as an album is so cohesive, but "Kill the Moonlight" has some standout killer tracks. 4) Erykah Badu - Baduizm Duh. So sexy, so good. 5) The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow This is another coming-of-age album for me. I still absolutely love it, love the highly literate lyrics, love the poppiness. 6) Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo Is there a track on this album that doesn't make me shake it? Nope. This really is my go-to album when I need a pick-me-up. 7) Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress I'm not sure how much this has to do with "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" being the first B&S album I really got to know, but it's still my favorite. 8) The Blow - Paper Television I hit this shit hard for about two years straight. Seeing her live was one of the top ten happiest moments of my life (context counts). I want to be the Blow. 9) Beck - Guero 10) Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health 11) Panda Bear - Person Pitch 12) Radiohead - Kid A 13) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 14) Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala 15) Wolf Parade - Apologies to Queen Mary 16) M.I.A. - Kala 17) Eels - Souljacker 18) jj - No. 2 19) The Concretes - The Concretes 20) Talib Kweli - Beautiful Struggle 21) The New Pornographers - Electric Version 22) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 23) Elephant Parade - Bedroom Recordings 24) Alphabeat - This is Alphabeat 25) Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
God that was hard. I guess I can't really commit to the order at all, and I still feel bad that Devendra, Sigur Ros, and J Dilla didn't make the cut. Twenty-five really isn't that much when you're talking an entire decade, but a blog name's a blog name.
Not sure why this didn't get more hype, but I think it's perfectly-crafted sunshine pop. Super literate lyrics, totally addictive hooks, and pretty imaginative melodies. It's too bad the Shakes broke up after releasing this album; I was really looking forward to both seeing them live and hearing more out of them.
2. jj - jj no 2
This music is lovely. Simple, a little ethereal, and riddled with drug references. People like to get their panties in a twist over the live show that jj puts on, but I was personally tickled by it. First of all, I was impressed that her voice is as clear and pitch-perfect live as it is recorded. Second of all, I was impressed that he didn't break anything. I would use pre-recorded beats, too, if I were relying on someone who was totally drugged out to back me up. "From Africa to Malaga" and "Things Will Never Be the Same Again" remain two of my favorite songs of the whole year.
3. Taken By Trees - East of Eden
Didn't think I'd ever like Taken By Trees-- or anything, for that matter-- more than The Concretes, but this album blew me away. I guess for me, at this point in time, the only way to really improve on what Victor Bergsman has always done is to pair it up with some vaguely Afro-Caribbean drumbeats.
4. The xx - xx
This album took some time to grow on me. I thought it was too simplistic and too hyped. But damn, their voices are sexy as hell. These songs are just dripping with sex, and they're not even about sex. On top of that, they give an amazing live performance.
5. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Uh, did you know that I didn't really like this album until I saw the P.S. 22 chorus sing "Lisztomania?" I still like their rendition better, but this was such a great soundtrack to the first sunny days of spring. It's high-quality music, original, and catchy like crazy.
6. Washed Out - EP
My personal favorite from the chillwave craze, maybe because of the R&B sensibilities that come through it. It's a short EP, but it packs a strong punch, and it is wonderful background music for warming up social settings. It's laid back enough not to overshoot the mood of pre-party mingling, but energetic enough to create a sense of anticipation for the night to come.
7. The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
I've been sold on the Radioclit + Esau Mwamwaya pairing from the beginning. This music is just so warm and exuberant. By the way, Ezra Koenig's vocals on the title track: totally impressive.
8. God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl
Stuart Murdoch's songwriting + some chanteuse that I know nothing about = a Broadway show I actually want to see.
9. Slow Club - Yeah, So
Adorable. Of course I love it.
10. Thunderheist - Thunderheist
A LONG TIME COMING. I'm not sure if anything could have lived up to the hype that "Sueños Dulces" has created for me since... what was it, 2005? 2006? But this did a pretty good job. "Jerk It" might break my top 10 for songs to shake it to.
11. Handsome Furs - Face Control
Maybe it's because I spent more time with this album from the beginning, maybe it's because of the time of year it came out, but I love this way more than Plague Park. I just love the Handsome Furs' aesthetic-- not just because they're totally hot on stage, but because for some reason their music just sends me mentally into 1980's East Berlin or something. Not that I know what that was like, but there is something about the intensity and coarseness of his voice over these rudimentary (but equally intense and coarse) electronic beats that make me think of Eastern Europe.
12. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
I've never been a huge fan of Animal Collective, but I actually love about half the songs on this album. I'll let everyone else dissect this album and compare it to previous Animal Collective stuff, but I'm guessing it's because these songs are less glitchy and more intelligible.
13. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
14. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
A sweet group of people with a cute and fun live show. Very Brooklyn-y, very young, very early 90's.
15. Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do
Everything I ever needed Solly to spin during my last semester of college.
16. Chromatic Flights - Sunset Bell
17. The Sandwitches - How to Make Ambient Sadcake
The song "Fire." Complete love-hate (mostly love) relationship with it. Why?
18. Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon
19. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
20. Metric - Fantasies
21. Discovery - LP
Crazy as hell! This shit is my dream music... but the melodies even get too nutso for me after a while.
This year was a rough one, wasn't it? I can't commit to the ranking of any of these, really. Think of the first five as being the top tier, the second five being second tier, and the rest just filling in the blanks. I couldn't even think of twenty-five to list. Yikes!
1) Alphabeat - This Is Alphabeat
I don't care what you haters say. This does NOT nauseate me, but it does fill me with unbridled joy every single time I listen. There are a couple of songs that I skip when I listen, but the rest make up for it.
2) Esau Mwamwaye and Radioclit are The Very Best - The Very Best Mixtape
No words. This is just so good.
3) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
What's not to love? One of the only artists that I've seen live without being familiar first and actually enjoyed-- nay, loved.
4) The Walkmen - You + Me
I listened to this with Chuck this summer on one of our many lazy days about the apartment. I kept looking up in delight, and then masking my interest when he would say from behind his blag-machine, "I mean, it's a Walkmen album." Quickly became one of my favorites in the fall and winter.
5) Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
How can there be this many good and kitschy songs on one album? My body is saying yes, but my heart is saying no. Sitting in a two-hour long traffic jam on the way back from our XXXTREME WEEK: PIZZA PARTY DOES GREAT AMERICA trip, emotionally exhausted from risking my life on the Double Helix and the Pirate Ship (no, really, I cried), this came on very softly from Cait's Clubwagon speakers. AND MY HEART SAID YES YES YES. And I probably cried again.
6) Little Joy - Little Joy
At first I was doubtful. I thought it sounded like a middle-aged band playing at a faux Copacabana luaua or something. I mean, I was really skeptical. And now look at me.
7) Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
It took some warming up to, but "Blind" is such a wild song to hear late at night, by oneself, in a DJ booth. The cover art, of course, won me over immediately.
8) Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings and All
I love this voice and folkish sass.
9) Santogold and Diplo - Top Ranking
Even better.
10) The Dodos - Visiter
Jangly gems, for the most part. A lot of hot Chicago nostalgia involved, too.
11) The Cure - 4:13 Dream
Duh.
12) Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
I never thought it would make it, but here it is in the upper-middle eschelons of my list. Way to suck, 2008. Actually, I really like this album, I just am not used to loving Okkervil River. I usually leave that to my bro.
13) Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Good, and she has too many good videos of her dance moves on YouTube to pass her up.
14) Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
Up here for being a pretty good album; down here because I've been comparing it to other Hot Chip albums.
15) Santogold - Santogold
So many good remixes. Santogold is almost my fantasy woman, too.
16) M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Another one lucky to be born in 2008. Sorry, guys, this just isn't my bag, although it is wonderful background music. Like, really beautifully crafted background music.
17) Jamie Lidell - Jim
I can't believe that Sinowitz bought this album when I told him how much I liked it. It still makes me blush. There is no way he could have listened to it all the way through.
18) Air France - No Way Down
Another Chicago nostalgia. Alex Miller would always sing that one song... and by sing, I mean repeat "It's sorta like a dream... no, better," over and over. For seven minutes.
19) Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Won a lot of brownie points when it lulled me to sleep in El Salvador while I was experiencing Montezuma's revenge. There was a chicken trying to sit on the tin roof, but it kept sliding down noisily. There was just no hope for me until I slipped this baby on.
20) Deerhunter - Microcastle
Chuck listened to this enough that it stuck.
21) MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
22) HEALTH - Disco
Duh. I used to walk around Humboldt Park listening to this. I tried to run to it, which failed for a number of reasons: a) Glass Leg b) Sloth c) Getting distracted by how gooooood these mixes are.
23) TV On The Radio - Dear Science,
I don't know. Just trying to fill space. I list this because I was one of the only people I know who didn't take a big fat dump on the album when it came out.
9) Los Campesinos - Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP I've been waiting for this for maybe a year and a half.
8) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP
7) Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon I liked this more after seeing him live-- the hopping, hair-massaging couple, all the bandannas ever sold in Philadelphia, and that small patch of pubic hair peeking out over Devendra's pants. What's not to love, I guess?
