#0073 – MMVIII CE MF

My Best Albums of 2008 Show!

These are the albums I have decided are the best albums that a) I’ve listened to, b) have an official 2008 release date, and c) are full-length LPs, not EPs or compilations.

Since I listen to a broad variety of music, some of the segues are a little jarring. Some voiceovers might help there but since my microphone isn’t currently available that’s not going to happen. Since the mix clocks in around 80 minutes, you don’t need me babbling on anyway.

I’ll be playing one song from each of my 20 favorite albums of the year, counting down from #20 to #1.

Play

20. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
Wild fun mashups. No source is sacred. For instance, in the sample track, Queen, the Police and the Jackson 5 are shaking their asses along with Busta Rhymes and Wu Tang. Can’t beat that.
Song: What It’s All About

19. Drive-By Truckers – Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
Perennial favorites of mine. This won’t go down as one of their true classics but there are some darn fine songs on here.
Song: 3 Dimes Down

18. The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound
Rocking Boss worship
Song: Miles Davis & The Cool

17. Darkestrah – The Great Silk Road
Kryg black metallers, second year in a row they’ve appeared on my list
Song: Cult Tengri

16. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Lie Down In The Light
Will Oldham’s back, didn’t care too much for his last one but plenty to make up for it here.
Song: So Everyone

15. Kiuas – The New Dark Age
Finnish Heavy/Power Metal favorites of mine, they typically use elements of more extreme metal but the sample track is more of a straightforward acoustic powerballad.
Song: After The Storm

14. Neuraxis – The Thin Line Between
Melodic Technical Death Metal with progressive elements
Song: Oracle

13. Clutchy Hopkins – Walking Backwards
Mysterious purveyor of chill beats
Song: Song for Wolfie

12. Amon Amarth – Twilight Of The Thunder God
Swedish Melodic Viking Metal. And of course as you know, Vikings are awesome. Also wins for best album cover of the year and best video of the year.
Song: The Hero

11. Blitzen Trapper – Furr
Fantastic blend of pop and Americana, alternately channeling the Beatles, Neil Young, Tom Petty…
Song: Saturday Nite

10. Spiritualized – Songs in A & E
Intense psychedelic rock, I was blown away by their set at Pitchfork
Song: I Gotta Fire

09. Justin Townes Earle – The Good Life
Just some good old-fashioned country music
Song: South Georgia Sugar Babe

08. Harvey Milk – Life… The Best Game In Town
Chugging churning sludge metal that still manages to contain some surprising pop hooks
Song: Motown

07. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
Canadian Americana? fuzzy low-fi energetic rock/pop with eager vocal harmonies, just very pleasing to the ears.
Song: Don’t Haunt This Place

06. Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows
More Canadians, they call their sound “Death Country” This album seems to combine the things that worked in their Tin Type EP and their last full-length Ambassador
Song: The Valley Town

05. Cynic – Traced In Air
Progressive Tech Metal with robot singers? Actually less of the robotic voices this time around, and the sound is a little more prog and a little less metal but still musically sound and deftly performed.
Song: Evolutionary Sleeper

04. Guillotine – Blood Money
Swedish thrash metal that brings to mind some great older German thrash metal. Tight, energetic. Great riffs, pummeling drums.
Song: Welcome To Dying (Death, Destruction, and Pain)

03. Týr – Land
Faroese Viking Metal, calling heavily on traditional poetry and Viking choruses.
Song: Valkyrjan

02. Akimbo – Jersey Shores
Epic hardcore, reminiscent of Oceanic-era Isis, a concept album about sharks. Sharks, like Vikings, are awesome.
Song: Great White Bull

01. Murder By Death – Red of Tooth and Claw
Southern Gothic, deep-voiced crooner singing over rich instrumentation. I’ve described it as Nick Cave singing an Ennio Morricone western soundtrack with cellos.
Song: Ash

#0064 – You Don’t Have to Call Me Darlin’, Darlin’

 

Way back in the day, a bunch of kids thought rock and roll was boring and started playing some super fast, sloppy, but extremely catchy rock and roll and breathed new life into a music scene that kept throwing different repackaged versions of the same 3 bands at the music consuming public. That music ended up being called punk rock.

This mix has nothing to do with that.

Somewhat later, a similar group of kids, punk rockers and other malcontents, thought that country music was getting boring and decided to do something similar. Some of them threw in a rockier edge, some of them went back to country’s roots and played a more traditional style with some modern innovations, some of them were just plain weird. It’s all recognizably country, yet distinct from the shiny candy-colored pop that the country music industry keeps throwing at an audience that, admittedly, eats up the shiny candy-colored pop like it was the greatest thing ever.

This mix is mostly alt-country, with some southern rock and some twangier folk rock thrown in, and also one mainstream country song by a superstar recording artist. Oh, you know who I’m talking about, or you will when you hear that unmistakable sonorous voice. I hope you like it; feel free to leave me some comments below.

  1. Two Cow Garage – Make it Out Alive
  2. The Knitters – The Call Of The Wreckin Ball
  3. Scud Mountain Boys – (She Took His) Picture
  4. Palace Music – Work Hard/Play Hard
  5. Murder By Death – Comin’ Home
  6. Drive-By Truckers – Decoration Day
  7. Hackensaw Boys – Oh, Girl
  8. Lucinda Williams – Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings
  9. The Meat Purveyors – Thinking About Drinking
  10. The Blacks – Why Drunky?
  11. Elliott Brood – Edge of Town
  12. William Shatner – Real
  13. Lucero – My Best Girl (7″ version)
  14. The Avett Brothers – The Weight Of Lies
  15. Justin Townes Earle – Hard Livin’
  16. William Elliott Whitmore – Take It On The Chin
  17. Reckless Kelly – Drink Your Whiskey Down
Play

#0035 – That Lonesome Whistle

Play

Gen1us iconYou’re riding the train–maybe you’re on your way to work, or back home from work, or to meet friends, or to a job interview. Whoever you are and wherever you’re going, right now you’re between places, disconnected. Your own earbuds and the newspaper masks of the strangers around you only add to this sense of isolation. This is a soundtrack for staring out of windows as the world rolls by.

I’m not doing any track announcing during this set–don’t want to spoil the mood–so here is a tracklist.

  1. Jesu Silver
  2. Elliott BroodTwill
  3. pinebenderSimp Twister
  4. Boards of CanadaOscar See Through Red Eye
  5. David BowieWarszawa
  6. October FallsI
  7. Clutchy HopkinsPara Los Ninos
  8. OceansizeAn Old Friend of Christy’s
  9. TaintThe Idol/The Memory
  10. GownsClawless
  11. Bonnie ‘Prince’ BillyHard Life
  12. ShearwaterLa Dame et La Licorne
  13. AlcestLes Iris