It’s never an easy task to settle on just five recordings over the
course of a dozen months, and this year was no exception. But if I had
to sift it down to just five, and assign them numbers ranked on their
importance, I suppose I couldn’t do worse than these top albums of
2008:
1. The Gaslight Anthem—The ’59 Sound
The last thing I expected in a year that brought such great
highlights as the wounded rural folk of Bon Iver, or TV on the Radio’s
bold strokes of evolved rock, is to heap praise upon a pop-punk band.
Yet here we are, ready to anoint the Gaslight Anthem’s visionary The
’59 Sound as a record that shatters the modest ceiling of their
tired genre, and ranks as the best of 2008. This group of
Springsteen-obsessed (never a bad thing) New Jersey toughs pull from
the same post-teenage wasteland—drugs, boredom, and grand
gestures of romance—that the Hold Steady have been relying on for
years now, but they do it in a manner entirely their own. The ’59
Sound is proof that every moment in life—no matter how
mundane—is worth living.
2. Au—Verbs
It’s impossible to describe Au given the limited space here, but
whatever Luke Wyland has been doing to the poor genre of pop music is
downright revolutionary. On Verbs, Wyland (the lone voice of Au,
when he’s not joined by a wall of backing vocals, courtesy of his
closest friends) disassembles and rebuilds the pop framework before
creating something akin to a friendlier version of Frankenstein’s
monster. There is no accurate reference point to contextualize what Au
did with Verbs, and to try and decipher it would be a futile
affair. Just slide on some headphones, sit back, and enjoy a recording
like no other.
3. Blind Pilot—3 Rounds and a Sound
3 Rounds and a Sound is a polite example that at the end of
the day the songs are the only things that really matter. Blind Pilot’s
confident debut is not a complicated affair, and while their peers on
this list are rightfully praised for their ambitious dismantling of
musical structure, songwriter Israel Nebeker’s warm, comforting voice
and effortless gift for penning comforting songs make this record
absolutely unforgettable.
4. Janelle Monae—Metropolis: The Chase
Suite
Had this baffling debut of sci-fi hiphop been more than just an EP,
it would most likely sit confidently atop this list. As a performer
Monae possesses the aw-shucks demeanor of a 1950s nightclub crooner,
but her musical output exists on another plane, one where her scorching
amalgam of evolved hiphop, cyborg love, and obsession with Fritz Lang’s
Metropolis are considered totally normal. Perhaps this is why
her fanbase runs the gamut from comic book nerds all the way to Diddy
and Prince.
5. Lackthereof—Your Anchor
Danny Seim’s long-running Lackthereof project took a crippling turn
toward flat-out misery with Your Anchor, and, to be honest, it’s
a lovely thing. A despondent look at love and loss, the album from the
drummer of Menomena—who, musically, share a similar sound with
Lackthereof—is the beauty in the aftermath of a sunken
relationship; best explained with this line from “Chest Pass,” the
album’s gloomy opener: “It’s the best of times when times are
tough/Giving shelter, giving love/Eventually just giving up.”
Let’s hear it for the honorable mentions: A
Weather—Cove, Lykke Li—Youth Novels, TV on
the Radio—Dear Science,
Astronautalis—Pomegranate, Bon Iver—For Emma,
Forever Ago, Frightened Rabbit—The Midnight Organ
Fight, Erykah Badu—New Amerykah Part One (4th World
War)