Looking back through the archives, I see it’s been a few years since I really did a “Best Music I Heard Last Year” article, and that’s a shame, ’cause I really enjoy doing them – almost as much as the music itself. But it takes a lot of time to put something like this together and once I get going on one my editorial instincts go out the window and they become untenable, unfinishable beasts. And thats what you had here in the last few weeks… I started my “Best of 2008″ and realized that I hadn’t done a Best Music I Heard This Year for 2007… and that lead me into a wider discussion of How To (or How I) Criticize Music. Somehow both of those got done and here we are now, 2008…

The year…2008. A year of much car listening for me (and Kelly), travelling to and from races. A lot of personal growth for both Kelly and I eventually culminating in her completing the biggest challenge of her young life and we both taking first big step to the biggest challenge of them all – parenthood. Perhaps viewed relative to those things, the music got lost – dwarfed a bit, but perhaps it was just a down year. I didn’t sense the same profound leaps in sound that I saw in 2007 – just a lot of good-to-great music that was just a step or two removed from the everyday. This band sounded like that band but with just a little twist thrown in. Perhaps it’s just the quiet before a loud and roaring storm?

It was a good year with a number of albums that I dearly loved, but my general feeling was that the market was down from the high that I saw in 2007. And the good news is that the market for sound always rebounds… more after the jump.

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The year was 2007… I listened to a lot of music, but didn’t write so much about it, and for that I am remiss. In writing my “Best of 2008″ post I realized that much of the music I was listening to I had listened to in 2007. Perhaps a sad critique on the 2008 season, I’m not sure, but in any case, here goes. Listed after the jump below you’ll find some selected reviews of albums that I heard in 2007.

Add one to my “all-time favorites”, a few to the “I could listen to them anytime list” and a few from years gone by…

If this is your first time ’round with me, I would recommend reading my prior “Best Of” posts and also suffer my treatise on how I criticize music, otherwise soldier on…

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This was going to be a part of my not-quite-so-annual-anymore “Best Music I Heard This Year” series, but it got so large and gangly that it broke itself out of the 2008/2007 post and landed here…

If there is one thing that this blog has taught me (aside from imposing some editorial control on my self) is how and what makes good criticism. It’s all well and fine to say to my self, in my own head “this is good” or “this is not good” without much back-and-forth because I, being my own audience, understand me pretty well.  Not so on the blog side, though – as my audience (you, dear reader) will require a further explanation.

So, suffice it to say that I’ve done a fair amount of cypherin’ and ruminating on the subject – so here are some thoughts on how I listen to, criticize and then report on music. Read on after the jump…

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Yes, I realize I am late. I have no real excuse except for, oh, I don’t know – launching like 18 websites last year, all hand-carved and polished with fine-grit. The downside is not publishing like I’d like to, but the upside is that I had the chance to listen to a fair bit of new music over the hum of the grindstone…

The Decemberists – The Crane Wife

Explosions in the Sky – Everything they have ever released

Honorable Mention

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – So Divided

Each year I think “I’m going to post my top ten albums of the year before Pitchfork posts theirs,” and each year I’m too late. And then I read their list, thereby skewing my own perspectives, right? Right. Well – truth be told I am constantly re-shuffling my own list inside of my head, and I’ll be damned if my top two albums of the year didn’t match theirs. But hey, at least I know what I enjoy. So, without further ado, my list for 2005 (in ascending order):

Sleater Kinney – The Woods

I’ve made mention of The Woods previously and even previously-er, and in the intervening 6 months, my love of that album has yet to wane. Sleater-Kinney have always been on the cusp of something – always consistently at the top of the indie heap, but they never seem to be able to escape the orbit of the underground. Perhaps that is what spurred their self-imposed exodus from their native Washington State to the East Coast to record this album in the woods, quite literally. What came out was an album heavy with conviction and the best album of their 10 year career.

The Heartless Bastards – Stairs and Elevators

I first heard from these guys on a great album called Sunday Nights – The Songs of Junior Kimbrough, doing his “I Done Got Old”, and it blew my mind. Like a two-ton Janis Joplin — frontlady Erika Wennerstrom just stomped my brainpan with equal parts rock and blues. Between these guys and The Black Keys, is there anything that Akron, Ohio can’t do? Is there? Keep an eye on their website for tour dates and go and see them up-close before they are playing bigger venues. (ealier mention: the listening hour – fall 2005)

Blind Willie McTell and Buell Kazee

Death from Above 1979 – You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine

Explosions in the Sky / …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

Kanye West – Late Registration

Honorable Mention

Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better With…

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

Wilco – Kicking Television (Live in Chicago)

The Decemberists – Picaresque

M. Ward – Transistor Radio

Think Differently Music Presents: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture

Man, so much good music this year! All this good music coupled with IndieTorrents have led to a banner year of me listening to good music. With all the hype and stuff about BitTorrent and the busts that have occurred as of late, I’ll tell you that A) IndieTorrents deals only with non-RIAA artists, and B) I spend a good deal of money on artists that I like. IndieTorrents has spurred me to buy many more CDs from artists that I would never have heard of. So, stick that in your lawsuit-happy pipe and smoke it, RIAA.

In other news, Pitchfork seems to have really taken off this year. Complete with industry scandal (their balance sheet was apparently leaked to the public), wide-acclaim and their own determined band of detractors. The good news is that people are talking about them, and they remain one of the few bastions of real, no-kid-glove-wearing music journalism. Yeah, sure, they can be real dicks and give an album I really liked a 2.0 out of 10, but that sort of opinionated music review gets me thinking about why I like the music so much. To quote Jack Nicholson’s Joker: “This town needs an enema!“, and Pitchfork has provided as much.

So, without further ado, my top 10-ish albums that I heard for the first time this year (in no particular order):

• Neutral Milk Hotel – In an Aeroplane Over The Sea

  

  From an earlier post: The circuitous route by which Neutral Milk Hotel caught my ear is really only a small facet of the strange story of Jeff Mangum’s short career with his Neutral Milk Hotel band. In an Aeroplane… was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and then he essentially fell off the face of the earth. Much like the sudden rise subsequent disappearance of the band, both albums (this one and the first “On Avery Island”) are noisy, powerful and ultimately deep and terribly sad. There is part of me that wants to hear more and part of me that revels in the hope that music like that is never made again.

• Interpol – Antics

  
  

  I’ve made a couple posts about Interpol in the past, mostly in regards to their breakout “Turn on the Bright Lights” album from 2002. After a long wait in 2003 (and through most of 2004), they released “Antics”. With “Turn on…”, the album grew on me with each listen, eventually becoming one of my favorite albums of 2003 and it still reminds me of the cold, dark winter of 2002/2003. “Antics” hit me in a similar way, but different and better. Interpol doesn’t shy away from their tight, rythmic ways on “Antics”, but do make many growing steps on this album. Whereas once I thought “Turn on…” would be my favorite Interpol album, “Antics” has supplanted it. “Slow Hands” the obvious favorite on the album shines (as much as these black-clad dudes can), and Carlos D.’s bass playing makes me want to shake my ass while Paul Bank’s dark vocals make me want to don black-on-black suits and sit in the corner. It’s like hipster goth music, and I love it.

• Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Master and Everyone / I See A Darkness

  
  

  My fandom of Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s alter-ego) started when I first heard Palace Music’s “Viva Lost Blues” some two years ago. The ragged vocals and broken-down guitar paired with superb lyrics hit a chord with me somehow, and I never stopped listening. Bonnie Mr. Oldham has never been shy about releasing material, and he has a raft of it under various names. So, when I kept hearing about this Bonnie “Prince” Billy album called “Master and Everyone” I had to check it out. The ragged vocals of the Palace Music days were gone, and replaced with smooth (by Oldham standards) vocals and gracious harmonies. Lyrically, he’s as tight (maybe tighter) than ever. “The Way” gets me every time. Also recommended: I See A Darkness, also by the Bonnie “Prince”, and perhaps an even better album that “Master”.

• Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose

  

  If you would have told me January 1, 2004 that I would have selected a Loretta Lynn album in my “Best Music I Heard This Year” list, I would have dismissed you like a fifth grade class on the last day of classes. But leave it to Mr. Jack White of the White Stripes to pull together a young band to back Mrs. Lynn and crank out this awesome record. However, you can’t give Jack all the credit here — Loretta Lynn has never been afraid of controversy or “pushing the envelope,” and suffice it to say that she might be a little cracked in the head. Sometimes the best of them are, and she certainly doesn’t disappoint or go too far out of her boundaries. She still sings songs about Butcher Holler, her mommy and hating on hussies, but with Jack’s raw production and a shitkicking band behind her she sounds way ahead of the country curve. Take a lesson, Nashville.

• DJ Danger Mouse – The Grey Album

  

  I’ve never, ever listened to a bit of Jay-Z. I’ll freely admit that. I have, however, like the good little white suburban kid that I am/was say that I listened to the Beatles’ White Album quite a bit. At first, I didn’t understand what all the hype was about DJ Danger Mouse’s mixing of the two albums. I had easily dismissed Jay-Z as just another rapper, and thought that this might just be some half-assed attempt at party mixing. Oh, how wrong I was. After a couple of listens, I came to the realization that this rocked, and HARD. Jay-Z’s tight lyrical stylings with the often beat-heavy semi-psychedelia of the White Album mingled nicely and brought new light to both albums. Some folks said it was just fluff, and some said it was the coming of some sort of new style. As per the usual, I can’t fall into either camp there — this isn’t bad enough to consider just fluff, but it’s no White Album by itself. It is, however, a fantastic album that should draw fans of both genres together. It’s just so damned fun and invigorating. Few albums I can turn to regardless of mood or time of day.

• Devendra Banhart – Rejoicing in the Hands

  

  How to explain Devendra Banhart… I don’t know if it can be done through words alone. He’s got sort of that Eddie-Vedder-in-his-later-years thing going on with a touch of Will-Oldham-country-dirt but with a light and supple touch of Sufjan Stevens on the guitar. I could attempt to put together any number of hipster name-drops to make a reasonable sculpture of Banhart, but the proof is in the listening. He’s nearly 4 years younger than I, but writes and plays like a man twice his age.

• TV on the Radio – Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes

  

  TV on the Radio blends electronica, tape loops and even a smattering of a capella to make sonorous, infectious rap-inspired rock. Rock might not be the right word here — perhaps jams is the better word. They hit the scene this year with their debut, and if the new single “New Health Rock” is any indication, there are good things coming from TV on the Radio.

• The Black Keys – Rubber Factory

  

  Ah, The Black Keys. I’ve made a couple posts about these boys from Akron, Ohio. They released “Rubber Factory” this year, after opening up in 2002 with “The Big Come Up”, which indeed was a big come-up for them. I saw them in 2003 opening for Sleater-Kinney promoting their “Thickfreakness” album, which I thought was a lackluster sophomore effort. “Rubber Factory”, however, proved me completely wrong by rocking their asses off. These two guys are students of the real folk blues — having studied by playing with some of the best real blues performers. They even passed up a number of offers to defect from their current label, Fat Possum, to larger, likely more lucrative deals. I’ll agree that Stevie Ray Vaughan might have brought the blues back to the forefront in the 80′s, but people like the The Black Keys keep them alive.

• Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

  

  I first heard Franz Ferdinand on WOXY some months back with their first quirky single, “Darts of Pleasure”. Later on, it was “Take Me Out”, then “Matinee”, and then “Michael”. While listening to these singles months-apart, I hadn’t quite acquired my taste for Franz Ferdinand. I had had other favorites over the span of my relationship with Franz, but by the time “Matinee” (one of the strongest tracks on an album of strong tracks) rolled around, I realized “Hey — wait a minute. Each of these songs has been equally awesome! Maybe the whole album is like this!” Purchased at ear X-tacy sometime during the fall, it was true. Franz Ferdinand, this band which I had a mere monthly fancy with had come home to roost at last. They throw down the new-wave tinged hook-laden rock like no other Scots I know. Expect good things.

• Sufjan Stevens – Greetings from Michigan / Seven Swans

  
  

  By all accounts, Sufjan Stevens should have been on this list last year, if I had listened to Jackson last year about Greetings From Michigan. Sufjan Stevens is a unique and productive talent in the US indie scene — a gifted musician and songwriter who changes his style up a bit on each of his albums. Greetings from Michigan is his epic love-song to the state of Michigan, and Seven Swans is a decidedly different record with a definite spiritual core. It’s hard to say which I like more, I guess it depends on my mood. Greetings has “Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)”, a callout to the crumbling crown city of Michigan, which is both interesting in subject and in song. Seven Swans has “The Dress Looks Nice on You”, which reminds me of Kelly so much — not only because of the lyrics, but because of the Casio-style breakdown later in the song. Both albums I first listened to this year, so they get my double-vote. Further: Sufjan’s annual Christmas albums are fantastic turns on holiday standards.

File Under: How Did I Miss These?

• Mos Def – Black on Both Sides
• Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True
• Kentucky Moutain Music Collection (7 disc set)

File Under: It was good, but c’mon people

• The Arcade Fire – Funeral

  Pitchfork appears to be to blame for the explosion of this album. It gets a 9.7 rating and everyone is hopping up and down excited like the Pixies got back together (they did, and people did hop up and down). I’ve got this album, I’ve listened to it, and I do like it quite a bit, but not to the point that every indie hipster has put it on the top of their list! I refuse to slag the album, because it’s certainly not slag-worthy, but what the hell people.

File Under: Bemused Adoration

• Brian Wilson – SMiLE

  Pet Sounds is easily in my top ten of all time. SMiLE is Brian Wilson’s long, long, long awaited release of the long, long, long awaited and long-shelved Beach Boys album. I listened to it, and it is a masterful work, but not something that I felt deserved the heaps and heaps of rave reviews heaped upon it. I love the guy just as much as the next Beach Boys fan, but he didn’t shit gold folks. The album is playful, introspective, truly independent and a really interesting listen, though. It’s worth finding out.

File Under: Haters Ball

• The Darkness – Permission to Land

  This album is so ridiculous, it is awesome. If David Bowie had grown up in the eighties, you know this is what Ziggy Stardust would have ended up like. It’s over-the-top, profanity-laced (get your hands offa my woman, mother-chicken!), and pulls out 80s heavy-metal tricks like so many rabbits from so many hats. It’s my filthy music indulgence of the year, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. So why all the hate, haters? Can you not handle it? Is the rock too much? It is awesome and deep down inside, you know it.

In Summation…

So, what did I learn this year? Well, you can mix up catchy bass-heavy new-wavy riffage with emo-style navel-gazing lyrics and turn out a great record (Interpol, and to a lesser extent Franz Ferdinand). Also, there is nothing wrong with indie-rock singer-songwriters with a little old-timey flair (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart). There is a lot of rap that I haven’t listened to, but should (Jay-Z, De La Soul, Mos Def, etc.), and some that might be in decline if you believe what you read (Beastie Boys). There are many things I learned this year in music, but as per the usual, I learned that a little music leg-work is well worth it in the end.

After 2003′s nearly-non-stop White Stripes love-fest, I felt this year turned it down a notch in regards to my listening habits. Maybe it’s been happening for the last couple of years, but maybe it’s just a sign of the times. My younger musical haunts of Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine have given way to softer, perhaps more sophisticated things such Sufjan Stevens and Will Oldham. This year brought more old-timey music to my ears, and made me reconsider my stance on religiously-inspired music. There is still a lot of shitty religious music, but some of it — the more naked the better — is real gold. Is it me? Is it the world? I’ve still got a taste for the rock, no doubt (Neutral Milk Hotel, Sonic Youth), but things that used to suit me don’t suit as well any more. My tastes continue to change, and I look forward to more music in the new-year.

By the way, my previous “music years in review”, can be found here (sorta), here and here.

retrieved from the WayBack Machine Archive of LostInLouisville circa Nov 2003…

incomplete, and in no particular order:

OutKast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
If only for the line “I don’t want to meet your daddy / I just want you in my caddy / I don’t want to meet your momma / I just want to make you cumma”. I can’t agree more with Rocko that Andre 3000 is the next incarnation of James Brown, Rick James, and Prince — but for my generation. I never felt much of a connection to any of the former — they were all fairly epic and troubled characters as I was growing up, but I heard echoes from long ago of guys that loved everything about women and made everyone dance and fall into freaky-ass love. Then they were either in jail, torturing hookers, or prostletizing. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen to our man Andre 3000. Big Boi’s album “Speakerboxxx” provides and a good counter-weight to Andre’s “The Love Below”, and these albums don’t get old when set on shuffle. (Side note: I love “She’s Alive”. It’s a love-letter to his single mother, I think. Nonetheless, it’s compelling and well-placed)

The Postal Service – Give Up
When folks ask me what this sounds like — I say “emo lyrics with electric beats”, and you’d think I’d just stepped on their toe and shoved a herring in their now-gaping maws. Seriously — this stuff is really great — so great that the real Postal Service has forced them to change their name.

The White Stripes – Elephant
I don’t need to tell you how much I love this album, you already know it. I will say this — I’m glad they are sticking to their guns and keeping up the whole red/white brother/sister thing. I really am. There are plenty of people out there who think they need to add some depth to their albums, or change their setup in some way — and while I think that has some merit — I think it would ruin this whole wonderfully concocted image they have. Jack has mentioned that they maybe have one more album in them, and I hope they do call it quits after that. The whole two-person thing doesn’t scale real well in big venues anyway.

Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlantacism
First, I love the album cover. Birds are great. Secondly, Gibbard is genius of giving good hooks to his music — so much of what other lo-fi sensitive-boy music is lacking. I envy him. See also: The Postal Service

My Morning Jacket – It Still Moves
My first real exposure to these local lads. All that forced listening to Boston and Kansas in my youth was not for naught! “It Still Moves” makes me realize what was good about that music. And you laughed at me for liking Lynyrd Skynyrd!

Skip James – Today
I’ll admit that the first time I heard a Skip James song (actually sung by Skip James) was while watching Wim Wender’s The Soul of a Man — one of the films in PBS’ The Blues series. This record was one of Skip James’ last records — recorded shortly after his surprising re-appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk festival gives new meaning to the “High and Lonesome”. His falsetto singing style and his solo style lend such depth to these remarkably clear recordings.

Anyone else? I’m looking for new stuff to listen to.

(in no particular order)

(and these albums are new to ME this year)

1. The White Stripes – Elephant

I think this is pretty much self explanatory. This album rocks from the outer to the inner. Jack White is a genius — $10,000 on pre-1963 equipment, and turns out an album that sounds like Zeppelin in their prime. I’ve been kicked in the chest by rock.

2. The Postal Service – Give Up

Deathcab for Cutie frontman gives up the electronic emo lovin’. Now, I fully realize how weird “electronic emo” sounds — but this actually works. I’m serious. Shut up.

3. Bobby Bare, Jr. – Young Criminals Starvation League

Fantastic country-core sort of stuff. Something like Palace, but with more of a sense of humour, and a more of a sense of rock. Thanks, Jackson.

4. Spoon – Kill the Moonlight

Regarded as one of last year’s best albums, I finally found it and listened, and I have to agree. Tight musicianship with good beats and a little of the Elvis Costello thrown in with maybe a touch of Billy Joel.

5. David Cross – Shut Up, You Fucking Baby

It’s not music, but David Cross (from HBO’s Mr. Show, if you remember that) is a funny, funny man with a sense of humour like an encyclopedia dropped on your hand. Everyone who has listened to this is legally bound to quote it whenever and whereever. “You been CROSSed, mah-man!“

Thats all for now… perhaps more later.