Post-Rockist’s Faves of ‘08: So far, Sooooo good!

Gather ’round, chirren, and let Grandpappy Prockist tell ye a tale of yesteryear — a halcyon time when there was only one iPhone, one Flavor of Love, and, thank God, only one time of year when music bloggers would rigorously compile their highly informative and not-at-all redundant “Best Of” lists. But 2008 is a different beast altogether, and facing the onslaught of all this confusing New Media I can hardly remember the name of Barack Obama’s former madrassa, let alone the name of that album that I swore was the Greatest Thing Evah way back in February. So, for the purposes of posterity and to meet your clamoring demand,* the elders at the Post-Rockist have decided to piece together the following critically definitive and immutable** lists*** of their favorite records of 2008, so far. Enjoy!

* We’re assuming
** Lists subject to change at any time, most likely December
*** “Lists” are presented in no particular order whatsoever

Todd’s Faves of ‘08 so far

Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannot Feel
“Recent Bedroom”

Imagine you have a pop album. Now, go ahead and load it with all kinds of aural embellishments — buzzes, beeps, fuzz guitar, ambient drones, synthesizer glissandos, glockenspiel, bells, music box, krautrock counter-rhythms, drifting choruses, sampler collages, etc. Next, and here’s the unusual part, take the meat and bones of the album, the hooks and riffs and backbeats and overearnest lead vocals, and chuck them out entirely. What you’d be left with would sound pretty close to Atlas Sound’s Let the Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannot Feel. Listening to it is a ghostly, out-of-body experience best suited for high-quality headphones in a zero gravity environment.

Forget the early ’90s, this is what I think of now when I think of Dream Pop.

No Age – Nouns
“Eraser”

Nouns is a raw, noisy, dense punk rock bulldozer. But underneath the squalls of distortion is a highly nuanced album, crafted with daredevil riffs, shocking melodicism, and a merciful willingness to plant green spaces in the wake of No Age’s destruction. It’s kind of like being roundhouse-kicked in the face by Chuck Norris: it’ll knock you flat on your ass, but at least you’ll appreciate the artfulness of the kick as you’re flying through the air.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – We Brave Bee Stings and All
“Bag of Hammers”

I’ve easily listened to We Brave Bee Stings and All twice as much as any other album this year. What can I say that hasn’t been said before? Good songs is good songs. Plus, the musicianship is top notch. Hands down the best guitar album of the year.

Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
“Let the Beat Build”

Don’t roll your eyes. This isn’t meant to be the token hip-hop album on the list. Fact is, Tha Carter III is a major event, and nothing else comes even close to touching it in terms of inventiveness, ambition, or scope. Insane alien invader Afro-naut delusions, post-Katrina soul, Top 40 auto-tuned electropop, minimalist bangers, kinky songs about having handcuffed sex with a lady police officer (”Rodney King baby, yeah I beat it like a cop”) — there are at least five songs on this album contending for Best Song of the Year. As high as Weezy sounds on every track, he manages to pull it all together with his batshit crazy analogies, his completely original diction and phrasing (iambic pentameter is so 16th century), and yes, his very own guitar solos.

Is Lil Wayne really the Best Rapper Alive, summer 2008 edition? You better believe it.

Jumbling Towers –Classy Entertainment EP
“Jeer”

Finally, a band that can claim Joy Division as an influence without that meaning derivative and dreary dance music. These Missourians tore a page from Martin Hannett’s production playbook and conjured up a vaporous, cobwebby space at the center of their sound, allowing the tension to build up between the band’s mechanical post-punk energy and vocalist Joe DeBoer’s anachronistic Edwardian theatricality. If Dr. Frank-N-Furter resided in Castlevania, the resulting madness would have sounded a lot like Classy Entertainment.

Get thee to Jumbling Towers dot com and download it for free right now. I’ve already warned you once, don’t make me do it again.

Scotter’s Faves of ‘08 so far

Evangelicals – The Evening Descends
“Stoned Again”

I never thought I would ever write/say this sentence in my entire life until I heard The Evening Descends, but here it goes.

I love Evangelicals.

UGh. That was hard, even though I was talking about the band and not the people that got Bush into rehab and into office. To even take that name, Evangelicals must have been intent on challenging listeners. And they do, although they aren’t difficult like some noise bands can be, and their lyrics aren’t indecipherable like two of the other bands on my list. It’s the expansiveness of the sound, the fact that every song is more like a full and garish scene in a movie, with a large set of instruments blaring simultaneously and assisting sounds–a loop here, a guitar shriek there, a moan wherever–entering and exiting the song at random, advancing the plot. The album itself moves from track to track like a film: the previous song fades out, as if fading to black, while the next one fades in, forming a continuous narrative, with topics ranging from drugs, depression, escape, hope, desperation, love, and more escape. Singer/guitarist Josh Jones is remarkable, his voice sounding a tinge like Freddie Mercury when at its strongest, and a lot like Daniel Johnston’s at its very weakest, and most fragile, but always angelic (or perhaps like a spectre) and always spine-tingling. If today was December 31, 2008, this would be my favorite album of the year.

Foals – Antidotes
“Cassius”

“Cassius” is one of the best songs of the year. I don’t have to say anything more than that, but I will. Antidotes is one of the best albums of the year. More?

Tribal percussion makes possible tribal frenzy of energy in the form of gesticulations and dancing to the syncopated guitar patterns and chanted lyrics. There’s a darkness in this music, and passion, but not so much that its weight bogs down your enjoyment of the album. They’re kind of like Interpol in that way, only on speed.

Why? – Alopecia
“These Few Presidents”

Yoni Wolf is one of my favorite song singers. No, he doesn’t have a classic singing voice, and he doesn’t have much of a singing range, and his singing can rub people the wrong way–I’ve heard some say that he sounds whiny or flat. But what I love about Wolf’s singing is its style and the way he fits all of the syllables and rhymes together. Wolf sings by cadence, utilizing lots of alliteration and short rhymes, and is the best and most articulate singer of consonants that I’ve heard. The lyrics–not to forget the innovative, even visionary musical arrangements–seems worked to perfection, seem to have been worked over draft after draft, expressing exactly what and how Wolf wanted them express.

Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
“So Haunted”

My favorite review of In Ghost Colours came from Coke Machine Glow. The first paragraph of the review is reproduced here:

“Yeah, I know, New Order. I don’t care.”

Damn right. You don’t even need to make a party mix anymore. Just play this album in its entirety and there will be dancing all night long.

The Dead Bodies – Cock Cock Cock Cock Xanadu Xanadu
“Paddywagon (for Adults Only)”

Perhaps the weirdest album title of the year (and it’s pretty tough to beat Alopecia in that competition), The Dead Bodies singer/guitarist Jon once explained to me the origin of the album title while in a drunken haze (me, not him). I remember laughing, and thinking it was a pretty clever and interesting story, and that I should probably write it down. I didn’t, and can’t remember a word of it.

Regardless, this Detroit quartet put together one hell of an EP, with clever lyrics, memorable melodies, and a great production considering that it was probably all done in someone’s basement in the suburbs. This collection of songs is more sedate than the distorted guitar rockers and psychedelically inclined noise jams of Mr. Spookhouse’s Pink House, offering instead a more chillaxed, laid back grooviness with touches of pure pop artistry. The lyrics are often coy but still full of lascivious intent (The “All you need is love” chorus to “Paddywagon (for Adults Only)” means something very different from what the Beatles intended with the same lyric).

And it’s all free to download right now! If you don’t download and enjoy it immediately, I’m never going to talk to you again.