I can't really do any sort of a top ten list for music as I don't make it a point to listen to enough new music. I did however listen to more new music in 2008 than I had in a long time...not that it's saying much. And I did hear at least some of most of the music that wound up on all the best of lists out there on the interwebs. So I can offer a few thoughts. First, 2008 was mostly about songs for me, rather than albums. I gather this is generally true these days thanks to ipods and downloading. I don't own an ipod but I do download stuff from Amazon as it's easy and cheap and there's none of the corporate drm bullshit you have to deal with at Itunes (though I understand that's going away and I applaud that while noting it's long overdue). Singles became the thing for me because the bar where I spent too much of my free time has one of those internet jukeboxes. They are ingeniously designed to separate drunks from their money. Most of the songs I listened to in that context were older songs but it did get me in a song sort of mindset. And what I found when I began checking out the newer music was that there were lots of good songs but not so many good albums. And that's ok I think.
Frankly I can't remember everything I listened to, but off the top of my head the two new albums I listened to, and enjoyed, the most in 2008 were:
Brighter Than Creation's Dark by The Drive By Truckers
Stay Positive by The Hold Steady
Neither is great from start to finish. The DBT is a double album and with the proper editing would have been one great record. There are a number of songs I skip when listening to it. But the good songs, man, they are good. Stay Positive has a handful of great songs, the kind that make an old fella like me smile and feel a little less cynical. There are lines from this album that stick in my head: "I was a skeptic at first but these miracles work" and "Let this be my annual reminder that we can all be something bigger" and a number of others. There are a few castaways but overall the batting average is impressive on this record.
There were a few others I listened to a fair bit but they yielded mostly singles. In no particular order some of my favorite new songs were:
Lights Out by Santogold
I like this album but it's really two very different EPs stuck together in one package and they don't always get along. One identity is ready for pop-stardom what with the beats and the dancing and all, and the other is reliable guitar-based indie-rock that owes a nod, like all its brethren, to the Pixies. Both have their merits. This song is bubble gum, but it's guitar based bubble gum and it's really good.
Time to Pretend by MGMT
I ought to hate this song. Pretentious skinny guys who aren't nearly as clever as they seem to think, and all the keyboards and whatnot, but I can't help it. This is a great song. I don't care for the album it comes from, but this is a great song. The hook is great and the production suits the material perfectly. I heard it once in a bar not knowing what it was and it took me far too long to find it hiding in plain sight.
Bag of Hammers by Thao
More tasty guitar based pop with a gal singing. Yeah it fits the mold of music for ipod commercials but it's edgier than say...Feist. A number of good songs on this album.
Good Time by Alan Jackson
I have been forced to admit that not all contemporary country music is terrible. Most of it is. But not all of it. No one is likely to suggest that this be placed alongside the best of Hank or JC, but it does what it sets out to do, and its intentions are good. It took hearing it in a bar with a number of drunks happily singing along for me to realize that. I'm glad I did.
The More I Drink by Blake Shelton
See above, though thus far I would not say Shelton measures up to Jackson or, God help me, Toby Keith. If you actually listen to this song, it's kind of an odd candidate to be a hit: an upbeat, sing-along argument for sobriety.
Paper Planes by MIA
Hard to go wrong when you steal most of your song from the Clash--and I don't say that with any derision. A very unlikely hit to say the least.
Stay Positive by The Hold Steady
This song is written for aging ex-punk dudes. Kinda hard to pull this off but they manage it without irony. I think.
The Righteous Path by The Drive By Truckers
One of several really good songs on this record. This one really captures a number of people I hold very dear.
And some old songs that were either new to me or that I got reacquainted with:
54-46 was my number by Toots and the Maytals
Atlantic City by Springsteen
Mama Tried by Merle Haggard
Shotgun by Junior Walker
Chug a lug by Roger Miller
How do you like me now? by Toby Keith
Jump in the line by Harry Belafonte
Tequila Shiela by Bobby Bare
Just a Gigolo/I ain't go nobody by Louis Prima
Bo Mambo by Yma Sumac
Six Appeal (My daddy rocks me) by Charlie Christian
And that's just off the top of my head. There were many more. It was a rich year in music listening even as it was a slack year in music making. I resolve to balance that out in aught-nine.
