My favorite albums of 2008!!!!

Favorites from 2008 in alphabetical order by artist:

Beach House - Devotion
I have a tendency to latch on to certain albums that inspire me to listen to them mostly at night sitting on the floor in the dark by myself. Devotion, like Nico's Desertshore and PJ Harvey's White Chalk, is one of those albums.

Highlights: "Wedding Bell," "Gila"

El Perro Del Mar - From the Valley to the Stars
I don't like this album as much as her first (which is not surprising considering the unabashed adoration I have for that album, 2006's El Perro Del Mar, would be hard for any album to match ever), but this is an impressive release as well. The songs are simultaneously uplifting and solemn. From the Valley to the Stars is secular church music that perfectly soundtracks life's glories, disappointments, and inconsistencies.

Highlights: "Glory to the World," "How Did We Forget," "Inner Island," "Some Day I'll Understand"

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Sometimes an album comes along out of the blue that knocks you over with its immense power. New Amerykah Part One is intense, confrontational, and incredibly groovy. I can neither stop moving nor thinking when listening to it. I can't wait for part two. If I were to have numerically ranked these albums, this would probably be number one or two.

Highlights: "Amerykahn Promise," "The Healer," "Soldier"

Frida Hyvonen - Silence is Wild
I think that Frida Hyvonen is perhaps one of the best songwriters out there right now. The first time I listened to this album, I sat in rapt attention following each turn of phrase and twist in the music. While listening, I actually laughed a lot and welled up with tears at one point. She covers a variety of topics from envy over a cousin's successes in marriage and motherhood (even though that's not what Frida wants), stereotypes about Scandinavian women, a childhood love, and a heartbreaking but matter-of-fact account of a visit to an abortion clinic.

Highlights: "Dirty Dancing," "London!" "Birds," "December"

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Initially, I was disappointed with this album. After the last three records, I was caught off guard by how, for lack of a better word, pastoral Seventh Tree is. I felt like it was almost--heaven-forbid--adult contemporary. But as with Swedish Fish candy, I kept desiring it even though I didn't think I liked it. Eventually (after a couple of weeks), the album clicked, and I realized: 1. how gorgeous it is 2. how hilarious a lot of the lyrics are and 3. that this is easily my favorite Goldfrapp album. So then it became my go-to album on lazy weekend mornings when I sat with a cup of coffee and sometimes a hangover.

Highlights: "Clowns," "Eat Yourself," "A&E"

Grace Jones - Hurricane
Grace Jones has been around for a long time. I got this album after being introduced to and blown away by her 1985 concept album Slave to the Rhythm. I saw that she had released an album this year (so far available only as an import in the States), and I decided to check it out. I think it's even better than Slave. I've listened to "This is Life" almost everyday since acquiring Hurricane.

Highlights: "This is Life," "William's Blood," "Sunset Sunrise"

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Even after listening to this album 37 million times, I get excited every time I hear any of the songs (but especially "Time Will" and "Blind"). It's epic disco plus it has Antony. How can you go wrong with that?

Highlights: "Time Will," "Blind," "You Belong"

Juana Molina - Un Día
Another unexpected album. I downloaded it from eMusic after reading an intriguing review. From the moment "Un Día" started to the last bit of "Dar (Qué Difícil)," a song which perpetually slides in and out of tune (to great effect), I was mesmerized. It's fifty minutes long, and it felt as if no time had passed at all.

Highlights: "Un Día," "Lo Dejamos," "Vive Solo," "Dar (Qué Difícil)"

Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Another Swede, Lykke Li is a pop star but on her own terms. The instrumentation is quirky and her songs are immediate favorites for most people I've played them for. My favorite tracks are the danceable ones, all of which should dominate a list of 2008's most perfect pop songs.

Highlights: "Dance Dance Dance," "I'm Good, I'm Gone," "Little Bit," "Let it Fall"

M83 - Saturdays=Youth
I'm really not sure what to say about this album other than it's one that I sat down to get lost in a lot after it was introduced to me by my friend Alan. It's so wonderfully atmospheric and makes me nostalgic for a period that I experienced (the 80s) but not like this.

Highlights: "Kim & Jessie," "Skin of the Night"

Nico Muhly - Mothertongue
Any album whose appeal is both intellectual and visceral is automatically a winner. Many of the albums on my list fall into that category, but none more than Mothertongue. As far as I'm concerned, Nico Muhly can do no wrong, whether it's in his solo work, his collaborations, or on his blog (an edutaining read every time).

Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements
While its songs are excellent individually, Entanglements is best approached as a whole. Treat it as you would a novel or a play. Owen Pallett, in his top ten list on the Pop Manifesto, says that this group (along with Simon Bookish and The Dirty Projectors) is reclaiming musical theatre from the "assholes" who "sullied" it. I couldn't have said it better myself, which is why I didn't try. Thanks Owen Pallett.

Highlights: "Four Words," "A Song for Ellie Greenwich," "GUT Symmetries"

Portishead - Third
I love both of Portishead's previous albums, but I never really expected them to release anything else, but as Kate Bush did with Aerial a few years ago, Portishead came out of the blue and released a fantastic album. It's dark and scary as hell, and I love it. Turn it up loud and prepare to be made uncomfortable.

Highlights: The 3-song sequence "We Carry On," "Deep Water," and "Machine Gun"

Santogold - Santogold
I saw her open for Björk at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and fell in love. This was one of those albums like those by Hercules & Love Affair, Lykke Li, and Cut Copy that I put on when I wanted to dance around the house. She plays with diverse styles but somehow it all feels cohesive and defiant. Hot damn.

Highlights: "L.E.S. Artistes," "Creator," "I'm A Lady," "Shove It"

The Sound of Arrows - Danger!
I usually exclude EP's from my end of the year lists (hence the absence of releases by Antony and the Johnsons and Final Fantasy, all of which are fantastic and have me excited for their upcoming 2009 full lengths), but I loved this one so much I couldn't leave it out. Remember that hypothetical list of perfect pop songs I referenced earlier? Well, while Lykke Li's singles would all appear on it, the song that would live at the top is "Danger!" where it would sit until usurped by 2009's "M.A.G.I.C." also by The Sound of Arrows or perhaps by "Catch the Breeze" by Stefan Storm (a member of TSoA --this song, which I don't think was ever officially released, was the song of my summer. It's perfect. Go listen to it at his page: http://www.myspace.com/stefanstorm ). My love for these songs is unabashed, and I've been playing them for my friends constantly since I've heard them. I think one of the reasons I love this group so much is because their music is almost antithetical to the songs that I write, which are usually dark or brooding. I have a tendency to want to suck all of the joy and fun out of a song, while TSoA inject even their sad songs with such beauty and energy that they're irresistible. Their full length is coming out in 2009, and I can't wait. And, they're totally nice guys to boot.

Plus, they've been my gateway drug to other acts I've fallen in love with this year: Cof Cof, Low Sea, The Bilinda Butchers, Name the Pet, Maskopet, Niklas Tafra, and Club 8, some of whom have albums, some of whom don't yet. All of them should be investigated.

Highlights: "Danger!," "A Very Sad Song," "Danger! - the Ice Cream Shout Version"

Albums you should also look into: These New Puritans' Beat Pyramid, Baby Dee's Safe Inside the Day, That Ghost's Young Fridays, and Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours.

So that's my list. Thanks for reading it. Forgive all of the adverbs, I know they're lazy. I hope I wasn't too longwinded. Now enjoy your day.

An Xmas update + a gift

I'm about halfway through writing my annual "favorite albums of 2008" list, which I should have up in the next few days for anyone who is interested.

My friend gave me a book of philosophical writings by Simone de Beauvoir, which I have been reading, and in looking into it further, I'm excited to see that it's a part of "The Beauvoir Series" produced by the University of Illinois Press. The Series will be seven volumes (three are currently available) of newly translated works. What I've read so far has continued to lend credence to the current theory that, rather than Beauvoir deriving her ideas from Sartre, she was as much an influence on his philosophy as he was on hers (if not more). Whereas, for instance, it has long been held that her novel She Came to Stay (L'Invitée) was heavily inspired by Sartre's Being and Nothingness, new information has come to light demonstrating that he had read the second draft of her novel before he had really begun writing Being and Nothingness. Needless to say, I am extremely excited about this newly translated material (especially since I get to read "Pyrrhus and Cineas," which has finally been translated into English). Thank you Margaret A. Simons!!

Finally, I performed a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" at the Harper's Smallwoods Christmas show at Urban Standard on the 13th, which I recorded on Monday and thought I would share with you. If you'd like to download it, you can do so here: All I Want for Xmas. Fair warning: it might be kind of creepy.

Back and forth

I realize it's been more than three months since I've written anything, and the last entry, thankfully, is no longer topical (for the time being at least). I've been a busy boy with a lot to write about and no time to write it. There have been loads of new developments, but as I sit here, I'm overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. So, I will, primarily out of laziness, resort to producing a brief list of important* events:

1. I went to New York. In New York, I saw old friends, explored, and shopped. I saw Antony and the Johnsons perform at the Apollo. It was an adventure, and I have loads of stories, which perhaps I'll tell via this forum at some point.

2. The night that Obama won the presidential race, I was at Bottletree with most of my friends and a lot of strangers. When his victory was announced, the two hundred or so of us there cheered so loudly that we made the front page of the paper the next day. Merrilee grabbed the cardboard cutout of Obama that someone had brought there and started a celebratory conga line that took us around the block. There were tears of joy, and I imagine we all had headaches the next morning. Victory headaches.

3. Andy's Tea Party played a couple of shows. They went well. I love performing. I love my bandmates. I wrote more songs.

4. I read several books. My favorites from the last three months: The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai and Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir. I began reading Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai after Nico Muhly's effusive recommendation on his blog, and though I have not yet completed it, I am already in awe. It has nothing to do with the film. I also read Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I'm embarrassed to say I had not yet done. I bought it for two dollars from a bookstand that was set up on the street in Brooklyn. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As an aside, this leads me to recall a choice quote from my stay in New York: "You know Seth, as the only known** gay living relative of Truman Capote, you sure have a lot to live up to." I guess I better start throwing some parties. [Mom, Dad, grandparents: should you stumble upon this entry, I don't drink enough and am far too vocal an advocate of kindness to ever complete the task of living up to his example. Worry not.]

5. I discovered Google Reader and increased my personal productivity. I'm not sure how this occurred.

6. I started and then quit writing a book about crazy Chicago facts. (This was a case of agreeing to a project before realizing that it would be impossible to complete in the amount of time I had available for it, especially as new circumstances presented themselves shortly after my agreement. Cryptic? Perhaps, but I might have some positive news soon--I hope. I guess I'm not ready to jump back into the freelance world quite yet.)

7. I had an excellent Thanksgiving with my family, and I got quite good at Rock Band after playing it with my nephew for two days straight.

There's a lot more to write about, but I want something to eat, so that's that. My next entry could pop up tomorrow, or it could pop up in June.


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*The word 'important' is used in jest here. I'm not deluded enough to think that any of this matters to most others out there.

**I'm sure there are more living gay relatives of Mr. Capote, but my friend doesn't know of any. Nor do I. Anyone able to help with that?