Chris over at
Gorilla vs Bear really knows how to get a blog party started; in the mid-year he’s asked many of his friends what they’re favorite album of ‘08 is, it’s no surprise how many responded. Here are just several, you can read the rest and download mentioned MP3’s
right here.
Edward Droste, Grizzly Bear:
that’s a no brainer for me! beach house, devotion. I’ve listened to this album since I got it in the fall non stop until now. They rapidly climbed my most played tracks on iTunes to overtake many of my favorite songs. This is the type of music that just grows and ages with each listen in the best way possible. I never tire of it and I’m sure that 10 years down the road I’ll appreciate it as much as I do now.
Bradford Cox, Atlas Sound/Deerhunter:
my album of the year so far would be Animal Collective’s Water Curses EP. I think its really enigmatic. “Cobwebs” might be my favorite thing I’ve heard in the past 5 years. The last song sounds great in your bedroom in the late afternoon with the windows open. The most important band of our generation and I mean that with all sincerity.
Noah Lennox, Panda Bear/Animal Collective:
my favorite album this year (so far) is the erykah badu one called new amerykah: part 1 (4th world war). animal collective was in mississippi in january or so and wed watch a lot of vh1 soul when we werent working on something and for a stretch of a couple of days erykah was always on. sometimes it was a video but one time i saw kind of a performance where she was doing a bunch of new songs and i really liked them and i liked the way she performed them a lot. wed see the honey video all the time and i really liked that and im really psyched that its just an added bonus track on the album. all the songs go together well but theyre also all kind of different. theres something strange that i cant quite put my finger on but all the songs go down easy if you know what i mean. the music feels very personal and real and i like that.
XXXChange, Spank Rock/Fully Fitted:
i dunno if this is super obvious or what but I’ve been super into what i’ve heard of the Lykke Li stuff. the albums not on itunes yet where i get most of my music but i found this one: “I’m Good. I’m Gone” floating around on the internet somewhere. soooooooo good. love the quality of the recording/production too! you can actually hear the room!
also on the subject of girls with cool accents:
http://www.myspace.com/mysoko
her whole thing feels a little twee but her cover of the teenagers “love no” is awesome.
Annie Clark, St. Vincent:
Man Man’s Rabbit Habbits. man, man man own psychosexual dirtdance this album. I love this band…I saw them at coachella and they had b boy painted drums. So cool in my book.
Diplo:
santogold, black lips, jon dahlback, carter 3 (not really), al green – lay it down
Bethany, Pocahaunted:
Vivian Girls, self titled. The songs are so fucking catchy that literally after I listen to them, I am singing them for days. And my dad once told me that you know a song is a hit if it gets stuck in your head. The song “Tell the World” is like the best thing I’ve heard since the Ronettes “I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine.” I think they’re amazing women, making really fun music. and their harmonies, oh god their harmonies.
i guess as far as 2007 goes–”graduate” by kanye west. kind of fucking amazing. i guess you could count this, because literally i JUST heard this album in it’s entirety like a week ago. that song “flashing lights” is fucking perfect. AND “champion” samples Steely Dan, so dude…seriously.
and then–gotta shout out to my favorite man of all time, my dream husband–the boss. I think that “Magic” is what you’d expect from Bruce at this age, but I still loved it. “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” is about to be the anthem of my summer. This album is no “Greetings from Asbury Park,” but it does the trick, and I’m really proud of my man…
Josh Block, White Denim:
I really love the new Spiritualized record a lot, but it hasn’t had enough time to sink in for me to call it my most listened to record this year. With that in mind, The George Jones Box Set “She Thinks I Still Care” that came out in November of 07 (practically 08 for me) has been in heavy rotation in the player right next to Robert Wyatt’s “Comicopera” that came out one month before it. Both records are just my speed.
Evan Mast, RATATAT:
my favorite so far is easily springwater’s self titled. its an early 70s instrumental album made by a guy named phil cordell in his home studio. loads of guitar layers and beautiful melodies. apparently one of the tracks was a top 5 hit in the UK. somebody recommended this to me saying that it sounded like the 70s version of ratatat – and i have to admit, there’s actually a pretty strong resemblance in some ways. its amazing that i’m only discovering this record now.
Jared Van Fleet, Voxtrot/Sparrow House:
there is an album i’ve been listening to a lot this year, but i guess it’s not new for most people… townes van zandt’s our mother the mountain. for me, van zandt’s songs, performances, and production all reach their apex at the same time with this record. the result is a sound that is at once dark and hopeful, orchestrated and minimal, bitter and sweet. of the lesser-known tracks, check out “second lover’s song”. also, thanks to whoever accidentally left this in my car a few months ago.
Pablo Díaz-Reixa, El Guincho:
my favorite album so far from 2008 is Escuela de Zebras by Joe Crepúsculo. It is a guy from Barcelona who writes amazing lyrics and sings in a very particular way over really good backing tracks made of synths, keyboards, rythm machines and sometimes, guitars. It’s brilliant. From old stuff I’ve been enjoying Totó La Momposina a lot, the first 2 MC Solaar records and listening back again and again to Cinema Transcendental by Caetano Veloso. I saw Animal Collective play last weekend at Primavera Sound and their new songs are SO GOOD. They sounded so perfect and how they sync the lights with the sound, the best. Not also the new songs, but the way they played old stuff that was really clever and inspiring too. The Dirty Projectors were really good too. Beautiful guitar sounds. Also I’ve been listening a lot to a Mad Decent cumbia podcast, some pretty awesome tunes in it. And The Ruby Suns record too, can’t wait to see them play live cause I missed them at SXSW. I don’t know, that is all I can remember from last weeks.
As I stated in the beginning of this post, you can head over to Gorilla vs Bear to read more from Bodies of Water and Love Is All as well as download MP3’s that the artists have mentioned.
