Music in 2008

[lamaros]

I really liked bon iver's album this year. Not that much into a lot of indie rock like I used to, but I thought that album was pretty neat. Then I found out it was absurdly popular too and I felt a bit deflated.

[Margalis]

I just now realized that Hillary Duff and Miley Cyrus aren't the same person.

[Endie]

If only One Day as a Lion snuck into 2007 so I could feel good dubbing this the Year of the Side Project, oh well.

Speaking of side projects, my hope is that Maynard James Keenan will make good on his hints and record a new A Perfect Circle album this year.  Also speculative would be Team Sleep's second album, supposedly already underway, but given how long the last one took to record, I'm prepared to have to wait to the end of the decade for that, too.

[Bungee]

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, but to I had a little surprise in that I really really began to like Volbeat by the end of '08.
And that although I normaly am more of an electronic/downbeat guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90mYNqZ1XY4

[Segoris]

If only One Day as a Lion snuck into 2007 so I could feel good dubbing this the Year of the Side Project, oh well.

Speaking of side projects, my hope is that Maynard James Keenan will make good on his hints and record a new A Perfect Circle album this year.  Also speculative would be Team Sleep's second album, supposedly already underway, but given how long the last one took to record, I'm prepared to have to wait to the end of the decade for that, too.

I heard about the A Perfect Circle album that is due out as well, I'm anxiously awaiting that one. I did hear it was just going to be a few tracks at a time via itunes and other internet sites. Can't remember exactly, but it was something along those lines. I didn't hear about Team Sleep's upcoming album though. So at least there are 2 albums to look forward to. Going back to One Day as a Lion, their album was due last fall and it's still not out. So here's hoping for a 2009 release.

Any other decent side projects due this year? WTB a 20 year younger Al Jourgensen so there is always a side project, somewhere!

[HaemishM]

Fuck, why didn't I hear that One Day as a Lion was Zack from Rage and the drummer from Mars Volta? I am so out of touch with music.

[Segoris]

Fuck, why didn't I hear that One Day as a Lion was Zack from Rage and the drummer from Mars Volta? I am so out of touch with music.

It's really the one good thing about just streaming music at work instead of listening to CDs, otherwise I'd probably still be about 10 years behind the times. Although for some of the bands that don't age well, that might be a good thing.


Just heard something on the radio reminding me to at least mention them, that being The Airborne Toxic Event (the song that is playing on radio stations now is probably a bit too slow for most around here as it would seem) and Anberlin.

Now that I think about it, maybe the music thread should follow in the footsteps of the 'What Are You Playing Now' thread and instead of doing a last minute/end of the year type of thread, do an up to date contribution in the way of 'What are you listening to now' type of thread? Maybe follow up with a 'Best of Year 20xx" thread? Even though it is fun to try to remember what I listened to 12 months ago, when I can actually remember those that I enjoyed that is.

[Sky]

I've been listening to An Anthology of Big Band Swing in the kitchen and Live in Boston v1 by Fleetwood Mac (the real mac, not the rumors crap :)) in the truck. Actually I think I just jumped over to one of my Basie or Jelly Roll discs.

Today at work was Freddie King, then Thorogood, then a bunch of preview stuff on amazon.

Although it's a waste of a post since nobody listens to much stuff that I do.

[Jobu]

If we want to take a democratic spin on things, Last.FM says Coldplay's was the best album of the year, and MGMT was the best new band of the year.

http://www.last.fm/bestof/2008/album/1

http://www.last.fm/bestof/2008/artist/1

[UnSub]

I think there's an art to sampling.. especially scratching.. but mashups aren't really it.

There are some good mashups, but there are a hell of a lot of lazy ones. Most of 2 many djs are good, as is Girltalk.

The Duff "Personal Jesus" isn't a mashup, it's low creativity based on a good (or: well known and catchy) sample. A number of pop girls are doing it - Rhianna did one to Tainted Love which sold huge numbers.

[Righ]

If we want to take a democratic spin on things, Last.FM says Coldplay's was the best album of the year, and MGMT was the best new band of the year.

The people who rated their albums on rateyourmusic.com disagree:

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2008

No more 'valid' but it'll give you a different view because it tallies votes and then applies a weighting rather than simply counting listens.

[lamaros]

Metacritic says... http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2008.shtml

1     Welcome To Mali by Amadou & Mariam
2     London Zoo by The Bug
3     Fed by Plush
4     Dear Science, by TV On The Radio
5     Exit by Shugo Tokumaru
6     For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
7     Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
8     Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
9     Hercules And Love Affair by Hercules And Love Affair
10     Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 by Neil Young

[Segoris]

One of the main Chicago station's does what's called 16 years in 16 days during the holidays. If i remember right, it's not based on sales, but rather listener requests for the year. Here's the link to the 16 years and the downloadable playlists.

WARNING THOSE AT WORK: Upon loading this page there is sound, so those at work be warned if not allowed to browse/need to turn down speakers
http://www.q101.com/16Years/index.aspx

Their top 10 for 2008 is as follows:
10 Staind Believe 
9 Offspring You're Gonna Go Far, Kid 
8 Foo Fighters Let It Die 
7 Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire 
6 Weezer Pork And Beans 
5 Metallica The Day That Never Comes 
4 Avenged Sevenfold Afterlife 
3 Linkin Park Given Up 
2 Apocalyptica I'm Not Jesus 
1 Disturbed Inside The Fire 

It's definitely great to have this during the holidays as it's like a trip down memory lane of music for the last 16 years. Check out some of the older years as well, good times when you see certain songs and sit in awe of A) how great that song was B) how shitty your taste in music was a few years back

[Selby]

Their top 10 for 2008 is as follows:

That list makes me seriously sad.  I've been old for too long.  Damn kids.

[Segoris]

Their top 10 for 2008 is as follows:

That list makes me seriously sad.  I've been old for too long.  Damn kids.

Being sad over that list isn't showing your age, it's showing how crappy their list for 2008 is. I really enjoyed 2, kind of 3, songs on it. The rest of it truly is crap and doesn't really represent 2008 as well as it could have been. But, that's what you get when it's done by "most requested". Sadly it's about the best thing I get to listen to for about 9-12 hours per day and believe I've grown accustomed to it. Fuck

[Endie]

Their top 10 for 2008 is as follows:

I like a good few of the tracks on that list, but only the Kings Of Leon one seems to be arguably top-tennish.

Anyway, for a slightly more leftfield list, here are Andrew Womack's top ten albums of the year.  His taste in music matches mine startlingly precisely, so I will pick up some of the ones I'm missing from this.  The fun thing for me (on a personal level) about his older lists through the 80's, for instance, is that he was in the US listening to awful hair metal at the time, and I was in the UK listening to the stuff that he later discovered.  Yet his later rediscovery matches tons of albums in the top tens that I, as a little geek, kept in my diary in the later 80s.

(That said, how can he put New Order's Technique above The Stone Roses, Paul's Boutique and Disintegration?  Just take that number one out entirely and insert a new number ten (I'd stick the inimitable and easily mocked Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine's 101 Damnations in there, myself), but De La Soul's 3 feet High and Rising or the Jesus and Mary Chain's Automatic would work.  Off Topic section ends.)

[nurtsi]

I went to a barber to get a haircut. Some music is playing on the background that catches my ear, so I ask the girl who's doing my hair what it is:

Glasvegas - Geraldine

  it.

[stray]

Yeah, decent band. They also did a pretty good type of doo-wop number last year. I guess it was a hit everywhere except the US.

Daddy's Gone

[UnSub]

I called it - Triple J Hottest 100 results (over 800k votes):

# #1 - Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
# #2 - MGMT - Electric Feel
# #3 - Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
# #4 - Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
# #5 - MGMT - Kids
# #6 - The Presets - Talk Like That
# #7 - Pez - The Festival Song(feat. 360 and Hailey Cramer)
# #8 - The Presets - This Boy's In Love
# #9 - The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
# #10 - Drapht - Jimmy Recard

[schild]

There aren't enough people in the world to make MGMT and The Ting Tings even passably worth listening to.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

I've been listening to a lot of Gogol Bordello lately.

[Phildo]

Think locally, fuck globally amirite?

[Mrbloodworth]

Their top 10 for 2008 is as follows:
10 Staind Believe 
9 Offspring You're Gonna Go Far, Kid 
8 Foo Fighters Let It Die 
7 Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire 
6 Weezer Pork And Beans 
5 Metallica The Day That Never Comes 
4 Avenged Sevenfold Afterlife 
3 Linkin Park Given Up 
2 Apocalyptica I'm Not Jesus 
1 Disturbed Inside The Fire 

Looks like the 1995 list.

[Tale]

I went to a barber to get a haircut. Some music is playing on the background that catches my ear, so I ask the girl who's doing my hair what it is:

Glasvegas - Geraldine

  it.

I posted Glasvegas' "Daddy's Gone" a few pages back. Buy the album, it's amazing. Big sound, powerful songs on unusual topics, mostly scenes from a tough childhood in Glasgow - a parent's loss of a child, a social worker, a deadbeat dad, moonlight shining into a prison cell, fighting a bully, frustration with sectarianism, etc.

Behind the hype is an unusual band. Two brothers who hung around at their childhood friend Caroline's house, and they all decided to learn instruments. One brother writes the songs and sings, the other brother plays guitar, one of their mates plays bass, and Caroline stands up to play drums and looks like she can't play, but she never skips a beat.

Two other songs from the album:
Glasvegas - Flowers and Football Tops
Glasvegas - Go Square Go <=== EPIC WIN LIVE - the chorus at the end becomes "HERE WE, HERE WE, HERE WE FUCKING GO!" (imagine being in this crowd)

[Hoax]

I've been listening to a lot of Gogol Bordello lately.

I could really see them, but I heard them live in 2008.  Way too much metal or whatever in this thread, do you still get cred for liking metal in Europe?  Gross.  Did appreciate a couple more best of 2008 links I hadn't looked over.

[Sky]

do you still get cred for liking metal in Europe?  Gross. 

Your brain, it does not work properly.

[stray]

Good metal is few and far between though, imo. New metal I mean. We just spent the last 10 years getting our ears raped by nu-metal shit everywhere, and I can only think of one band that was *sort of* in that vein, but also kicked ass: System of a Down. There is other cool shit like Meshuggah or that new Cynic album, I mentioned - but in a way, that's almost like musician's music. "Math metal".  Otherwise, Europe just keeps cranking out silly black metal stuff that should, for the most part, be embarrassing to even listen to, let alone like.

[Sky]

Slipknot? Lamb of God? Avenged Sevenfold? Coheed and Cambria? Opeth? As I Lay Dying? In Flames? Trivium? Dragonforce? Gojira?

Nu-metal has been dead for a long time! There's still a bit more throating than singing for my tastes, but there's some fucking amazing metal getting waxed out there these days. Almost wish I was still a metalhead!

[Oz]

Slipknot? some ok..
Lamb of God? less, but still some ok...
Avenged Sevenfold? shit
Coheed and Cambria? never heard of
Opeth? awesome
As I Lay Dying? eh...
In Flames? never heard of...
Trivium? never heard of...
Dragonforce?  eh, guitar is cool in that "it sounds like nintendo games" sound, singing hurts my nuts.
Gojira?  never heard of...

i miss candiria...

[Sky]

My main gripe with modern metal is the singing. C'mon, ffs. I grew up with your Dio and your Tate and your Dickinson.

[stray]

I also like Mastodon, forgot to mention them. Don't really like some of those bands you mentioned though.

I almost got in a fight with Slipknot! 

[edit] Or so people say.

[Endie]

I also like Mastodon, forgot to mention them. Don't really like some of those bands you mentioned though.

I almost got in a fight with Slipknot! 

[edit] Or so people say.

I love Mastodon.  I saw them supporting Tool in Glasgow and they put on a great show, as well as being just weird enough to fit in.  Of course, I had a couple of their albums already by then.

[Selby]

My main gripe with modern metal is the singing. C'mon, ffs.

This precisely.  I cannot stand almost every new band out there now, cookie monster and screaming gutterly is some of the most no-talent hack shit I've ever had to deal with.  I used to put up with it for the music and "le art" of it, but I'm too jaded and cynical to be pretentious enough to care anymore.  If you can't sing or at least make an attempt to be understood, you aren't doing it well enough for me.  Lemmy and Tom Araya can't sing, but they sure can be understood.

I'm still as anti-Slipknot as it gets ;-)  The rest of the bands you listed... half are great and the other half are kinda meh for me.  Something about As I Lay Dying, Avenged Sevenfold, Coheed and Cambria, and Lamb of God just doesn't gel for me.  I don't deny they have fans and decent moments, but I just can't be bothered to get any deeper than the 3-4 songs I've heard on satellite radio because it just isn't drawing me in.

[Righ]

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" won the Grammy for best rock album. So congratulations Joe Satriani.