Thu 8 Jan 2009
The Year’s Best Albums
Posted by Karl Winthrop under Daily Life, Magazines, Movies and Music
No Comments
The Countdown begins.
10. Vampire Weekend. As anyone in finance and market analysis will tell you, the best first step to success is to manage expectations. With a sound like nobody else - likened to a The Strokes, if Hammond had been total-recalled with the music of Johanesburg. And Cassablancas had gotten that graduate degree — the hype almost did these guys in. Fluffy anyone? I can’t help but smile everytime one of these comes up in the shuffle.
9. Kate Nash: Made of Bricks. With the release of Lilly Allen’s follow-up delayed indefinitely I was wondering where I would get my sassy bird quota. (My cable package doesn’t include BBC America.) Then I picked this up. The best piano sing-a-longs with attitude enough to keep me going for 45 treadmill min. And the best use of a non-family-friendly insult in a song title.
8. Cut//Copy: In Ghost Colours. The best New Order cover band that never was. Theses Aussies were moving me even before I realized that they could, by themselves, redeem an entire country from the disaster of these other guys. It takes quite a bunch of talents to make a sound so familiar sound so new.
7. Hercules and Love Affair. Just when you thought that there were no other tricks in Disco’s bag of tricks - the pairing of one of the most unique voices in music (& Mercury Music Prize winner) with backing of a hot red-bear DJ - that bag just got much bigger. And if you were to take to heart the Easy lyrics it would be worth a few month’s worth of sermons.
6. Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue. By far the best of recent slew of actresses turning to music in an attempt to prove they have brains as well as good looks. (Sorry Scarlett, Good try Zooey) With the year’s best humanist torch song and the ability to inspire the best performance from rock veteran since 1983; this collection bodes well for a budding career.