2008's Top Ten Albums
Thankfully, new releases are spread out rather evenly throughout the year, unlike films loading up on the end of the year as Oscar season approaches. As a hip hop head, 2008 was not a bad year, but a rather disappointing one for the three albums I most looking forward to: Chicago's own Common and Kanye West, as well as sophomore effort from folkster Jenny Lewis. That doesn't mean there wasn't good music this year. It was hard wittling this down from about 20 to 10. Here goes:
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10. She & Him : Volume One
Starring indie chanteuse of the year 2008--Zooey Deschanel. Would this be as popular if she wasn't an adorable actress? Probably not. Does that matter? Probably not. Teaming up with hipster producer maven M. Ward, this is a very easy album to listen to; perfect for a lazy saturday afternoon, when you're sitting around and cleaning your apartment, the weather isn't too cold but isn't too warm, and you don't want to venture outside because it's raining. She certainly could have made a career as a country-folk singer in the 70s.
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9. People Under The Stairs: Fun DMC
This underground group from LA are unabashed throwbacks to another era in hip-hop. They are the music for the party where nothing too dirty is going on, where you know everyone there, where it's a bunch of friends wasting time on a hot midsummer saturday night. The first single is just that--"Anotha BBQ". It harkens back to the first days of hip hop, meant as party music and a good time for all ages--not club music, not gangsta music--but just good, fun loving block party music. The whole album has that laid back, California vibe--and it's what PUTS do best.
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8. TV On The Radio: Dear Science
Their 2006 release Return To Cookie Mountain was so good that a followup letdown would not even be that much of a disappointment. Dear Science, however, did not disappoint. This Brooklyn indie rock group has gotten a lot of pub in recent years, although thankfully perhaps without the youthful energetic hype that, say, Vampire Weekend got. A little less rock, a little more electronic, a little less hectic, a little more varied than Return To Cookie Mountain. Look for lead singer Tunde Adebimpe in a key supporting role in Anne Hathaway's Oscar vehicle "Rachel Getting Married."
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7. Dillinger Four: C I V I L W A R
What happens when punks grow up? They become wiser, more polished, more mature. But no less fun. After a six year long hiatus spent becoming more, well, adults [Erik has a bar/restaurant/music venue/club in St. Paul, Minnesota], Paddy, Erik, Bill & Lane finally put out another album. Better, more biting lyrically--covering more broad social topics, yet never taking themselves too seriously, per usual. Not as great a work as their 1998 debut Midwestern Songs of the Americas, but still an excellent work. You can think of them as Green Day deciding not go to big--which is precisely what D4 has decided, after having been approached many times by major labels.
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6. Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
Minnesotans make the list consecutively. I was never a huge fan of this hip hop duo-at times I thought they could get a little too emo, and the production just was inconsistent. That's not to say I wasn't a fan, just not a big one. Lemons, however, is easily their best album to date. Producer Ant relies much less on samples than he ever has, instead using more live instrumentation. MC Slug covers broader topics than the typical explorations of his inner demons; while still sticking to the interests of the everyman.
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5. Jean Grae: Jeanius
For the cover art of her new release Jeanius, Jean Grae decided to reproduce four classic hip hop albums. While Jeanius may not hold up to comparison's of Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of MIllions To Hold Us Back, that is no insult. The Phoenix has proved herself to be one of the most talented MC's out there. Many rappers make the mistake of working with many different beatmakers and producers, leading to albums with a few individually great songs, but no cohesive sound or feeling to it. With Jeanius, the New Yorker worked with popular producer 9th Wonder; what came out [after a few years of leaks and changes] is a stellar effort that might the best of her career. I can't think of any other rapper who comes to the mic as hard, but not violent, honest, emotional and real, while being more mature than more juvenile mc's. "Don't Rush Me" is a seriously powerful song about self-doubt; and yet, the next is a serious tearjeaker--not some sad tale of love lost or anything so trivial, but a honest account of an abortion she had when she was a teenager. 9th Wonder does a great job here with difficult material--balancing the serious material with soul samples that match theme of the song--atonement. In a world that is based upon male braggodocio and one upsmanship, Jean Grae in the past has proven she can spar with anyone verbally; here she opens herself up, and the music certainly is all the better for it.
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4b. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
Ok, so I'm cheating and making this is a top 11, with these Seattle harmonic newcomers. When I first saw the cover, I figured I'd like it--Renaissance painter Pieter Brueghel was a favorite of mine when I first learned of him freshman year of high school. Upon first listen, they reminded me of Paul Simon's Graceland, specifically the songs where Ladysmith Black Mambazo colloborated with the New York folk star. These hipster darlings certainly deserve the hype. Normally, I don't like folk music--I find it too forced, too quirky, too political without really saying anything. Foxes don't seem forced at all, their harmonies subtle and beautiful. It seems perfect for a day spent driving to a hike outside Portland, Oregon--in fact, it reminds me nearly exactly the feeling I got watching Kelly Reichardt's 2006 film Old Joy [starring Will Oldham; although I do enjoy this album much more than I did that film], that is, a serene peacefulness, away from the hectic drama that is a life in a big city. This is music of dawn in nature, just before everything wakes up and shuffles about in eternal restlessnes. It is a beautiful moment, but an altogether fleeting one. Perfect for, well, Fleet Foxes.
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4a. Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping
Life is not one serene, fleeting moment. It is one, long, drawn out, complicated affair. It can be fun, it can be fucked up, but can there be possibly a better approach than to treat it as one big insane dance party? I think not. Kevin Barnes seems to have that very approach. Like Jean Grae, he is very open and honest about his private life in his music, but instead of boiling down to get to the very emotion and let it out, he lets it simmer, lets it lay there in all it's rawness and create something out of it. Skeletal Lamping sounds very similar to it's predecessor, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Any album that goes from "We can do it softcore if you want, but you know I go both ways" in a danceable glee, to "Why am I so damaged?" with a melancholic piano just a couple minutes later, and then returning back to horns and more dance-it-all-out mentality just seconds later gets a vote in my book.
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3. The Roots: Rising Down
The hardest working band in show business follows up their darkest album to date, 2006's Game Theory, with a very similar album, with a mood perhaps a bit more reflective. The album opens with a heated argument taped years ago, when the Legendary where having problems with their record label. Where Game Theory felt more like an in-your-face message to fight the wrongs, Rising Down seems more content with the fact that the world's a fucked up place. That the world is a dark place that won't get much better is perhaps the inspiration for their being the house band on Jimmy Fallon's upcoming late night talk show.
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2. Q-Tip: The Renaissance
It's hard to stay in the music business for a long time, let alone in the extremely fickle nature of the rap game. Q-Tip is marking two decades since A Tribe Called Quest bursted onto the scene with 1990's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. ATCQ went their mutual ways in 1998 after ten years together; they have recently toured together, but each member has since released solo albums. Frontman Q-Tip's first was Breathe and Stop, which was, to his fans, surprisingly commercial, full of dance songs for a club. He did a complete 180 in trying to release his jazzy, folksy album Kamaal the Abstract, his record company refused--it wasn't poppy enough and deemed too experimental [especially in the days before Andre 3000 released The Love Below]. The Renaissance sees him return to somewhere in between--yes, the songs are poppy and catch, but they're the jazzy, straight up hip hop that ATCQ was known for. ''Gettin' Up" was probably my favorite single of 2008.
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1. Erykah Badu: New Amerykah, Part 1 [4th World War]
The best album of the year. And it's not even close. Erykah Badu is always hard to describe; call her R&B, soul, the cliched term neo-soul, call her a b-girl at heart, but this album was ambitious--discussing the life of a soldier, the state of race in the country, love, and having a short monologue in ancient Egyptian. The production is varied--starting off with a soulful guitar riff, claps, like the start of a great 70s flick. It features production by many talented artists; the Roots, ?uestlove and Karriem Riggins; a couple members of LA hip hop band Sa-Ra; and two of the most talented djs in hip hop today, Madlib and 9th Wonder. Where some might go wrong and just have a bunch of excellent sounding singles, Badu clearly approached this album as one cohesive unit, one sound, one feeling, one approach---one that is hopeful for the future, but still knowing of the world in which we live. "Master Teacher" features a powerful message of what life could be, "Soldier" describes what life is like in the ghetto and how that could improve, "Me" delves in the depths of Badu's psyche and self-identity, "Telephone" is a powerful eulogy for the departed prolific hip hop producerJay Dee, using a beat of his from his last tome, Donuts. Her 2000 release Baduizm was a classic of soul/jazz/r&b. I didn't think she could get better than that, yet she managed to top it. It's no wonder her relationships with several prominent rap artists have had a profound influence on their art, their style, and their overall approach--Common, Mos Def and Andre 3000, most notably. I look forward to the second part of this album---New Amerykah Part II [Return of the Ankh] is scheduled to be released February 17.
_________________________________
10. She & Him : Volume One
Starring indie chanteuse of the year 2008--Zooey Deschanel. Would this be as popular if she wasn't an adorable actress? Probably not. Does that matter? Probably not. Teaming up with hipster producer maven M. Ward, this is a very easy album to listen to; perfect for a lazy saturday afternoon, when you're sitting around and cleaning your apartment, the weather isn't too cold but isn't too warm, and you don't want to venture outside because it's raining. She certainly could have made a career as a country-folk singer in the 70s.
__________________________________________________________
9. People Under The Stairs: Fun DMC
This underground group from LA are unabashed throwbacks to another era in hip-hop. They are the music for the party where nothing too dirty is going on, where you know everyone there, where it's a bunch of friends wasting time on a hot midsummer saturday night. The first single is just that--"Anotha BBQ". It harkens back to the first days of hip hop, meant as party music and a good time for all ages--not club music, not gangsta music--but just good, fun loving block party music. The whole album has that laid back, California vibe--and it's what PUTS do best.
___________________________________________
8. TV On The Radio: Dear Science
Their 2006 release Return To Cookie Mountain was so good that a followup letdown would not even be that much of a disappointment. Dear Science, however, did not disappoint. This Brooklyn indie rock group has gotten a lot of pub in recent years, although thankfully perhaps without the youthful energetic hype that, say, Vampire Weekend got. A little less rock, a little more electronic, a little less hectic, a little more varied than Return To Cookie Mountain. Look for lead singer Tunde Adebimpe in a key supporting role in Anne Hathaway's Oscar vehicle "Rachel Getting Married."
_____________________________
7. Dillinger Four: C I V I L W A R
What happens when punks grow up? They become wiser, more polished, more mature. But no less fun. After a six year long hiatus spent becoming more, well, adults [Erik has a bar/restaurant/music venue/club in St. Paul, Minnesota], Paddy, Erik, Bill & Lane finally put out another album. Better, more biting lyrically--covering more broad social topics, yet never taking themselves too seriously, per usual. Not as great a work as their 1998 debut Midwestern Songs of the Americas, but still an excellent work. You can think of them as Green Day deciding not go to big--which is precisely what D4 has decided, after having been approached many times by major labels.
__________________________________
6. Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
Minnesotans make the list consecutively. I was never a huge fan of this hip hop duo-at times I thought they could get a little too emo, and the production just was inconsistent. That's not to say I wasn't a fan, just not a big one. Lemons, however, is easily their best album to date. Producer Ant relies much less on samples than he ever has, instead using more live instrumentation. MC Slug covers broader topics than the typical explorations of his inner demons; while still sticking to the interests of the everyman.
________________________________________________________________
5. Jean Grae: Jeanius
For the cover art of her new release Jeanius, Jean Grae decided to reproduce four classic hip hop albums. While Jeanius may not hold up to comparison's of Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of MIllions To Hold Us Back, that is no insult. The Phoenix has proved herself to be one of the most talented MC's out there. Many rappers make the mistake of working with many different beatmakers and producers, leading to albums with a few individually great songs, but no cohesive sound or feeling to it. With Jeanius, the New Yorker worked with popular producer 9th Wonder; what came out [after a few years of leaks and changes] is a stellar effort that might the best of her career. I can't think of any other rapper who comes to the mic as hard, but not violent, honest, emotional and real, while being more mature than more juvenile mc's. "Don't Rush Me" is a seriously powerful song about self-doubt; and yet, the next is a serious tearjeaker--not some sad tale of love lost or anything so trivial, but a honest account of an abortion she had when she was a teenager. 9th Wonder does a great job here with difficult material--balancing the serious material with soul samples that match theme of the song--atonement. In a world that is based upon male braggodocio and one upsmanship, Jean Grae in the past has proven she can spar with anyone verbally; here she opens herself up, and the music certainly is all the better for it.
________________________________________
4b. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
Ok, so I'm cheating and making this is a top 11, with these Seattle harmonic newcomers. When I first saw the cover, I figured I'd like it--Renaissance painter Pieter Brueghel was a favorite of mine when I first learned of him freshman year of high school. Upon first listen, they reminded me of Paul Simon's Graceland, specifically the songs where Ladysmith Black Mambazo colloborated with the New York folk star. These hipster darlings certainly deserve the hype. Normally, I don't like folk music--I find it too forced, too quirky, too political without really saying anything. Foxes don't seem forced at all, their harmonies subtle and beautiful. It seems perfect for a day spent driving to a hike outside Portland, Oregon--in fact, it reminds me nearly exactly the feeling I got watching Kelly Reichardt's 2006 film Old Joy [starring Will Oldham; although I do enjoy this album much more than I did that film], that is, a serene peacefulness, away from the hectic drama that is a life in a big city. This is music of dawn in nature, just before everything wakes up and shuffles about in eternal restlessnes. It is a beautiful moment, but an altogether fleeting one. Perfect for, well, Fleet Foxes.
_________________________________________________________________
4a. Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping
Life is not one serene, fleeting moment. It is one, long, drawn out, complicated affair. It can be fun, it can be fucked up, but can there be possibly a better approach than to treat it as one big insane dance party? I think not. Kevin Barnes seems to have that very approach. Like Jean Grae, he is very open and honest about his private life in his music, but instead of boiling down to get to the very emotion and let it out, he lets it simmer, lets it lay there in all it's rawness and create something out of it. Skeletal Lamping sounds very similar to it's predecessor, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Any album that goes from "We can do it softcore if you want, but you know I go both ways" in a danceable glee, to "Why am I so damaged?" with a melancholic piano just a couple minutes later, and then returning back to horns and more dance-it-all-out mentality just seconds later gets a vote in my book.
______________________________________________
3. The Roots: Rising Down
The hardest working band in show business follows up their darkest album to date, 2006's Game Theory, with a very similar album, with a mood perhaps a bit more reflective. The album opens with a heated argument taped years ago, when the Legendary where having problems with their record label. Where Game Theory felt more like an in-your-face message to fight the wrongs, Rising Down seems more content with the fact that the world's a fucked up place. That the world is a dark place that won't get much better is perhaps the inspiration for their being the house band on Jimmy Fallon's upcoming late night talk show.
_____________________________________________________________
2. Q-Tip: The Renaissance
It's hard to stay in the music business for a long time, let alone in the extremely fickle nature of the rap game. Q-Tip is marking two decades since A Tribe Called Quest bursted onto the scene with 1990's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. ATCQ went their mutual ways in 1998 after ten years together; they have recently toured together, but each member has since released solo albums. Frontman Q-Tip's first was Breathe and Stop, which was, to his fans, surprisingly commercial, full of dance songs for a club. He did a complete 180 in trying to release his jazzy, folksy album Kamaal the Abstract, his record company refused--it wasn't poppy enough and deemed too experimental [especially in the days before Andre 3000 released The Love Below]. The Renaissance sees him return to somewhere in between--yes, the songs are poppy and catch, but they're the jazzy, straight up hip hop that ATCQ was known for. ''Gettin' Up" was probably my favorite single of 2008.
_______________________________________________________________
1. Erykah Badu: New Amerykah, Part 1 [4th World War]
The best album of the year. And it's not even close. Erykah Badu is always hard to describe; call her R&B, soul, the cliched term neo-soul, call her a b-girl at heart, but this album was ambitious--discussing the life of a soldier, the state of race in the country, love, and having a short monologue in ancient Egyptian. The production is varied--starting off with a soulful guitar riff, claps, like the start of a great 70s flick. It features production by many talented artists; the Roots, ?uestlove and Karriem Riggins; a couple members of LA hip hop band Sa-Ra; and two of the most talented djs in hip hop today, Madlib and 9th Wonder. Where some might go wrong and just have a bunch of excellent sounding singles, Badu clearly approached this album as one cohesive unit, one sound, one feeling, one approach---one that is hopeful for the future, but still knowing of the world in which we live. "Master Teacher" features a powerful message of what life could be, "Soldier" describes what life is like in the ghetto and how that could improve, "Me" delves in the depths of Badu's psyche and self-identity, "Telephone" is a powerful eulogy for the departed prolific hip hop producerJay Dee, using a beat of his from his last tome, Donuts. Her 2000 release Baduizm was a classic of soul/jazz/r&b. I didn't think she could get better than that, yet she managed to top it. It's no wonder her relationships with several prominent rap artists have had a profound influence on their art, their style, and their overall approach--Common, Mos Def and Andre 3000, most notably. I look forward to the second part of this album---New Amerykah Part II [Return of the Ankh] is scheduled to be released February 17.