MY BEST OF 2008 LIST
So the year is almost over and it is time for my annual list. I hope the following is useful to those looking for new film and music. I would very much like to check out others' lists and would be happy to burn a mixtape with some of my top music of 08 on it if anyone is interested. Comments and discussion are always fun too.
My 10 Favourite Films of 2008:
Amongst my favourite films in 2008, none are quite alike. For quite some time now I have been drawn to minimalism in all mediums of art and my favourite film of the year demonstrated the extent to which narrative cinema is able to strip itself down while remaining powerful and affecting. The opposite of pared down was the latest Bond installment, which is ideally watched after reading Juan Cole's essential commentary on its Bolivarian undertones. Schroeter didn’t think his body of work was crazy enough so he outdid himself again. Kaufman showed himself to be as talented a director as he is a screenwriter. And Haneke attempted the task of Borges’ Pierre Menard and decided to remake his exact film in a different time and arguably to different results. Kurosawa and Denis offered us something of departure from their usual work. Du Welz’s film was not perfect but served as a fascinating follow-up to Calvaire and Béart was absolutely fantastic in it. And Reygadas and Garrone gave us a very raw and unromanticized look at two very different -- but in another sense extremely similar -- cultures centered on the family.
10. Michael Haneke - Funny Games (US)
9. Matteo Garrone - Gomorrah
8. Charlie Kaufman - Synocdoche, NY
7. Kiyoshi Kurosawa - Tokyo Sonata
6. Claire Denis - 35 Rhums
5. Marc Forster - Quantum of Solace
4. Carlos Reygadas - Silent Light
3. Fabrice Du Welz - Vinyan
2. Werner Schroeter - Nuit de Chien
1. Albert Serra - Birdsong (El Cant des ocells)
My 20 Favourite Albums of 2008:
2008 marked a further departure from the rockism that had plagued much of my past. This move, however, hadn’t been intentional. Most of the heavy-hitters failed to impress and I wasn’t able to spend enough time with the new Deerhunter or No Age to really appreciate them. Though my indie choices are far from challenging, I must admit to initially hating Vampire Weekend, a band who has since turned New England into my personal utopia. I was also surprised to find myself really liking the new release by Kings of Leon, a band I hadn’t ever liked before.
In terms of electronic music 2008 was a curious year for me. I could not help but feel that the oft-cited sound Cut Copy, Crystal Castles, and Hot Chip were offering was nothing more than the Michael Crichton airport novels of the electronic music world. But Minimal, more now than ever, proved that it was not going anywhere. Having not heard Sool before seeing Ellen Allien play with Sascha Funke, I was quite surprised to hear that she had taken a very large step in that direction. In the more experimental corner of the electronic world, there was also Jeck and Fennesz who, well, have a tendency to make my list every year they put something out.
2008 was an especially bad year for stubborn purists of any stripe, as the good stuff was all over the map. On one end of the musical spectrum Jacaszek’s album was the most beautiful thing I heard in 2008 and on the other end of the spectrum I think it would be safe to say that our collective patience was well rewarded with the eventual release of the equally impressive Tha Carter III (especially the tracks with Babyface and Bobby Valentino).
20. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista [Fonal]
19. Luomo - Convivial [HUUME]
18. Fennesz - Black Sea [Touch]
17. Manuel Zurria - Repeat! [Die Schachtel]
16. Marcel Dettmann - Berghain 02 [Ostgut]
15. Ellen Allien - Sool [BPitch Control]
14. Sten - The Essence [Dial]
13. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes [Sub Pop]
12. Chromatics - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack IV…Night Drive [Italians Do It Better]
11. Pierre-Laurent Aimard - Hommage à Messiaen [Deutsche Grammophon]
10. Philip Jeck - Sand [Touch]
9. Ricardo Villalobos - Vasco EP [Perlon]
8. Clark - Turning Dragon [Warp]
7. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night [RCA]
6. M83 - Saturdays = Youth [Mute]
5. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III [Cash Money]
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend [XL]
3. Jacaszek - Treny [Miasmah]
2. Justus Köhncke - Safe and Sound [Kompakt]
1. Sascha Funke - Mango [BPitch Control]
My Favourite Reissue of 2008:
Narrowly edging out Basic Channel’s BCD-2 is the comparably important reissue of Wolfgang Voigt’s extremely influential ambient/drone project. Beyond its seminal stature in the history of electronic music, I would also venture to say that the sublimity of this collection finds its true peers in the sacred minimalism of Tavener and Pärt.
1. Gas - Nah und Fern [Kompakt]
My 10 Favourite Songs of 2008:
These were the tracks that stood out in 08. Two tracks come from the latest installment of the always reliable Kompakt Total series. The remixes here are all great improvements on their original tracks. Of the songs here, I believe only the Alex Smoke track wasn’t released on its own as a single, but can be found on his three-track Vaporub EP. It was very difficult to nail down a single best track featuring T-Pain (with ‘Can’t Believe It’ representing Mr. Najm at his catchiest and "Chopped and Screwed" at his most innovative) but 'She Got It' won as his strongest song to date. The R&B tracks on Lil Wayne’s album are also excellent, but I’ve recommended his entire album in my top 20 albums.
10. Ne-Yo - Closer [Def Jam]
9. Alex Smoke - Clapface [Hum and Haw]
8. Sascha Dive - Deepest America (Moodymann Remix) [Ornaments]
7. Spencer Parker - Improvised Minotaur [REKIDS]
6. 2 Pistols ft. T-Pain - She Got It [Republic]
5. The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) [Modular]
4. Dubshape - Droplets (Early Night Mix) [Kompakt]
3. SoundStream - “Live” Goes On [Sound Stream]
2. Morgan Geist - Detroit (Carl Craig’s c2RMX2) [Environ]
1. Jonas Bering - I Can’t Stop Loving You [Kompakt]
My Favourite Blog of 2008:
I learned a great deal from this blog in 08. It is clean, current, updated regularly, and is a reliable source for discovering (and attaining) new electronic music and viewing cutting-edge, contemporary art. I met the mind behind the blog this summer and she’s good people.
1. Basic Sounds
My Favourite TV Show of 2008:
In recent years television has been getting better and better and this year was no exception. Strong candidates included the recent season of FX’s The Shield and AMC’s Mad Men and interesting newcomers HBO’s True Blood and FX’s Sons of Anarchy. But, ultimately, the final season of the Best Show on TV remained the best show on TV:
1. The Wire - Season 5.
My Favourite Magazine of 2008:
With articles centered on a single topic but culled from various first-rate sources throughout history and across all disciplines and cultures, this journal has something to offer everyone while remaining rigorously academic. As magazine readership continues to fall, this journal, with its ability to bring Foucault together with Peter Abelard, Seneca with Stanley Fish, Don Delillo with Helen Keller (and that is all within one issue), stands as a publisher’s answer to the hypertextualized internet age. That there even existed a single magazine that was at once readily available at your local bookstore and also intellectually stimulating came as a pleasant surprise to me.
1. Lampham’s Quarterly