Trevor's Top 20 Music Discoveries of 2008
20. Dion - Make The Woman Love Me
Phil Spector hasn't produced many full albums, but of those few he's managed to choose some unexpected artists to work with. From Yoko Ono and Leonard Cohen to The Ramones and Starsailor(?!), when Spector comes out of hiding, he does it for a reason. Dion's Born To Be With You from 1975 is a difficult listen. Almost all the songs are drenched in reverb and dragged through sonic mud, in addition to having all the tempos slowed down to dirges. The album wasn't even released in North America, as the label couldn't find a single to promote it with.
This cover of a sunny 60s pop song is re-envisioned as a hopeless plea from a delusional and desperate man who doesn't really know what love is. And it's a brilliant move.
19. MGMT - Kids
The harmonizing of the "ee" sounds in the chorus, is, I believe, what makes this song stand out from the rest for me. Nice drums too.
18. Katie Stelmanis' covers
After seeing her open for both Basia and Jens Lekman, I decided that I liked Katie Stelmanis enough to buy her album. However, the intensity of her live act (mostly from her keyboardist banging on floor toms and drum pads) was missing on the CD, and I was disappointed. Then, at the very end of the album she throws in a cover of Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman in a minor key, and (almost) all is redeemed. Even better is her cover of Roy Orbisons's "Crying"; a perfect fit for her operatic vocal style and melodramatic song titles.
Katie Stelmanis - Natural Woman
Katie Stelmanis - Crying
17. Ratatat's video for "Shempi"
Click to viewI have nothing to add.
Ratatat - Shempi
16. New Order - Temptation
This is the original 1981 12" single version that isn't on Substance. Bernard Sumner's vocals are pretty rough here and he often doesn't hit all the right notes, but there's a certain charming quality here that's missing from the subsequent remixes and re-recordings.
15. Amadou & Mariam - Sabali
Kind of like a chilled-out French Ladytron. When the arpeggios come in around the 2 minute mark, it's a real treat. Would also make a great ipod commercial.
14. Xiu Xiu - Under Pressure
Xiu Xiu have a history of covering songs and turning them into Xiu Xiu songs, but they choose them wisely: Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car", Joy Division/New Order's "Ceremony", Nina Simone's "He Needs Me", The Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha", etc. They all carry at least one of Xiu Xiu's central themes: sex, death, obsession, fear, love, and anger. Under Pressure is no different except this time they cover it relatively straight, replacing Freddie Mercury's scatting with an atonal saxophone and denying the listener the final "under pressure." Not as sacrilegious as it sounds.
13. Sugababes - About You Now
The only true out-and-out pop song on the list. It's overproduced, heavily compressed, and repetitive, but the chorus manages to cut through all that; proving that Sugababes continue to be one of the best pop acts around. It reached #1 on the Czech Singles Chart!
12. Paul McCartney - Temporary Secretary
Paul McCarntney released a really odd little album in 1980 called McCartney II. With Wings a past project, he was free to experiment with reggae, dance, and blues with mixed results. The best track (which, to my knowledge, has surprisingly not been sampled yet,) is definitely this weird electronic song that's kind of hard to believe exists. Someone on last.fm tagged it as "mccartney on cocaine is a beautiful trainwreck".
11. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
I know it's on everyone else's list, but it's very catchy.
10. M83's video for "Graveyard Girl"
Just in case the Cyndi Lauper guitars and Jesus & Mary Chain vocals didn't tip you off, the video for "Graveyard Girl" goes all John Hughes to remind you that M83 love the 1980s. That monologue about being too old at 15 is so cringingly bad it's good and sounds as if they actually had a 15-year-old girl write it.
9. This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
Elizabeth Fraser's performance on this song perfect in every way. It sounds as if she's singing to you on top of a giant metallic cloud.
8. Coil - Going Up
Coil made some of the darkest sounding music of the 80s and 90s. But the last song on their last album, (The Ape of Naples, 2005) recorded after lead singer Jhon Balance had died from AIDS, reaches absurd levels of haunting beauty. You'd never know that this song is in fact a cover of a TV theme song.
7. Big In Japan - Nothing Special
I can't really explain why I like this song. The vocals by Jayne Casey are screechy and the recording quality is poor. I also don't really know what the song is about, but judging from the band's grand total of seven songs, it's likely a self-loathing piece of pastiche/genius. One of my favourite guitar solos ever comes in at 2:06 too.
6. Martha & The Muffins' This Is The Ice Age
I nominate this album as the best Toronto album of at least the 1980s, if not all time. It sounds the same way it feels to be at the back of a streetcar in winter looking out at the bottoms of skyscrapers. Icy in the best way possible.
Martha & The Muffins - Swimming
Martha & The Muffins - One Day In Paris
Martha & The Muffins - Boy Without Filters
5. Jon Brion - Little Person
Synecdoche, New York was probably my favourite movie I saw this year. Equal parts heartbreak and abstract comedy, it was the music that really helped define the world of the movie. This song (sung by Deanne Storey) will stay with you.
4. Spiritualized® - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (original version)
The story behind this one is that because of the heavy use of "Can't Help Falling In Love", Elvis Presley's estate asked that it be toned down to the version on the album. The prominence of the Elvis song throughout, however, adds another dreamy element to an already dream-like song. I can overlook the fact that this song is about drugs just as easily as I missed the section where the word "love" is replaced with "dope".
3. The Pastels - Nothing To Be Done
Jangly guitars, interweaving sing-song melodies, and two singers who can't really sing: 80s pop perfection!
2. music from Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks hit me hard. The world of Twin Peaks with its red curtains and black coffee, cherry pie and engine oil is now embedded in my brain, partly thanks to Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack.
Angelo Badalamenti - Audrey's Dance
Jimmy Scott - Sycamore Trees
Julee Cruise - The World Spins
1. Arthur Russell
This was a good year to discover Arthur Russell. With his recordings slowly trickling out of the vaults and a documentary about his life and music, it's been easy to obsess about his skimming cello and paper-thin voice. His range of styles just blows me away, as his songwriting in any mode is sublime. I think every one of these songs is #1 for me:
Arthur Russell - That's Us/Wild Combination
Arthur Russell - Keeping Up
Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
Arthur Russell - Don't Forget About Me
Arthur Russell - You Can Make Me Feel Bad
Arthur Russell - Our Last Night Together