The release of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s Horse Power EP last year skyrocketed the group to the top of our must watch list. Neither words nor images from this band reflect the dreamy well produced sound of the first four tracks recorded in their Detroit basement. The history of powerful classic rock and deep seedy techno associated with the Motor City are as far away from the bands cheery sound as the NASCAR crowd associated with their name and birth city will be from their shows. The juxtaposition is not a source for ironic hipster humor in the music, the laughter begins with the bands name and NASCAR outfits on stage, and ends as the beauty behind the vocal harmonies, melodic hooks, and subtle electronic fills in songs such as "God Only Knows" and "Vocal Chords" take an audience member out of the sticky floored tavern they paid to get into, and into their own secret garden in paradise; holding hands, thinking pleasant thoughts, and enjoying the all the pretty colors. The release of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s first full length "It's a Corporate World" brings the band touring to our own local seedy tavern here in Seattle - Tractor to be specific - where the Disconnect will be there to watch the live show live up to expectations just as well as first listens to "It's a Corporate World" complemented and expanded the great sounds brought to us by the Horse Power EP.
Opening for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will be California transplant from South Dakota EMA (Erika M. Anderson). Her bio lists her as a direct descendent of Erik Blood-Axe the ruthless viking warrior, but first listens to her just-released debut album "Past Life Martyed Saints" suggest a sound much more fitting to the breezy mountaintops of the Appalachians than to the rough waves crashing against a pillaging viking ship that her heritage suggests. Here is a snip of what EMA has to say about her single "Grey Ship":
"I’ve wanted to make a piece that changes fidelity in the middle of the song, from lo-fi to hi-fi. I imagined it being like when Dorothy opens the door to Oz and the whole world turns from black and white to technicolor."
In "Grey Ship" EMA plays with the expectations the history of music production has given us, and I like it. There is something in her that has emerged in recent music, the synthesis of purity, and destruction, of beauty and grunge. Think Sleigh Bells turned down from to 7 and played on an A-Track in your 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. I dropped in "Grey Ship" and "Vocal Chords" below the post to get you ready, see you at the show.
For the longest time I thought this band was closer to list mates Crystal Castles than Dodos. As it turns out they are a mix of both. The reason for my early categorization towards the former was a result of my method of music assimilation. An initial listen and judgment followed by brief journeys into early tracks to see if my mood was met by the rhythm. The MGMT reminiscent dance beats entering the early tracks of this album separated In Ghost Colours from the rest; the quality indie lyrics brought the album some solidity separating it from the score of music fitting the successful template of either genre. If the second half of the album were as good as the first Cut Copy would find its sophomore production higher up on this list, it surprises me that it holds the very last spot. If there were not 24 better albums this would be #1. But you already knew that.
Holy Hail is hard. In part because there is little information about the NYC band from which we can interpret to fit our idea of their music. But mostly because of how solid they are. I keep returning to this album over and again. There are better and worse songs, but that is not what sticks out. It is the style--funky New York City beats mixed with Phenomenal Handclap Band vibe (#26 on this list if there was one) Quintron southern synth and Le Tigre Attitude. Of all the bands on this list it is the only one that leaves me in a struggle to find diffinitve efficiant descritive phrases. Something I take as a personal offence, but I allow in reverance and solidarity to the Independent Pleasure Club.
Crystal Castles is the bands debut self-titled LP. The band is a collaboration between producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass; these two have shown the world that canada still likes to party. The band gained popularity from the remixes Kath was sending out of Toronto, but their own work on this record stands tall in its own right. The beats are rough and energetic-verging on being a video game trip house, but good base and Glass's passionate,throat-inconsiderate sining defines the music separate from the rest and gives plenty of replay and love value. To diversify we also get some chill micro ballads on this record like some early Weezer song sung by a chick who cried for a week after Cobain died, its good.
Two of my favorite words to describe music are dope and crunk. Many bands meet the requirements to illicit these words out of me, all that is needed is a sick beat really. Just this though is not enough to distinguish anyone to the top 25. Beats Antique go above and beyond Dope and Crunk. Not only do they feature a song called Dope Crunk on Collide, they are everything good DJ's should be as well as everything a good Indian tribal leader needs to show. live instrumentals, smoking middle eastern belly dancers and eastern twang bringing hip hop to a whole new level as yet unexploited by the top 40 machine. Their loss. If I may share an anecdote, Beats Antique were featured in my monolith reject playlist I made regretting what I would miss at that festival. In the process the featured song Beauty Beats was too great for me to miss live and I partied on stage with these guys despite whatever I missed out on that I thought would be too great a sacrifice. Now I don't recall what band I missed, but I do recall the horse head I smashed onto the crown of the violinist, as well as the sweet sweat that dripped from my whirling fingers flying over the heads of the raging crowd beneath my feet.
I am not that big a promoter for The Walkmen. I Usually cant get that into their vibe I guess, I can't quite put my finger on it. You & Me made a big come back for the band in the blogosphere and I decided I needed to give a real solid listen for my opinion to remain relevant. I was glad I did. Hamilton Leithauser's vocals are beautiful. Unique to any singer I know. You & Me flows wonderfully as an album, growing and waning in perfect time, it illicits nostalgia from any listener. The music's classic sound somehow sounds like something that may only be created in a modern time. Where a perceptive band--as The Walkmen have proven themselves to be-senses the yearning of a modern generation for the raw power of well crafted and un-altered instruments mixed with the passionate singing that hasn't been needed to carry a complete sound since the days of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. You & Me is beauty, and beauty in all things I value more than any other.
Little Joy is the debut album for the band. Some would consider it one of those side projects, but if so it sounds more polished and complete than anything I have worked less than overtime on. The band is made up of Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, Los Hermanos Brazzilian native singer Rodrigo Amarante and L.A. Beauty in sound and image Binki Shapiro. The Strokes affiliation should be immediately disregarded. Rodrigo's crooning voice is more to the deep relaxing sound of Velvet Underground and Nico. The album ebbs and flows bossa nova, early-'70s sunshiny pop. It is made up of simple songs recorded simply and sung sweetly. Poodle skirts and flower patterns make sense in the context this music presents, and little joy would better scale to the fruit drink enjoyed while listening than to the big joy represented by the corners of your mouth reaching as close to the sound entering your ears as is possible.
Visiter is the Dodos second studio album and (I can say because they are one of the few bands on this list to produce a followup album between 2008 and now) their best. Visitor is very much everything we first loved about Indie music since we first saw Garden State, loved the Shins and downloaded from Napster. Which is not to say it is the same--the great thing about the indie genre I throw so much music into is that it is very broad. Visiter is an album set apart by its percussive drive, loose chords, finger picking, and sweet charming vocals. It is an example of what similar music should be. It delights with its build and variation, offering surprises and transformations within the compilation and individual tracks. I don't know how their album found its way as many do onto my hard drive without specific or noteworthy recommendation, but it did. And to me Dodos sounds like a '70s TV show band which was enough to always send me to another discovery when exploring my library for new gems. I first listened to Visiter when just popping quickly through all my albums labeled 2008 for this list and it was immediately good enough to warrant deep understanding and save it from removal from contention as almost all unknowns were. It speaks to the greatness of the album that it ranks top 20 above albums I have loved all year or two and have changed my listening dynamic and attitude in their time. It stands as the only album on this list to be discovered because of the creation of the list.
In the life of a band, one can only hope that there will be one album which stands out above the rest. An album which when heard the listener thinks to himself that there has not been and will never be an album this good made by this artist. When it came to Beck Odelay was this album. I am not prepared to say that Modern Guilt has topped this 96' masterpiece, however; it speaks to the quality of Beck as an artist that his twelfth 'post peak' studio album comes in #18 in such a year as 2008 was. This album is free of Beck's sometimes depressed wallowing, has a fair number of five-star standouts, and it's tracks could be freely swapped to fit with Guero or Odelay, a firm stand at the top of an amazing catalog. 
Do you feel like having your head exploded in the best way since you first heard daft punk? Do you want a reason to wear leather to a concert and come off as badass instead of suicidal? Do you want to take drugs, smash windows and urinate on public property? Listen to Justice. And if the last question particularly interested you, or if you want to see an amazing music video that gives the vibe of this band better than any of my words could than watch the music video to Stress off of †. Justice is a good companion album to the aforementioned Crystal Castles album, but you should expect better beats, more complexity, a darker feel, less vocals and an overall more transcendiary experience. 
Megapuss is--a bit of a silly band. One of those side projects that no one really made their life's work, but turned out better than anything the artists involved ever did with the highest self expectations. The band is made up of Greg Rogove; Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti (also of Little Joy and like about 12 other bands), and folk king pin Devandra Banhart. The result is a really excellent well thought half joke. Surfing sat in my computer for months before I was willing to give a band called Meagapuss a shot (turns out puss is the Swedish word for kiss). I loved the band and the album so much, and played it so often that I felt it imperative to find out who this band was really made of. I was a little surprised, but it makes sense.
The Black Keys have taken what every classic rock group tried and failed to do--blues and rock together--and actually done it. This record is chill, beautiful, talented, energetic, and powerful. The Black Keys are able take a defined genre and totally morph it into something better-I know of very few others who are able to do this without making a product worse than its subsidiary components. This has been again demonstrated recently with their newest project Blakroc--a collaboration of The Black Keys and most of the best thug rappers out there redefining
What happened with this album is Diplo took Santogold's self titled debut, remixed all the tracks, doubled the track list throwing in XXXchange, Ratatat, Three 6 Mafia, Radioclit, Kid Cudi--and a ton others--made the whole thing Dub and pressed it on his record label Mad Decent. Diplo is another one of those producers who just tears it up on everything he does--before Top Ranking he dropped Piracy Funds Terrorism with MIA and blew the whole scene up, and he has done it again Dub style here. I recommend setting up that multi colored stripped plastic lawn chair in your front yard, rolling at least three joints, sporting the coolest pair of Wayfarers you own and bump all 75 minutes of this mix as close to your audio receptors (ears) as possible. If there are any hot bitches around you will find a shirtless dance party happening in and all around you, so be prepared.
Lykke Li, full name Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson, is beautifull. I knew it was true the moment I first heard her debut LP Youth Novel--although I never saw her before writing this today. Lykke Li is one more amoung the very few wonderfull, quirky female indie singers. More somber than Feist, a little less crazy and haunting than Fever Ray, and in my opinion the best amoung them. Half of Youth Novel seems an cinematic soundtrack to an independant European film, and the rest a poppy chearfull girl with and upbeat tracking that could have come from an Of Montreal album.
This album gives me chills when I think about it. Okervil River is an Indi-Folk band, The Stand Ins is an album full of soul without being too slow or loosing its chill rock vibe. Will Robison Sheff's vocals are presented emotionally devistated, but also uplifted. When I first was introduced to Okkervil River I thought the group to be a bit of a downer; however, when I gave their fifth studio album The Stand Ins a thurough first listining I was blown away by the beauty and emotion in the sound. Although origionally from New Hampshire the band became what and who it is in Austin Texas; their albums since are a great looking glase into that scene without all of the punk and grunge usually represented in that city. This album is particularly well composed and varied with deep ballads shuffled with great pop Indi/Folk flowing intuitively together.
If every singer in every band could sing as Robin Pecknold of Seattle based Fleet Foxes sings than there would be no bad music. It would not be possible, I imagine that voice in a forest, in a torture chamber, in a junkyard, inside a person; no matter the situation I can not help my captivation. My senses are stunned by the beauty upon impact. Fleet Foxes self titled debut was released through one of my favorite labels, Sub Pop records--if you are familiar with the label than you already have enough information to know exactly what kind of music Fleet Foxes make, and are this second following my download link. The band has a special place with me, they represent the beginning of my love of music. I first downloaded the album after hearing Sun Giant on NPR's All Songs Considered Podcast. It was the first episode I had ever listened to, and it was loaded; it blew my mind. From that episode I downloaded and enjoyed for the first time Spoon, Fleet Foxes, Cloud Cult and maybe a few others. The experience was so positive I decided that finding wonderful music and listening to it was a valuable use of all of my time, it literally changed me forever. There are so many people I know who are ripe for that same experience. The sad truth is that you pretty much already have to be a music aficionado to spend time reading this far down into some guys music blog post, however if I have so convinced you to look at this list I created and you would label yourself a casual music listener than this album as well as the Cloud Cult one below are here for your taking, and these very tracks were what filled me with such passion so long ago, I believe it may do the same for you. Try and find a pretty person to listen to it with you, that helps with the passion.
There is a trend going on here. Criteria for making this list--or just about any list I make--is for the most part two fold. The album is either super crunk dope shit, or so absolutely too beautiful not to want to fill a pool with it and drown. This album has taken my breath away in many very different listening environments, and is hands down the second most beautiful album of 2008. Blind Pilot is a band from Portland, Oregon--these guys and another further on in this list together paint an image of that city so perfectly (and I can now say accurately) that I could not stop myself from driving up to that city in 2009 to really experience first hand the emotions and environment portrayed in this music. It is rare that a band is so compelling as to push you to drive 1,500 miles to see the kind of place that enabled this music to be created. I was not disappointed, and neither will you be. The simplicity of instrumentation is perfectly restrained, the vocals the kind as to make a girl melt in the front row--or as I try to pull it off--in my arms at three in the morning; comfort in the reflection of the glow I give by being such a man as to appreciate and introduce such music to another.
Cloud Cult is not just a name, and the lyrics in these songs are not just words. Imagine taking Modest Mouse and giving them an environmental prerogative and well--a different creative source in the form of Craig Minowa who has his own very unique voice. What I'm trying to say is that Cloud Cult is not just all talk. They are one of the best rock bands around, and have been since the beginning of the decade, but beside that they are very serious about taking action regarding their message. In terms of the band itself you can be sure that their footprint is more a mound of dirt and plants than an indent. All their products are 100% post consumer recycled. Thousands of trees are planted every tour to absorb pollutants created, Minowa created Earthology records to independently distribute their albums; you get the idea. I am always reticent to discuss the great things the band does as it takes the focus away from the music itself--which should not be done. Cloud Cult is easily one of my most listened to bands, and their most recent album Feel Good Ghosts is my clear favorite. The live show is unlike any other featuring live painting and screen projections. Cloud Cult had a huge hand in Monolith music festival its first two years and worked with Red Rocks and Esurance to make that festival green and everything great and natural that it is today, which I can speak from experience is one of the best festivals out there right now.
I found this album on bearbot's websight as a givaway mix shortly after the bands inception. 'The band' being an NYU student named Euna who has a side DJ job and happens to be batter at it than Girl Talk. On that note a good way to get an idea about what this album holds is to think of Girl Talk working with between two and five songs per track and doing it better. The only critisizm with BEARMIX is that there are few songs that don't feature Ratatat or Justice--but back in 08 this was not a flaw thrown in everyones face by every 'mashup artist' with garage band. Since then BEARBOT has released a real LP, which comes accross more origional and less party mix, and is great. BEARMIX will always have a place with me however, because every single track is better than it's subsiquint parts. This album blew my mind, has never left regular rotation and has exploded the heads of countles people to whom I have refered BEARBOT to.
Wow this is a surprise. This band opened for Franz Ferdinand when he played at the rialto. Turns out they kick ass and made the fifth best album of 2008. I love their vibe, and their presence. Especially the drummer, I like him. And the singer. I didn't realize how good I thought this album was before I looked at it for this list and saw that every song except track 6 had been four or five starred. It's dynamic, percussive, energetic and great.
The most beautiful thing I have yet listened to in my life, period. Bon Iver is the recording name of indie folk singer Justin Vernon. For Emma Forever Ago was self released in 2007, but picked up by indie-rock label Jagiaguwa and released nationally in 2008. So it still counts ;) The music is easy to describe, just wonderfully toned singing, simple guitar, and great production value. There may be a few secret strings, horns and drums, but they are sneaky secret instruments. What is hard to describe is the feeling that your body feels when you put on some nice headphones and totally immerse yourself in the beauty and feeling of For Emma Forever Ago. If you want to find something out about yourself, or whats happening in your life right now, than accompany the phones with a splif, and the sheer power of the songs will move you to great new places across an ocean of lulling tides and self fulfillment.
