Yndlinge albummer af 2008

I wanted to have this up yesterday, but I was getting tired and incoherent. When Sune Rose Wagner’s Altid (see number seven) nearly dropped me off to sleep, I decided to quit. But now I’m awake -- now two days later -- so here are my ten favorite albums this year. The numbers, especially five through ten, don’t really mean that much, though, and are subject to frequent change.

10. No Way Down (EP) – Air France
In my opinion, this is the least outstanding of all the albums on here, though it’s probably also the one that’s gotten (elsewhere) the most good press. It’s a good EP, but right now I think it sounds a little tired, and I’ve never liked it as much as Air France’s previous effort, the On Trade Winds EP (number 6 on my 2007 list). But it has just enough of that same Caribbean tinge, mixed this time with a feeling of adult-longing-child wistfulness, and their samples and sounds are well-chosen and interesting. Sort of like a dream -- no, better is great, and “No excuses” has become my mantra for the year.
(stream two tracks + others)

9. Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust – Sigur Rós
I must admit I was not impressed at first listen; I was particularly let down by Gobbledigook (though the video made it better for me). Light and happy Sigur Rós was not something that particularly interested me, and this is without doubt their lightest and happiest album. A few more listens and it got better. I still prefer the second half of the album (actually, technically, Festival through Straumnes), and I still like their earlier work better, in general, but no matter how peppy it may be, there’s no denying that Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust is a very beautiful album, and very much in the vein of other music by Sigur Rós. You can study to it, you can appreciate nature and snow to it, but in this case you can also, as proven by Gobbledigook, run around in a forest in the summer and scream and swim and just have a really, really okay time.
(mp3 -- Gobbledigook)
(stream three tracks)

8. Little Ones (EP) – Jesper Norda
Maybe my favorite song title of the year comes from this album: Tomorrow You’ll be Forgiven but Tonight You’ll Have Your Teeth Knocked Out. This line just rings true for me. Norda’s composition, throughout the EP, is excellent. It’s sparse, just gradually crescendoing piano, occasional percussion, and, of course, his voice, crisp with very slight reverb, resonant, and surprisingly low -- you don’t really hear many singers in the bass register any more. On Little Dance, for example, Norda's voice sounds kind of soothing, but it also sounds kind of sly. His voice, instrumentation, and subject matter (though I’ll admit I don’t listen to the lyrics all that much, but rather the sound) all fit together really well. It's a great little EP.
(mp3 -- Tomorrow You'll Be Forgiven...)
(download full album)

7. Sune Rose Wagner – Sune Rose Wagner
Sune Rose Wagner, my favorite half of the Raveonettes, released his solo debut just a couple weeks ago. It’s all Danish, but aside from that, it sounds just like what you’d expect -- the sixties influence is strong (he really should have been born earlier), the instruments are stripped down -- nothing overproduced -- and the songs are very reminiscent of the calmer parts of the Raveonettes. (Think The Heavens, from Pretty in Black).
Honestly, speaking of the Raveonettes, I’d have loved to have put their most recent full album, Lust Lust Lust, on here, but even though it wasn’t released in the US until February, it was out in Europe in 2007, and therefore ineligible. That’s probably part of the reason I put Sune’s solo effort on here. However, it sounds just like I hoped, when I first found out, that it would sound, and I do like it a lot. I translated the Danish titles easily enough, but other than that, I don’t really know what he’s saying, and I don’t mind keeping it that way. I’m happy with simply the sound.
(stream four tracks)

6. Silly Killings – Said the Shark
Silly Killings is Said the Shark’s second album, and it’s just as pretty as -- and far more pessimistic than -- their first. The stand-out track is, without question, Shaky Heart. The songs have a very distinct, very sad, sound -- bells or chimes in, I think, at least half of the tracks, maybe more. It’s not just the bells that make that sound, but the combination of those and the instrumentation and Maya Saxall’s unique voice (she lives now in Denmark, but is originally from Canada). Even so, every song is different from the one before; nothing is overused or overdone. The music is so good, and the lyrics are, as well. My favorite, from Miles and Miles, with vocal duty shared with a J Mascis-sounding guest: you just can’t build a picket fence around miles and miles of home -- so good. You have to hear it.
(stream three tracks + others)

5. Starfucker – Starfucker
It’s important for me to clarify a few things. Starfucker got a really bad review on Pitchfork, and I’ll admit I do agree with parts of it. Yes, if you’ve seen Starfucker live, their album is something of a letdown in comparison with the show. But really -- does any album, by any band, ever come close to matching the intensity and excitement of their live show? I really don’t think so. Pretending I have no idea what the band is like live, the album comes out sounding very good. No, it’s not dance-y music with neon and day-glo and Mardi Gras beads; it’s more like studying music (that’s what I did) that also happens to be catchy. But it’s also very lonely, sort of drifting, and Josh Hodges’ sadly effected voice (which I wrote about last year, too, when I put his former band Sexton Blake’s Hungry Heart on the songs list) does it just right.
It's not a perfect album; I like the second half a lot better than the first, and the fourth quarter a lot better than the third. The last song, Isabella of Castile, is particularly beautiful -- I know you have to go, but I want to keep you to myself, like a dream, I can tell, we’ll never be alone -- I just can’t imagine any other voice -- or even band -- doing that.
Pitchfork called this album introspective and detached, like that was a bad thing. I don’t think it is.
(mp3 -- German Love)
(stream full album)

4. Saturdays = Youth – m83
Okay, everyone has heard and loved this album already. So I’m not going to say much about it. It should be clear, of course, that Kim & Jessie is not the only good song on the album. What’s less clear is what my favorite song is or should be -- largely, they all blend together; this is much more a cohesive album than a collection of individual songs. This could be just one big thing.
I like the shoegaze feel and the spaciness and distortion, the swells and waves, and the sort of vagary. But I also like that it sounds kind of like these creepy monastic choral recordings one of my sociology professors used to play -- and that in this context that slight creepiness is a good thing.
(stream full album)

3. Recordings 2008 (EP) – the Big Pink
The word I was searching for was swirling. All Leslie speakers and distorted guitars and echo-y, pleading vocals. If this EP were more than seventeen minutes long, I might die. This is perfect in so many ways, and I really cannot understand why more than 428 people (according to last.fm) have not listened to it. Thank you.
(stream three tracks + others)

2. More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide – Hello Saferide
I went back and forth so many times with this one; it’s been in the number one spot just as long as, if not longer than, it’s been number two. And if I could have two number ones, I would. As it is, I put More Modern Short Stories here because of Sancho Panza and 25 Days, mostly, because I had to pick some reason -- but I’m not going to talk about what I don’t like. This is still a really great album. (I mean, even my dad likes X Telling Me About the Loss of Something Dear, at Age 16.) The music is wonderful -- no handclaps, sadly, but it’s more advanced than Introducing… Hello Saferide, really fleshed out -- and Annika Norlin was nominated, not surprisingly, for a Swedish Grammy for songwriting. There may be a few songs I’m less fond of, but the others more than make up for it, acoustic and electric, and all different degrees of heartbreaking, like my favorite, Middle Class’s wishful, never to be fulfilled promise: And then I’ll be happy, I swear. The album title is fitting, because Hello Saferide really is a wonderful storyteller. Every song brings a wide-eyed gasp.
(mp3 -- Anna)
(stream full album)

1. The Midnight Organ Fight – Frightened Rabbit
As I said before, I had a terrible time deciding between my number one and number two. I was tempted to put Hello Saferide here, because I love her as a person, and I don’t feel that way about Frightened Rabbit, but what I do love is their album, and in the end, this is an album list. The Midnight Organ Fight is unimpeachable and pretty much flawless. There are no bad songs. The lyrics are brilliant and both the music and singer Scott Hutchison’s voice are perfectly suited to them. There’s pain here -- real pain -- and it’s conveyed so well, time and time again. The emotion is honest -- almost too honest to be bearable. The album skates just on the edge between disaster and excellence, and when it falls, it falls on the right side. I really liked Scottish pop for a long time; this is the album that made me love it. I can’t even pick a favorite song.
(stream full album)

--DL--
Gobbledigook (Sigur Rós)
Tomorrow You'll Be Forgiven... (Jesper Norda)
German Love (Starfucker)
Anna (Hello Saferide)