You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2008.
God bless all you masher-uppers out there, you make some fingerlickin’ tasty tunes! To welcome the new year in style I offer you two delectible examples, thanks to the mashing madness at Minneapolis Fucking Rocks.
They say opposites attract, perhaps that’s why this highly unlikely collaboration works so well: Beyonce meets Fleet Foxes in Single Foxes (Put A Wood On It).
Listen to it here:
Download it here: Single Foxes (Put A Wood On It)
Lykke Li loves a good cover. I remember her doing a little Vampire Weekend impromptu with Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa at Lowlands this year, not too long ago she was Dance Dance Dancing with Bon Iver, and now there this exquisite Rodeo mash up of her singing the Kings Of Leon track Knocked Up, merged with the original song.
Listen to it here:
Download it here: Lykke Li and Kings of Leon – Knocked Up
Enjoy and happy new year to all brokenbranches readers!
On my trips through blogville looking for end of year lists, I came across two that were so entertaining that I can’t keep them from you.
The first is from the villagevoice blog, who made this hilarious “worst lyrics of 2008″ chart, that has the likes of Katy Perry battling it out with Neyo and Nickelback with Usher. Check it out by clicking here!
The second one is the Stereogum awards ceremony that is “the gummy awards 2008“. Besides the more serious gummy’s like best video and best live act, they also have entertaining categories for you to check out such as indie rock crushes of 2008 and most overrated act of 2008.
Ok, I think I’m done with lists now.
The end-of-year-lists posts have been updated.
The best albums post now has the OOR top 10 to compare (and if you want even more here’s the Kindamuzik top 21, here’s the Pitchfork top 50, here’s the Stereogum top 50, the Rolling Stone top 50 and here’s the 3VOOR12 top 12).
The best songs post has the 3VOOR12 top 10 to compare (and if you want a second opinion here’s the Pitchfork top 100 , Spin Magazine’s top 20 and Rolling Stone’s top 100 singles of 2008).
[UPDATE: scroll to the bottom voor the 3VOOR12 best song of the year results]
It was hard enough picking my top albums of 2008, but list making does not stop there: it’s time for the songs! The relief is that you can rave about a single song without having to consider if the rest of the album is any good. Although, come to think of it, pretty much all the albums these songs come from are very decent.
I’ve narrowed it down to 30 songs. They range from the psychedelic (MGMT, Late Of The Pier) to the delicate (Chad VanGaalen, Bon Iver), from the clubalicious (Estelle, De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig) to the harmonious (Fleet Foxes, Yeasayer), from the raunchy (Kings Of Leon) to the raucous (N*E*R*D), from the Red Bull fuelled (Vampire Weekend, Does It Offend You, Yeah?) to the pensive (Adele), from the hilarious (Weezer) to the desperate (The Hold Steady), from cheeky flirtation (Black Kids) to stalker anthem (Death Cab For Cutie) and anything in between.
I give you:
- A-Punk – Vampire Weekend
- American Boy – Estelle feat. Kanye West
- Black and Gold – Sam Sparro
- One Pure Thought – Hot Chip
- White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes
- Hometown Glory – Adele
- Say Something, Say Anything – Blood Red Shoes
- Time to Pretend – MGMT
- Let’s Make Out – Does It Offend You, Yeah?
- Red Socks Pugie – Foals
- Skinny Love – Bon Iver
- Hollereer – De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig
- Dying Is Fine – Ra Ra Riot
- Sex on Fire – Kings of Leon
- Breaking It Up – Lykke Li
- Creator – Santogold
- Grounds For Divorce – Elbow
- Pork And Beans – Weezer
- I Will Possess Your Heart – Death Cab For Cutie
- Everyone Nose – N.E.R.D.
- The Architect – dEUS
- Paper Planes – M.I.A.
- My Year In Lists – Los Campesinos!
- I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You – Black Kids
- Sequestered In Memphis – The Hold Steady
- The Age Of The Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets
- Paris – Friendly Fires
- Keep Your Eyes Ahead – The Helio Sequence
- The Bears Are Coming – Late Of The Pier
- Bruises – Chairlift
As I did last year, here for comparison are the picks of the Dutch public as published by 3voor12 (click here for all 100 songs):
1. Kings Of Leon – Sex On Fire
2. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
3. Milow – Ayo Technology
4. Voicst – Everyday I Work On The Road
5. De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig – Hollereer
6. Killers – Human
7. Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson – Valerie
8. MGMT – Kids
9. Last Shadow Puppets – Age Of Understatement
10. Jason Mraz – I’m Yours
I have to say, it’s even more disappointing than last year. Sure Kings of Leon are number 1, I suppose that’s not surprising considering it was such a big hit here. But what in the name of.. is Coldplay doing in the number 2 slot?? And sure that Milow song is a funny cover of 50 Cent, but number 3 worthy?
I severly doubt Valerie is even a 2008 release, but worst of all, what’s that in the numer 10 position? Surely it’s not that sugarcoated drivel song by Mraz? Mraz who once had some credibility with his off-kilter harmless jazzy popsongs and has now completely homogenised his work for the masses?
How frustrating with all the great releases out there this year. But I guess this is the democtratic choice of the FDutch audience, so I’ll just have to accept it.
[UPDATE: Looking for the top 2008 albums as selected by the Dutch music elite and published in OOR? Scroll on down!]
Well this was a hard one. List making is one of my absolute favourite things to do, but it simultaneously tortures me as I’m forever afraid of leaving something out. About a week ago I narrowed the 2008 harvest down to roughly 50 eligible albums. But then came the horrendous process of selecting the top 10. It was hard because only 3 or 4 albums knocked me off my socks this year, but many many great albums hover just beneath.
Well, let’s not dilly-dally, without further ado (each one is clickable for some youtube delight):
- Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
- Blood Red Shoes – Box Of Secrets
- MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
- Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
- Adele – 19
- Los Campesinos! – Hold On Now, Youngster…
- Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
- Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
- The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead
- Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
So there it is, the New York lads with the ludicrous name Vampire Weekend are responsible for my missing socks. I could explain myself in a lengthy analysis of their preppy short songs with Paul Simonesque African influences, but you can go to Wikipedia for all that. What it boils down to for me is that every single song on that album makes me want to get up and dance and sing along. That’s a rare quality.
Blood Red Shoes’ razor sharp album is probably the strictest top ten entry in rock terms, and together with MGMT’s other worldy psychedelica it’s a varied and magnificent top three. Adele, Los Campesinos! and Hot Chip have been year long staples in my playlists (as can be traced back to previous blog posts) and I still haven’t tired of them.
Sadly I missed Bon Iver’s reportedly spine tingling concert in Paradiso this year, but his album has slowly grown to be one of my understated gems of 2008. Relative new comers to the pack are Fleet Foxes with their beautiful self titled release that seems to have everyone gushing, Ra Ra Riot and The Helio Sequence. The latter two have just wormed their way into the top ten in the last few weeks quite unexpectedly, but what great albums to discover at the end of the year!
As opposed to last year, US artists lead the pack and New York is particularly well represented with three acts: Vampire Weekend, MGMT and Ra Ra Riot. I was lucky enough to see 7 of my top 10 bands live this year and all concerts have been very memorable indeed.
As I feel bad for all the albums that didn’t make it to my top 10 but are definitely well worth listening to, I’ll leave you with my not-so-short-shortlist. If you are convinced I unforgivably left an album out, please drop me a comment!
Black Kids – Partie Traumatic
Bloc Party – Intimacy
Calexico – Carried To Dust
Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane
Cold War Kids – Loyalty To Loyalty
Coldplay – Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Colin Meloy – Colin Meloy Sings Live!
Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
Counting Crows – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig – De Machine
Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
dEUS – Vantage Point
The Dodos – Visiter
Does It Offend You, Yeah? – You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Flight Of The Conchords – Flight Of The Conchords
Foals – Antidotes
Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
Get Well Soon – Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
Guillemots – Red
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
Keane – Perfect Symmetry
The Killers – Day & Age
Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
Late Of The Pier – Fantasy Black Channel
Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim
Le Le – Flage
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
Lykke Li – Youth Novels
Mystery Jets – Twenty One
R.E.M. – Accelerate
Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain
Santogold – Santogold
Sia – Some People Have Real Problems
Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha
Travis – Ode To J. Smith
We Are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery
Weezer – Weezer (the red album)
UPDATE: OOR published the top 2008 albums according to the cream of the Dutch music media crop. Just like last year, here it is for your comparative pleasure:
1. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
4. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
5. Portishead – Third
6. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
7. The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
8. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
9. Santogold – Santogold
10. Voicst – A Tale Of Two Devils
Voicst? Really?? Sure they’re a great little band compared to most of our homegrown products, but top 10 of 2008? Oh well, maybe I need to be a bit more patriotic.
