Emotional Rescue’s Highly Subjective List of the 20 Musical Things Worth Loving in 2008

Although web guru/fellow DJ/stern taskmaster Roy Kasten finally nagged me into providing a standard top album list for 2008, I still needed to compile a more complete, annotated list that included individual songs (and then some) in addition to whole albums. I’m not sure if David Cantwell would consider this a list with argument, but I do hope it could be considered more than randomness and arbitrary subjectivity.

There is a four way tie for the number one position, but then things are listed somewhat by whim.

  1. Cold War Kids Loyalty to Loyalty. This album has utterly beguiled me, though it snuck up one song at a time. Soon enough, I was hypnotized by its bleak, reverb-y sound and the vague jazziness at its edges. Singer Nathan Willet surely was a jazz singing woman in a previous life, though I can imagine that his vocals are not for the faint-hearted. He even manages a more than credible take from the female perspective on the short story-like “Every Man I Fall For.” Lately, my favorite song is the penultimate one, “Relief,” with its buzzy instrumentation and Willet’s falsetto vocals. As soon as this record finishes, I want to hear it again, immediately. I flat out love this record and I adore the mood these songs put me in; a sort of fizzy, tumultuous excitement, which is, now that I think about it, the same feeling I get when I fall in love.
  2. Elbow Seldom Seen Kid. I’ve made it pretty clear than I am apeshit crazy for Elbow. From the minute I heard the first song on their debut album in 2001 I was hooked. This, their fourth album came on like gangbusters, led by the gigantic presence of “Grounds For Divorce,” a monster of a single with its insistent beat and Guy Garvey’s subtle yet powerful vocals. The majestic “One Day Like This” always gets me playing air cello and “An Audience with the Pope” is apparently Garvey’s take on his Catholic guilt over his sexual appetites. What more do you need?
  3. Liam Finn I Am Lightning. I didn’t want to like this record initially. I assumed, incorrectly, that it would be something similar to Liam’s father’s (Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House) music and I just wasn’t interested. (Nothing wrong with Neil Finn, but I find his output pleasant if not very exciting to my tastes.) But I listened. And I listened. And then I listened some more. These are sweet songs that go down smoothly yet still manage to have an edge that pokes you in the ribs. And then to find out that Liam plays nearly everything on the record and, especially live, using recorded loops and so forth and it all became even more interesting. Give “Second Chance” a listen and just try to resist when that huge chorus kicks in.
  4. Radiohead In Rainbows. I’ve always had a great deal of respect for Radiohead and a lot of love for some songs, but I’d never really fallen in love with an entire album of theirs, until this one. I can’t tell you the number of times I played this record in my car, over and over again. “15 Steps,” the album opener, starts things off with a bang, that divine scratchy beat hooking me. I couldn’t begin to tell you what any of these songs are really about, but the lyrics seem more accessible, more knowable than Radiohead lyrics can be. I just adore the chorus from the aforementioned: “How come I end up where I started? How come I end up where I went wrong? Won’t take my eyes off the ball again. First you reel me out and then you cut the string.” And yes, I know that In Rainbows hit all the 2007 Best of lists, but the official hard copy release date was in January, 2008 and I didn’t get to make a 2007 list, so there.
  5. Death Cab For Cutie “I Will Possess Your Heart.” Frankly, I find it hard to believe that I can even tolerate a DCFC song, let alone love it, but here we are. The single version of this song is pulsating and intense; the double-length album version, featuring, basically, a four minute intro, is, well, doubly intense. Search for the video, a perfect little movie, and you may fall under its spell as well.
  6. Teddy Thompson A Piece of What You Need. Teddy came back to what I believe he does best, with this record. Sadly beautiful pop songs of longing and love and angry little rockers about that love lost or gone boring. Thank goodness I could love Teddy again, because I really hated his previous album of mostly covers, the country flavored Up Front and Down Low.
  7. Martha Wainwright “See Emily Play.” Taken from her album I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too, this Syd Barret-era Pink Floyd cover is so gorgeous and pitch perfect. And I had no idea until after I fell for it that it was even a Pink Floyd song.
  8. Phantom Planet “Dropped.” This song is just a corker and one of the few songs, when played to a live audience, gets people to come up and ask “What was that?” I think PP are basically a singles band, but damn, they make some fine, fine singles.
  9. Elvis Costello & the Imposters “American Gangster Time.” There is a chance that I will eventually fall in love with this album in toto, but so far I haven’t been compelled to digest it whole. This song, however, is classic Elvis, harkening back to his early days.
  10. The Old 97s “Dance With Me.” I will unashamedly admit that the sole reason I became cognizant of this song is that I heard the video had something to do with my beloved Battlestar Galactica. And it turns out it did indeed and the song is excellent, a very catchy number. I probably need to rethink my relationship with this band, or at least with singer/songwriter Rhett Miller.
  11. The Ting Tings “That’s Not My Name.” Like a lot of the country, I first heard the Ting Tings on an iPod commercial with “Shut Up and Let Me Go” which I liked quite a bit. But a friend sent me this song and I fell in love with Katie White’s snotty brat vocals. I dare you not to tap your foot, at least!, to this. It makes me do a Snoopy dance.
  12. Alejandro Escovedo “Chip N’ Tony.” For some reason, meeting brothers Chip and Tony Kinman, of the band Rank and File, many years ago made a huge impression on me. They seemed to me to be quintessential rock musicians suited for little else, and I actually worried about them in case their rock careers didn’t work out; they just seemed unsuited for anything else. I’m not sure where my hubris came from, but I knew this song was about them when I first saw the title and it just flat out rocks. Definitely my favorite song off this strong album.
  13. Sam Champion Heavenly Bender. At first glance, this might be dismissed as just another record by a smarty pants indie band, but the ragged sweetness underlying this collection of songs offers much more. And I’m embarrassed to admit it, but until a couple weeks ago I didn’t realize Sam Champion was the name of the band rather than an individual guy. D’oh.
  14. TV on the Radio Dear Science. This album is mysterious, encompassing all sorts of different sounds from angular, retro-tinged new wave to funky rave-ups. But they all have a dark, brooding commonality. Lots to discover, still, on this record.
  15. Bloc Party “Mercury.” What I really want to do is groove to this song in a dark, heaving club full of fellow dancers. However, I will settle for dancing around the air room whenever I play it.
  16. Kaiser Chiefs “Never Miss a Beat.” Kaiser Chiefs started impressively with their album Employment, and then, not so much. I don’t know about the whole of the new record, but this song captures that great brash, bratty attitude again.
  17. The Acorn Glory Hope Mountain. I was introduced to this band via Guy Garvey and his BBC 6 radio show. His interview with singer and songwriter Rolf Klausener focused on Klausener’s songs for this album, all of them based on his mother’s tales of emigrating from Honduras to Canada. The songs are quiet, shimmering and beautiful. Honestly, if “Crooked Legs” doesn’t move you just a little bit, I don’t believe you have a heart. And as far as I’m concerned, The Acorn shamed Calexico when they played together at the Duck Room a little while ago.
  18. Ludo “Love Me Dead.” OK, this is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but this is one hell of a catchy, fun song. And, heck, apparently these guys are from St. Louis, though I’ve yet to meet anyone who ever saw them play or knows them. Of course, I probably don’t know many (any?) people who care about Ludo.
  19. Muse. Somehow Muse slipped completely past me until this year when, in the space of a few days, two completely separate friends insisted that I would like them. They didn’t release anything this year, but they made a big enough impact on me to make them worth mentioning here. I admit that I resisted them at first, perhaps because my first exposure was to their more prog-rock sound, but now I can’t imagine not loving the overblown, crazy excess of “Supermassive Black Holes,” the strangely romantic “Starlight” or the delirious cover of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.”
  20. Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour on BBC 6 Music. It is true that I dislike or I’m ambivalent about some of the music that Garvey plays on his weekly show (listen online Sundays at 4:00 pm CST or it’s archived weekly), but he is true to himself and he admirably creates a very consistent sound each week (guided by show themes as general as “fire”). His enthusiasm about the music he loves is palpable and his interview segments, with peers and with his own musical heroes, can be a charming mix of fanboy gushing and earnest, probing questions about the song writing process. It’s always an education and he often puts music in a new context for me. I confess that I regularly steal from him.
Posted by | December 22, 2008 | Music, News | Comment 

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