Regency Fops: Top Albums 2008
Honourable mentions that needn't have been excluded from the bottom half of the list proper:
- of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl)
- Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)
- Katie Stelmanis - Join Us (Blocks)
- Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw (Constellation)
- Final Fantasy - Spectrum, 14th Century [EP] (Blocks)
- Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends (Anticon)
- Adventure [Benny Boeldt] - s/t (Carpark)
- Women - s/t (Flemish Eye)
- Scott Walker - 'Til the Band Comes In (Water)
- Paul Weller - At the BBC [box set] (Universal)
- Goldfrapp - "Cologne Cerrone Houdini" off of Seventh Tree
10. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement (Domino)
In my Renegade Radio review I referred to it as "a clinic in bloated adolescent poetry," which I think sums things up quite nicely. It's 'in the vein' of artists like Scott Walker and David Axelrod whom made music that sound like stained glass, yet is in the end only decent mimicry; songs that only hint at the schizoid spirituality of their influences. It is as a visionary once wrote, "full of immature casuistry ... a delightful sample of word-spinning embroidered with ... naive declarations". It says a lot about both me and the album that I cannot recommend it these days without a "...but it's actually shit" postscript. Played: "Standing Next to Me" and "Calm Like You".
9. Sunset - The Glowing City (Autobus)
The next one is just a surprisingly long, very consistent psychedelic pop album by Bill Baird and his band Sunset out of Austin, Texas. Scouring the stacks of new music at the station you learn to judge an album by its cover (or at least to weed out the more obvious shit), and this badass Sonic Youth looking guy caught my eye. The Glowing City plays like a double album (18 tracks around five minutes each) -- it was surprising to learn they had put out another LP prior in the year to this, the prolific bunch. As things are, they did a Daytrotter session in July, so check that out if you can't find the album anywhere. Searches tend to bring up those Sunset Rubdown bastards, so be wary. Played: "Dreams of Sandy" and the wonderfully catchy "Theme from 'A Perfect Light Awaits Me'".
8. Dungen - 4 (Kemado)
You can tell this is a killer from the opening notes. Despite it being moderately heavy psychedelia, bandleader Gustav Ejtes sticks to piano on this one, giving it this paradoxically manic and lounge feel, that the distributors dubbed something on the lines of 'Yes meets Burt Bacharach in a Danish sex parlour.' It's Sigur Ros with balls, prog with a purpose. I dig. Played: "Sätt att se" and "Målerås Finest".
7. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams (Merge)
I at first sneered at AMG labeling Bejar "unsure whether he was Dylan or Bowie" -- but it's no doubt what they're talking about on a song like "Rivers", with the neat theft of Dylan's Blood on the Tracks-era diction in the chorus which is followed by a big glam, Mick Ronson stylized crescendo in the instrumental break. But you can't reduce Trouble in Dreams to being impersonation, lyrically its pure, wide-eyed Bejar, ever autobiographical and obtuse. "Foam Hands" to "My Favourite Year" is an incredible one-two punch. Necessarily, I played those two.
6. Sébastien Tellier - Sexuality (Record Makers)
Sexuality is pretty straight up, 80s-style porno jams from France produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (one of the robots from Daft Punk). In a surreal move Tellier was France's Eurovision entry, which marks a first since probably France Gall that a decent act was sent to competition. Luckily he lost. Played: the single "Divine", followed by "Pomme", with the nonsensical perverted lyric nonpareil "You're a lover, in this jizz".
5. Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements (Tomlab)
Major step up into the top five. Zac Pennington and the rest of the (((GRRRLS))) manage something that's as pretty as it is sinister, with this strange, almost violent gay energy. Jherek Bischoff and Sam Mickens (two-thirds of the Dead Science -- we'll talk more about them later), along with Matt Carlson used their classical know-how to help complement Pennington's discordant melodies and poetry with the kind of arrangements Wally Stott, Bernard Herrmann and Van Dyke Parks used to craft. The Last Shadow Puppets throw around words and themes, Pennington does it better, and fucked. Sparks meets Bartok. Played: the propulsive, gorgeous single "A Song for Ellie Greenwich" followed by the equally baroque and electronic "Young Eucharists".
4. Portishead - Third (Mercury)
The "particularly classic" one. Another reviewer likened this to an anarchic British novel or play. I'm pretty sure I understand that sentiment -- this leaves me as cold as A Local Stigmatic, offering no charmed sentiment that things might be okay, ever. Some bands get jaded or suck with age, on Third Portishead show they're still at the height of their powers, ever uncomfortable with the scheme of things. For an insightful review read Brad's (the fellow also unwittingly gave me the name for my show!). Played: "The Rip", "Plastic".
3. Simon Bookish - Everything/Everything (Tomlab)
All fans of one Leo Chadburn (portmanteau: Simon Bookish) are both impressed and slightly confounded as to how he has managed to make an electropop album using for the most part live instruments. Saxophones, motorik-style drums, and (my God) his voice, baritone talk-sing that it is, make this probably the most inventive thing on this list. Leo includes a explanatory phrase on each copy, dubbing this futurist Kraut-Seussical "a big band song-cycle about information and technology". Gets you a bit impressed with our more ingenious brethren. If I ever dart my eyes over in your direction and cry "Young man, you amaze me!" it's 'cos I got it from here. Played: "Dumb Terminal", "Portrait of the Artist as a Fountain", "Carbon", "Victorinox". Joyce and Swiss Army references galore!
2. Deerhunter - Microcastle (Kranky)
Ryan of Carload of Whatever is right to say this is one of those 'objective-favourite-records' that most of our type can enjoy. Spin (shitfest magazine that it is) described Microcastle as "erotic asphyxiation", which just nails it. And "Agoraphobia" is just perfect. Played: "Cover Me (Slowly)", "Agoraphobia", "Never Stops".
1. The Dead Science - Villainaire (Constellation)
The same year in helping Zac 'n' Girls make Entanglements (#5), Jherek Bischoff, Sam Mickens and Nick Tamburro of the Dead Science put out this little masterpiece. Like the Portishead album this defies genre-classification (trip hop! ...minus scratching! umm...) -- its shattered, almost strobe-like gothic rock by a bunch of pomaded, lesbian-looking men is easily my favourite of the year. With hip-hop references. And there is something very regal to it all.
I once daydreamed to this record of a man in velvet throwing cough syrup all over me. As you can tell, I can't talk sensibly about this; my friend Dana (of The Sound Travels, Fridays 3-4) described this simply as music by "a creepy man with a very creepy voice." Five-stars. My respects to Constellation Recs for taking a (I'm guessing momentary) break from the post-rock in releasing this and the Tindersticks record this year. Played: "Make Mine Marvel", "Wife You", "Holliston", "Black Lane".
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