Fresh Cherries from Yakima

every year when i do this list, i talk about how various media outlets are lamenting “the death of the album.” but in 2008, for the first year in however long, THE ALBUM IS NOT DYING ANYMORE. with the inevitable resurgence of vinyl and the somewhat baffling resurgence of cassettes, new artists are finding more creative ways to reevaluate the album as an artistic statement. as for established artists, they’re branching out artistically and… um… simply creating better albums. for the first year since the birth of illegal downloading, the album may very well be here to stay. with that said, here are my favorite albums of 2008.

25. why?- alopecia:
on the breakout LP from the bay-area-based band, yoni wolf creates a lyrically dense work on par with one of his heroes, david berman (whose silver jews, a band why? has toured with, gets a shoutout on the album), with wolf faking his own death, dating palm readers, listening to pocket change jingling while two men fuck somewhere in europe, and penning one of the sweetest quasi-kiss-offs of the year (”even though i haven’t seen you in years/yours is a funeral i’d fly to from anywhere”), elevating wolf’s status from beloved cult figure to an a-list indie-rock lyricist.

24. valet- naked acid:
one of my favorite discoveries of the year (and an artist whom i regret not being more familiar with before 2008), the second album from portlander (and member of jackie-o motherfucker) honey owens is, like the title implies, a skinny dip into a hallucinogenic rabbit hole, featuring bluesy guitar trips (”babylon 4-eva”), barren desert soundscapes (”kehaar”), and a beautiful, melancholy ballad caked with reverb (”fire”).

23. silver jews- lookout mountain, lookout sea:
on the sixth full-length release from one of my all-time favorite lyricists (the person he’s in a tie with coming up shortly), david berman creates his self-described “we’re just talking to the kids” album, complete with a teddy roosevelt quote (”don’t flinch, don’t foul, and hit the line hard”) and a metric ton of the same quotable lyrics and engaging narratives you’d expect from indie-rock’s foremost published poet.

22. abe vigoda- skeleton:
the latest effort from smell mainstays and homies of no age sees them hitting the international stage in a big way, infusing their self-coined “tropical punk” with abrupt key and tempo changes, infectious chanted vocals, and an energy unparalleled by most of the bands they’re compared to.

21. the mountain goats- heretic pride:
after the emotional detox that were the goats’ last three 4AD full-lengths, john darnielle (my other “favorite lyricist walking the earth,” in case you didn’t know) and the crew move through a handful of impeccably written short stories, with dudes getting killed right and left (the title track, “sept. 15, 1983″), xenophobes (”lovecraft in brooklyn”), and a touching tale of a young couple having a baby in a motel bathroom (”san bernadino”).

20. the dodos- visiter:
what do you get when you cross a gifted folk guitarist with a heavy metal drummer that has an infatuation with polyrhythms and tribal drumming? what happens when you mix that in a blender with lovelorn lyrics, impassioned yelps, and the occasional trombone solo? why, you get the dodos’ second album, an alternate-universe folk-rock album that’s one gossip girl spot away from mainstream-indie.

19. wavves- wavves:
with all of the relentless energy and addictive harmonies present on the peppier songs on wavves’ self-titled debut, you’d think that this was the work of a three-piece or something, but you’d be wrong. wavves is just one dude, san diego resident nathan williams, who deftly combines hooky art-punk, tape hiss, unlistenable noise, and beach boys-inspired harmonies for one of the most deserved punk rock success stories of the year (more of those to come).

18. death cab for cutie- narrow stairs:
the second major-label album from a band that will always hold a special place in my heart is everything their major-label debut should have been: mature, incisive lyricism; a perfect balance of uptempo and downtempo tracks; interesting-but-not-overthought production from chris walla; and two songs that should be immediately included into the wide cannon of death cab’s very best work (”bixby canyon bridge,” “cath…”). with narrow stairs, fans of ben gibbard’s songwriting can appreciate plans as a sorta-lackluster diversion with a handful of good songs or carry along like plans never even happened, because narrow stairs gives longtime fans of the band a reason not to be mildly embarrassed for being so.

17. nas- the nigger tape:
with the most complete collection of good beats on any nas release of this decade, the best writer in hip-hop was given a template to spit a vivid, thought-provoking analysis on race relations in what is quickly being known as “pre-obama america,” and along with a quick foray into what ian cohen on pitchfork referred to as “hallucinogenic esco floss raps” (”esco let’s go,” which also is the best beat on the mixtape), nasir jones created his best work since his woefully underrated 2002 album, god’s son, which sort of foreshadowed this tape (and its subsequent and lesser “untitled” album) with a line from “heaven”: “…in this racist planet/where they take a younger brother in a handcuff/even if he innocent/’nigger, get on the car/put your motherfucking hands up’…”

16. elzhi- europass/the preface:
earlier in the year, elzhi, a detroit-based rapper best-known for replacing the legendary j. dilla in slum village, was the subject of a great deal of internet hip-hop chatter for his showstealing verse on “motown 25,” when his verse massively overshadowed that of royce da 5′9″, one of the best rappers walking the earth. with that career-defining performance, europass was raised in stock from a european tour CD to the best hip-hop album of 2008’s first-half, swinging from the vines of the sound of the late great dilla with extremely realized lyricism.

the official full-length that followed, the preface, wasn’t as immediately WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GUY HE IS GREAT as europass, but should be mentioned with it on the basis that it could very well end up sneaking into the minds of hip-hop purists as one of the most slept-on records of the decade. the preface is a well-thought slice of conceptual hip-hop, weaving through lyrical exercises the way GZA did in his heyday with joints like “colors,” “hands up,” “science,” and others. at the boards was black milk, perpetually the heir to the throne of dilla, who drops a bunch of ill beats for elzhi to spill his top-shelf lyricism on top of. it’s just that the very best of these– most notably “talkin’ in my sleep” and the aforementioned “motown”– were already on europass.

15. portishead- third:
over a decade after portishead silently faded away after making a HUGE name for themselves as “the sad british girl who sang over RZA beats,” the group leisurely walked back into the limelight with third, branching out into more rock-based arrangements (and a ukulele-led folk/doo-wop lullaby called “deep water”), creating a record that’s just as dark–but even more varied– than its predecessors.

14. vampire weekend- vampire weekend:
in the laughably accelerated world of blog culture, i find it amazing that i’m talking about a record that was released way back in january. in a way, talk about vampire weekend signifies everything that’s wrong with blog culture: the massive hype, the aggressive press cycle (the band landed that spin magazine cover before the release of their album), the backlash reaching a fever pitch BY THE DAY THE RECORD WAS RELEASED, the backlash to the backlash, and most ultimately, a band releasing their debut album being treated as one of america’s best bands. but at the same time, think about another massively talked-about new york band that came around right before the blog takeover: the strokes, and the similarities between the two bands: both bands took a long-hip influence and injected it into the mainstream (the strokes with the velvet underground, even though they don’t sound anything like them, and vampire weekend with graceland and king sunny ade). both bands have hugely marketable frontmen who are easy on the eyes: julian casablancas, in addition to having a great name, brings that dirty, downtown, 3-packs-a-day flair and detached cool to everything he does. ezra koenig, on the other hand, brings an affluent, preppy pseudo-entitlement to the table. give either of them the right clothes, and they’d fit right into a boy band. and let’s not forget the main point: both bands have created two of the most enjoyable guitar-pop records of the decade.

13. royce da 5′9″- the bar exam 2 (mixtape):
at the beginning of “royce is like” from the first bar exam released last year, royce wisely restated what the rap world has been saying about him: “since he got outta jail, royce been focused like a motherfucka.” the bar exam 2 is no different: even when he’s jumping on bandwagons (the mixtape has no fewer than five songs that feature auto-tune), nickel still hits instrumentals with pit bull tenacity, weaving his jaw-dropping wordplay all over instrumentals popularized over the past year (”royal flush,” “you ain’t got nuthin’,” “ignorant shit”) and some pretty incredible original beats, some created by mixtape host green lantern. royce’s appeal can be summarized in the last few bars of his showstealing first verse of “heat to the streets”: “i’m a, five comma/nine, apostrophe-ass nigga/spaz-happy, slash colostomy bag-giver/slash the ass-kicker/slash the last lyrical-ass-nigga…”

12. women- women:
with the assistance of calgary legend chad vangaalen, four dudes from vangaalen’s hometown take a bunch of four-tracks and a ghetto blaster and create an extremely varied, immensely enjoyable rock album, taking a bunch of noise, some ambient flourishes, an acoustic ditty with beautiful harmonies, and a blatant disregard for conventional song structure and weaving it into a half-hour of lo-fi goodness.

11. benoit pioulard- temper:
an insanely promising experimental singer/songwriter moves to portland and records a classic folk album, injecting an almost avant-garde sensibility into engagingly intimate acoustic tunes with clattering, booming tribal percussion. to be honest, most singer/songwriters bore me, so it’s a staggering achievement when i find one that doesn’t. and not only does thomas meluch not bore me, but i genuinely think that he should be regarded as one of the best emerging talents in the overstuffed genre of “indie” right now.

10. tv on the radio- dear science:
it’s been said that tv on the radio’s third full-length album is their shot at pop; with cleaner sounds, prince, the bridge of “thriller,” R.E.M., and a whole lot of horns fluttering in and out of the songs. and they could be right, with tunde adebimpe and kyp malone being more confident in their songwriting abilites (and producer david sitek more confident in the musical arrangements) as to not allow their songs to be drowned in a dense sea of drone and distortion, making some of the best songs– yeah, SONGS– of their career, and making a bid for being the best art-rock band of the 00’s.

9. deerhunter- microcastle:
a lot of talk has been made of bradford cox, whether it’s his “squeeze first, ask questions later” mentality and unimitable ability to court controversy, or the way he distills his influences. i’m sure that some would rather listen to a spacemen 3, eno, or my bloody valentine record than listen to deerhunter, and that’s fine, but you’d be missing out on a lot of artfully constructed, endlessly replayable pop songs if you decide not to give microcastle a listen. and, really, that’s your loss.

8. wale- the mixtape about nothing:
it’s not often that a mixtape is mentioned as an artistic masterpiece; generally, they’re either stop-gaps between officially sanctioned albums, or they’re a handful of tracks from a rapper’s cutting room floor, coupled with a few really hot freestyles over other rappers’ beats. as my friend and music writing peer jeff weiss stated in his review of the mixtape about nothing, D.C.-based rapper wale singlehandedly transformed the mixtape from “promotional tool” into “legitimate artistic medium,” with dropping jewels about love (”the remake of a remake”), racism (”the kramer”), and nobody selling records (”the perfect plan”) with some of the illest hip-hop lyrics written this year. with the mixtape about nothing, wale truly represents the spirit of an incredibly talented college athlete (”matt leinart when firing the ball,” as he put it himself) capitalizing on his potential. let’s see how he does in the bigs, when his full-length debut drops next year. something tells me the kid won’t do that bad.

7. crystal stilts- alight of night:
another band that seemingly cannot be talked about with out the laundry list of influences (see also: deerhunter), i genuinely feel that crystal stilts distilled those influences to create one of the best rock records of the year, and without question the moodiest; a 21st century, indie-kid update of late-80’s post-punk and goth. swimming in a sea of reverb, crystal stilts have created a classic album of surf rock for citydwellers, an album in which you’ll still be finding new musical trinkets– and trying to figure out the lyrics– after the 300th listen.

6. black milk- tronic:
coming from someone who was a little nonplussed by milk’s breakout, popular demand, the fact that tronic is my favorite hip-hop album of the year is definitely the biggest surprise of 2008. the album’s main attribute is its musical ambition, combining techno (”bounce”), crushing drums (”overdose”), west coast bounce (”without u”), and– naturally– post-dilla soul (”try”), all while stepping up his lyric-writing game considerably. tronic represents a rapper who i had always thought was just an anonymous underground head falling into a radioactivity-induced coma and waking up as a hip-hop superhuman.

5. fleet foxes- fleet foxes:
okay, so robin pecknold’s aching tenor does sound quite a bit like that of my morning jacket’s jim james, but that’s where the similarities end. the self-titled debut from the seattle-based quintet of international superstars (lesson one: always listen when douglas martin makes a prediction) is a far more musically lush work, with flutes and bowed electric guitars highlighting the spine-tingling harmonies and pecknold’s wide-eyed, open-hearted (not to mention very great) songwriting. and just think: this album is their DEBUT. holy fucking fuck.

4. the walkmen- you & me:
given the pretty creative way that the walkmen spin traditional rock music, it’s weird that more indie-rock bands haven’t ripped them off (i mean, cold war kids tried, but no cigar). with you & me, the band puts a quieter spin on their approach, making things more bass-driven and focused on nuance than hamilton leithauser screaming his fucking head off. but the chiming, reverbed guitars are still there, and thank god, because it’s always exciting to hear the walkmen rocking out. in addition, with “if only it were true,” the band continues their flawless batting average of album closers (pussy cats nonwithstanding), punctuating the album with a one-string guitar solo and a low-key strum into the darkness.

3. grouper- dragging a dead deer up a hill:
liz harris’ third official release under the grouper name is an utterly addictive, deeply meditative album; split evenly between effects pedal-led ambiance and melancholy-but-amazingly-beautiful acoustic tracks, all caked and cloaked and slathered in reverb. harris’ lilting, ethereal vocals make this the perfect album to sleep to, which i have done for no less than 150 consecutive nights this year.

2. vivian girls- vivian girls:
now, douglas martin isn’t the most knowledgable music fan in the entire world (i think such a thing would be impossible to gage, anyway). when i wrote that the whole “shoegaze girl-group” (something i amended to “no-wave girl-group”) thing had never been thought of before, i didn’t quite point out the similarities between vivian girls and a band like tiger trap or other k records twee-punk bands, and i had no idea that a band like black tambourine even existed. i hope you don’t come to fresh cherries from yakima as an education on underground music. but, regardless, as i think another writer had stated earlier in the year, we can finally put to rest our longing for sleater-kinney. as trailblazing and utterly kick-ass that group was, we now have another all-girl punk group that we can bestow our affections upon; one that combines heavily reverbed girl-group harmonies with guitars that sound like buzzsaws cutting through rusty metal to create one of the most enjoyable punk records of the year, but not without the main ingredient: timelessly catchy songs.

1. no age- nouns:
okay, who didn’t see this coming? who didn’t listen to nouns, with its relentlessly creative blitzkrieg of ambient punk, and think that it WOULDN’T top douglas martin’s albums list? who listened to the album, from the industrial machine clatter of “miner” to the last blaring guitar of “brain burner,” and DIDN’T think that douglas martin was pissing all over himself while listening to it? who thought a two-piece could create so much righteous noise, punk band or no punk band? who thought that such catchy melodies could come from dean spunt’s snottily boyish half-singing vocals? who thought that they would take an electric folk song and adorn it with the screeches from psycho on “things i did when i was dead”? who knew that a tiny little all-ages venue in the shadow of the sunset strip would create one of the most visionary punk bands in america, and possibly the world?

who knew vegans could muster so much fucking energy?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 3:38 pm and is filed under ambient not not not ambient, psych!, punk is/is not dead, singer/songwriter goodies, experimental punk, reppin' the northwest, hip-hop, lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.