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My Favorite CDs of 2008

I've always thought year end best-of lists were kind of a joke. Who has listened to the eight to ten thousand CDs that come out every year and not suffered permanent emotional damage? After such an ordeal can we trust this person?

Too many best-of lists come down like imperial decrees, and once someone gives a record a gold star the bandwagon starts to roll. I cite as examples Santogold, Vampire Weekend, Coldplay, Jack Johnson and Of Montreal to name but a few (more on their records below). In my humble opinion, these artist's latest records do not deserve such accolades.  

I for one make no pretense of objectivity or comprehensiveness. Richmond.com does not have a music budget so I paid for each CD out of pocket, eschewing food, sometimes alcohol, and necessary sessions with a mental health professional.

This means my choices are skewed from the gitgo. I don't pretend to know the year's best records, but here are my favorites from this year. And a few records I found disappointing.

My Favorites in No Particular Order

Mugison – "Mugiboogie"

Iceland's deeply weird and delightfully disturbed version of a whacked-out bluesman released a shockingly good record this year. Yes Virginia, Iceland.

Bonnie Prince Billy – "Lie Down in the Light"

Anyone who can call himself a bonnie prince had better be making some damn good music. He does and he is.

Fred Eaglesmith --   "Tinderbox"

A raw set of gospel songs that sounds like it was recorded at a tent revival. Stripped down music for sinners on a bender for redemption.

Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir – "Ten Thousand"

The passion of a punk rock band, the soul of a bluesman and the liver of a man used to hard living. Raw country blues and anvil chorus from Canada.

Blanche – "Little Amber Bottles"

Blanche plays gothic parlor country, a category of music I just invented. Somehow their songs sound like something Harry Smith would have unearthed.

Hayes Carll – "Trouble in Mind"

Staking a claim to being the next big Texas singer-songwriter in the Townes, Willy vein.

Jolie Holland – "The Living and the Dead"

One of the most distinctive voices in contemporary folk music. Each record she puts out is better than the last.

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson – "Rattlin' Bones'"

Finally, a Kasey Chambers record that lives up to the hype. Stripped down folk songs built to last. Thankfully, the production is unfussy and perfectly complements the songs.

The Night Marchers – "See You in Magic"

Guitar, bass, drums + honest songwriting + midnight passion = good record.

Alejandro Escovedo --   "Real Animal"

I have been singing the record's hit single, "Always a Friend," for days, substituting things I would sacrifice just to stay friends with the object of my heart's desire – my chastity, my Redwings, my knife collection, my loneliness. Fun for the whole family.

Sam Phillips – "Don't Do Anything"

She is not prolific, but when she does release something, it's bingo time. This is her first record not produced by ex-husband T-Bone Burnett and that, it turns out, is a good thing. Just Phillips, her guitar and some light accompaniment. Tone poems of the heart.

Aimee Mann – "@#%&*! Smilers"

A near perfect record. The art is spectacular too.

Calexico – "Carried to Dust"

Another lovely southwestern mood piece by the duo of dynamics.

The Hold Steady – "Stay Positive"

Their previous records were the spadework for this, their best record yet. "Lord, I'm Discouraged," a great song.

Langhorne Slim – "Langhorne Slim"

A very strong set and easily his best record to date. Great for a road trip. In the summer. To the beach.    

Lucinda – "Little Honey"

She doesn't need a last name. There's universe-given talent, and there is hard work in making the most of one's limited gifts. Then there is Lucinda Williams, a category unto herself.

Sun Kil Moon – "April"

Mark Kozelek wrote another stunning record, including the haunting "Moorestown," one of my favorite songs of the year.

Caroline Herring – "Lantana"

She's not very well known, but Herring works firmly in the Southern tradition – spare, elegant, acoustic folk songs containing plenty of betrayal, misery and wistfulness. She has a distinct, lovely voice too. It's a sleeper.

Gnarls Barkley – "The Odd Couple"

Okay, I find their name unfortunate. But for their second release, Cee-lo Green and Danger Mouse dialed down the kitsch (thank god), and focused instead on writing some damn good soul tunes. Easily one of my favorite records of the year. Is Cee-lo Green the best male soul singer working today?

Susan Tedeschi – "Back to the River"

You can have your Beyonces, for my money Tedeschi is one of the most soulful female singers working today, not to mention being a fine guitar player.

Joe Pug – "Nation of Heat"

Joe Pug's debut EP was a shot across the bow of emasculated folk music that has gained popularity in the last several years (see Fleet Foxes below). Pug is lyrically inventive, raw throated and an unabashed fascist-killing guitar slinger in the vein of Woody and Bob. With lyrics like these, "I've come to test the timber of my heart," Pug's purity of spirit is something to admire. Many anxiously await his first full length, scheduled for sometime in 2009. Catch him while you can.

Sera Cahoone – "Only as the Day is Long"

Late night music for the down at heart, melancholy and spare. This record didn't get nearly the attention it deserves.

Cat Power – "Jukebox" and "Dark End of the Street"

She's been on a roll, releasing three good records back to back.

Holly Golightly – "Dirt Don't Hurt"

Golightly has been moving backwards through American music history. She started her career in the era of girl groups, but here she and Lawyer Dave, her present musical comrade, move back into the territory of old country blues.

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant – "Raising Sand"

Who would have imagined this pairing? It's downright inspired.

The Pretenders – "Break Up the Concrete"

If there is a sexier, more charismatic, more enigmatic woman in rock and roll than Chrissie Hynde I don't know about her. Welcome back Chrissie, we missed you.

Kathleen Edwards – "Asking for Flowers"

I was unimpressed by her previous two records. She took three years between releases and obviously it was time well spent.

Shelby Lynne – "Just a Little Lovin'"

Very few people would dare redo Dusty, we should be glad it was Lynne.

Devotchka – "A Mad and Faithful Telling"

Front to back an elegant and beautiful record.

The Whigs – "Mission Control"

A joyride back to glory days of early punk rock. More please.

Magnetic Fields – "Distortion"

Here's to life: "Sober life is a prison, shitfaced it's a blessing, sober nobody wants you, shitfaced you're all undressing." Hallelujah!

Disappointments in Minor Keys

Bon Iver – "For Emma, Forever Ago"

This record was universally praised by reviewers, in large part it seems because of the creation myth surrounding its making. I totally support taking revenge on former lovers by writing dish songs about them. But these songs provided no emotional resonance for me whatsoever.

Nick Cave – "Dig, Lazarus, Dig"

I will never not buy a new Nick Cave record. This is his weakest set of songs in some years, but his band … his band sounds great as ever.

Apollo Sunshine – "Shall Noise Upon"

I bought this CD because one, it's on Rounder Records and two, a reviewer said it sounded like the Violent Femmes. I'm thinking of suing, it sounds more like Coldplay (see below).

Fleet Foxes – "Fleet Foxes"

If I hear "White Winter Hymnal" one more time I might stick chopsticks in my ears up to the fist. They manage to do something not easily done, being both precious and pretentious at the same time. As far as I can tell, I am the only person in the entire world who doesn't like this band. This is the soundtrack for every Renaissance Fair you never wanted to attend.

Black Keys – "Attack and Release"

Get back to the thickfreakness boys. We like it greasy, not slick. There's a difference.

Gutter Twins – "Saturnalia"

This collaboration between former Afghan Whigs main songwriter Greg Dulli and ex-Screaming Trees singer and solo artist Mark Lanegan sounded like a hard rock bonanza, but alas, it wasn't to be.

Santogold – "Santogold"

The universal love of Santogold is inexplicable. I found the production lame, the songs not memorable, the hooks dull and her voice unremarkable. Her single "Lights Out" is the theme song for Bud Light Lime, need I say more?

Jack Johnson – "Sleep Through the Static"

The popularity of Jack Johnson is puzzling. I have developed a theory: mediocrity has been mistaken for laid-back affability. Let's face it, not everyone wants to actually listen to lyrics, not everyone wants to be challenged by music, not everyone needs to have an emotional connection with songs. He demands precious little from a listener, ergo, he delivers little. He doesn't suck, he's not great – he's perfectly mediocre. (Jack, listen carefully – a white guy from Hawaii should never, ever, under any circumstances try to do reggae [his hit, "Hope"].) Sleep through the banal.

Coldplay – "Viva La Vida"

The appeal of this band mystifies me. I can't manufacture the slightest interest in a single song for longer than a few seconds, that's how long it takes for boredom to settle in.

Hot Chip – "Made in the Dark"

I just don't get it.

Of Montreal – "Skeletal Lamping"

Beyond the pretentious song titles (a thesaurus can be a dangerous thing) and ironic cross-dressing (It's been done guys. Seriously.) there is nothing here to hang a hat on. It's not tuneful. It sounds like bad early 1970s music written by failed poetry students. This is the kind of stuff that punk rock was invented as an antidote to.

Panic at the Disco – "Pretty. Odd."

For chrissakes, can lyrics be more puerile? I wrote an indignant letter of complaint to a radio station for playing one of their songs. Here I want to formally apologize to the radio station personnel for the profane aspersions I cast upon their ancestors.

Vampire Weekend – "Vampire Weekend"

Am I the only person on earth who thinks this band, in trying to ape music from Soweto, makes complete idiots of themselves, and dishonors African music at the same time? I wish Vampire Weekend (in the running for silliest new band name) would go back to their trust funds and leave off insulting African music. I actually screamed aloud in fury and pain upon first hearing this band.

Death Cab for Cutie – "Narrow Stairs"

The single ("I Will Possess Your Heart") from their 2008 release was one of the most mind-numbingly vapid and insipid things to be released this year. I have concluded that their target audience is prepubescent girls. That's not nothing I suppose, but it's not for me.