“Amusing, but not at all helpful”

Oh, hello there!

I’m afraid much of what I get excited about falls in this category:

Hackers Crack into Texas Road Sign, Warn of Zombies Ahead

(HT Darin)

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So last year

I’m calling it.

Unlike many purported “best of 2008” lists, I actually wait until all the music that is going to be released in 2008 has been. And maybe a few that really tried to get in under the wire. I then subject every note of every song to an empirical study to determine which albums were, scientifically proven, the best. I will now present you with the facts that resulted from my study.

My 10 and 1/2 2008 personal favorites, at whim, in barely relevant order:

10 and 1/2) Ida, My Fair, My Dark (EP)
10) Ben Sollee, Learning to Bend
9) Mates of State, Bring It Back
8. Andy Gullahorn, Reinventing the Wheel
7) DoDos, Visiter
6) Tokyo Police Club, Elephant Shell
5) Blitzen Trapper, Furr
4) David Karsten Daniels, Fear of Flying (also here)
3) The Whigs, Mission Control
2) The Low Anthem, O My God, Charlie Darwin
1) Sun Kil Moon, April

Stuff I really loved, new to my library, 366 days old or more:

Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man the Way that I Love You
Bowerbirds, Hymns for a Dark Horse
Big Mama Thornton with Muddy Water’s Blues Band
Broken Social Scene, You Forgot It In People
Teddy Thompson, Separate Ways
Margot and the Nuclear So-and-Sos, The Dust of Retreat
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks/ Van Morrison, his Band, and the Street Choir

I think you can check out a playlist of my 2008 faves here, on iLike. But I’m just trying it out for the first time.

And here’s The Low Anthem. They might make it to #1 after a few more listens.

“To Ohio”

“The Horizon Is a Beltway”

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Be of Good Cheer

I’m a little slow these days. Had to post this video. These guys will be at the Canyon Club on Thursday night.

Also check out this great unrecorded gem live in a library with Jacob Parnell, from the olden days, when they were The Pretty Good Cheer.

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