What I Dig You Dig Too: The Best Music of 2008 So Far

I meant to post this a few weeks ago when it was something like halfway through the year. I can’t seem to write today (everything.. sounds.. so weird!) but I need to go to the library and I wanted to get this up before the weekend.

Rating systems are bogus in general, but here’s what mine is supposed to mean:

Four stars go to unabashedly awesome albums. I highly recommend them no matter kind of music you usually listen to. Three star albums could have four stars, but there’s something ineffably inferior about them. Sometimes, for example, I can’t decide whether I’m more enthusiastic about the music or the idea of the music. Albums with two stars are pretty damn good, but they just don’t seem right among the albums in the tier above them. (This group will change most radically by the end of the year.) One star goes to decent albums. I can see why someone else would get excited about them and I appreciate them on that level, but they’re not my thing. Broken Records appeal to me very little.

The most important thing to remember is that I’m not very familiar with all of these albums. I’ve listened to the Air France EP a few dozen times, but I could only make it through that Fuck Buttons record twice. I’ll continue to listen to these albums and my opinions of them will change.

My big music discovery of 2008 is DJ podcasts. I never realized how great they were. Once you’re exposed, it’s tough to listen to anything else. Check out the Beats in Space (especially Balearic Mike) and Fabric podcasts. Mixes can frustrate possessive neurotics like myself – you can’t have the individual tracks to play later and often the artists aren’t even identified – but they’re worth the discomfort.

I also made a mix! I tried to keep off music that was ubiquitous this season. Vampire Weekend and Hercules and Love Affair didn’t make the cut, but Sebastien Tellier did because few Americans followed Eurovision and Lil’ Wayne is on there because no one else this year dedicated a whole song to Amelie Poulain. Lindstrøm’s tracks are too epic. No Age didn’t make for smooth transitions and, HEY, Times New Viking: your album is mastered way too loud!

As always, I put some thought into the sequencing, so listen to it in the suggested order if you want the full experience. You can find the track list in the comments section. Enjoy! And let me know if I’ve been missing out on something good from this year.

Click here to download Krapp’s Last Blog’s 2008 (So Far) mix.

Four Stars

Air France, No Way Down EP
Atlas Sound, Let the Blind Lead…/Orange Ohms Glow EP
Deerhunter, Microcastle [Unreleased]
Lindstrøm, Where You Go I Go Too [Unreleased]
Hercules & Love Affair, Hercules & Love Affair
Paavoharju, Laulu Laakson Kukista
Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
Sebastien Tellier, Sexuality
Studio, Yearbook 2 [Remix Collection]
M83, Saturdays = Youth
Windsurf, Windsurf EP
Animal Collective, Water Curses EP

Three Stars

High Places, 03/07 – 09/07
Boris, Smile
No Age, Nouns
Black Mountain, In the Future
Alex Moulton, Exodus (Please look at this cover art!)
Quiet Village, Silent Movie
Beach House, Devotion
Kelley Polar, I Need You to Hold On
Low Motion Disco, Love Love Love [Vinyl]

Two Stars

Portishead, Third
Sorcerer, White Magic
The Fall, Imperial Wax Solvent
Times New Viking, Rip It Off
Lil’ Wayne, Tha Carter III
Nick Cave, Dig Lazarus Dig!
Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
Cut Copy, In Ghost Colors
The Dodos, Visiter
MGMT, Oracular Spectactular
Syclops, I’ve Got My Eye On You/Where’s Jason K?
Aeroplane, Whispers [Vinyl]

One Star

Erykah Badu, New Amerykah: Part One
Spiritualized, Songs in A & E
Dominique Leone, Dominique Leone
Nomo, Ghost Rock
El Guincho, Alegranza
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Lie Down in the Light
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP

Broken Records

Fuck Buttons, Street Horrssing
Magnetic Fields, Distortion
Shearwater, Rook
Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago

Collections and Reissues

Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue
Steinski, What Does It All Mean?
Space Oddities: Rare European Library Grooves

Still Want To Hear: Discodromo, Bun B, Matmos, Harvey Milk, Destroyer

Upcoming: Deerhoof, Stereolab, Fiery Furnaces, The Game, Brian Wilson, Young Jeezy, Of Montreal

~ by ohkrapp on August 8, 2008.