For some of you, each weekend is a new opportunity to do something exciting and life-affirming. For worthless cretins like myself, it’s just another two days in the middle of my work week. Hopefully you will pick up the slack and do something doubly entertaining for the both of us. I’m with you in spirit, people. I mean that in the sense that I’ve broken into all your homes and left a load in your hair while you were sleeping. I…have a lot of free time to travel.
It was not my intention to open today’s post with a crass remark, though it was my intention to close with a foul statement of a sexual nature. Oh well, there’s still time to think up something even more uncouth than what’s already been written. While I sit around trying to think about what to say next, feel free to read this list ranking the ten best albums of 2008 so far, as decided upon by yours truly. “Yours truly” means me, by the way. See, this page can be educational sometimes. I’m all about charity and teaching people. I love helping you retards better understand the English language.
This list of best albums released between 01/01/08 and 07/14/08can be a very useful. If you’re a PR goon for some “indie” label, or a young band trying to get exposure, you could use it as a guide as to where my tastes reside. That is to say, don’t send me your shitty Christian Emo rock album if all I listen to is epic doom drones. You could use it as a teaser for the year-end Top 100 Albums of 2008 list that will be written in December. You might even use it as a checklist for things that you should buy and/or download for your own enjoyment. After all, if it’s good enough for me, shouldn’t it be good enough for you too?
Honorable Mention: Baja – Wolfhour, Jasper TX – Black Sleep, Ufomammut – Idolum, Suishou No Fune – Prayer For Chibi, Silver Mt. Zion – 13 Blues For 13 Moons, Russian Circles – Station
10. Saviours – Into Abaddon – Think of Bay Area metal band Saviours as this year’s Earthless. That is, I went to a show of theirs without any inkling of who they were or what they sounded like, and I left quite excitedly to tell some friends what I’d heard, and awoke with my ears still ringing the following day. The album is filled with huge riffs, wicked guitar solos, and a huge low-end sound that is sure to satisfy fans of space-y, heavy bands like the aforementioned Earthless.
09. Nadja – Skin Turns To Glass – The doom rock duo of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff are quite prolific, but this release shines as one of their greatest achievements. Yeah, pretty much all of the band’s releases sound the same, but I find myself listening to this one most frequently. I’d be hard pressed to tell you why. It’s heavy as hell; very gauzy and atmospheric. You have to strain to hear the distant drum machine. I like the pacing, the effectiveness of the slow-burn, and the unbelievable and beautiful nuances that are barely audible beneath the sheer bombast of the band’s larger-than-large, epic sound.
08. Earth – The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull – Most fans of Earth champion the band’s early sound, the slow-motion riffs that inspired groups like Sunn O))) to play at 4bpm. Not me. I’ve fallen in love with the “metallic Morricone” sound that they’ve been perfecting over the past few albums. Like, imagine if The Black Light-era Calexico were playing slower and louder. If that doesn’t arouse you, you have no idea what you’re missing. Perfect desert highway driving music. [Listen to “Rise To Glory”]
07. Bottomless Pit – Hammer Of The Gods – Andy Cohen, Tim Midgett, Chris Manfrin and Brian Orchard have recorded an album that is very dark and moody. When I saw them for the first time it reminded me of New Order, for some reason. But they were a trio then, and their sound has been fleshed out quite a bit since then. “Dogtag” is an incredible tune. “Sevens Sing” is a wonderful closer, with space-y moments and mounting intensity.
06. Daturah – Reverie – I was sold on this album the moment I heard the album-opening sample of Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now. Explosions In The Sky wishes they could still be this effective. This one is all about ambiance and atmosphere. Swirling effects, overdriven crescendos, restraint and catharsis. If “Post-Rock” hasn’t already died, bands like Daturah are the only reason the genre is still relevant in small circles of music fans. [Listen to “Ghostlight”]
05. 5ive – Hesperus – I fell in love with 5ive (not the boy band, you idiot) somewhere between Telestic Disfracture and Hemophiliac Dream. Their newest offering blows away everything else I’ve heard to this point. Multiple listens are definitely in order with this record. The Boston-based heavy rock band have put-to-tape a series of increasingly awesome tracks on Hesperus. It’s a metallic jam that traverses the space between doom-rock and hard-edged psychedelic rock. [Listen to “Gulls”]
04. James Blackshaw – Litany Of Echoes – He made last year’s list with The Cloud Of Unknowing, and this one is even better. Now he’s using piano along with his impeccable acoustic compositional style. He is the modern kind of the twelve string. Everything shimmers, everything is haunting. For something as stark and distant as these pieces, they contain a sense of a hope and optimism that hasn’t really existed on any of Blackshaw’s previous releases. This is the one. [Listen to “Gate Of Horn”]
03. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E – It could be argued that hearing one Spiritualized album renders hearing the rest of the band’s discography useless. That theory is not without basis. The themes explored on Songs In A&E have been examined on each of the band’s previous albums, and repetitive, simple melodies are characteristic of most all Spiritualized songs. Where this album stands alone is in the consciously stunted production, the clarity and effortlessness of the dozen songs and half-dozen harmonies that comprise its eighteen tracks, and the ability of Pierce to blend structures and tones that have made each of the band’s five studio albums (and one otherworldly live album) so wonderful with a newfound sense of intimacy. [Listen to “Sitting On Fire”]
02. Grouper – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill – If you haven’t noticed, I am crazy about Liz Harris and Grouper. This one is creepy. It’s not as drone-centric as her previous work. There is no longer a cloud of effects obscuring her guitar. Everything is laid bare. It’s a hypnotic record, a powerful and irresistible record. This is just the music aspect of the record. Once Harris begins to sing, you will be awed. This is the one avant/experimental record that even anti-minimalistis must hear. [Listen to “When We Fall”]
01. Harvey Milk – Life…The Best Game In Town – Duh. It’s fucking Harvey Milk. Did you really think a new Harvey Milk record wouldn’t make it into the top three albums I’ve heard so far this year? The band’s fifth full-length (and first proper release in for-fucking-ever) is tighter than they’ve ever sounded before. They pummel you, like a lumbering giant crushing everything in its path, with dirtier-than-dirty guitars and the insane howling voice of Creston Spiers. The nine-minute epic “Good Bye Blues” is about as good as they band has ever sounded. It’s going to be quite a feat to unseat this album from the number one spot on my year-end list. [Listen to “Good Bye Blues”]
