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Music has a way of adhering to emotions, events, people, while other songs have the freedom to float in and out with little to no association. Some songs really charge me up, while others bring my pulse to a near stand still. I crashed a Jeep in high school listening to Cake’s “The Distance.” I looped the Live Throwing Copper album on a family road trip to Maine while doing my summer reading. I can’t hear “Lightning Crashes” without recalling parts of Cry the Beloved Country. Turning up the Beastie Boys “Sabotage” in the car makes me drive more aggressively. Listening to Billy Bragg makes me want to hug a soccer hooligan. It is both by the personal and emotional associations and the acoustical and performance quality that I rate my songs of 2008.
I discovered this song and artist in the movie Closer with Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts. Terrible movie, but the song haunted me in its bare, raw simplicity, incrementally ascending chords, and Damien’s soft but penetrating vocals. I liked it enough to download the chords, words, and learned how to play and sing it. It was instantaneous melancholy which is exactly what I was looking for at that moment. Incidentally, I was able to see him perform this live at Bonnaroo 2007, and I would have to say the studio version is better. Songs like that just don’t translate well to an outdoor concert. I count this in the 2008 list as it still had a lingering presence on nights I just wanted to sit back, let the music fold me into a paper football, and flip me into despair.
I love the syncopated rhythm of this song with the clear, pure lead vocals of Jim James. It really brings the classic rock feel to a modern platform. Strangely enough, I discovered this song from an iTunes song of the week at Starbucks. The distorted guitar wails are short enough that they’re not overpowering, and the clean guitar bridges make a nice transition between verses. It’s just a fun song to listen to. It reminds me of nothing which is nice. A veritable palate cleanser for the soul.
The fact that I know most of this local Knoxville band doesn’t add or take away from the fact that they are actually very good. I’ve seen them live at the World Grotto as well as Barley’s and last year at Bonnaroo. Jeff, the lead vocals on “All in Good Time” woos his sweetheart with lines like “tonight the apartment is ours, and I’m fresh out the shower, yeah I got something special in mind”. It’s a great love crooner which really rounds out their Brave New Nothing album and adds that level of humor that makes you smile when you know you’ve probably uttered something as equally corny into your girlfriend’s ear in the heat of lust. The guitar riffs are solid and the drums keep everything tight which is nice since sometimes they get lost in these slower bluesy tunes.
A folk singer with enough soul you should take your hat off if you were wearing one just out of respect for whatever heart break event she is chronicling. If you’re not wearing a hat, go buy one, come back and take it off. Serena has a three-octave vocal range which she uses to its full extent in “Weak in the Knees.” She strums her flat top with as much skill and emotion as she strums her voice box. Her voice waver is the meringue on this delicious pie of sorrow, and I want to go back for another slice. In my opinion, the song is too short, but I’m not sure the world is ready for that much regret should I get my wish.
What can I say? They appeal to my surreal appetite. This Icelandic band uses long tone guitar and synth runs supported by xylophone and chimes accompanying the standard percussion. Then there are the ghostly vocals which until recently I discovered are not Icelandic, but Volenska, a completely made up non-sense grouping of syllables and sounds to accompany their music. Sorry kids, Babelfish can’t help you figure out the English lyrics this time. The lulling siren-like tones and vocals of “Svefn-g-englar” take me to a blue and gray tinted Dali landscape punctuated by glaciers where half-wolf half-seal creatures howl at the moon. I have been listening to the Ágætis Byrjun album for a couple of years before I had the unique opportunity to see them live this summer. If you think the music is surreal, you should see the stage setup.
Once again, a freebie from iTunes, but this one was on the compilation collection from Bonnaroo that came free with your ticket. I’m a jazz fan; enough to name my dog Miles in honor of Mr. Davis. Sadly most of the greats I like to listen to are dead which tends to make the tour circuit a little stale. However, Robert Glasper grips the cool jazz piano styling of Thelonius Monk in one hand and the hip hop drum backbeat frenzy of Mos Def in the other and claps furiously. It’s like nothing I’ve heard, but his philosophy of using the modern wider base of music availability as a source for material guarantees that there is always going to be something new on the sound scene. I bought the whole album after sampling that one song. “F.T.B.” reminds me a little of the Charlie Brown theme, but Charlie would stroll in with “the little red hair girl” on his arm in a little red dress and Snoopy would be smoking Lucky Strikes and sipping a pomegranate martini.
Tom Waits’ Glitter and Doom Tour, to date, is the most I’ve ever spent on a concert ticket, and it was money well spent. If you have never had the Tom Waits experience, imagine a voice of broken glass and whiskey singing through a rusty steel gutter drain. Waits through near-demon-possessed articulated body writhing and stomps fast-balls his vaudeville-esque ballads of regret and sorrow. “Day After Tomorrow” has less fanfare than most of the set list, but it proved just how adept Waits is at manipulating you from being on your feet clapping and stomping, to sitting in your seat with your head in your hands.
A friend of mine raved about Grandaddy for a couple of years before I finally gave them a decent listen. I opened them up this year and what I found was a deliciously easy to listen to collection. I managed to get three of their albums with The Sophtware Slump as my favorite for its smooth synth and attenuated percussion. The vocals are soothing like they’re singing through pillowcases, and the remix voiceovers add that background-noise-effect like doing homework with the TV on that just puts you in a comfortable place. “Hewlett’s Daughter” has a drum rhythm and reverb piano that continues the cloud world feel. The vocals soothe and lull and I just feel better and more relaxed every time this loads into the chamber on my Sansa revolver.
I first heard this song at a New Year’s Eve Party ringing in 2008 hosted by my now girlfriend. It was her ring tone. Actually, it still is. I can get into techno, especially when I’m really digging into a project or a program, but not much up for the techno scene with glow sticks and mollies. However, following My Morning Jacket Friday night at Bonnaroo 2008, I walked past the “Which Stage” in the rain and heard DJ Tiësto daftly and deftly mix Cary Brothers “Ride.” I got in as close as I could and just let the beat take over. The crowd’s energy was contagious, and despite being 2am I instantly had a second wind. The song really pulls you in with the pining verses and fast paced guitar strum interwoven with the drum machine. Your body has no choice but to give in to the beat and be taken away.
In keeping with new-to-me music of 2008 and not music created in 2008, I am pulling in “Nothingman” which was featured on the Vitology album in 1994. Pearl Jam was the big headliner at Bonnaroo 2008, and I have to say I was not at all excited about it as I’ve never really followed Pearl Jam. Still, what else are you going to do on Saturday night when your car is surrounded by thousands of tents and chemically altered hippies? You go see the headliner. I was blown away. They really put on an amazing energy driven performance and I was impressed with the longevity and endurance Eddie Vedder embodied to do a continuous 3 hour show. I didn’t even mind the constant political agenda segways between sets. “Nothingman” had almost 70,000 people on their feet singing and swaying along, myself included and I didn’t even know the words. The off-camber waltz rhythm guitar, lead guitar fills, and steady drums painted a perfect backdrop. This song in particular releases Vedder to utilize his full vocal range for the intro verse and chorus, punctuating throughout with his trademark clear soulful projection. I managed to get a Live on Two legs copy of “Nothingman” which really re-enforces the memory of that show.
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