This Is Who I Am

This Is Who I Am from Distant Pictures on Vimeo.

Top Albums of 2008: #2 Fleet Foxes -- Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes -- Fleet Foxes

Truly one of the most hauntingly beautiful albums of the year, the vocal quality of these gentlemen is astounding -- it really goes without saying. I've never heard harmonies this great. It truly is a singular approach in modern music. Songs like "White Winter Hymnal", "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song", and "Blue Ridge Mountains" represent pure craftsmanship and tonal perfection. This is about as beautiful as music gets in the 00's.

Honorable Mentions:

Santogold -- Santogold
Big year for this songstress. Very deserving. Some call her a poor man's M.I.A. -- that might be true, but she's still makes Beyonce look like a talentless pile of mess (but it still has a great ass.)


Beck -- Modern Guilt
I'm never not gonna pay attention to Beck. He's one of my favorite singer-songwriters ever, and this Dangermouse produced album is a solid effort from the man. He's beginning to garner quite the prolific career -- something both well deserved and well received on this end.

Top Albums of 2008: #3 Blitzen Trapper -- Furr

Blitzen Trapper -- Furr

This Portland sextet has released their most cohesive album in Furr, their fourth effort overall. Really, it would have been hard to follow their last record Wild Mountain Nation with anything as dense as that, so they took the much smarter route and, well, didn't. Instead they put out an album full of Dylan-esque twang ("Black River Killer"), bittersweet piano hymns ("Not Your Lover") and straight-up rock gems ("Gold For Bread", "Sleepy Time in the Western World"). Blitzen Trapper have taken their vast sound and toned it down to a more focused, calculated approach -- something that sounds not-so-great on the surface, but it's a tactic that has made this already-amazing band even better.

Honorable Mentions:

Deerhunter -- Mircocastle
I love this record(s) so much it hurts sometime. I kept it off the official list because I felt it lacked some of the pop sensibility of their other stuff, but there's no denying that Deerhunter has soaked up Radiohead's aural tendencies without becoming carbon copies. Good for them.


Lil Wayne -- Tha Carter III
The greatness of this album need not be explained.

Top Albums of 2008: #4 Crystal Stilts -- Alight of Night

Crystal Stilts -- Alight of Night

A sound that evokes My Bloody Valentine and The Shins simultaneously, the Crystal Stilts are a great Brooklyn band that actually released TWO albums this year -- but this one was without a doubt the better effort. Every track is a spacey gem. Really, I didn't hear another album like it this year -- it truly stands alone as one of the great indie-rock releases of the year. Unfortunately, all the downloads have since been broken, so...I guess buy it? Weird, I know. But worth it. I totally would.

Honorable Mentions:

The Donkeys -- Living on the Other Side
Horrible name -- amazing album. The Donkeys sorta sound like American Beauty-era Grateful Dead and the Band. Some great tunes here.


Frightened Rabbit -- The Midnight Organ Fight
Lyrically sound Scottish rock...and by lyrically sound I mean absolutely amazing lyrics. Straightforward but effective. "The Twist" is an absolute gem of a song.

Top Albums of 2008: #5 Okkervil River -- The Stand Ins

Okkervil River -- The Stand Ins

Okkervil River's last record, The Stage Names was their best. Now, it seems, their newest effort The Stand Ins is in fact their best. At this rate, the album they release next year will be their best. And I'm fine with that. With each album, Will Sheff seemingly grows as a songwriter -- although I use the term "grows" sparingly. He and Okkervil River are already matured musicians, and well beyond their years. "Blue Tulip" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Honorable Mentions:

Times New Viking -- Rip It Off
These guys are straight out of 1993. Snotty vocals, fuzz-box guitars, amplifiers on the verge of combustion, virtually nonexistent drums -- it's altogether unpretentiously perfect. 16 songs in a half hour. Awesome.


Abe Vigoda -- Skeleton
Abe Vigoda have been called punk rock's Best Kept Secret by virtually every blog in existence, but apparently not secret enough for Dean Spunt of No Age not to find them. They released their debut on his label, and have since drawn comparisons to other LA neanderthals X and the Minutemen.

Crazyness.

Fat City Reprise - Long Gone from Cesar Kuriyama on Vimeo

"While all the music video directors out there are trying to make HD happen, Cesar Kuriyama, a New York based animator and lighting technical director, decided to go old school animation like and create a music video out of 45,000 still photos.
The video was brilliantly shot with a Nikon D200 DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) at 4 pictures per second rate. Basically, the director, alongside his photography director Tommy Agriodimas, shot bursts of photos several times of each scene and ended up editing the photos to reach 24 frames per second. And viola – a music video that looks like it was almost shot with a regular video camera - but much more unique."

Top Albums of 2008: #5 Beach House -- Devotion

Beach House -- Devotion

When people get pop music right, it's a beautiful thing. Especially the dreamy, atmospheric brand that the Baltimore duo Beach House dole out with ease on their second album, Devotion. Each track is cohesive and seamless, each chord wonderfully complimentary to the next. It's crafted amazingly -- something that seems effortless but is anything but. Good shit.

Honorable Mentions:

Gang Gang Dance -- Saint Dymphna:
Don't let the ridiculous cover fool you -- the tracks within are experimental-dandies that have a traditional structure somewhere below the surface. At first brash and confusing, it soaks in over time. Completely enjoyable.


Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel -- Dual Hawks
I'm a big Will Johnson fan. Both of his respective projects have been churning out quality guitar-rock tunes for years, and this double-album is no exception. Fantastic tuneage.