Darnell’s favorite albums of 2008

By Jeremy Darnell

Though I have become less exploratory in my old age, I still try to summon a semblance of effort in an attempt to find some good tunes.

I am a member of the iPod nation, and I enjoy crafting playlists as much as any person. Yet I still get more satisfaction from a well-crafted album than from any arbitrary grouping of songs I could ever assemble.

With that in mind, I present my Best Albums of 2008…

Honorable mentions: Lil Wayne — Tha Carter III; The Raconteurs — Consolers of the Lonely

Tha Carter III was a solid hip-hop album and the top-selling album of 2008, but it still had shortcomings like most mainstream albums. Namely, it has several filler songs that I find myself skipping without delay and even though I can appreciate Babyface, the Kanye West-produced “Comfortable” is not my cup of syrup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRprONMgx0c

Consolers of the Lonely was a real surprise to me.  I didn’t especially like the first Raconteurs’ album, Broken Boy Soldiers, and ignored this album upon its release.  After several friends gave me good recommendations I finally picked it up.  And from the first Jack White riff and thumping drums of opener “Consoler of the Lonely” to the splendid mystery of closer “Carolina Drama,” this album was one of my most oft-repeated over the last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doPBoKt3OAI

Now for my top ten…

10. Bon Iver — For Emma, Forever Ago

There is something strangely romantic (to a country boy like me) about a guy going to his father’s cabin in the woods of Wisconsin and playing and recording songs in an effort to exorcise the demons of a tough run of things.  And that’s just what Justin Vernon did.  We are the lucky recipients of a heartfelt and emotional letter, one that reveals the nuance of pain when viewed in isolation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62i9Sodwp5o

9. The Roots — Rising Down

The Roots have been one of hip-hop’s shining stars since their first album dropped in 1993 and they show no signs of slowing down.  Rising Down continues the dark political bent first explored on 2006′s Game Theory, albeit this time with a more synth-heavy attack. The deep groove of “Rising Up” is among my favorite moments of 2008, a year that the Roots have perfectly encapsulated with a foreboding album that points to the coming storm.  Who knew that the apocalypse could taste so good?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uldeh75dm0

8. Blitzen Trapper — Furr

Blitzen Trapper jumped on my radar with 2007′s Wild Mountain Nation and upped the ante with this year’s release.  This album sounds like a cousin of other beard-rock acts like My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses, but this album also displays a lyrical maturity that few other bands can match.  The top two tracks, the title track and “Not Your Lover,” are among the finest songs of the past year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzCi6qr5qKw

7. The Hold Steady — Stay Positive

I struggled with putting this album even higher on my list, but all in all this is probably where Stay Positive belongs.  I have listened to this album more than all the others on this list save one (my No. 1 album), and I truly admire Craig Finn and company’s ability to make bar rock sound so monumental.  These are the musical equivalents of two drunk 30-year olds talking about the good old days.  And trust me, I love that about them.  The reason this album sits here and not higher, however, is that I don’t consider it their best work.  In fact I consider it their third-best LP.  And when an album this good is your bronze, you are world class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjDI1oouS8w

6. TV on the Radio — Dear Science

I always have trouble explaining TV on the Radio to people who haven’t heard them.  They are at times melodic, dissonant, frenetic, and always provocative.  Album opener “Halfway Home” is a treat.  It opens as a Beach Boys-inspired dirge and eventually flowers around the two-minute mark into an atmospheric, ethereal piece that even the most jaded listener will find beautiful.  The somber “Family Tree” is one of the most reflective and beautiful songs of the year.  Hopefully these guys will be around for a long, long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4nBwwUufWE

5. Santogold — Santogold

Though the comparisons to M.I.A. are inevitable due to the hodgepodge of musical styles and the fact that she is a young woman, Santogold is more grounded in American music’s pantheon and that’s something that is to be expected from a girl from Philly.  What is not to be expected is that a debut album would be this fully realized while flying in the airspace of just about every genre possible.  You have heard her stuff in commercials, on TV shows and on video games (and I heard her thanks to Colby), and the songs always sound like something you’ve heard before.  And yet Santogold is the most singular album I have heard in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwNkuw-YTVo&feature=related

4. Fleet Foxes — Fleet Foxes

Imagine listening to “baroque harmonic pop jams.”  That is how the Fleet Foxes have categorized their music, and it’s not a bad starting place as far as explanations go.  The real magic of the Fleet Foxes is that they are versed in all of classic rock and folk’s parameters, yet they never fall prey to sounding nostalgic or cliche.  They just sound like themselves: five guys from Seattle playing music inspired by, but not totally deferential to Bob Dylan, Neil Young and the Moody Blues.  This album, and “White Winter Hymnal” in particular, is absolutely essential listening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQRS40OKNE

3. Bob Dylan — Tell Tale Signs

I have never made my affinity for the music of Bob Dylan a secret.  And though I question anyone who doesn’t appreciate the high art of Dylan at his best, i.e. Blood on the Tracks or Blonde on Blonde (to name just two), I also understand that I am of that special breed that can sit through lesser fare like Street Legal and Self Portrait with my attention fully rapt.  With all my bias firmly held in check, this year’s release, the eighth volume of the splendid Bootleg Series, is among the finest releases of Dylan’s twilight era.  The alternate version of “Mississippi” veers so dramatically from its initial form on 2001′s Love and Theft that I had to revisit the latter just to make sure it was the same song.  It isn’t.  It is far better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWOxUc01HPM

2. MGMT — Oracular Spectacular

I wonder if this album will age as well as some of those listed before it.  But who cares?  This is what great pop music is supposed to sound like.  Few albums have ever boasted a pair of singles as strong as “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel.”  So with the winds of elitism and music snobbery blowing all around you, drop your anchor on MGMT and revel in the unbridled joy that these guys exude.  And also try not to smile at a lyric as priceless as “I said oooh girl, shock me like an electric eel!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE

1. Vampire Weekend — Vampire Weekend

I have often wondered why no other American rock band or musician could ever approach Afropop with the sense of respect and with the chops that Paul Simon displayed on his seminal Graceland?  Finally someone has reached those heights.  And they’re a bunch of preppy Ivy Leaguers to boot.  I have listened to Vampire Weekend about 20,000 times this year and yet it always has something new for me.  That is, for me, the ultimate test of an album’s greatness.  Plus my dad really likes it.  That has to count for something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHl9qRsMzw&feature=channel