Guest List: Top 7 Albums of 2008 (Hortense's List)

Another guest list, another turn on the random name generator. Here it is:


1. Youth Novels by Lykke Li - Okay.... Cute voice, talented writer and a damn good dancer! Not to mention she is smoking hot! My favorite album of 2008. Listen to: Little Bit


2. Volume One by She and Him - This album was surprisingly made by Zooey Deschanel (girl from winter passing, elf) and M ward. It has a 60s feel to it and I find it rather relaxing to cook/bake to. Don't make fun of me until you try it.


3. Exit Strategy of the Soul by Ron Sexsmith - This album is timeless, classic and beautifully composed.


4. For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver - This album is slow, yet moving. As a whole, it keeps your attention by building up each song.


5. Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes - The name totally fits the band. When I listen to it, I just imagine lots of little cute forest animals gathering and singing like a chorus. Very pretty blended high vocals.


6. Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust by Sigur Rós - Ok, I was a bit confused when I first heard this, because I'm used to just putting on a Sigur Rós album and relaxing. This one has a fewupbeat songs in the beginning of the album, but they put you in such a good mood you have to like them. Towards the end, you can relax again, because the album finishes off with beautifully soft songs.


7. Lesser Matters by the Radio Dept. - This album was close to not making my list because I thought it came out in 2007. However it was released on Jan 1st, 2008, so HA! It just made it! This album has a lot of great songs. My Favorites: Keen On Boys, Why Won't You Talk About It, and Lost and Found.


On a side note..... Lykke Li will be performing at Webster Hall on Feb 2nd.. Definitely worth seeing! Happy New Year Everyone.

Guest List: Top 5 Albums of 2008 (Pancho's List)

OK, here's another guest list for you, this one from my friend "Pancho" (thanks again, automatic name generator). Pancho plays bass guitar and sometimes writes reviews for legitimate music sites. (I can't tell you what, but you've probably heard of them.)

Pancho says:

I don't listen to a ton of new albums. I am an itunes picker and chooser and playlist maker, and I mostly listen to older stuff, but here you go:

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science . . . Are they more like Earth Wind and Fire or Radiohead? They are most like TV on the Radio and way better than Talking Heads. This group is completely in control of their sound at this point, original and wholly relevant. Incredible concert in Brooklyn this year.

2. Nick Cave and the Badseeds - Dig Lazarus Dig . . . This one really rocks; the Grinderman project wore off on Nick and the result is a really funny, vivid rock and roll album with the literary effect still intact.

3. Karniege and NASA - From the Left . . . Progressive, psychedelic hip-hop in authentic and meaningful form. Like lunchroom boom-bap on acid. Really smart and thought out and tough as hell.

4. Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull . . . This might be one of the most boring instrumental albums ever made but I still really dig it. I think it's the piano flourishes that do it for me - they add this tiny little metallic sheen. If you have the time to listen to it, go ahead. Did this album even come out this year? Or was it 2007?

5. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak . . . . Kanye West fools a lot of people again by hiding a ton of musicianship, thought, and gigantic pop appeal in another somehow fascinatingly self-indulgent album. In case you can't hear the groove, listen to "Heartless" in your car. (If you don't have a car, buy one.) In case you don't catch the pop appeal, listen to the most seemingly retarded song such as "Robocop" twice and then catch yourself singing it on the subway and dying to listen to it again.

Honorable mention to Metallica for Death Magnetic, which you need to listen to more than once to understand what they pulled off. Seriously, it's a miracle that they made not only a decent album but a really good one that basically, jammed alll the way throughout. Kirk Hammet, as someone put it on a youtube comment, "still has the moves," definitely the star of the album and the least irritating member of Metallica.

Shout out to Isaac Hayes who died this year and dwarfs everyone on this list with a shadow the size of Jupiter. "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" and "Do Your Thing" are a good starting points if you've never indulged in this phenomenal music. The latter finds him as easy to agree with as James Brown (that's right, Ike) and possibly even more so, which is no easy feat.

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The first guest list is here.

Guest List: Top 10 Albums of 2008 (Salvador's List)

My list is almost ready for you all, but in the meantime, I've asked a couple of my more musically-inclined friends to contribute lists of their own.

So here's guest list #1. I won't tell you the author's name (let's call him "Salvador" - thanks random name generator, he'll hate that!), but I will tell you he's a guitar player and songwriter. I've also put in his notes.

Here it is!

10. Voyager One - "Afterhours In The Afterlife" (i just discovered them a few months ago)

9. Portishead - "Third" (they did it again)

8. The Charlatans - "You Cross My Path" (i think it's their best record since the 90's)

7. The Music - "Strength In Numbers" (i always LOVED this band)

6. Glasvegas - "Glasvegas" (i didn't like them before, but recently i started to adore this band)

5. James - "Hey Ma" (one of the greatest comebacks ever)

4. The Raveonettes - "Lust, Lust, Lust" (great, solid album)

3. Radiohead - "In Rainbows" (it's just so beautiful)

2. The Ruling Class - "Tour de Force" EP (they are gonna be HUGE soon)

1. The Verve - "Forth" (no question)


Stay tuned, I've got another one or two guest lists coming up.

RFR