Now that we’re six days into 2009, self-titled figured we should stop arguing about the rest of our ‘08 countdown and decide the damn thing so we can move on to new music. With that in mind, here are 18 more endorsements in alphabetical order.

Like what you see or hear? Click on the album covers for links to the cheapest high-quality downloads.

Atlas Sound, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Cannot See (Kranky)

What we said then: “Made for best friend/bandmate Lockett Pundt, Let The Blind proves Cox can cull the madness into something openly accessible (‘River Card’) while the jittery swell of ‘Ready, Set, Glow’ and the micro-house variation of ‘Cold As Ice’ take his consciousness-altering whirlwind to new psychotropic heights.”

Why we’re still listening: With a sound that’s dreamier and more sample-driven than Deerhunter, Bradford Cox’s side project is the equivalent of swimming in a vat of particularly strong cough syrup.

Further reading:
Atlas Sound @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 2.24.08

Try before you buy: “Recent Bedroom”

Download audio file (02%20Recent%20Bedroom.mp3)

The Bug, London Zoo (Ninja Tune)

What we missed the first time around: A devastating disasterpiece of wobbly synth shards and bass lines that slap your speakers like smart bombs. Not to mention some menacing MC work by Flowdan, Warrior Queen and more.

Try before you buy: “Poison Dart” (featuring Warrior Queen)

Download audio file (11%20Poison%20Dart%20ft%20Warrior%20Queen.mp3)

Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours (Modular)

What we said then: “Fuck blog-house, DayGlo fashion lines and nearly everything associated with electro these days. You know what Cut Copy are? Pop stars in waiting.”

Why we’re still listening: With guitars that gently grate and synths that shimmer like a thousand LED lights, Cut Copy’s breakthrough LP is preposterously poppy—our go-to tonic for cheering up the office come deadline time. Few 2008 albums had singles as thoroughly satisfying as “Out There On the Ice,” “Lights and Music,” “Hearts On Fire” and “So Haunted,” either.

Further reading:
1MM: Cut Copy @ Modular’s Nevereverland Festival, 12.13.08
OZZFEST, THE DANCE-ROCK EDITION: Cut Copy vs. The Presets @ Webster Hall

Try before you buy: “So Haunted”

Download audio file (07%20So%20Haunted.mp3)

Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador)

What we said then: “If you’ve been keeping score since Fucked Up’s 7-inch-stacking beginnings (check the discography), this stunning album is simply a natural evolution from the group’s last opus, 18 minutes of mind-boggling prog-punk (see the many movements in Year of the Pig’s title track). Don’t buy that argument? That’s fine. Be sure to file a complaint with someone that actually gives a damn about adhering to a sound that dates back to before many hardcore traditionalists were born.”

Why we’re still listening: Ambient interludes and shoegazer shades prove you don’t have to outgrow hardcore; you can grow up with it.

Try before you buy: “No Epiphany”

Download audio file (no_epiphany.mp3)

Gas, Nah Und Fern (Kompakt, reissue)

What we missed the first time around: Take a lengthy look at the Technicolor art that adorns this four-part box set. The nocturnal shot is a perfect summary of what you’re in store for here: an incomparably influential collection of ambient techno experiments that predated Kompakt’s seminal Pop Ambient series and lots of drone-on music that hits your head like a morphine drip.

Try before you buy: “Eins”

Download audio file (01%20Eins.mp3)

Genghis Tron, Board Up the House (Relapse)

What we missed the first time around: True to its title, Board Up the House is all about battening up the hatches as the End of Days era draws near. An Act of God’s got nothing to do with it, though. More like us—killing ourselves through neglience, ignorance and sheer stupidity. That said, this thing isn’t a downer; it’s absolutely electric, brimming with the spirit of old Nine Inch Nails LPs and Warp compilations.

Try before you buy: “I Won’t Come Back Alive”

Download audio file (05%20I%20Won%27t%20Come%20Back%20Alive.mp3)

Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair (DFA/Mute)

What we said then: “Need we say more about this group? Support gay disco.”

Why we’re still listening: Playful one moment (“Hercules’ Theme,” “You Belong,” a rather anthemic “Blind”) and bristling with love and longing the next (“Free Will,” “Iris,” “Easy”), this is the most human dance record of the past couple years.

Further reading:
I WAS THERE: Hercules and Love Affair @ Studio B, 5.17.08
1MM: Hercules and Love Affair @ Modular’s Nevereverland Festival, 12.13.08

Try before you buy: “Free Will”

Download audio file (01%20Free%20Will.mp3)

Jay Reatard, Singles 06-07 (In the Red)

What we said then: “The included tracks—lifted from long OOP singles released on In the Red, Goner, Squoodge, P. Trash and Stained Circles—play around with light, sing-songy melodies as much as they go balls out on the hot, sticky guitar action. Restraint—something you wouldn’t necessarily think to associate with such a hair-in-face, flying-V-guitar-slinging rocker—is Reatard’s friend here.”

Why we’re still listening: As much as we dig Reatard’s ‘08-centric Matador compilation, there’s a looser, livelier vibe to this series of earlier sides. Hell, we fell for its brittle hooks so hard (“Don’t Let Him Come Back,” “Night of Broken Glass” and “I Know a Place” are pure pop gold left in the rain to rust) we put Jay on our second issue’s cover without hearing his new songs.

Further reading:
SHIT MAGNET: The Cover Story, ST002
1MM: Jay Reatard/Crystal Antlers/Amazing Baby/Women @ Glasslands Gallery, 10.25.08

Try before you buy: “Night of Broken Glass”

Download audio file (01%20Night%20Of%20Broken%20Glass.mp3)

The Kills, Midnight Boom (Domino)

What we said then: “Whether the bump-in-the-night co-production of Spank Rock’s Aramani XXXchange or the  one-two punch of the first couple tracks pulls you in, it’s easy to see why Kate Moss ditched Pete for a Dawn of the Dead-looking dude named ‘Hotel.’”

Why we’re still listening: To listen is to gain a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for acting ‘bad,’ as this dirt-encrusted disc is basically an excuse for indulging your id.

Try before you buy: “Tape Song”

Download audio file (03%20Tape%20Song.mp3)

Krallice, Krallice (Profound Lore)

What we missed the first time around: Black-metal from the icy outskirts of … Brooklyn? Indeed; and it features some of the most hypnotic guitar heroics we’ve heard in eons. (Cheers to Mick Barr.)

Try before you buy: “Wretched Wisdom”

Download audio file (01%20Wretched%20Wisdom.mp3)

The Last Shadow Puppets, The Age of the Understatement (Domino)

What we said then: “With a scintillating sleeve that’d fit nicely alongside a dusty copy of Blow-Up, The Last Shadow Puppets’ debut had me at hello. However, it really sealed the deal with songs like ‘Standing Next To Me’ and ‘Calm Like You.’ Thanks to the effortless orchestration of Owen Pallet and (producer/drummer) James Ford’s grasp of a certain Arctic Monkey’s strengths, both feel like full-blooded vignettes—tunes that’ll turn your speakers into a silver screen on the way to seizing the NME’s staff by its collective balls.”

Why we’re still listening: Simply put, we like this so much more than Alex Turner’s other gig, the Arctic Monkeys. “Standing Next to Me” and  “Calm Like You”—a stupendous pair of groove-bursting singles—also emerged atop our iTunes “Play Count” list at the tail end of 2008.

Try before you buy: “Standing Next to Me”

Download audio file (02%20Standing%20Next%20To%20Me.mp3)

No Age, Nouns (Sub Pop)

What we said then: “Thankfully, No Age is our burrito, an indie-rock band that’s putting in the work, playing the shows, making the great music, not because they’re trying to attain some grandiose level of instant-grat stardom that’ll (maybe) make sure their children’s college tuition is paid, but simply because this—exactly what they’re doing now—is their dream and it’s also their job. Michael Azerad wrote their bible. This is what they love. Do it your damn self. DIY(DS). And that dedication sure does show in their music.”

Why we’re still listening: Because No Age—like Fucked Up—remind us of why we used to plummet into hardcore punk mosh pits, knowing full well that we were about to get wrecked. And they do so while injecting their ire with dashes of noise pop.

Further reading:
LIB SERVICE: No Age
GO EASY ON ME: Confessions of a No Age Virgin

Try before you buy: “Teen Creeps”

Download audio file (4708.mp3)

Poni Hoax, Images of Sigrid (Tigersushi)

What we said then: “Before you scoff at the very idea of yet another band schooled in the art of Joy Division, Giorgio Moroder and the Talking Heads, know this: Poni Hoax’s music is more like a modern day update of classic French cold-wave music (see the excellent So Young But So Cold, BIPP compilations) than a Parisian spin on Bloc Party or Franz Ferdinand. They’re also diametrically-opposed to the Ed Banger-backed stereotype of French dance tracks being nothing but distorted, speaker-singeing synths and crowd-pleasing bits of electro, hip-hop and filtered disco. Basically, Images of Sigrid is an album you play while driving through rain-pelted streets at midnight, not your everyday collection of club bangers.”

Why we’re still listening: Because this is the most overlooked, under-appreciated nostalgia trip of the “House of Jealous Lovers” generation. In our humble opinion, of course.

Further reading:
TIPPING POINT: Poni Hoax profile

Try before you buy: “Pretty Tall Girls”

Download audio file (03%20Pretty%20Tall%20Girls.mp3)

Portishead, Third (Mercury)

What we said then: “Third is difficult, draining, dense and depressing, an absolutely soul-sucking record if ever there was one. That said, it really is fascinating, and even if you don’t dig it, it’s an aural event you must to experience at least once.”

Why we’re still listening: More than a simple ‘comeback album,’ Portishead’s first studio record in 11 years feels like a revelation—a stunning reminder that the trio was never tethered to anyone’s sepia toned idea of trip-hop. While “Machine Gun” and “We Carry On” are more menacing and HEAVY than any metal song we heard all year, “Deep Water” is surprisingly tender and simple, a barely-there blend of cascading ukelele chords and backup vocals from beyond the grave. As for “The Rip,” well, it’s the Single of the Year, a goosebump-y blend of creeping coldwave keys and melodramatic melodies that bring new meaning to the phrase “misery loves company.”

Try before you buy: “The Rip”

Download audio file (04%20The%20Rip.mp3)

Rodriguez, Cold Fact (Light in the Attic, reissue)

What we said then: “His deft—and daft—poetics are coated in the kind of ’60s/’70s flourishes we simply don’t hear on today’s records: strings that swoon, Woodstock-ian guitars, a mix that’s warmer than a windowsill-bound pie. No wonder why David Holmes dropped “Sugarman” at the start of his stellar Come Get It I Got It mix. Like any reissue worth its weight in liner notes, Cold Fact is timeless stuff.”

What we’re still listening: If it were still the ’60s, this recently-unearthed time capsule would make us want to move to San Fran and live off nothing but freshly-pulled espresso shots and dog-eared books about Marxism and the Man.

Try before you buy: “Sugar Man”

Download audio file (sugar_man.mp3)

School of Seven Bells, Alpinisms (Ghostly)

What we missed the first time around: One hell of a haunting/heavenly listen, emanating from some sort of psychedelic ether. Aside from that, it’s the genre-less sound of three gifted musicians shedding their past projects (Secret Machines, On-Air Library!) for their purest work yet. To give you an idea of how varied the soundscapes are, “Half Asleep” is goddamn gorgeous and the 11-minute pairing of “Sempiternal/Amaranth” is a slightly sinister downward spiral into a rabbit hole you just might not crawl out of.

Try before you buy: “Connjur”

Download audio file (07%20Connjur.mp3)

Titus Andronicus, The Airing of Grievances (Troubleman Unlimited)

What we missed the first time around: The crap production values of this debut is a major source of its scab-yanking appeal. (It should be subtitled Jersey Bites Back.) That, and the nutty Oberst-isms of Patrick Stickles, circa the Lifted LP, as if Mr. Bright Eyes traded in his red wine collection for a handful of amphetamines.

Try before you buy: “Arms Against Atrophy”

Download audio file (04%20Arms%20Against%20Atrophy.mp3)

Torche, Meanderthal (Hydra Head)

What we said then: “This record is easily the most palatable metal record I’ve heard in years. Probably because it sounds like the Foo Fighters jamming with Quicksand.”

Why we’re still listening: Since Walter Schreifels would rather reunite Rival Schools and Gorilla Biscuits than Quicksand, this is the closest we’re gonna get to another Slip.

Try before you buy: “Grenades”

Download audio file (02%20Grenades.mp3)

[Photo by Meqo Sam Cecil]

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

Remember when Wolf Parade were supposed to save the world? Or at the very least, carry the Canadian crossover torch from their friends Arcade Fire? Well, that never quite happened, and we’re not quite sure why. While the Montreal quartet played to a packed Terminal 5 earlier this year, they’re inexplicably m.i.a. in many a year-end list. This despite the considerable replay value of their second full-length disc, the rather addictive At Mount Zoomer.

With Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs) and Spencer Krug (Swan Lake, Sunset Rubdown) splitting songwriting duties, two clear visions of Wolf Parade emerge: one that’s slightly cheery and spiked with candied synth lines (“Soldier’s Grin,” “The Grey Estates”) and one that’s slightly sinister and two seconds away from a nervous breakdown (“California Dreamer,” “An Animal In Your Care”). Caught somewhere in the middle is “Kissing the Beehive,” a mini-epic that was originally written as a multi-movement example of welcome self-indulgence. Stripped down to just 10 minutes—the song’s so strong it often stretches to 15-20 minutes live—it’s an airtight exchange of ideas and hooks between Boeckner and Krug, polar opposites that ought to play together in the sandbox more. Maybe next time. Until then, expect a Handsome Furs disc in the spring.

Download audio file (4380.mp3)

“Language City”

Download audio file (4274.mp3)

“Call It a Ritual”

FURTHER READING:

TRACK RECORD: Wolf Parade, “At Mount Zoomer”

THE S/T SCOOP: Dan Boeckner Revisits Hardcore Roots on New Handsome Furs LP

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

More is made of what Yoni “Why?” Wolf is not than what he actually is. All too often, reviews and profiles have labeled the Oakland-based musician as eccentric, uncategorizable, and fringe, but while his sound is in fact wholly unique, this is a true disservice to him. This year’s Alopecia album surprised listeners and devoted fans by being his most accessible work yet: a wonderful piece of surreal pop packed with line after line of unabashed forthrightness, and odd yet heartwarming poetry (try not being somewhat moved by “These Few Presidents”).

What makes listening to a Why? album such a rewarding experience is that the music is generally relevant for both the ears and brain—Wolf is a potent writer in the tradition of Philip Roth and Woody Allen (folding humor into poignancy), but he also writes unpredictable hooks that can hibernate in your mind for months.  So if challenging convention makes him a fringe character, then may Wolf be cherished for years by anyone willing to go there with him.

These Few Presidents – WHY?

Good Friday – WHY?

FURTHER READING:

THE S/T INTERVIEW: Yoni Wolf of Why?

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

As we write yet another love letter to Fennesz’s fuzz tones (the last came earlier this month), our thermostat’s plummeting like the stock market, leaving us two seconds away from strangling the law-breaking landlord that lives upstairs. (It’s supposed to be 68 degrees Fahrenheit in here—at least—and it’s now 56.) While we quickly lose our patience with the bitter temps outside, Black Sea continues to keep our sanity in check and mirror every hiss and squeak in our water pipe system.

That’s because Christian Fennesz is in full control of his powers here, able to whip up one of the year’s most emotional albums with nothing but lingering guitar hooks, spigot-like blasts of feedback, and cloudy synth lines. Unlike records that force their sadness onto you through blood-letting lyrics and woeful minor chords, Fennesz’s long-awaited full-length just is. Yes, it’s tethered to familiar ideas of experimental, laptop-filtered music, but something about gorgeous and grand cuts like “Saffron Revolution” and “Glide” speaks to us like an electrical storm. It’s jolting, yes, but it’s also a mechanical reminder that we’re alive in the first place.

[Photo by Lin Stensrud]

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

On one level, Lindstrøm’s three-song, 55-minute opus is the street-sweeping soundtrack to every child’s Knight Rider fantasies. (If you were born before the mid-’80s, that is.) On another—and this is the important part—it’s space disco stretched to its logical limit, and a loving tribute to the greatest analog epics of our time. Namely the era that produced John Carpenter’s finest work and many a Moog-driven masterpiece.

To give you an idea of what you’re in for here, the shortest song on Where You Go I Go Too clocks in at 10 minutes, and it still manages to feel like an entire film score. As for the album’s towering title track, well it’s nearly 30 minutes, with enough peaks and valleys to keep you coming back for weeks to come. With separate Prins Thomas edits making everything slightly more digestible for the dance floor, this LP is a pure home listening/headphone experience, so save it for a long drive or the next time you’re reading a Philip K. Dick book in your living room.

FURTHER READING:

IN THE CITY: Lindstrøm shows us is favorite spots in Oslo

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

Regardless of how many times you’ve heard it, Fuck Buttons‘ “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” feels like a swift slap to the face. Or at the very least, a hefty bucket of freshly-defrosted water. To fully understand what we mean, succumb to its steady build of shimmering synths and feedback flecks for a good five minutes; then step back as it detonates a smart bomb of Speak & Spell shrieks and sheer noise. If you don’t feel cleansed by the end, we’ll personally refund the price of admission.

Look, Street Horrrsing is dear to us because it makes the self-titled office feel alive, as if someone just funneled a thousand volts to our special areas with no signs of pressing stop. Like a pirate broadcast from a severely pissed-off spaceman (heading into a black hole with his foot through the floor) or a cozy electrical blanket that’s slightly off, every song here splices primitive percussion patterns with waves of distortion and future-shocked drone detours.

You’ll be holding on for dear life the whole way, but you’ll also be sitting there wondering when we can expect Album No. 2.

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

While we don’t quite get their name, Fight Bite’s gorgeous but gloomy debut speaks for itself, casting a soft, constant glow through hushed, haunted harmonies and weightless 4AD-isms that bring to mind a post-mortem Cocteau Twins. Like Palms’ It’s Midnight in Honolulu—another recommended record from 2008—this is music that’s meant for late nights and fine red wine. And as depressing/debilitating as it can be for you sensitive types, Emerald Eyes is also one of the most beautiful listens you’ll lose yourself in this year. That said, it’s dark as hell, offering lyrics about death and destruction that drift on by oh-so-innocently—like storm clouds that just started to form on the horizon. How this duo is unsigned while the similarly-minded Beach House remains an (overrated) critical darling is beyond us.

Download audio file (03%20Swissex%20Lover.mp3)

“Swissex Lover”

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

In a perfect world, Made Out of Babies would be this year’s Baroness—a metal band pre-approved by Pitchfork and, thus, ready to pull rail thin cool kids into mosh pits they can’t quite handle. Unfortunately, singer Julie Christmas (also the shape-shifting voice behind Battle of Mice, who released a solid split with Jesu earlier this year) has a teaching gig that kept her from supporting The Ruiner with a proper tour.

What this means is we’ll keep pushing this LP until enough of you peek past its questionable Seldon Hunt sleeve and discover the combustible cuts within. At its blackened heart, MOoB’s third full-length is a showcase for Christmas’ tightly-woven tales and incredible range. Easily one of the most dynamic voices in extreme music (that includes her testosterone-heavy counterparts), she’s capable of being tantalizing one second and terrifying the next—as if Björk was actually transformed by the death-metal collection of her beau Matthew Barney.

MOoB matches Christmas’ every move with a brainy but ball-busting backing track, too, confirming the group’s claims that this is their ‘experimental’ record. Egocentric intentions aside, just listen to the song samples in the link below and tell us they don’t make you want to set everything ablaze and dance on 2008’s ashes.

FURTHER READING AND LISTENING:

• THE REAL THING: Meet the Singers That Move Made Out of Babies’ Julie Christmas
• 1MM: Made Out of Babies @ Union Pool, 6.24.08

[Photo by C Davey Wilson]

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

Yes, they’re still mining the Jesus and Mary Chain for ideas, right down to the flipped “I want your candy” metaphors of “You Want the Candy.” That said, the Raveonettes also swipe ideas from self-titled’s other long-term love affair: Phil Spector’s towering Wall of Technicolor Sound. The result conjures the ’50s with feedback—a pop record that’s rough around the edges, yet as 3-D and blinding as Lust Lust Lust’s album sleeve.

In many ways, the Raveonettes’ ravishing Vice debut retreads the same amp-searing territory as their early records—especially the deviant and delightful Whip It On EP—but that’s exactly why we love it. Classic Rave-ups like “Beat City” and “Do You Believe Her” used to ignite our fight or fuck response, urging us to seize the day as it were, before the duo’s monochromatic film noir soundtrack leaves a trail of dead bodies in its wake. And while things have gotten slightly cheerier with time, the Raveonettes still cut their candy with enough razor blades to keep things quite interesting.

Download audio file (raveonettes-aly_walk_with_me.mp3)

“Aly, Walk With Me”

We hate half-baked countdowns just as much as the next cynic. That said, self-titled couldn’t help but stare in horror as good but not great (Fleet Foxes at No. 1 and 2? Really?) albums top the lists of other publications. Here’s one of 30 selections from our rundown of wholly recommended 2008 records …

As far as most Americans are concerned, only one British band released a record worth recognizing this year. But while Coldplay defends itself from a Joe Satriani lawsuit, we can’t help but acknowledge the perpetually underrated Elbow. Justly awarded the much-coveted Mercury Prize back home, The Seldom Seen Kid is a triumph among an already-impressive back catalogue. Especially “Mirrorball” and “Weather To Fly”—soft acoustic meditations that tug at your heartstrings without getting too sentimental or sappy— and the Zeppelin-inspired riffs of “Grounds For Divorce,” which prove that, yes, there are also balls in this package.

Sure, frontman Guy Garvey sings familiar phrases like “drinking in the morning sun” (the celebratory and epic “On A Day Like This”), “love you mate” (the eulogistic “Friend Of Ours”) or “we’re having the time of our lives” (“Weather To Fly”), but, man, when he delivers them in that weathered, subtly sincere voice of his you can’t help but seriously believe him.

—Arye Dworken

THE S/T INTERVIEW: Elbow