top records of 2008

as I mentioned earlier, I didn't find 2008 a great year for new releases. most of these records wouldn't compete very well against last year's list. but still, some things get me a little worked up. in january and february I was actively pursuing new music for my radio show. I stopped hosting the show in august when I went on tour with the phrenologists, and spent the previous months booking the tour and making three records. as december arrived I made an attempt to catch up on the stuff I missed.

favourite record from early in the year:
1. WOLF PARADE – AT MOUNT ZOOMER. everything wolf parade does is always my favourite. this second album is denser bigger more unified. I don’t like it better than their first record, which I don’t like better than their rough and jagged first eps, but it’s a great development for them. one thing that was great when I saw this material in concert twice last year before the album came out was when dante joined dan and spencer on vocals and it’s too bad that that’s not happening on this record. hopefully he’s busy making my favourite record of 2009.

favourite record from recent catch-up listening:
2. MARNIE STERN - THIS IS IT AND I AM IT AND YOU ARE IT AND SO IS THAT AND HE IS IT AND SHE IS IT AND IT IS IT AND THAT IS THAT. my friend paul was really into marnie stern’s last (first?) album, but I thought it was just okay. this one hit me over the head, maybe I could make music like this if I had so much energy for making it big. it is exuberant like I like it, with tones of riot grrrl and dance pop and fuckin guitar rock and hey! get up (and with yr brain too)! cheerish chanting vocals. I almost can’t believe this record. I might like it better than wolf parade. or I might get over it in another month, who knows.

other stuff I like:
3. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – WATER CURSES. everything I love about animal collective, this is just a little ep, but beautiful in a sharp twirly happy dizzy way that doesn’t make you sick but worked up alive beyond language, but with words too. alot of a FEELS (2005) vibe, which was what hooked me into them with a jagged tingly hook.

4. TIMES NEW VIKING – RIP IT OFF. this record is so loud and sharp in the ears it pretty much hurts, emphasis on the pretty. I love all the static, it gets me kind of worked up. this is one show this year I’m sad I missed when they toured with deerhunter (who are good, but not the kind of thing that gets me going). it’s like great grunge pop.

5. MOUNT EERIE – LOST WISDOM. a friend with good taste sent me this record. I was underwhelmed at first because it’s so quiet in an underwhelming way, kind of like how I feel about julie doiron who sings on it. I got hooked by the song VOICE IN HEADPHONES, whose refrain has the beautifullest singalong of one of my favourite BJORK songs (UNDO). then the song WHAT? (rightly) ends with this line:
newborn babies come to life on my face, they say ‘ta da!’
I just can’t believe what’s going on there. listen to the whispers.

6. BORN RUFFIANS –RED, YELLOW & BLUE. skip the pretty lame opening title track and this record is so much bouncing fun. maybe not as deep as I hoped, as I had been anticipating it since hearing the people camping next to us at sasquatch festival last year listening to it loudly while I was trying to sleep. I went and asked them to turn it down, but also who the rad band was. it’s the kind of edgy pop sound with some hopeful angst that grabs me and sings me along.

also interesting to me:
7. STEPHEN MALKMUS – REAL EMOTIONAL TRASH. I haven’t even listened to this whole album, but whenever I have it on and am in the other room doing something, something catches me and I come stand close to the speaker to say, hmm, yeah. he’s got it right, everyone knows it.

8. TITUS ANDRONICUS – THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES. another one I haven’t digested enough to say anything intelligent about, except that it sounds like conor oberst in a band that rocks damn fine and fun with just enough darkness. I like that kind of thing.

9. TOKYO POLICE CLUB – ELEPHANT SHELL. you know this band is good. I didn’t hear anything about this record in the second half of the year, which seems a little weird, because in a year of albums with some good sound and some good songs, this fits in nicely.

10. THE DODOS – VISITER. another good listen from early in the year, with a couple hell-yeah standout tracks.

11. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH – SHALLOW GRAVES. this guy’s from sweden or something. the kind of voice on the kind of songs it’s hard to skip through when they come on your playlist. classic folky stuff with a sharp voice.

12. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – DISTORTION. a fine bit of fuzz over pretty songs. I’m beginning to think I’ve underrated it.

12. THE GRATES – TEETH LOST, HEARTS WON. this is a band from australia whose sound I go crazy for. this record is not as solid as their first, but has plenty of the same get up and dance with a friendly smile on your face feeling that wins my heart.

13. THE DECEMBERISTS – ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID. the decemberists put out this little ep, full of decemberists songs. those are good things. this band has grown on me more this year. on a long list of finest bands ever, the decemberists have a solid spot.

14. EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE. I just got this cd at fascinating rhythm last week and you probably should too. I haven’t spent much time with it yet, but it might be FRVDTY records’ finest yet.

enthusiasm spoken for

I wasn’t very impressed by music I listened to in 2008, which is a strange experience for me. I think it’s mainly because I focused my energy on my own projects, which were numerous and pretty big, so my enthusiasm was all spoken for.
I passed up shows by sunset rubdown and wolf parade. (what?!)
I left nanaimo for ONE show all year (and not far, went to duncan), which was ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL. so one of my favourite records this year was their first album (quantum butterass), from 1997.
probably the record I was most into all year was one from 2007, which I just got in january: BARR’s second album, SUMMARY.
also worth a mention from 2007 is the second FRVDTY split, featuring LIGHTS OF HARMAC and DOWN WITH EVERYTHING, which came out late last year and I got pretty into this year. a highlight in local releases.


before I get to my top records of 2008 list, here’s a rundown of the endeavours that took priority over buying and downloading and being thrilled by other people’s music: I was making my own! here are five shack records releases and one tour that made this a big year for me.

my true favourite record this year is:
OLD PHOEBE – I’LL TAKE YOU WHERE I GO. jamie and I spent hot july upstairs at the & loan gallery working on this record until we were happy happy. it’s mostly songs we’ve been playing for a long time, and feels full of our whole nanaimo experience to me. listening to it fills me full of satisfaction with all the work I’ve done with jamie and everyone else I’ve worked with here.

secondly satisfying is:
THE PHRENOLOGISTS – ALCHEMY. playing in this band was fun. recording this cd, two days in june also upstairs at the & loan, was also fun. listening to the record is fun. going on tour across canada with this band in august was super fun and definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done. sure, do that and then tell me how excited you are even by a new record from your favourite band. it pales a little.

I also made this:
KILL THE BUDDHA – FIRST KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DEALING WITH. while I’m very satisfied with having made this record in a week in february, there’s so much I would change about it now. some songs really could’ve used a few more takes. and the songs sound so much the same, maybe because my guitar playing sucks so much. still, it was meant to be a raw, bare, honest laying down of songs, and it is. some people really like it. actually david morrison put it on his favourite records of the year list.

and I am extremely pleased with the debut of my good friend:
ELGIN-SKYE. it’s so pretty in every way.

also significant for me this year was:
AH, VENICE – YELLOW HOUSE. I think I have always been one of the biggest fans of chris thompson’s songwriting and singing and arranging. let me just stand behind that and leave all emotions out of it.

it's 2008!

it’s kind of fucked to revive a blog called stay at home after two years (of being too busy living to talk about it) when I’m about to leave town indefinitely. or is it.
sometimes we rock and roll.
and what is home?
I’d like to reminisce a little before I go. and then check out some other places than nanaimo to rock and roll (what?!).
like montreal. or toronto. I’ll let you know what I see when I get there.