2008: A Year For Songs, Not Albums
by robin hilton each december, bob and i begin our annual debate all about which is better: a top 10 list of the year’s best songs, or a top 10 list of the year’s excellent albums. i’ve usually argued that we should nave more on albums. a list of songs just doesn’t seem as substantive; besides, the sample for most year-end lists has long been albums. just look at all the other music sites and magazines out there. but for the past eight years, bob has argued that the growing popularity of digital music, which allows people to swallow specific songs as contrasted with of whole albums, makes individual songs more apt. (for the record, i’ve always won this debate.) this year, for the first time in our eight-year-long ponder over, i agree with him. for the past month and a half, i’ve been trying to finalize my personal list of the year’s top 10 albums, and i neutral can’t do it. i even-handed can’t come up with 10 albums i felt that strongly about in 2008. “iamundernodisguise” by school of seven bells is an amazing cut, but i wouldn’t say the album it’s from, alpinisms, belongs among the year’s most revered cds. the canadian triad plants & animals bring off out one of the year’s most astonishing songs, “bye bye bye,” but the rest of the band’s album, parc avenue, was largely forgettable. bon iver aside, not anyone of the following albums, as a whole, would end up on a top 10 list for me. but i spent more while listening to, loving, crying and laughing over these songs than any others: 1. “time to pretend” by mgmt, from oracular spectacular: this is, by to this point in time b to a certain extent, my favorite song of the year. the lyrics are such a wrenching upset of hope and remorse. “time to pretend” may yell out vituperate like a simple techno-electro gambol capture to some people, but it at the end of the day touched me, very much. var so = further swfobject(”/player/media1/mediaplayer.swf”, “mediaplayer1″, “400″, “20″ download action movies, “8″, “#ffffff”); so.addparam(”allowscriptaccess”, “samedomain”); so.addparam(”allowfullscreen”, “true”); so.addvariable(”callback”, “http://www.npr.org/player/media1/track.php?log=1″) drama movies; so.addvariable(”file”, “http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/blog/2008/12/20081224_blog_timetopretend.mp3″); so.write(”flashcontent20081224″); 2. “the wolves (act i and ii)” by bon iver, from for emma, forever ago: we’ve exhausted even ourselves talking about how good-looking and perfect the bon iver record is. if i did present itself up with a list of the finish 10 albums of 2008, it’d be no. 1. it’s hard to pick the best cut from it, but “the wolves” always stood out proper for me. var so = new swfobject(”/player/media1/mediaplayer.swf”, “mediaplayer1″, “400″, “20″, “8″, “#ffffff”); so.addparam(”allowscriptaccess”, “samedomain”); so.addparam(”allowfullscreen”, “true”); so.addvariable(”callback”, “http://www.npr.org/player/media1/track.php?log=1″); so.addvariable(”file”, “http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/blog/2008/12/20081224_blog_thewolves.mp3″); so.write(”flashcontent20081224″); 3. “business time” by exaltation of larks of the conchords, from lam out of the conchords: this was a viral hit on youtube long before it was released on cd, so it might feel a trivial tired to some people. but i’ve never laughed so hard as when i word go heard it, and it can hushed make me smile. if i’m judging songs based on their ability to fill out c draw up me regard something, anything, then this track needs to be near the excel of the tabulate. var so = new swfobject(”/player/media1/mediaplayer.swf”, “mediaplayer1″, “400″, “20″, “8″, “#ffffff”); so.addparam(”allowscriptaccess”, “samedomain”); so.addparam(”allowfullscreen”, “true”); so.addvariable(”callback”, “http://www.npr.org/player/media1/track.php?log=1″); so.addvariable(”file”, “http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/blog/2008/12/20081224_blog_businesstime.mp3″); so.write(”flashcontent20081224″); 4. “black fur” by fredrik, from na na ni: this is essentially a hymn, and a truly gorgeous and infectious one. the band is from sweden. i featured it on second stage earlier this year and institute myself returning to this specific song over and to the ground. var so = contemporary swfobject(”/player/media1/mediaplayer.swf”, “mediaplayer1″, “400″, “20″, “8″, “#ffffff”); so.addparam(”allowscriptaccess”, “samedomain”); so.addparam(”allowfullscreen”, “true”); so.addvariable(”callback”, “http://www.npr.org/player/media1/track.php?log=1″); so.addvariable(”file”, “http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/blog/2008/12/20081224_blog_blackfur.mp3″); so.write(”flashcontent20081224″); 5. “bye bye bye” by plants and animals, from parc avenue: this is simply an inconceivable, powerful and evocative song. plants and animals is a very deft group of musicians, and i take it it’ll do great things in the future. var so = rejuvenated swfobject(”/player/media1/mediaplayer.swf”, “mediaplayer1″, “400″, “20″, “8″, “#ffffff”); so.addparam(”allowscriptaccess …
Takuya kimura
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