It's a new day, and I come late to the party in many respects. All the music blogs published their Top Ten lists weeks ago; the lists overlapped predictably, with very few surprises among them. That's not a complaint, merely an observation. 2008 was that kind of year. I'm not sure I even have a Top Ten list for 2008, to be honest. It was such a quiet year, musically, a year in which to admire releases rather than nurse one's addiction to them. What's not to love about Fleet Foxes or Vampire Weekend, for example? Admirable, both, yet neither produced a song that got under my skin.
So what did get under my skin in 2008? Bon Iver's Flume, to be sure. It haunted me by never allowing me to possess it wholly. I love a melody or a passage or even a person's face that cannot be memorized, cannot be captured by the mind. The only way to experience it is to return to it again and again. Flume is a song I have returned to again and again, and I have yet to satisfy my interest or exhaust my enjoyment.
Second would be the Constantines' Hard Feelings. What a perfect marriage of fuzzy guitar, driving rock, and Bryan Webb's guttural vocals. Love this band. One of my regrets of the year just passed is that I had tickets to see them at the Troubadour and didn't go. I'd waited two years to see them, too. It's a long story.
Other favored songs, though not necessarily in descending order:
Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream
The French Kicks - Said So What
Wolf Parade - Call It a Ritual
KaiserCartel - Oh No
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
There are many more songs that I liked, enjoyed, or admired in 2008, but I'm confining my brief list to the ones I more than liked.
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