Best music of 2008 (featuring top 10 albums)

Oh, music. When I took a recent five-day excursion into the wilderness of the Aleghenny National Forest in Pennsylvania in late November, with only a large pack on my back filled with food and essentials, I wondered exactly what I would miss, being away from civilization for the better part of a week. Turns out the only thing I truly missed was not my cell phone, computer, Internet, newspaper, books, or anything like that, but music. This, of course, did not come as a surprise to me, but as I was reunited with my iPod for the long drive home, I found myself appreciating my music even more.

I was fortunate enough to see three concerts in the second half of 2008: Wolf Parade performing in Pontiac, MI at the beginning of July; The Hold Steady at the same venue later in the month; and Minus the Bear in Columbus in mid-October — three great shows. Wolf Parade gave a particularly impressive performance, and Minus was just sublime, performing some tracks from their new acoustic EP as well as some old favorites.

My Top 10 Albums of 2008

1: TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Deep, diverse, funky, elaborate, passionate and energetic yet wholly chill. Innovative beats AND lyrics (when evaluating music I put a lot of weight on lyrics). The poetry of "Dancing Choose" is striking (my favorite lines: "A palette blown to monochrome" and "In my mind I'm drowning butterflies"). Dear Science is less raw and rough as their 2006 LP Return to Cookie Mountain (also an amazing album), which is, I suppose, both good and bad. The album has found mainstream fans, being named album of the year by Rolling Stone and Spin. To me, TV on the Radio is to the '00s what Television was to the '70s. At least TVOTR is receiving the accolades they deserve, while Television really haven't been fully credited for their contribution to punk rock.
Favorite song: "Halfway Home"

2: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Fun, energetic, electro-poppy, psychedelic.
Favorite song: "Time to Pretend". Just so much fun. "Kids" and "Electric Feel" also very representative of MGMT's sound.

3: Deerhunter - Microcastle
Read a good article about this album, including an interview with man-behind-the-magic Cox, here. Anyone who enjoys Microcastle should check out other Deerhunter albums, especially my personal favorite, Cryptograms.

4: Portishead - Third
Excellent electronic/trip-hop. Sucks you into the music, where you go from there is up to you...

5: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Sweeping, earthly "indie" folk.
Favorite song: "Your Protector". One of the best songs of the year.

6: Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
Kevin Barnes' follow-up to Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? may not live up to the 2007 album's glory, but it is an interesting, sometimes abstract work of psychedelic pop. Barnes and the gang often include several short compositions in every one of the album's 15 eclectic songs; each song jumps about. A sexual, playful, personal album (e.g. the chorus "When we get together/It's always hot magic" from "Wicked Wisdom"; "We can do it softcore if you want/But you should know I take it both ways" in "For Our Elegant Caste"; and plenty of others), Skeletal Lamping has its intelligent moments too ("Technology makes such an ugly mother" in "Mingusings"), though it is in no way as clever as Hissing Fauna. Of Montreal is known for churning out quirky neo-psychedelia and while Skeletal Lamping is a fine piece of work, I hope to see another album on par with Hissing Fauna within the next few years.
Favorite song: "Women's Studies Victims".

7: No Age - Nouns
An intense, experimental-ish rock album.

8: Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

9: Sigur Rós - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Beautiful music; I can't think of anything more perfect to listen to as I fall into a dreamy, peaceful state.

10 (tied): Beck - Modern Guilt
Some people weren't pleased with Beck about this album, I, however, view it as a solid entry out of this year's top albums.

10 (tied): Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
High-speed pop. I have to be in the right mood to listen to Girl Talk, the stage name of Gregg Gillis. But when I am in an upbeat mood, ready to be bombarded with little snippets of pop, hip-hop, and whatever else Gillis decides to mix into his mashups, Girl Talk is a thrill to listen to. The music is not serious; its just a blend of some of the more popular beats ridin' the airwaves, except Gillis is able to make them sound good. If the average poppy pop song has 20 seconds of catchy beats, Gillis fishes those 20 seconds out and mixes it with complementary beats. Listen and you'll understand.

Honorable mentions: the albums that just barely made the top 10

The Dodos - Visiter
Quirky.

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Beach House - Devotion
Dream pop for those quiet afternoons.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Darn good rock & roll. Saw these guys in concert over the summer.

Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
I personally don't enjoy this album as much as 2006's Robbers & Cowards, but Loyalty to Loyalty is a decent album. Cold War Kids' sophomore work is an evolution of the band's soulful tunes, but I do have greater expectations for them in the future.

To see all major music magazines' top album lists, see the Metacritic best of 2008 page.

Currently, my two favorite musical artists are Elliott Smith and The National, followed by TV on the Radio (a more recent love) and Radiohead (a long-time favorite).
If you're interested in what I've been listening to lately, feel free to check out my Last.fm profile.

Best movies of 2008

The two best movies I've seen in theaters this year are Milk, Gus Van Sant's incredible movie covering the life of America's first openly gay major politician, San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, and In Bruges, an under-appreciated dark comedy (just the way I like 'em). If you don't feel something, I mean really feel something after seeing Milk, there must be something wrong with you.

Three other movies out or soon-to-be-out in theaters I really want to see are Revolutionary Road, Doubt, and Slumdog Millionaire; and I'll have to rent Man on Wire, among others, on DVD.

Within the comfort of my own home I was also treated to some fine cinema. The epic Godfather, The Departed, the deeply disturbing but funny Dr. Strangelove (if you haven't seen it, see it), the haunting Vietnam war tale (based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness) Apocalypse Now, P.T. Anderson's Magnolia, and Fellini's 8 1/2 have all made it onto my list of all-time best movies, along with the two mentioned at the beginning of the post.

Best of '08

2008 has been a momentous year for me personally. I have matured a good amount, learned many new things, cemented new friendships, and discovered a great amount of music. Over the next few days, dear readers, I will be posting my own end-of-the-year lists: The best I have read, watched, listened to, and found this year...

Also see the New Yorker's Year in Review and The New York Times' Year in Ideas.

Happy New Year!

In 2008 we will witness events as gargantuan as the 2008 US presidential elections and the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, China. We will also see how issues like climate change play out in both local and international arenas. In Europe, we will witness the aftermath of the signing of the EU treaty; in America we will see several major Supreme Court cases decided; in Burma we will stand by for more uprisings against the military junta. We will see whether post-election Kenya turns to turmoil and worry about the fate of Pakistan following the death of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Economically the worldwide reverberations of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis will be felt, most of all in the United States. How will the rising price of oil affect the markets, as well as individuals? Hopefully 2008 will be a year of peace in the Middle East — will the insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq finally be quelled; will Israel and its neighbors resolve disputes?

I look forward to blogging about all these matters in 2008.

Unbalancing the budget

Bush calls this cutting and balancing the federal budget? By lessening the over-inflated big government spending, I think not. No doubt the Iraq war dominates the budget, but still...

Washington Post:

President Bush sent to Congress a $2.9 trillion budget plan that would dramatically increase military spending -- including an extra $245 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- but squeeze federal health care programs and most domestic agencies to achieve his goal of eliminating the deficit by 2012.

The proposal seeks to make permanent the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, costing the Treasury an additional $374 billion over five years. And it would slice nearly $96 billion over five years from Medicare and Medicaid, the government's health care programs for the poor and the elderly. The proposal would also cut spending at eight federal agencies -- including the education, environment and interior departments -- to below fiscal 2006 levels.

Bush said his budget proposal "shows we can balance the budget in five years without raising taxes." The budget is "realistic, it's achievable and it's got good reforms in it," he said.

Credit: Washington Post

The projected five-year cost of extending Bush's tax cuts comes on top of $1.1 trillion that the cuts have already cost since 2001.

The proposed budget asks Congress for nearly $100 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2007 -- on top of $70 billion already provided -- and $145 billion for fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1. For fiscal 2009, there is a forecast of $50 billion, with no funding projections beyond that year.

I think it is pretty easy to 'balance the budget' if you cut a chunk of spending out. Too bad that chunk had to be important. It's funny that this is the president calling on Congress to be responsible with the budget. These tax cuts have been worthless, helped people who really don't need the financial help, and are overall a horrible way of gaining political capital when people are so gloomy over the economy anyways. One small group of unemployed people can make more of a poltical difference than a large group of political apathetics (of whom there are far too many in the US).

Decreasing domestic spending and important programs like those in the health care sector and social security is certainly not a wise move on behalf of this militaristic White House. This is a trend that has continued ever since this president took office — and he seems to be proud of it. What I find amazing is that the American people have OKed Bush's large defense spending and lack of attention to domestic issues, even those relating to national security (on the domesitc front)! May I point out that the Democrat's win last November was not only — contrary to many accounts — because of Iraq, but the economy, of all things, was a huge factor in what party people voted for according to exit polls. Going further this shows that not only do the vast majority of politicians vote by party lines, but even the people they represent, the voting population, do. There is also the issue of the US economy not actually being as bad as many seem to think. I have doubts over whether the Dems would have won if people had not voted for their individual candidate, judging them on their merits, and not what party they were of. I guess that's what happens in a two party system more than in a system allowing farer political representation for groups and even ideologies.

For more on President Bush's FY 2008 budget, see the US government's OMB website. Keep in mind everything from Bush's "war on terror" spending to his social security policy to his education cop-out stance.

Update: One hope for government spending transparency lies in the upcoming creation of a website that allows the public to see where their tax dollars are going. It'll be fun to call politicians — whomever they may be — on their rhetoric about the budget and spending. Of course it will also be frustrating to see Bush isn't lying too much about the earmarking Congress does, not that he doesn't prohibit pork barrel spending (he wants the people to believe that he is doing the opposite of what he is actually doing!).

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