Friday, November 7, 2008

Maybe this will garner more response than the lame lyrics crap from earlier in the week

Dear Science,

Well it hardly seems possible, but according to the ol’ daykeeper we are fast approaching the end of the record release season for the year 2008. Hotdamn! This year ‘ol LTME has experienced some noticeable ups and downs, but as the smoke clears we all see a bright future yet to come. The coverage has been spotty, the record reviews plummeted, not even sure I wrote about 10 albums this year! We did catch some good shows (Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Avett Bros., My Morning Jacket) and saw some ones that were good not great (Tim Fite, Man Man, Built to Spill, Tom Waits, Fleet Foxes) and some that just kinda sucked (Meat Puppets, Mofro). LTME did a little more to branch out into some other non-music topics (UGA football, Panthers, the election etc.) and saw some positive responses. That’s certainly something we’ve noted and will continue to write more of.

All in all, 2008 has not exactly been a banner year in music. Several major albums slugged their way through poor reviews (REM and MMJ, I’m looking at you) and many of the well reviewed albums were obscure and lacked true staying power. We saw a major rise in the fuzzed out, post punk, art rock genre (No Age, High Places, Crystal Castles, Deerhunter, the Dodos etc.) and we saw plenty of folksters on the rise (Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper etc.). So it’s time to reign in. That’s right loyal readers of LTME (McConnell, Jejune) let me know what rocked, punked, folked, danced, remixed, funked, hip-hoped, metaled, indied, countried or even classicaled it’s way into your ears and into your hearts.

Will we be taking a stroll through Central Parc or In Ear Park on this beautiful Vampire Weekend? Perhaps searching for Gossip in the Grain or animals of flight such as Conchords and Eagles isn’t your thing, even if the Eagles are of the Death Metal breed. Maybe you dig(!!! Lazurus Dig!!) the thrill of the hunt for luscious Horse Feathers or Furr. Well, young Deerhunter, it will take more than a keen perch atop the Black Mountain of Mount Zoomer to knock off a Fleet Fox when it reaches full speed. But Stay Positive, and don’t get caught up in the Real Emotional Trash of a bad hunt, because Fair Ain’t Fair. You and Me, we’re better than allowing some Slip to bring us down. We understand the Evil Urges of the hunt as we travel down this Human Highway like some Visiter of thought sent from Mission Control. You see, this is the Fate of Modern Guilt in this world of Perishing. It’s a No Age game of Attack and Release; often we learn to Feed the Animals before we take them as prey. Sometimes you’ve just got to reset the Rhumb Line, tilt yourself onward down the Narrow Stairs of loss and In Arm’s Way. There you’ll find in the haze of a Brightblack Morning Light that glimmers like Santogold, those known as the Consolers of the Lonely. They’ll speak to you as they spoke For Emma, Forever Ago: When you feel at your lowest and most lost, remember your spirit shines Brighter than Creations Dark and we must forge ahead in the hunt. As the woods will remind you; Everything that Happens Will Happen Today.

Take aim readers and join LTME in the HUNT FOR THE ESSENTIAL ALBUMS OF 2008!!!!

-Please post nominations in comments below

3 comments:

lefty said...

What about Tha Carter III? "We are not the same, I am a martian." - best line of the year.

Anonymous said...

Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
It growls. It howls. It holds up a mirror and shows us what we realy look like in a post-9/11 pre-Obama era. And asks us the question, "do you like what you see?" Or at least that's what I think it's doing after taking a quick glance at the album art while I was in Borders the other day.

lefty said...

For the record, I said that line from "Little" Wayne was the best of the year. The album was hit and miss. I think I was listening to it at the time.... but I digress.

According to my itunes play count (i'm being honest, even if embarassing) the top 10 songs of '08 are:

M79 - Vampire Weekend
Heretic Pride - The Mountain Goats
About to Walk - Throw Me the Statue
Boneless - The Notwist
The Wrong Thing - Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern
Play Your Part (Pt. 1) - Girl Talk
Viva La Vida - Cold Play (dear lord help me)
Dry Lips - Lightspeed Champion
The last two I'm picking at will:
L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold
Ghosts Under Rocks - Ra Ra Riot

The album of the year would have to go to Fleet Foxes. They've got too many good influences to be denied.