Sing Me a Song, Your the Bloggerman

Before I unleash LTME Essential Albums of 2008 (which will look nothing like all of the other lists that come out this time of the year, mine will be in far more interesting order and Coldplay, MGMT and Kings of Leon are not on mine, which already makes mine better!), I'd like to know what songs rocked your world in 2008.

Give feedback and we'll post the readers Guide to the best of 2008 and Noah will provide everyone with a link to download the songs(he doesn't know about this yet).

Here are 12 songs (in no order) that struck me as amazing this year.

LTME Essential 12(+ 5, got carried away) songs of 2008

Murder in the City - The Second Gleam, The Avett Brothers




I Got Mine - Attack and Release, The Black Keys



Skinny Love - For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver





Bixby Canyon Bridge - Narrow Stairs, Death Cab For Cutie




Phantom Other - In Ear Park, Department of Eagles




Paint the Rust - Visiter, the Dodos




Kalise - Alegranza, El Guincho




Ragged Wood - Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes




Old Old Fashioned - The Midnight Organ Fight, Frightened Rabbit




Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part II - Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket



Eraser - Nouns, No Age



1,000,000 - The Slip, Nine Inch Nails



Creator - Santogold, Santogold



Donde Esta La Playa? - You and Me, The Walkmen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_fkop71wOc

Golden Age - Dear Science, TV on the Radio

Underway, 36-25 of LTME ESSENTIAL ALBUMS OF 2008

25. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
26. Feed the Animals – Girl Talk
27. The Rhumb Line – Ra Ra Riot
28. Everything that Happens Will Happen Today – David Byrne and Brian Eno
29. We Brave Bee Stings and All – Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down
30. Real Emotional Trash – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
31. Modern Guilt – Beck
32. Moody Motorcycle - Human Highway
33. Sea Lion - The Ruby Suns
34. Gone Ain’t Gone – Tim Fite
35. In Arm’s Way – Islands
36. Secret Machines – Secret Machines

What You May Have Missed in '08

Well gang, the feedback of late has been enough to keep 'ol LTME with it's head above water, despite the sizeable brick tied to it's ankles. Alas we are soon to close out a second year, in year in which we can all agree we learned a great deal about ourselves, the world around us and the world of music.

With so much goin' in the kitchen these days, it's best to wind back, relax, pour a glass of that which we like so much, cuddle in close to that special someone and spin a few records for old times sack. Won't be long 'til Grandfather time rises up and does away with the years that's been: 2008.

I give you now, The Best of the Rest - A Look at the Albums You Likely Missed.

The Music Tapes - Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD_0wegMc7Q

Bizarre and brillant in the same scope. At times borders on errily unlistenable yet completely riviting...I know, that's like impossible right. Experimental is a weak word to descibe the finely minced sounds that and pureed into a smooth yet sharp treat. I suggest this album only to those with a strong musical sensability and the patience to try something over and over and over until it works. To help nudge you in the right direction the man in charge here used to be in a little band known as Neutral Milk Hotel. I'm just sayin'.

Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends
Sounds a lot like this...

School of Seven Bells - Alpinism

www.myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells

I just like it because I like maountains and stuff. But if you must know, it's also the band for that dude that left Secret Machines (which at the time sucked, but now, eh, not so bad!). Somehow more epic in scope that SM, less percussion, more harmony, female vocals etc. For folks who like SM but need a variation, this is worth a sit down.

A few more...

The Avett Brothers - The Gleam II

Rodrigo and Gabriella - Live in Japan

Women - Women

Listen to this, you'll be glad you did Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!!

And finally I give you Charlotte's own:

Benji Hughes, a southern version of LCD Soundsystem, meets opera, meets beer, lot's of beer.

This man is a dance party in the fleshy fleshy. Take a listen for yourself, it's extreme, it's love, it's A Love Extreme!

www.myspace.com/benjihughes

Grab the song: Why do These Parties Always End the Same Way?

LTME takes note and begins the process to find the Essential Albums of 2008

This year instead of an exhaustive list of albums and an amazingly insightful dissertation of 50 albums, LTME will note many of the years most interesting, worthy albums, give some insight, provide info, clips and vids so that you the reader can learn more of who is out there making good music these days. On that note, much props for those that wrote in and made recs. Many albums are locked in the top 12 list that will come by the end of the month, some came as a bit of a surprise and a few I am need of a further listen (Jejune is so hot these days!)


First up:
Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine (Noah rec)

http://www.myspace.com/deltaspirit

New to me, but so accessible it takes no time to become a fan of this well versed and rhythmically rockin' album. Jaunty is a word that comes to mind when spinning these tracks. Infectious is another. Reminds me partly of the party styling of Oxford Collapse, but with far more fervor and extensively mature percussion, backed by well timed horns and a piano that never lets up. This is the kind of album that sounds exactly like it should. Fleshed out, layered, subtly complex but simple and non-pretentious all the same. Punky, folky and poppy...a recipe that will always win with me.


Next Pick:
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna (Jejune)


www.myspace.com/ganggangdance

Hot hot dance with an excellent mash-up meets tropical world beat funk vibe. At times club music at times experimental fusion of nonsense, catchy, hooky, powerfully foottapping but for me never amazing. Album has high points and great moments, but drags in repetition of bass, beat and drums. I am not much of a dance music fan, something that I am sure irks my dear friend Jejune, alas I am not a critic, I respect and understand it, just feel no connection to it that allows me to dig deeper. All that being said I do rec this album, if nothing else it is damn fun to give a shot.


Third Pick:
My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Sharks Teeth (McConnell)


www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond

Damn, not sure how I have never heard her stuff before, just always ignored. I was shallow as I thought the name was weak and figured the music followed suit. Deeper, harder and darker than imagined. Sounds like an goth Stevie Nicks and I mean that in a good way. The focal point is the vocals and the instrumentation works around this, in some ways a lot like Yeah Yeah Yeahs arrangements, just not so funky. It's odd in all the ways that makes you want to keep listening, and intriguing enough to take pause, peek below the surface and let the whispers cover over.


Final Pick:
Pete and the Pirates -Little Death (Jejune)

www.myspace.com/peteandthepirates

Yes! Jejune strikes again. Vampire Weekend can suck this album. Tapes and Tapes, this is the direction I wish you had gone in. Pure Punk-Pop. The balance here is stellar and the execution of sound on point. I dig this album and wish I had known about it sooner....Jejune, share the wealth man.
See for yourself:



Later this week I'll throw some albums at you that won't make the list but that you should check out all the same.

Kavorka, check out Brett Drennen if you haven't already, think you may dig his stuff.

Keep on keepin' on.

Hello, is there anybody out there?

Just nod if you can hear me...

Seriously folks, or folk, whoever looks at this thing anymore, I am trying to get some input for the astounding yearly LTME Most Essential Albums of 2008!!!! So far Ben hit me up with Little Wayne, an album I don't even care for. Where my dogs at?

Just throw some stuff at me and I'll run from there, pretty easy task to ask.

LTME loves you, but he needs to feel the love as well.

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

The Whigs on Jimmy Kimmel Live!!!

Already Young and Like a Vibration





Yeah, they rock.

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often

Language is for liquid that we're all dissolved in. Great for solving problems, after it creates a problem. - Lyrics from Issac Brock's Blame it on the Tetons, a Modest Mouse classic.

Tie your Tongue, a look at the lyrics of the songs we love.

So what makes for great lyrics? The words themselves or the thoughts they convey? The way the sound when sung or the way they make you feel when you hear them? Do they find a way to connect to the song or do they connect with you? Whatever the reason, we all have lyrics that hit us right, linger in our lives and become part of our vocab.

What are some of your favorite lyrics?

I'll start with some of my favorite lyrcis:

I found myself face down in a ditch, Booze in my hair, Blood on my lips, A picture of you holding a picture of me In the pocket of my blue jeans.
– Jolene, Ray Lamontagne

And I’ve heard of pious men And I’ve heard of dirty fiends But you don’t often hear Of us ones in between
-
For I have never seen the sun That did not bury his head in the side of the world When the day is done.
– Us One In Between, Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown

I don't want what you want I don't feel what you feel See I'm stuck in a city But I belong in a field
– Heart in a Cage, Julian Casablancas, The Strokes

I’m only waiting for the proper time to tell you That it’s impossible to get along with you, It’s hard to look you in the face when we are talking So it helps to have a mirror in the room.
–There’s No Home For You Here, Jack White, White Stripes

Do You Realize - that everyone you know Someday will die -And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know You realize that life goes fast It's hard to make the good things last You realize the sun don'-go down It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
– Do You Realize?, Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips

I been drifting along in the same stale shoes Loose ends tying the noose in the back of my mind If you thought that you were making your way To where the puzzles and pagans lay I'll put it together: It's a strange invitation
When I wake up someone will sweep up my lazy bones And we will rise in the cool of the evening I remember the way that you smiled When the gravity shackles were wild And something is vacant when I think it's all beginning
– Jackass, Beck

She wore a Raspberry beret The kind u find in a second hand store Raspberry beret And if it was warm she wouldn’t wear much more Raspberry beret I think I love her
– Raseberry Beret, Prince

and of course...

Hide your soft skin, your sorrow is sunshine Listen to my eyes
– Company In My Back, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco