The D Man's Top Twenty Albums of 2008

In a watershed political year, it is significant to note that few, if any, political records captured the public imagination. Indeed, the first four records on my list are largely acoustic-based classics that would ring true in any political era. The best artists of 2008 understood that great music, albeit universal, strikes the deepest chords among the personal, the intimate, the everyday.

Far too much is made of the political landscape in which a certain song or album is created and produced. Reviews filled with tag-lines such as the Reagan years are all too common—and often meaningless.* But with the usual suspects doing most of the music criticism, there is rarely a hard look at the Establishment, and music’s reaction to or interplay with it, when their guy is in office. They would have us believe that during certain four and eight-year stretches, music with a political bent or influence all but disappears. Then again, Jimmy Carter did bring us disco, so maybe that is exactly what happens.

For every example of a great album allegedly motivated by the policies of whoever happened to occupy the White House—and there are few—dozens of popular counterexamples refute any real creative advantage for the politically-minded artist with an ax to grind against the Oval Office. U2’s magnanimous sonic exploration of America’s vastness and potential, The Joshua Tree, was released during Reagan’s not so open-ended stance with the Soviets. Radiohead’s OK Computer, filled with “the end is near” dread, was produced during the height of the permissive Clinton years. And the twenty-first century has seen the release of dozens of decidedly personal (and apolitical) albums during a time that, we’re now told, is somehow the worst eight-year political run in American history. (See For Emma, Forever Ago, In Rainbows, Illinois, Ghosts of the Great Highway, Sea Change, etc.). In hindsight, many will be surprised to learn that Kid A, this decade’s post-modern masterpiece, was actually released when we still thought Al Gore might be president. So it goes.

The point is this: politics rarely makes for great music. At least in the specific, stump-speech sense. One has to go to #11 on my list to find a great political album—TV On The Radio’s Dear Science—and even it sounds more like a heady party record. So hopefully the absence of “yes we can” anthems will not dissuade you from checking out the fine records below. Great musicians flourish under any sitting president—independent, striking, and rarely beholden to special interest groups.

*If The D Man reads one more article about Springsteen’s depiction of Reagan-era America, I may have to actually buy Nebraska so the Gipper can rest in peace.

**As always, I include the following disclaimer: Due to limited funds (and time), I was unable to purchase some albums that would likely have been somewhere on this list. The albums on this list are all ones I actually own and have listened to repeatedly.

1. For Emma, Forever Ago / Bon Iver

Everyone has heard the story now. Justin Vernon broke up with his girlfriend. He broke up with his band. He was bedridden for months with a severe case of mononucleosis. So he did what anyone from Wisconsin would do—he sequestered himself in his father’s remote hunting cabin for the winter, where he wrote and recorded most of the songs that would become For Emma, Forever Ago. Vernon lived on stockpiled coffee, homemade soups, and venison from deer he hunted himself. He became Bon Iver.

Bon Iver is a play on bon hiver, French for “good winter.” Vernon said of the experience: “The sound of your thoughts are pretty loud when you don’t open your mouth to say words to anyone for a long time.”

Such biographical information may not affect the way you listen to music. But with the hushed intimacy and remote loneliness of this powerful record, it is hard to separate the artist from the art, the Wisconsin winter from the slow-burning frostbite that ebbs its way into your bones. As one critic noted, this is a record in every sense. Documenting a place, a time, a feeling. So good it hurts.

Vernon’s pain is transmitted to the listener as some kind of private catharsis, the music capturing feelings perhaps unintended and previously unacknowledged. “Flume” is a plaintive, acoustic cry for a mother’s love:

only love is all maroon
gluey feathers on a flume
sky is womb and she’s the moon

I am my mother on the wall, with us all.
I move in water, shore to shore;
nothing’s more.

“The Wolves (Act I and II)” is an epic strummer, a gospel-tinged chronicle of heartache, blame, and loss that rises into a train-track crescendo.

with the wild wolves around you
in the morning, I’ll call you
send it farther on

Solace my game, solace my game,
it stars you,
swing wide your crane, swing wide your crane,
and run me through

and the story’s all over you
in the morning I’ll call you
can’t you find a clue when your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue

what might have been lost—don’t bother me.

In “Blindsided,” maybe the year’s most pitch-perfect example of emotion as music, Vernon copes with crushing realizations:

bike down . . . down to the downtown
down to the lockdown . . . boards, nails, lie around

I crouch like a crow
Contrasting the snow
For the agony, I’d rather know
Cause blinded I am blindsided

Peek in . . . into the peer in . . .
I’m not really like this . . . I’m probably plight-less
I cup the window
I’m crippled and slow
For the agony
I’d rather know
Cause blinded I am blindsided

Would you really rush out for me now?

Bon Iver’s personal excavation is our private window. While listening to this record, we are invited to walk with the artist through naked woods. Feel the snow cracking underfoot. Notice the spent fire. Step up to the pane. Peer into his room. And witness the heartbreaking creation of an American masterpiece.

2. Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes' enchanting debut is a gift that keeps on giving. The D Man listened to this album more than any other record this year, which alone qualifies it for the top of this list. Bursting with baroque pop harmonies seemingly hatched in some forest glen, Fleet Foxes’ timeless textures weave spellbinding melodies with each listen. An instant classic.

With their pastoral appeal and appearances reminiscent of rogue shepherds, Fleet Foxes throw down the gauntlet for Best Anglo-Saxon Album of the Decade. Indeed, the group has it all: flowing hair and beards, acoustic instruments, folk motifs, four-part a cappellas, vests, goats, and references to the Blue Ridge Mountains. But it would be a massive disservice to suggest that Fleet Foxes is nothing more than forced pastiche. The album turns a variety of influences into a unique musical kaleidoscope: strains of shape-note singing, Pet Sounds harmonies, gospel, and folk roll over hills, woods, and rivers, arriving at some kind of Appalachian wonderland.

3. April / Sun Kil Moon

Mark Kozelak, formerly of the Red House Painters, continues to explore the haunting, the beautiful, and the elegiac. April is a sophisticated and subtle record that beguiles with each new listen, revealing itself slowly and unfolding texture after texture of musical possibility and meaning. Where Ghosts of the Great Highway is rich, evocative, and nostalgic, the shimmering tapestries of an Ohio fall, April is a hazy, meandering meditation of memory, demanding a patient introspection, a walk through the low-hanging clouds of spring. Yet, like Ghosts, the music’s quiet familiarity moves listeners to contemplate their own solitude, even if such revelations take them to another time, another place.

Kozalek’s signature voice, rising over layered and intricate classical-guitar arrangements or open electric tunings, has become as rich and varied as his songwriting. “Lost Verses” is a stunning album-opener, a ten-minute acoustic masterpiece that builds to chill-inducing crescendos. It is arguably Kozelak’s most beautiful song from a catalog of beautiful songs, recalling a love for family and friends.

Watch over loved ones and old friends
I see them through their living room windows
Shaken by fear and worries
I want them to know how I love them so

“Moorestown” remembers a first love, and the journey to regain what could have been.

I cannot bear to wonder now
If the cascading soft lights
Are glowing for us in Moorestown
Are glowing for us in Moorestown

“Harper Road” draws out roadside memories in acoustic moonlight shadows; “Tonight in Bilbao” follows a musician’s slow dark wave cresting across Europe; and “Blue Orchids” closes the album by way of a lovely requiem.

One critic observed that Kozelak will write his way through memory and fate through the end of his days. His Ohio childhood, his classic-rock album collection, his guitar, his friends and especially the death of loved ones. Indeed, Kozelak takes solace in the beautiful landscapes that surround him. He travels to faraway cities and dreams of home, and then he comes home and dreams of elsewhere. Here is hoping that we keep losing ourselves in the music of those dreams.

4. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust / Sigur Ros

Summer in Iceland. The glaciers are receding, the fields are blooming, the ships are returning, and the good folks are springing from their homes. And Iceland’s greatest band is celebrating with an expansive album of immense musical joy.

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust carries listeners adrift the island’s warm, contemplative currents, a powerful testimony of music as physical landscape. The first half of the record is a stunning departure from Sigur Ros’ catalog—celebratory horns, pounding drums, and acoustic guitars pulse with an earthworn gravity. “Gobbledigook” runs through verdant, undiscovered places. “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” inspires an open-hearted parade. “Festival,” the album’s centerpiece, grows from ponderous falsetto beauty into a swell of drums, horns, and strings that is nothing short of heavenly.

On the record’s second half, Sigur Ros explores more meditative meadows. With singer Jónsi Birgisson’s high-pitched and haunting register interplaying with acoustic guitars, the band, as always, allows the listener to breathe and take in all of the open musical spaces. “Með suð í eyrum,” “Ára bátur,” and “Fljótavík” tug at your inner world with rich piano lines and strings, as Birgisson tries to make sense of things with his otherworldly voice.

Even great bands rarely make such inventive music several albums into their respective careers; and they almost never change their texture and tone while keeping their identity intact. But Sigur Ros is not most bands. A splendid, spiritual album.

5. Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend

With the freshest-sounding album of the year, Vampire Weekend has endured the inevitable backlash from their rapid rise to success. But the criticism has less to do with the music than it does the initial over-the-top internet buzz, Ezra Koenig’s good looks, the preppy clothes, or the Ivy-league educations. Well, if clean-cut, clever indie-pop is not your thing, go listen to Velvet Revolver. Because Vampire Weekend’s precision blend of afro-pop, Cape Cod punk(?), and collegiate observation produces a record worthy of endless listens. Laid-back, witty, and inventive, the Columbian grads effortlessly fuse a variety of influences song after song, resulting in the catchiest pop album in years.

6. Brighter Than Creation's Dark / Drive-By Truckers

No record better escapes the parenthesis states and explores the vast middle that is America. On Brighter Than Creation's Dark, The Drive-By Truckers capture the sound and feeling of our sprawling country with an equally sprawling country-rock affair that touches on almost every potential subject. Much of this is due to the shared singing and songwriting duties between Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, and Shonna Tucker. As a result, the album contains nineteen far-ranging songs: the murder of a loved musician and family man (“Two Daughters and A Beautiful Wife”), the fear and resolve of a working man (“The Righteous Path”), the small-town bachelor who takes care of his mother and goes to church “when the fish aren’t biting,” (“Bob”), the bar band putting up with incoming city slickers (“The Opening Act”), the faithful wife dealing with her soldier's absence (“The Homefront”), the veteran coming home with the gravity of death (“That Man I Shot”), the adult pick-up artist (“Home Field Advantage”), and even the late-great John Ford shooting his cowboy epics (“Monument Valley”). In short, The Drive-By Truckers are the real deal.

7. Saturdays = Youth / M83

Saturdays = Youth. A perfect theme for M83’s sonic sentimentality in an age of musical irony. In the rush to co-opt and comment on the 1980’s in music and film, lesser musicians have created callow copies of the originals. But on Anthony Gonzalez’s rich electronic canvas, he brushes the music and images he loves with an authentic sonic quality all of their own. “Graveyard Girl” updates eighties shoegaze and pays homage to John Hughes. “Kim and Jessie” is a lush, nostalgic vision of teenage wonder and angst. And “Couleurs” is a heady mix of the decade’s atmospherics.

8. Evil Urges / My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket shreds. Now that we have that out of the way, The D Man can speak somewhat more objectively about the Louisville band’s latest release, Evil Urges. An awesome, yet sometimes head-scratching set of spaced-out silo rock, Evil Urges thrusts My Morning Jacket into rarified air. There is no looking down now. Jim James and company attempt to elevate rock ‘n’ roll into a populist sphere where all comers are welcome—the jam-rock hippie, the Southern rocker, the metal-head, and even the R&B enthusiast can grab their v-neck guitars and fire up their lighters. After catching MMJ in concert, they may be the only rock band on the planet capable of actually pulling this off.

9. Stay Positive / The Hold Steady

The best rock 'n' roll album of the year. I'm sure the band would appreciate the review.

10. Volume One / She & Him

The D Man has a little thing for actress Zooey Deschanel. But who knew the chick from Elf would write and record one of the best albums of the year? Teaming up with indie artist M. Ward, She & Him combines Deschanel's lovely tenor with perfect throwback arrangements produced by Ward. With the warmth and charm of genres past, She & Him could be mistaken for a tribute band. But Deschanel's stellar songwriting would stand out in any era.

11. Dear Science / TV On The Radio

Remember that scene in Ghostbusters where the EPA shuts down the ghost containment grid? And the camera pans back and you see the New York skyline with thousands of ghosts flooding the city? And you know something crazy is going to happen but you can’t help watch? Well, TV on the Radio’s Dear Science is the perfect soundtrack for that scene. A funky, twitchy, clear-eyed view of post-millennial confusion, Dear Science will likely prove to be the Brooklyn group’s popular breakthrough.

12. The Seldom Seen Kid / Elbow

Meet The Seldom Seen Kid. You may have overlooked him. He writes great songs in a fine British-rock tradition, with a mercurial whimsy befitting of a Manchester recording. He wins the coveted Mercury Music Prize in 2008 for best album in the United Kingdom or Ireland. He is musically more interesting than some of his contemporaries, bands who shall remain nameless, but rhyme with Foldplay, Blow Control, or Weane. He wishes you would pick him up from time to time and listen to what he has to say. Sounds like a decent bloke, right?

13. Year of the Gentleman / Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo steps out with the smoothest R&B album of the year. The prolific hit-maker behind artists like Beyoncé and Rihanna, our man knows how to lay down a melody. On Year of the Gentlemen, Ne-Yo convinces listeners (primarily the ladies) in sophisticated style that he will be your man and make you forget about all of those other wannabes. The D Man believes him.

14. Third / Portishead

Portishead’s ten-year absence came to an end with the aptly-named Third. The group moves their legendary trip-hop into some potent, cinematic soundscapes, each song carried by Beth Gibbons’s world-weary vocals. On the ominous “Machine Gun,” Gibbons strains over stuttering industrial keyboards. On “The Rip,” Gibbons sings over acoustic strums, her voice eventually falling into a bed of electronica, haunted but hopeful. Third is a challenging, but rewarding piece of recording artistry.

15. In Ghost Colours / Cut Copy

The D Man picked up Melbourne's Cut Copy for his brother in the Times Square Virgin Records store last summer--just one more reason he is expecting a great gift for Christmas. The tasty grooves of this electro-pop will linger long after you have come out of the intended hypnotic trance. Dance rock is not supposed to be this smart, smooth, sexy, and substantive. Alliteration hit the floor!

16. Frightened Rabbit and Glasvegas

Belle & Sebastian was recently voted by fellow countrymen as Scotland’s all-time greatest band. Glasvegas and Frightened Rabbit could soon join the list, taking a place next to the likes of Travis, Idlewild, or the Cocteau Twins. Both group’s frontmen share in a kind of labored, stuttered Scottish brogue. But where Glasvegas excels in swelling shimmer-rock, Frightened Rabbit delves into fragmented indie-pop. The D Man bought these two albums at the same time and can't help but link them together. Scottish pride and all.

17. Narrow Stairs / Death Cab For Cutie

Death Cab For Cutie's sixth studio album, Narrow Stairs, is a surprisingly dark record when compared with the band's buoyant meloncholy of the past. With track names such as "You Can Do Better Than Me," "Pity and Fear," and "The Ice Is Getting Thinner," Ben Gibbard's songwriting occupies direct and sometimes arresting territory. But even with greater lyrical and sonic dissonance, this is still the record of a confident, self-assured band, well aware of their critical and popular success and the sometimes polarizing nature of it all.

18. Day & Age / The Killers

Few bands sound big, and when they do, they usually ape U2 (see Coldplay) or something far worse. The Killers channel the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and even Bowie on their third release, Day & Age. And what's wrong with that? So Sam's Town, with its guitar-god earnestness, didn't live up to the huge pop hooks of Hot Fuss? Get over it. Day & Age manages to walk the line between synth-heavy pop and guitar-based rock, and ultimately, with an assortment of slightly off-kilter singles-in-waiting, there is a strange pleasure in listening to Brandon Flowers try so hard.

19. Limits of the Sky / The Bridges

The Bridges, from Oxford, Alabama, consists of siblings Natalie Byrd (piano and guitar), Stacey Byrd (guitar), Isaaca Byrd (bass), Jeremy Byrd (drums), and cousin Brittany Painter (lead vocals). In a rush of folk-pop harmonies, these magazine-ready youngsters attempt to give Fleetwood Mac a run for their money. And with hook after hook, they pull it off in fine style.

20. Viva La Vida / Coldplay

So Coldplay never became what they might have been after Parachutes. The D Man has grudgingly accepted the fact that, at a minimum, the band still produces some arena-worthy anthems. On Viva La Vida, Coldplay's fourth studio album, there is no shortage of pleasers for the masses, with the likes of "Violet Hill", "Viva La Vida", "Lost," and "Lovers in Japan." But can Chris Martin and his bandmates spare us the one-world commie outfits that they wear in every video and public appearance? The D Man left his Che t-shirt at home and is starting to feel a little out of place.

Other Awards

Song of the Year: "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes.

Single of the Year: "Kim and Jessie" by M83.

Most Annoying Trend: Emo. Will it ever end? Even hair-metal finally met its death, and it was actually fun.

Best Concert: Vampire Weekend.

Honorable Mention: The Helio Sequence, The Sea and Cake, The Dodos, Aaron Roche.

Song of the Week

The D Man loves Christmas. And there may not be a better Christmas album than Sufjan Stevens's collection of traditional and original songs. Recorded at home and sent to his friends over the years, Stevens generously decided to share his songs with us, expressing his genuine love of Christmas, its magic, and its ultimate Source. Never has the banjo done more justice to the birth of the King.

There is something for everyone. Excited holiday ditties like the one below. Traditional Christian hymns. Medieval folk songs. (Enjoy the adorable homemade video). And perhaps the saddest song about Christmas you have ever heard.