Best Of 2008: Top 30 albums

There was no specific musical tendency that defined 2008, so it ended up being a very eclectic year and I think this also reflects in the list for my favourite albums of 2008. A lot of interesting stuff happened though. So here we go...
Each album has a link for its original review in this blog.

30. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)



(review)


29. The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion



(review)


28. Ricardo Villalobos - Vasco



(review)


27. Britney Spears - Circus



(review)


26. Wild Beasts - Limbo, Panto



(review)


25. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend



(review)


24. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista



(review)


23. El Guincho - Alegranza



(review)


22. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires



(review)


21. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best



(review)


20. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing



(review)


19. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement



(review)


18. Mystery Jets - Twenty One



(review)


17. Neon Neon - Stainless Style



(review)


16. These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid



(review)


15. Lykke Li - Youth Novels



(review)


14. Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel



(review)


13. Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel



(review)


12. Metronomy - Nights Out



(review)


11. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III



(review)


10. TV On The Radio - Dear Science



(review)


9. The Bug - London Zoo



(review)


8. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular



(review)


7. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles



(review)


6. The Dodos - Visiter



(review)


5. The Honeydrips - Here Comes The Future



(review)


4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours



(review)


3. Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Continued



With releases this year as Atlas Sound (his solo project) and with Deerhunter, Bradford Cox cemented his status as a sort of new indie hero. A complex personality, slightly disturbed and paranoid, and also creator of music that reaches extreme levels of both intimacy and intensity. Exorcising one's private demons in public doesn't come much better than this.

(review)


2. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... + We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed



Swallowing a complete catalogue of the last 15 years of indie music and then regurgitating it into their own sound, what really took Cardiff colective Los Campesinos! apart was the intensity and energy that they put into their songs. Did "Hold On Now, Youngster" feel like a once-in-a-lifetime experience? Well, but then came "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" proving us all wrong...

(review HON,Y)
(review WEB,WAD)


1. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak



There were not many records this year that suggested a new sound for the future and a rupture with the past. Instead, influences were proudly displayed everywhere, with excellent results in some cases. But coming from a surprising source, we did have an album that sounded unique and unlike mostly anything ever heard before. As a consequence of a tumultuous personal year, Kanye West stopped caring about what we think and along released a record that mostly played with his new favourite toys: Auto-Tune and a TR-808 drum machine. And adding a sense of melancholy and loneliness that was new to him, the most amazing collection of stripped-down digital pop songs of the year was born.

(review)

Best Of 2008: Top 35 songs

2008 had a lot of songs to remember, so much so that I expanded this list to 35 entries and still had to leave out many other great ones. Each song comes with a stream, or when not possible, with an external link where you can hear it. Ready? Enjoy...

35. Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal






34. Guillemots - Get Over It



(audio)


33. The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition






32. Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes






31. Boy Crisis - Dressed To Digress






30. Grammatics - The Vague Archive



(video)


29. Goldfrapp - A&E



(video)


28. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down



(audio)


27. Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream






26. Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy



(audio)


25. The Tough Alliance - Lucky






24. Pictureplane - Flashion (You Designed My Mind)






23. Deerhunter - Little Kids



(audio)


22. Kleerup feat. Lykke Li - Until We Bleed






21. Kanye West - Love Lockdown






20. Cut Copy - So Haunted



(audio)


19. Lil Wayne - A Milli






18. The Pan I Am - Young God / Bad Thing






17. Kanye West - RoboCop






16. Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

15. Frankmusik - Done Done






14. Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat






13. Dan Black - HYPNTZ



(video)


12. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead






11. Pacific! - Sunset Blvd



(audio)


10. The Honeydrips - Trying Something New






9. MGMT - Kids






8. Matt & Kim - Daylight






7. Britney Spears - Amnesia






6. frYars - Benedict Arnold



(audio)


5. Usher feat. Young Jeezy - Love In This Club






4. Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)






3. MGMT - Time To Pretend



Generational anthems don't come that often, but "Time To Pretend" had it all and even made it look like doing one was the simplest thing in the world, from the most amazing synth line ever to the inspirational lyrics so easy to relate to. Celebratory? Yes, but with two sides of the same coin: "I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life"..."I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone."




2. Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep



We all know by now that the Swedes are the best in making luminous pop music. But this? This piece of aural fantasy not only beat real sunshine at its game but it was even able to transport us to the most amazing places. The best to do was just to let ourselves go while the song's lyrics translated our thoughts: "This place is amazing"..."Sort of like a dream? No. Better."




1. Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars



What can I say? I'm a sucker for songs based upon involving keyboards and delayed gratification, something this one does so perfectly that it really seems like, hum, riding a shooting star. And nothing beats the feeling of euphoria induced when the best chorus of the year finally kicks in at more than two thirds into the song. "I'm in love with a shooting star, but she moves so fast, when she falls here, I'll be waiting."

Best Of 2008: Top 5 Concerts

So it's here. During the next few days, I'll be putting online my top favourite lists for 2008. Enjoy!
It's obvious that a concert list has to be very subjective and personal, among other reasons because it depends on which concerts we have actually been to. I did go to a few this year and these 5 were the ones where I had the best time...

5. Goldfrapp @ SW08 in Zambujeira do Mar (8th of August)

Where candid pristine white met sexy electro glam.


4. Vampire Weekend @ Alive!08 in Lisbon (10th of July)

Catchy summer pop in a sunny summer afternoon... couldn't get any more fun.


3. Lykke Li @ Teatro Variedades in Lisbon (4th of December)

Innocent on record, pure fire on stage. Really, this girl has so much class!


2. Björk @ SW08 in Zambujeira do Mar (7th of August)

Few people make such a perfect fusion between the avant-garde, extreme forms of art and pop to the masses. With the Volta tour, Björk managed to take this concept into new dimensions and still put thousands of people jumping ecstatically with her.


1. Madonna @ Parque da Belavista in Lisbon (14th of September)

Musically, 2008 was the year when Madonna prefered to play it safe with "Hard Candy", but when considering her Sticky & Sweet tour, things did change a bit. It may have not been such a complete and artsy show as 2006's Confessions tour, but this time there was a big advantage: even with so much happening everywhere (dancers, lights, videowalls, lasers, etc.), it was all about herself and her presence live, in a non-stop celebration of her iconic status. And we're talking about Madonna on stage...

Best Of 2008: Top 5 Movies

So it's here. During the next few days, I'll be putting online my top favourite lists for 2008. Enjoy!
Starting with movies, I'm sure there's a lot of good ones that were left out, simpy because I didn't get the chance to see them. But anyway, these five totally rocked my world...

5. Cloverfield (dir. Matt Reeves)

It really made you feel like you were there, didn't it?


4. Twilight (dir. Catherine Hardwicke)

A touching love story, with the extra bonus that it had vampires in it.


3. Otto; Or, Up With Dead People (dir. Bruce LaBruce)

The outside movie of the year, and one that made you feel weirdly connected to a zombie.


2. The Dark Knight (dir. Christopher Nolan)

"Why so serious?"... and enough said.


1. WALL-E (dir. Andrew Stanton)

I have a thing for robots and this one should win an oscar for having the cutest eyes ever. And by the way, it's good to know that it's possible to make a big-bidget movie where the first half has no dialogues, only digital noises, and still get away with it.

Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna

The fourth album from this experimental New York project takes them into some new and surprising directions that have been summed up in a sentence: Gang Gang Dance have gone pop. Although not entirely wrong, this perspective only tells half of the story. For me, the best description would actually be that they have opened up their unique approach in writing songs and incorporated as many external elements as never before, some of which, yes, taken from more mainstream styles. But what's so invigorating in here is the way everything is fused together to create alienating digressions that still sound very unique, no matter if we're listenning to industrial loops, new-wave guitars, hip-hop beats, abstract electronica, african tribal drums, post-punk experimentalism or even disco pop. I don't know if this is the sound of the future as some have mentioned, for me it seems more like a soundtrack to a parallel universe. But either way, with so much happening in each song, this is always a challenge that strongly pays off. (7,5/10)

Official site
MySpace page

Dan Black - Yours (video)

"I don't wanna be yours no more"

No list of "projects that will be big in 2009" is complete without mentioning Mr. Dan Black and his fresh take into the pleasures of writing amazing pop tunes. In 2008 he has already become a huge MySpace sensation with some songs built around well-known hits, like "HYPNTZ" (a cover of "Hypnotize" by Notorious BIG, with beats borrowed from "Umbrella" by Rihanna and strings taken from John Carpenter's film Starman) or "These Things Take Time" (a new song that samples "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado). Now signed to a major label, his first album is set to be released sometime during early 2009, with first proper single being this hyper-coloured electro bomb "Yours". And speaking of colourful, the video for this track is also no less than a little piece of creative massive entertainment.

MySpace page

Polaroids # 27

The Dodos at Music Box




(Pictures taken on the 6th of December 2008 at Music Box in Lisbon, Portugal)

The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best (mixtape)

Just in case you haven't noticed: hey everyone, it's Christmas time! So what better way to celebrate the spirit of the occasion than with a mixtape that absorbs a multitude of regional cultures and creates a kaleidoscopic new global order, free of hierarchies, where one can actually believe in the utopy that we are all the same? Check it out: a collaboration between European production team Radioclit and Malawian-born, London-based singer Esau Mwamwaya, that includes inter-continental sounds from Africa, France, England, the United States, Australia or Sweden, and takes pieces of music from the likes of Vampire Weekend, M.I.A., The Ruby Suns, Santogold, Architecture in Helsinki, the Beatles, Hans Zimmer, or even a nineties ballad from Michael Jackson, amongst many others, all put together with african voices, choirs, melodies and hallucinating rhythms. And to top it all: you can legally download it for free at this project's MySpace page. Great Christmas present! (8/10)