Unrelated

Every website and magazine has trotted out its own Best Of 2008 list and –as usual- the “mainstream indie” squares all cite the same handful of titles (each in a slightly different order) and ignore a ton of exciting new music most people probably missed during the year. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise by now, but it’s still annoying. I’d like to point out/remind folks about some of my personal favorites from the past year that major publications seem to have overlooked:

Zach Hill Astrological Straits

Dense with nonstop fills and twists, this album combines jaw-dropping playing, complex compositions, fierce experimentation, and bursts of fun into something both catchy and overwhelming. [Les Claypool’s guest appearance here is a welcome development as well. It’s good to hear him lending his talents to something edgier than his recent output of boring jams.]

Thee Oh Sees The Master's Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In

This saw moderate praise from critics, it was somehow NOT embraced as the most infectious (and timeless?) album of the year. The songs bounce along with a giddy garage vibe and sweet harmonies. AND it’s the first Oh Sees record to approach the jumpy energy of their live show. I love it. Pound for pound, this was my favorite release of the year.

Secret Chiefs 3 Xaphan: Book Of Angels, Vol. 9

Trey Spruance, Eyvind Kang, and the rest apply their methods to John Zorn’s Masada tunes. While Zorn’s hand dominates the other volumes in the Book Of Angels series, this is a Secret Chiefs record first. That means the usual cinematic flourishes, Eastern spice, interestingly layered arrangements, and of course impeccable playing. This was the album I was most looking forward to this year (in part because it was repeatedly delayed) and it did not disappoint.

While we’re on the subject! If you’re at all interested in the history of Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, and SC3, I’d highly recommend this recent interview with Trey Spruance. In it he says one of my new favorite things:

"Work only happens to an artist because he loves what-has-not-yet-come-into-being-through-him, and he loves it more than he loves anything else besides God while he works; he works not because he wants to get a genius cookie at the end of the day. Nor is his work a "chore", like rowing a boat to get him to some temporary sense of self-satisfaction at the shoreline, once he is "finished"... the work itself (not the object, just the work) has to be divine artifice; otherwise you really do find yourself reveling in human excrement (like Metallica)."

The Melvins’ Nude With Boots was a great rock record and getting to witness the Dale Crover/Coady Willis two-drummer onslaught in July was one of the best concert experiences I had all year. But for potent ROCK, nothing released this year comes close to the greasy, hairy, spilled-beer crotch kicks on Harvey Milk’s "Life... The Best Game In Town". Every single person I played this for burst into delighted laughter at the same point I still do, when the opening song’s subdued falsetto lines about Christmastime give way to the sudden roar: “WHEN I THINK OF ALL THE LITTLE MOMENTS IN MY LIFE I HAVE DESPISED…!” From there on it’s loud, unhurried, eminently confident, and glorious. This record just ROCKS.

Dragging An Ox Through Water The Tropics Of Phenomenon

Brian did it again. That he’s starting to receive the same glowing attention outside of Portland city limits as he does inside them shouldn’t surprise anyone. Tropics Of Phenomenon stretches further in every direction he reached on Rebukes (and before). The pretty songs are sweeter, the noise breaks are longer and noisier, and the lyrics I’d already memorized from countless shows over the past few years are all newly devastating.

Arrington De Dionyso All Is On, All Is One

This set of free-form ragas for solo bass clarinet /voice is surprisingly focused as Arrington solo albums go. For maximum benefits, I recommend listening to the whole thing in one sitting. If you can make it all the way through, you will have reached the desired trance state by the time the drums finally kick in midway through the last song. And when they do…! As far as I know, this -like much of his new catalog- is only available at shows, packaged in original artwork.

Mugison Mugiboogie

Here Mugison shed the solo-genius vibe that originally drew me to him. [Three years ago, Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music seemed like it was made specifically for me.] But with the more conventional full-band arrangements he manages to reach some admirable ‘straightforward rock’ heights with satisfying dashes of weirdness.

Atlas Sound How I Escaped the Prison of Fractals

Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel got all the attention, but I listened to and enjoyed this EP much more. It's a more concise serving of dreamy, layered, lo-fi pop songs AND it was released for free through Bradford Cox’s blog.

Another rundown of under-appreciated picks from 2008 will follow when I receive Chris' package containing the long list of things it was impossible to download/investigate properly here, Indonesian internet resources being what they are. So stay tuned for that.

Next time, updates will include: Christmas, Exams, and more...!!!