2008 In Music: The Best You Might’ve Missed
by Sarah Mathews
(Illinois, USA)Word! decided to stay true to its accessible-indie roots and bring you the best in music offerings of 2008 . Yum. Remember, all you stuck-in-a-rut music snobs, love can transcend genre . I’d hardly call myself a rap or soul aficionado, but after a listen or two, you’d be hard pressed not to appreciate Lil Wayne’s wordplay or Duffy’s raw emotion. And, yes, it’s unlikely that anyone missed Viva La Vida (read the Word! review here ) but I decided to poke all those too-cool-for-Coldplay audiophiles in the eye and include it in our best of ‘08 list.
Disclaimer: said list is not comprehensive or exhaustive, or anything-ive. I got lazy when it came to writing artist descriptions and reviews for every album. Then realized that nobody reads them anyway and decided to stick with a concise, peppy “Word! verdict.” Also, if you click on the album picture, it’ll take you to a YouTube video of a sample song by the artist. Happy listening!
Lastly, don’t forget to get out that Christmas music, kids. It soothes the soul.
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Duffy: Rockferry
(and the word! is: Equal proportions of fire, ice and vulnerability. Pop-Soul. Great for lonely winter nights)
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Foals: Antidotes
(and the word! is : Dancy-Punky Math Rock. Whee!)
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Kings of Leon: Only By The Night
(and the word! is: Alt-rock/Southern rock band o’ brothers making good music with occasional questionable lyrics)
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Portishead: Third
(and the word! is: Long-awaited comeback from Bristol based trip-hop group. And unlike some long-awaited comebacks (*cough* ACDC, Oasis), this one actually delivers.)
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Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
(and the word! is: Indie cred. Afro-pop-made-preppy)
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Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
(and the word! is: Post-punk. Concept album about Lazarus story)
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Stay Positive by The Hold Steady
(and the word! is: Indie kids grow up)
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Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne
(and the word! is: Ridiculous. Everything I hate and love about rap. The self-aggrandizing, the misogyny–coupled with crazy-good wordplay and Wayne’s addictive flow and bullfrog voice)
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Viva La Vida by Coldplay
(and the word! is : Compulsively Listenable Even When Blathering About Napoleon)
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Also worth a listen:
Life Death Love and Freedom by John Mellencamp Dear Science, by TV On The Radio Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie Accelerate by R.E.M Forth by The Verve The Stand-Ins by Okkervil River Shine by EstelleNext>>
December 24 2008 02:12 am | Uncategorized
February 21st, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Out of all the albums mentioned on this page I’d go with “Accelerate” as the best closely followed by “Narrow Stairs” and Vampire Weekend’s self-titled album.