THE 2008 REVIEW: Robert Rowlands
Posted on Dec 21st 2008 08:20 pm
Filed in Albums |
Comments (3)
It has been the year of the credit crunch, the year moneyed ease took a clobbering, the year having a job suddenly became something you couldn’t take for granted. But a listen to most of the music made in 2008 shows few links with the panic in the markets or the shuffling of feet in the Job Centres. Any art form is only linked second hand to the era in which it is forged, but much of what has come through this year – especially in electronic music – has been the music of the good times, the music of the high point before the wave collapsed. Vampire Weekend epitomised that as well as anybody with a guitar this year. But in electronics, it was the beatific sound of artists such as Lindstrom and Air France that seemed to dominate. Sure, there were dark sounds out there – with Portishead’s gloomy opus Third perhaps the most obvious example – but the prevailing mood was not down but up. As the recession sinks in, and as the musical zeitgeist takes another twist, the music of 2009 may well have a far gloomier ring to it.
1.
MINILOGUE
Animals
Cocoon Recordings
2.
PORTISHEAD
Third
Island Records
3.
LINDSTRØM
Where You Go I Go Too
Smalltown Supersound
4.
AIR FRANCE
No Way Down
Sincerely Yours
5.
HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR
Hercules & Love Affair
DFA
6.
ERYKAH BADU
New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Universal Motown
7.
FLYING LOTUS
Los Angeles
Warp Records
8.
ITAL TEK
Cyclical
Planet Mu
9.
GROUPER
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
Type Records
10.
VENETIAN SNARES
Detrimentalist!
Planet Mu
11.
YOSHIO MACHIDA
Hypernatural #3
Baskaru
12.
MATMOS
Supreme Balloon
Matador
13.
AUTECHRE
Quaristice
Warp Records
14.
AGF
Words Are Missing
AGF Producktion
15.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Monika Barchen: Songs For Bruno, Knut And Tom
Monika Enterprise
16.
PAAVOHARJU
Laulu Laakson Kukista
Fonal Records
17.
LIGHTS OUT ASIA
Eyes Like Brontide
n5MD
18.
TICKLEY FEATHER
Tickley Feather
Paw Tracks
19.
SHUGO TOKUMARU
Exit
Almost Gold
20.
CUT CUPY
In Ghost Colours
Modular
David Abravanel
Max Schaefer
themilkman
Last 5 posts by Robert Rowlands
- INTERVIEW: MAURIZIO BIANCHI & EMANUELA DE ANGELIS Natural Cycles – August 11th, 2008
- ITAL TEK: Cyclical (Planet Mu) – July 1st, 2008
- BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB: Eight Oh Eight (Lo Recordings) – July 1st, 2008
- VENETIAN SNARES: Detrimentalist (Planet Mu) – June 30th, 2008
- MRS JYNX: The Standoffish Cat (Planet Mu) – June 4th, 2008
Filed in Albums |
Comments (3)
Nice mention about Vampire Weekend, which is one of the more ‘mainstream’ albums I’ve enjoyed a lot this year. Another one has been the brilliant Fleet Foxes album, which I’ve played even more I think. Also, I think I need to mention the incredibly brilliant Diplo/Santogold compilation which is just the most joyous and fun selection of music I’ve heard all year
Yeah, I’ve ended up really liking Vampire Weekend – prep-school jumpers and all. I don’t have the Fleet Foxes LP, but what I’ve heard of it sounds really interesting. With other bands like Deerhunter, Beach House and many others, I think there’s a lot going on with gee-tar music at the moment. If I was being honest, I don’t think I see the same kind of personality coming through at all in most of the electronic music being made right now. I find too much of it interesting but ultimately a little flat. We need another Aphex to liven up the scene.
It is true that the electronic scene seems to seriously lack maverick spirit these days, although I’ve never really rated Aphex’s more recent stuff much. It seens like his major releases are all a bit too sporadic and random to really make the mark that his earlier stuff did, but maybe that’s just me. I’m still waiting for a worthy follow up to I Care Because You Do.
As for new talents, there’s so much music on offer everywhere that I feel trying to keep up is a lost cause and I just seem to miss too much stuff. I must say though that Lindstrøm totally blew me away this year by getting close to the stuff Manuel Göttsching was doing in the 70s and 80s. I totally dig that kind of stuff, and Lindstrøm just dropped this wonderful album this year, and it was like, ‘fuck, someone’s doing that kind of stuff now!’