Some Favourite Songs of 2008

45. Coldplay - Yes!
The only thing to shout about this song is that somewhere midway through, it explodes into shoegaze-land.

44. Monkey - Confessions of a Pig
Sweet rhythm with desperate-like vox

43. She and Him - I Was Made for You
Nice beat to introduce an actress trying to convince her Mr. Right

42. Nachtmystium - Code Negative
Gilmourian solo but still effective in some ways

41. Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love for Planet Earth
The transition from tranquility to psychedelia is so apparent in this song.

40. The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit) - Hide and Seek
African flavour meets electronica platter

39. Weird Tapes - Summer of Worship
The feel good factor boosted this song.

38. Vivian Girls - Where Do You Run to
Zombie-gal-rock with a sprinkle of Beach Boys' pop

37. Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Such percussion transforms this song for the better.

36. Dj /Rupture - Homeboys feat. Max Normal_Mega Bo
Let's get high on this number.

35. Plants and Animals - Faerie Dance
A hippie epic of some sort. 'Nuff said.

34. Peter Bjorn and John - Barcelona
Just picture an Olympian accelerating while holding the Games' torch aloft.

33. TV on the Radio - Crying
Super funky groover in its otherwise overrated album

32. Thrice - Broken Lungs
And I thought alternative post-grunge music is dead.
It's merely clinging to a thread.

31. Wolf Parade - Language City
It somehow manages to excite me, with its highlight being a piano-led tempo change.

30. Snowman - Daniel Was a Timebomb
The vocalist sounds like Peter Garrett ranting away in a good fashion.

29. Memory Cassette - Asleep at a Party
Sweet serenade never sounded this mellow.

28. Of Montreal - Id Engager
Now some of us can celebrate promiscuity with elegance.

27. Why? - Song of the Sad Assassin
Abundant tunes and words for this dedication to Billy the Kid and Lee Harvey Oswald

26. Luomo - Love You All (with Sascha Ring)
A song that sounds like Junior Boys collaborating with Enrique Iglesias

25. Deerhunter - These Hands
The product of this simple shoegazing poppy track is worth more than its reactants.

24. Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand a Chance
Easily a contender for the best final song of a 2008 album

23. Quiet Village - Broken Promises
Makes you wanna be in a vacation mood

22. My Morning Jacket - Thank You
Disaccharide melodies are galore here.

21. Lil Wayne - Dr Carter
Jazzy drumstyle and sleek horns assist Lil Wayne in confidently giving advice to artists especially in the music industry.

20. Crystal Antlers - A Thousand Eyes
It contains one of the best choruses of 2008.

19. Gang Gang Dance - Vacuum
You can get high-octane music through this.

18. Beach House - All the Years
Watch out for its bridge 'cos it is deeply moving.

17. Friend - Secret (Demo)
What a beauty...combining hooks from Air France's "Collapsing at Your Doorstep" with Justice beat and bass.

16. Portishead - The Rip
Good song build-up and chord progression

15. No Age - Things I Did When I Was Dead
This is the song that made me start to like Nouns.

14. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (live at Letterman)
It's syrupy and it's live.

13. Tobacco - Street Trash
One of the finest quickies of this year

12. Last Shadow Puppets - Meeting Place
Can't seem to get enough of its cabaret vibe

11. M83 - Kim and Jessie
Amazing verse...The pterodactyl-like sound is worth noting.

10. Cut Copy - So Haunted
Neat riff to compliment "What's that you see? I see all these satellites orbiting/haunting you and me. Just one of these can change your life."

9. Air France - No Excuses
One good reason for you to dance or be in party mode

8. Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountain
A magical ride of fairy-tale music alongside their Sun Giant EP's "English House"

7. Dodos - Fools
Robust drumbeats with arguably this year's best wordless hook

6. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
It's compositions with crafty structures like this which makes Dan Rossen a songwriting force to be reckoned with.

5. Fucked Up - Black Albino Bones
An alt-core track dealing with life's irony

4. Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
Here is another example emphasizing the significance of electro music.

3. American Music Club - All My Love
A heart-wrenching vocal rendition accompanied by blissful sounds

2. Pattern is Movement - Sea Captain
If you think the intro and verse are the only good points of this song, check out the part before the drum outro.

1. Animal Collective - Water Curses
Behold the audio assault on your eardrums.
The best part is that it has a wide spectrum of sounds and is filled with bubbly pop elements.

Top 15 albums of 2008

15. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

14. Air France - No Way Down (EP)

13. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna

12. Lil Wayne - The Carter III

11. No Age - Nouns

10. M83 - Saturdays=Youth

9. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

8. Animal Collective - Water Curses (EP)

7. Why? - Alopecia

6. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park

5. American Music Club - The Golden Age

4. Quiet Village - Silent Movie

3. Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.

2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

1. Beach House - Devotion

Songs in the Spirit of Beach Boys

a mini mixtape baby!

R.E.M. - near wild heaven

besnard lakes - disaster

grizzly bear - he hit me

vivian girls - where do you run to

teenage fanclub - cul de sac

panda bear - bros

fleet foxes - he doesn't know why

animal collective - did you see the words

deerhunter - moon witch cartridge

Man Hutan Returns Top 10 Albums of 2008

10 . M83: Saturday = Youth

9. Girl Talk : Feed the Animals

8. Vampire Weekend : Vampire Weekend

7. My Morning Jacket : Evil Urges

6.Department of Eagles : In Ear Park

5.Lil Wayne : Carter III

4.Deer Hunter : Micro Castle

3. PortisHead : Third

2. BeachHouse : Devotion

1. Fleet Foxes : Fleet Foxes

Music Review: American Music Club - The Golden Age (2008)

Places play a big role in most people's lives. It's not surprising that Mark Eitzel's hometown San Francisco is more often than not referred to in American Music Club's music including Golden Age.

"All My Love" is pleasantly gentle in every way. Mark Eitzel sings the words in this song with so much conviction. It has the same musical mood as "Fearless" from their 1994 LP San Francisco.
Golden Age contains some simple but noteworthy drumbeats that are heard in "The Sleeping Beauty", "Windows on the World" and "Decibels and the Little Pills". New drummer Steve Didelot surely made his presence felt here and there.

I find it perplexing that AMC manage to come up with ear-candy tunes such as San Francisco's "I Broke My Promise" and "Johnny Mathis' Feet" from the much darker Mercury. As for Golden Age, its gotta be "Who You Are".

When Mark sings 'Later on I said to Kid/Hey look at me' in "Windows on the World", he sounded more like Knopfler rather than Eitzel. Mark Eitzel quips 'Your magic power is to disappear before you leave me in your will/Is the only blessing that you don't fear the only prayer you know God is sure to fill?' in the engaging horn-accompanied "I Know that's Not Really You".

Every chorus from "On My Way" entails some psychedelic guitar. For me, this album ends with "On My Way". Final track "The Grand Duchess of San Francisco" could easily have been omitted.

AMC has a respectable longevity (entering their third decade in releasing albums) that may very well drown some senile musicians. Golden Age might hint at some wrinkles on their skin but it also signifies that AMC can age gracefully.

80%

Music Review: Peter Bjorn and John - Seaside Rock (2008)

Vocals with proper lyrics? Not checked. Cohesiveness? Unchecked. Peter Bjorn and John obviously wanna get WTFs in album reviews for their latest serving. Can't figure out what to do with some less dense or unattractive music? To my horror, they "solved" that by adding some people muttering about. And when traces of singing is heard in the otherwise sweet "Say Something", you can't help but snigger at the effort.

However, the true gems of this album are "Favour of the Season" (think a jazz number with scaled down bpm to great soothing vibes) and the calm yet epic "Barcelona". Opener "Inland Empire" makes you wonder if it is actually a tribute to a certain David Lynch flick.

You may be baffled or amazed that these Swedish folks would go up the wall to wanna audaciously construct this record. But c'mon, I'm sure they can do better than Seaside Rock. Gravitational force will drag the pebble down based on the cover art. The question is: How low can this album's rating go?

25%

Music Review: Subtle - ExitingARM (2008)

In terms of melody, ExitingARM does offer plenty. Effects are scattered but inconsistently effective. Adam "Doseone" Drucker, Jordan Dalrymple and Dax Pierson have some neat tricks for vocal outputs. "The Crow" and a few other tracks possess pop characteristics here and there.

"Hollow Hollered" has a nice beat to it (think TV on the Radio's "I was a Lover" but with additional drum rolls). There is an obvious connection between "Hollow Hollered" and "Wanted Found": A hypnotic acoustic arpeggio towards the end (The latter contains Arabic flute tunes and garage drum trashing that further put listeners into trance.)

Subtle sure has a knack for human skull as evident in "Sick Soft Perfection" and the title track in which one of the vocalists sings "Would you skin your skull to draw its strength?".

However, it is a false siren. ExitingARM lacks a certain lasting musical chemistry with its listeners. It doesn't compell me to feel that excited or be moved. This record sure hits the right notes in drawing the attention of listeners initially but it scores low points in terms of relistenability.

65%

Music Review: Beach House - Devotion (2008)

To be honest, the record sounded a tad boring upon first listen. Then, a reverse of events after a few listens occurred, proving once again that good music sometimes need extra observation and time investment to be appreciated.

An essential component of this record is a special moment of every song, which can transform seemingly ordinary songs into good ones. "All the Years" has Victoria Legrand's heartfelt vocals resonating 'of all the years to come...' with 'All my devotion/Compelled by an ocean (emotion)' further proclaiming her undying love for something or someone, continuing from where she left off in Beach House's "Saltwater".

Hawaiian guitar riffs and licks often soak Devotion, giving it a sunnier overall mood than in their previous record. Legrand's vocals usually pull back the songs into sombre mode. However, her voice sounds more convincing this time around, albeit still achingly heartbreaking in even her happier tunes.

The delicate and Asian-sounding guitar riff in "Some Things Last a Long Time" backed by effective gong beats is rather addictive. And please do check out the effect of backward-like guitar towards the end of "Wedding Bell". The songstress also dishes out 'Oh, is your heart still mine to sail?' in that track.

"Gila" (pronounced as 'hila') is Devotion's answer to "Master of None". The other half of Beach House, Alex Scally, also contributed many amazing yet simple guitar leads for Devotion. Both he and Legrand still have twin haunting effects on listeners.

Suffice to say, this record's hidden melodies, sweet guitar, organ and slightly upbeat sounding vocals add new dimension to their transalvanian sound. Keep those haunting and seemingly heavy tambourines rattling for a dark Christmas, BH.

80%

Fleet Foxes (2008)

The fleet foxes might look like hippies but make no mistake about it, they are quite the opposite. Fleet Foxes's self titled debut is a journey into bewilderment filled with lush instruments and strong vocal harmonization that makes it sounds earthy yet like nothing you have heard before. The album start with "Red Squirrel" a late night bonfire singalong type tune with leads into the gorgeous "Sun it Rises" a track that pretty much kicks off the album much like the rising of the sun replacing the pale moon light. The album then flows smoothly onto the catchy "White Winter Hymnal". The momentum of the album stays constantly strong throughout with beach boys inspired accapella's to the huge megaton choruses of "Your Protector", but there are still surprises for the second last track of the album is what makes the foxes a band to watch. "Blue Ridge Mountain" is a like a trip back home, when you've been away far too long and all kinds of emotions hit you all at once. The album ends with a somber "Oliver James" which actually sounds more desolate that it actually is partly because of "Blue Ridge Mountains". Proving that sometimes the journey is much more precious than the destination itself.

Fleet foxes is an instant american classic, which reminds us that inspiring music can come from anywhere and sometimes its closer to our earthlier roots than you will ever imagine. This year with the bear and the monkeys in hiatus, this surely must be the year of the fox.

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" (live on Letterman)

The sweet keyboard rhythm played by Daniel Rossen paves the way for his three other Grizzly Bear mates and invited Thomas Bartlett aka Doveman to strut their stuff. Edward Droste's lead vocals are very commanding indeed if not refined (backed up by bassist Chris Taylor's nice harmonizing vocals, who has an uncanny resemblance to Norwegian footballer John Arne Riise).
During the chorus, there are two sets of pull off-like three notes which seem as though a space probe is shooting message waves, rays and beams, ultimately stimulating our auditory nerves.

Somewhere in the middle of the song, a short respite occurs for the keyboard to churn and chug out an electric guitar-like riff. Christopher Bear's creative drummings remind me of that from GB's "Little Brother (electric)". "Just like yesterday, I told you I would stay" and other lines especially the chorus are belted out with oh-so-sweet infectious melodies.

GB further stamp their mark as classy music crafters and a formidable live act. They shouldn't be sorry for the slight delay of this treat. It is very rewarding to finally listen to it. And while you and I wait for their other musical servings, bear in mind that the offerings will have solid appeal too if "Two Weeks" is of any indicator. With "Two Weeks", GB will attract more avid listeners just like ungluing David Letterman off of his hot seat to approach them on stage.

Music Review: Air France - No Way Down EP (2008)

An Anime-styled 'kawaii' line slides between "Collapsing at Your Doorstep" for a few slots. I don't understand what the 'Anime' girl uttered but it seems to me that she sounds excited and eager to reach to someone obstacled by the door, calling out for that person. After a desperate sprint through a few blocks, I presume, she goes down with a 'thud' at the porch, panting. "Collapsing at Your Doorstep" starts and signs off with an exhortation '..., better', reminiscent to OK Computer's androidan "Fitter Happier".

Mood-opener tambourine, delicate palm-muted guitar, whistles, gentle percussion, heavenly harp, violins and flutes are often masterfully paint brushed from an audio palate in this EP. A blissful marriage of sounds and instruments is the main product here. The cinematic "Maundy Thursday" is so effectively and inspiringly arranged; its energy musn't be underestimated. This song is after all a pre-celebration of resurrection.

Voice segments, including intimate love-calls and an eerie-sounding old man that will not feel out of place in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, fill some areas of the EP. Record label Sincerely Yours has a good ally in the form of a Scandinavian compatriot duo.

Infectious beats and triumphant trumpet soar through the stratosphere of "June Evenings". The flute gorgeously layers the regions of that song in an aurora-like effect. (The flute part reminds me of The Smiths' "There is a Light that Never Goes Out".)

Chipmunk audio bits seem to drizzle together with the cascading harp notes, coming to the brilliant synthesizer fraction for a final 'no excuses left,...' part in the fourth track. "No Excuses" had me thinking that Sean Kingston sang in it. With this EP, 'surely Air France can take you there', flying first-class.

90%