CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Dustin Drase writes

Patrick Masterson's Top of 2008

Our running tally of “Best Of” lists continues on with a bit from Patrick Masterson, who edited this at least three times before we posted it….for those haters who say there was no good music in 2008, I say they just weren’t trying. Patrick’s list is a great case in point, there’s a few records on here that I managed to snag a digital peek at through the year, and I really liked, but didn’t spend enough time with. Now’s the time to remedy that.

1. These Arms Are Snakes – Tail Swallower and Dove – Suicide Squeeze

If post-hardcore were still at the vanguard of sonic taste (Thanks for the memories, 1998-2002), Seattle’s These Arms Are Snakes would’ve had a huge year thanks to their most thoughtful, consistent release yet. Unfortunately, the Seattle quartet exists in a power vacuum where their peers have broken up and their achievements are trivialized by apathetic audiences. I don’t know what they’re going to do now that they’ve conquered their own sound, but if final track “Briggs” was any indication, they don’t know either: Suspended in perpetual near-payoff, the song tragically ends with no resolution. Arguably the last great post-hardcore group.

2. Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go Too – Smalltown Supersound

For a guy who contributed a few golden bricks of his own on the road to disco revivalism, “Where You Go I Go Too” stood out as a stunningly ambitious affair that not only trumped previous output but somehow also worked its way free of pretension, largely because its creator made plain his intentions. You want balearic? You want cosmic? You want epic, brah? Well, you got it: Hans-Peter Lindstrøm blew out a sound he had been cultivating for years as far as he could tolerate, then dropped it on awaiting audiences like an afterthought. HP to earth: Tweren’t no thang but another day in the life of.

3. Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair – DFA

Oozing impossible cool and perfect timing, it was hard to hide from Andy Butler this year. Homeboy revived disco in its purist form since Disco Demolition Night first gave the genre last rites in ’79. After years of serenading the scene with prefixes and suffixes to justify listening to Chic ripoffs, critics and kids alike fell over each other’s stuffed hard drives to christen Hercules and Love Affair as the new soundtrack to every undergrad’s dormroom dance party. I guess I did too.

4. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles – Warp

It’s debatable what long-term effect “Los Angeles” will have on hip-hop and all relevant tangents, but Steven Ellison provided a future blueprint with his second LP this summer. The ultimate grower, “Los Angeles” rewarded on repeat listens despite a general fidelity to cosmic keyboards and heavy thudding on the low end.

5. Santogold – Santogold – Downtown

The argument against this says people only cared because it was a minority female backed by the same two white producers (Switch, Diplo) that helped create the pan-ethnic icon in Mathangi Arulpragasm, e.g. It’s not real pop/“ethnic” music because pop/“ethnic” music requires effort/“soul” to construct. Um, argument flawed: “Santogold” is stronger than MIA’s material precisely because it has the hummable hooks, memorable choruses, subtlety, and soul that the Sri Lankan lacks and no ProTools retouching could ever fix. Not enough? Haters keep hating: Santi White has already dreamed the perfect pitch for her next excellent chorus. Save the Auto-Tune.

6. Genghis Tron – Board Up the House – Relapse

Having followed these guys from their debut EP, seeing Genghis Tron produce their best complete package yet (artwork included) was a satisfying sight in the first quarter of ’08. “Board Up the House” is no better or worse than “Dead Mountain Mouth” – both are formidable in their own right. But the packaging… Best cover of the year? I’ll take that and “City on a Hill” any day.

7. Boris – Smile – Southern Lord

After a few unsteady years, “Smile” was a concession for everyone: straightforward shredding for fans of the overrated “Pink;” spacey ambiance for people who thought that Sunn 0))) split was too jaunty; solos for those who couldn’t get enough Michio Kurihara on “Rainbow” last year. The domestic version is a watered-down affair tailored for Guitar Hero addicts, but double back on the Japanese import: The mixes are stranger and the sequencing is better.

8. Ulaan Khol – I – Soft Abuse

Talented multi-instrumentalist Steven R. Smith wandered into a psychedelic swirl of reverb and delay, hazy tones and indistinguishable strums from which he has yet to return with “I” (“One)” earlier this year. The first in a triumverate of albums (“II” was released in mid-November), affecting textures set the mood to one of this year’s best guitar-oriented albums. Great played softly, better played loudly.

9. Valerio Cosi – “Collected Works” – Porter

This likely would’ve been higher had I spent more time with it; nevertheless, “Collected Works” remains an engaging display of the 22-year-old Italian’s substantial talent. Crossing territory as far afield as acid-rock, drone, fusion, and improv jazz, the guy mixed in all his best stuff for Porter’s benefit. Ours too.

10. AGF – “Dance Floor Drachen” – AGF Producktion

Mark Abraham explained this better but, that said, Antye Greie’s meta-mnml experiment is notable because, first: The pay-what-you-want thing might be losing its novelty, but download-as-social commentary is not. By constructing an album that has seemingly little intrinsic value (A few tracks are basically remixes; one is a mess of movie clips; one is New York City field recordings and a kid sleeping) and then explaining exactly what’s going on, Greie cleverly dared listeners to reconsider their own value system of art as much as their wallet. Second: The music is better than any of her other four albums.

Honorable Mentions:

School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms – Ghostly International

Diskjokke – Staying In – Smalltown Supersound

Triclops! – Out of Africa – Alternative Tentacles

Luomo – “Convivial” – Huume