CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Adrian Rew writes

TOP TEN ALBUMS/SHOWS OF 2008

Around this time of year, all the music websites, magazines, and nerds begin to compile their end-of-year best-album lists. And yes, recorded albums are important as a permanent documentation of an artist’s music, but just as a properly cared-for record can last a lifetime, so can a well-tended memory of a great show. The following top 10 of 2008 takes into consideration both my favorite albums and the most intimate, energetic, and generally mind-blowing shows I’ve been to this year.

1. Times New Viking – Rip It Off

At first it’s painfully noisy, but, like all good lo-fi albums, repeated listens reveal a bunch of excellent pop songs. In “The Wait”, Beth Murphy and Adam Elliott gleefully exclaim, “doesn’t it feel great to feel anything!?” and that is exactly the emotion that fills me to the brink every time I hear this album.

I saw them at the Pitchfork Music Festival and opening for Deerhunter. They cleaned up their sound and played well at both shows, but I feel like they’d be much better to see in someone’s basement.

2. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.

Their previous album, Cryptograms, was great but I was in no way expecting that they would follow it up with a record as incredible as Microcastle. It seems like such a perfect distillation of their dreamily nostalgic sound that I can only wonder what Deerhunter will do next. “Vox Humana”, from the album’s bonus disc, Weird Era Cont., is my personal favorite song of theirs and probably the best display yet of Bradford Cox’s lyrical prowess.

Live, at the Metro, they didn’t stray far from their recordings, but put on a fantastic show epitomized by Cox’s angelic voice and proving that they will be remembered for much more than as “that band with the really skinny, dress-wearing guy”.

3. No Age – Nouns

My Bloody Valentine + punk rock = wonderful.

“Teen Creeps” and “Sleeper Hold” in particular make me want to dive into a room of sweaty bodies…

…and dive in I did at both of their November 18th, Chicago shows. The first, a free show at Reggie’s Rock Club (my personal choice for worst Chicago venue of 2008), was simply a great punk show. They opened with “Teen Creeps” and kept going for about an hour, interspersing ambient songs among the noisier ones. The duo then left for their not-so-secret later show at the AV-Aerie (best 2008 Chicago venue) with Soft Circle and Lichens. Although their set at Reggie’s was good, they seemed restrained by the traditional (and really fake, in this case) rock club environment, restraint which they completely shed for the second show, playing a bunch of covers including “Chinese Rocks” and The Misfits’ “Where Eagles Dare”. I had hurt my ankle during their last song at Reggie’s but the enthusiastic audience and music was so intoxicating that I ended up hopping around on one foot for the show’s duration. Writing for the Chicago Reader, Miles Raymer called it “the best punk show of the decade”. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but it was definitely one of the best of my life.

4. Mount Eerie – Lost Wisdom

What can I say? I love Phil Elverum and I love Julie Doiron so a record featuring both of them was all I could ask for. Essentially a Mount Eerie album featuring Julie Doiron (and her Calm Down It’s Monday bandmate Fred Squire), it is a beautiful collection of 10 stripped-down, melancholy folk songs and one of the best recent Elverum releases.

The show at the AV-Aerie was perfect for the music. Very intimate, with Fred and Julie opening and joining Phil for his set, they played through Lost Wisdom track-for-track and Elverum ended alone with some extra songs. A thoroughly pleasant night.

5. Cheap Time – Cheap Time

This criminally underappreciated debut from young Tenessee garage-punks essentially sounds like Born Innocent-era Redd Kross with some glam thrown in. Its far from original, but it isn’t intended to be. It’s just a fun ‘n’ sleazy basic rock and roll album and perfect for that.

I saw them in 2008’s infancy and they started the musical year off very well. Their show and the audience at the Lucky Gator Loft was just like their music: energetic, sloppy, and occasionally drunk. A wonderful (and quite cheap) time was had by all.

6. Jay Reatard – Matador Singles ’08

Though I think this is his weakest collection yet, Blood Visions and Mr. Reatard’s previous singles are so strong that it hardly matters.

It was raining before his set at Pitchfork fest, but the moment he came out on stage, and made his usual announcement of “LET’S GO!!!,” it hardly mattered to anyone. Everyone got really muddy and it was probably the most punkadelic set of the weekend (though I still can’t figure out why he played Riot Fest).

7. Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life

An album of fucked up, refreshingly non-traditional hardcore.

Reggie’s Rock Club is fucked up, but not like Fucked Up. It tries to look like an authentic, dirty, DIY punk club, but fails on every level. The fake graffiti on the walls is simply vomitrocious and the staff are far from great. I do admire them for being one of the few Chicago venues with regular all ages shows though. But I digress…I had never heard a note of Fucked Up’s music before the show, but they were true to their name and fucked everything up. Reggie’s security couldn’t handle the slam-dancing, stage-diving audience and fights broke out between the punks and the pigs (during which several audience-members urging the band to play “Police”). Frontman Pink Eyes started to tear down the club’s ridiculous Halloween decorations and rubbed a heckler’s face in his massive, sweaty chest. Their complete defiance of Reggie’s artificial “punk” attitude made Fucked Up perfect for the venue.

8. Sun Kil Moon – April

Mark Kozelek has released a string of consistently great albums over the past 15 years (with the possible exception of that Modest Mouse covers record) and April is no exception. While I think that his voice has lost some of the mournful expression that made Red House Painters’ first few albums so great, April still succeeds in making depressive nostalgia almost enjoyable.

Being a huge Red House Painters fan (and having knowledge of Kozelek’s notorious asshole behavior), I was extremely nervous for his June show at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Would he insult his fans as he had done in the past? Would my anticipation for seeing one of my favorite songwriters result in inevitable disappointment? His set flirted with both of my fears, but was very satisfying. He only made an occasional lighthearted jab at his second guitarist, accusing him of not knowing the songs, and his voice is even better live than recorded. The reworked Red House Painters songs towards the end of his set were particularly enjoyable.

9. Titus Andronicus – The Airing of Grievances

To me, much modern indie music is severely lacking in part of what made those early Black Flag and Mission of Burma records so great: ENERGY! And The Airing of Grievances, a raw, existentialist emo-core (and I use the genre in the best possible, 80s Dischord way) record puts the rock back into indie rock from the “FUCK YOU!” of opener “Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ” to the final, shimmering chords of “Albert Camus”.

Live, opening for No Age, Titus Andronicus played just as one could expect from their Seinfeld-referencing record. The audience was, unfortunately, hardly as energetic as the band.

10. Meemaw – Glass Elevator

I have to admit, this Nashville 3-piece’s 7” + CD features a bunch of good, fun songs, but it’s nothing exceptional.

What really qualified them for this list was one song that they played live. Both nights that I saw them, Meemaw somehow transcended time and space and brought me a feeling of pure joy with a lone piece of music. The unrecorded as of yet song is called “Jesus Christ” and (although this is probably a gross exaggeration) it is very deserving of its name.