2008 End Of Year Music Post - the year of the Dance

So, yeah. I wanted to do this the same way I did last year and write it on New Year's Eve. but...that didn't happen. So, here it is, now.

I found a lot of music towards the end, but there was a lot that came to me in the middle of the year.

Best band that sounds like insects and helped me get a job: Foals. They kicked way more ass than I was ever expecting. I can't remember why I got into them in the first place, but they rocked my world in 2008. The insect guitars, the obsucre lyrics. I listened to "Big Big Love (Fig. 2)" before I went in for my interview at my current company and it really helped me, like Bloc Party's "Secrets" did at my previous company. I really don't know what it was that grabbed me about Foals, but it dug its claws in and didn't let go. This is one of the albums that, when my company gave me a $50 iTunes card, I actually bought the album. "Big, Big Love" - the title reminds me of "Gigantic" by Pixies, but the rest of the album is so wonderfully captivating. From the horns opening "The French Open" that turn into jagged guitars; to the popping snares that open "Red Socks Pugie" and dissolves eventually into tinkling guitar lines; the torso-twisting machinations of Olympic Airwaves. And that's just the first half of the album. The rest of the songs continue in these veins, but all in different ways. Will they have a follow up album that is as captivating? I remember thinking the same thing about Bloc Party 4 years ago.....

Best albums I bought that I already had: I had downloaded the Foals album and got hooked, and when I suddenly had $50 to spend on whatever I wanted, I decided I'd buy some albums from the last few years. Foals, as I mentioned, along with Fall Out Boy's From Under The Cork Tree (you doubt them? Dig the chunky riffs of "Sugar, We're Goin Down" and the buzzsaw punches of "Of All The Gin Joints In All The World") and another couple of albums: Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into and Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours. I'll get to them, though. :)

Best concerts of the year: Well, I only went to a few, just like last year. However, they were all fucking quality. :) First up was Kevin Devine who I absolutely loved. He played a small place here in Denver and blew me away. I was bummed I didn't have money for a shirt or other merch. He was so great. Opening for him was Action Packed Thrill Ride, who were also awesome and on my Slacker.com alt.country station now

http://www.slacker.com/?sid=stations/1205463/571

Next up was the Cure at Red Rocks in May. Way incredible. Played a ton of songs that I've always wanted to see them play. Full setlist here: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChainofFlowers/may2108.html

Great stuff! I'll always remember this show for "Underneath The Stars", the opening song to their new album 4:13 Dream. Pure old-school Cure. Glorious. The first Cure show I went to with my wife, we got to dance to "our song", "Just Like Heaven". Check out the 3rd encore, though: Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab

Are you kidding me? Totally great.

But wait, there's more. :)

In July, I returned to Red Rocks with my wife and best friend and his wife to see the Police. I've written so much about this concert, this reunion...I'd link to it, but I think you've all read it before. :) I had a blast. I learned at the Bloc Party show from '07 that i didn't want to see any more shows with people I'd be self-conscious around, and that's why I wanted to go with my best friend and his wife. Sting was bearded, Andy's hands looked OLD, but they sounded great, and I got to hear "So Lonely" live. It was rapturous. I teared up a couple of times. I was living the dream.

Last but not least of the shows of 2008 was the Monolith festival. Oh. My. God. What a great time. I got to meet some of the folks here - Dale, Erin, Lizzie, Amber & Dave, Zero, Mike & Heather. I had such a great time with people I'd never met before! It was as much fun as the meetup in DC with blinder, sielwolf, mekka & cetera. btlzu2 was supposed to be there too, but he had other stuff going on. We had an awesome time and saw tons of bands: Foals, Superdrag, Cut Copy, Holy Fuck, A Place To Bury Strangers....and that's where it petered off for me. APtBS's drummer sucked too much for me to stick around, and it was too cold for me to stay any longer for Silversun Pickups, but Foals were all I wanted them to be (especially in the middle of the day), Superdrag was as awesome as they've ever been, Cut Copy was relevatory (as was Holy F**k). Which brings me to....

The Best Show Of The Year: Cut Copy - I saw them at Red Rocks for the first time, and it was amazing. I didn't know who they were or what they sounded like. I started to like what they had to offer. I had my shirt off in the wonderful Colorado midday sun. I had a slight teensy bottle wine buzz on. There was a gaggle of X-ed out fraternity dudes to our left. And the next thing you knew....I was completely overtaken. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had a live group take over my psyche and consciousness like Cut Copy did that day, and for months afterward. There's video out there of my friend Dale dancing, but there's no video of what was happening inside my mind and body. I let go...completely. Something I had started back at the Bloc Party show in June of '07, but this was different. I've never danced like I did that day, and it Set. Me. Free. Seriously. I've not cared less about dancing or showing that I was dancing since then. It's amazing. Seeing Cut Copy that day...it took off the chains. Every dance-y song I hear now puts my feet in motion. Not just my feet, but my whole body. And I've never, ever, felt so free. Thank you Cut Copy. For freeing my ass so the rest will follow.

Now, I found out about Does It Offend You, Yeah? about the same time. While I didn't get into them as much at the time, they're a great band with crackin' 80's influences. I love the music, especially "Dawn of the Dead" and "Epic Last Song" is revelatory. Incredible. I wholly recommend.

Best Album I Never Thought I'd Like: Coldplay, Viva La Vida - The album I found had the most depth of the year came from the most unlikely source. It captivates me for many reasons. One - it doesn't sound like the "Yellow" Coldplay. I like that song okay, but it's not that great. But they diverge way off from here, and that's one of the themes I detect - travelling. You've got the dulcimer sound of "Life in Technicolor" to the upright piano sound that makes its appearance throughout the album. You've got the travel theme - the asian/appalachian dulcimer sound again from "Life In Technicolor" to London in "Cemeteries of London" to the NYC beatz of "Lost!" to the pseudo-middle eastern flavour of "42" to the eastern flavour of "Lovers in Japan", back to the middle east in "Yes" back to the east with "Strawberry Swing" to the West with "Death and All His Friends".

Not only that, but it seems to be more complex than that. You start with "Life" in technicolour, then move to the Death of "Cemeteries of London", where Chris sings about ghosts and witches and "I see God come in my garden, but I don't know what he said,
For my heart it wasn't open…."

It seems Chris is struggling with something. And it continues. He struggles with being Lost, then comes to the Meaning of Life with "42", which deals with more death -
"Those who are dead are not dead
They're just living my head"

For me, this is where the album kicks into high gear. The record has many movements, some documented, some not. "42" opines that "You thought you might be a ghost
You didn't get to heaven but you made it close"

You made it close. Heh.

And after the meaning of life, Chris tackles love on as foreign island as you can get with "Lovers in Japan", which contains one of my favorite lines of the year with "Tonight maybe we're gonna run
Dreaming of the Osaka sun"

Back to the East, with flair and love. Insanely uplifting. But it doesn't stop there.

"Yes" pulls up the mideast feel with atonal violins and seduces you into the languid restful bedding of the lamentations of loneliness.

After Yes comes the orchestral urgence of "Viva La Vida", which was the song that captured me and pulled me into this album like no other song did.

"Violet Hill", the first video from the record, contains the most anti-religion lyrics of the record, IMO: When the future's architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You'd better lie low

If you love me
Won't you let me know?

Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God

Priests clutched onto bibles
Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And the cross was held aloft

Bury me in armor
When I'm dead and hit the ground
A love back home unfolds

If you love me
Won't you let me know?

I don't want to be a soldier
Who the captain of some sinking ship
Would stow, far below"

It seems to me that Chris is rebelling against how religion wages war with little else than differences of gods.

The album ends with "Death and All His Friends". It starts with "Life" and ends with "Death", but the song, the music is the same as the start of "Life in Technicolor", so if you listen on repeat, it barely registers, but Death segues into Life.

DEATH segues into LIFE. It's the circle. It goes around, beautifully. As I'm so fond of quoting Morrissey, we are born and then we live and then we die.

Such a great album. If you've discounted Coldplay in the past as I have, you owe it to YOURSELF to give this album a try.

The Album That Arrived Late (With The Stupidest Chorus): The Killers - Day and Age.

Man....I just wore myself out talking about the Coldplay album, but it's really that good. Then, good god damn, the Killers dropped on hell of a record. Anna and others suggested that this album missed the mark. I came to a different conclusion. "Losing Touch", the album opener, suggested that people tell their friends that the Killers had lost it, only to have the second song "Human" kick them in the ass. Sure, the chorus is idiotic; "Are we human/ Or are we dancer". I don't care where it came from, it could come from Shakespeare or Floyd the Barber, the music and arrangement fucking kills me. I just turned it up 4 points, because it captivates me. "My sign is vital/ My hands are cold" - does it make sense? No. Do I care? No. I shake my ass all the way to "Whateversville".

Then what? "Spaceman" makes sure that my ass keeps moving and I wonder if this is some sort of alien invasion. Is it? No, stupid. It's not an alien probe in your ass, as "Joy Ride" makes sure, it's just the FUNK. A Roxy Music/Rolling Stones sax invades to make you feel dirty but oh-so-sexy. "When the chips are down, when the highs are low - Joy ride" What more do you need to know?

The song on the album that I initially liked but have come to be lukewarm on is "Dustland Fairytale". Grand music and lyrics, but ultimately they don't hit. Unlike "This Is Your Life", the song starts off with a "weem-a-way" ripoff, but soon settles into a rythmic tale of a hooker that you want to succeed, and the bridge and chorus soar from there. "Wait for something better/noone behind you/watching your shadows/you've gotta be stronger than the story"

A very uplifting song that transitions into the the dancey Calypso of "I Can't Stay". You want to have a boat drink and dance closely against an infatuation. Steel drums and what sounds like clarinet? Much love. Round it out with sax and you've got a genre-bending loin-fuck.

"Neon Tiger" follows with what I initially thought was the weakest song of the record and soon realised was as sing-song and anthemic as the rest of the songs on the album.

"The World We Live In" soon reminded me of Orchestral Manoeuveres in the Dark and took me by surprise. I hadn't heard an OMD song in a long time, and this song, aside from Andy's vocals, fit the mold perfectly - strong bassline, real drums, faux horns. Once I realised it, I was taken sweetly aback.

Which didn't set me up well for "Goodnight, Travel Well" - what could. A Cure song executed as well as Bob could ever have. The faux horns again, but in a lower minor octave, the echoing lyrics, the tom drums. I felt like I was back in '88, half drunk and knowing that the lyrics about death and the journey to a possible afterlife were as true as anything could ever be..... My headphones filled with what felt like the truth.

Congratulations, Killers. You've stayed atop your soapbox. There's nothing I can do...now.

Should I even mention the Kings of Leon album? Yes, I should...but I can't, after listening to "Goodnight, Travel Well". Except to say I should've glommed onto them earlier. Why didn't I? I don't know. Stubbornness? Jealousy? The feeling that it was too soon after their last great record "Because of the Times"? Whatever. The song "Sex On Fire" fucking grabbed me by the innards and dragged me into 2009, tossing me up onto the bonfire of "Use Somebody" and reincarnating me as the kid who wants the girl in "17".

2008 started with crazy thoughts, scattered and sensual. It progressed through wild and underwater insanity, crumbling under the weight of 20 years to emerge as quiet instead of noise. Striving for stability instead of thrashing for understanding.

2008 was an incredible year. Wild. Crazy. Fulfilled. Incredible.

2009 promises to be an extension. I'll be standing up to meet it, arms splayed wide and rapturous.

Join me, won't you? :)