Top 10: EP's of 2008

The EP has been used in so many different ways over the years. A quick introduction to a brand new band. A way to make a couple of bucks while out on tour. Maybe a gap filler between two albums. Or just a way to record something quick and cheaply. Whatever way bands have chosen to use it the EP has become a huge part of the world of music, but they can't quite be held to the same standards as an album. Can they? I suppose in some respects they can, but for my money it seems like a better idea to separate them to see what stands out in the world of the short player. So without further adieu here are my 10 best EP's of 2008!

10. Brownwater Belushi Eyes ; The only reason I'm sticking this EP at number 10 (and not higher) is because at 4-songs and 14-minutes long it is just far too short for my liking! As soon as I get through these 4-songs I usually find myself hitting repeat because I just can't get enough of the brilliant use of punk, garage rock, surf rock, and all the different types of rock found throughout Belushi Eyes . It's an outstanding combination that fully uses the band's rotating cast of more then a dozen members, allowing for a broad and intriguing array of sounds. This is by far the best thing to come out of Staten Island this year, and I'm sure that if Brownwater can hold it together long enough they could one day do for Staten Island indie rock what Wu Tang did for Staten Island rap.
Brownwater - "The Brown Green Lantern"

9. Cool Kids The Bake Sale ; Rap has experienced a down year like it never has in it's 30-years of existence. Marred by shitty albums the entire genre saw sales drop (who didn't?) and lowered critical success in one fell swoop. There were few standouts and even one of the biggest players in the game bounced to become a pop star. Luckily this pair of backpack rappers from Chicago were around to make up for some of their genre's failings. The Bake Sale EP is a solid piece of rap, with songs that bounce on old school beats and rhymes that follow along in the retro style. Hell, the song "88" details the fact that they're trying to take it back to the old days. But the Cool Kids don't just ape everything they heard when they were back in the crib, instead they translate their present day lives to the old style, making something that is fresh and raw all at once.
Cool Kids - "88"

8. Princeton Bloomsbury ; Sweetly orchestrated pop music will never go out of style, and when it's done as well as the boys in Princeton do it you should all stand up and take note. For four songs the band make some of sunniest, peppiest pop music of the year with lush orchestrations and perfectly done harmonies. It makes for an utterly soothing listen, or something that you dance around your bedroom to. Either way you slice it this short player is full of those small pop moments that make you suddenly perk up. A slight violin bit here, a tweak in the harmony there, and all of sudden you are taking note of every little thing the band is doing, and there are hundreds of those moments with all the instruments and harmonies on the disc. So you better do yourself a favor and keep track from the beginning or your bound to miss some of those wonderful moments.
Princeton - "Ms. Bentwich"

7. Final Fantasy Pays to Please ; Before the release of his two EP's this year it had been far too long since we last heard from Owen Pallett's Final Fantasy. But now we have two solid EP's of very different sounds to keep us in check until Heartland is released next year. Personally I'm siding with Pays to Please as the better of the two EP's but you really couldn't go wrong with either. With a full 35-piece orchestra, Pallett beautifully re-imagined the works of fellow Torontonian Alex Lukashevsky. Granted, I don't know Lukashevsky from a hole in the wall but this grand work from Final Fantasy should've been enough to get me to check him out. I should probably do that at some point. For now I'll just listen to Owen's version and marvel in the beauty of it all.
Final Fantasy - "Ultimatum"

Antony and The Johnsons Another World ; If you thought waiting a year for something from Owen Pallett was bad, try the 3-years we've been waiting to hear a new album from Antony and The Johnsons. Lucky for us the wait was finally ended with the release of the gorgeous EP Another World . Buoyed by the devastating beauty of the title track, this EP serves to remind us what we've been missing in that time. Namely, the subtle music and heartbreaking power of Antony Hegarty's voice. The rest of the short player is pretty damn solid too, but the better news is that we are only a few short weeks away from the proper full length follow-up to I Am a Bird Now ! That alone should have you itching for 2009 to just hurry up and get here already.
Antony and The Johnsons - "Another World"

5. The Decemberists Always a Bridesmaid ; At this point I kind of feel like there isn't a year that goes by that doesn't have The Decemberists on one of my lists. This year the band almost missed out, not releasing any new material until they suddenly announced a series of 7" singles to be released monthly from October on. Now I know a series of 7" does not necessarily make an EP, but in this case I'm willing to break the rules because like all the other stuff from The Decemberists these six songs are sparkling examples of hyper-literate song writing and excellent musical composition. I was particularly hooked on the first single, "Valerie Plame", a song that perfectly remembers the early days of The Decemberists with a lavish fantasy world and an utterly addictive chorus.
The Decemberists - "Valerie Plame"

4. Animal Collective Water Curses ; Like a good majority of the artists on this list, Animal Collective used their 2008 release as a sort of place holder between Strawberry Jam and the highly anticipated Merriweather Post Pavilion . But it's such a good piece of music that it shouldn't be neglected as just a short throw away or anything of the sort. Instead it should be heralded as it obviously marks a progression from one point to the other. It does follow in line with Strawberry Field but there is a definite shift in the band that focuses on the work of Avey Tare a bit more then they have in the past. Now, I'm not sure if this shift is going to stay or not but from what we've heard so far I'm liking the subtle shift in direction from the band and look forward to hearing more early in 2009.
Animal Collective - "Water Curses"

3. Passion Pit Chunk of Change ; Originally recorded as a belated Valtenine's Day gift, the Chunk of Change EP was one of only a handful that introduced us to a new act in 2008. In past years there have been tons of these bands, but for whatever reason it was a bit of a dry year. Passion Pit didn't let that affect them at all crafting a fantastic record of pop oriented dance tunes. As far as introductions go there are few that have made more of an immediate impression on me then this one. I was hooked from the opening notes of "I've Got Your Number" and it only gets better from there with tunes like "Better Things" and "Sleepyhead" definitely in the running for my singles list as well.
Passion Pit - "Better Things"

2. Times New Viking Stay Awake ; As Times New Viking continue down the slippery slope from lo-fi noise rock to just straight white noise, I continue to grow as a fan adoring every move this three piece makes. Stay Awake followed only a few months behind their well received Rip It Off full length, but it sounds as if the band were tired of their music sound so damn pop like and went ahead a scuzzed everything up a little bit more. There are still dynamic pop tunes underneath each and every dirty piece of sound on the record, but let's be honest and acknowledge that their use of noise on a conventional pop tune is the reason we keep coming back for more deafening amounts of music. If you aren't playing this at full blast every time you aren't listening to it right and you probably hate it.
Times New Viking - "Call and Respond"

1. Air France No Way Down ; Air France's no Way Down is the musical equivalent of the Garden of Eden. It is built on the idea of perfection and bliss, translating those ideas into music mixed perfectly with sunshine pop and light, ambient dance sounds. Simply put, it's music that makes you happy. The beach party vibe of the record all but demands listeners get into a pleasant mood, and when you're sharing this in a dance hall or club I can't help but picture smiling people dancing as one to the subtle, perfect grooves of the record. Like everything else on this list the downside of the record is it's running time, at only 23-minutes I feel we're like Adam and Eve ourselves being expelled from the garden far too soon.
Air France - "Collapsing At Your Doorstep"