Notable Recordings of 2008

My music consumption has fallen off over the last few years, a result both of living in an area somewhat lacking in good record stores and a decreasing interest in keeping up with mass culture (a dislike of the downloading format may have something else to do with it, I admit), but I still follow various music scenes and maintain a strong interest in exploring new and unknown artists. Despite the general slowdown in the music industry, certain areas are booming, with cd reissues and (especially) compilations seeming strong. Below, find a list of eleven music releases from the past year that I found especially interesting or enjoyable, in no order other than alphabetical.

Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Moving far beyond their early cowpunk reputation, this southern-fried band has blossomed into a strong songwriting outfit, with Patterson Hood especially finding a narrative voice completely sympathetic to the working class. Exploring milieus normally left to country and western (while never falling prey to either the knee-jerk patriotism or goopiness of modern country), this sprawling album drinks deeply from the Americana well and never once flags. They sing of gay cowboys and PTSD and weak beer. They mop up the floor with Wilco and ask for seconds. They lay down 19 tracks with no chaff.

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Those who decry the art of sampling and the hype of mash-ups need not apply. All others, pile on board. Gregg Gillis is a DJ of the populist variety - uninterested in perplexing listeners with obscurities, he delivers hooks and quotes familiar to all. And when the result is as consistently enjoyable and uproarious as Feed The Animals, I find his approach difficult to resist. By piling hip hop chants over totemic classic rock, he conducts an experiment in forced integration nearly impossible in today's Clear Channel-ordered world, where radio seems nearly as segregated as the nation's schools. The first song alone, all 4:45 minutes of it, boasts 25 samples. Wikipedia lays out the exact goodies for those curious, but many are easy enough to spot. And for Gillis, easy is the point. My favorite moment out of the whole project is when he punctuates the quavering silliness of Styx's "Renegade" with line's from Dr. Dre's equally loathsome "Bitches Ain't Shit." After all, manure makes the crops grow.

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
Stephen Merritt's long-running indie project has always dabbled in the pastiche, but never more so than in this unabashed love letter to The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy. Draping his characteristic winning melodies in unforgiving fuzz and feedback, they create a temple to bubblegum noise. What elevates this beyond a mere homage to seminal 80s British indie heroes are the wonderful lyrics. Skewering and scalding all within his irony-drenched path, Merritt comes on like a pomo Cole Porter. Whether he's sympathetically exploring a nun's repressed sexuality, dressing an ode to drunkenness in Gregorian chant intro, or adding a counter argument to the myth of the California female ("the faux folk sans derrieres"), Merritt and co. uphold their reputation as mischief makers of the cultured variety.

James Murphy and Pat Mahoney - Fabriclive.36
The brains behind LCD Soundsystem raid the vinyl vaults for their addition to the London nightclub Fabric's monthly cd mix release. And they rely heavily on sampling downtown disco grooves from the late 70s and early 80s. This is primal stuff, full of vintage crackle and pop, and willing to explore the link between Peter Gordon's post-punk disco outfit Love of Life Orchestra and Donald Byrd's ultra-cheesy "Love Has Come Around". This mix captures what was weird and wonderful about underground disco the first time around.

Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump
This 16-track compilation of Nigerian pop music ranges from the mid-60s to the early 80s, and samples a wide variety of styles, from pure Fela Kuti-derived afrobeat (Sir Shina Peters) to lightly skipping highlife (Ashanti Afrika Jah) to shuffling juju (Olufemi Ajasa) to 1960s psychedelic rock (Ify Jerry Krusade). The lack of formal continuity may offend African purists, but the rarity of these tracks and the beauty of both melody and groove hold the package together. A wonderful introduction to one small corner of a great cultural offering.

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
His transformation from wunderkind complete, the Bright Eyes leader cuts a solo album overflowing with what Bob Dylan once dubbed "thin wild mercury sound," a batch of folk-derived melodies instantly accessible yet consistently rewarding, with thoughtful, adult lyrics.
His propensity to run at the mouth tempered by concise arrangements, he's never sounded so comfortably lazy behind the microphone, and it suits him well. When he announces "I Don't Want To Die In The Hospital," it's with both pride and sorrow - a rebel yell against mortality, it's lament kicked into high gear by the rockabilly groove.

The Roots - Rising Down
Any hip-hop crew naming a cd after William T. Vollmann's 7-volume opus is clearly thinking outside the bling zone, and Philly's long-running outfit shows the young guns how it's done. Their hardest-slamming release yet, Rising Down is filled with dense tracks and plenty of guest rappers, but ?uestlove proves his mettle on a series of quick-witted tongue-lashings. And while Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III may boast more hooks, The Roots have better politics. They suggest a way forward for rappers concerned with history and committed to never going soft.

Steinski - What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective
The impact of music ad man Steve Stein on the world of hiphop and djing is as incalculable as it is unlikely. With fellow older white guy Douglas De Franco (Double Dee), they entered a Tommy Boy remix contest in 1983, and walked away with the prize after concocting a radically complex offering entitled "The Lesson," which leaned heavily on movie dialogue along with James Brown grooves. Prince Paul and DJ Shadow listened hard - Steinski continued releasing short slices of hilarity every few years. The dark hand of copyright law has kept many from hearing the full range of Steinski's output, and this Illegal Art compilation may not linger long. But across its two discs, find compelling arguments for collage's central role in 20th century art and a secret history of American pop culture. The inclusion of Steinski's entire album-length Nothing to Fear rough mix from a 2002 Coldcut radio show only makes this release more essential.

Sir Victor Uwaifo - Guitar-Boy Superstar 1970-76
A loving and thorough compilation of Nigerian musician Uwaifo, a skilled guitarist who explored the nuances of a rhythm and sound he dubbed Ekassa, based on coronation dances of Benin kings. His devotion to the guitar led him to embrace psychedelic effects and wah-wah pedals, but his songs are filled with beautiful melodies and gentle rhythms. This loving blend of folk tunes with modern instrumentation makes for timeless and joyous highlife music. A wonderful collection of previously obscure music.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Four bright young indie New Yorkers translate an unabashed enthusiasm for Afro-pop into bright and charming music that hurries along with a lightness that's commendable in these muddled times. The African connection is much more understated than many fans and critics would have you believe - while the guitars chime and interplay in a way that rings familiar, the rhythms remain solidly earthbound and 4/4. But to nitpick apart their sound is to miss the virtues of such pleasant and bouncing music.

Wayfaring Stranger: Guitar Soli
The good folks at the Numero label have committed themselves to tracking down the ultra-rare and the forgotten for their lovingly designed compilations. While their Eccentric Soul series remains their most important work in musical scholarship, I find this release, on the total opposite side of the spectrum, to be just as intriguing. 14 acoustic guitar instrumentals taken exclusively from out-of-print limited pressing LPs, this cd asks and answers the question, "How did John Fahey turn into Windham Hill"? And while such a premise may not sound very promising, the 16 forgotten musicians inside suggest that the 1970s were a fertile period for local skilled guitarists practicing expert bursts of finger style music. If none here have the brilliance of a Fahey, they all maintain darker and more folk-rooted moods than the New Age pretenders who would soon assume the throne. Definitely for those with deep record collections, Wayfaring Stranger stands as a reminder of the vast array of music produced across all levels of the recording industry.