The Music of 2008

It's been a while since I have done a "Music of..." list, but I really wanted to this year. I only bought a couple of albums actually released in 2008, but there are several 2007 albums that I didn't buy until this year, so from my perspective they are from this year.

Also, in 2008, I have been to more live shows of bands I really like since I lived in Austin, TX in the late 90's. Shellac, Melt Banana, Dan Bern, Hanson Brothers, Firewater... And with one exception, they all had great opening bands too.

The best album of 2008 by far is "The Golden Hour" by Firewater. It is just incredible. If you only buy one album this year, get this one.

Below is a youtube video where Tod A. talks about how "The Golden Hour" was made & what it is about. It also includes some music from the album.



The best live show of 2008 was Shellac in Paris. Melt-Banana, Mission of Burma and Bottomless Pit (not to be confused with Bottle of Spit) opened. Here's a couple videos, but they don't do the show justice.

Shellac Starting the Show:


More of the excellence that is Shellac:


Mission of Burma play what may be their most famous song:


Melt Banana:


Honorable Mention (in no particular order)
Shellac - "Excellent Italian Greyhound"

Melt-Banana - "Bambi's Dilemma"

Die Ärzte - "Jazz ist anders"

Gogol Bordello - "Super Taranta!"

Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

OK, yeah, these were all from 2007. For more music that actually came out in 2008, in the last week I bought both "District Line" by Bob Mould and "In aller Stille" by Die Toten Hosen. I'm still evaluating them, but in both cases I think they are good, but weaker than the last release by each artist.