adam lee's take on the albums of 2008 i've heard of

yes, lets stay politically correct. i fiund this year rather enjoyable for music. i remember being really fucking excited for 08 to come around as far as music goes. suppose to be new autolux, bss, new sigur ros, dr. dog, drift, islands & m83! and those are all the bands i love previous records i love. but maybem its because its what i expected of them, or i just havent had those special moments with em yet, but what was most exciting for me was the music by artists I didn't know. lets see.


fleet foxes/sun giant
i mean, i can't say that i'm not proud that it made the best album of 2008 on pitchfork. i pretty much agreed with them last year, but this is probably the album that came out this year that I've listened to the most, and dreamed with most. their performance in the forest in the big sur spiritual garden was special, but not quintessential to me loving the album. i like listening to this album most late at night, at the end of the night, or when driving. they sing right into my heart. thank you tori.







bon iver- for emma, forever ago
two things: i've only had this album for three days now, and its realy been reissued this year from last year... but i think its ok to say its from this year. listened to it on my drive up the 1 from santa cruz for winter break. beautiful experience, like 'return to the sea', but in a much more intimate way. the album is soothing and emotional, but not in your middle school kind of way. its calming and centering. thank you stephen.


beach house- devotion
i had a few many moments with this record when I waqs finishing up the hardest class in college i've ever had. i'd listen to this on repeat. now i can't, or not yet. it was special, and I know it still is, but i feel like it can only be listened to at certain times and certain moods. but its fucking good. thank you internet.


maps & atlases-you and me and the mountain
i've found that the best four hours of my day are the first four i am awake. i crash in the evening and I am garbage. this album brings me some of the energy and the carefreeness of the morning at all hours of the day. i'm just plain old having a good time and for its own sake. way more produced to be poppy and light than their last ep, but i guess i'm ok with that. excellent live too. thanks josh.




sigur ros- With Buzzing in Our Ears We Play Endlessly
this was the only album i was super pumped for that I have fully and entirely enjoyed at this point. teh first song they released was so ridiculously happy and it was ecstasy for awhile. but surprisingly, thats not what this album is all about. its mostly about staying mellow. and for that I love it. And its what I've really come to enjoy out of sigur ros most often simply because I can't always be epic with them. i bought it this summer when I was in maryland. thank you sigur ros.


the drift-memory drawings
so most of you probably have no idea who this band is, but they are a 'post-rock' band from sf. and where teh last album was a bit disjointed and not flly formed, this album fucking owns. its succedes in all it tries to do. its solid, its powerful, its mellow, its intriguing. loved it from when I first heard it. thank you gerardo.




others-

mount eerie-lost wisdom
fuck yeah this album is good. but i haven't deeply connected with it yet and thats why its here. maybe its becaus eit always puts me in an introverted depressed mood. but there is something special here.

megapuss-surfing
same killer songs on this record. this is where all the sillyness of devendra's last album went. which is cool. but this collection of songs is spothcy, and i'm glad they did this, cause some of it is pretty wacky. but its more of a comedy record than a really good album.

beck-modern built
ehh. pretty good, i have fun to it. but its nothing that is new to me or stands out. so it kind fo falls back into the noise of everythign else. but its good! but not my favorite of the year.

islands-arms way
wack. no no no. should have ended the band. not the same feeling as before. and i can;t deal with less and a more contrived version.

broken social scene- brendan canning somethign for all of us...
dissapointed. but this is an interesting record because I feel like a lot of people liek it more than kevin drews record last year, or a lot less. I've heard people say that this one sounds more like a classic bss record, where I disagree, and think our boy kevin did it better.

ratatat-LP3
yes, they got a new drum machine and went on tour with daft punk. and yes there are some damn good songs on there. but i feel like this album is a half full glass of milk. that, or i feel like its not an album more than just a collection of songs put in a HORRIBLE order. same problem I had with the the flying cup club.

dr. dog- fate
maybe i finally saw through what I like in this band, but this record didn't do it for me. i remember first listening to it and thinking that it sounded like a lot of beatles songs, and that just turned me off. but i own it on record, so maybe my opinion will change when i listen to it more. but i don't feel liek need for them anymore. i think they've been replaced.

m83- saturdays= youth
lets just say, he accomplished his goal of making an album that was remeniscent of the 80's. he tried and he succeeded and thats why i don't like it.

tv on the radio-dear science
haven't listened to it enough yet, but i know something is there