The Best Albums of 2008

5. Lil Wayne- Tha Carter III
There’s a reason why Lil Wayne calls himself “the greatest rapper alive” well actually there really isn’t he’s just kind of a arrogant bastard. But that’s not to say The Carter III isn’t one of the best albums of 2008. Lil Wayne is certainly not the greatest rapper alive. But I believe he is one of the most original mc’s around right now. He has one of the most unique voices around and that gives him that extra flair. Wayne gets a lot of flack from people though, they don’t quite “get” him but what you have to understand is he’s not serious about what he does, at all.





4. Sigur Ros- Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
I’ve always been a giant fan of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros, in fact I would say they are one of my favorite bands of all time. So it should come as no surprise for me to include this years release from them. The Band did some drasticly different things on this album one thing that was noticably different on this release was the increased used of guitars and less use of strings. Even the cover suggests a newer more playfull version of the band even at times calling to mind a Radioheadesque vibe. The band even went as far as breaking their mold by singing a song in English as opposed to all songs sung in Icelandic and in a language made up by lead singer Jónsi Birgisson's




3.The Raconteurs- Consolers of the Lonely
Jack White is no normal run of the mill musician, he likes things done his way and no other. But can you blame him if his methods have worked so well in the past? The Raconteurs are a super group of sorts consisting of song writer Brennan Benson and music mastermind Jack White and with their high acclaimed first release Broken Boy Soliders does it come as any surprise that the bands second release is any different? Release with absolutely no advertising or promoting before the release and only having been announced a week prior to release the album is much different then their first release. Very much influenced by classic rock gods Led Zeppelin The Who and Badfinger. But what makes the album so amazing is its beautiful chaos, the band sounds like they could fall apart at any time and that’s what makes them so great.





2. My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket, there one of the biggest bands around right now, just recently riding off the fumes of playing one of the best shows of their career so far at Bonnaroo this summer and get this their getting ready to play New Years Eve at one of the most coveted venues to play NYE, Madison Square Garden. Lead singer Jim James is a force to reckoned with, the bands first couple albums showed MMJ as a southern rock revival band with a hint of indie, but it was about James’s haunting reverb drenched vocals on their earlier efforts.
But when Evil Urges came out no one knew what the hell to expect the album sounded so much more different then any of their past efforts. There was still some elements of their past sound but Jim James really wanted to ditch their rock n roll roots sound and move to a sound the was more akin to what their live shows sound like. The band really went against the grain here with Evil Urges even managing to sing falsetto on a few tracks and showing somewhat of a Prince influence in their music. But even though the album was such departure from their earlier efforts they were able to find a new sound that still manages to sound like them and they did it well with this release.



1. Girl talk- Feed the Animals
There are guys like this that make me love music so much, its when I discover that new artist that has a sound like nothing else, you feel like the most important person in the world when you discover an artist like that. That’s exactly what Girl Talk did to me. Imagine if you will, a man who is able to make music out of music that already exists in time. That is essentially who Girl Talk is a man who plays other peoples music. Now what you may be saying to yourselves is that isn’t that basically a DJ, well yes that’s exactly what he is, but in other words he’s a Mash up Artist or a DJ who plays parts from songs and mixes them together with other songs. That is essentially what a mashup artist does. However the only thing is that Girl Talk is freakin amazing at it.
Some of the highlights of this CD are his amazing combinations of Radiohead’s Paranoid Android and Jay-Z’s song Dead Presidents. There are just to many moments like this on this album to list. And perhaps the best part of the album is its replay ability factor. Every time I put this album in I find something new and it makes my brain explode. This is really the perfect album I can’t even give it enough points to do it justice its up there as one of favorite albums of all time which is a long list but a list that is full of talent. If you love music then you will love this album because it takes music that you love and combines it with other music that you love and the end result is music that you will love times two.

Neil Young: Sugar Mountain Live at the Canterbury House 1968

Neil Young, one of the most beloved singer songwriters of the last 60 and one of the legends in the pantheon of classic rock musicians, whether he’s putting out noise filled pre-grunge rock or putting out introspective and depressing folk songs or even putting out electronic albums (yes he has done that) there is a reason why they call him the chameleon of rock n roll. The rock world has been buzzing about Neil a lot lately he just announced that he is finally going to release his much talked about live box set. And fans are still raving about his protest album released a few years back. And with this classic live cd/dvd release he’s showing no signs of burning out or fading away.
Sugar Mountain gives us a very fascinating glimpse at a very un heard era of Neil, recorded in 1968 with Neil almost 23 and liberated from the musical shackles that Stephen Stills and Buffalo Springfield put him in we see Neil very unsure of himself, this is apparent in his in between song dialog. Sugar Mountain is full of the beauty that Neil exhibits in his performances playing Mr Soul his Buffalo Springfield signature song and then going into the beautiful Expecting to Fly, another Buffalo Springfield tune.
The albums title track Sugar Mountain which is a LP B side but often celebrated by fans is a flawless performance the entire album is a treasure however although Neil’s performance during the show is amazing one of the major flaws of this CD is a the sound quality, there is a constant hiss throughout the whole CD and one of the biggest disappointments of this album is the so called “DVD” which is really just a still shot of Neil with the concert while the audio plays.
Despite the false advertising this album is still a great album and it really shows us how great a performer Neil is even before all his success he knew how to work an audience and this release certainly shows that. If you’re a fan of Neil then your definitely going to want this album and its also perfect for anyone who doesn’t know all that much about Neil but want a good intro to where Neil got his start from.

Score 4/5

Phish- At the Roxy

Generalizations are a bad thing to make, but sometimes they’re painfully true, Vermonters are some of the strangest people you will meet. They are completely unlike most people. All Vermonters have this strange thing about loving everything that comes out of Vermont whether it be Ice Cream or Cheese or “the most important band of the 90’s” according to Rolling Stone. If you don’t know who im talking about, well then you can just press that little X in the top right corner and get off this blog.
The band of course im speaking of is Phish, straight from the fine state of Vermont and formed in 1984 at The University of Vermont and Goddard College (also in Vermont) Phish was a very rare band. Their studio efforts never sold much at all, the real revenue came from touring. Phish had that magic that very few bands had, their shows were unlike any other and the community of fans that was built from show to show was unlike any other. The band continued to sellout every venue they played throughout the 90’s until 2004 when guitarist Trey Anastasio announced the band would breakup at the end of the summer. During this time the band released a large collection of live releases and this is where most of the income has come from for the band.
At The Roxy was recorded in 1993 at the Roxy Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia comprising of 3 nights and spanning 8 discs At the Roxy showcases Phish at very early point in their career. This collection has all the great Phish staples that will get you off your feet and make you groove but also some tunes you can just rock out too.
The highlight of the collection is from the second night on Disc 5 where the band’s segue throughout the entire disc and go in and out of Phish staple “Tweezer” and get into a deep funk on the classic track “Reba.” There are even some great covers like an outrageous cover of the Kiss song Rock N Roll All Night and the Neil Diamond song Cracklin Rose.
All the things that make Phish such a great band is here. This collection is the perfect Christmas gift for that special diehard Phishhead in your life but its also a great place to start for those unfamiliar with the jamband. I know I’ll be blasting this all the way down to Hampton, Virginia in March for the Phish reunion show.