Sunday 13 January 2008

WILD SPECULATION: My Top Albums of 2008

Happy 2008! Here I'm going to write about bands I'm excited about for this year, focussing on bands who either already are / maybe will / if i had my way would be releasing an album this year. So, for example, despite my unrequited love of Kate Nash she is not on this list because I am pretty sure she has no intention of releasing another LP this side of December the 31st.

HORROR
I made this! It's really creepy, yes?

Regina Spektor - Any rumours that Regina Spektor is releasing an album in 2008 exist only in my imagination. Begin To Hope was a great album, and seeing as it came out mid-2006, it's about time there was another full-length Regina CD out soon. PLEASE REGINA.

Noah & The Whale - One of those bands that even though you've never met or read an interview about, you can just tell they are all really nioce people. I have a thing where I sort of imagine certain famous people are, in fact, my friends (eg. Johnathon Ross, the scottish woman in extras, Kate Nash) and Noah and the Whale, while not quite as famous, are up there with them.

Lillica Libertine - A Lillica Libertine album would put many DJs out of work. Clubs would just hit play on the CD player and the whole night is sorted.

Frankmusik - Seeing as Frankmusik is busy producing tracks for Bolt Action Five, BBO$$ & The Zombies, and probably loads of other bands, it's unclear when he'll get round to releasing anything full-length. But I look forward to the day.

Lightspeed Champion - about two years ago I read the name 'Test Icicles' in a magazine article that was mainly about the Arctic Monkeys and how some bands are using this thing called the 'internet' to get noticed. But I only really listened to them about two months ago and WOW they were good. And Dev's new sound isn't too bad either.

The Teenagers - Now streaming on their myspace, even at a rubbish 96kbps this is good!

Blood Red Shoes - Noisiest band ever. Like the White Stripes, except from England and also good. I want their album.

The Klaxons - bring on the sequel!

SebastiAn - Justice released an album, Digitalism released an album ... it is your turn, SebastiAn. I really have no idea if he's planning to release an album, but if he isn't, then hereby i am startin the official online campaign that SebasiAn should release an album because it would be realluy good.

Foals - Foals have decided that they are going to take the two songs that garnered the most attention in 2007, 'Mathletics' and 'Hummer', and leave them off their debut album. This band are either very, very clever or very, very stupid.

Late Of The Pier - This band are incredibly good fun and need to release more material.

Cajun Dance Party - I am such a celebrity, recently I discovered my step-cousin goes to school with these kids. Isn't that just amazing? Seriously though, what I like about this band is that they are just completely refusing to really be part of any annoying fashion style or genre-specific music scene. They are just amking good old-fashioned indie pop that could have come about at any point in the last 20 or 30 years. And they are doing it well. What i really like about this band is lead singer Danny Blumberg's voice, because he's one of those people who can sing in tune nicely, and doesn't have the most amazing vocal range b ut still attempts to reach for those high notes. And although he's no Charlotte Church, there's something very human about the sound of his voice straining to reach those high notes.

Los Campesinos! - I am such a celebrity, recently I discovered my friend's french teacher is the mum of one of the Campesinos. Isn't that just amazing? Once again very seriously, this band are quite similar to Cajun dance party, but up the ante somewhat by managaing to also cram in xylophones, female vocals, and spoken word internal monologues.

Emmy The Great - Emmy seems to be the bitch of the current 'London New-Folk Scene'. Every time I read a review of any of the indie Folksters, it always seems to describe Emmy The Great as somebody's backing singer. NME recently got very confused about what she meant by calling herself 'The Great'. The review seemed to say that Emmy had just decided she was 'great', and spent most of the article saying how bad the band name was, and questioning whether Emmy really is 'great', and forgetting the whole historical context of Alexander The Great, and the witticism of calling herself 'The Great' and that it has a certain ring to it, possibly because as far as i know there have never been any ruthless military leaders called Emmy. What idiots. Emmy The Great has a phenomenal lyrical talent, and combined with her voice and musical ability, makes amazing songs. Emmy's songs are the kind of song you can play on a loop for about three hours and think about the lyrics, full of emotion, self-doubt and clever little cultural references about everything from Woody Allen films to S Club 7. Possibly my favourite Emmy track is 'MIA', which describes (in gruesome detail) being the passenger in a fatal car crash. The song is filled with such powerful imagery - the bit that always makes me wince is at the end when the sky is described as "as blue as i've ever seen it but yet still tinted with red" - meaning there's blood and bits of mangled corpse sprayed on the windscreen. The brutally simple depiction of death is heartbreaking.

Hadouken! - This band killed new rave. But we'll cope, because the whole joke was getting boring, and neon highlighter colours so don't suit me. 'That Boy That Girl' was the first Hadouken song I heard, but since then the band haven't really managed to produce anything that rivals it. Realistically, there's only going to be 2 or 3 songs on this album I haven't heard, but just maybe one of them will have something that can top the snarling success that was 'That Boy That Girl'.

Does It Offend You Yeah? - This band went from Hadouken's support act to LA Night Club Favourites and magazine champions. They recently finished recording their album and it is going to be amazing. So many of this band's tracks are absolute killers, and unlike many recent 'MySpace Generation' bands of late, they've been pretty conservative about releasing material. Which might realistically work to their advantage because loads of people are going to want to hear more. Whereas

Partyshank - I first heard about Partyshank when I was on the train to see Cajun Dance Party. My friend Emil's description of them, that 'they somehow wire a pile of toys together and make crazy pulsing dance music', intrigued me and I investigated further. Partyshank are possibly the most energetic live performers and are really awesome and you should go see them. As far as i know, they don't currently have any plans to make an album, but they seriously should.

Crystal Castles - You love them. I love them. They are going to destroy music. The end of music is nigh. Do not fight them. Embrace the micro-korg. Embrace the lyrics about incest. Punch madonna in the face. Seriously though, how can words describe this? The Crystal Castles Album is THE album i am most excited about for 2008, partly because i had this weird dream in which I quit school and was asked to join the band and go on a massive world tour with them. Seeing as i am currently the proud owner of zero musical talent or skill, if this were to really happen my role in the band would be somewhat dubious. But it was a cool dream. I am sooo in love this band, and they are actually releasing an ALBUM. it's out at some point in march, and at 16 tracks long, it's going to kill. And i am going to love it.

ALBUMS I'M NOT THAT EXCITED ABOUT IN 2008:

Lily Allen - i am so bored of you by now.

And here are some lovely zShare download links!

DOWNLOAD: Regina Spektor - Your Honor
DOWNLOAD: Emmy The Great - MIA (Live on Xfm Xposure)
DOWNLOAD: Crystal Castles vs Health - Crimewave
DOWNLOAD: Lightspeed Champion - No Surprise (Live on BBC 6Music)

***//// ARGH ITS THE CC ALBUM TRACKLISTING!
I have decided it is a good idea to put a load of exclamation marks next to the tracks i'm really excited about hearing.

01 Untrust Us
02 Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs. HEALTH)
03 Alice Practice
04 Magic Spells
05 Xxzxczx Me
06 Air War
07 Courtship Dating !!!!!!!
08 Vanished !!!!!!!
09 1991 !!!!!!!
10 Good Time !!!!!!!
11 Love and Caring
12 Knights
13 Through the Hosiery !!!!!!!
14 Reckless !!!!!!!
15 Black Panther !!!!!!!
16 Tell Me What to Swallow !!!!!!!

Can I also mention that, because I was born that year, track number nine is blatantly about me.

9 comments:

Sam___ said...

nang post!
: )
All those albums are worth buying. Definately. God, I might get them all. Good call. My christmas list was lacking good albums, now I realise it's cause they bring them all out now.
But, OMG, What about I.W.A.C.S and Hot Chip? tut tut. : )

I added you on MySpace btw.

Tom Oakley said...

Hot Chip - yes! i can't believe i forgot them, i'm such an idiot.
I was a cubscout - NOOOOOO. RUBBISH.

FG said...

It pains me whenever I see someone put a 'the' in front of Klaxons. And I'm not even a massive fan of theirs.

The new Forward, Russia! one is probably what I'm most excited to hear.

saam khi

Shaun said...

the futureheads third album should be out in april, and the long blondes one produced by erol will be an interesting listen.

agree with Sam, many of the albums are worth purchasing. i need to save some pocket money up.

Anonymous said...

just stumbled across your blog.

i think i virtually have the same music taste as you!

il be watching this to see what you find

oh yer, im stealing that castle picture

Anonymous said...

I hate the klaxons. And basically, any band that calls themselves something plural is asking to be called 'the' band name. Like that band 'editors' a while ago makin a huge fuss when ppl called them 'the editors'.

Anonymous said...

tho actually some bands get awy with it, like crystal castles, who are also shit.

Anonymous said...

I like your creepys.

Unknown said...

Tom, i have to admit your taste in music is not pretty bad, and some of the bands are good. Thank you for helping me update my music collection (which is pretty small) :)