by Jen Eide
Most people have a moment while watching a film where the circumstances of a particular character reveals some insight into their own personality. My defining moment came while watching, well, most of the scenes in High Fidelity in which John Cusack's character is compulsively making top 5 lists. Oh my God, I thought, I am just like John Cusack--I have all the commitment issues, but I don't own the store. And then--wow, making top 5 lists is so completely shallow.
Yet, there is a certain art to compiling a year end best of list and we music fans can totally geek out on such a task. I encourage you to post your own lists in the comments--if we get twenty or so responses, I will look for the common ground and post them as a Lockwood & Summit reader's poll. Here are some indicators that I always look for when evaluating what makes the cut and what doesn't:
- Debut albums by up-and-coming bands
- Career highpoints
- Albums that work as albums--not just the fact that there are a few standout tracks
- At some point, I've put it on repeat and listened to it more than five times in a row
1) Bon Iver - For Emma, For Ever Ago - (Jagjaguar)
- This stunning debut features haunting falsetto vocals and simple guitar strums. It's subtle and takes a few listens before it sinks in--then it hits you like a ton of bricks. Here's a, uh, overly earnest review that I wrote that we now affectionately refer to as the mashed potato post. Yikes! But check out the video for "The Wolves (Part I & II)."
- I thought she was brilliant before, but twenty years on I think this remarkable jazz vocalist may just be hitting her stride. Here's a career overview and review.
- This was the only time this year that I was present at a show with three other Euclid staffers. Here's a review that tells you some of the reasons why we liked Thao so much this year.
- I initially dreaded hearing this release, thinking it was just going to be an actresses vanity project, but it turns out that Zooey Decshenel is a talented singer-songwriter. M. Ward provides feisty guitar solos and lush string arrangements. Read about it here.
- Young, dumb and loud. That's what you loved about the Ramones, right? Review and video for "Tell the World."
- This got a lot of in-store play and customers always wound up buying it while we had it on. Then there was that one time we had a dance party behind the counter. Read Jack's review.
- Arty post-punk experimentalists team up with an intense free jazz drummer and the result is a career highpoint. Here's the video for "FTW" and the soundtrack to your next nervous breakdown.
- An album we liked so much that four of us reviewed it.
- Santogold's debut has hooks that won't quit and has inspired comparisons to both M.I.A. and Missing Persons. Euclid's late night dance party, part 2. Here's the video for L.E.S. Artistes.
- Sometimes there's an album that doesn't fit any of your criteria. I loved Sugar. A number of tracks on District Line hit my nostalgia button big time.
Comeback of the Year:
Portishead - Third - (Mercury)
- We talked about Portishead's first release in almost a decade here.
Famous L. Renfroe - Children - (Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess)
- Just in case you missed this in 1969. Here's the review.
Favorite shows in 2008:
- Bon Iver at the Billiken Club.
- Xiu Xiu at the Lemp Art Center.
- Thao with the Get Down Stay Down at the Lemp Arts Center.
- Steven Malkmus and the Jicks at the Pageant. This was the evening that I had the stunning revelation that The James Gang's "Funk #49" and Kenny Loggins' "Footloose" are the same song. Thanks to Steven Malkmus for providing the cosmic joke.
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