It’s been raining for weeks here in California and nothing goes great with a gray Monday like the Blues. Blues as an art form is one that I appreciate almost speechlessly in its ability to evoke emotions and unlike country which has stories about pickup trucks and America, blues songs are almost always about the most important subject of all time, broken hearts. My friend hit it right on the head when he said that the best music is sad music and it’s totally true. Secretly I’m sure that’s why I despise modern pop songs full of bubble gum love intrigues that would set a thirteen year old girl on fire. What we really need is music that describes what love is really about and that’s usually unrequited, blisteringly painful, heartbreaks with a hole where the heart was and a stain on the ground where it got stepped on.

Of the two major styles of blues, I tend to prefer the more downtempo “coffee shop” variety that focuses on an acoustic sound with only minor accompaniment if any at all. Piano or acoustic guitar led blues is by far my favourite and I tend to focus more on lyrics with these less stand out instruments. I also thoroughly enjoy blues jazz perfect since it’s popular with female blues singers. What I can’t say I’m much of a fan of is the more upbeat electric guitar and full band blues style of legendary BB King and Eric Clapton, although a few of their songs are pretty good.

Today’s release includes a number of my favourite blues songs. My number one male vocal blues song is Staggolee featured on the Death Proof soundtrack, and my number one female vocal choice is Black Coffee followed very closely by the heavily jazz influenced River of Crystals. When it comes to classic blues Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and T-Bone Walker have it covered and there’s nothing bad I can say about any of their songs. Most surprising for most on this collection is Dick Dale and Frank Zappa, both musicians that I love primarily for their electric guitar skills that temporarily left their regular styles to pay homage to one of the most fundamental building blocks of all rock music, Blues. Soulwax, the indie electro rock band from Ghent said that in order to be a great DJ, you have to be good at playing punk music first. And I add to that that in order to be a great punker you’ve gotta know your blues. Blues is where it all started and that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

1. First Time I Met the Blues - Buddy Guy

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2. Front Porch Blues - Dick Dale

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3. Merely A Blues in A - Frank Zappa

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4. Back Door Man - Howlin Wolf

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5. River of Crystals - Kimikoh Itoh

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6. Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters

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7. What Will Become of Me (Lost Sleep in the Fold) - Otis Spann

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8. Staggolee - Pacific Gas and Electric

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9. Black Coffee - Patricia Kaas

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10. Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker

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Justice is amazing. I’ve experienced them live at Treasure Island 2008 and fell in love with them all over again. Going into it I even said to myself that they were a little over rated, but in the space of 15 mintues they changed my mind forever.

Which is why I am so disappointed by their documentary release A Cross the Universe released about a month after Soulwax’s release of Part of the Weekend Never Dies. Justice’s first and only album Cross was an amazing sensation of cross genre indie electro rock music that struck a chord most notably in 2007 and 2008 with a new generation of teens and twenties in Europe and America. But it’s still their only album and it’s 2009. What have they been doing with their time?

A Cross the Universe describes only too well that they haven’t been doing anything with their time. Yes they’ve toured, but at no point does it describe a commitment to music, to creating something new, to really being dedicated to their fans. I had the distinct feeling that Justice was about enjoying their fame. And that’s it. Unfortunate as that is, I still can’t say they are not amazing to see because they just are, but at some point playing three year old songs will get old and they’ll either disappear or hopefully come up with something new and better. But more and more I’m starting to doubt it.

Justice’s A Cross the Universe should be viewed not as a documentary about a band but as a simple tour video. At no point will you learn anything about the members, or their influences, or why they make music, or what they plan to do, or anything. The video only documents their tour and that’s it.

In the opposite spectrum of musical dedication is Soulwax. Besides being my favourite band, they are the true pioneers of cross genre indie electro rock. Since the release of their Any Minute Now album in 2004, Soulwax has toured constantly and still managed to release another full album Nite Versions in 2005, which is Soulwax fully reworking songs from their original album plus a few more. And in 2007 they released the album collection Most of the remixes we’ve made for other people over the years except for the one for Einstürzende Neubauten because we lost it and a few we didn’t think sounded good enough or just didn’t fit in length-wise, but including some that are hard to find because either people forgot about them or simply because they haven’t been released yet, a few we really love, one we think is just ok, some we did for free, some we did for money, some for ourselves without permission and some for friends as swaps but never on time and always at our studio in Ghent. by 2 Many Djs, the electronic duo at the core of Soulwax. The full remixes collection includes some 33 songs. And it doesn’t stop there, the documentary chronicles their 120 stop tour of the world from 2005 to 2007 all filmed with one camera.

From Part of the Weekend Never Dies we learn who is Soulwax, what they’re about, why they make music, who their influences are and more importantly who they have influenced, that they are so dedicated to making music and pleasing their fans that they continue to make music while touring and at each show they perform twice, once as Soulwax and once as 2 Many Djs. My respect for Soulwax is only matched by my love of their music and I hope they continue to grow in fame and fortune in the future. Needless to say that the documentary is a brilliant look into the cross indie electro rock genre and everyone should see it, not just fans of the genre but everyone who is a fan of music.

I feel that by the time January, February, or March, or April, or August rolls around I finally come to grips with the reality that there’s so much music produced in any given year that by January 1 when all the other Top 10 Lists come out there’s no way possible to discover every great album that each year has to offer. That’s why I decided to go back to 2008 and review all the music that I have heard from that year and highlight the best of the best. Yes I actually went back in time. On December 29, 2008 I had written a list of what I considered the best of the year but no sooner had I posted it that I became aware that there were at least 4 albums that were better than my original top 5. This also led to the realisation that music can’t be classified as Top 10 qualitatively, or at least without a lot of ensuing chaos and broken noses, so I’m going to wimp out and simply suggest what I think deserve your respect.

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A little 2008 overview:

In the mainstream, R&B/Rap/Hip-Hop was supreme. Surprise! Alicia Keys took best selling album, Lil Wayne got third, and ten out of ten most listened-to radio songs belonged to either a rap/hip-hop or R&B artist. Radio most listened-to lists make me cringe, but some people think radio is still important - primarily people with money. Country and Pop Country ran off with the most best sellers with four albums in the top 10. That surprised me, but so did Ford’s F-150 getting best selling car in the world for 10 years in a row or something ludicrous like that. Rock lost out in 2008 with only two of the best sellers.

According to the major syndicated music writers (Rolling Stone, Spin, Q, New York Times, Pitchfork, NME, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Bender) Shoegaze, Folk rock, Experimental rock, and Indie rock were the top picks for 08’s best albums. Experimental Indie Rock band TV on the Radio’s Dear Science, was the biggest winner by far, followed by Fleet Foxes’ self titled album in the shoegaze genre, and third place went to experimental Portishead’s album aptly named Third. It seems to me the major critics never got over their high school heartbreaks and should go back to listening to Sonic Youth and wearing black eye liner. Dear Science, which got the most first places was especially disappointing since it was my least favourite of TV on the Radio’s albums (My favourite being Return to Cookie Mountain). Time magazine completely biffed it handing out their top 10 albums and songs to whoever made a lot of money and sounded awful (notably Lil Wayne, the Jonas Brothers, and Metallica).

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In my usual style of look stupid now, look smart later, I chose a selection of music that defied not just the mainstream but practically everyone. 2008’s choices not only produced great sounding music, but music that also fit the newest styles and trends, music that was unique and never heard of, music that crossed genres, music that created new bands and resurrected old names.

The biggest trend of the year was crossover indieelectrorock with tons of bands mixing djs with drummers and bassists with synthesizers. Almost every rookie rock band added a dj, keyboardist, or synthesizer to their repertoire and started performing in clubs, not bars. Earlier electrorock crossover artists like LCD Soundsystem and Soulwax pioneered the sound a few years prior and it finally stuck.

The second biggest trend was the revival of new wave and vocal synth-pop. The 80s are back in every way: in fashion, in music, in movies, and computer games. Puffy sleeves, leggings, leotards, and of course bright colors inundate New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles club scenes. And to match the clothes comes music based on the New Order and INXS, video game soundtracks, filled with synthesizers, high pitched female vocals and monotone men, the hope of a bright electronic future, and touch of heartbreak straight from the Cure.

Almost every genre of music produced a great album in 2008 and there probably won’t be another year as memorable for some time. Now without further a do, the albums.

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Golden

Metronomy - Night’s Out
Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality
Grafton Primary - Eon
Lykke Li - Youth Novels
The Kills - Midnight Boom
The Presets - Apocalypso
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark

Mostly Golden

The Black Ghosts - Self-Titled
Walter Meego - Voyager
Hercules and Love Affair - Self-Titled
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
Sebastian - Ross Ross Ross EP

Kinda Golden

Steve Aoki - Pillowface and his Airplane Chronicles
The Mystery Jets - Twenty One
Junkie XL - Booming Back at You
Santogold - Self-Titled
Beck - Modern Guilt
Zeigeist - The Jade Motel
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into

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To get you started here are a few notable samples of the above albums for your pleasure.

1. Heartbreaker - Metronomy

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2. This Boy's In Love - The Presets

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3. Colour - Grafton Primary

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4. Bathroom Gurgle - Late of the Pier

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5. Lights and Music - Cut Copy

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6. U.R.A. Fever - The Kills

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7. Look - Sebastien Tellier

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8. Dance Dance Dance - Lykke Li

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9. Not Enough - Junkie XL

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10. Blind - Hercules and Love Affair

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11. Heretic Pride - The Mountain Goats

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12. Out at the Pictures - Hot Chip

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13. Boys Wanna Be Her - Steve Aoki

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14. H.A.L. - Sebastian

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15. I Don't Know - The Black Ghosts

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16. Baby Please - Walter Meego

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