Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Feature - Top 10 Songs Of 2008 So Far

Due to the initiative shown by Mr. Beardmore, we’ve (or rather, he) decided to knock this little feature together so that things don’t get too stale from our end.

Thus far in 2008, there’s been a profusion of quality on the song front and with four months of the year almost passed, here are some of our respective favourite songs, thus far. Sean may number his top 10 beauties, however due to my mind changing like the English weather, I’ve decided just to give you 10 without any preference. Enjoy!


Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Baltimore

It seems Mr. Pavement has been hanging out with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and he's used the time quite usefully, aspiring to the jam tendencies his alternative rocking hombre has made his own over the last 25 years. For six minutes and 37 seconds, this tracks has fuzzy guitar jams, lo-fi bass lines and those trademark vocals from Malkmus whose never called a spade a spade. Definitely the epicentre of what Real Emotional Trash is all about.


Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – More News From Nowhere

Was Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! a surprise to any of you? Probably not! Nick Cave has always been capable of closing albums in jaw-dropping fashion and he may have just reached the pinnacle of doing just that with this track. “And it’s getting strange in here, yeah it’s getting stranger every year”. I don’t want to reek with sentiments towards the man, but you know; some things just have to be done.


Constantines – Life Or Death

There’s so many highlights on the new Constantines album, so I thought I’d go for the most climatic song out of the bunch, which is what the above essentially is. Hospital beds and patients are often the topic throughout Kensington Heights, and with the intensity this track portrays, things do point to towards an autobiographical nature. Either way, this is a great track that needs more listeners holding an ear to it.


British Sea Power – No Lucifer

Single of the year (okay, I said I wasn’t doing the number thing, but you know). Whatever people begrudgingly say about British Sea Power’s new album trying to follow the shadows of The Arcade Fire, to me, they can use the highway. This song has the pulling power like a salesman who could sell ice to Eskimos. The melody is just something else and puts their UK contemporaries of today to absolute shame.


Atlas Sound - Bite Marks

With the production very reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, this song best represents what Bradford Cox has set out to achieve with Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel. The bass line hides under a looped synth and Cox's slow vocal drawl that all comes out in the wash with a brooding effect, but indeed a catchy one at that.


A Silver Mt.Zion & Tra La La Band – 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons

“I just want some action” screams Efrim Menuck. Quite ambiguous in an unambiguous way, if that makes sense? Some people just can’t build a relationship with this band, due to Menuck’s highly unconventional vocal wails. But like I said in my review, there’s a nice bridging in gap between the music and vocals with this album, and the title track is the peak out of the bunch, which I believe is the band’s finest yet.

Cut Copy – Heart on Fire

The crowd this Melbourne trio caters for are one of my personal disdains of the modern music society. Scarves and t-shirts, anybody? However, fair's only fair and after all, you can't choose your fanbase; they do make a killer pop song, and this one is just that. The melody is pop redefined and is destined to reach a wider audience. For a band that has made music that’s always threatened to move down the more popular paths, the threat is no longer.


Daturah – Vertex

Germany’s finest post rock band may not be on many peoples radar, but as far as post rock goes, this tune is right up there. With swelling grooves and climatic guitars, this one is a must hear. Do yourself a favour, folks; if you don’t want to indulge in instrumental music for an hour, then at least do it for 15 minutes by listening to this track. You’ll not be disappointed!


Destroyer – Introducing Angels

Maybe the most simplistic track on Trouble In Dreams, but you know what they say; simple, but effective. The repeated lyrics delivered by Daniel Bejar and his nasal like vocal are met with a neat rhythm that gives a fitting outcome indeed. Not to mention that the track itself fits well around the others on the album.



Boris – Next Saturn

After seeing the Japanese rock ‘n’ roll extraordinaire live, my appreciation for Smile has grown immensely over the past couple of weeks. By saying that, this song has prevailed and made it to the list. The samples make this a brilliant listen, while Takeshi’s vocals follow the music, much like a lot of the vocal work on this album does. Like the Constantines record, I could pick various other tracks, but this is the one that’s pushing the right buttons at the moment.


By Simon K

1 comment:

onlinegeek21 said...

look mate no need to be rude or ne thing but at least put some decent songs on there like madonna and justin 4 minutes and rihanna take a bow or something that has at least entered the top 40 but more the top 10 because no one has ever heard of them shite songs because there shit and they are probably worth about a tenner