2008 - part 2

There was more to 2008 than just concerts. I've had a bit of a confused year with albums though. I've only bought a few by new, exciting bands - and not all of these albums have been great. Back in January I was quite excited about the The Ting Tings and thought the were a good pop band. But when their album finally arrived it was - to be polite - not very good. It consisted of two-three good singles (that we had already heard a thousand times as they were suddenly played all the time, everywhere) and just boring fillers on a 10-track album. Disappointing. Then I went on to buy mostly older records that I had wanted for some time - I finally got all Björk's albums and some by The Smiths and Joy Division. Oh, and 'Ok Computer' by Radiohead. Buuut - of course there was some good new albums in 2008. I've picked out the few that, for me, have been the best:

Foals - 'Antidotes'

A few days before going to the Foals gig I got my hands on their album. I hadn't exactly planned to buy the album before seeing them live - I kinda thought 'I might get hooked when I see them live' - but I was pretty surprised to actually see their album in a record store near me and just couldn't help but buy it. It sounded really good but not in the way I expected. Instead of just being a record filled with uptempo partyrock anthems it was an album filled with - well, album fillers, but in the best way possible. Edgy, airy and sharp and not like the typical wannabe-Franz Ferdinand-partyrock. What I really like about the album is that the songs that were the band's singles at the time - Mathletics, Hummer, Balloons and Cassius (the two first not even included on the album) - seem to be their only 'radiofriendly' songs. The songs on the album all have a fantastic amount of details and layers (oh, horns!) that make it interesting to listen and explore. I'm especially fond of 'Two Steps, Twice' and 'Like Swimming' - the latter sounds like dancing backwards through the best disco in the world. Definitely an album that's worth a listen.

Late Of Pier - 'Fantasy Black Channel'

I started listening to LOTP mainly because I was interested in their videos. I had seen 'Heartbeat' by luck and thought it was amazing. At first though I thought the music was a bit too weird and hardcore for my liking. But then I watched the 'Heartbeat' video again and then 'Bathroom Gurgle', 'Space And The Woods', 'The Bears Are Coming' and 'Focker'. I started liking the songs for their weirdness and playfulness. The party-electro-rock and falsetto of 'Bathroom Gurgle', the 'Atlantis To Interzone'-esque 'Focker' with both screaming synths and chorus and let's not forget 'The Bears Are Coming', the song that sounds like a spontaneous party in the jungle. And all these songs had the weirdest, craziest, most fantastic videos... and I read somewhere that the band credit Michel Gondry, my favourite music video director, as an influence, which just made me like them even more. Then I heard the album and was blown away.

Vampire Weekend - 'Vampire Weekend'
When I first heard about Vampire Weekend, I think it was back in 2007, I was quite cynical and thought (*adopts Noel Gallagher-voice*) 'some wannabes from America trying to make afropop while wearing colourful cardigans? What's all that about?' and then I didn't bother to check them out. Once again - 2008 really was the year I got into music videos - I actually became interested because of a video of theirs. I just watched 'A-Punk' randomly on YouTube and found it quite charming with the stop-motion and drum-banging. Then after watching the video a few more times I decided that the song wasn't that bad either... and then I went to Aarhus and found myself desperately searching for their album. That is, until I looked in in Badstue Rock, probably one of my favourite things about Aarhus - a little record shop with secondhand cds and newer not-so-mainstream releases. I bought it, went home, listened and was sold. The sweetest sound of summer when it was about to end. A thing about VW that I think is often underestimated is how important the vocals are for their music - Ezra Koenig's got quite a special, interesting voice and uses in a way that lifts the songs up to become more than just normal pop songs. Great, great album.

The Dodos - 'Visiter'

So, as mentioned before, I went to London in the summer of 2008. I went to the big Rough Trade shop in the Brick Lane area and was fantastically happy to see that here they had everything! Or, to be more specific, everything I was looking for. One of the records I couldn't help but buy - even if I had only heard one track from it - was the Dodos' newest album 'Visiter'. I put it on my iPod and listened to it while on the tube. It has a great folky sound and probably some of the best percussion I've heard in a long time. But the main reason why I love this album is probably that it takes me back to the London. Sunshine on Primrose Hill and Clapham Common, shopping in Camden and Covent Garden and walking around in the neighbourhood of the hotel. Oh, the memories.