It is that time again, the moment that every music fan in America is waiting for: Hank Kalet’s gold-plated, never outdated, sharpened and serrated musical year in review. (Bombast is a wonderful thing!)
As I did last year, I offer my take on this year’s music, alphabetically:
A — Anthems: as in albums from the Low Anthem and Gaslight Anthem, both of which deserve to be in heavy rotation.
B — Badu: as in Erykah Badu, who released a fine disc (New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War) and what may have been the year’s best single, “Honey.”
C— Combacks: as in the return to form of three longtime favorites, R.E.M., The Pretenders and The B-52s.
D — Debuts: as in Santogold, Duffy, The Airborne Toxic Event, Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend.
E — Elvis: as in Elvis Costello & the Imposters and their top-notch album Momofuku.
F — Fleet Foxes: as in a self-titled debut that reaches back to another era.
G — Gravity: as in Blame It On Gravity, the somewhat overlooked release from the Old 97s.
H – Hope: as in the surprisingly hopeful sound (compared to the biting lyrics of Magic) of the preview cuts released by Bruce Springsteen from his forthcoming album, Working on a Dream, due in no small part to Barack Obama’s arrival on the scene.
I — Israel: as in the native country of Yael Naim, the surprise of the year with her iPod commercial hit “New Soul.”
J — Jim James: as in the frontman for My Morning Jacket, which issued Evil Urges, a great follow-up to Z.
K — Knowles: as in Solange Knowles, the younger sister of Beyonce. Her single, “I Decided,” was far better than anything her more famous sibling issued this year.
L — Lucinda: as in Lucinda Williams and her latest, Little Honey.
M — Mike Skinner: as in the man behind The Streets and the great tune, “Everything is Borrowed.”
N — Narrow Stairs: as in Death Cab for Cutie’s disc, my choice for album of the year.
O — Old school: as in The Hold Steady and Gaslight Anthem, two bands that wear their influences on their sleeves and wear them well.
P — Politics: as in the raft of songs, from Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” to John Mellencamp’s “Jena,” that commented directly on the mess in which we find ourselves.
Q — Q-Tip: as in the veteran rapper, whose The Renaissance I am just getting into.
R — Roots: Rising Down by The Roots was the lone hip-hop disc to get regular rotation on my iPod this year.
S — Side projects and solo efforts: as in stellar albums by The Gutter Twins (Screaming Trees and Afghan Whigs), The Last Shadow Puppets (The Arctic Monkeys), Foxboro Hot Tubs (Green Day), the Raconteurs (The White Stripes) and Jenny Lewis (lead singer of Rilo Kiley).
T — TV on the Radio: as in the band that released the No. 2 disc on my best of 2008, Dear Science.
U — “Up All Night”: as in the great song from Widespread Panic.
V — Vampire Weekend.
W — World: as in great music from across the globe, including 2007 discs by Manu Chao and M.I.A. that garnered airplay this year and new tunes by Yael Naim and some interesting jazz from West Africa and South America.
X — Cal-EX-ico: as in Calexico, a band with a Tex-Mex name and an eclectic sound that borrows from an array of Southwestern music for its fine Carried to Dust.
Y — Young: as in Neil, as in his latest archive release, Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968.
Z — Zzzz: as in the universal cartoon symbol for sleep, as in what happens when I listen to too much mainstream radio.
Some odds and ends:
Top Ten albums:
1. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs; 2. TV on the Radio, Dear Science; 3. REM, Accelerate; 4. Santogold, Santogold; 5. Elvis Costello, Momofuku; 6. The Pretenders, Break Up the Concrete; 7. Airborne Toxic Event, Airborne Toxic Event; 8. Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound; 9. The Roots, Rising Down; 10. Lucinda Williams, Little Honey.
Top 15 singles:
1. Erykah Badu, “Honey”; 2. Madonna, “4 Minutes”; 3. Rafael Saadiq, “100-Yard Dash”; 4. Alejandro Escovedo, “Always a Friend”; 5. The Pretenders, “Boots of Chinese Leather”; 6. Widespread Panic, “Up All Night”; 7. Duffy, “Mercy”; 8. R.E.M., “Supernatural Superserious”; 9. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, “Fix It”; 10. Weezer, “Pork and Beans”; 11. Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello, “Carpetbaggers”; 12. Yael Naim, “New Soul”; 13. Pink, “So What”; 14. Solange Knowles, “I Decided”; 15. Kathleen Edwards, “I Make the Dough”; 15. The Streets, “Everything is Borrowed.”
