Top 10 Records of 2008 (Plus 10 Runners Up)

As 2008 grinds down to it last days, it’s time again to churn out one of those ubiquitous annual Top 10 Records of the Year lists.

One thing about this list before you start complaining that I missed the best record of the year by so-and-so: This list is entirely based on my own musical tastes and listening habits in 2008. I don’t listen to twee-pop, young country, smooth jazz and a whole host of other shit, so I can’t very well comment on the quality of those kinds of records because I don’t care about them.

And with that said, away we go…

THE LIST (in no particular order):

Akimbo, Jersey Shores (Neurot)

This Seattle trio traveled to Louisville, KY to record this and their previous release (’07′s Navigating the Bronze) at Chris Owens’ (of Lords fame) studio, Headbanging Kill Your Mama Music. While the dirty grime of the Northwest is evident in the music, so is the burning-guitar influence of the South. The result is a collection of songs that run from five to 11 minutes, and feature some of the most gloriously abrasive guitar noodling and vocal caterwauling blended with tight, monster rhythms and some refreshingly interesting changes. Simply crushing.

Akimbo, “Great White Bull,” Jersey Shores:

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Young Jeezy, The Recession (Def Jam)

I’ll admit it: I’ve been a Jeezy hater in the past. His first record, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, was not necessarily to my liking; Jeezy’s sophomore effort, The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102, sat a little better with me; and when I first heard The Recession, I was so impressed with the both the beats and the raps, I picked it up. Jeezy is still a street-born hustler, rapping about the game and nodding to his past, but he’s stepped away from it for long enough to develop a lyrical clarity of the big picture, and delivers intelligent, intelligible verses over solid beats with lots of cool synth swells and deep bass hits.

Young Jeezy, “Amazin’,” The Recession:

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Harvey Milk, Life…The Best Game In Town (Hydra Head)

There’s something oddly harmonious about the disjointed and discordant music of Harvey Milk. Slow, heavy parts accompanied by growling, yowling vocals give way to tight and thunderous riffs, and suddenly the gruffness of the vocals almost sounds downright nice. Songwriting influences seem to run a wide gamut, from Southern classic rock and soul to ’70s arena rock and metal, all of forced through Harvey Milk’s unique musical meat grinder. I have been steady bumping this record since it dropped in back in June, and I don’t see it coming out of my regular rotation any time soon.

Harvey Milk, “Motown,” Life…The Best Game In Town:

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Menahan Street Band, Make The Road By Walking (Daptone)

Breaks for days and days. This Brooklyn instrumental group is part of the Daptone family (Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Budos Band, etc.), which alone merits repeated listening. The album’s title track was sampled for Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys (And The Winer Is…)” while the song was only available on a 7″, and the triumphant horn blasts that make up the chorus are impossible to purge from the brain. The rest of the record is fresh as well — all rock solid bass lines, smart and soulful guitar, amazing percussion, and hook-a-licious horns. A critics’ darling, but sort of a sleeper on the popular front.

Menahan Street Band, “Make The Road By Walking,” Make The Road By Walking:

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Torche, Meanderthal (Hydra Head)

Metal with soul. As odd as that sounds, it’s like this: The vocals are melodic and smooth, but they’ve got brass balls, and they work really well with the driving, fuzz-washed walls of guitar. The overall sound is really, really big, everything charges full bore in unison, filling out the sonic spectrum from the tightest high pitch solo notes to the rumbling bottom end. Even the slow songs are fist-pumping anthems of exemplary hard rock. Through all the fine-tuned heaviness, each of the tunes on this record has a big grabbing hook that makes the music so accessible (and popular — this one ended up on a lot of Top 10 lists).

Torche, “Fat Waves,” Meanderthal:

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Earth, The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord)

I can’t say enough good stuff about this record. Earth is still generally classified as a “doom metal” band, but this album represents a continued move towards a much cleaner overall tone (carried on from ’06′s Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method and ’07′s Hibernaculum), towards a sound that’s bright, sunny, open and airy. Musically, there’s a lot of breathing room, and the guitar, bass, drums and keys (organ and piano, depending on the song) ring long and true, slowly evolving on thoughtful, carefully plotted musical movements from the beginning to the end of each song. This might be my favorite record of the whole year, if I had to pick just one. It’s the most beautiful “metal” I’ve ever heard.

Earth, “Rise To Glory,” The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull:

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Bun B, II Trill (Rap-A-Lot)

Bun B, the true King of Southern Rap, dropped this, his second solo album, shortly after his long time UGK partner in rhyme Pimp C passed (R.I.P.), so it contains one of the last Pimp C verses ever captured, as well as a heartfelt farewell. Bun’s ability to get painfully raw on the realness, remain unapologetically hard on the gangsta angle, and a true connoisseur when it comes to club hits, makes him one of the most well-rounded MCs in the game today. This is another pure-gold record from Houston’s most talented hustler.

Bun B, “I Luv That,” II Trill:

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Howlin’ Rain, Magnificent Fiend (American)

I first heard about Oakland, CA band Howlin’ Rain in ’05 or ’06 because it was the side project of Comets On Fire’s Ethan Miller, so I initially expected a similar psychedelic-rock-on-fire vibe from Howlin’ Rain. Boy was I wrong. Regardless, I loved the first record — straight ahead roots rock ‘n’ roll bathed in California soul with the occasional sonic freak-out. When Magnificent Fiend was released, I started to wonder which band was Miller’s side project. This time around, Howlin’ Rain’s music is sharper than ever — more rocking, more soulful, and more anthemic, guitar-centric blues-based rock with so much flavor. Overseen by Rick Ruben, the music on this record also sounds great.

Howlin’ Rain, “El Rey,” Magnificent Fiend:

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Grand Invincible, Ask The Dust (n/a)

This just might be the best rap record of the year. Luke Sick (Sacred Hoop) and DJ Eons One plough through golden-era-style beats and raps that run the lyrical gamut, and come off as not only skilled practitioners of the trade, but also as true fans of the of style. The beats aren’t lush or orchestral; they’re raw, sample-based loops expertly spliced and processed, the perfect frame for Luke’s raps about everything from Iraq to Palo Alto, from drinking and smoking to chasing skirts, and just about everything in between. This is a mid-tempo album with “classic” written all over it, short on club bangers and long on thoughtful music without sacrificing that all-important steady-head-nod vibe.

Grand Invincible, “Megablast,” Ask The Dust:

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The Melvins, Nude With Boots (Ipecac)

Twenty-five years in the game, and The Melvins are showing no signs of slowing down. Quite the opposite, in fact. This is the band’s second album with the two-drummer quartet lineup — guitarist Buzz Osbourne and drummer Dale Crover, with Big Business a.k.a. bassist Jarred Warren and dummer Coady Willis — and it’s also the second of the two most accessible Melvins releases in years. Lots of huge drumming, downright catchy riffage and dark vocal harmonies make Nude With Boots a metal album that’s as easy to sing along to as it is to bang your head to.

The Melvins, “Nude With Boots,” Nude With Boots:

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TEN RUNNERS UP & NEAR MISSES (again, in no particular order):

The Sword, Gods Of The Earth (Kemado): This is a mammoth-sounding album, all hard-charging blitzes of explosive riffage and punishing, searing solos, propelled by enough songwriting dynamic to add depth, and accompanied by fantastical lyrics. It’s all good. But for whatever reason, it didn’t make a lasting impression in my regular rotation.

Rob Swift, Dust To Dust (Domination): I don’t include mixes in my Top 10 lists, but that doesn’t mean I don’t listen to ‘em a lot. This one is particularly dope, and when the track list is viewed in order, the song titles make out this sentence: “Dust To Dust Is A Collection Of Breaks Inspired By The B Boy Movement Of The 1970s.” That pretty much sums it up. It’s soulful, upbeat and definitely ass-shakable.

TV On The Radio, Dear Science (Interscope): Another really dope record from excellent musicians. TV On The Radio albums always come off as much more than the sum of their musical parts, and this is no exception; listening to this record makes me feel like I’ve heard important music. Dear Science hit my playlist with a big splash, but unfortunately, the ripples dissipated pretty quickly, so it’s relegated to runner-up status.

Motel Crew, Motel Crew (n/a): This album has not actually been released, so I can’t officially add it to the Top 10 list. Luke Sick (Grand Invincible, Sacred Hoop) and Z-Man (One Block Radius) team up with bugged-out turntable maestros Doug Surreal (Litterthugz) and Mike 2600 (Burlesque of North America, Litterthugz) for a romp through a freaky electro take on old school style rap. I really hope this record comes out someday. It’ll flip wigs.

Dead Meadow, Old Growth (Matador): They’ve still got that whole loud/quiet thing going on, but for better or worse, this is not necessarily the Dead Meadow I’m used to. This record is rootsier, more psychedelic and more jam-y than previous efforts. Probably not my absolute favorite in the Dead Meadow cannon, maybe even a questionable choice for a year-end list, but I keep coming back to this release’s mesmerizing guitar tones and anchoring rhythmic undertow.

Devin The Dude, Landing Gear (Razor & Tie): Devin can pretty much do no wrong in my book. Sure, this record doesn’t contain any standout hits, and it’s not gonna land on many (if any) year end lists. Still, there’s not one track on this album that I fast-forward through; it’s solid and smooth from front-to-back, full of honest music and seemingly self-referential lyrics about — what else — beer, weed and women. It’s a wining formula every time.

The Cool Kids, Bake Sale (Chocolate Industries): Beats and raps, pure and simple, with a slightly Southern / Midwestern flavor — brings Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams to mind, specifically with regards to his production on the first Clipse record — but Any-City, USA enough to blow up big time. These guys aren’t gonna change the rap game, but they seem to know what they’re doing, and their music is fun.

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue Deluxe 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Legacy): Yeah, this was recorded 50 years ago. And yeah, it’s still better than most of the garbage that came out this year. So it can’t be on the Top 10 list because it’s not technically new, but the set is damn impressive: two CDs containing the original album, a buncha outtakes and additional songs, and a couple of live concerts; a DVD with two features on it; a book, a poster and some random memorabilia; and a clear blue, 180-gram vinyl record of the original release. ‘Nuff said.

Ovipositor, Oakland Minor (Arbeit Macht Dinge): Full disclosure: I play bass in this band. Seriously though, it’s good stuff. Holler at me to cop the new record, or find us on eMusic, iTunes, etc. You’ll be glad you did if you like fun, slightly dark, slightly sloppy and outta control punk-flavored independent rock music.

TopR, The Marathon Of Shame (Gurp City): TopR is one of the most skilled, fiercely independent and outspoken MCs in the Bay (he’s a self-professed curmudgeon, hates the system, probably hates you too). He’s also an accomplished graffiti artist (don’t tell the vandal squad), and is, without a doubt, a driven creator — he’s released one quality record every year for the last few years. So why isn’t this one in the Top 10? Well, they can’t all be, I guess. It’s still good.