It’s day one of DiS’s week-long look back at 2008 so far, a week preceded by The Weekly DiScussion of a few days ago. This is part one of a three-part summarisation of the year’s best long-players to date; part two follows tomorrow (read it!), with the final part landing in your monitor Wednesday. If you’re thinking the four picks below are a little obvious, fret not: further instalments will see rather more leftfield releases enjoy their time in the spotlight.
On Thursday and Friday DiS will be listing a selection of you should really hear these tracks not featured on our dozen essential albums of the year so far, directing readership attentions to some overlooked gems and forthcoming wonders, however they’ve been released. And some obvious you’ve already heard these offerings, no doubt. We’ll also be publishing words from the makers of our dozen featured albums on their favourite records of the year so far.
But that’s to come. Part one of An Essential Dozen, go.
Portishead – Third (Island)
You’ve the reputation, the legacy; you’ve inspired an untold number of acts across the globe, and produced some of the most unsettling, disquieting ‘pop’ singles ever known. So what do you do for your belated third album, arriving fairly abruptly after an 11-year hiatus? You make your best-ever record and better even the most ambitious expectations with a series of arrangements more soaked in paranoia, dread and menace than anything you’ve released before them. Bravo, Portishead, you’ve gone and made us shit our pants again. And with ‘Machine Gun’, Third’s explosive lead single, you’ve gone and blasted the ghost of trip-hop into translucent wisps of fading nostalgia. You build it up, you knock it down. The reconstruction of a collapsed pedestal has never sounded so wonderful.
DiS review
MySpace
- - -
Foals – Antidotes (Transgressive)
Securing mainstream attentions in a fashion none of their peers and influences ever truly achieved, Oxford five-piece Foals ran the gamut of early-2008 hype, of style-over-substance jibes and sell-out accusations, and ultimately produced what some months after its release remains a mighty fine debut; Antidotes pops at its seams with insistent, urgent indie-pop arrangements echoing the finest elements of Bloc Party, Youthmovies and Minus The Bear. The logical step for two of the band’s five members after the dissolution of the head-spinning math signatures of their old band The Edmund Fitzgerald, Foals’ reconstructing of avant-garde tendencies in a purely accessible form has made them heroes to many, villains to few; the haters will always loiter, but tracks like ‘Balloons’ and ‘Tron’, both housed here, are guaranteed to get even the most-sceptical listener tapping away in unison. The British Battles? Don’t be so insulting.
DiS review
MySpace
- - -
British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade)
Boasting wrestling chants and odes to the victims of H5N1, an international call to arms and waltzing ballads, Do You Like Rock Music? was the mannered mayhem that many a man had come to expect from ‘eccentrics’ of all pop most widescreen and epic, British Sea Power. But the quartet’s return this year saw them carry that bit more brawn; muscular where once scrawny. An intoxicating mix of the calamitous thrashes that made their debut venture so compelling and the modest orchestral moments of second LP Open Season, the Cumbrian gents’ third album, released at the turn of the year, was one that dispelled any concerns that it might also be a make-or-break record for its makers. A gentle giant of an album, Do You Like Rock Music? solidified their status as an act as brilliant as they are berserk. Samuel Strang
DiS review
MySpace
- - -
Mystery Jets – Twenty One (Warners)
While the twin singles ‘Young Love’, featuring another of 2008’s emerging talents Laura Marling, and the ubiquitous ‘80s-horned ‘Two Doors Down’ have rather obstructed a clear view of their parent LP, much of Mystery Jets’ second album after their faintly bonkers debut Making Dens is just as loveable, if not more, than its standalone cuts. ‘Half In Love With Elizabeth’ is a delightful tale warning of split affections and the fallout such a predicament can lead to, ‘Hideaway’ is one of 2008’s most-cracking opening numbers, all air-raid sirens and stomping percussion, and ‘Umbrellahead’ sounds like the circus coming to your town in 1865, all sideshow glamour of a very faded variety. It plinks and plonks wonderfully, and suddenly all thoughts of ABC and Aztec Camera are banished from view. And those singles are ace, even after so many plays.
DiS review
MySpace
- - -
Four down, four more tomorrow and four the following afternoon. What will the remaining eight be? Place your bets now, why not.
Didn't we just do this?
Also - I disagree.
Actually, 1 of those albums would be in my top 12
If you can guess which, you win a prize.
Foals!
So are you going to sleep with me then?
There was a DiScussion
where we asked.
Now we're telling you ;o)
Dictatorship!
I like that.
And these four albums are in my list of best albums of the year as well.
Dis-tatorship 2.0
We're not quite Robert Mugabe but then again we're not Coldplay fans either...
MugabefuckinglovesColdplay
if Wild Beasts aren't in this list then it means fuck all.
I have only heard Foals and Mystery Jets
form those options and they are both pretty avrage at best. Non of those albums will be anywhere near my top spots by the end of the year unless something awful happens.
I was wondering when DiS was going to tell us their picks. I'm sure they will get better though, they cant get much more snorworthy can they? Unless you whip out Songs For A&E as number one.
By the by
Skeleton is great, Jimi.
wicked
I cant wait to hear it :)
agree,
what a boring start to a list. looks like one of them hmv adverts in the nme.
heaven forbid that popular albums might actually be good
and good albums might actually be recognised, eh? grow up
grow up?
what's that got to do with anything?
if foals, mystery jets and bsp had made decent albums i'd agree this was a good list, but it's not, it is dull.
BSP is not really that good is it though?
Kinda average? I thought so... not heard the other three, though from what I have heard I might have an irrational dislike of Foals.
LOL @ opening this and seeing:
Artists: Portishead, British Sea Power, Mystery Jets, Foals
Portishead definitely
I hope The Mae Shi and Earth get some respect. And Nick Cave.
This is a poor list
Portishead was good but i'm bored of it already, British Sea Power... I used to really like that album but now it goes straight over my head and Foals never really got going for me. Mystery Jets is a superb pop album though and will probably be in my top 10.
Portishead is the only one thus far I'd put in
BUT THERE'S TWO MORE EXCITING PORTIONS TO COME. OOH!
Yeah I agree
Out of those 4 that is the only one likely to be in my top 10.
I stopped reading when Foals popped up
let it go
No, they´re clearly the
least serious offenders here...
where is wild beasts?
madness. bit 'commercial' for DiS this list, isn't it?
. . .
"If you’re thinking the four picks below are a little obvious, fret not: further instalments will see rather more leftfield releases enjoy their time in the spotlight"
Pyramids
deserves some lovin in the higher reaches of this list. Its ace, I have my fingers crossed for it.
commercial=bad?
nooooo!
Least surprising album in this list
will be Bon Iver.
Thankyou Mr.Diver
for a lovely list.
Aw
Brits and their misguided sense of nationalism. ;)
^ good, if annoying, point
I was thinking this
I haven't heard many albums this year from UK artists that are any good at all. After making some kinda mid year top 10 on the other artical only one of the albums was English.
Elbow.
This is a very god record. And British.
I haven't checked that out yet
I'm not a huge Elbow fan they area bit MOR dad rock some times for me. There are some really good UK albums this year just many many more ones from over seas that eclips them in my eras anyway.
MOR dadrock?
get out
thats what it sounded like
in my passing listens after hearing them on telly and such like. Maybe a bit mean to them I haven't heard an album of theirs ever. I might have seen them at a festival once. I might go check out the album, I would quite happily be wrong and find an ace album.
MOR dadrock?
my mum loves Elbow. my dad loves the new Spititualized album.
I am proven wrong then for sure :)
My mum likes Youthmovies and my dad likes Bob Dylan.
this is the thing with Elbow
they get lumped into the MOR Dad Rock catagory but its clearly because people don't give them a chance.
Ok, Leaders... has some MOR but Asleep In the Back and The Seldom Seen Kid are just stunning. The debut is so much moodier and heartwrenching than any other british Indie band will ever manage for god knows how long. And the new record just sores high and its amazing and uplifting and cleaver and Guy Garvey is amazing.
still not heard it
and keep hearing people say as much,
british sea power
at least they are getting the recognition they deserve this year from DiS. i would agree that there are other albums that are missing though ....
There must be
at least 30 or so albums better than Foals that have been released this year (possibly even this month).
I am so not cool
2008 is a fucking great year for music. So far this year, I have acquired...
- Keep Telling Myself It's Alright by Ashes Divide
- Devotion by Beach House
- You Cross My Path by The Charlatans
- Field Manual by Chris Walla
- Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings by Counting Crows
- Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles
- Keeper's by Deastro
- Narrow Stairs by Death Cab For Cutie
- SooL by Ellen Allien
- Flight Of The Conchords by Flight Of The Conchords
- Shade Side Sunny Side by For Against
- The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
- In Field & Town by Hayden
- Some Racing, Some Stopping by Headlights
- Here's To Being Here by Jason Collett
- The Jealous Girlfriends by The Jealous Girlfriends
- Boo! Human by Joan Of Arc
- Saturdays = Youth by M83
- Lucky by Nada Surf
- Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails
- The Slip by Nine Inch Nails
- Mercy by Ours
- Third by Portishead
- Accelerate by REM
- Volume One by She & Him
- Walk It Off by Tapes 'N' Tapes
- Hideaway by The Weepies
... and I have albums by Martha Wainwright, Wolf Parade, Gemma Hayes and a few others on the way.
you're right
.
Counting Crows!!!
That name realy sticks out on that list.
To be fair, I think that
Portishead and Bon Iver have been the only real stand out records so far this year.
oh rly?
If Crystal Castles make this list
then I will laugh, cry and then laugh again. I'll do the same but in reverse order if Alopecia doesn't make it.
I
agree.
the Crystal Castles album
is fucking ace though. pft.
^This
no.
portishead's ok, the rest is average and foals pretty poor. one of the most boring albums so far this year, repetitive and shallow and every song sounds like the one before...
Why isn't
Death Cabs new album on the list :(
Part I of III
alopecia imo
fuck the list.
You are wrong unless you include
Girl Talk
Panic At The Disco
Elbow
Johnny Truant.
also
Pyramids = Overrated.
so
is it really the consensus that Foals have created one of the best albums of the year? shouldnt the ones chosen by...i dunno..catchy, inventive, original(both of itself and out), memorable or at least not 80% filler?
Why the negative connotations with ABC and Aztec Camera?
unless I'm missing the point, Mystery Jets would LOVE to be included in the company of such fine artists.
oh no i see what you mean now re. the circus music
I was missing the point.
...
Wild Beasts
El Guincho
No Age
Mystery Jets
Flying Lotus
Deerhunter
Abe Vigoda
Samiyam
Times New Viking
At least 9 of these should be in the final ten. Even if they're reissues/import/whatever
That reminds me
I ordered the Samiyam CD off him the other week, that should be a good un.
would it be too controversial
to say that I own all of these and think that all of them are rather ace?
i'm guessing
jofo will be in the list.
not without reason i hasten to add. though whether they will make the end of year list i'm not so sure. i think three more months of listening will have to be taken into account.
My bets: Subtle - ExitingARM
Having now listened to this three times in the last 24 hours, I realise it is a strong contender for the final eight list.
Here's my predictions for what DiS will pick as final eight released albums, in declining order of confidence:
Fuck Buttons, Why?, Subtle, Los Campesinos, Times New Viking, Wild Beasts, Vampire Weekend, Mystery Jets
and as for predictions surely Deerhunter and Abe Vigoda are certs
if times new viking doesn't make it
i will fight your smallest member of staff
My estimations include:
Nouns
For Emma, Forever Ago
Fleet Foxes
And something from the British contingent i couldn't care less about. Probably Elbow.
If Elbow isn't part of this list
it confirms my thoughts on this web site being utter bollocks
Why? - Alopecia
Islands - Arm's Way
Fuck Buttons - whateverit'scalled
are my bets for 3 of the next 8
White Rabbits
Fort Nightly, I think was released over here this year on Fierce Panda. Fantastic album.
while the arguments and shouting and tears
at the first flash of flesh from an as yet incomplete list amuse me, let me say now that if Cut Copy aren't involved, I WILL SHOUT ALSO.
If The Indelicates doesn't feature,
this whole exercise is void and the regulators will be called in.
Mystery Jets?
The fucking Mystery Jets?
What?!
Mystery Jets?!!???
The only 3 that I've heard that have impressed me are:
Johnny Foreigner
maybeshewill
Youthmovies
A laughable list...
altho as a Foals hater, I can confirm that I will not be going anywhere.
Musical morons take note...
..The Foals album is fantastic.
Are those the only three you have bought though?
No, although I haven't bought that many.
Foals
Charlottefield
Earth
Are three that haven't, off the top of my head.
Oh yeah, The Mars Volta album was decent if not brilliant.
*haven't impressed me
I could see how that could be confusing.
Best of 2008...
Oh please Foals... second rate pedestrian post punk pap... oh sorry I mean Math Rock.
I am totally in awe of them and can here a linerage of musicallity that streches back to 2003 when Bloc Party broke through.
They have totally taken the sound 'pioneered' by Bloc Party and made it there own havent they.
Portishead
shits on 2008 from a great height
Portishead
are the most prententious bunch of tossers ever to spoil my ears and I'm not even going to give them a chance by listening to their new material. That would be like giving fred west another chance at working in a school for girls when there are plenty of far nicer and less rapey/killy people about the place whomst you could offer the job to.
Not that fred west ever worked in a school for girls as far as I know but you get the point.
oh fuck off, please
no
until they stop making shit 'art' films and performing sit down and stroke your chin gigs with orchestras, I won't.
they dont do sit down orchestra gigs anymore
if you'd seen them this year, you'd know its pretty much a 90 minute freak out.
Third for the win.
Well that is good
but they haven't apologised yet have they
Oh dear
well I must say, I disagree and that I have really loved;
Robert Forster's 'Evangelist'
Bottomless Pit's 'Hammer of the gods'
Thalia Zedek's 'liars and prayers'
Lazarus Clamp's double album (they play a rare London show on July 6th @catch
and The Silver Jews 'lookout mountain lookout sea'
and the Glortellers debut was really pretty.
You know, I love that Bottomless pit record so much that I reviewed it! I'll post it in the community section should anyone wish to read that puppy.