Well, here it is again, folks... My top cds of the year - which I must admit even I would never have seen coming.
My musical year has been a very encouraging one. It started off with a new P.J. Otaku release, Ukes Not Nukes, in April. The Madeira released their long-delayed second full-length, Carpe Noctem, with Double Crown Records in June, and it received an extraordinary amount of excellent press and album-of-the-year kudos. The Madeira's year culminated with the band's second tour through Southern California, where we met surf music legends like Eddie Bertrand and Paul Johnson, and participated in a documentary movie shoot for a film entitled Sound of the Surf (watch for it in early 2009!)... I also started a new rock collective project called Mr Muggles with a few friends, which became a fun creative outlet and gave us all a chance to rock out in our own unique ways... Finally, The Shake Ups released their long-delayed second album, Breathing the Flood, and have just completed a music video for the opening track, "Can't Stop the Signal."
I truly feel that the latest from The Shake Ups and The Madeira may be my best work to date, so for those of you who have not yet had a chance to hear those albums, please give them a listen.
Anyway, back to this year's cds... There were a lot of unexpected triumphs in this year's batch (the Brian Eno-helmed releases from Coldplay and David Byrne, for instance), whereas many of my tride-and-true standbys released only passable fare (Death Cab For Cutie, Snow Patrol, Keane, Sloan, the Kaiser Chiefs, etc.)... And then there were the debut acts, which make up a large portion of this year's list.
Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Sugarplum Fairy – The Wild One
Melpo Mene – Bring the Lions Out
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Sad Day For Puppets - Unknown Colors
The Magnetic Fields – Distortion
Matthew Sweet – Sunshine Lies
Miniature Tigers – Tell it to the Volcano
Islands – Arm's Way
Katie Herzig – Apple Tree
Black Kids – Partie Traumatic
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Pershing
The Whitsundays – The Whitsundays
Mates of State – Re-arrange Us
Shugo Tokumaru – Exit
Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
The Fireman - Electric Arguments
Honorable Mentions
The Light FM – Black Magic Marker
The Weepies – Hideaway
Head of Femur - Great Plains
Weezer – The Red Album
Brian Wilson – That Lucky Old Sun
Missed Standout from 2007
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the '09!
-P.J.