Sauw's Top 10 Albums of 2008

1.) For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver
Link to my album review

2.) Dear Science, TV on the Radio
Link to my album review
Link to my concert review of TV on the Radio @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple 10/14/08

3.) Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Link to my album review
Link to my concert review of Fleet Foxes @ The Grand Ballroom 10/4/08

4.) Stay Positive, The Hold Steady
Link to my album review
Link to my concert review of The Hold Steady @ McCarren Park 6/29/08

5.) The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow
Link to my album review

6.) Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
Link to my album review

7.) Visiter, The Dodos
Link to my album review

8.) Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust, Sigur Rós
Album review coming soon...

9.) Harps and Angels, Randy Newman
Link to my album review

10.) You & Me, The Walkmen
Album review coming soon...


Honorable Mention:

Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket
Link to my album review

Consolers of the Lonely, The Raconteurs
Link to my album review

Only By The Night, Kings of Leon
Album review coming soon...

Sauw's Top 25 Tracks of 2008

2008 was as good a year as any for music's current best acts to deliver a bountiful basket full of great foot-tappin', knee-slappin' music to our doorsteps. Here are the 25 songs that I personally enjoyed the most...maybe you'll enjoy something here as well.

1.) "Skinny Love" - Bon Iver

2.) "Lord, I'm Discouraged" - The Hold Steady

3.) "Golden Age" - TV on the Radio

4.) "Look At You" - My Morning Jacket

5.) "Ragged Wood" - Fleet Foxes

6.) "Time To Pretend" - MGMT

7.) "Walking" - The Dodos

8.) "A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend

9.) "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver" - Elbow

10.) "Vid Spilum Endalaust" - Sigur Ros

11.) "So Everyone" - Bonnie "Prince" Billy

12.) "Souled Out!!!" - Conor Oberst

13.) "Carolina Drama" - The Raconteurs

14.) "My Favourite Year" - Destroyer

15.) "Manhattan" - Kings of Leon

16.) "For Emma" - Bon Iver
17.) "Violet Hill" - Coldplay
18.) "Same Old Thing" - The Black Keys
19.) "Pity and Fear" - Death Cab for Cutie
20.) "On The Water" - The Walkmen
21.) "The Time Has Come Again" - The Last Shadow Puppets
22.) "On The Edge Of A Cliff" - The Streets
23.) "Leviathan Bound" - Shearwater
24.) "Laugh and Be Happy" - Randy Newman
25.) "Profanity Prayers" - Beck

Album Review: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

The Hold Steady are one of those bands that it seems absurd that more people don’t appreciate now, yet if you know their music you’ll know that 20 years from now twice as many people will be listening to them. The Hold Steady is the creation of singer/songwriter Craig Finn, who at first glance you might expect to see in the cubicle next to you rather than leading one of the most inspired and cathartic bands in existence. While the band owes a lot to past rock powerhouses (in this album explicitly paying tribute to The Clash’s Joe Strummer and Led Zeppelin), the band only uses the teachings of these past greats as a launch pad to take off from. In doing so, they have began an entirely unique juggernaut force of a band, not once stumbling in any of the four albums they’ve released over the last five years.

Their newest album is certainly their most ambitious, and debatably their most successful. Months before the album was released, Finn was reportedly taking voice lessons to help tidy up his often sloppy and slurred vocal approach, a first sign that Finn and Co. were shooting a bit higher this time around. There’s also a noticeable inclusion of new instrumentation in a few of Stay Positive’s songs, including harpsichord on “One For The Cutters”, moog on “Navy Sheets”, and even some Frampton-esque talk box guitar on “Joke About Jamaica”. While furthering their sonic reach, the band is still most effective when sticking to their classic rock band sound, featuring electric guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and occasional horns, and capturing the spirit of bands as like The Rolling Stones or The E Street Band.

One thing that all Hold Steady fans know is that Craig Finn is a storyteller through and through. He has used his songs over the last three albums to essentially create a universe of youthful characters (better known as Charlemagne, Hallelujah, and Gideon) that interact with each other and all live for one single thing, rock and roll. Of course, there’s plenty of baggage that comes with being a die hard rock fan, ranging from sex, drugs, and alcohol, to love, lust, and often enlightenment. Stay Positive adheres to this lyrical subject material, yet throws a fascinating curve ball into the mix. Throughout the 11 tracks, there is a recurring narrative motif that alludes to the ambiguous murder of two teenage boys which binds the songs together and grounds the euphoria that these characters live for by the weight of life, death, and reality. While more and more details are revealed of the murders through the songs, we are never truly sure as to what has exactly occurred.

And so, while the stories Finn tells of these rock-propelled individuals are often ambiguous, the band reinforces clarity with incredibly powerful and inherently inspiring music. Stay Positive easily has some of the most melodic songs Finn has ever composed. While “Sequestered In Memphis” dictates the hazy details coming from someone in an interrogation regarding the murders, the song's hookiness overpowers the uncertainty with an empowering chorus that's nearly impossible not to embrace and sing along to. “Lord, I’m Discouraged” is the most effective track, standing as the true centerpiece of the album and one of the crowning achievements of the band’s career. The song is told from the point of view of a man torn apart by the disheveled state that he now finds the girl he loves in. As he looks to religion for some sort of guidance, he explains how after spending time with new friends she is continually distancing herself and only coming back with sunken eyes and noticeable sutures and bruises. Around the 3-minute mark, (underrated) guitarist Tad Kubler tears the entire song in half with an unspeakably amazing guitar solo, creating a trememdous example of music's ability to be used as catharsis. It is the single most empowering 45 seconds of music that you’ll hear this year.

And so with their fourth album, The Hold Steady once again legitimize themselves as an incredibly consistent and commanding rock outfit. When I think of how to put their greatness into words, I am reminded of a Jack Kerouac quote from his classic novel On The Road (from which the band derives the title for its third LP Boys and Girls In America). In a passage at the beginning of the novel, the narrator talks about the type of people that interest him, describing them as “the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’”. And so, with Stay Positive, The Hold Steady continues to dazzle and amaze, continuing to hold their status as one of the most invigorating and visceral bands around today.

Key Tracks:
Sequestered In Memphis
Lord, I’m Discouraged
Yeah Sapphire

Final Verdict: 9.4

The Hold Steady - Lord, I'm Discouraged

Album Review: The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed

In 2002, Mike Skinner under the name “The Streets” emerged with a confident strut from the depths of a London garage and released one of the most brilliant debut albums of the last ten years, titled Original Pirate Material. His sound was loosely derived from the emerging British 2-step style and garage rap genre, complemented by his signature white boy rap vocals filled with hilarious banter, biting social commentary, and occasional heartache. It was an invigorating and exciting release, one that took England by storm, but unfortunately hardly made an impact in the states. His second release A Grand Don’t Come For Free was equally impressive, which essentially plays out as a continuous narrative from start to finish of a hedonistic (yet sentimental) girl-chasing, 20-something Londoner in search of a missing 1,000 quid. The album solidified his status as one of the most important and innovative artists of the young century.

In the accordance with this newfound rise into celebrity, Skinner released a third LP titled The Hardest Way to Make a Living, which unfortunately brought his hot streak to an abrupt halt. With songs about the misfortunes of fame backed by uninspired beats and melodies, the album was more of a chore to listen through than anything. This brings us to his fourth and most release LP release Everything Is Borrowed, which is as much of a departure from his past efforts that we could ever have expected.

After the first pass through Everything is Borrowed it seems as if Skinner has set down his pint of beer and exchanged it for a book on philosophy. Rather than explain the trials and tribulations that take place on the cruel streets he inhabits, he has lifted himself hundreds of thousands of miles away from the earth, enabling him to broaden his scope and evaluate his existence on a universal stage. Take for example the opening track "Everything Is Borrowed", from which the album gets its title. The song boasts along on a triumphant horn loop and firm, steady beat while Skinner and backing vocalists sweetly sing:

“I came to this world with nothing,
And I leave with nothing but love,
Everything else is just borrowed.”

Many songs are equally bursting with life and energy, leading us to believe that Skinner’s overall outlook on life is positive. “On The Edge Of A Cliff” further validates this assumption, which is a fantastic track that truly shows off Skinner’s gift for vocal and lyrical phrasing. Within three quick minutes, he packs in a tale about a man who is pulled away from suicide by a mysterious, philosophical bystander. The man validates the protagonist’s existence by explaining to him that we were all brought to this world as a result of a marvelous chain reaction of serendipitous ancestry and heritage. Other songs examine big issues that were nowhere to be seen in the matters that Skinner formerly rapped about. Who would have guessed that the beer-toting, club-hopping Londoner from a few years ago would now be rapping about life and death, human sustainability on earth, and the misleading nature of the Bible?

Although Everything Is Borrowed is more successful than not, there are a handful of tracks that are unquestionable filler material. “I Love You More (Than You Like Me)”, “Never Give In”, and “The Way of the Dodo” are all flops, weakly carried by poor melodies or simply annoying and boring lyrics. One of the most cherished parts about The Streets’ first two albums was how incredibly consistent they were, without a single lacking song from beginning to end (at least in my opinion). However, Everything is Borrowed is certainly an improvement over his last release. Skinner’s decision to take his lyrical content and sound into a new direction is an admirable move. While the album is nowhere near the caliber of his initial output, there’s a wealth of contagious inspiration and optimism here, which is more than enough reason to give it a listen. After all, isn’t that what life's all about?

Key Tracks:
Everything Is Borrowed
On The Edge Of A Cliff
The Escapist

Final Verdict: 7.5

The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed