Best EPs of 2008:
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One Day As A Lion – One Day As A Lion: The Rage isn’t back, but the passion of Zach is.
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Cool Kids – The Bake Sale: Hip-hop is not dead, it’s alive and well with The Cool Kids.
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The Decemberists – Always a Bridesmaid: One song bugs me, but the rest is lovely.
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Animal Collective – Water Curses: An exciting view into what’s in store for 2009.
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Air France – No Way Down: I don’t need a new Avalanches record, all I need is this EP…and this lamp.
Best Gadget I Couldn’t Live Without:
Best Music Blogs of 2008 (aside from Gorilla vs. Bear and Brooklyn Vegan):
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Motel De Moka: Stunning artwork mixed with the best minimalistic, experimental, and ambient music I’ve never heard of.
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ipickmynose: His weekly song obsessions quickly become my song obsessions. Plus his view into the Bay Area indie scene helps me understand this strange new land I’ve found myself in.
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Captain Obvious: His library of covers is unrivaled as well as his detailed and spot-on album reviews.
Best Books I Read This Year:
Biggest Musical Disappointments:
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The Ben Folds album…blows
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Kanye West experiements…fails
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No Portishead US tour
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Foo Fighters just can’t rock like they used to
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Scarlett Johansson covers Tom Waits, nuff said
Most Anticipated in 2009:
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Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
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Dan Deacon – Bromst
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Mastodon – Crack The Skye
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dredg – tba
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M. Ward – Hold Time
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Division Day – tba
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Jeremy Enigk – Ok Bear
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Cage – Depart From Me
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Weatherman Album?
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The One AM Radio – tba
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The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
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Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
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Rival Schools – tba
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Kiss Kiss – The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left
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The Arcade Fire – tba
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Battles – tba
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Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing
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mewithoutyou – tba
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Cursive – tba
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Burial – tba
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Wilco – tba
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Menomena – tba
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The Album Leaf – tba
Other Songs That I Loved This Year
Astro Raw – I’m The One With A Smile
Beach House – Gila
Bill O’Reilly – Bill O’Reilly Flips Out (Dance Remix)
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – So Everyone
Chairlift – Evident Utensil
Cloud Cult – Everybody here is a Cloud
The Cool Kids – A Party (For Everyone) (Logarhythmik remix)
The Dear Hunter – Battesimo del Fuoco
Delta Spirit – Trashcan
Department Of Eagles – No One Does It Like You
The Dodos – Fools
Entire Cities – Talkers
Facing New York – Cops On Bikes (WP PM5K RMX)
Frightened Rabbit – Fast Blood
God Is An Astronaut – Remaining Light
Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Jolie Holland – Mexico City
The Limousines – Very Busy People
Little Joy – Brand New Start
Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone
Mason Proper – Friendship
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jesus Of The Moon
Port O’Brien – Fisherman’s Son
Portugal. The Man – Lay Me Back Down
R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious
Rye Rye – Tic Toc (ft. M.I.A.)
Sennen – Your Hand In Mine
The Sound Of Animals Fighting – The Ocean And The Sun
Vampire Weekend – Ottoman
White Denim – Sitting