Random Shots

I discovered Vampire Weekend's self titled release a little late but it's ridiculously good and is well worth mentioning as the year in music winds to a close. I usually browse "The Best Of..." lists at the year's conclusion to acquaint myself with music that may have flown under my radar during the year and Vampire Weekend was one of them. It was released January of 2008 but I didn't give it a thorough listen until the other night. Like The Walkmen's You & Me, it boasts an album's worth of strong cuts, all catchy, all well-produced.

The pleasure in listening to this album is that it's hard to nail down a favorite, but here's a couple to goodies worth throwing out there.

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
"Mansard Roof"

...and Beach House's "Gila" is such a mesmerizer...

Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut is another album I just discovered. "Blue Ridge Mountains" is amazing. Very sublime, as is the rest of their solid debut.

And I can't begin to tell you how indispensible Soul Sides has been in introducing me to such an amazing catalog of the most soulful of soul classics. You know, the soul music variety that simply absorbs you...like these...

The Impressions: "I'm Loving Nothing"
Candi Staton: "Too Hurt To Cry"

The video is terrible and this song came out last year but I haven't been able to get enough of it. From it's quiet and unassuming introductory 2.5 minutes to the unravelling of it's 1.5 minute conclusion that you want to sing from the rafters-The Shins' "Sleeping Lessons" from 2007's Wincing The Night Away is a sonic nova.

Junichi and Oliver over at Poplicks have rounded out their usual year-end lists.

Junichi's "Best Quotes of 2008" is a must read.

The Albums

1. The Walkmen: You & Me
2. Various: Fallin' Off The Reel Volume 2
3. Menahan Street Band: Make The Road By Walking
4. Q-Tip: The Renaissance
5. Jean Grae: Jeanius
6. Estelle: Shine
7. Coldplay: Viva La Vida
8. Final Solution: Brotherman OST
9. Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part 1 (4th World War)
10. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

Honorable Mention:

Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
J-Live: Then What Happened?
Beach House: Devotion

This Year In Music - The Songs

Some of these tunes didn't come out in 2008 but were heard for the first time this year. Here's my month to month breakdown of this year's most memorable songs...

January:

1. Candi Staton: "Too Hurt To Cry"
2. Kev Brown: "Batida"
3. Nas: "On The Real"

February:

1. Pete Rock: "We Roll (Instrumental)"

March:

1. Lee Fields & The Expressions: "My World"
2. Lee Fields & The Expressions: "Love Comes & Goes"
3. Pete Rock feat. Slum Village: "Gangsta Boogie"
4. Erykah Badu: "Soldier"
5. Gnarls Barkley: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"

April:

1. Rock Marciano: "MC's"
2. Nut-Rageous: "They Wanna Know"
3. Estelle: "Back In Love"

May:

1. J-Live feat. Posdnous & Oddisee: "The Upgrade"
2. BIG: "Another Rough One"
3. J-Live: "It Don't Stop"
4. NYGz feat. Lady of Rage & Royce 5'9: "Ya Dayz R #d (Remix)"

June:

1. Solange: "I Decided (Pt. 1)"
2. Coldplay: "Strawberry Swing"
3. Quantic & Nickodemus: "Mi Swing Es Tropical"
4. Little Brother feat. Oddisee: "Delusional"
5. Jean Grae: "#8"
6. Elkin & Nelson: "Vamanos"
7. Ray Barretto: "Pastime Paradise"
8. Infakt feat. Moonrokk: "California"

July:

1. Bishop Lamont: "Grow Up"
2. Rock Marciano: "4 All The Real Raw Deal"
3. M.I.A. feat Freeway: "Paper Planes (Remix)"
4. Alicia Keys: "Teenage Love Affair (Instrumental)"

August:

1. Mos Def: "The Glow"
2. The GZA: "IntroMental"
3. Q-Tip: "Gettin' Up"
4. Solange: "Would've Been The One"
5. Joe Bataan: "Gypsy Woman (Demo Version)"
6. Menahan Street Band: "Make The Road By Walking"
7. Portishead: "Threads"

September:

1. The Walkmen: "The Blue Route"
2. The Jacksons: "Show You The Way To Go"
3. Final Solution: "Brotherman"
4. Joe Bataan: "Under The Street Lamp"

October:

1. EPMD: "Listen Up"
2. Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound: "Que Se Sepa"
3. Menahan Street Band: "Go The Distance"

November:

1. Raphael Saadiq: "Kelly Ray"
2. Cesaria Evora: "Sodade"
3. Bill Withers: "I Want To Spend The Night"
4. Q-Tip: "Move"
5. Oddisee feat. Buckshot: "Where I Be At"
6. Stevie Wonder: "Send Me Some Lovin'"

December:

1. Jay-Z feat. B.I.G.: "Brooklyn Go Hard (Mick Boogie Remix)"
2. Paul Mitchell Trio: "Now That I Know What Loneliness Is"
3. Jay-Z: "Sweet (Feli Kuti Remix)"
4. Marsha Ambrosius feat. Little Brother: "Sunshine"
5. The Temprees: "(Girl) I Love You"
6. Joe Bataan: "Ordinary Guy (45 Version)"
7. Nina Simone: "Gimme Some (Mike Mangini Mix)"
8. Fleet Foxes: "Blue Ridge Mountains"
9. Vampire Weekend: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"

Dante For President

I'm all for Jam Master Jay Day...

?uesto on Dilla

Blackstar's "Little Brother" just so happens to be one of the most gorgeous J-Dilla tracks I've ever heard. And that's saying a lot when you consider his body of work prior to his passing two years ago.

And it just so happens that ?uestlove has recounted the events leading up the creation of this Dilla jewel here. When I first heard this track my first response was "where did he sample this from?" So when I read ?uesto's story about how the beat came to life - let's just say that my wig is completely flipped backwards.

J-Dilla was on some other shit. But you already knew that...

Blackstar: "Little Brother"

(Story brought to you by way of Nah Right Lite)

Pass The Mic

SEMTEX TV: DELA SOUL, MOS DEF, NAS, WILL I AM, KANYE WEST, DAMON ALBARN ROC THE MIC @ THE G.O.O.D. MUSIC AFTER PARTY, LONDON, UK from DJ SEMTEX on Vimeo.

Nas, Mos Def, and De La Soul passing the mic here at the G.O.O.D. Music after party in London just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Taking it back.

Reckoner

Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon

Politics As Usual

I really enjoyed this this morning.

Courtesy of Junichi over at Poplicks.

Keep Walking With Me

"The Blue Route", my favorite cut from my favorite album so far this year.

Hamilton Leithauser's vocals weave flawlessly through this song.

But Matt Barrack on drums is the star, not only on "The Blue Route", but the on the entire album.

You remember the "The Rat" right?

Walk With Me

So far, the best of 2008.

The Maverick

The Notations: "It Only Hurts For A Little While"

The Glow

Mos Def: "The Glow"

"Peep The Instrumental"

Alicia Keys' "Teenage Love Affair" was one of my favorite songs last year. The lyrics are pretty run-of-the-mill but the backing track really carried this tune to soulful sublimeness. Now, if only someone can track down Ghostface to get vintage on this... The LL Cool J remix was meh.

Alicia Keys: "Teenage Love Affair (Instrumental)"

Bonus:

Her David Letterman performance some time back.

The Other Knowles

Beyonce's not the only Knowles with talent. Her little sister Solange Knowles has a little something out right now and it's a breezy number - a soulful throwback.

Solange Knowles: "I Decided"

Voltron's Head

Dropping August 19.

I'm guessing that in preparation for his above forthcoming album, the GZA decided to stir things up a bit and drop this track going at 50 Cent. I'm not sure how I feel about this track. On one hand, it's good to hear something new from the GZA. But if he was going to throw jabs he could of brought something with a little more bite. "Paper Plate" doesn't leave much of an impression. I think it's pretty boring altogether. It's a no-brainer that the GZA is superior with his wordplay and commands a better grasp of the english language than 50 Cent ever will. And 50 Cent would probably agree wholeheartedly.

I wouldn't be of the opinion that this was a complete waste of time had the GZA dropped something more witty and unpredictable. You know, the "8 bar murder verse/ freestyle or rehearsed/ I wreck MC's whether I'm last or first" kind of witty unpredictableness...

The Seoul Controllers

How did Top 9 get to the finals anyway? The Gamblerz Crew vs. Brazil All-Star Crew was a more even battle.

The Blast

Radiohead Covers...

...New Order's "Ceremony".

...

Viva the Viva La Vida

The new Coldplay is solid.

And this is my favorite from that album. It's not the best video but it's the only live performance of this song I could find.