THE 405 END OF YEAR LIST!
December 22, 2008,
Written by The 405
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, The 405 are proud to present to your our end of year album list! All the writers were asked for their top 3 albums of the year and the results are below!
As far as I’m concerned 2008 has been one of the best years for music for a very long time and I’m sure I’m not the only one here that found putting an end of year list together extremely difficult. Even with that said, I think you’ll agree that between us all we have a pretty varied music taste, which we’re very proud of.
So crack out some whiskey, pull a cracker or two and take a peek at our list!
Merry Christmas
The 405 xxx
Wil Cook - Editor/Writer
Mimas - The Worries
With so many great albums coming out this year it was really hard to only pick three. (In the end i went for the three albums i have listened to the most) The top spot however was never in doubt. Mimas have created the debut album they promised to make following on from the brilliant Hands Will Carry EP. A mixture of all my favourite things about music its contradictions stand proudly as monuments to the modern human condition. It is simplistic yet ridiculously complex, dark yet still light-hearted, serious yet sarcastic, epic yet wonderfully accessible. True fact: Listening to this record cleanses the soul.
Bound Stems - The Family Afloat
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - S/T
Aaron Hunt - Owner/Editor
Manchester Orchestra - I'm Like A Virgin Loosing A Child *It came out late 2007*
To say that I'm "obsessed" by this band would be an understatement. It's very rare for me to ever find a band that can create an album with such force, that is worth devoting time to listen to more then once and subsequently there is not a single track on this album that hasn't received over 100 plays on my iTunes playlist! I embraced Manchester Orchestra in the same way i do a lot of bands and musicians during the first initial listen; with risk. I'd heard their name floating around my circle of friends and was curious to say the least, buried deep under the impression that they in fact were an orchestra straight out of Northern England. My risk, however paid off! I tumbled straight into love with them from the time the very fist note had been dropped. A magnificent and exasperating band, that i hope and wish to see live very soon!
Jason Reeves - The Magnificent Adventures Of Heartache
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Andy Devine – Writer/Owner Of The Best Facial Hair
Why? - Alopecia
Released in the first quarter of the year this masterpiece of an album was always going to be a contender for album of the year for me. Lyrically Yoni Wolff, to me, has no equal. Funny, whimsical, heartbreaking, and profound, often within the same song he writes from the heart and isn't afraid to reveal himself to the listener. Backed up by his brother on drums and doug McDiarmid on keys they create music which would give any home grown indie bands a run for their money. I emplore you to go out and buy this today.
These Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower and Dove
Parts & Labor – Receivers
Gemma Rutter – Writer
Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim
It doesn’t matter whether she pops off to sing with Noah and The Whale, or The Mystery Jets, or just sits on a chair by herself with her guitar – her work is indisputably stunning. This album trumps her work with other artists and marks her out as one hell of a quirky song writer. She puts a new spin on old woes, making love songs to relate to, not throw-up to. Her laid-back style strips away any pretention and her voice has a nicely haunting quality. I could think of no better Christmas present than Laura Marling playing in some traditional, old pub, with mulled wine on tap. Be warned – she’s almost too talented.
Kings of Leon – Only By The Night
Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War
Amanda Gardner – Writer
Nick Cave - dig!!! lazarus dig!!!
Forgotten about it already? Of course you sodding haven’t!!!. One of the best things to come out of The Bad Seeds, Music and '08 in general.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Maritza Skidmore - Writer
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Dr. Dog - Fate
Cecilia J - Writer
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Soothing as well as exciting, Soft Airplane was definitely one of my biggest highlights of 2008.
Rae Spoon - Superioryouareinferior
Headless Heroes - The Silence of Love
Fern Edwards - Writer
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
I've had this album on heavy rotation since early May and it still puts an indescribable feeling in my stomach every time. It has been my intrinsic soundtrack to long lonely train journeys; mundane bus rides and is also my regular 'lullaby' album, albeit it leaves me yearning for a hug sometimes. The simple combination of Vernon's soulful and rich timbre and the quivering of the guitar strings make this album my favourite probably for quite a while yet.
Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
Metronomy - Nights Out
Jack Pitt – Writer
Fast Point- Good Evil
Ridiculously awesome skate inspired old school sounding UK hardcore. A mix some of my favourite things- classic hardcore bands like early Black Flag/Dead Kennedys/Germs/ Circle Jerks and and thrashcore elements, producing one of my favourite albums in ages.
Rolo Tomassi- Hysterics
Half Man Half Biscuit- CSI: Amlebside
Catherine Lewis - Writer
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Conor Oberst
A beautiful amalgamation of all things Conor, like dying and being reborn. All within the space of 40 minutes.
Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love
Melanie Caitlin – Writer/Photgrapher
Paramore - Riot!
Rockband Paramore grew from a band with 10 fans to a band filling up the entire crowd for Jimmy Kimmel Live! In such a short time their latest album Riot! got them to the top and it has been amazing. This album is a mix of radio friendly songs like 'Misery Business' (who doesn't know that one, right?!) and slower, fragile songs like 'When it Rains'. It's great for the oldschool fans, the new fans and possibly even for people that never got past Misery Business. I'd say give it a try!
Pink - Funhouse
Sara Bareilles - Little Voice
Ryan DeWerth - Writer
Sigur Ros - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Tim Boddy - Writer
Deerhunter – Microcastle
My favourite album of the year is Deerhunter's Microcastle. It is a stupidly hypnotic album that I cannot stop listening to and never tires despite ridiculously high-volume of plays. 2 mins 25 seconds into title track Microcastle is just sheer bliss. A perfect mix of melodic lo-fi indie and dark haunting vocals and atmosphere. A thing of beauty.
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Stephanie Varasteh – Writer
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Hands down, The Kills' "Midnight Boom" is my favourite album of the year. Favourite track: "Last Day of Magic." I love how the the album in general shifts from dark, gritty, rock n roll vocals with danceable moments in songs like "U.R.A. Fever" and "Sour Cherry", to soft bluesy grooves and tender acoustics in other tracks: "Black Balloon" adorned with hand-clapping softness, and "Goodnight Bad Morning" with its lethargic guitar riffs, pale tambourine, and warm-fuzzy "mm mm mm" humming and lyrics faintly sung by Jamie Hince in the background. Overall what won me over were the cool, casual, nonchalant lyrics underscored with affable wit in songs like "Alphabet Pony" or "What New York Used to Be." My heart goes out to New York and seeing The Kills in concert at Webster Hall this past May was the Where When and how my addiction to "Midnight Boom" came to fruition and I think it’s safe to say that it'll never die down.
TV on the Radio - Dead Science
Frida Hyvönen - Silence is Wild
Nick Miller - Writer
Lightspeed Champion - Falling off the Lavender Bridge
I liked Test Icicles, but I never entirely 'got' what they were all about. 'Falling off the Lavender Bridge' clicked with me straight away though. The contrast between Dev Hynes disaffected, sometimes crude british vocals and that sort of Mike Mogis americana country sound makes for quite a cool point of difference. It also doesn't hurt that every song on here is amazingly well written and orchestrated.
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Islands - Arms Way
Richard Melvin – Writer
Blood Red Shoes - Box Of Secrets
Pounding pig skins + relentless axe wielding + duel band member shrieking = Killer tunes from start to finish. It’s simple Maths.
Elle Milano - Acres Of Dead Space Cadets
Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Jocelyn Peirce - Writer
Animal Collective - Water Curses
In a clear departure from the more pop-driven direction Animal Collective have taken of late, Water Curses is, by and large, and ode to the abstract. What's particularly exciting about this EP not just that Animal Collective still has it in them to be really, really weird, but that they are capable of doing it better than they ever have before. In short, they've proven (once again) that they are the greatest band ever.
Allegories - Surreal Auteur
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Will Slater - Writer
Devotchka - A Mad And Faithful Telling
Undoubtedly their best album to date. It's a symphony of ballads that are exciting, frantic and emotional. From the exotic 'Basso Profundo' and 'Comrade Z', to the epic 'The Clockwise Witness' and 'Head Honcho', the brooding 'Undone', and the tear-jerking 'A New World', this is a spectacular roller coaster of an album that I will listen to until the day I die.
Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty
Mimas - The Worries
Rhian Daly - Writer
Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Nottingham's not really that famous for it's musical exports but I shall be forever indebted to it for spawning the unbeatable, intricate pop of Late of the Pier. Fantasy Black Channel is as much steeped in intellect and experimentation as it is fun and
frolics - there really is no bad (or even average) song on there. 2008 very much belongs to these boys.
Los Campesinos! - We are Beautiful, We are Doomed
Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light
Dominic Manley - Writer
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Every bit as good, if not better, than their debut. Instantly accessible and yet ambitiously packed with musical and lyrical ideas which reward repeated listens.
White Denim - Workout Holiday
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Joe Wilson – Illustrator
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
I’ve chosen this as my number one album for 2008 as it has some good memories attached to it. I received an advance copy of this album as I was working on an illustration for a review of it. I spent a few days really getting into it and im usually not very interested in much 'popular' new music but this was the best thing I had heard for a long long time. I managed to get a trip together to see them in Leeds where I met up with their keyboard player after the gig. He said some nice things about my illustration and I said some nice things about his music.
Radiohead - In Rainbows *We realise this was released late last year but we decided to let it slip as it’s amazing.
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Chris Ramsey – Writer/Photographer
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
I think Kings of Leon had the best album of 2008 because they had been out of the music scene for awhile, no one had heard much from them, so to come back they needed to come back with something special and i truly believe they did!
Gym Class Heroes - The Quilt
Feeder - Silent Cry
Oliver Primus – Owner/Editor
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Prior to this release I wasn’t a big fan of Wolf Parade, so for me this album was a shock. Everything about it is perfect, even down to the art work. If you can find a better ten minute song than ‘Kissing The Beehive’ then I’ll give you my laptop.
Bowerbirds – Hymns For A Dark Horse
Johnny Foreigner – Waited Up Til It Was Light
Chris Frankland - Writer
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Why is Oracular Spectacular my favourite album from this year? The catchy melodies and weird sampled sounds. This album is unlike anything I've heard before. A breath of fresh and original air for the industry making this a densely layer, psychedelic delight to ears of every new tree hugger who listens to it.
Metallica - Death Magnetic
Santogold – Santogold
Lewis Gibbs - Writer
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
To have the opportunity to behold the inspiring beauty that is the icelandic scenery, personified as Sigur Ros' melodic cadence, is a dearly held reverie. Favorite band/favorite album hold hands as they skip down the dusty path towards the setting sun...
Mimas - The Worries
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Gillian Tasker - Writer
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Sigur Ros - Meo Suo I Eyrum Vio Spilum Endalaust
Tom Bage - Writer
Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light
Massive pop hooks, bonkers lyrics and the best songs that Idlewild never wrote - guitars have never sounded so good. You need this band in your life, and mark my words, they're going to be massive.
Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Samantha Easey – News Editor
AA Bondy –American Hearts
Completely won me over when I saw him support Kevin Devine and the album is just fantastic.
Sigur Ros – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
Lois Mae - Writer
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Be Your Own Pet - Get Akward
Violet G Dennison - Writer
Black Dice - Load Blown
Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
Tickly Feather - Tickly Feather
Well, that’s our list everyone! What did you think of it? Who did we miss out? Tell us below!
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