Welcome back for Songs of 2008. The Roman numerals — eh, honestly I could take ‘em or leave ‘em, but at least up until now they’ve helped keep things organized in an iTunes playlist alphabetizing kind of way. Like the first, I set up this mix on Spotify, and I welcome you to check it out (moreso than 2007). 2008 is more timely, relevant, and more importantly, cohesive, though punctuated with a few throwbacks to the ’70s and ’80s. Interestingly, a lot of songs here were inspired by, or made their place on the mix via Lenny Dee (unfortunately I wasn’t blogging the Winter or Spring ’08 shows, nor do they exist on the Internet, but you can watch the videos from the Fall ’08 show here). So, the playlist:
1. “That’s Not My Name” — The Ting Tings
I heard this first on 89.3 The Current sometime in fall ’08 and proudly flagged it as a personal favorite, despite The Ting Tings’ relatively widespread critical dismissal.
2. “Ready for the Floor” — Hot Chip
Hot Chip make the mix for the second year in a row. “Ready for the Floor” is one of their nerdy ones, a little weird… I remember it being good painting music.
3. “Paper Planes” — MIA
Lenny Dee’s Tim introduced me to this song during the Winter ’08 Lenny Dee show. It blew up shortly thereafter, and I even got a little sick of hearing it during trailers for that summer’s Pineapple Express, but I still liked it enough for it to make the mix.
4. “Give a Little Love” — Noah & The Whale
Noah & The Whale’s song “Five Years Time” was featured on (I think) a car commercial that summer. I liked it enough to look them up and dug the album as a whole, in particular this one. It’s a little ham-fisted, but very genuine, with a lovely outro.
5.”Daylight” — Kenna
Kenna’s second album was a bit of a disappointment after New Sacred Cow, but this opening track has a great build-up, with a really powerful, soundtrack-ready rhythm and instrumentals.
6. “The Con” — Tegan & Sara
I hadn’t listened to much Tegan & Sara before Lisa got really into this album. I still think the title track from their album The Con, which came out the year before, is the strongest.
7. “Buggin’” — The Flaming Lips
This version might actually be a remix of some sort (I had to read the Wikipedia article on the album and was still a little confused). Whoever deserves the credit, it’s still very, very good.
8. “No Cars Go” — Arcade Fire
Getting into Neon Bible was one of my steps toward catching up on music (having not listened to very many new releases in ’06 and ’07). In retrospect, I think there’s much stronger tracks on the album… I would probably pick “[Antichrist Television Blues].”
9. “September” — Earth, Wind & Fire
This one deserves some explanation, given that it was released as a single 30 years before landing a place on this mix. “September” was used at Ali Reingold’s suggestion as the curtain music for the Spring ’08 Lenny Dee show. Obviously I had heard it on the radio at some point before, but I didn’t realize until really listening to it then that my birthday is named by date in the opening verse! Awesome. And I now have a birthday song forever. “September” is also my standard when doing karaoke.
10. “Kids” — MGMT
Heard on The Current.
11. “Once in a Lifetime” — Talking Heads
I have no recollection of why this song made the album, but I’m glad it did. One of the three throwbacks to limited pre-1990s tastes, “Once in a Lifetime” also became a favorite of mine to sing at Lenny Dee vs. Improv softball games, for some reason.
12. “Cigarettes Will Kill You” — Ben Lee
A Lisa contribution. I knew of Ben Lee since 2004 through his work with The Bens (also including Folds and Kweller), but hadn’t heard of this track. I really dig it, especially the forceful piano.
13. “Is There a Ghost” — Band of Horses
Band of Horses’ second album, Cease to Begin, was another album I got in my catching up phase over summer ’08.
14. “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” — Wham!
As the third “oldie” (kinda) on this mix, here’s the story: The Lenny Dee Spring ’08 show featured a sketch on the “Whambulance” (“Oh, you stubbed your toe? Aw, should I call the whambulance?”). The twist at the end was that there was also something within the universe of the sketch called the “Wham!bulance,” which, when called, summoned Jameson and me to perform a choreographed dance to this song. With Wham! T-shirts:
In retrospect, not really a great song. But it lends some flavor, and I had sort of an ironic fascination with it, so here it is.
15. “Going On” — Gnarls Barkley
Like everyone, I was quickly sold at Gnarls Barkley’s debut in ’06, and seeing them at Lollapalooza that year. Of course, we all now know that Cee Lo is a sexual creep, probable homophobe and misogynist, and not really someone you’d want to spend a great deal of time with. But their 2008 sophomore album was still pretty good, and this energetic track especially.
16. “Skinny Love” — Bon Iver
Not much to say about this one other than it’s a gorgeous track.
17. “You Don’t Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor)” — Ben Folds
I’ve talked about it before on this blog, but Ben Folds was without a doubt my favorite artist, consistently, throughout high school. “You Don’t Know Me” is a stand-out track from an album that (I think) exemplifies the start of his decline as an artist — though it could be argued that it began during the period between 2005′s Songs for Silverman and Way to Normal, during which time he put out an LP of previously released material and generally didn’t seem too active. Regina Spektor’s also fallen way, way off my radar, but their duet on this track is sweet, funny, and sad — both at their best.
Two more installments, and then we’re up to speed. It’s December now, and I need to get started on figuring out my top ten albums of the year (see 2009 and 2010 for kicks) and the Songs of 2011 mix. These are exciting times we live in!
