Albums 2008 as of mid-November
Nov. 12th, 2008 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotWas going to do this October 1st, then November 1st, now here it is.
1. Danity Kane Welcome To The Dollhouse
2. Ashlee Simpson Bittersweet World
3. María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser Juventud En Éxtasis
4. Vanessa Hudgens Identified
5. Buraka Som Sistema Black Diamond
6. Willie Nelson Moment Of Forever
7. Ne-Yo Year Of The Gentleman
8. Santogold Santogold
9. Cansei De Ser Sexy Donkey
10. Marit Larsen The Chase
11. Jamey Johnson That Lonesome Song
12. Taylor Swift Fearless
13. Lil Mama VYP Voice Of The Young People
14. Lil Wayne Tha Carter III
15. Jordan Pruitt Permission To Fly
16. Solange Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams
17. Keak Da Sneak Deified
18. Karina First Love
These could jump around even more than usual seeing as how First Love at #18 has almost as many good songs as Bittersweet World at #2 - the difference between the two being the live and imaginative dreampot who carries #2 every which way in comparison to the predictable r&b adolescent at #18.
Was worried until just this month that I'd have a totally shitty albums list, but of course every year I worry that I'm going to have a shitty list, and then by December I'm upset at what I have to leave off. That Lonesome Song is strong for an 11. 16 or so seems right for Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams , but Dollhouse is weak for the top: Blackout or Paris would romp over any of these, as would See You Next Tuesday and Dangerous And Moving, not to mention I Am Me and Autobiography. Ashlee's least consistent album shouldn't be up there at #2, but I've been waiting so far in vain for a charismatic attention seeker to jump to the top and take her and the Danitys down a peg. Cassie's been postponed, Taylor fell short of tunes, Mariah had a couple of great moments but not enough, and from the recent singles I'm not putting my hopes on Britney. Maybe t.A.T.u. will come through, though we'll see if they can keep up the quality without their old songwriter.
Danity Kane Welcome To The Dollhouse: I've yet to find a way to give a shit about the Danitys' sexy sensibility (or that of the PCDs or the Stupid Shits, either), though maybe if I get around to taking in lyrics something will strike me. I'm genuinely thrilled by the way the Danitys' baroquely show-offy harmonies and polyphonies work in the supposedly slutty context. Quite beautiful, the harmony floating in blobs and then voices adding intricate little cries on the side. The beauty and intricacy make the sass and funniness sassier and funnier (even if the idea of their sassiness remains strictly standard-issue, and even if they only sustain their beautiful mindsass for half the album).
Ashlee Simpson Bittersweet World: Her singing is as loose-limbed and quickfooted as any of the dance beats the Timbo franchisees throw at her. Totally at ease doing reggae and retro forties fun, makes all the r&b retro divas seem constricted in comparison. Alb runs out of melodies, eventually, and the fact that nu-Ashlee dances free doesn't mean she shouldn't have gone old-Ashlee and inserted more terror into the Broadway moll-bunny routine.
María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser Juventud En Éxtasis: The only good indie dancepop act ever, maybe 'cause the music is by a disc jockey so the hooks and riffs and beats never waver. María's got a fine Italodisco lilt on their cover of "Duri Duri." Elsewhere, she gets more shouty and punky than she needs to - she underrates her own singing and tries to compensate, I'd guess.
Vanessa Hudgens Identified: Has the three best Luke tunes since "Nothing In This World." I'm totally flabbergasted that I'm ranking Miss Sweet 'N' Blank so high. Add in past glories like "Breaking Free" and "Don't Talk," and she's got her name on a whole hunk of great songs. Do I continue to credit all this to her luck in producers and songwriters, refusing to think she has anything to do with it?
Buraka Som Sistema Black Diamond: Heard this for the first time last week. It could rise to the top or fall out altogether. Beats have a virulent twistedness that dates back to mid-Eighties acid house, and the vocals add the live-wire international jumprope spirit of Piracy Funds Terrorism on top. Not enough of the latter, though, since the Sistema are dependent on guest artists to fill the spotlight for them. Pongolove does best; they need her more.
Willie Nelson Moment Of Forever: His singing is so off-hand that at times it seems barely to be hinting at melody and feeling. Pulls it off here: a casual world full of melody and feeling.
Ne-Yo Year Of The Gentleman: Ne-Yo's voice is eerily consistent, the same slightly desperate sweetness whether he's pleading or being grateful. Maybe that's the point, that you can't tell the two apart.
Santogold Santogold: While Ashlee rides the waves, impassioned and free, Santogold is struggling deep in the depths, not trusting melody unless it's drowning in dub. Jury's out as to whether ultimately it'll be worth what she gives up.
Cansei De Ser Sexy Donkey: Emotional rock guitar, never lets the brat singer stray far from passion. Surprise of the year.
Marit Larsen The Chase: Once again Marit goes childlike yet delivers strength, uses lots of strings and a bevy of mandolins and such while retaining her tremulousness. I don't think she has as many good songs as last time but I could change my mind. Maybe I just resist the idea that I'm loving someone so arty and precious.
Jamey Johnson That Lonesome Song: Dark passion, heavy sorrow, though each song goes about 30 seconds too long, and the baritone bathos becomes wearing. Baritone bathos is fine but not after you've reached the four-minute mark. Strong stuff, however.
Taylor Swift Fearless: So far nothing stands out as a special melody, but I'm loving her voice as much as ever. Like Marit she's tenuous and tough. How do they do that?
Lil Mama Voice Of The Young People: She gets serious amidst all the full-fun yammering, and it works, even if there is a shortage of new boffo tracks.
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III: So many mixtapes and guestspots in the last three years; he's become king of the genre, so you expect an astonishing statement when the official album actually appears. Instead it's just another bunch of songs, as even/uneven as always. Wayne shows up, twirls his cane, here and gone. Probably as it should be.
Jordan Pruitt Permission To Fly: Warm and fetching with a fluorescent crack in her voice, best singer on this list. Learns her craft while hiding out on the B lots.
Solange Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams: A little sister (like Ashlee!), and like nu-Ashlee she goes retro without being reverential and she mixes up styles so as not to sound locked into any of them. Problem is that underneath it all her voice is rather blah. However, she certainly puts a lot of energy and thought into the music.
Keak Da Sneak Deified: Way too many songs. The good ones go eerily minimal while Keak natters about in his cloak of a throat croak, saying stuff like "Baby needs an ass chauffeur/How ya tote that ass so fer?"
Karina First Love: She wanted to be our official girl, but they gave the job to Cassie. It's rough being a teen.
Strikes me that my prose today isn't the fiercest or funniest I've ever written; this probably says something about the year in music. There's lots of good humor on the list, but not a lot of music beyond Ashlee's that sounds really unleashed (though I recommend CSS's "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" for living up to its title).
1. Danity Kane Welcome To The Dollhouse
2. Ashlee Simpson Bittersweet World
3. María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser Juventud En Éxtasis
4. Vanessa Hudgens Identified
5. Buraka Som Sistema Black Diamond
6. Willie Nelson Moment Of Forever
7. Ne-Yo Year Of The Gentleman
8. Santogold Santogold
9. Cansei De Ser Sexy Donkey
10. Marit Larsen The Chase
11. Jamey Johnson That Lonesome Song
12. Taylor Swift Fearless
13. Lil Mama VYP Voice Of The Young People
14. Lil Wayne Tha Carter III
15. Jordan Pruitt Permission To Fly
16. Solange Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams
17. Keak Da Sneak Deified
18. Karina First Love
These could jump around even more than usual seeing as how First Love at #18 has almost as many good songs as Bittersweet World at #2 - the difference between the two being the live and imaginative dreampot who carries #2 every which way in comparison to the predictable r&b adolescent at #18.
Was worried until just this month that I'd have a totally shitty albums list, but of course every year I worry that I'm going to have a shitty list, and then by December I'm upset at what I have to leave off. That Lonesome Song is strong for an 11. 16 or so seems right for Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams , but Dollhouse is weak for the top: Blackout or Paris would romp over any of these, as would See You Next Tuesday and Dangerous And Moving, not to mention I Am Me and Autobiography. Ashlee's least consistent album shouldn't be up there at #2, but I've been waiting so far in vain for a charismatic attention seeker to jump to the top and take her and the Danitys down a peg. Cassie's been postponed, Taylor fell short of tunes, Mariah had a couple of great moments but not enough, and from the recent singles I'm not putting my hopes on Britney. Maybe t.A.T.u. will come through, though we'll see if they can keep up the quality without their old songwriter.
Danity Kane Welcome To The Dollhouse: I've yet to find a way to give a shit about the Danitys' sexy sensibility (or that of the PCDs or the Stupid Shits, either), though maybe if I get around to taking in lyrics something will strike me. I'm genuinely thrilled by the way the Danitys' baroquely show-offy harmonies and polyphonies work in the supposedly slutty context. Quite beautiful, the harmony floating in blobs and then voices adding intricate little cries on the side. The beauty and intricacy make the sass and funniness sassier and funnier (even if the idea of their sassiness remains strictly standard-issue, and even if they only sustain their beautiful mindsass for half the album).
Ashlee Simpson Bittersweet World: Her singing is as loose-limbed and quickfooted as any of the dance beats the Timbo franchisees throw at her. Totally at ease doing reggae and retro forties fun, makes all the r&b retro divas seem constricted in comparison. Alb runs out of melodies, eventually, and the fact that nu-Ashlee dances free doesn't mean she shouldn't have gone old-Ashlee and inserted more terror into the Broadway moll-bunny routine.
María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser Juventud En Éxtasis: The only good indie dancepop act ever, maybe 'cause the music is by a disc jockey so the hooks and riffs and beats never waver. María's got a fine Italodisco lilt on their cover of "Duri Duri." Elsewhere, she gets more shouty and punky than she needs to - she underrates her own singing and tries to compensate, I'd guess.
Vanessa Hudgens Identified: Has the three best Luke tunes since "Nothing In This World." I'm totally flabbergasted that I'm ranking Miss Sweet 'N' Blank so high. Add in past glories like "Breaking Free" and "Don't Talk," and she's got her name on a whole hunk of great songs. Do I continue to credit all this to her luck in producers and songwriters, refusing to think she has anything to do with it?
Buraka Som Sistema Black Diamond: Heard this for the first time last week. It could rise to the top or fall out altogether. Beats have a virulent twistedness that dates back to mid-Eighties acid house, and the vocals add the live-wire international jumprope spirit of Piracy Funds Terrorism on top. Not enough of the latter, though, since the Sistema are dependent on guest artists to fill the spotlight for them. Pongolove does best; they need her more.
Willie Nelson Moment Of Forever: His singing is so off-hand that at times it seems barely to be hinting at melody and feeling. Pulls it off here: a casual world full of melody and feeling.
Ne-Yo Year Of The Gentleman: Ne-Yo's voice is eerily consistent, the same slightly desperate sweetness whether he's pleading or being grateful. Maybe that's the point, that you can't tell the two apart.
Santogold Santogold: While Ashlee rides the waves, impassioned and free, Santogold is struggling deep in the depths, not trusting melody unless it's drowning in dub. Jury's out as to whether ultimately it'll be worth what she gives up.
Cansei De Ser Sexy Donkey: Emotional rock guitar, never lets the brat singer stray far from passion. Surprise of the year.
Marit Larsen The Chase: Once again Marit goes childlike yet delivers strength, uses lots of strings and a bevy of mandolins and such while retaining her tremulousness. I don't think she has as many good songs as last time but I could change my mind. Maybe I just resist the idea that I'm loving someone so arty and precious.
Jamey Johnson That Lonesome Song: Dark passion, heavy sorrow, though each song goes about 30 seconds too long, and the baritone bathos becomes wearing. Baritone bathos is fine but not after you've reached the four-minute mark. Strong stuff, however.
Taylor Swift Fearless: So far nothing stands out as a special melody, but I'm loving her voice as much as ever. Like Marit she's tenuous and tough. How do they do that?
Lil Mama Voice Of The Young People: She gets serious amidst all the full-fun yammering, and it works, even if there is a shortage of new boffo tracks.
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III: So many mixtapes and guestspots in the last three years; he's become king of the genre, so you expect an astonishing statement when the official album actually appears. Instead it's just another bunch of songs, as even/uneven as always. Wayne shows up, twirls his cane, here and gone. Probably as it should be.
Jordan Pruitt Permission To Fly: Warm and fetching with a fluorescent crack in her voice, best singer on this list. Learns her craft while hiding out on the B lots.
Solange Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams: A little sister (like Ashlee!), and like nu-Ashlee she goes retro without being reverential and she mixes up styles so as not to sound locked into any of them. Problem is that underneath it all her voice is rather blah. However, she certainly puts a lot of energy and thought into the music.
Keak Da Sneak Deified: Way too many songs. The good ones go eerily minimal while Keak natters about in his cloak of a throat croak, saying stuff like "Baby needs an ass chauffeur/How ya tote that ass so fer?"
Karina First Love: She wanted to be our official girl, but they gave the job to Cassie. It's rough being a teen.
Strikes me that my prose today isn't the fiercest or funniest I've ever written; this probably says something about the year in music. There's lots of good humor on the list, but not a lot of music beyond Ashlee's that sounds really unleashed (though I recommend CSS's "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" for living up to its title).
