The Top 31 Albums of 2008 (Pt. 2)

#20: Ladytron: Velocifiero – For all the praise poured on Ladytron over the years, it wasn’t until Velocifero that I really think I figured out what the band was all about. Does that mean I absolutely adore it and listen to it a few times a week? Hardly. But for once, I can say that Ladytron is enjoyable if you’re in the right mood. That mood doesn’t come around too often, but every now and then you just want some thick, wet….synths. What? What did you think I would say?

#19: Headlights: Some Racing, Some Stopping – Headlights’ debut album was a masterpiece of indie rock with some really catchy and meaningful songs. In 2006, it easily made it into my Top 10. This year, the band tried something different, which is always appreciated. They took off a bit of the polish, focused in more on a particular sound, and took Erin Fein off of lead vocals quite often. The result is a satisfying album that is just barely outdone by its predecessor.

#18: Dieter Schoon: Lablaza – If there’s one album in the Top 20 that absolutely no one has ever heard, it’s probably this one. Do yourself a favor and download “The Harbour’s Cold” or “Jethead” and find out what you’re missing. Lablaza is a inventive vision of electronic music that deserves to be heard outside of the artist’s native Sweden.

#17: Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles – I should make myself absolutely clear when I say that Alice Glass is an absolutely worthless piece of garbage. Well, her vocals at least. For as brilliant as Crystal Castles’ debut is, there are just moments when she comes in and ruins everything with her whiny screams. Fortunately, tracks are more than skippable, and if you do yourself the favor of not loading those songs on your iPod you’ll find that the rest of this album is absolutely amazing. This coming from a guy who up until about a year ago swore off of most types of electronic music.

#16: Sia: Some People Have Real Problems – Sia’s third LP is easily her best, and fortunately, her most commercially successful. Throwing away much of the melancholy from her past albums, Sia returned with a triumphant, exuberant record that displays the full talent of her voice and, in my book, clears her a spot right up towards the top of the greatest vocalists of all time. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, if only on the inside, and you’ll keep listening to it for months. Just an awesome album.

#15: My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges – Note to Jim James: lose the falsetto, it doesn’t work. Honestly, MMJ’s frontman’ s vocals were sketchy enough as it was, but the Prince impression is severely lacking. The best moment’s from Evil Urges were reserved for when the band was doing what they always do; play great, southern-tinged rock music.

#14: The Notwist: The Devil, You + Me – In my review for this album I stated that it doesn’t necessarily succeed expectations as much as it does defy them. I’ll stick to my guns on that one, for as much as The Devil falls short of the band’s 2002 masterpiece Neon Golden, it is still an amazing album that I think most were not expecting. The band’s addition of strings and prominent guitars make for an interesting if not entrancing listen.

#13: Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes – If there were one reason why you should read this list, it’s for this: Fleet Foxes is not #1. Take a deep breath. Get it all in there because you won’t see that often in 2008. Now I loves me some Fleet Foxes, that’s why they beat out some of my favorite bands to make it this far on the list, but their debut is not the perfect album that many are making it out to be. It is focused, moody, it makes you feel like taking a trip to Appalachia, but as far as bringing out emotion, action, thoughts out of the listener, there are others that just did it better this year. They are as follows….

#12: The Streets: Everything is Borrowed – Sometimes music critics just sort of blow my mind. For they most part, they had nothing but praise for Mike Skinner’s first two LPs and nothing but disdain for his last two. I’ll go ahead and advocate the opposite, because to me, the artist has finally come into his own. He’s finally making songs that are more universal, more catchy, could actually be considered hip hop. Everything is Borrowed is far from perfect, and it may not be as emotionally gripping as his past albums, but to call it a dud would just be an injustice.

#11: Portishead: Third – The only album I rated with a 9 this year that fell out of the top 10, Portishead’s comeback album still deserves a hell of a lot of credit. Were I a depressed college kid, this album would have easily been closer to the top of my list. But 2008 was a good year for me, and I found myself happier than I’ve been in quite a few years. As such, it doesn’t seem right for me to move this album higher when I just couldn’t devote myself to the doom and gloom that it bleeds. Still, if you find yourself with black hair, black clothes, and a razor blade fantasy, check it out. At least you won’t be 100% stereotypical.

Video of the Week – Week 72

Hey. How’ya doin’?

Does everyone remember that gripping, totally enthralling piece of writing I did yesterday? Well, in it, I made sure to mention that the first single to the new Ladytron album, Velocifero, is titled “Ghosts” and is really quite awesome. In an attempt to share that awesomeness with you, I’ve decided to post the video to that song. Enjoy it. k?

Ladytron – “Ghosts” from the album, Velocifero.

Ladytron: "Velocifero"

From their earliest moments, Ladytron was always a band that was so far left of the norm that any mainstream success seemed like a far-fetched fantasy.  With thick synths, harsh vocals, and nothing that sounded even remotely ordinary, they eventually gained some sort of widespread recognition with cult hits like “Seventeen” and “Destroy Everything You Touch.”  Their most recent album, Witching Hour (2005), was a giant leap forward for both the band, and their unique style of electronic pop.  Velocifero continues this trend with songs that are much easier to swallow without completely disowning their signature sound.  Simply put, Velocifero is easily the most accomplished Ladytron album to date.

The album begins with could generally be considered the antithesis of my above statement.  “Black Car,” a song whose vocals are spoken in Bulgarian, doesn’t immediately sound like the most listener-friendly of songs.  But this bizarre opener is completely infecting with its compelling drum beat and layers of bell synths.  While the lyrics are really the only thing worth complaining about, one can’t really fault the group’s artistic vision, as the song is still quite enthralling.  On the other hand, “Ghosts,” was seemingly hand-crafted to be Velocifero‘s first single.  Like “Destroy Everything You Touch” before it, the song has an abnormally catchy vocal melody and anthemic instrumentation.  Even in my first listen, I found myself humming along to the chorus of, “There’s a ghost in me/ who wants to say “I’m Sorry.”/ Doesn’t mean I’m sorry.”  By my second listen, I was singing along with them.

Ghosts – Ladytron

The upbeat and driving, “I’m Not Scared” is perhaps the most appropriate song on the album, considering that “Velocifero” translates to “bringer of speed.”  It may also be the loudest song, though I don’t really know what word translates to “bringer of bleeding ears.”  Were I a betting man, I would have no issues with betting on “Runaway” being the album’s second single.  The instrumentation here is a bit more thinned out than on the song it follows, and the song’s topic is just begging it to be the next theme song for every rebellious teen on the planet.  That’s not to discredit it, however, as “Runaway” is easily one of the band’s strongest songs to date, despite the fact that “my little runaway” is repeated endlessly towards the song’s end.  “Season of Illusions” and “Burning Up” don’t really have much to offer and really drag the album’s momentum down (which apparently is possible).  The latter really has a classic Ladytron sound to it, so the more loyal fan my find it enjoyable.  I, however, do not.

“Kletva” again brings back the Bulgarian language, though this time it is sung rather than spoken.  Like its contemporary, the song is really very intriguing.  For most of the song’s first two minutes, the band uses a  very eclectic mix of synth sounds, and the result is unlike anything I’ve heard from them before.  It is very, very cool.  ‘They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name” is another candidate for second single, with a very clear and pretty vocal melody.  Its got a noticeable groove to it, and Helen’s vocals are really in top form as she sings “They gave you a heart/ they gave you a name/ released to the wild/ with no one to tame.”  “Predict the Day” takes an alternate approach, using much harsher drums and synth sounds, but doing so in an enjoyable manner.  Unfortunately, the vocals on the song are kind of weak, and I’ve found myself just longing for an instrumental version of the song.  The instrumentation on this one is undoubtedly Velocifero‘s best.

“The Lovers” clocks in as Velocifero’s shortest track, but still manages to be a favorite of mine.  The song sounds like a Death Cab for Cutie song with all instrumentation replaced by crazy electronic instruments.  The anthemic declaration of “We are the lovers,” just sounds like it was ripped from a Ben Gibbard songbook.  “Deep Blue,” meanwhile, sounds more like a throwback to classic New Wave sounds, albeit with a Ladytron twist.  Here, Mira sings, “Deep blue, I want to give it all to you/ Deep blue, I know that scares you,” over some truly great instrumentation that even includes a violin (a real one!).  The band ends the album on a high note, with “Versus,” an unbelievably cool sounding song.  The addition of an acoustic guitar, trumpet, and whistle give it a very distinctive spaghetti-western vibe.  It seems completely out of character for a band like Ladytron, and perhaps that’s why I simply can’t get enough of it.  

As with any Ladytron album, I am going to have some complaints.  The big one, of course, is the fact that the vocals never blend well with the music.  When you have so many layers of instrumentation going on, this is bound to happen – as it has on almost every Ladytron song so far.  It is no fault of their own,  just an unfortunate byproduct of the type of music that they so masterfully create.  Any fan of the band will expect this, however, so as long as you know what you’re getting into, this shouldn’t be a problem.  I also feel that the album could be about 2-3 songs too long, and could have used some trimming.  Of course, these are only small, insignificant asides to what is an otherwise highly enjoyable listening experience.  Velocifero is definitely my favorite album that Ladytron has crafted thus far, filled with so many unique styles and sounds that it can only be described as “stunning.”  With each album that the band puts out, they slowly inch towards mainstream acceptance.  Velocifero may not be the one that does it completely, but it will certainly recruit more unsuspecting listeners to their unique, enchanting style.  Perhaps that is good enough.

Key Tracks:

1. “Ghosts”

2. “Runaway”

3. “Kletva”

4. “They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name”

5. “Versus”

7 out of 10 Stars

Buy from Amazon  |  Buy from Insound  |  Buy from iTunes

Note:  Velocifero is available exclusively on iTunes through June 3, 2008.