The Top 31 Albums of 2008 (Pt. 1)

#31: Chris Walla: Field Manual – When I first wrote my review of Chris Walla’s debut album, I described it as a sort of “socially conscious” Death Cab-lite album that would serve as a nice filler while waiting for the next Death Cab album. I stick with that assessment today. With the exception of one or two songs, this album lost my attention by February. That Death Cab album, however, wound up being one of the most surprisingly satisfying albums of 2008!

#30: Magnetic Fields: Distortion – This too is another album that fell off of my radar rather quickly. The Magnetic Fields was one of the first indie bands that I really got into, and like many, I was disappointed with their previous album. Distortion is a much better effort by far. Though it takes some time to get used to the layer of distortion that plagues each track on the album, the songs that go on top of that are nothing short of the brilliance that we’ve come to expect from this legendary group.

#29: The Dears: Missiles – Of all the bands in 2008 that I thought would disappoint me, I never suspected The Dears, whose previous two albums had been masterpieces of moody, indie rock. Missiles ended up getting mixed reviews from critics, many of whom even put it towards the top of their year-end lists. I, however, found Missiles to be a remarkably drab affair with little of the tension and emotional pull of the band’s earlier work. It still wound up being a somewhat decent record, but several miles off from what I feel needed to be achieved.

#28: Tilly and the Wall: O – Who would have thought that a band who made their name by replacing a drummer with a tap-dancer would be able to make the jump from playground tomfoolery to edgy punk rockers? Answer: nobody, and personally, I wasn’t buying it either. I believe I originally gave this album a 5/10 score. Nowadays, I’d be more inclined to give it a 6/10. Sure that’s not saying much, but when you overcome all the nonsense you start to realize that there are some good tracks on O. Not all of them, clearly, but some of them.

#27: Mates of State: Re-Arrange Us – Mates of State made hints on Bring it Back that they were becoming adults but it wasn’t until the release of Re-Arrange Us that we all found out what that would mean for the group. What it meant was ditching the Casio for a piano, shelving shouting and yelling for soft, subtle harmonies, and taking the energy and trading it in for poignancy. Re-Arrange Us is in no way a bad album. But it is severely lacking in almost everything that I used to love about the band. Parenthood definitely makes a person grow up. I just wish they would have held it off for a few years.

#26: Sun Kil Moon: April – Mark Kozelek is a master of making repetitive, mediocre tunes into mesmerizing snapshots of life. He is a true artist, not someone who relies on gimmicks or “it” sounds to creating memorable songs. One gets the sense that deep down, he is aware of his flaws; his lack of compositional flare or his whiny, nasally voice. The remarkable thing is that he perseveres through these shortcomings and even uses them to his advantage in some cases. In the end, what you get is something that is never special, but more than ordinary. April is one of those albums.

#25: She & Him: Volume One – I’m a bit surprised to see She & Him winding up on so many year-end lists for the simple fact that the music contained on Volume One was in no way inventive, flawless, or even entirely memorable. While Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have made a respectable album with several catchy songs, one simply cannot ignore the nearly-mediocre vocals or the somewhat juvenile lyricism. Let’s face it, we all have a schoolyard crush on Deschanel, let’s try not to let that cloud our judgement.

#24: The Dodos: Visiter – Sometime in February or March (I can’t really remember when), I was in a musical drought with nothing new or interesting to listen to. Somehow I came across Visiter and, based off of favorable reviews, decided to give it a try. While not entirely perfect, The Dodos have managed to make one of the most inventive albums of the year! Just from listening it’s hard to gauge who their influences are. There’s some definite similarities with Glen Hansard and Animal Collective, but even that is reaching far. The important thing to remember is that what you’re listening to is good. Who it sounds like is secondary. Enjoy it!

#23: The Mars Volta: The Bedlam in Goliath – Redemption is a sweet, sweet thing. Over two years ago, The Mars Volta followed what many would consider to be their best album (Frances the Mute), with one that most would consider their worst (Amputecture). This year, TMV gave us a much more respectable record that, while not achieving the heights of their first two LPs, manages to get things back on the right foot. Here’s hoping that 2009’s TMV album (assuming that they continue to release a record every 18 months or so) blows ‘em all out of the water!

#22: The Little Ones: Morning Tide – This album crossed my desk around the same time that I first got a hold of Of Montreal’s Skeletal Lamping. The result, unsurprisingly, was a severe lack of attention paid to it on my part. As the year wound down, however, I discovered just how charming and delightful The Little Ones can be! Morning Tide is a pretty cookie-cutter indie pop album, and many will be deterred by the sheer averageness of it all. However, despite its lack of creativity, Morning Tide is an extremely well-assembled album that contains more than its fair share of potential singles and sing-alongles. I recommend that you all check it out, whether you really want to or not.

#21: The Wombats: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation – Call it what you will – punk, indie, a combination of both – but few can deny the sheer energy that this band exudes at every corner nor the infectious nature of that energy. The Wombats are not nearly as popular here in the States as one would expect, what, with such a marketable sound. I suppose that should tell you a lot about the state of music media in the US of A. But hey, good for Lil’ Wayne. Good for auto-tune!

Video of the Week – Week 78

I really do like The Wombats, folks, so I’m going to do everything in my power to get you to listen to them at least once.  Here’s a video to “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.”

The Wombats – “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” from the album A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation.

The Wombats: "A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation"

I was fortunate enough to have received (and reviewed) a copy of The Wombats’ debut EP here in the states back in February.  It didn’t take me a long time to fall in love with the band.  I found their witty tales of boy/girl woe to be irresistible, and the short, 5-song album really got me excited for their full length debut.  After only a few months of anxious waiting, it has finally arrived.  Does it live up to my expectations?

Totally.  All of the wit and charm that The Wombats displayed on that EP (not to mention, all of the songs) are still in full force here.  The intro-track “Tales of Girls, Boys & Marsupials” is a playful,  acapella  song that simply repeats its title for a minute or so.  As a “real” song, it doesn’t do much.  But as the first song on the album, it does a brilliant job of letting listeners know exactly what they’re in for.  It runs head on into what was the EP’s strongest track (and it accomplishes the same feat here), “Kill the Director,” in which singer Matthew Murphy compares his strange love life with a romantic comedy.  He memorably shouts in the song’s bridge, “This is no Bridget Jones!,” and I still can’t help but shout right along with him.  It’s such an awesome song!

That song is followed by two other “old” tracks:  “Moving to New York” and “Lost in the Post.”  Both songs are well-written, highly energetic, and incredibly infectious tunes, and it’s good to be able to hear them in the context of a full album.  It’s not until track 5 that I actually get to listen to some new material, and “Party in the Forest (Where’s Laura?)” is just as good as anything I’ve heard from the band up to this point.  Matthew’s vocal melody in the verse drags a little at points (as it does on “Lost in the Post”), but he more than makes up for it in the chorus.  “School Uniforms” is a decent song, but it can be a bit overwhelming on the first listen.  In this frantic, chaotic track, Matthew does make a few witty observations about childhood inadequacies.  My favorite is when he sings, “It all went downhill/ you grew tall/ I stayed the same/ I guess that’s just puberty/ making us boys always play a losing game.”  

“Here Comes the Anxiety” is the obligatory downer track.  After all, not everyone can be happy all the time, though you think with a song like “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” that the opposite would be true.  This song, the one they advertise with a little sticker on the front of the CD packaging, is one of the best “new” tracks on the album.  Matt sings, “Let’s dance to Joy Division and celebrate the irony,” though I doubt that many people in The Wombats’ target audience would understand why that would be ironic, or that they could even name a Joy Division song (even though he alludes to one in the bridge).  Personally, I find “Backfire at the Disco” to be a better dancing song all around, and as the lead-0ff track to their EP, it brings back memories of  the first time I heard the band.

“Little Miss Pipedream” is just as amazing as it was the first time I heard it, though the band has added a lot of electronic flutters and effects to change the sound of the song slightly.  Still, it maintains its self-depreciating charm just fine.  The next two songs, “Dr. Suzanne Mattox PhD” and “Patricia the Stripper” are both pretty forgettable tracks, though one can hardly blame someone for dismissing them when they’re sandwiched between “Pipedream” and the album-closer, “My First Wedding.”  The latter track is one of The Wombats’ best songs, and features everything from loud group vocals to thick, wet synths.  Matthew describes his experience in going to the wedding of a girl with whom he has a past.  He acknowledges that she wasn’t right for him, but notes that “She’s my heartless bitch that I just can’t seem to get enough of!”  Needless to say, a lot of drinking and hijinks ensue.

So once again, I’m blessed with the pleasure of being able to listen to The Wombats, and I have to say that I am once again very pleased with the experience.  To be honest, I was a bit afraid that the band’s attitude and style would wear thin on me in large, full-length LP doses.  To my surprise, A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation has only left me wanting more.  Though I’ve only had the album in my possession for a few days, it has already gotten more plays than I care to note.  For the most part, the highlights of this album are the songs that were featured on that EP that I keep bringing up over and over again (sorry ’bout that).  So if you’re just looking for a small fix, I totally recommend that you pick that one up.  But if you’re a normal person and you’re into bands like The Killers or Art Brut, you’d be dumb not to give this one a chance.  The Wombats may not be the most original bands in the world, but they sure are one of the most entertaining!

Key Tracks:

1.  “Kill the Director”

2. “Moving to New York”

3. “Party in a Forest (Where’s Laura)”

4. “Backfire at the Disco”

5. “My First Wedding”

7 out of 10 Stars

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The Top 5 Songs of 2008 (Well…So Far)

At the end of every year, Audio Overflow always has the big Top 31 Albums of the year countdown. It’s kind of a big deal. I literally keep a spreadsheet throughout the year and add and remove albums from it as time passes. But for songs, I tend to be a lot less set in stone. What I’m into changes drastically throughout any given year, so what may be a great song in January may have totally worn on me by June. So if you were to ask me right now what my favorite songs of 2008 were, I would respond with these picks.

#5: “Backfire at the Disco” by The Wombats, from The Wombats EP – It wasn’t too long ago that I was against anything that sounded remotely “punk.” Can you blame me? My only exposure to said genre, aside from Iggy Pop or The Ramones, was what MTV presented to me. That means, Blink 182, Simple Plan, Sum 41, and a whole lot of other bands that are too crappy too recall. But The Wombats are an indie punk band that I actually like. Their music is a little more complicated than their MTV counterparts and the melodies and lyrics are totally more enjoyable. This song is just a humorous little song that I can’t get enough. I totally sing along to it in my vehicle…in a British accent of course.

#4: “Market Girl” by Headlights, from the album, Some Racing, Some Stopping – This is one of those songs that may or may not make it through the year. As it currently stands, I find the guitars in this song to be absolutely infecting. It’s definitely one of the catchier songs that Headlights has ever made, which is saying a lot actually. I listen to this CD when I’m in the shower and this song always comes on right about the time I’m getting out. That means I always have to resist the urge to dance to it, because I’d be completely naked…and who knows what that could possibly mean about me. TMI?

#3: “Dark Leaves From a Thread” by Destroyer, from the album, Trouble in Dreams – I never got around to reviewing this album, mostly because I find Den Bejar’s work to be difficult to explain or critique. If you’re at all familiar with his work, though, you’ll know that this is one of his more enjoyable tunes, complete with a convincing vocal performance and (believe it or not) a melody that begs to be sung along to. When Dan sing, “Perfectly at home with this dread/ dark leaves from a thread!” I can’t help but syncopate head bangs with his lyrics. It’s just a really great song that proves that you don’t need actual lyrics to make a great chorus.

#2: “Mansard Roof” by Vampire Weekend, from their self-titled album – I can’t help it. Every time I hear the first three notes of this song, I must shout out, “I see a mansard roof through the trees!” with the biggest smile on my face. This song is one of the most enjoyable songs I’ve heard in quite a long time. It’s so charming, so energetic, yet lethargic; who couldn’t like every second of it? That’s pretty much all I have on this one. Listen to it and you’ll know what I mean.

#1: “Sea Green, See Blue” by Jaymay, from the album, Autumn Fallin’ – If you’re noticing a theme in the songs that I’ve listed so far, it’s that I totally dig a song that you can sing along to. If you can’t sing along to it, it loses a lot of points in my book. This song from Jaymay is no different. The odd thing is that I find myself whistling or humming the chorus (which itself is just hums) to this song at random times throughout the day, even if I haven’t heard it in a week. It’s just one of the best, most touching songs that has come out this year. I have a pretty good feeling that this one will end up in my top 5 by year’s end, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it stayed in the #1 spot. It’s simply that good. Listen for yourself in the playlist I’ve provided below.

The Wombats: "The Wombats" EP

Unless you’re from the U.K. (which I know at least a few of you are), you’ve probably never heard of The Wombats.  In just a few years, this Liverpool trio have gone from local crowd-pleasers to the “next big thing.”  With two import-only albums already under their belt, The Wombats are prepped and ready to invade the U.S. with a few dates scheduled in March of 2008.  This 6-song EP won’t be available to the general public until April 8th, but in anticipation of their arrival to our side of the pond, I’ve decided to review this one a bit early so that the proper “heads up” is given.

In listening to the first track on The Wombats, “Backfire at the Disco,” I was immediately captivated by the energy that this band brings.  Their sound reminds me a lot of Art Brut, albeit a less talky version of Art Brut.  In this indie pop/punk gem, vocalist Matthew Murray reminisces on the unfortunate happenings that occur on a particular night on the town.  He catchily sings, “It backfired at the disco, she she slapped me at the disco.”  He later reveals the cause of his misfortune, noting, “It was a chat-up line built not to impress, more a sleazy remark on her whorish dress.”  It’s quite the humorous number, and with a steadily rockin’ tempo, sing-a-long melodies, tight instrumentation, and brilliant background vocals, it’s hard not to imagine this one playing at your local disco.  A definite crowd-pleaser.

First single (I believe), “Kill the Director” is just as infectious, if not more so.  Again, Murray’s lyrics are quite humorous.  The song is about his inability to speak to a girl who “makes me feel seasick,” brushing off the song, saying, “Here’s another song about a gender I’ll never understand.”  In the unforgettable chorus, he pleads, “If this is a rom-com, kill the director!”  Again relying on a very punk rock style, the band excels in crafting an unbelievably catchy, danceable song.  So catchy, in fact, that you’re sure to find yourself shouting out “This is no Bridget Jones!” with the band, whether its in the privacy of your own home or at one of their shows.  It is an inevitable occurrence, so make the necessary preparations prior to listening to this one.

“Moving to New York” changes the vibe a little bit, this time opting for a more traditional indie rock sound.  However, it’s no less enjoyable because of it.  The lyrics also take on a more sober role this time around.  Murray recalls a horrible week and then plots a move to New York to start anew.  It’s got a pretty cool guitar riff, and it’s not a bad song at all.  “Little Miss Pipedream” is the EP’s first “ballad.”  Here, Murray sings about the oh-so-relatable  pipe dream of a girl.  He begins the song by singing, “I think the postman intercepts everything I try and send to you and I can’t say I blame him because I’d cheat a priest just to get to you.”  He spends his time pondering about her days and excusing her flaws, wailing “I don’t mind that she gets hammered and goes home with other guys.”  His voice tells a different story, however, and the sadness in realizing that his pipe dream is just that rings through all the silly lyrics.  It’s strange how something can be fun, yet still maintain its poignancy.  This song does a brilliant job of achieving such a thing, and I’m fully impressed by its ability to do so.

The EP’s final “real” song is “Lost in the Post,” yet another song about Murray’s numerous inadequacies in the dating world.  While the topic has been touched on on numerous occasions thus far, it seems to be what he’s most capable of writing of, and each song has its own unique spin on the theme, so disappointment is rare.  He once again manages to deliver one of the funnier lines I’ve heard in a while in, “She wanted Mary Poppins and I took her to King Lear.”  Ummm….there’s a pretty big difference there, but I get it.  I hate Mary Poppins too, and King Lear is awesome!  The EP’s last track is a CSS-remixed version of “Kill the Director” which doesn’t manage to capture any of the raw energy that the original had, instead replacing it with plastic  electronics.  Skip it.

The Wombats will be playing 3 dates at SXSW this year, so if you’re going to the festival I highly recommend swinging by and checking them out.  The band is an inarguably talented group of guys that are armed with an inexhaustible wit and infectious punk songs.  I can’t wait to hear more from them!  Fortunately, I won’t have to wait for too long; their debut album here in the States is due out later this year!

Key Tracks:

1. “Backfire at the Disco”

2. “Kill the Director”

3. “Little Miss Pipedream”

8 out of 10 Stars