Year End Lists

The Stuff I Listened to in 2008 

This was not an especially great year in music, a lot of the things that caught my ear were derivative and sample-heavy. With the exception of Sam Phillips spectacular Dont Do Anything record, nothing took me by surprise and made me listen over and over again. The records I spent time with were remakes, Board tapes and box sets, which is to say stuff I knew (Shelby Lynne, Ryan Adams and John Martyn respectively).  I didn’t warmup to the hippie choir, democratic hallelujah of Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend etc. No thanks. I did, however, re-discovered dance-pop, in the form of the Brazilian Girls, Jazmine Sullivan and Britney mash-ups (the best being the Stevie Wonder/Britney mash-up) although dancing was  restricted to the living room.

Songs of 2008 (the ones that stuck with me through the year):

• Shelby Lynne – Just A Little Lovin’
• Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
• The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name
• The Hold Steady – Sequestered in Memphis
• Jazmine Sullivan – Bust The Windows
• Britney – Womanizer Blaster
• Christine Aguilera – Keeps Getting Better
• Love is All – Sea Sick

The Albums of 2008:

• Shelby Lynne – Just A Little Lovin’
• Grace Jones – Hurricane
• Brazilian Girls – New York City
• Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
• Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
• Santogold – Santogold
• Erykah Badu – New Amerykah
• John Martyn – Ain’t No Saint (Box Set)
• Sun Kill Moon - April
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig! Lazarus! Dig!
• Ryan Adams and the Cardinals– Cardinalogy
• Hayes Carll – Trouble in Mind

Memorable Concerts of 2008:

• Gutter Twins (Mod Club, Toronto)
• Shelby Lynne (Mod Club, Toronto; Richards on Richards, Vancouver)
• Sam Phillips (Hughs Room, Toronto)
• David Byrne (Massey Hall, Toronto)
• Bob Dylan/Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – (SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY)
• John Martyn  (Joe’s Pub, NYC)