As promised yesterday today we return with the DC Bands' selections of things they loved. ONCE AGAIN, we were unable to rally everyone in (though for all that pulled their shit, I mean lists, together last minute last night-THANK YOU) but we have everything on here represented from the bluegrass joy that was Junior League to the polished rock of US Royalty (who scored pretty high with the DJ crowd) to the miracle that are Le Loup and Jukebox the Ghost to well, EXACTLY.
clickclick here for the 06 recap for nostalgia sake and
proceed to enjoy:
True Womanhood Best of 2008
1. The formation of True Womanhood
2. Travis Barker and DJ AM survive plane crash.
3. Beach House performs for free at Soundgarden in Baltimore.
4. Crack heads burn down shack behind Velvet Lounge, nearly canceling True Womanhood show with the Mae Shi. Condom wrappers and dime sacks flow out from the alley after firefighters douse the blaze.
5. Timpani fits through every club door.
6. Man shot in face in front of True Womanhood concert survives.
7. Homeless man in downtown DC sings Stevie Wonder songs daily, shits on church steps, regularly wears "Hello! My name is: Allah" name tag. Can surprisingly keep a tune.
8. The Homosexuals' front-man asks Ben's Chili Bowl server if he recognizes the man on the back of his jacket (it was Martin Luther King Jr.). An awkward moment follows.
9. Man sells 1969 blue line Ampeg SVT bass amp on Craigslist. Unwittingly lights the amp on fire. Thomas gets it for $100.
10. Andrew Bucket's vlogs.
The Dance Party
here are our lists:
danny
best shows of 08:
1.kix reunion at rams head
2.tdp at 930 dec. 27
kevin
best of dc 08:
1. Comet Pizza. Indie rock shows from Greenland to Urban Verbs, cheap pizza that tastes good, secret passage bathrooms, and 2.50 Pabst in CHEVY CHASE of all places. cant go wrong.
2. The DC bro-scene is spectacular. From Chris Burns to Jesse Bishop to the 24 hour Middle Distance Runner bro pad, there's always an epic bro-sesh around the corner and a 30 pack that needs to be crushed.
3. The return of tech guitar solos. Be on the lookout in 2009. noise guitar, get ready to take a backseat.
4. Girard Street Studios. Where else are Indie rock records getting made and hot rap video chicks are doing photo shoots for King Magazine and XXL SIMULTANEOUSLY. Only in DC.
mick
out for 08:
1.shirtfulness
2.frenching
3.taking care of business
in for 09:
1.shirtlessness
2.necking
3.doing business with friends
Middle Distance Runner
Nice to see a deserving local take off, opening for the likes of Xiu Xiu and Jenny Lewis, and then move to the city of my birth (San Francisco, sucka!).
US ROYALTY
There have been scores of lists published touting the best of music for 2008 and alot of our picks have been on these lists so we are going to give you what we discovered, heard, or saw over the past year. These are things that made U.S. Royalty happy in 2008.
Australia - Not the movie but the music from that fair continent. Alot of what was hot this year eminated from those fair shores. Cut Copy, Empire of the Sun (one of our personal faves), Bag Raiders, The Presets, LadyHawke, Pnau, Grafton Primary, Fleet Foxes (not really from there), and Miami Horror. Plus The Avalanches are from there.
Bass Lines - Were so essential this year. Just listen to anything that Fred Falke remixed or produced.
Booty Brothers Western Wear - It's somewhere of I-95S in North Carolina near the South Carolina border and it's where I got my first pair of Luchese Boots. Two floors of wall to wall racks of boots ranging from alligator, snakeskin, to horse hide. Its got some good southern charm and the service is great.
Sun Kil Moon - Ok I was going to try and stay away from "08 releases but this one I don't think got enough attention. Beautifully constructed and ever so gentle on the ears, Mark Kozelek has been crafting these types of melancholy tunes for over a decade. It continues with his new album, under the moniker Sun Kil Moon, and doesn't disappoint.
Miami - Never saw it coming. We had heard of the city but had no idea what it had in store. Between the art deco, all night hotel parties, saltwater pools, all around good weather and sun, this city became one of the cities to get back to in 2009.
Lee Hazlewood - I heard him singing Summer Wine with Nancy Sinatra and assumed it was Leonard Cohen but I was quickly corrected. While they both share similar vocal ranges, I was about to be introduced to a whole collection of genius songs written by the man. Do yourself a favor and go look him up and if you have heard him, get a nice glass of wine and throw on the Nancy and Lee record.
Blonde Acid Cult - Saw these guys randomly at a club we were DJing at up in NYC a few months ago and were pleasantly surprised. Mixing soul with that Britpop backbeat and killer live shows, they won us over. We brought them down to DC to play with us back in October and if you missed it be sorry. But 2009 will hold good things for these guys and be sure not to miss out next time.
About A Son - Some of us were never that into Nirvana growing up but after watching this film, it made me go back and re-examine their catalogue.
Tune Inn - Cheap beer, good food, taxidermy, and good friends made this one of our favourite joints to hang out at this past year. It's located on Capitol Hill/Eastern Market and if you haven't checked it out, make sure you do it in 2009.
There were many more great things this past year but we are already looking to 2009 to be even better as I'm sure all of you are as well.
JUKEBOX THE GHOST
These United States - A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the
Garden of Eden. We're good friends with these guys from D.C., but that
has nothing to do with my year-long obsession with this disc. The
trippiest folk album I've ever heard.
Dr. Dog - Fate. I noticed that this album got some weird
review-website/blog negativity, which seems totally baffling to us.
"The Breeze," the album's opening track, is probably my favorite song
on any album of theirs.
Pretty & Nice - Get Young. The guitar on this album is obscene. Nasty.
Think angular, early XTC meets angular, early Of Montreal and you'll
get a sense of where they're coming from. We're good friends with
these guys, but once again, that has no relation to the album's
excellence. Piranha has got to be the best song I've heard all year.
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line. We've played some shows with these
guys/girls, and the record epitomizes everything we love about them. A
beautiful and sad album with great songwriting and arrangements. It
ends up being played in our tour van constantly.
WHY? - Alopecia. I love pretty much everything Yoni Wolf puts out, but
this album is probably his best, most mature album yet. The second
track, "Good Friday," is one of the darkest break-up songs ever
written, and the album just gets darker from there.
Jewish-anxiety-hip-hop at its finest.
Champollion - Champ: A Space Opera. We recently met the
producer/brainchild behind this album at his studio in Brooklyn and he
passed off a copy of the disc. I'm a bit of a nerd for
outer-space-related things, so this album really whets my appetite for
space-dork-rock-opera. Oh yeah, and the songs are excellent too, of
course.
Other honorable mentions:
Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual.
Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Wale - Mixtape About Nothing
Ra Ra Rasputin
My favorite releases of 2008
By Patrick Kigongo of Ra Ra Rasputin
Ringo Deathstarr "Summer 2008 EP"
Ringo Deathstarr effortlessly combine the melodies of the Jesus and Mary Chain with the earsplitting volume of My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Ra Ra Rasputin opened for these guys earlier this year and since then I've become a huge fan. I used to be suspicious of shoegaze revival bands, but these guys have all details nailed down and still manage to add their own unique touch. "In Love" is probably the best song that the JMC never wrote. And not only are they great performers, they're seriously down to party. In fact, I look forward to another long night of drinking the next time you guys come to DC.
Clipse "Play Cloths Mixtape"
Despite the fact that they've had some bad luck with record companies, Clipse continue to reinvent cocaine rap. In my opinion, the only artists who are as talented at poeticizing the ups and downs of a dealer's lifestyle are Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. Nonetheless, it’s good to know that Pusha T and Malice still have their swagger, in spite of their label woes. Seeing as I have no idea when their next album will be out, this mixtape will have to hold me over.
PS What is up with hip-hop clothing lines always being delayed? Play Cloths was supposed to hit the boutiques ages ago!
Portishead "Third"
"Dummy" and "Portishead" were fantastic, but due to their relatively accessible sound, the pair quickly became the soundtracks to many a bourgeois dinner party. "Third," however, is a darker and more jarring affair. Sonically, it's probably too adventurous for folks who like to wax poetic about the joys of hollandaise sauce. You can hear echoes of Einstürzende Neubauten, Can, Joni Mitchell and the Velvet Underground. Singer Beth Gibbons' manages to sound more tortured and desperate than ever before. Fucking hell, this album was totally worth the ten-year wait. It’s just a shame they declined to play the festival circuit. This album deserved to be heard everywhere.
MOJO Magazine presents "Beloved."
Normally the CDs that come with MOJO are better used as coasters. But the disc that came with the March 2008 issue is a big-time exception. This compilation would sit comfortably between classics like Creation Soup, Volumes 1-5 and Cherry Red's "Pillows & Prayers.” All the titans of British indie music are represented on this disc: The House of Love, the Monochrome Set, McCarthy, Orange Juice, and of course, Felt. And as a bonus there are rarities by the Teardrop Explodes and Gist. Ahhhh, there are few things I love more than jangling guitars and busy drumming.
U2 "Under a Blood Red Sky"/ “Live at Red Rocks DVD” (Reissue)
It’s incredible how U2 commanded the stage like they were the biggest band in the world before they became the biggest band in the world. Their 1983 performance at Red Rocks used to be a staple of late night public TV, and MTV used to edit the concert into individual music videos. Brilliantly expanded and repackaged, this CD/DVD set should serve as a reminder that no matter how annoying Bono may be, his band's contribution to pop music can’t be understated.
New Order “Movement” (Reissue)
I had a chat with John Foster about this album recently, and he argued that Rhino had done a sloppy job on the liner notes and remastering of “Movement.” (The reissue has since been recalled due to “sound quality issues”). But the fact that New Order’s debut album is finally getting the deluxe treatment means that maybe more people will begin to appreciate it. (Movement is still my favorite New Order album). Furthermore, the inclusion of a second disc of the band’s non-album singles and b-sides allows the listener to better trace the evolution of band between 1980 and 1982.
Bloc Party "Intimacy"
I’m gonna say it now: Kele Okereke's is a dreadful lyricist. Perhaps if he'd actually paid attention while studying for that English degree, he wouldn't be torturing fans with his pungent brand of contrived poetry.
That being said, the production quality, song structure and sequencing of "Intimacy" make it the Bloc Party’s strongest effort to date. Aside from the dreadful "Mercury,” of course. (Question: What genius decided that “Mercury” should be the lead off single? Why hasn’t this person been punched in the groin?) While Kele's lyrics are still rubbish (he has the audacity to lift a line from "Heart Shaped Box" on “Biko"), he sounds less forced and awkward than he did on “A Weekend in the City.” In fact, he sounds incredibly sincere on tracks like "Signs." If only he could get away from this "Dear Diary" style of writing, he'd really be first class.
The Jesus & Mary Chain “The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides and Rarities”
4 CDs of the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Need I say more?
Young Jeezy "The Recession"
About two months ago, my friend Peter and I spent an afternoon listening to "The Recession" nonstop. Up until that point, I had been rather indifferent towards Jeezy. But thanks to a day spent driving around Prince George’s County singing “I need a vacaaaaaaaaation,” I now count myself among the believers. As foolish as it sounds, I regularly catch myself quoting lines from “Taking It There” and “Word Play” at work. I can only hope and pray that this man is invited to perform "My President" at the Inaugural Ball.
Lil Wayne "Tha Carter III"
That Lil Wayne was able to sell 1 million copies of "Tha Carter III" in its first week is a testament to the fact that he's doing something right. But in all fairness, I cannot write about him without giving some credit to Ghostface Killah. As it was Ghostface who first successfully blended hip-hop braggadocio with surrealism on the album "Supreme Clientele." But while Ghost used colorful language to embellish his outlandish storytelling, Weezy takes us to a more frightening and paranoid place. Even on the triumphant "3 Peat" it's evident that the Louisiana MC is still painfully aware of his mortality ("Two more inches, I'd have been in that casket. According to the doctor I coulda died in traffic"). I loved this album because it's so uncompromising. His thoughts begin and end with no rhyme or reason. The man forces you to navigate through his messy thoughts without any sort of a compass, leaving you come up with a suitable interpretation.
Meredith from Pash and Title Tracks
1) The Kills - Midnight Boom
What more could you ask for really?
2) Poor But Sexy
Best band in DC right now. No debating allowed.
3) Do It Offend You Yeah? - Dawn of the Dead
If I had someone to makeout with this is what I would have playing.
4) Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line.
Alexandra Lawn = cutest cellist ever.
5) Britney Spears - Womanizer Teenagers Remix
Like the original but better (it is possible).
FOOD FOR ANIMALS
The 2008 wildlist, broken into life and music segments (although when life is music, where is the line drawn?)
by VV/Maxmillion Dunbar of FFA
LIFE:
I hang with a core crew of buddies pretty consistently and we chill hard. We do a lot of record digging and watching Assault on Precint 13 and calling each other up so that we can look up records on discogs.com. Love y'all. Also I live with my brother again and its so good. I watch free movies at the AFI when I can. I make a lot of beats. I bought A LOT of records this year.
Food For Animals hit the road a ton, on our lonesome and with Mi Ami, from San Francisco. We went to Norway for the weekend which was kind of next-level. And we went to Japan, which was most certainly next-level.
Japan is beyond the beyond for me. Record stores just laugh at you and the food is amazing, except for natto, which is kind of like if beans and snot had a baby. My fav by far is some tako balls, dough wrapped around a little piece of octopus. There are also about 6 million fine women, and some of the cutest ones are also into brutal noise music.
FFA has another as yet unnamed album almost finished, but 2008 was when "Belly" finally came out. It got an EU release like a month ago, too. People definitely dug it, and we appreciate the love. This next one is gonna be that next shit, too. I promise.
Personally, I started a record label, Future Times, and I'm pumped about that to no end. Also started a new music project called The Beautiful Swimmers and the positive beach vibes will flow from a 12" soon enough. http://www.futuretimes.org
Ecstatic to see Obama get elected, and more than happy to party on U St. like a motherfucker when he did. I would like to see my man George Bush amongst others get arrested for torturing and wiretapping people, both acts of which were done blatantly in the face of laws against them. I think people need to talk about this more. Are we really going to let homie just dip out to Texas and chill??? Wring that bitch up!
MUSIC. I listened to/discovered a ton of older music this year that is amazing, but in terms of 2008, here is the music i dug, in no order:
everything on People's Potential Unlimited (the best DC label ever)
everything on Future Times
kyle hall - worx of art 12"
luke hess - dubout 2 12"
Golf Channel edits - Make Dance 12"
D-LO - "No Hoe"
Lovefingers - "Mexico"
Loud-E - Robolove 12"
rhythm based lovers - 12" and "boogie vision" 7"
z-ro - crack
peverelist - roll with the punches 12", infinity is now 12"
t-pain - "i can't believe it"
erykah badu - new amerykah
mi ami - african rhythms 12", ark of the covenant 12"
scuba - twitch (jamie vex'd remix)
omar s - psychotic photosynthesis (no drums) 12", the furthur you look..12"
move d - drone 12"
dam funk - burgundy city 12"
Boy Better Know - Microphone Champ mixtape
Gucci Mane - "My Plug Is An Alien"
Matzo & Pauli - "Kommahh"
Novamen - Lies 12"
Crunch - Funky Beat 45 re-issue (ain't like anybody heard this shit before it got re-released anyway)
JIM OF LE LOUP
Fleet Foxes - Beautiful!
That feud Jukebox the Ghost and These US had on this very site - Hilarious! And they're my two favorite DC bands even though Jukebox moved to Philly.
Bon Iver - Beautiful!
Dodos - it looks like I'm on an acoustic kick but this one is more crazy than beautiful.
Math Panda - I know too little about DC hip-hop but I've heard Math Panda and they're awesome (their album comes out inauguration day)
Barack Obama - As far as I know he didn't release any albums or singles this year but he's the best.
junior league
William Waikart:
Raphael Saadiq, "The Way I See It"
-Almost sounds like a lost Smokey Robinson record...and where else do you get to hear Jay-Z croon.
Eli Cohn:
Crooked Still---Still Crooked
A five-piece collaboration of young musical prodigies from the Ivy
League conservatories of Boston, Crooked Still dug deep into archival
field recordings of long-forgotten old-time tunes—conjuring the ghosts
of Appalachia—to produce one of the most richly creative and simply
gorgeous albums of the year, Still Crooked. In this, its 3rd
full-length album, Crooked Still resurrects these ancient melodies and
poems by weaving lush string arrangements with the mournful, airy lilt
of vocalist, Aoifa O'Donovan to create a soundscape that is at once
haunting and strangely uplifting. While O'Donovan's voice delicately
harmonizes with the Britneys Haas' fiddle and (Dr.) Gregory Liszt's
banjo to suggest images of something like Virginia mountainsides
covered in fog, the interplay of Tristen Clarridge's cello bow chops
and the thumping bass lines of Corey DiMario give Still Crooked a
pulsing, rumbling undercurrent that is edgy, often danceable, and at
times almost angry—even frightening. With a loyal folk following as
well as obvious crossover appeal, Crooked Still has been playing to
sold out theatres and clubs and adoring festival crowds all year.
Erik Lawrence (of the Levon Helm Band)- our saxophone player on "Mitchell Williams fo Govena"
1) Herbie Hancock encore performance at the Newport Jazz Festival 2008. One of the most incredible, forward thinking pieces of music I have ever hear
2) Joan Baez singing a new song by Steve Earl at the Americana Music Awards, September Nashville
3) Martin Sexton suprising me with a soulful, amazing, guitar/vocals on "Im a Happy Man", live radio broadcast
4)Jack DeJohnette sitting in playing double drums on a cocktail kit with the Levon Helm Band, Late September Woodstock
5) the Bill Frisell Trio at the Barbican in London (Jazzfest) playing music for silent movies- Buster Keaton, Boris Karloff, and animated films
Lissy Rosemont:
Levon Helm- Dirt Farmer
Vandaveer- woos the French
Rose sings on stage with Loretta Lynn!!!
Marco Benevento- Invisible Baby with Matt Chamberlain
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant- Raising Sand (singing "In the Pines" with Levon Helm in Nashville at the Rymen, Sept 2008)
The Moondoggies- Don't Be a Stranger
These United States drop TWO records in uno year!
Sadie Dingfelder:
I've been listening to alot of oldies this year. I don't think that counts.
SAADAT AWAN:
Mayra Andrade - Navega
Cesaria Evora - Cabo Verde
Jose González - In Our Nature & Veneer
These United States - A Picture of the Three of us at the Gates of Eden
DJ Rekha - Basement Bhangra
Celso Fonseca - Natural
Rupa & The April Fishes - eXtraOrdinary Rendition
Tycho - The Science of Patterns
Micropixie - Alice in Stevie Wonderland
Ruy Mingas - Temas Angolanos
BEST SONG:
Cocoa Tea - Barack Obama
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound: Beat of Our Own Drum (out Feb 24th)
This album starts with what is almost certainly my favorite song of the latter half of the year, "Baltimore is the New Brooklyn." I think they describe themselves pretty dang well by calling themselves "Otis Redding fronting the Stooges," although seeing as at least one member (B. Taylor - myspace.com/somnosom ) is from the DC area, I think "Marvin Gaye fronting the Make-up" is just as accurate. In any case, they also have what is maybe my second favorite song of late-2008, "Here Comes The Fall," which has been getting me through some times, I tell you.
Polly Pry: Spreading Like A Rumor (out Feb 13th)
Led by ukester Kristen Foster, Baton Rouge's Polly Pry recorded their album in a big Nashville studio with a big Nashville producer and some big Nashville session players, but don't let the N-word scare you away from their nearly perfectly simple songs about love, loss and occasional vandalism. She broke my heart and she'll break yours too.
So how about something that came out this year?
Woven Hand's Ten Stones continues David Eugene Edward's ability to make atmospheric, spiritual music that gets you right in the gut. This album, though, has more...something...drums probably, so it hits even harder. (Slightly related and great is the free and weird Danielson Alive EP, available from the Sound Familyre Label website http://www.soundsfamilyre.com)
Shelby probably already mentioned the new Division of Laura Lee album, Violence is Timeless, because it is great. And also our friends in These United States (who are probably somewhere here already) released, what, two albums this year? The newest one, Crimes, I don't even own yet, but as we played with them live, I know I already like it.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEASTLY:
Best albums of the year in no particular order.... made out with so many babes to these albums:
and for compare and contrast sake click click here to see what the DJs said:
Previously in I Heart DC:
- 2/13: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use:
- 2/13: 101 Reasons To Love DC-Part 1
- 2/10: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/9: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/8: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/8: Perfect Date Outfits + Outings
- 2/7: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/6: DC News You Can Maybe Use:
- 2/2: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use:
- 2/1: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use:
God loves a cheerful giver.
Didn't Alex, Peter and eddie form a band before the end of 2008? Where's their input?
Rockband doesn't count. These are "real" bands, that get paid, or at least a discounted tab at the venues they play.
There's no way eddie is in our band. You can be in it mikey as long as you remain a cripple.
Pedro - have you met me? Remaining a cripple is absolutely NOT HARD.
(Can we do a cover of Sexy Back?)
Try rocking a mean tamborine beat with those wrists, nancy.
it wasn't rockband, tsf. psssshh!!
we haven't booked a gig yet, but i'm sure by the end of '09 we'll be a household name. the only problem is that us royalty will have to give up their singer. that or we have to find a replacement drummer.
wtf, pedro?? i totally gave you your start. you'll never work in this town again, asshole.
"The DC bro-scene is spectacular." and i was unaware that they made 30-packs, i was under the impression that they only sold beer in multiples of six.
and more importantly, and maybe i didn't read closely enough, but the was not a mention of lykke li in any of these lists, though i did like the ra ra riot love. i saw them play at some obscure "venue" in fredricksburg and got to interview matt afterward and they are a swell bunch.
Amanda - they absolutely make 30-packs of beer. Once I got a rep to get me ten of them for a party.
That's 300 fucking beers. My roommate and I were drinking PBR for months (Dad), weeks (boss), days (truth).
also, not to go all 1st grade math nerd on everyone BUT 30 IS A MULTIPLE OF 6.
i was gonna say something, but then i was worried i might continue on some rampage about how amanda needs to zip it about lykke li already. i'm about to go pick up a 24 pack..
svet - thanks for pointing out how old i am.
eddie - i'll stop if you stop playing scrabble.
6,12,18,24,30,36,42,48... okay, got it. do they make 54 packs? or do they just recommend you get a keg at that point?
Lykke Li didn't make my list because I didn't hear the album in its entirety until just before New Years. By that time, I had already emailed this list to Svetlana and Libby.
That being said, Lykke Li is incredibly talented.
Ra Ra Riot? Yawn. Double yawn, actually.
Following up on Patrick's take on Bloc Party - (Cale will bitch slap me for saying this) but the lyrics are so truly awful as to be a major distraction for me and I couldn't really even listen to this album. I am sure I am missing out on some angular rock joy but it really is that deflating...
Love that Patrick included that MOJO sampler though.
Ra Ra Rasputin - It's ok to admit you like U2. You don't even have to put in the obligitory disclaimer about Bono being annoying. You can just say that U2 is probably the #1 or #2 most important and relevant band of your lifetime. And all the haters can deny that - and be wrong.