Ohmpark » Best Of 2008

Ohmpark’s Top 50 Best Albums Of 2008

Davy Minor — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:41:29 +0000

2008 was such an fun year to catalog. It was the year where musical events rumoured to occur for so long they had become jokes finally came to pass, like the return of My Bloody Valentine and Portishead, and the release of Chinese Democracy. It was the year Radiohead made their victory lap after being all but crowned the best band in the world. Despite Jack Johnson turding on every event possible, it was a banner year in the golden age of American music festivals, a far cry from the fiery riots of Woodstock ’99. It was a year of political change and almost every musician on Earth voiced their opinion.

There were two prevalent, important trends in music of 2008. First, the continued mass saturation of fuzzy, purposely distorted production carrying on traditions from the likes of The Jesus And Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. It is a rebellion against the perfect pitched, flawlessly clean production of the “artists” that dominate the Billboard charts and FM radio and has become a calling card for music of this decade. Second, where 2007 was the year Animal Collective established themselves as one of the decade’s greatest, 2008 was the year where they clearly became one of the decade’s most influential. For better or worse, no band’s impact on 2008 was felt stronger than the Collective. The worst trend of 2008 is the auto-tune vocoder vocal fad in hip-hop/R&B music, continuing the genre’s march towards insignificance and self-parody that modern country music has been on for some time. The year’s best, such as Lil Wayne, Nas, and Q-Tip, only serve as exceptions to the rule rather than innovators who can move things in a different direction.

Looking at the sales numbers, doom and gloom continues to haunt the music industry as music sales persist in falling. Increases in digital downloads, especially in single songs, have not made up the gap in decreasing physical album sales. Vinyl sales actually more than doubled from last year, and over two thirds of those sales came from independent record stores. Trends like that and the increasing success of Emusic continue to show a dichotomy between major labels struggling and independent music having reasons to be optimistic. These economic conditions may be bad for businesses and the bottom line, but the causal implications bode well for people like me who champion music as art before entertainment.

CONTINUE READING Ohmpark’s Top 50 Best Albums Of 2008 (7,852 words)

Photos: Year In Review 2008

Clint Miller — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:09:28 +0000

Here are my favorite photos that I took this year.

#10- Jeffrey Lewis and the Jitters

See more photos from this set here.

#9- Jason Collett

See more photos from this set here.

#8- Evangelicals

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#7- Fuck Buttons

See more photos from this set here.

#6-Phosphorescent

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#5- A.Armada

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#4- All The Saints

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#3- Built to Spill

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#2- Deerhunter

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#1- Of Montreal

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Ohmpark’s Top 20 Best EPs/Short-Length Albums Of 2008

Davy Minor — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:57:51 +0000

I decided to do something a little experimental this year with my best EP list. When I was comparing very short “full-length” albums to longer albums on my best LP list, I kept wanting to hold the time duration against the shorter album. Also, it seems the difference between EPs and LPs can be a bit arbitrary sometimes, so I decided to just draw a line completely based on album length to split up my best album lists. This list, then, is the best of all albums less than 35 minutes, regardless of what the record is labeled. I’m happy with the end result, as I’m able to really highlight some extremely worthwhile briefer albums and it made the competition on this list a lot tighter. When you really think about it, any classic album this short feels like it is in a different weight class. I want to give an honorable mention to Cynic‘s Traced In Air, Parade‘s Ghosts, and Mount Eerie with Julie Dorion and Fred Squire‘s Lost Wisdom because all three were awesome, but here are the 20 best albums under 35 minutes:

CONTINUE READING Ohmpark’s Top 20 Best EPs/Short-Length Albums Of 2008 (1,687 words)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Armada, Abe Vigoda, Air France, Animal Collective, Antony, Beck, Best Of 2008, Crystal Antlers, Cynic, Experimental Dental School, Moscow Olympics, Mount Eerie, No Age, Oh No Oh My, Slushco, This Piano Plays itself, Trail Of Dead, Twin Tigers, Women

My Favourite Songs of 2008: Ohmpark Mixtape #6

Davy Minor — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:57:45 +0000

So here is a playlist comprised of many of my favourite songs from the year. Not all of my favs are here, but I think all of the essentials are in it. I tried my best to build this as a flowing playlist more than just a collection of songs, so the order and even some of the selections reflect that. I really need to do more mixtapes. Based on Hypemachine/elbow popularity, I know everyone loves that Fleet Foxes song, but I decided instead to treat you to a better song from one of the bands that FF is ripping off. Anyways, here is an hour and half of the best songs of 2008. Jam them hard while you can, because in about 3 days they aren’t hip anymore:

Islands : The Arm
Sigur Ros : Gobbledigook
Atlas Sound : Recent Bedroom
Kaki King : Life Being What it Is
MGMT : Weekend Wars
Department of Eagles : No One Does It Like You
Animal Collective : Water Curses
Antony And The Johnsons : Another World
Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron & Fred Squire : Voice In Headphones
My Morning Jacket : Touch Me I’m Going To Scream pt. 1
Beach House : Used To Be
Portishead : The Rip
Summerbirds In The Cellar : Now We Are Ugly Inside
Hot Chip : One Pure Thought
M83 : Kim & Jesse
Bon Iver : For Emma
Plants And Animals : Guru
Destroyer : Shooting Rockets (From The Desk Of Night’s Ape)
Deerhunter : Nothing Ever Happened
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead : The Betrayal Of Roger Casement And The Irish Brigade

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, Antony, Atlas Sound, Beach House, Best Of 2008, Bon Iver, Deerhunter, Department Of Eagles, Destroyer, Hot Chip, Islands, Kaki King, M83, MGMT, Mixtape, Mount Eerie, My Morning Jacket, Plants And Animals, Portsihead, Sigur Ros, Summerbirds In the Cellar, Trail Of Dead

The Top 15 Best Atlanta Albums Of 2008

Davy Minor — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:31:15 +0000

It’s been a banner year for the Atlanta music scene. The international success of bands like Deerhunter, Black Lips, and Mastodon over the last couple of years has put a spotlight on our city and many other artists are beginning to reap the benefits. I still believe that too many of our best and brightest are being overlooked, but that’s exactly why I do what I do. Looking back at my favourite local albums from last year, it seems this year’s class of studio work runs substantially deeper. I felt our scene is so overpopulated by albums worthy of recognition that I extended my original top 10 to a top 15 and I’m still leaving off a ton of really good records from Inside The Perimeter.

A couple of notes, there are a few local albums that have been self-released over the holidays, but I’m rolling them into consideration for next year’s list, and one album on here technically came out in the holiday season of last year. I didn’t do write-ups for this list as many of these are going to make my top LP and top EP lists in a few days, but if you are unfamiliar with any of these acts, I urge you to click on the “tags” below to see all of our posts on the artist. I know someone is gonna complain about Bradford Cox being involved with 20% of this list, but the guy is kicking ass in both quality and quantity of work, so don’t be a player hater. Here is the best Atlanta music of 2008:

15. The Goldest : The Goldest

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14. Gringo Star : All Y’all

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13. Atlas Sound : Things I’ll Miss

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12. Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun :

The Lightning Exhibit

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11. No Face : You Mean So Much To Me

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10. Nomen Novum : Mantis Man 7″

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9. Parade : Ghosts

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8. The Liverhearts : Ornament

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7. Lid Emba & Bobcrane : We Substitute

Radiance

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6. All The Saints : Fire On Corridor X

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5. Dead Confederate : Wrecking Ball

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4. Atlas Sound : Let The Blind Lead Those

Who Can See But Cannot Feel

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3. This Piano Plays Itself : This Piano Plays

Itself

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2. Slushco : When I Met The Boss Of Nova

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1. Deerhunter : Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

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© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: All The Saints, Atlas Sound, Best New Atlanta Music, Best Of 2008, Dead Confederate, Deerhunter, Gringo Star, Lid Emba, No Face, Nomen Novum, Parade, Slushco, The Goldest, The Liverhearts, This Piano Plays itself, Today The Moon Tomorrow The Sun

My Top 15 Favourite Concerts Of 2008

Davy Minor — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:16:31 +0000

According to my google calendar, I was at a show at least 80 days of 2008, and here are the 15 I enjoyed most. While I attempt to be as objective as possible in assessing my best albums lists, this list is completely about my subjective experience. Here you go:

CONTINUE READING My Top 15 Favourite Concerts Of 2008 (1,134 words)