Weird One This Year

Hope everyone had a nice New Year's Eve. We came back to Halifax that day after getting to see some old friends in Toronto, which was really nice but left me a little melancholy. We went to Gus', as planned, to hear The Memories Attack, but unfortunately they weren't headlining as I'd thought, and were in the middle of their penultimate song as we walked in the door. And I don't know why I thought The Maynards were playing that show, but I was wrong about that too. There was a bit of a weird vibe in good ol' Gus', as one of the bartenders there, Peter, had just died a few days earlier, apparently from being hit in the head by a mic stand while breaking up a fight a few days before that. We left early and hung out at Krista's for awhile, wished New Year's Baby Keith a happy birthday before he went to bed, watched the Dick-Clarkless (and therefore lifeless) Times Square countdown, and then trudged through 100 mph whipping snowflakes across the Commons to Johanna's, where I stayed up until six in the morning talking with her about the complexities of human relations.

New Year's Day was spent in our pyjamas watching the entire season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada on MuchMusic. I woke up to Alison and Johanna watching it, complained about it for half an hour, made fun of it for another half an hour, and then got to know all the competitors so well that I had to keep watching to see the outcome. Unfortunately, they didn't show the final episode because the cast of Twilight were coming to "the Much environment" to be interviewed live. Nico won, right?

Here's my top ten album picks for 2008. It's been a terrible year for music. I could barely find ten CDs in my collection that I bought this year. Seven of these ten were purchased in the past month, and three of those in the past week, so this is nowhere near as stellar a list as last year. I know everyone's sick of year-end lists, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

Beck - Modern Guilt
Underrated. It's full of memorable songs that will get not unpleasantly stuck in your head.

Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
A few stinkers on this one, but it's still a good Deerhoof album, which makes it better than most of the other crap out there.

Deerhunter - Microcastles
I didn't want to pay any attention to this band because I already liked Deerhoof (see above) and thought it might just confuse me. But Charles made me buy this album, and I'm glad he did. There are no time signature changes or childlike female vocals, just some beautiful psychedelic shoegaze that sometimes sounds kind of like the Flaming Lips. It's not confusing at all.

Dungen - IV
Maybe a little less hard rock than his previous work. Goes down easy.

Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Weird. In a really, really great way. Except for the song where the guy raps. Just skip that one.

M83 - Saturdays = Youth
This guy's always been pretty '80's influenced, but he really took it over the edge on this album. Clean, brittle synths and tragi-romantic themes for your inner miserable teen.

The Memories Attack - S/T 2
Heavy and catchy. A perfect combination. I hear they're great live, too. Sigh.

She & Him - Volume One
I have a crush on Zooey Deschanel's voice, although none of these songs sound as good as her singing in Elf. Maybe because she's not naked in the shower. I hear she just got engaged to the guy from Deathcab for Cutie. I wouldn't get into any black cars if I were her.

Tape - Luminarium
The second Swedish act on this list, but it sounds nothing like Dungen. Mellllloooooowwwww post-rock instrumentals in the vein of Talk Talk or maybe Another Green World-era Eno.

Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
The latest live album from Neil's vault of archives. Every one in this series is great. Keep 'em coming!

Special mention — most disappointing album of 2008:
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Blecch.

- Andrew