Music Of The Weak: It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

At the end of each year I make a mix for my friends recapping the year in music.  What began years ago as mixtapes and mix CDs has now evolved into mp3 discs with 100 song playlists, without repeating a top-billed artist, attempting to cover as much musical ground as possible.  I get incredibly strict about the release dates—nothing released in 2007 or before is eligible for inclusion of the 2008 mix (which precludes not only monster 2008 singles like “Paper Planes” and “Flashing Lights,” as well as albums which did not receive wide release until 2008 like Dizzee Rascal’s Maths + English or El Guincho’s Alegranza, but also nearly ¾ of the excellent Quiet Village album, most of which was released earlier on a series of 12" singles.)  Drawing such a seemingly arbitrary line in the sand may seem pretty ridiculous—and, admittedly, it plays on my most OCD music-geek tendencies—but this year it also proved especially fascinating.

Comparing this year’s mix with last year’s mix, there’s a palpable difference between the two years.  It has been said (by people other than me, I swear) that 2008 has been a lackluster year for music.  In one sense, that’s true.  Plenty of great artists released sub-par work, go-to genres like hip-hop and indie rock turned frighteningly predictable, and there didn’t seem to be many breakout songs and albums.  Digging for gold among the rubble paid off, as it always does—but, man, was it hard work.  However, sometime around the year’s midway point, I realized that the great music I managed to find had completely transformed the way I listen to music entirely.

For one thing, I began to appreciate music that was both global and political in a way I hadn’t prior to 2008.  The music that stuck out for me—whether it was The Bug’s London Zoo combining dubstep and dancehall or Erykah Badu’s future hip-hop blueprint New Amerykah: Part One—was thoughtful, intricate, and forward-thinking.  Often, it had plenty of non-American or European influences, from Vampire Weekend’s debut to DJ /rupture’s globe-hopping Uproot.  But mostly, the music that stood out this year was packed with ideas.  Take Wale’s incredible The Mixtape About Nothing, which is a concept rap album about Seinfeld: Wale could have easily rested on the central gimmick, but instead he uses it for a launch pad toward 1000 ideas, intelligently discussing race and money, throwing down a whole lot of punch lines, and even getting Julia Louise Dreyfus to drop-in for a cameo.

I’d felt of all this for a while, but listening to my 2007 mix and 2008 mix in succession put the two years in even sharper contrast.  Only eight artists appear on both mixes—Vampire Weekend, Okkervil River, El-P, Lil’ Wayne, Hot Chip, Lloyd, LCD Soundsystem, and Of Montreal.  Of those, only two—Okkervil River and Of Montreal—put out full, official albums in each year.  That might lead you to believe that 2008 was a year dominated by new artists, but that’s only partly true.  My 2008 mix has representative artists from the last 30 years or so of music, with artists representing the 70’s (Al Green, AC/DC), 80’s (Guns n’ Roses, David Byrne) and 90’s (Portishead, Q-Tip.)  Both origin and sub-genre wise, this year was more diverse than ever.  For example, last year’s mix began with a nice chunk of Pete Rock/J Dilla/DJ Premier-influenced hip-hop, followed by a chunk of dance pop, followed by a chunk of post-punk.  This year, rarely do more than three songs in the same style rub up against each other.

The differences between those two mixes illustrates exactly what was great about music this year—you never knew what would happen.  With the industry at a potential breaking point, artists returned largely to making art for art’s sake.  Artists bent genres to their will, used albums to espouse political beliefs, and fought creatively to have their voices heard above the rest.  Portishead, Guns n’ Roses, and Jean Grae finally released albums after years of speculation.  Santogold, Vampire Weekend, and TV on the Radio made world music their own personal playgrounds.  The Bug and DJ /rupture explored the burgeoning genre of dubstep with widely different results.  Neon Neon, Quiet Village, and M83 asked new questions about old styles.  Girl Talk became even more of an iconoclast.

Over the next ten days, The Factual Opinion is going to cover a lot of our favorite music of the year.  Starting tomorrow, we’re going to count down our 30 favorite albums of the year.  We’ll also count down our 50 favorite songs, and have articles on some of our favorite genre-specific albums and other moments.  This is one of Tucker and I’s favorite parts of the year (and Nina is at least gracious enough to put up with us), and we’re extremely excited to share our music with you, in the hopes that it may also become some of your favorite music too.  I’m going to kick it off here with my 100 song 2008 playlist, because I think it presents a pretty rich tapestry of music that came out this year. 

One last thing:  Thank you guys for reading and supporting The Factual Opinion.  I’ve had a blast writing Music of the Weak, and I look forward to rocking it in the new year, but it wouldn’t be nearly as fun without the comments and support.  …And that’s about as saccharine as The Factual Opinion will ever get.  Now, the mix.  You’re just going to have to trust me on some of the transitions.

O n Some 2008 Shit

1. Erykah Badu – “Hip Hop/The Healer”
2. Plantlife – “Time Traveler”
3. Atmosphere – “Wild Wild Horses”
4. Big Boi – “Royal Flush (Feat. Andre 3000 & Raekwon)”
5. The Knux – “Fire (Put It In The Air)”
6. Little Boots – “Meddle”
7. Leila – “Deflect (Feat. Martina-Topley Bird)
8. Portishead – “Machine Gun”
9. The Raveonettes – “Sad Transmission”
10. Gang Gang Dance – “House Jam”
11. Paavoharju – “Kevätrumpu”
12. Lykke Li – “Little Bit”
13. Santogold – “Lights Out”
14. Stereolab – “Neon Beanbag”
15. Nôze – “Danse Ave Moi”
16. Lele – “Breakfast”
17. Hot Chip – “Ready For The Floor”
18. Max Tundra – “Which Song”
19. Moby – “Ooh Yeah”
20. Solange – “Sandcastle Disco”
21. Metaform – “Rock It Number Nine”
22. Robin Thicke – “Magic”
23. Estelle – “American Boy (Feat. Kanye West)
24. Lloyd – “Girls Around The World (Feat. Lil’Wayne)”
25. EMC – “Leak It Out”
26. Bun B – “Damn I’m Cold (Feat. Lil’Wayne)”
27. T.I. – “No Matter What”
28. Girl Talk – “Still Here”
29. Beyoncé – “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
30. Mariah Carey – “Cruise Control (Feat. Damian Marley)”
31. John Legend – “Green Light (Afroganic Remix Feat. Andre 3000)”
32. LCD Soundsystem – “Big Ideas”
33. Of Montreal – “Id Engager”
34. Air France – “No Excuses”
35. Ladyhawke – “Paris Is Burning (Cut Copy Remix)”
36. Cut Copy – “Lights & Music”
37. Aeroplane – “Whispers (Feat. Kathy Diamond)”
38. Thievery Corporation – “Vampires”
39. DJ /rupture – “Gave You All My Love (Matt Shadetek´s I Gave You All My Dub Remix): Iron Shirt/Capilano Bridge: Jenny Jones/Plays John Cassavettes pt. 2: Ekkehard Ehlers”
40. Jamie Lidell – “Rope Of Sand”

41. Quiet Village -- “Keep On Rolling”

42. Gnarls Barkley – “Going On”

43. Flying Lotus – “Melt!”
44. Nomo – “Round The Way”
45. Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80 – “Don’t Give That Shit To Me”
46. The Dodos – “Fools”
47. Sigur Rós – “Gobbledigook”
48. Vampire Weekend – “Walcott”
49. The Walkmen – “Postcards From Tiny Islands”
50. Frightened Rabbit – “I Feel Better”
51. Jay Reatard – “See/Saw”
52. Guns n’ Roses – “Better”
53. AC/DC – “Rock n’ Roll Train”
54. Boris – “Lazer Beam”
55. Dungen – “Fredag”
56. Soiled Mattress & The Springs – “Tidal Wave”
57. My Morning Jacket – “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 1”
58. Brightblack Morning Light – “Hologram Buffalo”
59. Fleet Foxes – “Blue Ridge Mountains”
60. Apollo Sunshine – “Money”
61. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – “Easy Does It”

62. Okkervil River– “Lost Coastlines”

63. Beck – “Chemtrails”
64. The Teenagers – “Love No”
65. Ra Ra Riot – “Too Too Too Fast”
66. Plants And Animals – “Bye Bye Bye”
67. Department of Eagles – “No One Does It Like You”
68. The Bug – “Angry (Feat. Tippa Irie)”
69. Busta Rhymes – “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On Em)”
70. Pink Skull – “Crambodia (Plastic Little Remix Feat. Ghostface Killah, Spank Rock, Amanda Blank & Plastic Little)”
71. The Roots – “Rising Down (Feat. Mos Def & Styles P)”
72. TV on the Radio – “DLZ”
73. The Mae Shi – “Run To Your Grave”
74. The Hold Steady – “Magazines”
75. The Last Shaddow Puppets – “My Mistakes Were Made For You”
76. Why? – “The Hollows”
77. GZA The Genius – “0% Finance”
78. Wale – “The Kramer”
79. Re-Up Gang – “20K Money Making Brothers On The Corner”
80. El-P – “Hoobity Blah”
81. Jean Grae – “Shadows Forever”
82. Kleerup – “Until We Bleed (Feat. Lykke Li)”
83. Invisible Conga People – “Cable Dazed”
84. Hercules & Love Affair – “Time Will”
85. M83 – “Kim & Jessie”
86. Alphabeat – “Fascination”
87. David Byrne & Brian Eno – “Strange Overtones”
88. The Sea & Cake – “Weekend”
89. Silver Jews – “Suffering Jukebox”
90. Sun Kil Moon – “Lost Verses”
91. Drive-By Truckers – “The Man I Shot”
92. The Mountain Goats – “San Bernardino”
93. The Streets – “On The Edge Of A Cliff”
94. Lil’Wayne – “Let The Beat Build”
95. Q-Tip – “Life Is Better (Feat. Norah Jones)”
96. Al Green – “Standing In The Rain”
97. El Perro Del Mar – “You Can’t Steal A Gift”
98. mr. Gnome – “Rabbit”

99. Black Mountain– “Tyrants”

100. Spiritualized – “Baby I’m Just A Fool”

-Martin Brown, 2008

Comments

[Sean Witzke]

Damn, that's a great list. Everything I haven't heard is getting downloaded.

No Telepathe, though? Or is that not officially released in 08?

[Tucker Stone]

I should've mentioned this earlier, but I've been on the receiving end of the Martin Brown mixtapes for more than a few occasions, and I have to say that they are quite honestly one of the most exciting things about music that can happen--and yes, I realize that's dripping with sentimentality--but after you've gotten one of these bad boys, and even more so in recent years, now that he's started giving them artsy covers to increase the possible resale value, you'll look forward to them just as much as I do if you care at all about what's going on throughout the year in tunes. There's a lot of fun things to happen when you get to spend time with Martin on a regular basis, so the yearly music mix certainly doesn't need to be the only reason for a friendship with the guy.

But I'll be goddamned if it just about couldn't be one all on it's own.

The next 10 days are going to be pretty crazy. I hope you--whoever you are--enjoy them.

[Kenny]

Oooooooh damn!!! I *badly* want a Marty Brown mix!!!! You're like my musical mentor. I've read a book based on an off-hand comment you made (the 33 1/3 Master of Reality book), I've gone out looking for music because of you (too much to mention)..... I'm soooooo excited to read about all the music you're about to praise!

There's a lot of groups on here I'm *really* excited to see! I *really* enjoyed the new Portishead album. I *really* *really* like Girl Talk. And I'm happy to see names like Santo Gold in the list.

I'm *really* super excited for all the upcoming albums that are going to be reviewed!!

[Marty]

Man, you guys are making me blush over here. Kenny, hit me up with your address, and I'll send you a mix when I do all my Xmas mailings: mcstankbooty@yahoo.com. Sean, same offer.

And, seriously, thank you guys for reading. It wouldn't be nearly as fun without ya.