Last night I saw a group perform at the Hotel Cafe right down the street from me. They were called Sonos and they were impressive. I had never heard of them before as I was mainly at the venue to see my buddy Joey Ryan play after them but I was delightfully surprised when I looked up to see a 6 piece acapella group start in on Radiohead's "Everything in it's Right Place". 

Lately I’ve been doing “New Music Tuesday” and the response has been, to my surprise, overwhelming. With the onslaught of cookie cutter bands who can barely play their instruments much less sing in the right key its hard to find a something to get excited enough to write about. This week I featured Jupiter One , a little interstellar four piece form New York. With production by Nic Hard (The Church, The Bravery) their songs are sonically pleasing and at times anthemic with hooks that I find myself singing after the first listen. Ok so yeah its a good album...but could these guys actually pull it off live? Fast forward to: 5 pitchers of beer with the band while waiting for the opening acts to finish up. I thought there was no way in their drunken state they could pull this off! They did. My girl threw up. I drove home.(anticlimactic ending)

Review by Zach Corbell

2008 was an amazing year for music. So many great albums and talented bands emerged this year making it one of the best years in recent history. I started this list out as a top 20 list then quickly realized there is no way on Earth that I am going to write 20 different summaries for each of those albums. Then I also realized it is really, really hard to rank my favorite albums of the year in a particular order with the exception of #1 on my list. My top 5 consists of the albums I probably listened to the most this year.

5. Los Campesinos-Hold on Now, Youngster/ We are Beautiful, We are Doomed

Ok so it isn't fair that these guys released 2 great albums in the same year so I lumped the album together for ranking purposes. It is also this lumping together of two good albums that elevates Los Campesinos to # 5 on my list. The melodies and instrumentation is undeniably fun. Even if some might cringe or even furrow their brows when they hear lyrics like " send me stationary just to make me horny" one can't help but have a good time listening to these guys. Songs like " You! Me! Dancing!" can really get your feet moving and your head nodding. So because this album makes me happy and rocks my socks it earns the #5 spot on my list.



4. Tokyo Police Club- Elephant Shell

Elephant Shell is an album of bountiful gifts. I can put this album on and instantly start bouncing around. The drumming in this band always gets me going. The bass lines reverberate my party muscles. The quasi-detached vocal stylings contrasting with the high hand-clap energy creates pure magic. Some people may disregard this album as a forgettable pop record but those people don't like having fun and are probably depressed.



3. Kings of Leon- Only by the Night

This album sexually rocked me. My pants quaked and the room rumbled when this collection of tunes hit the airwaves. I know a lot of long time fans of the band are complaining that KOL have gone mainstream and their old stuff is much better and they knew of KOL long ago and this isn't their best. But to those people I say; stop talking jibber jabber and start feeling how on fire your sex can be if you let it. The drumming is spectacular but I must give a special shout out to the bassist and his sexual bassing ways. So in summation... I liked this album.



2 Sigur Ros- Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust

This is Sigur Ros' most accessible album of all time. Some of you might begin to worry that the beautiful and intimate settings their prior releases painted was no more. But never fear because all the elements you loved about Sigur Ros are still largely intact but this time around they have used them to create an atmosphere of joy and hope. No more crying in the fetal position next to your bed, emo kid. The mood is lighter and melodies strong and hopeful. So largely because I am a sucker for pretty Icelandic vocal stylings this album goes #2 on my list.



1. Bon Iver- For Emma , Forever Ago

I can honestly say that this album will be go down as one of my favorite albums of all-time. Absolutely haunting and stunningly beautiful; It leaves the listener with a serene sense of remoteness. Some of you may know the background of the album; how it was recorded in a secluded log cabin in Wisconsin after the break up of lead singer Justin Vernon's previous band. He fled to this cabin to re-collect himself and in the process unknowingly wrote the best album of 2008. The environment that Vernon paints with his music mirrors back to this very cabin; a space where one can shed all the worry and anxiety that life handed us. An open space and a simplification of the everyday where we get back to the basic nature of ourselves. I know I live in California and shouldn't complain about weather but every time I hear this album I can't help but long for a bit of snow and a fireplace. His soulful yet pleasingly grainy voice rides a line between Sam Beam of Iron and Wine and Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio. His vocal phrasing and pronunciation turn his voice into a sonic force rather than just a simple deliver of words. His use of the falsetto is tasteful and employed masterfully. I really can't say enough good things about this album as I could probably break down what I love about each song till the sun goes down. From the first listen many months ago till today; this album still affects me deeply. So please if you haven't, listen to this album and look out for his " Blood Bank" EP due next January.

So I posted a while back about one of my favorite rappers Wale and his last mix tape " 100 Miles and Running". And I guess I am a little late to the party cause he seems to be more popular than I thought ( Pitchfork was on him in July). But that won't stop me, no way, no how.

I must admit that whenever I am listening to new hip hop I don't pay much attention to lyrical content. I guess it's kind of the way people approach most music; take it at face value then from there dig a bit deeper. My apologies to all of you who really key on lyrical content first and foremost. It was Wale's flow that really caught my attention; smooth with an deft ability to ride his beats and melodies confidently. But the thing that really brings him to another level is the substance behind that flow.

On his newest mix tape " The Mixtape about Nothing" ( Thank God for the proliferation of free music via the internet) he takes on daunting subjects such as race, the state of hip-hop and today's culture while keeping his lyrics poignant and efficient without any sense of heavy-handedness. It is a fine line to walk when you are trying to talk about loaded subjects like these because there is always the risk of sounding preachy or cliche'. He manages to handle these subjects well while injecting a good amount of humor throughout the mix. Did I mention that the mix tape centers around his obsession for the show Seinfeld?