If you were going to listen to anything in the past 12 months...

[probablyoliver]

These won't be proper reviews or nowt, and there's no order to it, I'm just going to be telling you what albums, songs and bands have been awesome this year and you can all agree and tell me that I am wonderful. Let's start with the album at the top of Ollie's list this year, and an album which'd probably crack the top 5 of all time as far as I'm concerned. It is wonderful beyond all hope and belief!

PAS/CAL

"I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura"

Sounds like: The Beatles as recorded by Sufjan Stevens and produced by a drunk.

Best Song: Dearest Bernard Living

Songs about child molestation, rape, racism, gay-man-love, greed and being hideously ugly have never sounded so upbeat and fun, the instrumentals are erratic, powerful and dancey whilst the vocals always seem to have some kind of sinister edge to them. The lyrics are wonderful, the guitars plod along and the drums set the kind of backbeat that's needed for long winter journeys or summer days at the beach. 2008 has been a fantastic year for music, and PAS/CAL's feature length debut is the the closest thing we've had to perfection in the last 12 months. If you don't hear this album before you die, then you're most likely a fag.

Coming Up: Ollie talks about getting into Andrew Jackson Jihad, gives his true feelings on The Gaslight Anthem, and is all like "OMG IT'S BEEN ALMOST 15 YEARS SINCE WEEZER'S BLUE ALBUM!"

Edited December 11, 2008 by Gringo Starr

[METALMAN]

Sounds like: The Beatles as recorded by Sufjan Stevens and produced by a drunk.

I want this.

Edited December 11, 2008 by metalman

[probablyoliver]

It doesn't particularly sound like the Beatles or Sufjan, but every now and then you get a massive wave of Lennoness or Stevensism.

[probablyoliver]

Ollie's Top Twenty Tracks of 2008

20. Los Campesinos! - "It's Never That Easy Though, Is It (Song For The Other Kurt)" from the album "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed"

- There's something innately fun about Los Campesinos!, a kind of innocence about them that tells you that no matter what, everything's going to be alright, and that if everything has gone to the walls, then at least you can knock seven shades of shit out of the drum kit and have some fun with it. This is a total down-and-out unrequited-love song (something I've no doubt we've all had some experience with), and it's just a total break-down from our main man for 2 and a half minutes. It's glorious. "He's gonna get drunk and call you at 4 in the morning / I know!". Beautiful, this is the song that should be lighting up dance floors on Friday nights, because the kids would swarm right to it.

19. Okkervil River - "Starry Stairs" from the album "The Stand-Ins"

- I will forever go totally nuts at that bit before the guitar solo where in all his lead-singer glory, and sounding like he's just taken the Tom Waits bath of whiskey and cigarettes, the vocalist goes "and if you don't love me / I'm sorry". This track's all about the "oooooh"'s and the "aaaaaah"'s and the brass, it's just flat out wonderful. Sounds like the kinda song some guy would get up and do acoustically at a pub to try and woo a lady, only to fall flat on his face and have to wing it for the rest of the song without looking like a dickhead. If the year had finished 6 months ago, this would definitely be in the top 5, but it doesn't stand the test of time as much as I'd hoped.

18. Reefer feat. Busdriver - "Crony Island" from the album "Reefer"

- I am eternally grateful to Reefer, because it lead me to discover the wonderful, wonderful Busdriver, one of the smartest, wittiest and downright coolest rappers in the game right now, and this song is a great way to discover him. This song is fantastic, it's just chilled out, beach-rock with a banging chorus; "Ain't got / Ain't got no friends or nothing / It's just me / Me and my coconuts / Dig In / Ahoy the sandy man / Take a dip / Come back to land again / On Crony Island". Totally wonderful.

17. The Wedding Present - "Soup" from the album "El Ray"

- The Wedding Present have been plugging away for around 20 years now, and every album seems to offer something absolutely wonderful, and this year's El Ray was no exception, with the typical loved-up Wedding Present style, filled with hopelessness, despair and falling in love with someone in a totally different weight class. Soup may not be the best song on the album, but it's the most accessible, and this list without a bit of David Gedge wouldn't be a list of the top 20 tracks of 2008. With it's catchy chorus, simple guitar structure and fantastic story of randomly realizing you're in love with someone it's absolutely sublime.

16. Q-Tip - "Johnny Is Dead" from the album "The Renaissance"

- When I discovered the likes of N.W.A., Run DMC and De La Soul, I instantly fell in love with the late 80s/early 90s rap scene, but I was never really able to get into A Tribe Called Quest, the band where Q-Tip got his start. I got this album a few weeks ago with somewhat low standards, and I was totally blown away by it's infectious beat and muffled guitars. Right from the opening track, it's a beautiful summertime record, and even though we're in the dregs of winter, this song brings out the blue skies and the big grins. It's been a great year for rap music.

15. Jenny Lewis - "The Next Messiah" from the album "Acid Tongue"

- This song makes me think I'm a cowboy, it's that damn good. Nigh on nine minutes of foot-tapping, gun-slinging, banjo-playing glory, filled with key changes, dual vocals and repetitive drums. Jenny Lewis drones on with her purely sexual voice as her male-counterpart retells the story of a western man who thinks he's all that; "Now my daddy was a chancer / He was a bad cheque bouncer / but if he had cancer / he's a survivor / he's the next messiah". It's a song to listen to whilst you're walking down the street, barging past those who are weaker than you and winking at all the ladies. It's just pure badassery from start to finish.

14. Katrine Ottosen - "The Lovecats" from the album "Perfect As Cats; A Tribute To The Cure"

- It's rare that a cover version adds a new twist to an old classic, and it's even rarer that that particular twist comes out with positive results, especially when it comes to a band like The Cure, who hit the nail on the head so often that the mere idea of a entire album of tribute covers borders on the insane, but Ottosen's version of Lovecats is so dark and different to it's original that it changes the mood entirely. From the original's happy-go-lucky fun-filled contemporary classic to this; an entirely eerie and downright frightening tale of sordid love. And the industrial bit at the end is just pants-on-head glorious.

13. TV On The Radio - "DLZ" from the album "Dear Science"

- I was ready to give up on TVOTR after "Return from Cookie Mountain", and while it was highly regarded as their best work, I just couldn't get into it at all, and I was ready to tick them off as a one trick pony with a couple great songs. But then DLZ came along, and I was reminded why I'd fallen in love with them to start with. With their shoegaze melodies, haunting lyrical style and climatic build, it just pulls together such emotion and power that you can't help but sit up and listen. Thye last 30 seconds, where it just goes totally minimalistic and almost silent are worth it alone. It still doesn't rival "Staring At The Sun", but my God it comes close.

12. Little Joy - "How To Hang A Warhol" from the album "Little Joy"

- The indie rock scene has become unbearable in the last few years, and it seems that every 'indie' band out there are trying to emulate their heroes as closely as possible, so much so that it brings down the quality of those that made indie what it is. But this, this is glorious. A collaboration between Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti and Los Hermanos front-man Rodrigo Amarante, it's just such simple, fun, lo-fi garage rock. Sounds closer to the Strokes than anything, but that's mainly due to the lyrics of Moretti. This is just 2 minutes of old-school indie bobbage.

11. Starfucker - "Florida" from the album "Starfucker"

- What'd music be without handclaps? It doesn't matter what band, album or song's on offer, you throw in some handclaps and it seems to throw in an element of fun. Not that this would need it. The constant beat-on-repeat style, the dreamy lyrics and dialogue-segue's make it one of the coolest tracks of the year. I'd heavily, heavily, heavily recommend the album if you like this, because it is purely wonderful from start to finish, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how awesomely wonderful Starfucler are.

10. Air France - "Collapsing At Your Door" from the EP "No Way Down"

- "It's all like a dream, isn't it?" "No better". This is what dream-pop should be about, this is four and a half minutes of absolutely gay disco dance fever, filled with cowbells, movie samples and heavy, heavy bass. It's the kind of song you could wake up to and fall back asleep to. It's repetitive, bass-heavy and absolutely fun. It's nothing ground-breaking, and it may not deserve to be on the best tracks of 2008 list, but I know that I've mellowed out and danced like a loon every time this song's come through on iTunes shuffle.

09. Hercules & Love Affair - "Time Will" from the album "Hercules & Love Affair"

- Anthony Haggerty could poo in his next CD sleeve and I'd gladly eat it up, and whilst this isn't an "And The Johnsons" record, he does feature heavily, and it's absolutely heavenly (see what I did there!). Seriously, as much as I love Anthony And The Johnsons, there is no doubt in my mind that Haggerty was born to play campy disco-house, and that's what he does on the Hercules & Love Affair record, he shakes his big old booty, oozes out his deep and haunting voice and creates a song that just craves attention. The rest of the album sounds like a Streets of Rage soundtrack, which is also awesome.

08. One Day As A Lion - "Last Letter" from the EP "One Day As A Lion"

- When I was around 13/14, there were two bands who I worshiped; Rage Against The Machine and The Mars Volta, and whilst Rage were broken up at the time, they were still the soundtrack to my early teenage years, so the idea of RATM frontman Zach De La Rocha and TMV drummer Jon Theodore teaming up to record an EP was amazing news, and it lived up to the hype, with its gritty vocals, non-stop drums and dirty, industrial sound, it was definitely worth the wait. Easily the best mosh I've had all year, and possibly one of the best mosh's i've had since the first time I heard either RATM or TMV.

07. This Town Needs Guns - "Gibbon" from the album "Animals"

- Grab a pot, we're about to do some musical cooking. Throw in one part yourcodenameis:milo, three parts Sunny Day Real Estate and spice it up with a few sprinkles of Minus The Bear, and voila; you have This Town Needs Guns, definitely one of the best new bands of the year, and without a doubt the new kings of post-hardcore math-rock. Odd time signatures a-plenty, and a great singalong, the angsty vocals and electric guitars all add up to an amazing album, and this, a tale of unrequited love and a firm fancy for someone who insists of screwing the protagonist over is the leanest and meanest song on the album.

06. Roommate - "Last Dreams of Summer" from the album "We Were Enchanted"

- Full-on, stick your head in the oven indie rock from Chicago's Roommate. The lyrics are glorious, the climax is bone-chilling and the piano loop is the most haunting and beautiful thing released this year. The string section towards the end is absolutely beautiful and it makes up for one of the greatest post-apocalyptic sing-alongs ever released. And that guitar solo! Oh my, it's just beautiful. There are no other words to describe it, it's a down-and-out look at the world from the outwards in, and it's so very emotional.

05. PAS/CAL - "Dearest Bernard Living" from the album "I Was Raised On Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura"

- I was asked what PAS/CAL sounded like by a friend a few weeks ago, and the only words I could think of were "Like the Beatles mixed with Sufjan Stevens, but produced by a drunkard", and it's so totally true, these guys can turn a song about rape, murder, pedophilia, gay-man-love and pure racism and turn it into a fun poppy melody complete with multi-instruments, duel-vocals, and harmonies unheard of outside of musical theater. Everything about this song is wonderful, but the vocals and the lyrics suggest that there's something much more sinister afoot. This is another one that would have been higher if I hadn't of pumped it out to death over the past 6 months.

04. M83 - "Graveyard Girl" from the album "Saturdays=Youth"

- It seems that every year some kind of Cure-ish track finds its way onto my iTunes and I fall madly in love with the 80s again. This year it's the turn of shoegazers, M83 and their stonking new album "Saturdays=Youth", this track is exactly what the album-title is about, it's just a chill-out-with-your-pals affair of synthesizers, 80s guitars and moody, echoed vocals. It comes right out of a John Hughes film, and there's nothing wrong with that, because it works so well. Plucked right out of my #1 album of the year, this song needs to be heard to be believed.

03. Neon Neon - "Dream Girls" from the album "Stainless Style"

- The idea of the lead singer of Super Furry Animals releasing a disco/hip hop side-project is odd as fuck, but it's totally lived up to the hype, and Neon Neon's debut is totally gay and totally awesome. The whole album follows the story of John DeLorean, the drug-trafficking, car-inventing international playboy who died a few years back, and every track oozes with 80s charm, wit and charisma that it just begs to be played at full volume down the motorway at the end of the afternoon as the sun begins to set. Everything about this song drips perfection, and it definitely deserves its spot so high on this list.

02. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Hold On To Yourself" from the album "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!"

- Nick Cave's latest effort has taken a fair while to grow on me, but when it finally did over the past few weeks, I was totally blown away, and this is the epicenter of it all, the epitome of post-rock and a devilishly apocalyptic tale of a man down-and-out of his luck. It's perfection. The guitars, the lyrics, the vocals, the bass, the drums, they all mesh so well together to create a song so powerful and so subtly violent that you don't stop to realize how good it is until it's over. Passionate and emotional, "Hold On To Yourself" came so close to being number one, but...

01. Why? - "Good Friday" from the album "Alopecia"

...This. This is just... Wow. I can't even say anything else, you owe it to yourself to listen to this. It's just perfect.

[Mr Evil Guy]

At least 14 of those I like! You picked a bit of my favorite songs this year. (Y)

The Hollows > Good Friday for Why? though.

EDIT: I forgot how awesome the ending of Good Friday is, though.

Edited December 23, 2008 by Mr. Evil Guy

[Jook]

Fatalist Palmistry > Good Friday > The Hollows

Although it's all pretty bloody good, let's be fair.