As promised, here is Rollaroll’s Top 30 albums from 2008. Granted, I haven’t listened to everything, but out of what I heard this is what I liked best. 2008 was a great year for music, and there are still quite a few albums I would’ve liked to check out, including records by Terry Riley, Asva, Secret Chiefs 3 and John Zorn. Alas, no one has time to check out everything, but I’ll make sure I check out records by those aforementioned artists and musicians sometime this year. Note: The order in which I’ve placed these records has a lot to do with how much time I’ve spent with them, and how they’ve grown on me. Some I’ve included here are not based purely on the record themselves, but reflect also my interaction and response to the artists. Some of them are artists I’ve come across only recently, and so therefore I am excited about. Others I have been blown away by their live shows more than their records, but have included their records here as a way of showing respect towards the artists themselves. I was thinking about writing up something for each of these, but then I realized that that I could only offer something really trivial unless I were to spend a lot of time delving into the intricacies and wonders of each of these records. I hope you go and explore some of these sometime in the future (especially number 1 on this list, which is an absolute masterpiece).
1. Lukas Ligeti – African Machinery (Tzadik)
2. Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord)
3. Steve Reich – Daniel Variations (Nonesuch Records)
4. Birchville Cat Motel – Gunpowder Temple of Heaven (Pica Disk)
5. Nurse With Wound – Huffin’ Rag Blues (Dirter)
6. Trevor Dunn – Four Films (Tzadik)
7. Meshuggah – obZen (Nuclear Blast)
8. Dub Trio – Another Sound is Dying (Ipecac Recordings)
9. Grey Daturas – Return to Disruption (Heathen Skulls [Aus] Neurot [US])
10. Embers – Slag-Welter (Heathen Skulls)
11. Boris – Smile (Southern Lord [US] Diwphalanx Records [JP])
12. Ascend – Ample Fire Within (Southern Lord)
13. Kikuri: Keiji Haino and Masami Akita – Pulverized Purple (Les Disques Victo)
14. Nadja – Desire in Uneasiness (Crucial Blast)
15. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing (ATP Recordings)
16. Grails – Doomsdayer’s Holiday (Temporary Residence)
17. Pyramids – Pyramids (Hydra Head)
18. Cult of Luna – Eternal Kingdom (Earache Records)
19. David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Self-Released using Topspin Media)
20. Melvins – Nude With Boots (Ipecac Recordings)
21. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV (Self-Released/The Null Corporation)
22. Nine Inch Nails – The Slip (Self-Released/The Null Corporation)
23. Genghis Tron – Board Up the House (Relapse Records)
24. Free Kitten – Inherit (Ecstatic Peace)
25. Spartak – Tales from Colony Room (HellosQuare Recordings)
26. Pocahaunted – Island Diamonds (Not Not Fun)
27. Don Caballero – Punkgasm (Relapse Records)
28. Torche – Meanderthal (Hydra Head)
29. Portishead – Third (Island)
30. Antony Milton – Rag Red Reverie (Pseudo Arcana)
And, out of all the shows I saw this year, here are my favorite live shows in Sydney:
1. Meshuggah at University of New South Wales Roundhouse
2. Dillinger Escape Plan at University of New South Wales Roundhouse
3. What is Music? Festival, featuring Maxximal Patterrorist, Dale Gorfinkel, Marco Fusinato, Robbie Avenaim, Robin Fox, Cor Fulher & Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, Valerio Tricoli and Feuerwasser.
4. With Throats As Fine As Needles, Lucky Dragons and KK Null at This is Not Art Festival, Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
5. Grey Daturas and Embers at Static Age Festival, Dirty Shirlows
6. Björk at Sydney Festival, Sydney Opera House Forecourt
7. Sonic Youth and The Scientists at Enmore Theatre for All Tomorrow’s Parties’ Dont Look Back Series
8. Pig Destroyer at The Gaelic Club
9. Battles and LCD Soundsystem at Big Day Out Festival, Homebush Bay
10. Philip Glass at Sydney Opera House
Agree, disagree, have something to add? Comment!
Filed under: "Best of"
