2008 playlist
After two false starts in January, this is the first out-age for 2008. Much has transpired on both sides of “the pond”. I doubt we want to talk about it though, so here is a list of highlights in the world of mark+raquel: Visitors – my parents, the soon-to-be conjoined Ian and Kate, and assorted hurricane evacuees dropped in, and we largely succeeded in tuning out the tele. SXSW – I got to drive some guitars down a closed street after berating a real police (re: wire).Kaki King. We love her, even when her nimble fingers are doubled by a young child in a terrible Hollywood movie. She rocked our world on 6th st. Kevin Barnes put on the best pantomime ever with his troupe, Of Montreal.
So here is another bowl of wrong for 2008. It is life-affirming to have lived with some of these songs all year. Paper Planes became the celebration of a foothold on foreign soil. Deerhunter enchanted me with their marriage of shoe-gazing and the righteous fretwork of polvo. Cut / Copy remained a constant source of joy and sugar. Los Campesinos failed to write an Obama song, but nicely summed up the real tone of this annual;
WE KID OURSELVES THERE’S FUTURE IN THE FUCKING,
BUT THERE IS NO FUCKING FUTURE
Of the bands-of-hyperbole, MGMT and Ting Tings were tragically underwhelming live acts, and I am still wondering if the Fleet Foxes album is that good… but they still made vital music. I never thought I would get to hear a new Husker Du record either… so we should thank our Canadian friends Fucked Up for that. Their smashing appearance on MTV certainly provided the most enjoyable segment from that broadcaster in a good decade. Elsewhere I hoped for more from Wild Beasts and got more than I expected from TV On the Radio (after that soft-porn Tom Waits tribute disaster).
A distilled downloadable version of the playlist can be obtained from iTunes here.