Wesley Fenlon | Not with a bang but a whimper.

I have to admit: when it comes to music, I’m generally hopelessly behind the times.  With gaming, movies, or virtually any other form of media, I do my best to stick with what’s cutting edge, hitting up midnight releases for titans like Gears of War 2 or The Dark Knight.  But whether it’s due to some natural resistance to what’s hip in the music scene or a simple inability to keep up with all the bands out there, I’m often a decade or three late to the party.

Even so, I manage to find out about good bands eventually, and this year I was lucky enough to discover some really extraordinary music.  The list of bands I found out about is far too lengthy to expound upon, but the few albums that I became obsessed with that were actually released in 2008 are deserving of far more praise than I can heap upon them.  So here they are, more or less in order of their ability to change your life, rock your face, or soothe your soul.  In fact, they can probably do all that shit.

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

If there was an album more amazing than Vampire Weekend released in 2008, I didn’t hear it.  Instantly refreshing, endlessly catchy, and almost criminally upbeat, this album exudes originality and is everything an indie band could aspire to.  Plus, it was released on my birthday last January — how cool is that?

There’s a little bit of everything in here.  “Campus” is a love song for college days gone by (something that feels wonderfully current for this student), but even weightier songs like “Walcott” manage to retain a cheerful sensibility while dropping lines like “Fuck the women from Wellfleet.”
 

Vampire Weekend have established themselves as the most promising new band on the scene.  If they somehow manage to top their self-titled debut with a sophomore release, it’ll be history in the making.

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely

It’s like Jack White took the rock and blues bottled up in his soul, accumulated gradually over the years from his work in The White Stripes, and poured it out in Consolers of the Lonely.  The album absolutely blows away the group’s first effort, Broken Boy Soldiers, which was a decent enough rock album in its own right.  Consolers of the Lonely is a full-blown, unconstrained rock album with some wonderfully bluesy undertones.  It feels a bit chaotic at times, but the chaos is always wonderfully utilized, and with the exception of a few moments of overboard screaming guitars, it’s a powerhouse on all fronts–lyrically, instrumentally, and vocally.

It’s hard to pick a standout when every song is so good.  “Salute Your Solution,” “Consolers of the Lonely,” and “You Don’t Understand” me are all wonderful, but when the album rocks out on “Hold Up” or takes it back a notch on “Rich Kid Blues,” it’s just as effective.  Through all the wonderful tracks, though, the bizarre but absolutely amazing “Carolina Drama” always kept me coming back for more.  I can’t really tell you why.  Just ask the milkman.

Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line

I listened to Ra Ra Riot’s self-titled EP earlier this year, about the same time I discovered Vampire Weekend.  Ra Ra Riot is definitely another fantastic up-and-coming indie band, but I didn’t realize until just a few weeks ago that they had released their first full-length album, The Rhumb Line, this August.  Needless to say, it’s fantastic.

While my favorite song is likely still “Each Year,” Ra Ra Riot did a great job of filling out their six song EP into a full release.  A few things draw me to the band more than anything else — lyrically and vocally, they’re an absolute powerhouse, thanks to singer Wes Miles, and the inclusion of strings in rock music gets me every time.  Throw a violin and a cello into a rock setup and put the instruments into the hands of talented people, and wonders will come out.

I had the opportunity to see Ra Ra Riot live at the 40 Watt in Athens just a few weeks ago, and it was an incredible show — probably one of the highlights of my year.  And the thought of my copy of The Rhumb Line on vinyl still makes me a little giddy.

The K-Macks – Welcome, Everybody

It’s time to give some serious props to a local group, whose presence in the Athens, Ga. music scene excites me for a couple reasons.  The first is that, well, they’re really good.  The second is that these guys went to high scool with me, and it’s exciting to see them create something so full of heart and soul.

Kevin and Max have been playing music for years, but Welcome, Everybody is the first time I’ve really heard their work in a concentrated, refined form.  At first, I liked it, but thought it could be better.  But it kept sucking me back in, and after every listen it got better and better.  The fact that they’re my most listened to artist of the last few months is a testament to the staying power of Welcome, Everybody, and to how deceptively great it is.  Far too often I find myself wrapped up in the poignant (or slightly depressing) lyrics, hardly paying any attention to the instrumentation beneath it all.  Kevin’s scratchy voice leads most of the songs, but when the pair trade out or combine their powers to form Captain Planet, it’s quality stuff.  Above all, the album just feels unusually real, and that sincerity is what truly raises it above the pack.

If you pick up a copy (and I heartily recommend it), make sure to stay tuned through the end for a hidden track.  You won’t want to miss it.