The 25 Best Albums of 2008
1. Erykah Badu- New Amerikah Part One (4th World War)
2. Atmosphere- When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Sh*t Gold
3. The Game- LAX
4. Julieta Venegas- MTV Unplugged
5. Tech N9ne- Killer
6. Duffy- Rockferry
7. Chick Corea & Gary Burton- The New Crystal Silence
8. Girl Talk- Feed the Animals
9. Wynton Marsalis & Willie Nelson- Two Men With the Blues
10. Lil Wayne- Tha Carter III
11. N*E*R*D- Seeing Sounds
12. The Streets- Everything Is Borrowed
13. The Hold Steady- Stay Positive
14. 9th Wonder & Buckshot- The Formula
15. Nas- Nas
16. Ice Cube- Raw Footage
17. Ron Ron- Mr. No It All
18. The Saturday Knights- Mingle
19. Adele- Chasing Pavement
20. Two Cow Garage- Speaking In Cursive
21. The Gaslight Anthem- The '59 Sound
22. Steddy P- Dear Columbia
23. Coldplay- Viva la Vida
24. Dizzee Rascal- Maths + English
25. Kanye West- 808's & Heartbreak
For the first time in years, I haven't fallen in love with any new albums. Each of these titles is flawed. I placed Badu's glorious mess on top because she seems to be laughing at the blemishes in her music.
The 25 Best Songs of 2008
1. Noel Gourdin- "The River"
2. Marvin Sapp- "Never Would Have Made It"
3. Nas- "Be A N***** Too"
4. T.I.- "No Matter What"
5. Wiley- "Cash In My Pocket"
6. Jazmine Sullivan- "Need U Bad"
7. Ashton Shepherd- "Takin' Off This Pain"
8. Coldplay- "Viva La Vida"
9. Dolly Parton- "Jesus & Gravity"
10. Jaheim- "Never"
11. Trace Adkins- "You're Gonna Miss This"
12. Airborne- "Too Much Too Young Too Fast"
13. AC/DC- "Rock 'N Roll Train"
14. Idle Warship- "Fall Back"
15. Lil Wayne- "A Milli"
16. Kid Rock- "All Summer Long"
17. Eric Benet- "You're the Only One"
18. Hot Stylz- "Lookin' Boy"
19. Lyfe Jennings- "Never Never Land"
20. Lee Ann Womack- "Last Call"
21. Young Jeezy- "Put On"
22. Solange- "I Decided"
23. Janelle Monae- "Many Moons"
24. Sevendust- "Prodigal Son"
25. Ben Folds with Regina Spektor- "You Don't Know Me"
Lord, how I love "The River."
The Ten Best Songs of 2008 By Kansas City Artists
1. Donta Slusha- "Check My Posture"
2. XTA-C- "2 Fingers and a Hook (KC Anthem)"
3. Tech N9ne- "Crybaby"
4. The Abracadabras- "Petty Politics"
5. Ghosty- "Dumbo Wins Again"
6. Sliccs Gotcha- "Off Da Chain"
7. Barclay Martin- "Queen of This Town"
8. Innate Sounds- "Raise Up"
9. Mac Lethal- "Black Widow Spider"
10. Koufax- "Any Moment Now"
Although the rest of the world isn't paying much attention, it's been a great year for local music.
The 25 Best Live Performances of 2008
1. Alison Krauss & Robert Plant- Starlight Theater (fan video)
2. Maxwell- Uptown Theater
3. Tech N9ne- Uptown Theater (April show) (fan footage)
4. Stone Temple Pilots- Liberty Memorial (fan footage)
5. Kid Rock- Sprint Center (fan footage)
6. Sarah Buxton- Power & Light
7. Luciano- Beaumont Club (backstage footage)
8. Nikka Costa- Record Bar
9. Fourth of July- McCoys
10. The Mars Volta- Beaumont Club (fan footage)
11. Mac Lethal- Riot Room
12. Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra- Folly Theater
13. ZZ Top- Midland Theater
14. T.I.- Sandstone Amphitheater
15. Rodney Crowell- Frontier Park
16. Stefon Harris- Folly Theater
17. The Misfits- VooDoo Lounge
18. Busy Bee- Liberty Hall
19. Kristin Hersh- house party in Lee's Summit, MO
20. Ashes Divide- Liberty Memorial
21. Slipknot- Sandstone Amphitheater (fan footage)
22. Drowning Pool- VooDoo Lounge
23. The Redwalls- The Record Bar
24. Say Anything- Power & Light
25. Atmosphere- Liberty Hall
These are the best of the 253 individual performances I've witnessed so far in 2008.
The Five Best Opening Acts of 2008
1. Brandi Carlile (for Sheryl Crow at Starlight Theater)
2. Thrice (for Rise Against at the Uptown Theater)
3. Tesla (for Queensryche at the Midland Theater)
4. Meg & Dia (for Plain White T's at the Beaumont Club)
5. Lil Mama (for Chris Brown at the Sprint Center) (fan footage)
The headliners never stood a chance.
The Five Most Disappointing Live Performances of 2008
1. The Roots- VooDoo Lounge (fan footage)
2. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band- Sprint Center (fan footage)
3. Lazy Lester- KCK Street Blues Festival
4. M.I.A.- Liberty Hall (fan footage)
5. Matisyahu- Crossroads KC (fan footage)
I had high hopes for each of these concerts; my expectations were not met.
(Original image of Dia Frampton of Meg & Dia by There Stands the Glass.)
4 comments:
Obviously, no one has hipped you to "The Supreme Genius of King Kahn and the Shrines." Allow me to do so in this non-technological way (i.e., no link).
Thanks for the tip, Rick. I really enjoy the King Kahn MP3s regularly tossed around by excitable music bloggers, but I've failed to catch the band at their Record Bar appearances. Maybe 2009 will be all about garage rock for me.
That's an interesting Top 25. I've only heard two of the albums on it. I've been spending some time on Lala.com streaming music from other 2008 best of lists. So far, I'm unimpressed by Fleet Foxes, Gang Gang Dance, and Grails. I'll have to try some of your recommendations.
As you already know, Jon, music isn't limited to indie rock. I like Vampire Weekend too, but c'mon!
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