Pop Songs of a Gaseous Brain – The Best of 2008
By Milo | December 14, 2008
So here are my top eleven “pop” songs of 2008, a combination of some of the year’s best tracks by well known indie artists along with my pick from the year’s mainstream pop releases and a couple of “banging” cheesy dance remixes. It was a tough choice between MGMT’s Kids and Electric Feel which are definitely two of my favourite pop songs of the year despite the album being patchy. The likes of Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver are hardly pop of course but they have got a large hipster following and are two of the three top artists on hype machine.
So here are my top eleven “pop” songs of 2008, a combination of some of the year’s best tracks by well known indie artists along with my pick from the year’s mainstream pop releases and a couple of “banging” cheesy dance remixes. It was a tough choice between MGMT’s Kids and Electric Feel which are definitely two of my favourite pop songs of the year despite the album being patchy. The likes of Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver are hardly pop of course but they have got a large hipster following and are two of the three top artists on Apologies if your delicate indie sensibilities are offended by my shameless pop sluttery, but I’m a big fan of pop music when, against the odds, it’s good. I had my doubts about including Estelle’s American Boy which hardly needs playing again this year, but on balance, I do think it’s a really great classic pop song that will stand the test of time. Just be glad I left out Womanizer (I much prefer Britney’s previous album).
| 1. | MGMT – Kids | |
| 2. | Bon Iver – Flume (Daytrotter Session) | |
| 3. | Lykke Li – Breaking It Up | |
| 4. | The Wave Pictures – I Love You Like A Madman | |
| 5. | Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal | |
| 6. | Neon Neon – I Lust U | |
| 7. | Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue | |
| 8. | Kanye West Ft. Young Jeezy – Amazing | |
| 9. | Robyn + Snoop Remix – Sexual Eruption | |
| 10. | Metronomy – Heartbreaker (Kris Menace Remix) | |
| 11. | Estelle – American Boy (feat. Kanye West) |
Why I Won’t Be Compiling a Best Albums of 2008 List.. yet.
I’m not going to compile a ‘best albums of 2008′ list yet because there’s so many I’ve not had the chance to listen to (including Frightened Rabbit, despite seeing them last year and being really impressed), so I’m using all the other lists being published on various blogs and music websites/magazines to find out which ones I’ve missed so I can catch up with those over the next few weeks (I did provide an early top ten album list to The Skinny Magazine, of which only two of my choices, Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, made it to the top ten, but since then I’ve reconsidered some of the other choices I made).
Scottish Songs of The Year
Notably absent from the playlist above are any Scottish artists, mainly because my five favourite Scottish tracks of the year are already included on my monthly podcasts:
1. The Pictish Trail – I Don’t Know Where To Begin
2. James Yorkston – The Queen of Spain
3. Withered Hand – Religious Songs (though I Am Nothing is equally as good)
4. eagleowl – Blanket
5. King Creosote - Don’t Ask Me Where My Weekend Went
If you’ve not listened to these yet you can hear all of them here or download them on iTunes, they also feature some other great music released this year by Pumajaw, Herman Dune, Rozi Plain and Stanley Brinks plus a bunch of other under-appreciated gems by other great artists/bands.
Gigs of The Year
Some of the gigs I’ve really enjoyed this year have been covered here already, particularly Radiohead at Glasgow Green and Nick Cave at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange. The Retreat! festival in Edinburgh though was probably my highlight, particularly sets by The Pictish Trail, Withered Hand, Meursault and eagleowl. Most importantly for me this year, through the radio show and writing I’ve done this year I’ve met a bunch of really good people involved in the scene here in Edinburgh and for that reason this has been a pretty amazing year for me.
So have I lost the plot? Should I give up writing about music and stick to the day job? Let me know your thoughts!
5 Comments
Nick Mitchell on 17/12/2008 at 11:17 pm.
An interesting mix of styles in that there list milo! I was into MGMT for the first few months and then they seemed to be everybody’s new favourite band and I did the typical muso thing of defiantly not listening to them. But I should give the album another spin now that the hype has died down.
The Radiohead gig was very enjoyable, apart from all the pishing rain and fighting neds! I haven’t been to enough gigs this year, but I think the highlight for me was probably twilight sad/frightened rabbit in Dunfermline of all places.
Broon on 17/12/2008 at 11:21 pm.
no, you’re all wrong. gig of the year was Prince at Coachella
:-p
Milo on 18/12/2008 at 9:15 am.
Nick, I know what you mean, the album as a whole has never grabbed me but they have had some cracking singles.
Broon, is that you showing off again about being at Coachella? Didn’t Prince cover a Radiohead song or did I imagine that?
Have to say if I could have afforded to go to Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits I may well have had them at the top of the best gigs list, but will have to make do with Thom & his merry men instead.
Meanwhile, having just discovered http://www.mixwit.com where I made the above mix, they’ve announced today that the service is due to go the way of muxtape and close at the end of the year:
We regret to announce that Mixwit will cease to exist at the end of the
year.The website and profiles will be turned off around Dec 27th and
all embedded widgets will stop playing before the end of December.
We’ve put a year of work into Mixwit so this choice wasn’t taken lightly. I
won’t go into the details of our situation but state simply that we
boldly marched into in a position best described as “between a rock and a
hard place.” We’re very grateful to be have been part of the mixtape
revival of ‘08 and are satisfied to be able to to bow out while things
are still good.
You guys are all amazing. It’s clear that all of you put a ton of time and
effort into your mixes. For me personally, I was looking forward to all of
the designs people created for their tapes. There was a lot of basic tapes
and many lovely photos, but the designs and artwork – WOW!
We’re very sorry that this has to end. We’re going to try to figure out
some way to archive the artwork and playlists, if for nothing at least
historic value. As for now, everything needs to be shut down by the end
of the year just to make sure we’ve got a clean start for 2009.
We’ll return early next year with a new company and new toys. Until
then, enjoy the holidays and please take good care of yourselves,
your families, and your friends =)
- Radley & Mike
martin moog on 18/12/2008 at 12:51 pm.
milo, you have the right idea about albums
i think album lists should come out around june or so, cus by that time, you’ve discovered some pure gems and heard a lot more. i mean, i am still updating my best albums of 2006 list…
Milo on 18/12/2008 at 4:11 pm.
Thank you Martin, I’m glad someone agrees. I reckon I can definitely get it done by June. I do like reading other people’s lists though, as deeply flawed as they inevitably are..