B-Side releases 2008 best-of-music list
The Madison record shop's employees pick their favorites
Not everyone likes their year-end music lists condensed into tidy rankings and precise point tallies. Long-running record store B-Side’s annual wrap-up, which appeared on the local institution’s counter Monday morning, lists a whole sprawl of favorites from store employees past and present, usually in no particular order. Well, there is an actual tally of common picks on the back of the pamphlet: It turns out Fleet Foxes’ self-titled album got 10 votes and Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago scored 7.
The Trolleyvox, "Jean Jacket"
The lists go beyond the year’s clear critical and audience faves, though. B-Side owner Steve Manley names Philadelphia band The Trolleyvox’s double-disc Your Secret Safe/Luzerne his “most-played album in ’08,” though it came out last year.
Appliances-SFB, "Neo-Fascist"
As usual, they also include a few Wisconsin highlights, namely: Whatfor’s Sooner Late Than Never; Vid Libert’s A Return To Mayaguez; Sunshine For The Blind’s See The River Rise; The Runners-Up’s self-titled album; The United Sons Of Toil’s Until The Lions Have Their Historians, Tales Of The Hunt Shall Always Glorify The Hunter; The Tim Whalen Nonet’s Magnus; and even a reissue of the long-defunct Appliances-SFB’s 1984 album SFB. The curious can pick up the whole thing in handy paper form at B-Side, but for now, here’s a list of the top-voted records in the list:
10 votes: Fleet Foxes, s/t
7 votes: Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
6 votes: Beck, Modern Guilt; The Black Keys, Attack And Release; Dead Meadow, Old Growth; Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks, Real Emotional Trash.
5 votes: Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Lie Down In The Light; Cat Power, Jukebox; Flight Of The Conchords, s/t.
4 votes: The Black Angels, Directions To See A Ghost; Blitzen Trapper, Furr; Calexico, Carried To Dust; Dungen, 4; Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal; Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue; James McMurtry, Just Us Kids; She & Him, Volume One; TV On The Radio, Dear Science; Lucinda Williams, Little Honey.
Eef Barzelay, "Lose Big"
3 votes: Eef Barzelay, Lose Big; Black Mountain, In The Future; Sera Cahoone, Only As The Day Is Long; Deerhunter, Microcastle; The Dials, Amoeba Amore; Dr. Dog, Fate; Drive-By Truckers, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark; Duffy, Rockferry; Felice Brothers, s/t; The Hold Steady, Stay Positive; The Kills, Midnight Boom; The Notwist, The Devil, You + Me; Jennifer O’Connor, Here With Me; Okkervil River, The Stand Ins; Portishead, Third; The Pretenders, Break Up The Concrete; Sun Kil Moon, April; Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, We Brave Bee Stings And All; The Walkmen, You & Me; Paul Weller, 22 Dreams.
