2008 Albums: 10-6

10. Coldplay - Viva la Vida

It's hard to know what to write about Coldplay, because it's hard for me to understand what this album is doing eeking into my top ten albums of the year. The blatheringly bad X&Y was a record I loved to hate--its use of meaningless anthemic sounds and titanic yet vapid lyrics was either stupendously naive or darkly cynical. Rush of Blood to the Head has some gems, but hasn't aged terribly well. I was always back-and-forth about Parachutes, usually ending up indifferent. Except this time, well, Brian Eno was involved. So I'd have to at least listen to the single with good headphones.

I would play "Viva la Vida" over and over again and never tire of its melody. I have no idea what it's about -- Martin's thoughts on the lyrics are cringe-worthy -- but Jesus, that string section. And the second half of the Coldplay album following the single -- begining halfway through "Yes" and through to the end -- is absolutely brilliant. The album should sound like a bunch of overfilled, puffed-up songs, CPR'd by Eno into passable listenability. But instead they are actually good. They go down easy, and they're vague. But there's a lot that's smart about the music, beginning with the opening track.

I really don't want to like this album. Here's how they describe why Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People is on the Cover and they've been touring in military jackets:

There’s this slightly anti-authoritarian viewpoint that’s crept into some of the lyrics and it’s some of the pay-off between being surrounded by governments on one side, but also we're human beings with emotions and we’re all going to die and the stupidity of what we have to put up with every day. Hence the album title.

Fight the government! It's just terrible that a band of this commercial stature would clumsily, disengenously pose in this way. But what can I say? Easily their best album, and one I returned to often.

9. Hercules & Love Affair - S/T

What I think is most important to stress about this album is its brevity. Every song could let loose and extend for miles; every song is full of capable ideas. But instead it's fantastically restrained, and that's why it's more than just a dance record--why it has the power to impart meaning.

I'm not longing for the long-lost age of disco per se. Nor am I gay. But listening to this album, I feel something. Just the same way Antony singing about a boy longing to be girl brought me to actual tears, so the emotion here is imparted. But who am I kidding? What I really love about this album is how my feet move. Hercules' Theme and Blind have made me very, very happy this year. And that's enough.

8. Vampire Weekend - S/T

I'm starting to feel like I'm spending too much of my time defending my choices rather than exclaiming why I actually love the albums on this list. But, it's going to be hard to not to that again here. This is the kind of album that's so easy and catchy that it's hard to listen to anything else in the first week of exposure. In fact, this was the first album I heard in 2008 that I really loved. As time went on, this love became guiltier and guiltier as the sheen wore off and I realized that I felt like an alumni frat brother during Monon Bell weekend, and I put them away for awhile. But the songs stood the test of many listens, and every time a song would pop up on random, I'd drop turn off shuffle and listen through the whole album. I've always admired bands that are able to appeal quickly while maintaining staying power.

It's also an album about New York, and I'm a sucker for those. The whole Columbia Ivy-Leage preppy schtick, while undeniable, is handled with appropriate measures of sincerity and irony. My biggest complaint is that the song about Blake's new face is the weakest on the album.

7. Fleet Foxes - S/T

Some of you bailed on Fleet Foxes awhile back -- which is fine -- but I adored this album. Sure, it sounds like you're in church. But that's what I love about it. It's not easy to make music this stunningly beautiful. The moment I heard Winter White Hymnal I was floored. I love harmonizing, and I love the vague, steeped-in-fairytale quality of the lyrics, I love the myriad influences and styles in every song, and I love the mountain-man folky qualities. I love that this album draws from all kind of American music and couldn't have been made anywhere else.

Maybe I'm a sucker for this sort of well-produced AM radio/country/folky/60s California thing, indie-fied for my pleasant consumption. And sure, the lead singer probably loves the sound of his own voice. I'll admit the harmonies are nowhere near Brian Wilson stature. But listening to this album, I am moved, emotionally uplifted, and full of wonder.


6. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

I had never loved a TV on the Radio album in the past -- not through a sense of purpose, but because none had ever drawn me in past a listen or two. This almost happened to me again this year when I listened to Dear Science. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but my first time through the album the songs seemed redundant, and the funky drums just didn't sit right with me. There was plenty to admire about it, but I wasn't compelled. There was all this heft to things, but it landed with a dull thud. The same thing the second time. But I was reading such incredibly praise about the album that I kept on it.

Everything changed when I put on headphones. Suddenly I heard the handclaps on Halfway Home. The textures of each song emerged. Everything became vivid. And the quality of the production was enough to keep me around long enough for the revelation to hit. The heft reflected the intensity of emotion. The rawness of political statement was achieved not through brute force, but an emotional complexity and energy.