Bag Of Songs Top 25 Albums of 2008 : 1 to 10

January 4, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
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Wrapping up the BOS top 25 albums of 2008 with the top ten. It’s the end of the countdown but stay tuned for some addtional thoughts on 2008 coming in another post real soon, plus lots of great music on deck for 2009.


10 Birds Fled From Me – Deeper Lurking [BUY]
It was just about a year ago when I named Birds Fled From Me the BOS Artist Of The Day and predicted this to be among the year’s best releases. It stood the test of time. Santa Cruz, California’s Rachel Williams is one extremely talented girl who independently recorded and released this record herself. With a voice most closely reminiscient of Fiona Apple or Bjork, this is a stunningly beautiful record that deserves so much more recognition than it received. You
can buy it directly from Rachel via her Myspace page.

Birds Fled From Me – Resisted
Bonus – Bird Fled From Me – I Love You (Live)


9 My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges [BUY]
Take MMJ’s catalog and throw it into a blender with a big batch of those K-Tel hits of the 70’s records and I imagine this is pretty close to where you’ll end up. Not as thematically consistent as some of their earlier records but the success level in the adventurousness pays off more often than not in what ends up sounding like and indie rock version of AM radio gold. Some of the highlights on the buffet include the weird funk experiment Highly Suspicious,the pure sugary rush of Two Halves, and what is one of the best songs of the year in the beautiful, acoustic, Librarian.

My Morning Jacket – Librarian


8 Blitzen Trapper – Furr [BUY]
More refined and focused than their breakthrough Wild Mountain Nation,Blitzen Trapper have taken the Grateful Dead meets Pavement mix to the next level on this one, solidifying their influences into thier distinct sound. The title track with it’s storytelling of a boy raised by wolves grappling with his human emotions is an instant classic.

Blitzen Trapper – Furr


7 She & Him – Volume One [BUY]
Who’d have thought this would work so well, actress decides to be singer is generally the making of a one off disaster(see Scarlett Jo) but this is an addicting listen steeped in a mix of California harmonies and sixties girl group sounds. Zooey Deschanel and M Ward cooked up a winner here for sure here’s hoping there’s a volume 2.

She & Him – This Is Not A Test


6 Black Mountain – In the Future [BUY]
Expecting more of the immediacy of songs like Modern Music  or No Satisfaction I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with the first couple listens to this, thinking it was more Black Sabbath than Black Mountain,not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s so much more. Picking up where songs like Druganaut left off and taking them to the next level, capped off by the epic 16 minutes plus, Bright Lights. The show I saw them do back in February with Bon Iver opening was probably the best show I saw in 2008.

Black Mountain – Tyrants


5 Ting Tings – We Started Nothing [BUY]
Sure this is probably more style than substance, but it is hands down the party record of the year, when was the last time you heard a record where every song had enough hooks to be a single. As they used to say on American Bandstand, “It’s got a great beat, and you can dance to it”. Catchy, fun, danceable, and just try not to sing along.

The Ting Tings – Shut Up And Let Me Go


4 Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping [BUY]
If you’re like me and only really had a passing interest in Of Montreal, now’s the time to change that. This album is a mix of sexual confusion,funk and dance music, and Sergeant Pepper like psychedelia all blended together in a dizzying mashup that makes Girl Talk‘s Greg Gillis seem like an amateur, yet it somehow all holds together as a whole. As a musician it leaves me amazed just wondering how someone can get that far out there for inspiration and then be able to realize it as a finished work.

Of Montreal – For Our Elegant Caste


3 Cheers Elephant – Here We Are(Demo) [BUY]
One Of Philadelphia’s best bands right now, this record best described is psychedelic folk music with and indie prog rock twist. Shimmers of  sixties and seventies folk and psychedelia are as prevalent as eighties and nineties indie rock. Like all great artists these are just touchstones in a clearly unique and individual sound. This was an early 2008 demo, Cheers Elephant releases their first official CD in a couple weeks watch for it to be turning heads early in 2009.

Cheers Elephant – Here We Are


2 The Dutchess and the Duke – She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke [BUY]
Stripped down and folky this album is all about the songs in their purest form. I’m going to quote my own review from July here:
The Dutchess And The Duke’s, debut full length She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke careens along in it’s lo-fi immediate glory like a combination of Bob Dylan, The Mamas & The Papas and early Rolling Stones swagger. With the familiar warmth of a lost 60’s classic and the jagged edge of a modern recording, everything old is new again and sounding better than ever. Kimberly Morrison(aka The Dutchess) and Jesse Lortz(aka The Duke) holed up last fall at Magical Basement Studios in West Seattle with Bryan Standridge behind the board of an 8- track and recorded a modern folk classic. It’s chock full of strummy acoustic guitars and percussion with more than enough pure pop melodies and sing along vocal harmonies to have you hooked after just one listen.

The Dutchess and The Duke – Reservoir Park


1 Mono In VCF – Mono In VCF [BUY]
The album I listenedd to more than any other this year, I was hooked on this from the first play back in June of this year and it’s still in the heavy rotation six months later. The name Mono In VCF is a combination of Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound(Mono) and Moog Synthesizer tones(VCF) and their music has been described as “Drifting in space between psychedelic Beatles and Massive Attack” by Tom Scanlon of The Seattle Times. It is music that is sweeping,cinematic and serenely lush sounding, all woven together by the silky smooth, soaring vocals of Kim Miller. What I previously described as “fearlessly futuristic and reminiscient of the great film soundtrack music of the sixties all at once”. It’s music with the power to take your mind to another place away from all the distrations around you, similar to the the sensation of flying in a dream but converted into sound.

Mono In VCF – Escape City Scrapers

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HOT: New Video From The Dutchess And The Duke

December 5, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
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The Dutchess And The Duke – Mary (Unedited)

Here’s the brand new video in all of it’s uncensored glory from The Dutchess and The Duke for the B Side of their brilliant Reservoir Park single, the song Mary.  She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke is easily among the year’s best records with it’s hypercatchy blend of acoustic folk and sixties era R&B influenced pop.  Check it out.

Buy She’s The Dutchess He’s The Duke

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HOT New Music : The Dutchess and The Duke

July 9, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
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From the opening guitar strum and, the softly spoken intro “Reservoir Park, 1, 2, 3, 4” to the closing sing along at the end of Armageddon Time, “Now I’ve got you by my side, and I’m feeling alright” The Dutchess And The Duke‘s, debut full length She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke careens along in it’s lo-fi immediate glory like a combination of Bob Dylan, The Mamas & The Papas and early Rolling Stones swagger. With the familiar warmth of a lost 60’s classic and the jagged edge of a modern recording, everything old is new again and sounding better than ever. Kimberly Morrison(aka The Dutchess) and Jesse Lortz(aka The Duke) holed up last fall at Magical Basement Studios in West Seattle with Bryan Standridge behind the board of an 8- track and recorded a modern folk classic. It’s chock full of strummy acoustic guitars and percussion with more than enough pure pop melodies and sing along vocal harmonies to have you hooked after just one listen. I’m not the first one to sing their praises and I certainly won’t be the last, jump on the bandwagon now, because this record really is as good as all of the buzz you’ve been hearing about it. One of my personal favorites of the year so far.

The Dutchess And The Duke – Reservoir Park
Buy She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke

The Dutchess And The Duke are out on tour now with fast rising folky buzz band of the moment, Fleet Foxes.
Be sure check them out when they come to a city near you.

07.07.08 – Washington, DC – Black Cat Backstage #
07.08.08 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church #
07.09.08 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom #
07.10.08 – Brooklyn, NY – Union Hall #
07.11.08 – Brooklyn, NY – Academy Records in-store
07.12.08 – New York, NY – TBA
07.13.08 – Brooklyn, NY – Charleston Bar & Grill $
07.14.08 – Cambridge, MA – The Middle East Upstairs #
07.16.08 – Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class
07.17.08 – Lafayette, IN – Zoolegger’s ^
07.18.08 – Rock Island, IL – Huckleberry’s Pizza Parlor
07.19.08 – Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge %
07.20.08 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry #
07.22.08 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive #
07.23.08 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court #
07.25.08 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir #
08.09.08 – Seattle, WA – Sonic Boom (Capitol Hill)
08.09.08 – Seattle, WA – Wild Rose

# – w/ Fleet Foxes
$ – w/ Pink Reason. I hear you get a free slice of pizza when you buy a beer there.
^ – w/ The Mans, Big Willie & Lil’ Suzie
% – w/ Sang des Loups

[WEBSITE AT HARDLY ARTS] [MYSPACE]

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