The Last Drop

Too many to count. Mainly catchup from 2008 but also a strong top 10 contender for 2009.

Portishead, Third - Yeah, yeah I was hiding under a rock for a while. But at least I can recognize genius. Even if it’s close to a year late. If you are as bad as me (or worse, I won’t tell…) get this album now before you are publicaly shamed.

Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Pt. One – Experimental of a different kind. Less complete than the Collective and more… Erykah like. I saw her in concert and she couldn’t stop yapping about her chakras. I guess she’s moved on to fighting against materialist concerns. But she still doesn’t complete a thought often. Lucky for her it still all sounds good.

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animals are good for your. You can read about it in JAMA or something. Anyway, my health has been restored and I’m feeling more bouyant than ever. If you don’t get this same feeling from “My Girls” then something is wrong with you.

Portishead, Third – Slowly coming to grips with my mismanagement of an entire year’s worth of music. This may be the worst example of dragged feet so far. So, I can pretty much quote anything off of Dummy and have been waiting patiently these 11 years for the return of Beth Gibbons’ haunting croons. And yet I STILL slept on this until early 2009. Please, someone put me out of my misery and shame. I think there is only one more of these “where was Addie been hiding in 2008″ albums left…

After reviewing the general critical consensus (positive of course) surrounding this album, I’m shocked that not a touch of this album made a dent in Grammy recognition. True, the Grammy’s very rarely reflect critical praise – much of the ceremony is heading closer to a People’s Choice Award than to the Mercury Prize – but they did concede mentions and awards to smaller projects. Well, smaller than the monstrocity that was The Carter III. Not to say that I don’t value Lil Wayne. But it is a bit tiring to have one artist so overexposed in one year. Digression aside, I thought there was room to add a dark, expressive and utterly complete album to the list of phenomenal recordings in 2008. In almost every aspect, Third delivers compitent, insightful and mind blowing songs that do not seem to lose their luster. Once more, the album sucks you into this dark, anxiety ridden landscape that is almost unbearable but too hard to turn from. I’ve listened to this album at work. Not exactly an uplifting anthemic piece of work. But I love getting lost in the heaviness and drowning out any thoughts of reality with the rhythms. Furthermore, I will never get over Beth’s voice. No one expresses longing and pent up frustration quite like her quiver and crackle. It always sounds like she will break at any moment. And she milks it for all it’s worth. She has perfected pentinance and I, for one, am glad to hear it.

This would have been an easy choice for my Top Drop of 2008 had I paid attention. A true warning shot that overlooked music is a horrible thing to waste.