ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: Remember When I Was Cruel, the "back to his roots" rock album Elvis Costello put out a few years ago? Refusal sounds a lot like that, though of course Morrissey's roots are much gentler. The guitars are loud; the drums are pretty close to the red; the bass is distorted; there aren't a lot of filigrees, though the ones that are there are appreciated. Among the music cognoscenti, this isn't going to get a lot of attention probably, given its proximity to the shrill, blunt blarefest Pitchfork gave a 9.6 to this morning, but it deserves some. It sounds louder to me than the last Morrissey album (the ostensible rock one), but more than anything else, it sounds tight. The melodies are clear and direct, the songs get in and get out (5 of the 11 tracks are under 3 minutes), and Morrissey sings his ass off. The horns, children, strings, and theremin (?) work within the songs rather than outside them. When he finally breaks off for a ballad in the second half ("It's Not Your Birthday Anymore"), it sounds earned rather than boilerplate, and the track's mix of '80s synths, Marr-ish guitar, and gong gives way to a fair rager of a rock chorus. No idea if this will hold up a few years down the line (I listened to When I Was Cruel incessantly at the time, but have little interest now), but at the moment, it's a winner.

THE BEST TRACK: I'm a sucker for a leadoff track, and "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" doesn't disappoint. The arrangement manages to sound like the Smiths but aggressive, the way Moz's jumps to the final word of the title in the chorus gives me goosebumps, and the pharmaceutical list and refusal chant of the middle 8 barrels intro a practically ...Trail of Dead-like coda. Morrissey: He rocked my socks off.

Let's step back and break down the elements of this cover, shall we?

• Half an infinity sign, and another one in the band's logo;
• Outfits that seem to change depending on whether or not they're covered by the aforementioned infinity sign;
• No real rhyme or reason as to what the "changed" outfits mean (a sweater? a tie? perhaps hell is forced trips to the J. Crew Outlet?);
• A title that uses the old "one letter can change everything" trick.

So maybe this cover means that they're frustrated with the runaway success of "The Reason" as opposed to, well, anything else in their catalog, and they feel like they're trapped in "safe" alter egos from now until time? Or does it just mean that they want to get out of their contract with Island as quickly as possible, and are even willing to sacrifice anything resembling decent cover art as a means to that particular end? Or am I giving this band way too much benefit of the doubt by assuming that it had anything resembling big ideas in the first place?

Hoobastank - For(n)ever [AbsolutePunk]

Digital Music News got in touch with a few ISPs to see how their antipiracy efforts were going, and Verizon's answer amounted to a "Huh?":

In fact, one of the largest ISPs, Verizon, told Digital Music News that a sweeping, stepped-up agreement with the RIAA simply does not exist. "We have agreements with some copyright owners, and if they believe that their copyright has been abused, we will forward that complaint to a customer without disclosing the name of that customer," said Eric Rabe, senior vice president of Media Relations at Verizon. "We have a long history of judiciously protecting the identities of our customers."

In other words, Verizon is not modifying existing agreements or subscriber protection policies that have been standing for years. "The RIAA seems to be out there discussing these agreements, but we're not aware of it, whatever it is," Rabe continued. "We understand that there must be respect for copyright, and that it is important for the development of content. But we need some sort of balance, and there are procedures and laws in the courts now that allow copyright holders to take action. If we receive a subpoena, we will respond."

Verizon has revealed identities, usually under a direct court order, though the company has offered little more. "A wholesale short-circuit of the legal system, or a system in which alleged copyright holders are handled in bulk - we have resisted that," Rabe noted. That also goes for a campaign that sends threatening letters to suspected infringers on a massive scale, one that would follow in the footsteps of a British multi-industry agreement.

AOL, Comcast, and Charter said that they would have no problem terminating the accounts of offenders (hey AOL, what if Jay Mariotti gets caught?), but they all denied that there was some sort of Voltron-like system in place in which the ISPs would band together with the RIAA to keep those people found guilty of uploading off the Internet forever.

Changing Tack, RIAA Ditches MediaSentry [WSJ]
Any There There? RIAA Agreements Remain Flimsy, Unconfirmed... [Digital Music News]

• "Animal Collective have spent the decade following their own path, figuring out what their music is capable of while also working to bring more listeners into their world. On Merriweather Post Pavilion, their commitment has paid off tremendously." [Pitchfork]

• "In years past, Animal Collective have been cast as perpetual Peter Pans, forever stuck in childhood fantasias. But beneath the body-moving throbs and coruscating noises of Merriweather Post Pavilion, themes of domestic duty and devotion abound. On the resplendent closer, 'Brother Sport,' Panda consoles his older brother after their father's death, advising him to follow his own voice. As the beat grows increasingly joyous, the song sends a message to family and fans alike: 'Open up your throat,' sings Panda, and rave on." [Spin]

• "Maybe the overwhelming, full-throated joy of it all sounds particularly radiant in the fluey gloom of winter, but right now Merriweather Post Pavilion doesn't just seem like one of the first great records of 2009, it feels like one of the landmark American albums of the century so far." [Uncut]

• "Fuck me, this is brilliant." [The Quietus]

INDIE TEENS IN HAVING NO SENSE OF HUMOR SHOCKER aka animal coLOLctive: what happened? [C:E:L:E:B:R:A:T:I:O:N]
Animal Collective [MySpace]

Maura Johnston's Top 12 Albums, Singles, And Concerts Of 2008
80 '08 (and Heartbreak): Idolator's Year-End Extravaganza
The Top 12 Idolator Posts Of 2008

Guardian blogger Tony Naylor's top choice was Hot Chip's Made In The Dark, which wasn't nearly as troubling as an album to me as it seemed to be to so many others. After all, even Naylor admits there were a few good songs within, and I'm not sure I thought the The Warning was "deep soul music made by discreetly clever men." Maybe my expectations were lower? Glasvegas' full-length isn't out here yet, so I'll reserve my opinion on that for another week, although his third choice was maybe a little more shocking than the other two.

3) Santogold – Santogold (Atlantic)

We wanted the Santogold of Creator, but what we got was 11 songs that sound a bit like the Strokes. We wanted the Santi White who made the (exceptional) Top Ranking mixtape with Diplo; we got the slick professional songwriter. You can't deny that the likes of I'm a Lady are the work of a skilled craftswoman, but neither can you find any genuine emotional or sonic vitality in this album. Forgotten, but not gone.

I was more excited by Top Ranking than the album as well, but the complaint "11 songs that sound a bit like the Strokes" seems to be inaccurate.

I had a hard time thinking of an album that really "disappointed" me this year, especially since there weren't that many I was really all that excited for that didn't pay off. The Magnetic Fields' Distortion wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be; the Hives' shine has worn off for me; and there were obviously highly acclaimed discs I didn't share the world's enthusiasm for (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver).

The closest thing I could come to a "disappointing" album was the Roots' Rising Down, which I listened to twice before it was doomed to the CD rack of no return. I used to like the Roots so much that the idea of not obsessively listening to an album of theirs over and over would have been unthinkable to me during the Things Fall Apart era, but there are probably a number of reasons for that shift in my listening habits that have nothing to do with whether or not an album lived up to my expectations.

So, do you have a disappointing purchase haunting your memories of the last 12 months?

The most disappointing albums of the year [Guardian]

THE GOOD: Perhaps most intriguing to me was the number of latecomers that showed up in the album chart's top 10: Taylor Swift's Fearless, released Nov. 11, came in at No. 3; AC/DC's Black Ice, released Oct. 20, ended the year at No. 5; and Beyoncé's I Am…Sasha Fierce, which didn't come out until a week and a half before Thanksgiving, squeaked into the No. 10 spot.
THE BAD: Album sales? Down 14%. Overall album sales, which include "track equivalent albums"? Down 8.5%. But hey, vinyl LP sales were up 89%! Of course the 1.88 million LPs sold represents about .43% of the total album picture, but just think of what this'll mean for the heightened presence of that Animal Collective vinyl release on Tuesday!
THE WHAAA? Rihanna may have been the top-selling digital tracks artist, selling 9.941 million copies of her various radio-ready hits in single-serving format, but her album sales were nowhere near that, even with the reworking of Good Girl Gone Bad that tacked on the seemingly inescapable "Disturbia" and that Maroon 5 song that went pretty much nowhere. Maybe we can blame Adam Levine for this, since his track was the only "album-only" track on that reissue?

ALBUMS
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (2.874 million)
2. Coldplay, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (2.144 million)
3. Taylor Swift, Fearless (2.112 million)
4. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (2.018 million)
5. AC/DC, Black Ice (1.915 million)
6. Taylor Swift (1.597 million)
7. Metallica, Death Magnetic (1.565 million)
8. T.I., Paper Trail (1.522 million)
9. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through the Static (1.492 million)
10. Beyoncé, I Am…Sasha Fierce, (1.459 million)

DIGITAL SONGS
1. Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love" (3.42 million)
2. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, "Lollipop" (3.161 million)
3. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, "Low" (2.979 million)
4. Katy Perry, "I Kissed A Girl" (2.977 million)
5. Coldplay, "Viva La Vida" (2.914 million)
6. Rihanna, "Disturbia" (2.766 million)
7. T.I., "Whatever You Like" (2.682 million)
8. Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours" (2.655 million)
9. Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown, "No Air" (2.612 million)
10. Pink, "So What" (2.59 million)

DIGITAL ARTISTS
1. Rihanna (9.941 million)
2. Taylor Swift (8.793 million)
3. Kanye West (6.876 million)
4. Chris Brown (6.811 million)
5. Britney Spears (6.284 million)
6. Jonas Brothers (6.058 million)
7. Coldplay (5.933 million)
8. Katy Perry (5.840 million)
9. Leona Lewis (5.027 million)
10. Jordin Sparks (4.918 million)

2008 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1.5 Billion; Growth in Overall Music Purchases Exceeds 10% [Marketwatch]

The cover from Kelly Clarkson's "comeback" single was discussed a bit in the comments for yesterday's 2009 predictions post, but I figured it deserved a thread of its own, since reactions have been pretty polarizing. Is it a sign that Kelly is really, really being punished for the flop of My December by being forced into a Katy Perry-like makeover, complete with crappy oral sex jokes (note the lollipop)? Is the title "ironic"? (I'd guess the answer to that one is "probably.") Where do you find a font that has a "K" with a devil tail? What does this mean for the pyro-to-vocals ratio of her inevitable American Idol appearance? (Also, what's that shade of lipstick she's wearing? I think it would look pretty good on me, to be honest.)

Not everyone is as wary of the cover as I am, of course: Reactions from commenters yesterday that were positive included "looks like an album cover from 1977" and "I love the kinda Annie-ish tone to it. " And British pop omnivore Tom Ewing thinks that it looks like a Pulp single. Maybe I'm just scarred by the last year of American pop—particularly "Suck" writer Max Martin's credit on "I Kissed A Girl"—to think of these much better antecedents for the above imagery.

[HT: Nunya B, scrollr]

1. New albums by Franz Ferdinand, Bruce Springsteen, Roger Manning Jr., Lily Allen, Erykah Badu (!), Neko Case, Kelly Clarkson, etc., etc. And those are just the bands who a) have sorta-set release dates (although we all know how they can change) and b) I'm familiar with.

2. And, OK, the U2 record. If nothing else, it'll be a useful benchmark for just how big pop music can still be in the face of plunging record sales and ever-diminishing interest on the part of anyone who can be described as a casual music fan, what with music getting ever less airtime from the corners of the earth that confer any sort of cultural influence.

3. And wait, more Prince! In an interview with Ann Powers previewed on the Los Angeles Times' site yesterday, the Purple One said he's planning to release three albums in 2009, and that he wants to bring back the Quiet Storm sound via his latest protege, Bria Valente. Why? Because he "got sick of waiting for Sade to make a new album." Sure, the surfeit of material probably means there'll be hits and misses, but there'll probably at least one diamond and/or pearl in the rough. (Plus maybe he'll tour!)

4.. Springsteen at the Super Bowl. C'mon, this is a gimme.

5. Ida Maria is coming to the States. Her album will be legit-released on iTunes imminently, according to her American label head, although her live dates over here are just scheduled for NYC and LA for now. I'm pretty sure that my pattern of loving Scandinavian artists who are cruelly ignored by 99.9% of the American populace will hold steady with her, but I'm still excited. (See also Alphabeat. Yes, they're opening for the human jar of itching powder that is Katy Perry, but it's not like I'll be locked into the venue and forced to watch her set at dildo-point. At least, uh, I hope not.)

6. Maybe the recession will cause at least some of the dopey "music should be free" Web 2.0 pundits to take their heads out of the tag cloud and be OK with, you know, paying artists and realizing that silly ideas like "1,000 True Fans" are sort of dependent on said "True Fans" having "True Sources Of Income"? I know, I know, I'm hoping that people who love to hear themselves talk will realize their irrelevance and dopiness and maybe realize that they should devote their hours to helping people instead of talking out of their collective Twitterholes. A tall order. But it's New Year's Day—what better time to dream, right?

7. The end of "credit bubblegum." Having reached its nadir with Fergie's shrill, Sex And The City-shilling "Labels Or Love," this subgenre of pop—in which barked-out brand names fill in for lyrics, and the music's quality is judged by how "hot" it sounds over a booming sound system at one of those shitty bottle-service clubs—will seem even more gauche as the world gobbles aspirins for its debt-fueled hangover. Just pray that Barack Obama's economic stimulus package doesn't involve a "Flo Rida provision" for any musician who wants to help kickstart the economy by endorsing American-made designer products.

8. More opportunities for 50 Centenfreude. See above for the reasoning, and note that his MTV competitive-reality show about power and money and not being here to make friends was scuttled because it "typified the kind of ethos MTV is trying to move away from," according to Variety. (Yeah, so it got replaced by the inanely scripted, yet curiously dialogue-free adventures of bubbleheaded socialities, but any setback for Curtis is a good thing.) Will Before I Self-Destruct—which, recall, was originally going to come out last February—be the Her Name Is Nicole of late-'00s hip-hop? God that would be so awesome.

9. Hey, you never know. If you had told me a year ago today what my favorite albums and songs and concerts of the year would have been, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Beyonce's sister? The Gym Class Heroes? Billy Freaking Joel? That's the great thing about music, though; it can hit you in the best, most unexpected ways, even in this era when it's seemingly lost all its value and afforded about as much cultural capital as 15th-century epic poetry. That's ultimately the reason I'm excited for the next clutch of days: Hope. Maybe it's corny, but it's true.

Last night a friend and I had a late (11 p.m. reservation!) dinner at a fine NYC establishment that, while it had fantastic food (pork belly! short ribs! this dark chocolate-passion fruit sorbet that I want to try to reverse engineer in my KitchenAid!), possessed one fatal flaw: The music playing was by The Doors. Yes, those freaking Doors. I was sort of unnerved by this, because, well, the Doors are probably one of my least favorite bands ever. But! The music was silenced for the countdown to midnight, and right after that was done, this track kicked in:

A positive sign? Sure, in that I like the Who OK and, hey, they're not the Doors. Could it have revealed the difference between a crappy 2008 and an at-worst-tolerable 2009? Perhaps! Either way, it gives me an excuse to post one of the best YouTube clips of all time:

Happy new year! Feel free to share the first non-"Auld Lang Syne" song you heard below.

Won't Get Fooled Again [YouTube]
CSI Miami - Endless Caruso One Liners [YouTube]

I’d put my love for Year of the Gentleman down to craft if that didn’t sound so mere, so bloodless. Ne-Yo is a classic backroom guy—he wrote “Irreplaceable” for Beyoncé, for starters—but his best work still pulses with more thought and melodic lushness than anyone else’s, and on this album he really bears down. The sequencing is immaculate: first five songs all hits or will be, the rest going deeper and more specifically into his subject, relationships, and ending with a goopy little happy ending that still gets to me, though not as much as the stuff before it. It’s grown and sexy because Ne-Yo sounds like an actual grown-up—someone who’s thought about what relationships mean, how they work, what goes wrong with them, and just which angle he might take on it for his next song.

It’s the angles that kept me hooked. “So You Can Cry” is as much about being infuriated by your best friend as you are empathetic to her plight; “Fade into the Background” about watching the one who got away getting hitched, and getting drunk and slinking away in response. He plays the nice guy to the hilt, which means he sings about frustration a lot, as with “Mad,” which is as much about just wanting to get a good night’s sleep as it is about wanting to put things right with your s.o.

As someone who’s spent most of 2008 in a long-distance relationship, those kinds of frustrations are on my mind a lot, and Ne-Yo spoke to them with more grace and empathy than anybody else. Alfred Soto puts it better than I can: “His wordplay isn't particularly clever, but he's mastered a way of adapting a shopworn phrase so that it illuminates an unpredictable situation—the situations in which all lovers convince themselves that no one else has been in them . . . He avoids bathos by virtue of the unstinting precision of his singing and writing.”

As long as I’m quoting people, let me point to something Tom Ewing recently wrote: “[T]he state of pop criticism in the mainstream doesn’t generally go further than ‘Are there kewl sounds on this record Y/N’—which is why stuff like pop-country and non-futuristic R&B (Ne-Yo, Jazmine Sullivan) gets a rough deal.” As much as anything beyond the idea that Ne-Yo’s melisma gets in his songs’ way (he uses it less, and more effectively, than many of his peers), Year of the Gentleman’s production is often cited as a reason for dismissing it, as if its lack of groundbreaking qualities thereby disqualifies it for greatness or even goodness. I’ll be sure to remember that the next time I’m recommended a shitty indie rock (or rap) album that breaks no ground by definition.

Anyway, the real rub tends to be that Ne-Yo’s persona isn’t sufficient. Basically, he’s Babyface with a far heavier jones for early-'70s singer-songwriter tricks. (“So You Can Cry” is clearly the product of someone who listens to plenty of Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell and especially Carly Simon—surely “pity party” rhymed with “calamari” is his version of “yacht”/“apricot”/“gavotte.”) If you’re allergic to either tendency, it’s probably useless to convince you otherwise. But really, you’re missing out. Of course Ne-Yo is a showbiz kid—he’s from Vegas, for Christ’s sake. But he’s not just hitting his marks. He’s a craftsman because he gets such an obvious buzz from turning the lyric and the tune just right. He’s a hit machine who feels every note, and can make you feel them. That’s what all that craft is for. No one in 2008 utilized it better.

Year of the Gentleman [official site]
Closer [Dailymotion]
Mad [OnSmash]
Miss Independent [Dailymotion]
80 '08 (and heartbreak)

80. Andrew W.K., "McLaughlin Groove"
79. Elvis Costello puts his trust in Fall Out Boy
78. Wye Oak, "I Want for Nothing"
77. Nine Inch Nails' flood of digitally distributed music
76. TV on the Radio, "Golden Age"
75. Journey welcomes the Web 2.0 Era (and a new singer) with open arms
74. Jenny Lewis, "Acid Tongue"
73. Radiohead scores the year's strangest Top 40 hit
72. The Music Tapes at Athens Popfest, August 2008
71. Kanye, Lily, Pete, and Courtney form their own blogger nation
70. French Kicks, Swimming
69. Soundscan: down for the recount
68. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson
67. Parry Gripp, "Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)"
66. Okay, Huggable Dust
65. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body"
64. 360 deals make heads spin
63. Daniel Amos, Darn Floor Big Bite
62. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
61. Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
60. The Numa Numa Dance revival
59. The Gaslight Anthem, The '59 Sound
58. '90s alt-rock memoirs
57. Larry Norman and Sonseed
56. Sheryl Crow, "Shine Over Babylon"
55. DJ Koze
54. David Cook beats David Archuleta on American Idol
53. T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz
52. Perez Hilton Vs. Sony BMG: slapfight!
51. Justin Moore's "Back That Thing Up" video
50. Optimo's mix CDs
49. Extra Golden live at the Caledonia Lounge, Athens, GA, June 2008
48. Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song
47. Daveigh Chase sings "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" on HBO's Big Love
46. Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs race each other to the record store
45. Pete Wentz tries to save the music video with FNMTV
44. R&B's breakbeat vogue
43. Jobromance!
42. Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
41. Miley Cyrus, "See You Again"
40. Max Martin and Dr. Luke infiltrate rock radio
39. Of Montreal get Skeletal
38. Poplife Presents Poplife Sucks
37. Alec Foege, Right of the Dial and Taylor Clark, Starbucked
36. Major labels fail to kill the single—again
35. Velvet Revolver brings the drama
34. Blake Leyh makes us listen closer to The Wire
33. Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, "Yahhh!"
32. The end of TRL
31. The old-skool rave revival
30. Ida Maria, "Oh My God"
29. Fred Schneider on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
28. CMT's Can You Duet
27. '90s reunion fever
26. Estelle makes her way across the ocean
25. John Darnielle's Master of Reality and Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
24. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
23. Santogold, "Lights Out"
22. Summer festival glut
21. Monotonix live in Baltimore
20. James Sullivan, The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America
19. Be Your Own Pet, "Becky"
18. Kanye West's aesthetics
17. "Vinyl is back!"
16. Global reissues bonanza
15. Beyoncé, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
14. Rickrolling rolls on
13. M.I.A., "Paper Planes"
12. Alphabeat get "wonky"
11. The year of the remix
10. R. Kelly goes to court
9. Jarvis Cocker at Pitchfork Festival, Chicago, July 2008
8. The Ron Clark Academy, "You Can Vote However You Like"
7. Portishead, Third
6. Prince at Coachella Festival, April 2008
5. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
4. Guitar Hero / Rock Band
3. A very musical Presidential election
2. Lil Wayne: All things to all people
1. Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman

HEARTBREAKS
1. Mamma Mia Misses The Essence Of ABBA (Kate Richardson)
2. The Death of Baltimore Club Music's Queen, DJ K-Swift (Al Shipley)
3. The blogosphere as the new status quo (Lucas Jensen)
4. Britney Spears on the 2008 MTV VMAs (Molly McAleer)
5. Be Your Own Pet breaks up (Mike Barthel)
6. Everyone in the music business losing their freakin' jobs (Michaelangelo Matos)
7. Guns N' Roses, Chinese Democracy (Maura Johnston)
8. John Rich shills for the GOP (Chuck Eddy)

THE GOOD: Getting back into R & B full-throttle thanks to Ne-Yo, Erykah Badu, Estelle, and Solange; Ida Maria's twitchy "Oh My God," which I am going to try and have every person I know hear at least once over the course of the coming months; Prince and Jarvis Cocker owning gigantic open spaces; Ne-Yo turning girls into goo.
THE BAD: You don't want to hear about the bad aspects of my 2008. (And honestly, typing a blow-by-blow out would just depress me all over again.) So instead I'll note that I often hate making lists because even though they're supposed to be overviews, they're inevitably of the specific moment at which the list was made, which means that completely worthy entrants will get slighted, or pushed out by space limitations, etc. Here's a "sorry" to Black Mountain's In The Future, the Air Miami demos that were reissued by Teen Beat, Panic At The Disco's Pretty. Odd., Deastro's "The Shaded Forests," The Academy Is...'s Fast Times At Barrington High, Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows," and the Robin Thicke record that was mysteriously forgotten about by everyone.
THE WHAAAA? Before August, if you had said that I would have put Billy Joel on any list that didn't count down the reasons my ninth-grade social studies class was completely absurd (hi there, three-day lesson on "We Didn't Start The Fire"), I would have laughed so, so hard. And yet, his show at Shea Stadium was totally solid, not only because of his undeniable showmanship but for the ways it stoked my nostalgia about growing up on Long Island.

ALBUMS
1. Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman (Def Jam)
2. Portishead, Third (Mercury)
3. Santogold (Downtown)
4. Solange, Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen)
5. High Places, 03/07-09/07 / High Places (eMusic Selects / Thrill Jockey)
6. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Vol. 1: Fourth World War (Motown)
7. Fall Out Boy, Folie A Deux (Island)
8. Hercules & Love Affair (DFA)
9. Estelle, Shine (Atlantic)
10. Beach House, Devotion (Carpark)
11. Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella)
12. Maybe It's Reno (Teen Beat)

SINGLES
1. Ida Maria, "Oh My God" (RCA UK)
2. Lloyd ft. Lil Wayne, "Girls Around The World" (Universal)
3. The Duke Spirit, "The Step And The Walk" (Artist First)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!" (Anti-)
5. Lykke Li, "Little Bit" (Atlantic)
6. Sybris, "Oh Man!" (Absolutely Kosher)
7. Headlights, "Cherry Tulips" (Polyvinyl)
8. TV On The Radio, "Golden Age" (Interscope)
9. Beyoncé, "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" (Sony)
10. Gym Class Heroes ft. Estelle, "Guilty As Charged" (Fueled By Ramen / Atlantic)
11. Girls Aloud, "The Promise" (Polydor UK)
12. Alphabeat, "Fascination" (EMI Europe)

LIVE SHOWS
1. Prince @ Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
1. Jarvis Cocker @ Union Park, Chicago
3. Ne-Yo @ Madison Square Garden, New York
4. Fall Out Boy @ North Star Bar, Philadelphia
5. Kirsten Ketsjer @ Mohawk, Austin, Texas
6. Portishead @ Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
7. Wye Oak @ Union Hall, Brooklyn, N.Y.
8. Ponytail @ Ms. Bea's, Austin, Texas
9. Billy Joel @ Shea Stadium, Flushing, N.Y.
10. Black Mountain @ Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
11. Mussels @ Homeslice Pizza, Austin, Texas
12. Bring Me The Horizon @ Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y.

We lost studio drummers like Earl Palmer and guitarist Robert Ward, Phil Spector’s engineer Phil Levine, jazz photographer William Claxton, Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black, Thelonious Monk saxophonist Johnny Griffin. Number groups diminished by one, be they the Count Five, the Four Tops, the Dave Clark Five, or the Kingston Trio. Here are a few of the folks-–some well-known, some never heard of— whose work and influence created a great resonance here and whose efforts will hopefully continue to reverberate in the generations to come.

Henri Chopin, French sound poet (Jan. 3)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Beatles guru (Feb. 5)

Teo Macero, Miles Davis producer, original cut-n-paste producer (Feb. 19)

Joe Gibbs, legendary Jamaican reggae producer (Feb. 21)

Larry Norman, “Father of Christian Rock” (Feb. 24)

Steve “Static Major” Garrett, hip-hop songwriter (Feb. 25)

Buddy Miles, drummer (Feb. 26)

Mikey Dread, reggae producer, Clash collaborator (March 15)

Danny Federici, E Street bandsman (April 17)

Bebe Barron, electronic music composer (April 20)

Jimmy Giuffre, jazz reedman/composer (April 24)

Eddy Arnold, countrypolitan crooner (May 8)

Bo Diddley, guitar genius (June 2)

Natasha Shneider, keyboardist and singer (July 3)

Khia "K-Swift" Edgerton, Baltimore producer/DJ (July 21)

Robert Hazard, Philly new waver (Aug. 5)

Isaac Hayes, singer, songwriter, producer, Black Moses (Aug. 10)

Jerry Wexler, music journalist, Atlantic Records music producer, coined term “rhythm & blues” (Aug. 15)

Richard Wright, Pink Floyd keyboardist (Sept. 15)

Alton Ellis, Jamaican soul singer (Oct. 10)

Neal Hefti, trumpeter, small-screen composer (Oct. 11)

Levi Stubbs, gravel-voiced soul man (Oct. 17)

Yma Sumac, Peruvian songbird (Nov. 1)

Miriam Makeba, South African singer, exile, “Mama Afrika” (Nov. 10)

Mitch Mitchell, drummer (Nov. 12)

Odetta, Queen of American Folk Music (Dec. 2)

Davey Graham, pioneering UK folk guitarist (Dec. 15)

Eartha Kitt, singer, Catwoman (Dec. 25)

Delaney Bramlett, guitarist, songwriter, white bluesman (Dec. 28)

Freddie Hubbard, jazz saxophonist, sideman, small group leader (Dec. 29)

Obituaries

Oh, and his album was really good. And he's a good rapper. Happy 2009.

Idolator's Lil Wayne coverage
A Milli [Dailymotion]
80 '08 (and heartbreak)

1. Your favorite albums from each year you were alive, July 3 / your favorite singles from each year you were alive, Aug. 29. The comments on these were so much fun. Plus: Demographic studies!

2. Jess' illustrated guide to horrorcore, Oct. 30. It didn't make me want to listen to the Insane Clown Posse, but it was still awesome. As was Jess' tale of just how Chinese Democracy came to be.

3. Chris Molanphy breaks down just how much the major labels loathe singles, Aug. 28. I wonder often if we're just entering a redux of the "rockers as new Zeppelins" phase, if only because so many "good" rock bands these days are so damn self-serious.

4. Butch Walker and Patrick Stump interview each other, Dec. 16. Smart, funny, candid, and slightly juicy! Plus it's nice to know that band geeks being cliquey and weird is a phenomenon that wasn't restricted to my high school.

5. Sonseed: Were they for real?, Sept. 9. Our look at whether or not the "Jesus Is My Friend" viral video was legit, or just a concoction of a well-financed CollegeHumor competitor, sure fired up one former member of the band.

6. The two types of "bromance": An investigation, Aug. 4. This clearly needs a sequel on why certain dudes act like sugar-fueled Jonas Brothers fans when confronted with music by Animal Collective.

7. TV On The Radio give copyeditors conniption fits, Oct. 2. Speaking of investigations...

8. Al wonders if any blog favorites will cross over to the world of mainstream rock radio, Aug. 29. Someone should try and drop a Fleet Foxes track into a classic rock station's playlist and see if anyone notices!

9. Kate gets horrified by the Clique Girlz, June 5. On the bright side, their abject awfulness will sound even worse during the global economic collapse, so we'll never have to hear of them again maybe.

10. Ten artists who should be very glad they're not Axl Rose, June 30. Should give you the shivers.

11. Mario Paint music: A look back, Feb. 22. Finally, we bring together "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Yakety Sax," and adorable mushrooms!

12. Chad Kroeger's hidden talents that should have stayed hidden, March 10. Lede of the year, for sure.

I mused then that—were Barack Obama to be elected as our first black president—it remained to be seen if he would quote old funk and soul hits. Not only has he done that—from his “Yes We Can” speech (which subliminally quotes the Allen Toussaint-penned tune for Lee Dorsey) on through to the slyest Sam Cooke reference come Election Night—he’s also been embraced by mainstream country and hip-hop and just about every musical subgenre on his way to the White House.

The 2008 presidential election was not only the most expensive and technologically adroit (where we can look forward to Obama’s YouTube posts effectively circumventing media outlets; call it Fireside Chat 2.0), it was also the most musical. While campaign songs stretch back to the infancy of our country, it was with the 1840 election and the Whig campaign’s tune “Tip and Ty” (later expanded to the full names of “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”) that music became a true force at the polls. According to Sing Out! editor Irwin Silber, the song “firmly established the power of singing as a campaign device,” effectively putting its man William Henry Harrison (the hero of Tippecanoe) and John Tyler in office.

Obama not only echoed songs but in turn had his speeches turned into music. That “Yes We Can” speech, given on Jan. 8, was turned into a “We Are the World”-type slogfest by will.i.am (and Scarlett Johansson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a Pussycat Doll, and... the dude from Live?!) by February. Rather than make you cringe with that version, let’s stick with this one:

And when Obama brushed his shoulders off after a furious bout of mud-slinging with Hillary Clinton, the unflustered gesture was quickly synced to Jay-Z’s “Dirt Off Your Shoulders.” The ever-responding world of YouTube gave an even greater synergetic aspect to music and politics.

The most musically astute presidential campaign in our history? Without a doubt. Why else cheekily cherry-top Bill Clinton’s DNC speech with “Addicted to Love”? Slate’s Jody Rosen deemed that our first black president was also our first rock critic president, but how many musicians truly love rock critics? Famously misappropriated by Ronald Reagan in ’84, the Boss made sure his music supported his candidate:

The amount of verses shouting out Barack—from Nas to Juelz Santana to a recasting of the already u-biqui “A Milli” as “O Bama”—alone outweighed the GOP’s musical options. (Never mind the bluegrass and reggaeton incants of Obama’s name.) Sure, John Rich penned “Raisin’ McCain” for the Republican National Convention, and Daddy Yankee stumped for the party as well. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin’s meandering sing-song answers to Katie Couric’s questions were matched up with a clever piano line: voila, “Palin Song.”

But for the most part, the GOP faced entertainment-lawyer injunctions from all sides. In February, John Mellencamp asked that his Chevy-pimping “Our Country” and pill-popping “Pink Houses” be removed from Republican playlists. Come August, Jackson Browne sued the campaign for not clearing permission to use his 1977 hit “Runnin’ On Empty” in a TV spot denouncing Obama. Later on that same month, Van Hagar demanded that the self-described mavericks stop using “Right Now” right now as it was “used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric (that) just tarnishes the song.” (Besides, they don’t even make Crystal Pepsi anymore.)

On into the final stretch of the campaign, the cease-and-desists continued, from the Foo Fighters asking that the campaign stop hijacking “My Hero” and Heart’s Nancy Wilson being dismayed to find Palin rocking “Barracuda” from the stage, saying: “I feel completely fucked over.” No word as to whether she also felt flat busted.

Self-admitted Stevie Wonder fiend Obama blasted “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” during campaign stops, yet capped his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America.” The irony was not lost on Kix Brooks, who has now seen his 2001 song deployed by both Obama and John McCain, as well as Bush in 2004.

The absolute musical nadir of the entire campaign (against some stiff and insipid competition) remains "Barack the Magic Negro." "Sambo"d up by satirist Paul Shanklin, distributed by Republican National chair candidate Chip Saltsman, and put into rotation by Rush Limbaugh, the song rubs burnt cork all over its smug fat face as it pretends to be the Reverend Al Sharpton singing a variant of "Puff the Magic Dragon," lamenting that... sorry, I can't give this abject, clueless piece of shit any more attention than it's already gotten.

The long queue of disgruntled musicians might lead one to believe that rock stars have always sided with the blue states and given them free rein over their back catalog. But that is not the case, as Joan Didion once noted in her essay about the 1992 DNC “Eyes on the Prize” (collected in Political Fictions): “Tipper and Al Gore dance sedately on the podium. The preferred sound was not ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ [ed. note: FDR’s 1932 campaign song] but Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie’s request before the New Hampshire primary that the Clinton campaign stop using her song ‘Don’t Stop’ notwithstanding.”

Ultimately McVie relented, and the band even reunited for the Clinton inaugural ball. But while “Don’t Stop” ultimately soundtrack the Democratic victory then, as befits our playlist age, there is no one single song to offer as summation (try 73 hours and counting). As LA Times pop critic Ann Powers (and yours truly) finally confessed: "I can't even remember what Obama's official campaign song was." A Google search doesn't help with this either. Perhaps that's what Obama's detractors meant when they claimed that we don't know the man?

Palinsong [YouTube]
Obamasongs [YouTube]
80 '08 (and heartbreak)

John Rich actually spent the first half of 2008 on a promising mission, positing that Gone Country winner Julio Iglesias Jr. and Nashville Star almost-winner Gabe Garcia might suggest a way for Nashville reach the Hispanic audience—a mercenary idea, maybe, but a potentially smart one. On Aug. 1, though, he debuted his ridiculous (if competently riffed) “Raisin’ McCain,” arguing the White House needs a “real man with an American plan.”

And from there Rich was inseparable from the ugliest, most deceitful, most proudly ignorant presidential campaign in recent history, exhuming longtime anti-establishmentarian Johnny Cash from his grave for a fake endorsement until Daughter In Black Rosanne objected. Even Raisin McCain himself seemed perplexed by Rich’s RNC grandstanding. Then on Nov. 4, reviving “I Walk The Line” with Hank Jr. for a crowd of rich white bigots in Arizona, Rich went down with the ship.

All of which depressingly underscores a parallel between current country and the current GOP—in both cases, dumb quasi-populist dogma about the Real America tends to limit demographic reach. Cowboy Troy, Gabe Garcia, Gretchen Wilson, Michael S. Steele, Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin? Probably not enough. Curiously Missing in Action though all this drama: Big Kenny and his “Love Everybody” guitar.

Raisin' McCain [YouTube]
John Rich [official site]
80 '08 (and heartbreak)

Rock Band's interface much more closely resembled the actual physical experience of playing music than the other two games, and its ability to download new songs (for a price) both opened up a new revenue stream and made the games almost infinitely extendable. Moreover, they encouraged listeners to appreciate music as both ear candy and technical achievement, giving access to the pleasure of virtuosity for those without any particular musical training. You could even hear Metallica songs in a more audiophile-friendly version!

With Rock Band 2 and Wii Music, as well as Guitar Hero: World Tour, the games have moved even closer to resembling real music-making apparatuses, allowing people to free-play instruments and even record their own songs. It remains to be seen if any "Love In The Club"-level hits will result, but the games remain a fascinating example of entertainment technology accidentally opening up new means of artistic expression and appreciation.

Guitar Hero [official site]
Rock Band [official site]
80 '08 (and heartbreak)

"Honey"

Look, New Amerykah's forward-thinking eccentricities have been praised half to death since the first tracks hit blogs early this year. Kanye may be a genius—okay, he is a genius, sorta—but it's odd that critics are touting his electro-warbling dog's dinner as some kinda palette-expansion for urban radio in the year of New Amerykah Part One. Badu's scope extends so far beyond "digi-distortion and Daniel Powter" that it's unreal: crazed gutbucket funk stuffed with experimental vocal horseplay; eerie Far Eastern hip-hop topped with improvised-sounding quasi-songs; airy throwbacks to '70s soul with Dilla-fied rhythmic jitters. (For starters.) Badu's self-dissection lacks the ego-engorged glibness of her college-spurning, casually misogynistic peer, and in a singularly shitty socioeconomic year, she sold down-and-out, day-to-day life as hard as she wagged a mystical finger at new jacks who paid more attention to strip clubs than stump speeches; dismissed consumption-drunk gangstas who name-checked while missing her point(s); and refuted an industry happy to squeeze modern African-American music through the current pinhole parameters of MTV Jams.

And yet for all her foreboding trips down post-rap and out-jazz rabbit holes, Badu also pens warmly goofy, horns-and-all tributes to the excesses of the funkateers who reared her. The airy "Me" may end with caterwauling singsong straight off a first-wave Rough Trade LP, but until then it should thrill moms and dads who grew up in the era of Roberta Flack, at least as much as "The Healer" speaks to sons and daughters steeped in