Top 30 Songs Of 2008 - Part One

After much stalling and a hiatus that was truly epic - Sleephouse Radio emerges from the wilderness just in time for a Christmas treat - a Top 30 Songs Of 2008 rundown (in order no less).

Part One is below, Part Two comes tomorrow and Part 3 will be slipped under your tree on Christmas Eve. Enjoy...

Listen to 30 to 21 right here (in this Youtube playlist):



30. El Guincho: 'Palmitos Park'
29. Dodos: 'Fools'
2008 was the year when the Animal Collective's influence was truly felt in indie music. Plenty of releases proudly wore the eclectic tribal allegiance to their heroes on their sleeve, including these two excellent efforts from El Guincho and Dodos, the former aping the loopy party vibes of Panda Bear's 'Person Pitch' album and the latter stealing some of 'Sung Tongs'' ample acoustic joy.

28. Fennesz: 'Vacuum'
For whatever reason, I listened to a hell of a lot of ambient music this year. Most of it old stuff and a large portion of it was made by Fennesz. Truth be told I'm still getting to grips with this new work from the old master but the song functions perfectly as a deft representation of what 2008 sounded like for me most of the time.

27. Portishead: 'The Rip'
I can't say that I was looking forward to Portishead's return very much. I didn't even spend much time listening to it. A performance of this song on Jools Holland's TV show stuck in my head though. Never has restraint been such an effective tool.

26. Silver Jews: 'San Francisco B.C.'
The first in a number of songs introduced to me by the ever magnificent Chris-a-riffic and his unmissable radio show on CiTR. A picaresque adventure from Dave Berman revealing a teemingly febrile imagination lurking in the cracks of what was an ultimately disappointing Silver Jews record.

25. Those Dancing Days: 'Hitten'
A solid gold office favourite where I work. We went to see them and it was hard not to feel like a dirty old man - a total indie boy boner party (arguably the “ Pop Culture Term Of The Year” courtesy of my good friend Saelan). Question: Why are Swedish girls so fucking stylish in just that particular way?

24. Mount Eerie: 'Voice In Headphones'
Phil Elverum and Bjork are two large gravitational forces in my record collection. 'Voice In Headphones' is Phil's homage to her genius and probably his best recording in years.

23. The Sea & Cake: 'Weekend'
One of my all-time favourite bands, seemingly back on form with an all-too-short summer time blast of electro-jazz-what-have-you. It's probably best listened to while watching the song's video - a Gus Van Sant jizz flick if ever I saw one.

22. David Byrne + Brian Eno: 'Strange Overtones'
I've been going for Talking Heads in a big way in the last quarter of this year, so this album came just at the right time. I'm still not sure about some of the production, but David Byrne bucks the usual trend and to show that songcraft can indeed be something that gets better with age.

21. Neon Neon: 'Belfast'
A neat little history lesson wrapped in song. Check it out people - that's what wikipedia's there for. Gruff Rhys, and his cohort Boom Bip, really achieved something with this record. Well-read and intelligent pop that retains a playful edge. A perfect postmodern piece of work that flew mostly over the heads of the entire population.

Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow.