Best of 2008 (First Half) Preview

Later this week, I'll be posting a list of my favorite albums of the first half of 2008 (Released prior to July 1). Here's one album that will be on the list with some of my thoughts on it:




















Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Youngster (87/100)

No album this year has more energy than the first full length from this band of what sounds like pre-teens. Song titles like "We Are All Accelerated Readers" hint otherwise. The internet-famous "You! Me! Dancing!" has been making the blog rounds for awhile, having been recorded like 12 times. The density of hooks, sonic layers, and meter changes is matched only by the rapid-fire quotability of the lyrics. Think of a younger, more energetic, punkier New Pornographers, maybe with a little Rainer Maria or similar emo-leaning indie pop.

Los Campesinos! official site
Download Hold On Now, Youngster from Emusic.
Buy Hold On Now, Youngster from Amazon.
Buy the LP on Insound.

This album and more will be on the upcoming list. You'll also get an updated Muxtape with some of the best songs of 2008.

E3'd

Earlier on G4, the E3 coverage team (i.e. every on-screen personality on the channel), asked who won E3. My instant reaction (and poll-winner) was Microsoft. They did debut Netflix (which I was looking forward to on PS3), announced Final Fantasy XIII will be on Xbox (if anything), and showed off their avatars.

But to say that Microsoft was "Best in Show" was highly misleading. Neither Microsoft, Nintendo, nor Sony showed us anything worthy of the adverb big. There were lots of news, tons of footage of upcoming games, and cool new things revealed. I feel like third-party developers were the real winners this week. Exclusive titles are becoming less important, and more big titles are making jumps (FF13, Bioshock, etc.). This can only be good for fans.













Best of E3*
Resistance 2 (gameplay footage)
Fallout 3 (more revealed)
PS3 Video Store (support of major studios)
Fat Princess (PSN)
Fable 2 Co-op

Honorable Mention
Bioshock (PS3 exclusive content)
Resident Evil 5 and Silent Hill: Homecoming (more revealed)
Rock Band and Guitar Hero becoming more friendly (and here).

*Many of these were not E3 exclusive, but are related to the week's events.

E3 Let-downs
Netflix exclusive to Xbox.
Resident Evil 5 delayed till March.
Nintendo markets to moms and thinks Animal Crossing: City Folk is for hardcore gamers.

Bu Rant

There's been a lot of talk about Blu-Ray v. DVD v. download lately, but there are a couple things that don't get mentioned often in the debate.

1. Some Blu-Rays aren't really better.

Last week, I got House of Flying Daggers on Blu-Ray from Netflix. The story’s above average, and like Yimou Zhang’s previous film Hero, every shot is a work of art. However, the quality of the video on the disc was lacking. I can’t speak for the original theatrical release, but reviews and forum posts on the disc confirm the poor quality of the transfer. Even on my 32” Westinghouse, I could see lots of noise and was distracted by the lack of clarity within deep colors (a trademark of the director’s style).

More than a few Blu-Ray releases have been scarred by poor video (or audio) quality. Most recently, the Blu-Ray release of Gangs of New York has received some of the worst comments I’ve seen regarding video quality on a high-def disc. The original Fifth Element and Full Metal Jacket releases are examples of sub par releases where the studio has actually stepped up and remedied the situation with a new release.

2. Where are my special features?

One of the reasons I happily made the jump to DVD (other than video/span quality, lifespan, etc.) was for special features: deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentaries, etc. One advantage that Blu-Ray boasts over DVD is the possibility for better special features: picture-in-picture commentaries, internet connectivity, and (with more space) more features.

Hellboy has seen several standard-def DVD releases, with the 3-disc director’s cut containing a wealth of bonus features, including a new commentary by the director. Fans who opt for the similarly priced Blu-Ray version will get a great video/audio bang for their buck, but will miss out on all the features found on the three-disc DVD.

Taking Gangs of New York as a case study again, the disc offers nothing that wasn’t on the two-disc DVD. The only apparent advantage of the Blu-Ray version, which costs $15 more, is the [assumed] jump in audio quality and not having to change discs halfway through the movie.

There are several examples of Blu-Ray releases that get everything right. Jumper is the best example I’ve seen. With next-gen commentary, an “animated” comic, and amazing video and audio quality, this release actually creates a highly enjoyable experience from a mediocre film.

If the big studios really want Blu-Ray to be the new media format (which is debatable), they’re going to have to do more than fatten release schedules and shrink the price gap; they’ll have to make all Blu-Rays obviously superior to their market-penetrated competition.

My Muxtape

Stoplight Sleep now has a Muxtape. You can go there to hear recently blogged tracks, related songs, and whatever else is on my mind.

Pop on over here. While you're there, make your own Muxtape and post the link in the comments.

The current Muxtape features tracks from my last post on the Kills.

Midnight Boom "Kills"

Until a couple weeks ago, I would have said that Hot Chip had released the best album of an adolescent 2008. Made in the Dark isn’t quite on par with last year’s Sound of Silver (LCD Soundsystem), but it comes from a similar sonic playground, including songs that can knock you down with shock and awe (“Shake a Fist”) and lull you into a meditative appreciation (“Wrestlers”).

Who could have up-ended this achievement? On March 18, The Kills released Midnight Boom, and album I had probably anticipated more than any other this year. No one could have had higher expectations for a fresh release from the cross-Atlantic duo of vocalist Alison "VV" Mosshart and guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince, but when I started hearing of Spank Rock’s involvement and some of the early reviews, I worried that my two-headed demon of ripping hipster blues had been defanged (a la PJ Harvey’s White Chalk).

When I finally got to pop Midnight Boom in my CD player, I felt the tingle that a friend had introduced me to with the first blips followed by the revving chainsaw of “Superstition” (track 1 of their debut, Keep on Your Mean Side). The first, confusing ten seconds of “U.R.A. Fever” follow landline sound effects into VV and Hotel’s endless supply of violently whispered haikus:

Pick you out a soda.
Look at you forever.
Eyes like a casino.
Find a piece of silver.
Go down to the Rio.
Put it in a fruit machine.
Everyone’s a winner.
Laughing like a seagull.
You are a fever . . .

With the refrain comes a subtle-but-deadly bass line and electro scratch. Like most of the album, it’s hit-and-run; two minutes later the track is over, leaving elation and bemused confusion in its wake.


“Take you to a jukebox . . . / Pick you out a number, / that’s our arrangement.”

Hip-hop roots decorate the proverbial sleeves of tracks like “Getting Down” and “Sour Cherry.” The Kills has always been the other side of The Bumblebeez garage-blues-for-B-boys coin (compare “Hook and Line” to the former’s “Step Back”), but Midnight Boom finds VV, Hotel, and their studio mates further exploring their metallic possibilities (Did Albini stop by with a metal pick?). There are new sounds, like the tricks that peers The White Stripes, Forget Cassettes, and Hot Chip have used to give their sound new dimensions.

With Midnight Boom, 2008 has found the spit and booze to shape its reckless youth, albeit one with decent taste.

VV borrows a pinch of soul from (The Gossip’s) Beth Ditto on “Cheap and Cheerful.”