Bear Like Mouse 2008 Mixtape

As an addendum to yesterday's post, here are some of my favorite tracks spat out over the course of 2008.

Top Tracks of 2008

Top 10 Albums of 2008 (Part One)

It's part one because there are invariably about five albums I discover a few months too late that make my inner-monologue yell a Charlie Brown-like, "Augh! If only I was patient enough to publish this list 3 months too late!"

1. Portishead – Third
Goes to show you that just like a really expensive coat, truly great musicians never go out of style. After evaporating 9 years ago, a lot of things changed in the musical climate. Portishead seemed to condensate here and there, keeping up with avant artistes, taking notes from the resurgence of English Dub, and experimenting with loops and samples- less with turntables. The result was a precipitation that reminded a world that seems to be more and more saturated with melancholia, that they're not sad. Oh no, you want sad? Portishead will kick you in the tear duct. Devastatingly dark, ephemeral, and haunting, Third re-calibrates the entire music scene’s sense of sorrow and musical mastery in one fell swoop.


1. Subtle – Exiting Arm
The finalé in a trilogy of concept albums (and I’m a total sucker for a concept album, much less a trilogy), Exiting Arm opens with the title track that sets the tone for the most harmonious and least hip-hop driven of the three Subtle LPs that chronicle the journey of Our Hero: Yes. However, three albums rife with angular and almost-too-abstract/clever lyrics only scratches the surface of the universe that’s been created around Hero Yes. Thousands of pages of notes and sketches, most of which can be found online at http://www.exitingarm.com/ if you so desire to spend eight hours of your life on something that will never be made into a movie. Anyway, these guys descended from Anticon and this album ties for first place for the same reason Lord of the Rings rocks- way too much work that went unnoticed went into it. Well, I noticed guys. I noticed...


3. Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
This album is like the second coming of punk. It is teflon to any clichéd nuances that plague most any punk band after 1983. Fucked Up rocks for the sake of sweating and screaming and punching things in the face and any sociopolitical commentary that accompanies it is merely incidental. Their first album, Hidden World, was a modest bellwether of where this band was going. However, compared to the veracity and intensity of this monolithic album, Hidden World is a speedbump. From the opening flute on the first, insatiable track “Son the Father”, to bongos, backups by Vivian Girls, and tracks that supposedly had upwards of 80 overdubs, this is far from a minimalist approach to punk. However, the attention to detail and varied nature of this album belies the rawness and uncompromising fury throughout the album.

4. Genghis Tron – Board Up the House
Genghis Tron is awesome. That's about all the review this blistering piece of dance-dance-boogie-metal needs. Not because I don't care. Because I care. SO much.

5. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
This album snuck its way onto this list and quickly climbed the ladder to number five. Somewhere between dub and down-the-rabbit-hole-acid-trip-psychedelia, Gang Gang Dance are like a musical singularity whose gravity sucks in sounds from every corner of the earth and the self-collapse is narrated by a squeaky chanteuse whose voice is somewhere between a kazoo and a siren (the mermaid kind).

6. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
TV on the Radio is on lots of other people’s lists, so I’m not going to bother rewriting why this album sucked less than most other albums this year.

7. Solid Gold – Who Ya Gonna Run To?
Solid Gold is a Minneapolis based trio that’s gaining a lot of traction with its fanbase. This album made it on this list based almost entirely on the strength of one track – and that I was not very impressed with many albums this year. However, “Bible Thumper” is has the most infectious, make my head shake groove since, maybe, Haddaway’s “What is Love?” I almost didn’t put this on here since it’s just an EP and half of the tracks are remixes. But, like I said, this top ten list was more an exercise in assembling ten great albums than paring down to ten great albums. And this EP does rock.

8. Via Tania – Moon Sweet Moon
Tania Bowers is an Australian musician who does nothing if not charm me. Her first LP, “Under a Different Sky” was a brooding and haunting trip-hop cum folk record that was in constant rotation on my deck for well over a year. Her second full-length effort, “Moon Sweet Moon” finds a less gloomy track, with more emphasis on acoustic guitars and staccato basslines than eerie samples and minor key changes. However, both are very charming to me, I’m just more easily charmed by her darker half. Also, hers is a runner up to Chan Marshall's in a "Whose Voice Do I Want to Have a Bunch of Sex With" contest.

9. Deerhunter – Microcastle
Deerhunter’s first album didn’t bowl me over. I might be alone on that, but what can I say. However, I first heard a track, “Never Stops” of their new album while driving through the hills of Sonoma at dusk. Maybe it was the mix of Northern California air, amazing wine, and the taste of autumn in the air, but this album struck me entirely differently than their first effort, Cryptograms. Although it still has the almost useless intro track, Microcastle is a much less pretentious effort in my books. In the way the new kid on the block will go out of his way to impress people before coming down from hyperbole, Microcastle has all the creative characteristics of Deerhunter but comes across as a more genuine effort.

10. Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go Too
Epic in scale, but disco in scope, Lindstrøm exercises the utmost precision when evolving disco born electronica over a mere three tracks totaling over 55 minutes. This is possibly the only time a non-trance electronic song has exceeded 10 minutes (with the title track passing the 28 minute mark) and has kept my attention. And to be clear, any 1o-plus minute trance songs were in the background and never really had my attention to begin with. This album is like a long road trip with lots to look out the window at.

Honorable Mention - Don the Reader - Humanesque
Honorable Mention - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Honorable Mention - Passion Pit - Chunk of Change
Honorable Mention - Mouth of the Architect - Quietly

Worst Album of the Year - Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
These guys have gone off the ******* deep end. First, claiming that Mr. Beast would rival My Bloody Valentine's timeless classic, "Loveless". Mr. Beast had a couple of okay tracks, but the overall album would have been more appropriately called "Careless" with respect to MBV. Now, they released an even more boring album than the yawn-some Mr. Beast. Dudes- repetition is okay. It's what you're good at. Repeat your back catalog, no one will fault you for doing what Mogwai does. Don't take yourselves so seriously and get back to rocking. Young Team, EP+2, Come On Die Young- all stellar albums. That being said, I truly appreciate these guys are trying a new direction. Contrariwise to my criticism, I want them to innovate. I just don't hear the inspiration and transcendence that Mogwai used to have.

Other Worst Album of the Year - Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
If I wanted to listen to Paul Simon and his friends play bongos I would go raid your mom's record collection. Vampire Weekend has done nothing exceptional except piss me off more than almost anyone ever. And the thing is, people smarter than me with better taste in music like these guys. Where am I missing the freakin' boat? It's too happy, it's too accessible, it's too college flavored, and it's too many kids' soundtrack to spring break. I might be an elitist for saying it, but on top of sucking on its own merits, this thing sucks by sheer association. Incidentally, I've seen Vampire Weekend play live more than any other band in 2008. WTF guys?

-Music Pairings-

Best Make-Out Dance Track- Solid Gold - Bible Thumper
Best Song About Domestic Violence - Florence and the Machine - Kiss with a Fist
Most Rock Your Ass Off Song - Fucked Up - Father the Son
Goes Best With Zinfandel Song - TV on the Radio - DLZ
Goes Best With (lotsa) Whiskey Song - Mouth of the Architect - Rocking Chairs and Shotguns
Goes Best With Sauvignon Blanc Song - Passion Pit - Sleepy Head

Book 3: A Book About Hell

If you remember back about eight months on here, I completed two big artistic undertakings. Something I've done for many, many years is keep a journal of thoughts. Not a traditional diary through which I effuse my days. Nothing so prosaic or concrete as that. Instead, clippings, sketches, stream-of-consciousness, and the like slowly get scratched into and glued onto pages of blank artist journals. As I've done more and more of these I've made an exercise out of meditating on a single concept as I create these; research them; pour in my personal views of them, and as the pages fill out so does my base intellectual (and, okay, philosophical) understanding of such abstract concepts as Drought, Blood, and most recently, Hell.

You know when you stare at a single word for too long, it starts to not look like that word- it dissociates from its meaning- you can't figure out why those letters lead to that word lead to that pronunciation. That's what I do with these books... I kick a dead horse until there's nothing left but pulp.

Concentrating on the abstract concept of drought, for example, led me down to think about the deeper underpinnings of them. Concepts that may be obvious to some people, but taken for granted by most. Drought, is to be without something necessary to survive and in so, transcends the literal definition of needing water- I explored areas of my life that share that metaphor to draw a line of what is necessary and not getting nourished and what is not and is. A very self-referential study in agribusiness, if you will. Similarly, Blood is a necessity to life; however has often gruesome or abject connotations along with it. I always felt nonplussed about peoples aversion to blood- something with which I always thought was further odd when carnivores would hate to hear about slaughter, while I- a vegetarian- was not the least bit dysphoric about it. So what is it about blood, I asked myself, that impacts people so strongly? Most recently I concentrated on hell (lowercase 'H'). To be specific, the platonic conception of hell- an infinite place of suffering as a result of terrible transgressions. It's such a huge concept- simultaneously so ingrained that it's envisioned almost as literally as it's presented in movies and books and THE book. But, I mean, come on. It can't be that easy. Infinite suffering requires way more cleverness, misanthropy, and creativity for me to buy into it. So what is it that makes people afraid of hell? How the hell can hell be infinite if, by its definition, infinity is too long to be eternity (kind of a tautology, I know). What does hell really look like? Is there some nexus of agreement between all societal and religious views of hell?

So I went down that path.

Half of the fun of this project was the research that actually did go into it (although it doesn't directly show up in the works). While it's a secular study of hell, I grew up Catholic so I have a foundational understanding of their view. I took into account tons of different religious views, including Taoism, whose doctrines of hell I've previously studied. The Popul Vuh, the Mayans "Council Book" is in many ways equivalent to a bible, has an extraordinarily fascinating take on afterlife for those undeserving of heaven and I recommend you look into it if you're at all into creepy mythical anthropological stuff. Ultimately- the cohesive nexus of hell between cultures was as broad as this: You do something bad, it will eventually catch up with you and will be way worse. It's wishful vengeance and boastful righteousness - After that it's a bunch of blaming, penance, damnation, and deliverance. Really juicy stuff- more worthy of a strategically written book than a bunch of amateurish paintings but, hey, this is what I got and I've got two written books still waiting to be finished.

I decided that eternal damnation is a boring story. If hell is a void then that's cool, but so many religions have put so much thought into so many awful and horrible myths/stories/whathaveyous that there has to be some entertaining, if not coercive value to hell. The most convincing hell is one we can't imagine- but people kept trying to nail it until they realized the problem didn't balance. The question that kept unraveling all of these wonderfully colorful images of hell in my mind was always, "Then what?" "Then what?," is a core theme throughout this book.

The book itself was premeditatedly broken down into four sections:
1: The Fall - The transgressions that are hell-worthy and the transition from conscious life to an eternity.
2: The Beast - Every man's got a devil, so I drew a bunch of mine.
3: The Unbearable Thought- The prose/poem section of the book. Thoughts of hell espoused by others but primarily by myself.
4: The Great Destroyer - This is cobbled together, but is focused on my hungry-for-fantastic-stories-mind's absolution of hell, the denouement of which is titled, "These Gates Will Open".

Ultimately, the concept of hell dissolved for me (or should I say; absolved). As a raging agnostic, looking for proof positive and contrary about the afterlife, I wasn't 100% sure I wouldn't one day be sitting in a lake of fire. After completing this series, my views were instead replaced with a very holistic view of heaven and hell vis-a-vis our conscious and veiled experiences of reality. To understand how and why, look very closely at the work I've done. While much of it is abstract, it is entirely focused on the subject at hand, like a lens pointed at a subject that hasn't yet come into focus.

I warmly invite you to check out Book 3: A Book About Hell

Also keep in mind that it's currently in reverse order, which I did intentionally because Flickr's 'next page' function is pretty backwards to me. So start at the last picture. The one that says "Commencement" and not the one titled "Fin." Obviously.

13 & God | Sure As Dept. of Dust Collectors

13 & God. They're not so much a band as much as two bands smooshed together. The German Indie-Glitch-Jazz outfit, The Notwist, whose incestuous circle reaches all over Germany with Lali Puna and Ms. John Soda and over the Atlantic and into Oakland, CA where Themselves (Dose One and Jel) reside. Themselves, being two of nine parts of the band, Subtle, who's one of our favorite favorites around here.

This song was performed live at MELT! Fest in Germany but has not been recorded, as of yet. However, according to two sources, they're going into the studio as soon as either A. The Notwist finishes their album OR B. The Notwist finishes their tour. I'm assuming it's the latter since their new album, "The Devil, You + Me" is done and they're currently touring it.

Hopefully they get in there soon because a studio version of this song will be awesome.

Omodaka | Kokoriko Bushi

This fun song featuring a dancing 8-bit skeleton is actually a remix of what is believed to be the oldest Japanese song in the world. The song is called Kokoriko Bushi, meaning tune of a kokoriko—an ancient string instrument. The artist is Japanese electro-pop collective Omodaka of Far East Recordings; the animation is directed by Teppei Maki



Via: BingBong

Envy | A Winter Quest for Fantasy

Dude Getting Haircut | Be My Baby

Yes, yes.

By My Baby Speed Dub @ Yahoo! Video

Interior Crocodile Alligator

May this go on forever. And I usually hate memes like this, but damned if it isn't catchy.

The Presets | This Boy's In Love (LifeLike Remix)

The Presets are total dicks jerks from Australia. I met them once in Chicago and they were really uncool. Seriously. But this song from their new album "Apocalypso" (which I think is actually kinda clever) reminds me a lot of an older Depeche Mode song remixed and I like that.

Florence and the Machine | Kiss With a Fist

Florence and the Machine was aflutter and abuzz and a girl I heard about more than thrice while I was at SXSW this year. And I stupidly forgot the conveniently sized moleskin(ish) notebook I keep on me to write random thoughts down. So I never heard her until recently.

So now you can hear her recently too. Also, do follow that link to rcrdlbl because not only is the song within (Florence covering Beirut's "Postcards from Italy") really good, the blog itself is marinated in good. So much good I can almost overlook the fact that they've made two posts about Conor Oberst in the last month... Almost... No, really is a cool, cool blog.

LISTN | Kiss With a Fist

Passion Pit | Sleepy Head

I know nothing about this band except that this song explodes my face with smiles.



LISTN | Sleepy Head


DWNLD | Sleepy Head

Zach Hill | Dark Arts

Hella (the band) does little for me. Same with The Ladies (the band). I do think Team Sleep (the band) is pretty great though. Zach Hill is the drummer for all these bands (the band). And more. He's got this way of playing drums that simultaneously makes sense and is completely arrhythmic. It's like he's a jazz drummer - you know you should like and understand it, so you say you do but really you don't (which is the point of jazz- to make fun of people. Specifically white people.) He's got one of the most unique percussive styles out there, which is why he's such a hot drumming commodity. He's one of the only drummers I can think of that can come out with a solo album and garner the reaction, "Oh... well, yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Now he's gone rogue! I mean SOLO (the band)! And he's running around in corpse paint and awesome bracers. To fight goblins? To ravish goats? To burn down chruches? I dunno! Let's find out together, shall we? I'm making blood milkshakes while you start to watch this synthy and drummy music video below.

Tokyo Police Club + Aesop Rock + Yak Ballz | The Baskervilles

I don't know if it's how he pulls off those overly-clever lines, the rasp that makes it almost like you can hear the spit hitting the diaphragm of the mic, or that he's the hip-hop equivalent to Dennis Miller, but we here at Bear Like Blog love us some Aesop Rock. Also Tokyo Police Club (I actually did an interview with them at SXSW this year). And then, using space age technology and good ole time voodoo, all these things got smooshed together by Amplive.

I would never have thought I'd hear Aes Rizzle rhyming on top of a Tokyo Police Club, but it works really well. The dirty, achy bassline present in every one of TPC's songs is the perfect sediment for Aesop Rock to build on.

Give this a spin, it's a really good track.

You can download it from Amplive's Myspace profile.

The Draplin Project | Why America is Fucked

This hits home. From an upcoming movie about renowned designer Aaron Draplin.

The Black Kids | Hurricane Jane (The Twelves Remix)

Do you know why my blog has thirteen readers? I do! It's because one minute I post about Scandanavian Metal and the next I'm posting super dancey and super catchier tunes like this one from the Black Kids.

I got into the Black Kids through Cut/Copy, who were tourmates with the Jacksonville quintent. They share that same neu-wave/no-wave indie vibe with Cut/Copy but they have a little more Robert Smith croon to them (and I think but am not sure they use similar hair product as Smith). Also, they have all the fun of Cut/Copy but with less keyboards. In case Keyboards just ain't your thing.

LISTN | The Black Kids | Hurricane Jane (The Twelves Remix)


DWNLD | HERE