Here is the fifth installment in our nine-part series about the best tracks of 2008. For the first four, click here.
10. Black Kids. "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You." The ultimate dance song. The bass line is unparalleled by any other upbeat song of late that I can think of.
9. Beach House. "Gila." Victoria Legrand's voice is hypnotic. Devotion is a great album, but "Gila" takes the cake when it comes to subtle, beautiful music.
8. Okkervil River. "Lost Coastlines." When the bass line kicks in, all I can think about is Diana Ross' "Can't Hurry Love," and that's enough for me, but Will Sheff's voice over acoustic guitar and banjo is just too pure for this song to be overlooked.
7. TV on the Radio. "Crying." "Crying" is TV on the Radio taking on a melody that wasn't at all visible on their past albums. The catchy guitar riff is quite a toe-tapper.
6. Broken Social Scene presents Brendan Canning. "Churches Under the Stairs (jam)." While I'm always skeptical when it comes to Pitchfork (see their reviews of Black Kids' Partie Traumatic and Does it Offend You, Yeah?'s You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into, which albeit are very funny), I do have to tip my hat to their recording of BSS' jam that would ultimately become "Churches Under the Stairs" off of Brendan Canning's solo album, Something for All of Us.
5. MGMT. "Time to Pretend." Had to be in here. Quite possibly the anthem of our generation, "Time to Pretend" is basically a middle finger to all those who take themselves way too seriously.
4. Deerhunter. "Never Stops." This one was a toss-up; "Agoraphobia" was a close second. Both are tracks that you can't help but nod your head to, while possibly falling asleep due to absolute contentment.
3. Fleet Foxes. "White Winter Hymnal." Beautiful, harmonious singing that hasn't been witnessed in quite some time.
2. Bon Iver. "Skinny Love." It was hard to choose just one song from For Emma, Forever Ago, but I thought it important to save room for other artists. "Skinny Love" sees Justin Vernon exuding the most emotion. It was obviously his emotional outlet while cooped up in a cabin in the middle of the woods.
1. The Walkmen. "In the New Year." Best song of the year, best album of the year. I apologize now for having given You & Me only 4 stars. This slot could very well have gone to multiple other songs on the album, but everything here is perfect, the percussion, the vocals, the guitars. One may go so far as to say "In the New Year" is better than the Walkmen's past beauty, "The Rat," and that's nothing to joke about.
Check back tomorrow, Dec. 5 for the next list.
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