Top of the First: Popdose’s Music Picks for 2008 (So Far)

This is the most interesting album the band has released in years. It not only shows a revision of old techniques, but it finds them exploring new territory. Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Death Cab for Cutie – “Grapevine Fires”

Bands appropriating sounds from other countries’ genres and styles have been everywhere this year, but Dengue Fever’s psych-surfer take on Cambodian pop has an air of legitimacy since their lead singer is actually from Cambodia.

Dengue Fever – “Sober Driver”

The Kidz from Chicago find more things they can do on their sophomore release. The In Crowd is your one-stop shop for hot soul beats, dance tracks, soulful crooning, and clever throwdowns.

Kidz in the Hall – “Mr. Alladatshit”

I have a very tumultuous relationship with dance music. Hercules and Love Affair is changing everything. Whatever you think electro-dance pop is, everything that it has been up until now, Andy Butler turns it on its head.

Hercules and Love Affair – “You Belong”

Thao Nguyen knows how to write a pop hook, and she knows how to have a lot of fun. Those things go well together.

Thao Nguyen – “Bag of Hammers”

Just when I thought they couldn’t top Let Go, Nada Surf came up with The Weight. And just when I thought they couldn’t top that one, they came up with the beautifully elegiac, brilliantly understated Lucky. Damn. Can’t wait to hear them top this one.

Nada Surf – “Beautiful Beat”

I admit loathing Local H. To me, they were a part of that whole Chicago signing frenzy that took place in the ’90s. Then, of course, as even they must have recognized their one-trick-pony status, they seemed intent to go in a different direction with each new record, each one seeming just as forced as the last. This one, though, is absolutely inspired. A brilliant career-defining statement and one of the better breakup records to come along in quite some time.

Okay, this one’s not so much a new album as an EP built around the song “Looking Glass” from 2007’s Walking With Strangers. Two mixes of “Red Stars” and a few new tunes, including a remake of “I Think We’re Alone Now” that both recalls and surpasses Tiffany’s version. Completely nonessential for the most part, but to my ears the Massacre can do no wrong.

These guys are the @#$% shit. Imagine if Death Cab were from Charleston, South Carolina, and the role of Ben Gibbard was played by a smart-ass in flip-flops. (I kid, Michael.) Last year’s Shiv was the “rock album,” and this year’s Mermaids is the more atmospheric and introspective counterpart.

Sure, it hasn’t come out yet, but the album has been streaming from the band’s MySpace page for a while now, and I haven’t been able to stop listening. Forget the fact that the critics and hipster blogs have been giving these guys a full-body tongue bath the past few years. This is the kind of album that makes you miss the whole experience of tearing away the shrink-wrap and freeing a chunk of black vinyl from its gatefold sleeve, losing yourself in the artwork as song after song creates a universe in your head.

Daft Punk-loving rock band makes dance music with both balls and soul. This is what I was hoping Duran Duran’s Red Carpet Massacre would sound like. Sigh.

Midnight Juggernauts – “Road to Recovery”

McCracken’s song “When the Summer’s Gone” will erase every negative thought you’ve ever had of Sheryl Crow. Hard to believe this married couple had never recorded together before. More, please.

Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken – “When the Summer’s Gone”

Apparently the kids hate the band’s new direction. Fuck the kids.

Panic at the Disco – “Do You Know What I’m Seeing?”

Insanely melodic pop band from Kansas City. Like a Bourgeois Tagg for the new generation.

Republic Tigers – “Feelin’ the Future”

Bigger and better than their quirky dance-pop debut. Fans of Curve should listen to “Chick Lit” at once.

We Are Scientists – “Chick Lit”

Always one of the most challenging metal bands to listen to, I’m one of those dudes that just never could grasp their weird time signatures. So either I’m getting smarter as I age, or this is the most accessible Meshuggah album to date. (Many people can verify that the former is not happening.)

Meshuggah – “Pineal Gland Optics”

Oh, shut up. I’m allowed to like Green Day if I choose.

Nice to hear what the Imposters can still do for Elvis’s music. A rollicking good-time album that nearly matches When I Was Cruel in quality.

Thrash is back! If this was the new Metallica record, they’d be the biggest band in the world again. Not too many are going to hear The Formation of Damnation, but Testament (along with Exodus) is blowing away the competition to usher in the new wave of thrash metal.

Before Jack and Meg White made the rock duo popular, there was Local H. Four years after the disappointing P.J. Soles album, they’re back and rocking as hard as they did in ’96.

Really, I mean it. The lyrics are stupid and every chord sounds like it could be from a hundred other songs, but somehow put together this is a remarkably fun record if you don’t take it too seriously.

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

Forget all the indie, trendy, Pitchfork crapola. I’m still listening to this album after a handful of months, so it can’t be bad.

Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”

No-Man, Schoolyard Ghosts

Melancholic duo Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) expand their somber pallet with wonderful new sounds. A personal best for the band.

Opeth, Watershed

Mikael Akerfeld (singer/guitarist/chief songwriter) has managed to graft his classic-rock/prog side onto his death metal side before, but never so convincingly as he does here. It’s like the perfect mix of the Damnation and Deliverance albums.

Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Momofuku

He hasn’t sounded this ballsy in years. Proof positive that fine wines can sour into piss and vinegar and still be pretty darn good.

Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Lovin’

A tribute to Dusty Springfield that doesn’t lose Lynne’s own eccentricities in the process.

Alt-country Exile-era Stones folk mush that sounds mighty tremendous. New full-time member Christine Smith apparently reinvigorated this veteran band.

Marah – “Angels of Destruction!”

The old hand has done it again, writing a superb set of tracks laid down with his power-trio pals of yore.

Absolutely sloppy garagey blues coming out of Kentucky. If you feel the Black Keys would be well served by a little Jon Spencer kick in the pants, you’ll love this.

Old-skool 1970s funk through and through, played by members of Soulive and Britney Spears’s studio compadres (read: polished pros).

Jim Heath, a.k.a. the Reverend Horton Heat, hasn’t put out the best-sounding organ-jazzabilly album ever, but … oh wait, that’s never been attempted before. So technically if it’s the first ever, it’s the best ever. Rev. Organdrum is one wacko side project, but a very interesting one indeed.

Her third album delivers brilliantly on the promise of the first two. The songs are like 11 puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly.

Kathleen Edwards – “Asking for Flowers”

The potentially toxic alliance of Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees). Dark, dense, powerful.

Reverend Al recaptures the sound of the glory years with producers Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and James Poyser. Easily Green’s best work in years.

Shelby’s tribute to Dusty Springfield. She wisely avoids any attempt to emulate the legendary singer, creating classic versions of her own.

A band with a wholly original sound that still manages a nod to the masters. Literary, funny, harrowing.

Ryan moves away from the bedroom ambience of his last album and into the garage for this one. He has a knack for speaking to our common experience.

The perennial underdogs address themes of religion, redemption, destruction, and the struggle for sobriety in a world awash in blood and whiskey.

The rest of the country may have stopped thinking about what Katrina did to New Orleans, but the Night Tripper is still pissed — and he’s lined up a bunch of his friends to work out some of that anger in typically funky fashion. A politically oriented album you can dance to. (Read the full review here.)

Dr. John – “Say Whut?”

Dirty. Ragged. Perfect. Sounds like someone cloned the members of the Band in the early ’70s, kept the doppelgangers in deep freeze for 30 years, and brought them out to record this album. (Read the full review here.)

The Felice Brothers – “Frankie’s Gun!”

Hot on the heels of the melancholy, electronics-infused From a Late Night High Rise, Ryan strips back his sound, cranks up the amps, and fights for your soul. A bloody-knuckled stunner of a record. (Read the full review here.)

How do these guys keep managing to avoid having giant hits? Lil Wayne is talking about lollipops, but Rising Down is one of the smartest, most pissed-off records of the year. (Read the full review here.)

The Roots – “Rising Up”

The erstwhile Rugburn returns with his best album yet — sweet, funny, and rockin’ in equal turns, with some of the best pop production of the year. You must hear it. (Read the full review here.)

Steve Poltz – “I Believe”

Backlash? What backlash? Vampire Weekend might’ve been the hipster outfit du jour this spring, but for good reason. Months later, I still can’t stop listening to their album.

Vampire Weekend – “Oxford Comma”

What can I say? Even though he’s left the lovable androids of Ferocious Mopes and the socially stunted vampires of Impeccable Blahs behind, I still love Eric Elbogen’s music more than anyone else’s.

Say Hi – “Back Before We Were Brittle”

The Copenhagen duo probably would’ve been my #1, except their mirrored vocals and throwback chord progressions get a bit repetitive at times. Even so, this is a fantastic album.

The Raveonettes – “Dead Sound”

Meric Long’s jangling guitars and Logan Kroeber’s thumping rhythms combine to produce the perfect expression of the traveler/youth hostel/backpacker lifestyle.

Dodos – “Fools”

I only very recently discovered this Scottish band, but I’ve been absolutely hypnotized by the urgency and frustration that come across in Scott Hutchinson’s vocals.

Frightened Rabbit – “The Twist”

I’m decidedly less excited about these four Ohio kids than I was three months ago, but for a debut album this is some pretty solid stuff.

Pomegranates – “Thunder Meadow”

It feels a bit disingenuous to include this in my top five based simply on the strength of a live show, but listening to some of the songs they played that night brings back terrific memories.

Cloud Cult – “When Water Comes to Life”