Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Missnae’s “I don’t usually do lists but…”

Posted: 30 Dec 2008 10:38 PM CST

Oh, if you insist. Keeping in mind that there are always so many albums I’ve missed and will be playing catch-ups on well into the new year, here’s a smattering of music I enjoyed this year.

Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannot Feel

A lovely solo project from Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox featuring dreamy vocals that linger in the densely layered atmospheric fug of guitars, bells, keys and a miscellaneous gentle torrent of tiny sounds.

Bachelorette - Isolation Loops

Bachelorette is my favourite anti-pop starlet. I've been living with this album all year, like a favourite painting of a future-retro space station or a portrait of a comic nerd with a ukele and a cup of chamomile. I also managed to see her perform not once but twice, and really dug her shy but sardonic one woman show.

Beach House - Devotion

What can I say? Beach House have followed up on their debut self-titled album with a gift of wondrous dimensions. I adore ‘Devotion’ (the title is apt) and their gig at the Hopetoun Hotel earlier this year rocked my little socks.

El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley to the Stars

Continuing my penchant for Swedish pop that began with The Concrete's 'Teenlove' and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. I was quite surprised to learn that this is a solo project from Sarah Assbring who crafts this beautiful, soulful and melancholy music all on her lonesome.

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

m83 album cover
I haven't enjoyed a love letter to the 80’s this much since the Donnie Darko soundtrack a few years back. Let's go to the prom and sidestep all night with Kim and Jessie!

Matmos - Supreme Balloon

Matmos are unstoppable. Straying only slightly from their reputation as conceptual artists, Supreme Balloon is a tour de force, floating verily through the historic land of rare and vintage synthesiser sounds.

Sigur Ros - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Ok, so it's very similar to the repertoire of previous offerings from this much lauded band but I'd say this album is worth it for the opening track alone - 'Gobbledigook' is so killer, "Lalalalalalalalalalalalalallalalalalalalalalaaaaah!" Enough to make you want to get your gear off and go tearing through a frostily cold Scandanavian forest in search of the pixies and glitter folk till twilight? Sigur Ros seem to think so.

actors running along the beach naked for the gobbledigook video

Twi The Humble Feather - Music for Spaceships and Forests

Terrible name, wondrously good music. This has just snuck into the 2008 listening list for me and I'm still attempting to summon words to explain the weirdness here. 'Animal Collective meet a choir of Oompa Loompas on acid who record an album inside an old growth tree with merry dancing bears on the mix' is what initially springs to mind.