Evan "Funk" Davies's Best of 2008

As is the case every year, this list is based first on a computerized analysis of my playlists from the past year, during which I note how frequently I played songs from the different releases that came out over the past 12 months; and second, on my subsequent re-arrangement of those computerized results based on how much I actually liked everything. This may appear contradictory, but sometimes the records and CDs that I end up playing the most are not the ones I liked the most. Please enjoy the Four Horsemen of 2008 releases rated below, and leave any comments you have at the bottom of this post.

(All listen links are streaming Real Audio from the WFMU Archives. Check out all the Best of 2008 lists!)

Evan "Funk" Davies's Top 28 of 2008

...and when the lamb opened the first seal, I saw the first Horse. The Horseman held Best New Full-Length releases.

	1. Thomas Function Celebration! (Alive) Listen to "Can't Say No"		2. Fallen Leaves It's Too Late Now (Parliament) Listen to "Wednesdays With You"
	3. Don Cavalli Cryland (Everloving) Listen to "Casual Worker"		4. Agent Side Grinder  Agent Side Grinder (Enfant Terrible) Listen to "Me, Me and Me"
	5. Cute Lepers Can't Stand Modern Music (Blackheart) Listen to "Terminal Boredom"		6. Nice Face Demo CDR (self-released) Listen to "Fubar Over You"
	7. Hank IV Refuge In Genre (Siltbreeze) Listen to "Get It Straight"		8. Bam Bam Bam Bam (Nene) Listen to "Trepabalcones"
	9. The Pets Misdirection (Static Impulse) Listen to "Alotta Things"		10. Nothing People Anonymous (S-S) Listen to "Corner's For"

(the other 18 are after the jump, along with singles/EPs, collections and re-issues)

11. Night Marchers - See You In Magic (Vagrant/Swami)
12. Snake & Jet's Amazing Bullit Band- X-Ray Spirit (Crunchy Frog)
13. Apache - Boom Town Gems (In The Red)
14. The Laureates - There Are No More Gentlemen (Funambulist)
15. Sloan - Parallel Play (Yep Roc)
16. White Hills - Heads On Fire (Rocket)
17. Imaginary Icons - Imaginary Icons (Daggerman)
18. Cheap TIme - Cheap Time (In The Red)
19. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls (Mauled By Tigers)
20. Mitch Easter - Dynamico (Electric Devil)
21. Mucca Pazza - Plays Well Together (Leather Bus)
22. The Baseball Project - Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails (Yep Roc)
23. The Heavy - Great Vengeance and Furious Fire (Counter)
24. Ladytron - Velocifero (Nettwerk)
25. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)
26. Gentleman Jesse - Gentleman Jesse (Douche Master)
27. Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby (Stiff)
28. The Muggs - On With The Show (self-released)

Honorable Mention: The Baskervilles - Twilight (Secret Crush). I previously included this in my Best Of 2006 list, when the songs were released as MP3s. The official CD came out in 2008, and it's great! I just couldn't figure out where to put it in my 2008 list, and I am not kidding when I say I will be lying in bed tonight thinking about whether I should have included it as a regular release, in which case it would easily be in the top 10 - probably the top five.

Now when the lamb opened the second seal, I saw the second Horse. The Horseman held...
Favorite Singles/EPs of 2008

	1. Vermillion Sands "Mary" 7" single (Rijapov) Listen to "Mary"		2. Nothing People "Army of Ideal" 7" single (Hozac) Listen to "Army of Ideal"
	3. Parry Gripp Hoagiefest MP3s (hoagiefest.com) Listen to "Turkey So Fine"		4. Thomas Function "Relentless Machines" 7" single (Dusty Medical) Listen to "Relentless Machines"

5. The Herbaliser - "Can't Help This Feeling" CD single (!K7)
6. Apache - "Boys Life" 7" single (Douche Master)
7. London Dirthole Company - She Said Yeah Yeah Yeah! 7" EP (Koleskab Dommedag)
8. Blank Dogs - Diana (The Herald) 12" EP (Sacred Bones)
9. Jacuzzi Boys - "Island Ave" 7" single (Hozac)
10. Percee P - "The Hand That Feeds You" 7" single (Stones Throw)
11. Menck - "Hey War Pigs" 7" single (Actionmusik)
12. Lover! - "I'm Not A Gnome" 7" EP (Tic Tac Totally)
13. Murs - "Better Than The Best" 12" single (Warner Bros)
14. Plastic Stars - "Shut Up" 7" single (No Front Teeth)
15. Health//Disco - "Perfect Skin" 7" single (Suicide Squeeze)
16. The Nice Outfit - Kissing Jocelyn CD EP (Easter)
17. Daedelus - "Make It So" CD single (Ninja Tune)
18. Hiroshima Rocks Around - "The Matter Of Facts" 7" single (S-S)
19. The Pleasure Kills - "Mission Boy" 7' single (Polypore)
20. Wounded Lion -   "Carol Cloud" 7" single (S-S)

And when the lamb opened the third seal, I saw the third Horse. The Horseman had...
Favorite Various Artist Compilations of 2008

	1. Conquer The World: The Lost Soul of Philadelphia International Records (Legacy/Philadelphia International) Listen to "Good and Plenty" by Carolyn Crawford		2. Perfect Unpop: Peel Show Hits and Long-Lost Lo-Fi Favourites (Cherry Red) Listen to "Who Is Innocent" by The Out
	3. Titan: It's All Pop! (Numero) Listen to "Coit Tower" by Millionaire At Midnight		4. Jazz & Milk Breaks (Jazz & Milk) Listen to "Snob" by Mr. Chop

5. Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story (Big Beat)
6. Science Class (Now Again/Soul Cal)
7. Stand-Ins For Decibels: A Tribute To The dB's (Paisley Pop)
8. (tie) Nigeria Disco Funk Special and Nigeria Rock Special (Soundway)
9. Des Jeunes Gens Modernes (Born Bad)
10. Memphis 70 (BGP)
11. The American Boogie Down (BBE)
12. Disco Italia: Essential Italo-Disco Classics 1977-1985 (Strut)
13. Achtung! German Grooves (Bureau B)
14. Disco Not Disco: Post Punk, Electro & Leftfield Disco Classics 1974-1986 (Strut)
15. Great Googa Mooga (Ace)
16. (tie) Messthetics #106: The Manchester Musicians Collective and Messthetics #105: DIY 77-81 Scotland (Hyped To Death)
17. Mad Mike Monsters Vol. 1 (Norton)
18. Pillows & Prayers: Cherry Red Records 1981-1984 (Cherry Red)
19. The Best Of Lewis Recordings (Lewis)
20. Don't Press Your Luck: The In Sound of '60s Connecticut (Sundazed)

Now when the lamb opened the fourth seal, I saw the fourth Horse. The Horseman was...
Favorite Reissues/Collections of 2008

	1. Pylon Gyrate (DFA) Listen to "Feast On My Heart"		2. Steinski What Does It All Mean? (Illegal Art) Listen to "It's Up To You (Television Mix)"
	3. The Individuals Fields/Aquamarine (Bar None) Listen to "Piledrive"		4. Sparks Introducing Sparks (Lil Beethoven) Listen to "A Big Surprise"

5. Blue Ash - No More, No Less (Collectors' Choice)
6. Squares - #1 Cassette (self-released)
7. Van Duren - Are You Serious? (Water)
8. Splitsville - Let's Go (Zip)
9. The Lines - Memory Span (Acute)
10. Better Beatles - Mercy Beat (Hook Or Crook)
11. Joe Tex - First On The Dial (Shout)
12. We The People - Too Much Noise (Sundazed)
13. Cymande - Renegades Of Funk (Newhouse)
14. Teenage Filmstars - Star (Artpop!)
15. Continental Crawler - The Anthology: Cars, Cards and Questionable Women (Not Aloud)

and lastly:

Best Trash Emptyer at WFMU

1. Tom Scharpling

Comments

[slocker]

Wow, this is comprehensive. (Thanks, computer analysis!)
Great list, makes me want to re-check all these releases out again.
I really do like that Vermilion Sands 7". Glad you had the restraint to rank "Hoagiefest" at only #3.

[geezer]

Evan,

Maybe we ought to call this the "Deans List" ;-)

Yeah, and how bout that Pylon and Individuals!

[Steve Holtje]

Hi Evan, sorry to nitpick but the Pylon reissue came out in 2007. But at least that moves the Individuals a notch higher!

[efd]

Yeah, I admit I'm not really a purist when it comes to release year... fellow FMU DJ Noah pointed out that the Percee P record was also a 2007 release, and I noticed the phrase "now it's 2005" (!) when I was playing the Stands For Decibels CD during my Best Of show (although that CD didn't arrive in the WFMU new bin until 2008, for whatever reason). I guess I should call this list "Things I really liked in 2008 that mostly came out that same year," but that's a little clunky. :)

Thanks for reading the list and commenting, I appreciate it!