Abbey’s Top 20 Local Songs of 2008
Since there were so many incredible local releases this year, it would’ve been negligent to not have a solely local Best Songs of 2008 list. I expanded the idea of ‘local’ to go beyond Seattle and include our musical neighbors to the south, Portland. Hope you enjoy my first Best of list of 2008, more lists coming soon!
1. The Moondoggies - Changin’
2. Wild Orchid Children – Birth of a Cabin
3. The Dutchess and The Duke – Resevoir Park
4. Kay Kay and His Weathered Undergound – Night of The Star Child’s Funk
5. The Whore Moans – Nerve Tonic!
6. J. Tillman – Steel on Steel
7. The Fleet Foxes- Mykonos
8. Sera Cahoone – Only As The Day Is Long
9. See Me River – Don’t Pray For Blood
10. The Hands – Praying Hands Make Fist (Or Be Chopped Off)
11. Blue Scholars – Butter & Guns
12. Bark Hide and Horn – Trumpeter Swan
13. Thee Emergency – Hopped Up For The Git Down
14. The Builders & The Butchers – Bringin’ Home The Rain
15. A Gun That Shoots Knives – Stay in School
16. Shy In Sunshine – Recognition
17. We Wrote The Book on Connectors – Mimosas
18. Starfucker – Pop Song
19. The New Faces – Impulse
20. Hey Marseilles – Rio
(p.s.) According to my Itunes, my most listened to local track of 2008 is Kay Kay’s: Night of The Star Child’s Funk.
Sarah Svobodny #
Awesome Abbey!! Great list, and happy holly days!!
See you soon, it’s almost your birfdeee!!!
Doug Newsum #
Wow, could have seen that coming, the same bands you have been listening to for the last year and a half, way to discover new music!
Seattle music blog…. Seattle music slug.
Doug N.
abbey #
I am in fact a slug, Doug… how did you know? (UC Santa Cruz: Fighting Banana Slugs, class of 2003).
Besides that, 12 of the 20 bands I listed in my top songs were brand new bands in 2008, and thus never mentioned in 2007 as accused. Sure there are my old favorites, but they also all happened to release great new material in 2008! (Only three of the bands mentioned on this year’s song list were on last years best song list, also.)
Also, it’s not like I’m not trying out everything else. I get 2 to 3 albums sent to me a day and I’ve gone to over 200 shows this year alone. I’ve seen just about every band who’s playing gigs in Seattle at least once, and I can tell you with lots of research and thought done, to me, these are the 20 best songs in Seattle of 2008.
Sorry you don’t agree (or your band didn’t make the list), Doug…but I stand by my choices.
Doug Newsum #
Good that I hit a nerve… it’s important to critique the critics, right?
I am just pointing out that I have not seen a whole lot of new discoveries with this blog, mainly seems like S.O.S is riding the coat tails of local radio and reporting or reviewing the same bands over and over.
Also If you get 2-3 cd’s a day times 365 days/year that would = 730 or 1095 discs.. and you have been to 200 shows? That’s a lot of missing numbers there.. But it wasn’t me who had to point that out. Nonetheless, that is a lot of music to swallow. I wonder how you find the time to do it!
I am sure you work hard, I hope next year you will work even harder and help us discover more new music!
PS.. I wish I was in a band, but I only go to shows and am a fan of music.. and you?
Doug N.
Andy #
Err…Doug. I’m not sure if you understand the space time continuum. How are you supposed to introduce new music in an end of the year list?
And why wouldn’t they include all of the music from the last year in the list? It’s a year end list. Keyword: year.
I think your reasoning is a bit askew.
Keep up the good work Abbey (and Josh, I guess. Ugh).
Johnna #
“Err” to Doug is right!.. or “Ugh”.. whatever “gruntal” noises you prefer while typing.
But to play the middle card – at least there is a forum, I have not seen many posts on this blog from readers..
If you go through the past archives most of the same bands are discussed monthly, but that is why I check out other blogs too Doug!!
Johnna Blue
josh #
Readers…
Abbey’s list is just that, Abbey’s list. Not the end-all-be-all list of what is best, but what she liked over the last year. Avid readers of our blog (thanks for visiting!) may find this list familiar. Those who aren’t avid readers of this blog will likely find the list more useful.
We do not now nor have ever claimed that our opinion about popular music is the final word of the Almighty, and should you not agree, you’ll be damned to a dark place forever (or even labeled a poser). We are simply one blog of many in this music scene, trying to build a larger narrative.
We are not pitchfork or stereogum. We make minimal money off of advertising (less than $20 a month). And our goal isn’t to be a comprehensive source. Instead contributors are writing about music that they like as well as the local music scene as they find it.
This blog is simply another resource to expose you to what is out there in the local scene. We try to keep our ear to the ground about what is going on all over, but because our writers are into rock, folk and pop mostly, that is mostly what we’ll talk about.
As for repeat coverage: if a band or label is doing something we think is interesting, we’re going to talk about it. Different writers may have different things to say at different times about a given band or release, but I’m not going to prevent a writer from writing about a band just because we wrote about them or featured them in the last month or 6 months.
I will not apologize for this blog not providing you with enough hipster mana for you to gorge upon only to forget about it the next day. We don’t give a shit about the fact that the animal collective album leaked in full on christmas. And we are sure as hell not going to provide any help in finding it.
We visit actual record stores and buy physical albums from real people. We do our best to actually show up at shows when people invite us. Sometimes bands or publicists send us albums in the mail. If we like an album or a show, we’ll say so. If we don’t have much nice to say, we probably won’t say anything at all. Often, even if we like an album, a writer has to find the time and will to actually write about it.
It is what it is take it or leave it.
Jason Josephes #
You know, when I used to write about music, I would occasionally get an e-mail telling me about how much my opinion sucked, was wrong, etc. At first, I was amused, because I pushed a button in someone with my words and they pushed right back. But, after awhile, the amusement ceased. All wondered was why whoever didn’t like the review write one of their own? 99 times out of 100, the answer was a lack of talent and initiative. But what’s the excuse these days? Especially now, in the soon-to-be-year of 2009, when anybody can create their own forum for their musical tastes, like Josh and Abbey have done. That’s right — they actually took the time to make a website and focus on the local music scene.
And what has Doug Newsum been up to? According to Google, his sole contribution to the internet appears to be commenting on Abbey’s opinions. Oh, and he has a classmates.com page. That’s quite a legacy. Meanwhile, these two website founders have been religiously going to shows for years and documenting their experiences and opinions, and they’re doing it out of the love of the local music scene. Meanwhile, a class of 1988 grad of Kentridge High doesn’t seem to have anything else to offer except the occasional troll post. Who are these fresh, exciting new artists we’ve all missed out on over the past year? We’ll never know, because Doug Newsum lacks the initiative to offer up his choices. Which is funny because, as this is a forum, it offered him the opportunity to say “You should check out so-and-so, or this other band.” Instead, what did we get?
Passive-aggressive comments.
God, I hate the internet, by which I mean please, Josh and Abbey, keep up the good work.
Doug Newsom #
i am sorry about the typo, my last name is spelled Newsom. The O’s and U’s are next to each other and that was my mistake.
Since you did a background check through Google, have at it, let me know what you find Jason. According to amazon.com you are “jaded” and don’t know how to spell…
I don’t know why everyone is so offended by one person’s comments and needs to find out who is saying their “negative” opinion on this blog.. Is this blog such a tight nit community that everyone needs to defend and protect each other? We’re not polishing terds here.. are we?
I am not trying to write a review or want to be a blogger..
And as for a review.. I gave one, read above.
Bands that I like and listen to :
2 Headed Chang
OFU Music
Circle of Force
Legion WIthin
And I never said that S.O.S does a bad job, obviously I frequent the site, read the posts, check the pics.. I just thought at the end of the year there would be a bigger variety and wider spectrum of music covered.
I am sad to say that my opinion is not welcome here and that says something about this “community”
Doug N.