Best of 2008: Anna Gazdowicz of The Deli SF on The Heavenly States’ Delayer
December 30, 2008
My relationship to music changed pretty significantly after I took over editing duties at the Deli SF in March 2008. What opened up before me with this new concentration on the local scene was a warm, rich, nurturing community full of talented musicians, writers and enthusiasts. And I’ve been fortunate enough to hear a myriad of great bands, many of which I may not have discovered otherwise.
My favorite local record of 2008, and one of my overall favorites, was The Heavenly States‘ Delayer. It’s a solid record from start to finish, at times reminding the listener of the Replacements circa All Shook Down, Spoon circa A Series of Sneaks, The Pixies circa Doolittle, etc. etc. All the while, of course, maintaining a unique sound with every garage-tinged hook and pull on the violin. “Lost in the Light,” in particular, became one of my personal anthems of 2008 – the song’s pure energy and heart simply explodes with every listen, and there were times when I just couldn’t turn it off.
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The Heavenly States – “Lost in the Light”
Spoon loves them. The blogosphere loves them. Delayer is really good. Here’s to even more success for the Heavenly States in 2009.
This contribution was written by guest blogger Anna Gazdowicz, the Associate Editor of The Deli SF. You can vote in The Deli’s year-end music poll here.
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Best of 2008: Tartufi on Low Red Land’s Dog’s Hymns
December 30, 2008
The Details: Recorded [mostly] at The Hanger in Sacramento with engineer Robert Cheek tweaking the “knobs” and yanking on ‘levers” – oh and manning the sound board – in July and August of 2008.
The Facts: Dog’s Hymns is an amazing representation of how dynamic and proficient Low Red Land is at laying down a sound that is at once vital and fluid, both essential and inescapably entrancing. The album is able to capture the raw energies of their live set while still projecting a product that is polished and full, thick with instrumentation and vocal treatments.
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Low Red Land – “Better Angels”
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Best of 2008: Dylan Travis of Man/Miracle on The Hospitals’ Hairdryer Peace
December 29, 2008
The Hospitals write songs. This is important because if you manage to get a copy of their (sold out) new record, Hairdryer Peace, you might initially confuse this for an art-noise group, yet another collection of unwashed kids turning knobs on the floor and blowing out their eardrums. However, breaching the surface of oceans of compressed drums and thick guitar wash are perfect rock verses, disintegrating in front of you, as though deposited into the slit gastrointestinal tract of some horrible mass-culture monster and subjected to an unforgiving process of acidic punk rock digestion. The vocals are flip and abrasive. The lyrics continue in the finest tradition of urban alienation (“Animals act natural / it’s all been so hard for me”). The drums are monolithic. This record must be appreciated more, right now.
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The Hospitals – “I’ve Visited the Island of Jocks and Jazz”
This contribution was written by guest blogger Dylan Travis of Man/Miracle.
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Best of 2008: Julie Schuchard of Tricycle Records on The Morning Benders’ Talking Through Tin Cans
December 29, 2008
For years I have been watching The Morning Benders grow up. They have a genuine talent for writing pop that casts a dizzy intoxication much like The Shins and The Beatles. Talking Through Tin Cans is one of those records that I have been anticipating from this young local band. I knew they would do great things. And they did just that.
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The Morning Benders – “I Was Wrong”
This contribution was written by guest blogger Julie Schuchard of Tricycle Records.
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Best of 2008: Will Benham of New and Used Records on Geographer’s Innocent Ghosts
December 26, 2008
I will remember 2008 as the year Bay Area music was put back on the map, thanks to the national attention showered on the likes of The Dodos, Birdmonster and The Morning Benders. With that being said, I would like to look to future while selecting the best local album of 2008 and think about who just might be the next great band to break out from the Bay Area. If their debut Innocent Ghosts is any indication, I would say Geographer have a pretty good shot.
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Geographer – “Can’t You Wait”
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Best of 2008: Jon Bernson of Ray’s Vast Basement & Window Twins on Odd Nosdam’s Pretty Swell Explode
December 26, 2008
In the future, it will become known that David Madson spent the better part of his life on a hijacked Soviet probe, transmitting 3D images back to Earth. When the news drops, his panoramic soundscapes and hazy holograms will be seen in a different light. School children will study his distorted close-ups of the sun, black drum holes and time lost tones. They will thank Odd Nosdam, who spent much of his life assembling Madson’s rich body of work. Nosdam will be respected for keeping secrets secret and for spreading rare information to those in need. There will be a resurgence in weightless, post-human environments. Religious cults will embrace artificial intelligence. Sound addicts will keep Pretty Swell Explode on the mantle for decades. We will call it his opus and offer up our highest praise.
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Odd Nosdam – “Forever Heavy (Shoegangster / JB Remix)”
This contribution was written by guest blogger Jon Bernson of Ray’s Vast Basement & Window Twins.
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Best of 2008: Maus Haus on Andy Tisdall’s Cotton Cannibals
December 24, 2008
Andy Tisdall is a member of Little Teeth, a band that put out a great year-end list record with Child-Bearing Man. But Andy’s solo album, Cotton Cannibals, quietly self-released and under most radars, also blew us away.
This is an album of ghosts, literal and metaphorical. Dusty and creaky pianos, banjos, and cellos congregate around simple folky vocal melodies that twist themselves into howling exorcisms. “Oh my ghost / it will howl / it will scream / when it leaves what I thought was a dream”, Andy intones on “War”, and it may as well be the album’s mantra. Cannibals sounds like Phil Elvrum and Tom Waits presiding over a 19th century Pentecostal seance in the Ozarks.
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Best of 2008: Ben Thorne of Low Red Land on Dame Satan’s Beaches and Bridges
December 23, 2008
2008 found a number of fantastic local albums seeing release (and one, Tartufi’s Nests of Wave and Wire, seeing a delay that only means it will be my favorite album of 2009), and the best, by far, is Dame Satan’s Beaches and Bridges. It’s a stunning, expansive album that swells and breathes, building on impressive vocal interplay and tasteful musicianship.
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Dame Satan – “The Struggle”
