Music from the '08 era

I haven't been too crazy about '08 yet, but at least two releases have been getting some repeated listens in my corner of the world. Both are fairly low-key, subdued affairs though, so consider yourselves warned.

The first is Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. I guess it was released in '07 by some dude who holed up in a shack in Northern Wisconsin and wrote these songs about some chick who broke up with him or something. Anyway, it's pretty freaking amazing...really ephemeral stuff. I do like sad bastard music, like I already said, but there's something really...awesome about this one. Check it.

The other one from this year that I've been spinning a bit lately is Beach House's Devotion. They are from Baltimore and it's just a male-female duo, with the woman doing most of the vocals. (Yes, if I were better at this I'd insert her name, but I'm consistently doing it wrong.) Anyway, it's sort of a dream pop affair, full of atmospheric ghostliness, but not too wispy, if you know what I mean. I recommend checking it out.

On other fronts, and for the guitar driven riff-meisters in our midst, check out Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks' new one (2008) called Real Emotional Trash. A lot of jamminess throughout the thing. I like it so far. I'm not going nuts over it, but it's a good change of pace.

The only other one I can recommend highly is from 2007 (which I just got) by Grinderman, called, aptly enough, Grinderman. It's actually a group featuring Nick Cave on the vocals. C'mon...Nick Cave...need I say more? Dude's a freaking genius. I especially love "No Pu**y Blues..." Apparently Snoop even digs it, so there's that.