best albums of 2008

the gutter twins (greg dulli of the twilight singers and afghan whigs with mark lanegan of screaming trees and queens of the stone age) team up for saturnalia, out in march. they just posted a song on myspace, and if 'idle hands' is any indication (and i've been told it is), the album is gonna be a fuckin' monster

also, pj harvey is teamming up with john parish for a follow-up to dance hall at louse point, will come out later in the year

unfortunately, i've already gotten the new drive-by truckers album and pencil it down for the biggest disappointment of the year

 

Damn. That's discouraging to hear, but it's what I was afraid would happen when Isbell left.

By the way, I didn't much care for his solo effort, either.

 

i was so-so on his solo record -- some songs, i thought were fantastic, some, eh

and well, some of the cooley songs on the new album are good. the shona songs, though. ugh.

 

I hear Chinese Democracy could drop any day now.

 

Is that the name of Axl's next kid?

 

A girl named Kate Nash just released her debut album called Made of Bricks and on first listen it's really good. She's drawing comparisons to Lily Allen but I think the more apt comparison is Regina Spektor.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. [/slash]

 

I love me some Regina Spektor, so I'll have to check that girl out.

 

Here's her myspace page if you want to get a taste before buying the album which is on itunes for only 8 bucks. http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic

 

Shelby Lynne and her sister Allison Moorer both have new albums coming out this year... Shelby's in January and Allison's in February.
The few tracks I've heard off Shelby's disc harken back to the soulfulness of her breakthrough I Am Shelby Lynne disc and away from the great acoustic music of her last two albums.
Allison's album is mellow acoustic-ish as well and features some great covers including Ring of Fire; Both Sides Now; Go,Leave; Revelator; and a bunch of others.

Marah's new disc is supposed to be out sometime this month as well.

At some point this year Southside Johnny & the Jukes album of Tom Waits covers, featuring a guest appearance by Waits himself, will be coming out.

 

I disagree on your lukewarm assessment of the DBT record, Hoops. I think the Cooley songs are fantastic, as are several of the Patterson songs and a couple of the Shonna songs. IMO, they could've trimmed three or four songs off the record, but shit, that still leaves 15-16 solid tracks.

Other than that, I'm definitely looking forward to the new Nada Surf album coming in February, but I haven't been looking ahead too much -- mostly catching up on what I missed from 2007, as always seems to happen when all the end-of-year, best-of lists come out.

ADD: Holy crap, just listened to a few tracks from that Kate Nash album, and it is fantastic. I can definitely see the comparisons to Lily Allen and Regina Spektor, both of whom I like. I would really say she's somewhere in between. Good stuff.

 

it just feels disjointed and underwhelming to me