Best & Worst 2008: Ann Powers pop music list
In pop music, undefinable moments
The genre got further fragmented, but there were standouts nonetheless.
By Ann Powers
VIDEO: Ann Powers on the year in music
Putting together this list, I pinged friends to ask what albums I absolutely should not have missed this year. Sixty replies quickly poured in. Only one release -- the big rock mountain “Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- was mentioned twice. Some picks were already in my best-of pile; many haunted my get-to-it list. Others I hadn’t heard, or even realized existed.
The fragmentation of pop is getting to be an old story. As personal and music-industry budgets shrink, it’s less likely than ever that we’ll all end up purchasing the same music and sharing a conversation about it. For variety addicts, that’s great; for believers in the dream of a common language, it’s depressing. For a critic, it seems like a mandate to rethink one’s entire enterprise. In the meantime, here are a few trends and individual efforts that made me happy this year.
Related: Complete year-end music coverage on Pop & Hiss.
Related: The 39 most memorable pop music moments of 2008
Related: Pop top-10 lists, and 2008’s recommended albums
To view this on a single page, click here. (Photos: Nick Cave. Credit: EPA . Lil Wayne. Credit: Stefano Paltera / For the Times))
Black bohemians: Our president-elect has radically challenged America’s attitudes about race. The shift’s happening in music too -- on albums including “Dear Science” by art rockers TV on the Radio and the debut from the undefinable Santogold, in the newly minted pop stardom of M.I.A. via the single “Paper Planes” and through the unwavering success of Lil Wayne, whose tricksterism breaks down some heavy doors. (Photo: Lil Wayne. Credit: Stefano Paltera / For the Times)
“Hercules and Love Affair” (DFA Records):
Grown-people R&B: Leave the strippers and the carnival outfits to T-Pain.
Martha Wainwright, “I Know You’re Married but I’ve Got Feelings Too” (Rounder): The singer-songwriter who’s too often been stuck in the back row of her famously musical family made a gorgeous, hungry, sad, sweet album anyone who’s ever been recklessly in love should hear. (Graham Denholm / Getty Images)
The Sub Pop Festival: This two-day celebration of Seattles premier music label, held in bucolic Marymoor Park, had memorable sets from Fleet Foxes, a reunited Green River, the still-powerful Mudhoney and many others. But the love circulating among artists, fans and the earthiest “music industry types” on the planet made it truly special. (Photo: Fleet Foxes. Credit: Kevin P. Casey / For the Times)
Africa resurgent: Like
THE WORST
Katy Perry, “One of the Boys” (Capitol): Knock-off New Wave from a former Christian music artist trying to fashion herself into a hot sinner, this album is retrograde in every way: musically, politically and especially in its attempts to titillate. Perry makes
Related: Complete year-end music coverage on Pop & Hiss. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)