Ann Powers on pop music in 2008
The genre got further fragmented, but there were standouts nonetheless.
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.
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.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Anti): Like a big, bloody steak, the 50-year-old poet-rocker has only improved with age.
"Hercules and Love Affair" (DFA Records):
Grown-people R&B: Leave the strippers and the carnival outfits to T-Pain. Eric Benet
Kanye West's “808’s and Heartbreak” proved that Auto-Tune can express adult emotions. And the return of the great trio Labelle showed all those pop princesses what it means to be a queen.
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.
The Sub Pop Festival: This two-day celebration of Seattle’s 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.
Lavinia Greenlaw, "The Importance of Music to Girls," and
Hard country: Sugarland As mainstream country grows further away from its "rustic" roots (nothing wrong with that, I love ), the traditional approach is being rethought by younger practitioners: The best include the whiskey-voiced
Carrie Underwood singing "Just a Dream," and Various Artists, "Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran": It's hard to deny the hope that greets the upcoming Obama presidency -- or the economic fears of year's end. But both distract from the long sorrow of America's ongoing military struggles. Underwood's single and the accompanying video, in which she transforms from bride to war widow, is top-notch tear-jerking melodrama. The album compiled by "Body of War" subject Tomas Young, a paralyzed vet turned peace activist, is gritty protest. Both vividly remind us that war is hell.
Africa resurgent: Like Vampire Weekend
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 Gwen Stefani seems like Gloria Steinem and defiles the memory of Bettie Page.
-Ann Powers
Related: Pop top-10 lists, and 2008's recommended albums
Related: The 39 most memorable pop music moments of 2008
Photos: Kanye West and Carrie Underwood, courtesy of the Associated Press
| Bookmark it: |
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c630a53ef0105367f4ef5970b
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Ann Powers on pop music in 2008:
Katy Perry. ouch
Posted by: Rocco | December 19, 2008 at 03:38 PM