CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Dustin Drase writes

Jenna Murfin's Top picks for 2008

Our volunteer coordinator Jenna comes into contact with a LOT of musicians at her day job at the Old Town Folk School and it’s no surprise that her list of top picks for 2008 has some exceptional gems.

Read on to see her favorites.

10 – She & Him – Volume One – Merge

What can I say, really? I love M. Ward – I bought baklava for him when he played at Old Town and he remembered when I saw him in Madison later that year. He is a sweetheart. And, Zoey seems like one too. They make sweet music together. Yay.

9 – Joe Pug – Nation of Heat EP – Self-Released

Ok, this IS an EP but it is 7 songs…so, a hefty one. A little Bob Dylan/a lot John Prine…yes, perhaps but Joe Pug is also all his own. My first exposure to him was a live show, of which he was about 1/5 at the Kinetic Playground a few years back. He blew me away with his intensely honest vocal delivery and his wonderful song stories. It is nice to finally have a chunk of his songs recorded all in one place. He’s out to get his music out and he’ll send you free samplers to give out to your friends, too, via his website.

8 – Sun Kil Moon – April – Caldo Verde

Mark Kozelek is back with his first album of original material since 2003. And, it is pleasing…if you’re patient. Be patient.

7 – Bronze – Calypso Shakedown – Unsound Records

Chicago Jazz/Rock/R&B collective Bronze is full of very talented musicians. And, on this record, they recall, with nary a bit of tongue in cheek, Steely Dan and all those tricks of time signature and synthesizing that just force you to smile, sing along or get up and dance. I suppose they may inspire some to do otherwise, but I am in love with this album…I’m smiling, singing along and dancing right now…which is sort of hard to do while also writing a top 10 list!

6 – Forro in the Dark – Dia De Roda EP – Nublu

Yep, another EP. 5 songs this time. The “descriptors” under their name on their Myspace page are “Experimental/Country/Latin.” Yeah…and they are! I don’t feel the need to say much more here…just check it on out!

5 – Bob Dylan – Tell Tale Signs – The Bootleg Series Vol. 8

So, here’s where I make up for the EPs…this is a 2-disc, 27-song package of alternate versions, previously unreleased tracks and demos from the 67-year old musical magician. I will own up right now to the fact that I am a Lover, not a Hater, when it comes to Dylan…I revel in his gravel-toned vocals. I have seen him live about 15 times in the past 10 years. He is continually surprising and while I have not always loved the directions he has chosen to go, I have respected that he seems to go his own way. On these tunes, he does that again and again…nothing is sacred, everything changes. I love that there are about 15 different recorded versions of “Most of the Time” or “Ring Them Bells”; even more, I love that there are likely hundreds of versions that have been performed live over the years, by Dylan himself.

4 – Fleet Foxes – S/T – Sub Pop

Delicious result of the many influences informing the various styles of this Seattle band. Freak folk/pastoral rock…call it what you will but more importantly, give it a listen.

3 – TV on the Radio – Dear Science –

Mmmm…hmmmmm.

2 – Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

It gets me. It just gets me. Somewhat along the lines of the Fleet Foxes album, the tunes of Bon Iver take me to a place that is entirely outside of a particular space and time. I feel like I am in a movie when I listen to these tunes and yet they make me want to be closer to my real life. As little as that actually has to do with the album’s technical quality or characteristics, it is what makes me love art and as such, this album.

1 – Kassin + 2 – Futurismo

This band also happens to be the #1 “Show I Can’t Believe I Missed” this year. From all accounts, their mid-December Old Town School show was “one of the top 4 or 5 shows I’ve ever seen.” Mind you, not I, but the folks who actually saw it. Alas, the album is my consolation. While I am not sure why the albums lead by the other “2” members of this group were named using those performers’ first names + 2 (i.e. Moreno (Veloso) + 2 and Domenico Lancelotti + 2) and this one is called Kassin (Alexandre Kassin) + 2, I suppose it does not much matter. Kassin is a pretty cool name. And, this album is full of cool and hot brazilian pop, rock and more. As the Pitchfork review claims, “this is not your father’s Brazilian pop.” Each of these musicians is extremely talented and this being their third collaboration, it only serves to make sense that it comes across as their most realized. Kassin is the lead on this one, but all three players, along with some special guests, make this album what it is and it is outstanding!

Honorable Mentions:

Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours

Islands – Arm’s Way – Anti

Stereolab – Chemical Chords – 4AD

Mucca Pazza – Plays Well Together – Leather Bus, Inc.

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular – Sony/BMG

Headlights – Some Racing, Some Stopping – Polyvinyl

Gutter Twins – Saturnalia – Sub Pop

And, finally, a few albums I can’t believe I haven’t spent more time with yet and which, once I do, could perhaps have been on the above list:

Neil Young – Sugar Mountain-Live at Canterbury House 1968 – Reprise (not new music but newly released:)

Brian Eno and David Byrne – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today – Todo Mundo

Toumani Diabaté – Mandé Variations – Nonesuch

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig! – Anti