Best of 2008 Mix Tape

It is that time of year again; the time when I summarize the best new music that I listened to this year, compiling it onto a disc. These are twenty of the best.

1. Mudcrutch - "Shady Grove" (from Mudcrutch)

Mudcrutch, Tom Petty's original band, shares at least half of its genetic material with the Heartbreakers. In the Heartbreakers, though, it is clear that, while Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench often shine, Petty is always in control. Mudcrutch is a bit more democratic. The group is prone to instrumental bluegrassy jamming, the kind of stuff that wouldn't be out of place on an album like Workingman's Dead. This brings the players to the forefront. Also, Petty often shares the vocal mic or relinquishes it completely, giving even more prominence to the other members of the band. While their original songs are also great, their covers might be their best. Their take on Roger McGuinn's "Lover of the Bayou" sears it, but the real cake is their jovial jaunt on the traditional "Shady Grove."

2. Jakob Dylan - "Evil Is Alive and Well" (from Seeing Things)

Almost every review I read of this album pointed out that, while people expected an acoustic album from Jakob Dylan to be just like his dad's work, there couldn't be two artists more different. Hogwash. The problem is, critics are comparing Jakob to Bob's earlier work; what he really sounds like is Bob's later work. If Dylan ditched the cowboy band and stripped back his sound, this is exactly the kind of record he would make. The album is where Bob's Modern Times meets Springsteen's Nebraska. Several melodies borrow heavily from traditional songs and the lyrics are opaquely apocalyptic. No where are they more apocalyptic than on "Evil Is Alive and Well," a song personifying Satan in various contemporary guises. Haunting.

3. Hayes Carll - "Beaumont" (from Trouble In Mind)

Rather than one of the endlessly witty comic songs he has received a small bit of recognition for, "Beaumont" is perhaps Carll's saddest song; a song about a potential relationship that fails because of a series of missed coincidences. It begins with an implosion of pathos: "I saw you leaning on a dream." The line meets that perfect balance of the concrete and the metaphysical, and with descriptions of the bar he saw her in and the white rose he tried to woo her with between them, the line takes even on more emotional weight when it comes back at the song's end.

4. The Moldy Peaches - "Moldy Peaches" (from Juno)

Maybe I ust love this so much because its the closest thing my giral and I have to a song. Its filled with great little contradictions though, like "we sure are cute for two ugly people." It also includes the Konami Code (up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, B A start), which is an accomplishment for any pop song. It references John Henry and Don Quixote in the brilliant amalgam of "Don Quixote was a steel-drivin' man." Despite having a late 2007 jump start, this song wasn't ubiquitous for me until 2008.

5. Flight of the Conchords - "Robots" (from Flight of the Conchords)

Futuristic meta-electronica about doing the robot. Not bad. This humorous number also features the only binary solo ever, chanting 1 and 0 in various combinations. The real winner though is the catchy melody that couches the phrase "we used poisonous gasses and we poisoned their asses." Also, it sounds like Kermit the Frog has a cameo when the dude sings "global robo depression." The last few seconds, though, may be the most annoying part of the mix tape.

6. Randy Newman - "Piece of the Pie" (from Harps and Angels)

Any song capable of getting John Mellencamp's panties in a bunch is okay in my book, especially when it calls him Johnny Cougar. I like Mellencamp alright, but I'm pissed off he'd take offense at a song so brilliantly witty. This song takes on socialized healthcare, celebrity ad spots, and Bono's humanitarian posturing while exposing the inherent problems with wealth distribution. This song is one of Newman's finest moments ever, and is easily the best satire of 2008.

7. Flowers Forever - "Strange Fruit" (from Flowers Forever)

This song starts off with horns, showing it, as all versions are, is indebted to the indelible voice of Billie Holiday. Once the drums start, though, it is off in a totally different direction. Almost mariachi in the rhythms and howled in an anguished yelp. After Abel Meeropol, the song's composer, got done being blown away I think he'd appreciate it.

8. Dr. John & the Lower 911 - "Dream Warrior" (from The City That Care Forgot)

This swampy funk haunts my dreams like a samurai warrior ready to take on the whole of FEMA, which is more or less what Dr. John is in spirit. He references "Strange Fruit" again, but recontextualizes it to the Ninth Ward rather than Southern lynching. This is among the best protest songs of the year.

9. Scarlett Johansson - "I Wish I Was In New Orleans" (from Anywhere I Lay My Head)

The piano softly plunks out a music box tinkle of a lullaby as Scarlett half-talks this breathy and deeply textured love letter. I don't know whether to take a shot of whisky, slow dance under a dixie moon, or do both.

10. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - "Turpentine" (from Momofuku)

This song is like Paul McCartney on amphetamines. The melody is great, the harmonies are better. The wicked organ and the driven drumming push it along, and the whole thing ends up feeling like a Victorian bender.

11. Guns'N'Roses - "Madagascar" (from Chinese Democracy)

The logical sequel to "Civil War," "Madagascar" explodes with excellent vocals form Axl before disintegrating into a post-modern mish-mash of sampled sources from films, speeches, etc. Part ballad, part rocker, it is so far my favorite of a host of great songs on Chinese Democracy.

12. Katy Perry - "I Kissed A Girl" (from One of the Boys)

I realize that she is just trying to, quite sluttily, capitalize on lesbian chic. I also realize that she may actually be an animatronic manikin. Still, even I don't really respect her, I respect the brilliance between the power pop of "I Kissed A Girl." It is an anthem, even if it stands for nothing but a desire on Perry's part to pocket a fat wad of cash.

13. Ry Cooder - "Spayed Cooley" (from I, Flathead)

Okay, so maybe Randy Newman has some competition in the satire category. "Well, you hear a lot of talk about Homeland Security. It sounds to me like someone's gonna make some seeeerious money out of the deal" starts out Kash Buk, the fictional narrator of I, Flathead. He goes on to explain how he has all the security he needs. It's called his dog.

14. Hayes Carll - "It's A Shame" (from Trouble In Mind)

Born from the same thematic ground as "Beaumont," but a bit jauntier, this song comes off bittersweet. There's little sweeter than "kissin' for hours beneath that sweet magnolia," but it just makes a line like "standin' at the window with a broken window view" all the harder to take when you realize circumstances just won't let the love be.

15. Hank Williams III - "The Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand Anymore)" (from Damn Right Rebel Proud)

This song encapsulates the movement to reinstate Hank Sr. into the Grand Ole Opry. With righteous indignation, Hank III composes a one-man manifesto.

16. Scarlett Johansson - "Falling Down" (from Anywhere I Lay My Head)

The piano falls like rain onto a bed organ chords with plucked strings behind it. Scarlett sounds masculine and strong, and imagining that voice couched in her feminine figure makes her even more alluring. As gorgeous as anything Tom Waits has made.

17. Randy Newman - "Korean Parents" (from Harps and Angels)

Always one to accept responsibility, Randy Newman tells today's young parents that their "parents aren't the greatest generation." This song looks at the anxiety of influence in a realm out side of literary criticism, and how anyone under 70 uses their parents success as a reason for their failure. This is a useless strategy. To contravent it, Newman suggests hiring Korean parents to take care of the kids. As he points out, Koreans are good student not because they are smarter than other ethnicities, but because their parents force them to work hard on their schooling.

18. Jakob Dylan - "All Day and All Night" (from Seeing Things)

Jakob owes his dad for this one. This song is filled with those declaratives that come out of nowhere that filled Bob's "Love and Theft" in 2001 and The Basement Tapes 40 years ago. "Bees make honey. I'll make it mine." "Don't crowd me lady, or I'll fill up your shoe." "I do it big or don't do it at all." "I'm no pig without a wig." "Ain't got no baggage that I can't use." "My captain's decorated." "Got more good luck than I'll ever u se." Can you tell the difference? The peak of copying his dad comes with the line "Me and Delia -- we're more than friends" in which Jakob places himself in the context of the folk tradition. If you take Bob's version of "Delia" on World Gone Wrong seriously, Delia is more than a friend; she's the woman who drove his dad to suicide.

19. Bob Dylan - "Red River Shore" (from Tell Tale Signs)

This epic tale is full of mystery. A man who can bring people back from the dead? I've got some ideas on the language he used.... Most people interpret the ending as revealing that the girl from the red river shore is in fact dead. I'm not so certain. I think the speaker himself is dead. That reading would certainly be in keeping with the folk tradition and seems entirely plausible given Dylan. People who read it the other way point out that when he asks about the girl, "no one knew who [he] was talkin' about." Later, though, he says that he doesn't think "anyone ever saw [him] there at all, 'cept the girl from the red river shore." No one said they didn't see her; they said that they only didn't know who she was. The speaker could have already been dead when he saw her, and maybe that's why no one responded; they can't see him because he is but a ghost. The girl may be a ghost now too. At least one of them needs "that guy who lived a long time ago."

20. Flowers Forever - "Happy New Year" (from Flowers Forever)

This song would have fit great in a late 60s art film. Garage rock, the holiday season and in-song spelling all come together here. The guitars and organ grow to a fever pitch of new year enthusiasm.