Sonic Parthenon's The Year In Music 2008: Part 4

The Hard Lessons
A couple of quality gigs and toying around with some new tunes, and - even with the loss of the Anvil - Koko and Augie just refuse to surrender rock n' roll to the forces of evil.

Headlights
This very low-key band from Illinois has the potential for very big things if they churn out well-crafted shows like the one in May at the Mercury Lounge.

The Hold Steady
What more can be said on this blog about the Hold Steady? Stay Positive was not perfect, in fact, there were at least 4 better records out this year, but what did work works better than just about anything else out there right now ("Constructive Summer" is without question the best song of 2008). Combine that with a continued excellence on the touring circuit and this band that refused to go away, whose infectious devotion to irony-free vintage rock proved to be too much to scoff at, is just impervious to negativity.
As we enter 2009, it is quite clear that in the review-of-the-decade-to-come, Craig Finn and the boys are going to be right at the top, sharing the spotlight with only a few other bands at most, and if they own 2009 like they did 2008, 2007, (and in hindsight, 2006 and 2005), they could make the case for being number 1 without any sharing.

Hot Chip
Hot Chip do not challenge you to like them like a lot of other bands but they are also not the most easily digestible. Made in the Dark was equal parts friendly and uninviting. But it all came together, and Alexis is leading an outfit that taps into a wellspring of creativity, making techno-nerd-rock groove in all the right places. "Ready for the Floor" and "One Pure Thought" prove that.

Joan as Police Woman
To Survive was Joan Wasser's contribution to 2008 and it was a sterling one. Though she's been working at it for years, it was only in 2008 that people seemed to finally get something that's not hard to figure out: soul music is invincible, and Joan's take on it - smoothed, seductive, sedate, and infused with a kink of folk - is ripe for perfection. And see her live to really get it.

Jukebox the Ghost
"Hold It In" was a quality cut of 2008 and this band's sensible live show is charming.

Langhorne Slim
Langhorne Slim finally broke into the big time this year with his solid self-titled LP, well deserving after years of toiling in the NYC-based muck. From all over NPR to David Letterman, everyone was finally getting a taste of what only a select few knew before. With a couple of dandy War Eagles backing him up, the only question one had to ask was "what took everyone so long?" And it always feels good when a sincerely nice person does well in this crazy world. Truly, 2008 was the year of the well-meaning slim, whether in presidential elections or country-fried rock n' roll.

Jenny Lewis
The title track of Acid Tongue and her collab with Costello on "Carpetbagger" alone were enough to remind us Jenny Lewis is probably better off without Rilo Kiley. Though now the debate will rage whether she is better off without the Watson Twins and that is a little harder to answer (actually it isn't - keep reading).

Looker
It was a quiet second half of the year for Looker but the first was pretty snazzy, what with a good Saturday night gig at the now gone Luna Lounge and one of the singles of the year with "Gates of the Old City".

Long Blondes
It was all going great, and then it was over. Of all of this year's sudden band-break-ups this one hurts the most. It's a damn shame. But before they closed up shop, the Long Blondes left us with a decent final record, including the stellar "Here Comes The Serious Bit", and a successful live tour that included a terrific stop at the Bowery Ballroom.

Lykke Li
"Tonight" and "Dance, Dance, Dance" were the two top tracks from this very divisive bit o' pixie dust.

Shwa Losben
Brooklyn girls may not be from Brooklyn and neither is Shwa but he's allowed to live here because his pop music is so damn catchy and he knows how to put on a show.

The Great Rilo Kiley Disco Freak Out: The Pennypacker Perspective

So by this point, who hasn't had an opinion on Rilo Kiley's new album? It appears most of the feedback is extremely negative but there is a small contingent of critics who like the record, including Joel Levy at Rolling Stone, the man who is the closest thing left to cred that magazine has had for a long time (in an interesting review on the RS video podcast, he noted that he hated the record the first time listening, but loved it by the third time).
The first few songs on the record aren't that bad. The openers "Silver Lining" and "Close Call" should fit OK in the Rilo catalog and have enough of the good stuff that made Jenny Lewis' work with the Watson Twins last year so appealing. The biggest shocker to the world is that - sorry - "The Moneymaker" is a good song. It doesn't quite sound like anything else on the album, it's the one true rocker on the record, and it's undeniably catchy. If it suffers from one ailment, it is the same ailment that plagues the entire record: the lyrics are pretty stupid. After "The Moneymaker", it's pretty much all downhill. Rilo Kiley tries to imitate two very different bands in the middle of the record - "Dreamworld" is an ode to Fleetwood Mac and "Dejalo" summons the Miami Sound Machine. Both fail pretty badly. Again, there are catchy hooks but there are no teeth behind those hooks. Not to mention, - big shock time - Fleetwood Mac were not good. Hell, if you ignore Gloria Estefan's later work, the Miami Sound Machine were actually a pretty damn good band. But that doesn't mean they needed to be imitated here. The album just spirals downward to the very last song, a horrible tween-pop sounding song called "Give A Little Love". Dreadful.
But even though it is pretty much a pop music disaster, does it really matter? The big secret that no one seems willing to talk about is that Rilo's work can be inconsistent. Some of the earlier records have some real dull moments. The one thing that has been the band's consistent strength is the songwriting. The loss of that on this mainstream label release is a bigger problem than the slick production and pop hooks that came in. If that had remained, this really wouldn't or shouldn't have been such an outrage to so many people.
But hey judge for yourself. Here is the video for "The Moneymaker" and here is the video for "Silver Lining". And please try to be objective and not be biased in favor of the band just because you may find Jenny Lewis or any other member of the band attractive.