as we come to the end of 2008, we in the blogosphere are required, by law, to justify our existence by ranking things from the past year. this year, i've decided to bring two of my loves--music & snacking/drinking--together in ranked list form. i've sorted through hundreds of albums & snacks & drinks this year & these are the most memorable...enjoy.
my 10 fave albums of 2008
10 - the mae shi, hlllyh - this album is a late addition to the list. i didn't get around to hearing it until about a week ago & it's loud & obnoxious, which i tend to prefer more than quiet & breathy (fleet foxes can suck it). i guess, essentially, every album on this list can be described as "obnoxious" for one reason or another. they're from l.a. & they're on kill rock stars & although i can't speak to any of the mae shi's previous work, it's their third album & it's high energy & that makes me happy.
9 - jean grae, jeanius - non x-men jean grae will kick your ass. jeanius, her collaboration with 9th wonder, was finally officially released this july on taleb kweli's label, four years after it was first supposed to come out. until a few months ago when i checked out her whole discography at once, i'd never listened to jean grae. she's solid & she's brooklyn, so that rules. the album is available in four different covers that are recreations of classic hip-hop covers. that rules too...specifically the das efx one.
8 - amanda palmer, who killed amanda palmer - one of my former co-workers/internet friends manages ms amanda, so she introduced me to both the dresden dolls & amanda palmer this year. the album's her first solo effort & was produced with ben folds & right off the bat opens up with four really really solid songs. "runs in the family" is my favorite track from the album, but the video for "oasis" definitely takes the video cake. somebody honor that woman with a stupid astronaut statue!
7 - no age, nouns - this is the 2nd album (& the 2nd album in two years) from this l.a. band that comes from the same scene as the mae shi, so it's also the sort of album you can act all bouncy & head-banging to. there are number of really solid, fuzz-filled rocking 2-3 minute songs to choose from, but i'm partial toward the opening track, "miners" & track 9, "here should be my home." i even enjoy the few songs in the middle of the album where they allow you to catch your breath. good times.
6 - madlib, WLIB AM: king of the wigflip - although he's been around for a little bit now, i first discovered madlib this year, a year in which he put out three albums. for a few years now, i've been listening to j dilla (his now-deceased partner in crime) & they both have the same sort of style, with soulful sounds & choppy beats & samples, perfect for my short attention span. the other two albums he released this year are tributes to the late dilla, but this album is the final release in bbe's beat generation series--a series of records named for the spirit of the ginsbergs & kerouacs of 50 years past. the series has also produced releases from badasses like dilla, jazzy jeff, marley marl & pete rock and this album is also badass, a solid 64 minutes of goodness.
5 - los campesinos!, we are beautiful, we are doomed - uk accents make spastic music 10x better (see the sex pistols, hefner, the klaxons, the good arctic monkeys songs) and kick up the twee quotient & those are two of the reasons i instantly fell in love with los campesinos! & their gratuitous welsh exclamation point. a few months back, they toured with no age, so there's a clear theme here. they actually put out two albums this year--hold on now youngster (their february debut album) & we are beautiful... both are good, but this 2nd one definitely grabbed me more with tracks like the 2nd track on the album, "miserablia," which ends with what sounds like all seven band members belting out "shout at the world because the world doesn't love you. lower yourself because you know that you'll have to" over keyboards & whatnot...or the next song, the title song, which features the same belted-out style with the words "oh, we kid ourselves there's future in the fucking, but there is no fucking future"...says a lot about how 08 made me feel at times.
4 - deerhunter, microcastle/weird era cont. - this two-disc gem finally came out in october after very early leaks, first of microcastle & then of weird era cont., a disc that lead singer bradford cox was going to release as a surprise with microcastle until somebody discovered that the path to cox's mediafire folder was listed in his blog & weird era was just sitting in the folder for the taking & the surprise was over. anyway, no song got me as amp'd in the 08 as "nothing ever happened," off of microcastle. i often pop the song on in the morn when i'm dragging serious tail & it never fails to put a lil' up in my step. the song doesn't even appear until around the 23 minute mark of the album, but when it does appear, after three slow, dreamy songs, i feel like i've gone on some sort of journey by the time six minutes have passed & the song ends. bradford cox is definitely a weirdo, but these two albums have a definite poppiness in their weirdness & that's tantamount to earning the shawn parow seal of approval.
3 - why?, alopecia - this album is the third full-length from this berkeley hip-hop/indie rock dude/group & it was in heavy rotation for me this year. i'd say it's their strongest album thus far. it's dark & funny & full of crazy imagery & starts with the words "i'm not a ladies' man, i'm a landmine filming my own fake death." seriously, check out these lyrics from "the hollows" & try to tell me they're not some version of badass hipster-in-a-good-way poetry. in "these few presidents," there's a breakdown with the cute keyboards & the lyrics "even though i haven't seen you in years, yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere." so yeah, if you like lyrics, you can't get much better than this album.
2 - islands, arm's way - i go back/forth/love/hate a lot with islands. they rub me the wrong way some times. subconsciously, it probably has something do with the abrupt rise & abrupt breakup of the unicorns, lead singer nick thornburn's former band. as i write this, i've been listening to arm's way a lot, so they're currently in the "love" category. the first five songs on this album are all among my most-listened to songs of the year, both individually (especially "creeper") and in a row...oh & they're the only canadian act on my 2008 list, so you know they have to be good, maybe even better than quebec's ms celine.
1 - jaguar love, take me to the sea - jaguar love is a portland, oregon band that, over the past year or so, formed from the ashes of two bands i quite enjoy--the blood brothers & pretty girls make graves. on this, their debut album, it starts off immediately with frantic keyboards & guitars & whiney/screamy vocals from lead singer johnny whitney, who is apparently all peta-beloved & vegan & junk. basically, if you're cool with his vocal style (there's a lot of robert plant in there), then you're cool with this album. the 2nd track on the album, "bats over the pacific ocean," is definitely one of my top three songs of the year. overall though, i get excited about & sing/scream along to pretty much every single song on take me to the sea & i say this with as little cynicism as possible, there are few albums from this year that i can say that about. yeah, 2008.
#50 - top ten stylee.
my 10 fave snacks of 2008
10 - corn nuts caliente mix (#11) - this snack was the one that taught me the compounding power of the google search, as my blog entry quickly became a top search for the words "corn nuts." nowadays, i get a lot of hits for the search term "32 boobs," many out of india & pakistan (see, they can agree on something), due to this entry. as a snack mix, it was definitely spicy & enjoyable & now i can die definitively saying that i've tried corn nuts.
9 - pringles extreme screamin' dill pickle (#16) - XTREME! seriously, use caution when around the dill pickle, an extremely ferocious foodstuff, a fact as clear as a cucumber who ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. the dill pickle thinks nothing of jumping out of a plane from 10,000 feet. the dill pickle loves it when ESPN becomes EXPN. the dill pickle invented the word "booyah." the dill pickle will jump over more cars than you. the dill pickle does its own stunts. this is why, as far as pringles go, the dill pickle is my flavor choice.
8 - zapp's spicy creole tomato spiked with tabasco potato chips (NEW) - last week, i picked up a bag of these at bierkraft, the neighborhood gourmet beers & cheeses & foods store. they come straight out of cajun country (louisiana) & when i transferred the full contents of the bag into my stomach a week ago, i kept the bag around in case i needed it for my end-of-year-list. i've been sniffing the bag's remaining tomato-tabasco scent ever since. the chips are in the kettle vain & cholesterol-free & my mouth is seriously watering right now. the bag claims that the website is fun, but there are too many shockwave errors on it for me to ever know the truth.
7 - limited edition wildly cherry m&ms (#14) - to date, these are the best m&ms i've tried, but although they were wild, they were a limited edition flash-in-the-pan and m&ms has recently come out with "premium" flavors--mocha! raspberry almond! mint chocolate!...& if you associate candy with sex & living the high life, the premiums website, hosted by sexy m&m ms. green, is right up your alley. in summary, i hope the cherry m&ms enjoyed their time in the spotlight.
6 - archer farms jalapeno savory pretzels (#44) - as i mentioned when i wrote about these, the flavor of these makes the general dryness of pretzels a non-issue. since then, i've tried the maui onion flavor & while they're also tasty, i've declared 2008 "the year of the hot & the spicy," so the jalapeno-flavored ones take top archer farm pretzel flavor honor. you might also say that 2008 is "the year of the hawaiian president," so the maui onion ones should take top honor. if you did say that, you would be contradicting me & this thing we have going on her is all about me & that's not fair to me, reader.
5 - archer farms dill pickle cashews (NEW) - i picked up an 11.5 oz jar of these at target when i was in nh for the holiday & they are already consumed, 90% by my hand. as the less-EXTREME second dill-flavored item on this list, it's obvious that i have a fondness for the dill weed. when paired with cashews & a 12-pack selection of blue moons & a full sunday of football on a day where i actually care about football, their fate became speedy inhalation by shawn & guests.
4 - smuckers uncrustables peanut butter & strawberry jam sandwich (#25) - i've gone back to the smuckers uncrustables well a number of times since first trying them back in september, switching off between the strawberry & grape ones. i refuse to try the grilled cheese one. even i have limits. holy crap! i just checked their website & they now have a peanut butter & honey one that's made with wheat bread! step aside jelly versions! there's a new sealed crustless sandwich in town! if you have time and/or interest, there's some interesting stuff that's gone on involving smuckers & the struggle for the patent for sealed crustless sandwiches...& once again, let me remind you that crispin glover loves both making sandwiches & the holiday season.
3 - lindt excellence chili dark chocolate bar (#27) - dark chocolate & i cemented our love in the 08 & the lindt chili bar topped the many bars i sampled throughout the year. like i said, this was the year of the hot & spicy and there's just something about the way that chili & chocolate taste together that i enjoy immensely. it's as simple as that. there were some other good chocolate bars i've tried throughout the year--the lindt pear & almond dark chocolate bar, the cherries & almonds dark chocolate bar from chocolove chocolate bars (came with this poem!), the frey pear & caramel chocolate bar--but the one i've gone back to the most is flavored with a lil bit of chili. spicy.
2 - utz red hot flavored potato chips (#1) - when it comes to me & the red hot chips, it's pretty simple--i've consumed more of them than any other snack this year. i've endured the occasional weak-flavor bag, the morns when i regretted eating a whole bag the eve before, the days when i had bought out all the local stores & couldn't find a bag anywhere and the economic downturn & its resulting shrinking bag size & rising price. through it all, they've helped me rekindle my friendship with the hot & the spicy. thank you, utz.
1 - blue diamond wasabi & soy sauce almonds (NEW) - i never really gave almonds their due until a few years back when i was living in watertown with jeff & he always used to have almonds around, so i tried them out. turns out i like eating them, sometimes a can at a time & with this rough economic climate, who has money for sushi? not me, brother, so i make up for it with lots of wasabi & soy sauce almonds and an active imagination. how good are deez nutz? well, there's this one guy in my office. for some reason, if you have a snack at your desk, he is comfortable with just walking up & helping himself to some. i mean, in the grand scheme of things, who cares, right? share & share alike. one day, when i had an open can of these at my desk, he came back to my desk for the sixth time because he loved them so much that he had already finished the first five handful of deez nutz, i had to start caring. i know they're addictive. it's nothing personal. so yeah, they're that good.
my 10 fave drinks of 2008
10 - cream-o-land dairy 1% milk (#22) - this makes the list just to prove how hardcore i am. if you can find me another 2008 top ten list that includes milk on it, i'll shake your hand. virtually. via coffee & cereal, i drank a lot of milk this year. just last week, i heard an interesting segment on npr's fresh air with food historian anne mendelson about milk & it wasn't in reference to the gus van sant film, which i still need to see. to be honest, hearing some woman talk about milk & its flavor & creaminess & whatnot was actually a bit creepy.
9 - gatorade fruit punch thirst quencher (NEW) - earlier this december, on a day when i had endured hours of vomiting & laying in bed dying of sickness, i made it to the closest bodega & put my faith in a 20 oz bottle of fruit punch gatorade, counting on it to replenish my electrolytes & save the day. when i started drinking it, it tasted like some godly beverage & i could truly envision that weird-colored effect on your body that happens when you drink gatorade as depicted in their commercials. fifteen minutes later, i puked it up, but for the fourteen minutes leading up to that point, it was the best beverage i had ever drank.
8 - porkslap pale ale (#7) - it's official. good beers in a can are the greatest invention since good beers in a bottle. in 2008, i definitely drank more canned beers than i have in recent years & luckily, a smaller percentage of them were bud lights than in past years. the porkslap pale ale, with its ginger & chocolate hints, is my favorite of butternuts beer & ale's four types of canned beers, making it my fave canned beer of the year.
7 - blueberry cobbler flavor new england coffee (#24) - this coffee pretty much single-handedly changed my mind about flavored coffees. i mean, it's not like i've started downing cup after cup of hazelnuts & french vanillas & whatnot since my couple-week obsession with all things flavored blueberry but whereas in the past i'd be all "get your flavor coffee out of my face before its aroma forces me to barf in it," now i can appreciate some flavor coffees.
6 - garnacha de fuego 2007 (#30) - i feel like this year represented a turning point for me & wine, largely due to the neighborhood wine shop. full disclosure: until some time last year, 90% of the wine i drank was white wine & 90% of the time that white wine was a chardonnay. it was SO fruity of me. i drink more reds now. the garnacha, from spain, was the best wine i tried this year whose name i can remember...& its flavor...spicy.
5 - schweppes dry grape ginger ale (#20) - so yeah, when i'm feeling guilty about my excessive caffeine intake but not my soda intake, this is my go-to beverage. as a youngster, i used to love mixing cranberry juice with ginger ale. it took into sometime in my adulthood for schweppes to catch up productwise & invent a version that eliminated the need for some assembly by the customer, but i don't hold it against them. i just drink my grape soda & enjoy the time saved.
4 - 4c white iced tea antioxidant blueberry flavor (#33) - this year, the 4c white tea supplanted the regular ol' lemon flavor as my 4c iced tea flavor of choice. it has antioxidants & those are good for me. they are also good for you. i've shared some moments with the white tea over the last few years, brought a suspicious-looking ziploc bag of it to my office so i could enjoy a cold glass of white iced tea while i check on mariah's website, mixed it with chardonnay at a picnic with friends on governor's island a few summers back...good times like that. good, refreshing times.
3 - archer farms blood orange italian soda (#46) - this is the 3rd entry by a target brand on this year's list. i mean, i like target & all and it's really nice of them to have that $1 section of crap right when you come in the front door, but 90% of my love for target is based on their food selection. the blood orange soda is a great example of what makes their food selection so appealing. they take a product, make sure it has an ingredient that sounds slightly exotic, put it in nice packaging, give it a price point that's not too high & watch the profits roll in. sounds tasty to me.
2 - mountain dew (NEW) - i drink a disgusting amount of mountain dew. often it's the regular neon green flavor but occasionally it's the code red version, once in a while, it's a voltage flavor & never ever ever is it the diet kind, which my mom always has in the house, a beverage remnant of the time when my brother & his TOTALLY LAME diabetes lived there. there's just something about the skew fruitiness of the flavor & its associated chemicals that makes my taste buds smile. it's probably the taste of diabetes.
1 - dogfish head 90 minute i.p.a. (#36) - recently, i've become non-hinckley-like obsessed with delaware's dogfish brewing co. & have tried the raison d'etre, the midas touch and the 60, 90 & 120 minute i.p.a.s. i've made the 90 minute i.p.a. my beer of choice as of late. it used to be that i was skeptical of i.p.a.s as a result of drinking too many of that overrated harpoon i.p.a. in college & beyond. this dogfish i.p.a. changed that. if i have my way, i'll take a vacation to the brewery & restaurant this summer, where i anticipate trying everything on tap. everything. i said it before & i'll say it again...who's with me? yeah, 2009.
EOY. til next year, over & out.
parowpyro 
