Music 2008: The Panda Rat Eats Humble Pie

For full length albums in 2008, I enjoyed:

The Black Keys‘ new sonic attitude on Attack and Release; Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks reaping the benefit of Janet “Thundersticks” Weiss on Real Emotional Trash; the Bonnie Raitt-meets-Tom Waits exuberance of Austin songrestress Carolyn Wonderland on Miss Understood; the echo of Zep III in the Dodos‘ Visiter; the absurdly high bar TV on the Radio set for their next record after Dear Science; the Saturday Knight’s funky Mingle; Girl Talk and D.C.’s Autorock’s continued and heroic push for the music biz to embrace recycling; Tim Fite’s manic Fair Ain’t Fair; Tapes N Tapes’ Walk It Off for realizing that sophomore=rock; and the front-porch soul of JJ Grey and Mofro’s Orange Blossoms.

More, including audio clips, below the jump!

There were several individual tracks that received constant play. These included the Raconteurs’ “Old Enough” off Consolers of the Lonely (sounds like updated Humble Pie); the Beastie Boys extra “The Panda Rat” from The Mix-Up sold exclusively on Amazon’s MP3 site (inexplicably left off the album); and Del the Funky Homosapien’s literal take on the rapper-as-space alien motif with “Positive Contact” off of Deltron 3030.

Disappointed that Atmosphere lost the loose vibe of Strictly Leakage for the downbeat …Paint That Shit Gold and that Only By the Night confirms that the Kings of Leon’s past fan base that included ladies who could chew the tops off beer cans and catch water moccasins with their eyes closed has been ditched in favor of girls hanging at The Gap, giggling about “boys.”

“Psychotic Girl” – The Black Keys

Baltimore – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Feed Me to the Lions – Carolyn Wonderland

Jody – The Dodos

Golden Age – TV on the Radio

Motorn’ – The Saturday Knights

One – Autorock

Big Mistake – Tim Fite

Orange Blossoms – JJ Grey & Mofro

Everything Good is Bad – JJ Grey & Mofro

Old Enough – The Raconteurs

The Light – Humble Pie

The Panda Rat – Beastie Boys

Positive Contact – Del The Funky Homosapien

Little Math You – Atmosphere’s Strictly Leakage