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Was 2008 a ground-breaking year for music? Probably not. But the past 365 days did bring us many sonic surprises, some good and some bad. Here are a few highlights, as well as our Top 3 Bands of the Year (all, incidentally, from New York).
Surprise of the Year: All Points West is a Success
Nobody expected much out of the inaugural All Points West festival across the river in Liberty Park late this summer. The New York metro area hasn't had much luck in getting these types of festivals off the ground as many Field Day hopefuls know too well, and with the Vineland Festival getting canned before ever getting off the ground, it was only more evidence of how tough it is to pull off. The enormity of setting up a multi-day, outdoor festival for the first time in a new location made it seem like a disaster waiting to happen. But with the combination of a double night headliner of Radiohead, and the experienced team that has made Coachella such a unique success, they pulled it off. The setting was perfect and the crowds, stages and concessions were all well managed. Most impressively, perhaps, was how easily they were able to get everyone in and out of the fairgrounds, with a ferry system and light rail connection that ran about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. While there are always improvements to be made, there is little argument that All Points West was a success, and hopefully will be around for years to come. Our recaps from the weekend can be found here and here.
(Photo by John Del Signore)
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MGMT sounds good on your ipod and all, but when your songs are so overproduced that you can't accurately re-create them live, the hipsters will turn on your shitty live act pretty quickly.
Unlike Radiohead who have been mesmeric live for years and were the main reason for the success of APW.
Apes and Adroids use a ridiculously overwrought stage show to distract their dumb-as-hell fans from noticing how bad their music is. Style over substance at it's worst. I can't help but pity people who actually enjoy that crap.
Happy New Year!
Color me confused. Was it major labels that have been co-opting "indie" music that ruined CMJ, or the lack of big-name bands from said labels (ie Sub Pop, who, incidentally, are %49 owned by Warner Brothers.) If major labels co-opting "indie" music is really a bad thing, why are Columbia Record's darlings MGMT listed here as one of the year's best bands? And since when is a band from MA considered local?
This post left me with more questions than I came to it with!
this is a half-ass end of year music post if I've ever seen one.
apes and androids? really? with all of the great music out there, that's your best band of 2008?
gothamist, can you PLEASE get someone on your staff who looks beyond MTV, crappy street art and ridiculous (dare i say trendy) bands for their entertainment/pop culture 'news?' good god, wake up already.
MGMT is a perfect example of major labels "co-opting" indie music. Columbia signed 2 kids who with an indie aesthetic and no previous releases, and hooked them up with one of the most respected producers in the world of indie rock. The catch here is that it worked incredibly well with no sacrifice in quality. Band of the year? maybe not, since their album came out in october of 2007...