The Pelican’s Perch

Well now.  I got quite a few emails from you guys saying how great/terrible/etc. my top 5 list of the half year was.  That’s perfectly fine, but a lot of you seem to have overlooked my statement saying any of the bottom 3 could have been swapped out for a multitude of good albums released so far this year.  So, to tide you kids saying “good list, but how could you add/not include this album?!”, here’s my pretty comprehensive list of the good albums released so far this year…according to me of course.

List after the jump

Honorable Mentions of ‘08 So Far (in no particular order)

•  Andrew Bird – Soldier On (tour EP)
• Chris Walla – Field Manual
• Constatines -Kensington Heights
• Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
• Does it Offend You, Yeah? – You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into
• Dosh – Wolves and Wishes
• Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
• Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. – Searching for the How’s and Why’s
• Headlights – Some Racing, Some Stopping
• Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead
• Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
• Islands – Arm’s Way
• Kenna – Make Sure They See My Face
• Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles – S/T
• M83 – Saturdays = Youth
• Man Man – Rabbit Habbits
• Matt Costa – Unfamiliar Faces
• Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
• Muse – HAARP (live from Wimbley Stadium)
• My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
• The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me
• Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
• Stark Raving Calm – FleshNectarAsphaltAdrenaline
• Subtle – ExitingARM
• The Black Keys – Attack and Release
• The Envy Corps – Dwell
• The Weepies – Hideaway
• Vampire Weekend – S/T
• Why? – Alopecia
• Wolftron – Flesh and Fears

Biggest Disappointment of ‘08 So Far

•  Magnetic Fields – Distortions

All kinds of people are praising this for its homage to the older days of heavily distorted stuff like My Bloody Valentine and stuff like that, but I was never into that.  I’m all about the 69 Love Songs Magnetic Fields with fun little love songs.  I’m sure some of you liked this one, but considering I’ve loved both 69 Love Songs and i, this one was just disappointing for how long I waited for it.

Biggest Surprise of ‘08

• Panic at the Disco – Pretty.Odd

This one’s grown super old to me at this point, but going from crappy emo punk dance hybrid that all the 14 year old girls loved, to a pretty good Sgt. Pepper’s tribute, surprised the heck out of me.  I won’t be recommending this one to anyone, but I’ll give them props for saying screw you to all their emo fans and making a decent album full of strings, horns, and decent rock songs.  Show me another album by them that’s similar and I might actually care about the band.  As it is now, I’ll just leave it at a simple, well that’s something, and happily keep this one tucked way back in my collection.

Biggest Non-surprise of ‘08

• Weezer – Red Album

Besides the second song, which is pretty dang epic for Weezer with choirs and whatnot, this one is just barely a step above their previous album.  To think, I used to be the biggest Weezer fan, but ever since Matt Sharp left Weezer, the band’s John Lennon in my opinion, writing all the weird songs, they’ve just gone further and further downhill, with Cuomo continuing to be unable to break out of writing anything but sub-par radio friendly love songs.  Tis a shame indeed.

Albums I’m Listening to at the Moment

• Sigur Ros – Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
• Coldplay – Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
• Gotye – Like Drawing Blood (really good stuff, I’ll be talking about it here soon)
• Jakob Dylan – Seeing Things (listening out of pure curiosity)
• Jim Noir- S/T
• Unwed Sailor – Little Wars

That’s the half-year wrap up.  I’d link all the music to their myspaces, but that’d take an insanely long time.  Who do you think I am?  A magician?  Hope you find some music you like from the bands above.  That’s what I’ve been listening to so far this year, and if you usually agree with my recommendations, then this should be a mini-goldmine for you.  Happy hunting friends and good luck looking all this up!