411mania.com: Music - A Short Column About Music 12.25.08: Top Tracks of 2008

To all those who are celebrating, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and to everyone else I hope you're enjoying the day as well. Hopefully everyone is spending the day with friends and family and having a good time. If you're reading this before 12:00 PM EST, that means I'm currently at work. Yep, the service industry is lots of fun kids, especially when you're the low man on the totem pole at your job. But if you're reading this after 12:00 PM EST, that means I've made it home and I'm spending the holiday with my family. I hope to help your enjoyment of the day with today's column, which is a look at some of my favorite songs from the pst twelve months. Remember, this is a prelude to next week's unveiling of the Short Column About Music list of 2008's best albums. So kick back, relax, and enjoy some good tunes.

Abe Vigoda - "Dead City/Waste Wilderness"
L.A.'s Abe Vigoda infuses a good bit of tropical influence in their music, creating their
own brand of noise rock. The first track off of their album Skeleton is the best
of the bunch and one of the best guitar songs of the year.

Annie - "I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me"
Few artists do bubblegum pop as well as Annie does it. Like on her previous singles
"Heartbeat" and "Chewing Gum", she knows not to even try and overshadow the hook,
letting the song do the work. Still, her delivery of nonsensical phrases like
"Ringy dingy ding ding" helps give the song its lighthearted charm.

Bloc Party - "Mercury"
This was one of the more polarizing songs of the year, but one that I thoroughly
enjoyed. It works as both a dance track and a rock track, which is what Bloc Party
is best at. The horns also help to make sound like the best TV On the Radio song they never wrote.

Bon Iver - "For Emma"
It's hard to pick just one track off of For Emma, Forever Ago, but this one
was my favorite. The horns and slide guitar help give emotional depth to a song that's
emotional to begin with, especially on Justin Vernon's delivery of the opening line of "So apropos..."

Cut Copy - "Hearts on Fire"
Cut Copy come from Australia and made the best dance album of the year with
In Ghost Colours and for all the great moments on it, this one stood out.
It's the type of song that can ignite a spontaneous dance party at any moment.

Death Cab for Cutie - "I Will Possess Your Heart"
The first single from the new Death Cab record stood out from the rest of their catalog.
The eight-minute song starts off with an extended jam before going into a stalker-ish
ode to that special someone. The result is perhaps the best song they've ever recorded.

Kathleen Edwards - "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory"
Edwards' Asking for Flowers was a great collection of country-tinged songs,
and this one had that plus a whole lot of wit. Seriously, any song that references
Marty McSorley is a winner in my book.

Hercules and Love Affair - "Hercules Theme"
Apparently, disco started to make a bit of a comeback this year, or at least that's
what I was told. Either way, this song is pretty much a disco song, but a good one.
It's definitely a good and catchy dance track, no matter what genre it falls into.

The Hold Steady - "Sequestered in Memphis"
Stay Positive was the fourth great album in a row for the Hold Steady,
and this was the kick-ass lead single with a great hook and piano line. No band out
there today is better at playing fun rock music and Craig Finn proves why he's
among the best songwriters in music.

Lil Wayne - "A Milli"
For me, this was probably the most enjoyable song of the year. Wayne is all over
the place on this one, rapping about Nigerian hair, Orville Redenbacher, Dennis Rodman,
Bad Boys and whatever else came to mind. It makes no sense, but that doesn't
mean it doesn't work.

M83 - "Kim & Jessie"
This was a great work of electronic music with lush layering and a killer chorus.
The song wouldn't seem out of place in a John Hughes movie, but never sounds dated.
Instead, it's an impressive work of synth-pop working still today.

MGMT - "Time to Pretend"
No song this year had better riff than this one, MGMT's tribute to the rockstar lifestyle.
Their psychadelic version of dance rock entertained all year long and helped provide the
backdrop for the lyrics that made shooting heroin seem like something we should strive to do.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!"
Cave seemed to regain some vigor with last year's Grinderman project, and it shows
on the title track from the Bad Seeds new album. He's at his charimstic best when
yelling "I want you to dig!" and few are as good at this type of rock as the Bad Seeds are.

Q-Tip - "Gettin' Up"
Eighteen years after the first A Tribe Called Quest album, Q-Tip is still one of the
best rappers alive. He proves on this self-produced track, with a beat from the late,
great J Dilla, which has the type of backing that he was born to rap over.