Sound Advice: Top 10 Criminally Ignored Albums of 2008

This is the time of year when, if you're reading about music, you'll notice that content tends to be clogged up with Top 10 lists. And we don't know about you, but we're definitely sick of reading about Vampire Weekend, Lil Wayne and Portishead over and over, as interesting as those artists continue to be. So while we're technically participating in the convention of making a year-end list, we wanted to flip it a little and present our Top 10 Criminally Ignored Albums of 2008, many by talented artists who have toiled for years under the radar.


1. The BellRays: Hard, Sweet and Sticky (Anodyne)

Hailing from the Inland Empire area of Southern California, self-proclaimed "rock 'n soul band" the BellRays released their eighth album this year and still managed to avoid the spotlight they so deserve. With her big hair and even bigger pipes, front woman Lisa Kekaula is reminiscent of a young Tina Turner. The video for the single "Infection" is not at all what one would expect from this band's edgy sound: A whimsical and provocative red bear makes friends on the streets of San Francisco, which shows that this band also has an undeniable sense of humor.





2. The Sea and Cake: Car Alarm (Thrill Jockey)

Also on their eighth album is Chicago's The Sea and Cake, but the supremely chilled music on Car Alarm was almost too laid-back to make a big mainstream statement this year. The joy evident in the jangly guitar pop of "On a Letter" or the jaunty drum machine jamboree of "CMS Sequence" probably means that this band, an indie supergroup of sorts that counts members who also play in Tortoise and Gastr del Sol, doesn't give too much of a hoot about that. These visuals for "Weekend" make us long for carefree summers.





3. Kinky: Barracuda (Nettwerk)

Originally from Monterrey, Mexico but now living in Los Angeles, the Kinky quintet provides saucy, bilingual rock danceables with its tongue firmly in someone else's cheek. The band wrote the theme song for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, but it got slightly overshadowed because it happened at the same time that David Beckham joined the team. Barracuda features production by Money Mark, the one-man band who has most notably worked with the Beastie Boys, Chico Sonido, a crate-digging DJ also from Mexico. Sonido produced Kinky's single "Hasta Quermanos," a song that has a clever dance video to match.





4. Bauhaus: Go Away White (Bauhaus Music)

Legendary goth rockers Bauhaus came back for a hot minute in 2008 with the sizzling album Go Away White, but it certainly did not receive the red carpet treatment it should have after the band's 25 year studio album hiatus. Even though they recorded this song called "Too Much 21st Century," Bauhaus does not sound stuck in the past.





5. Mugison: Mugiboogie (Ipecac)

Those who adore the individuality of Björk but haven't explored the other gems of that country's music scene should definitely check out Mugison. After developing a quiet reputation as an electronic producer, his new album "Mugiboogie" reveals a fondness for live and acoustic instruments. Here the band perform "Jesus is a Good Name to Moan." Click HERE if you're interested in the reasoning behind the bizarre title of the track.





6. Emiliana Torrini: Me and Armini (Rough Trade)

Yep, there really is something special in the beautiful waters of Iceland, because we also have that country to thank for Emiliana Torrini, who released her sixth studio album Me and Armini this year. She's gotten accolades for work with downtempo electronic groups GusGus and Thievery Corporation and has even written songs for international pop queen Kylie Minogue, but her solo work is full of cute songs like "Jungle Drum," a buoyant delight that references "Ebony and Ivory" and "Dancing in the Street" over an addictive beat.





7. Meat Beat Manifesto: Autoimmune (Metropolis)

Acts as diverse as the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails owe Meat Beat Manifesto a debt of gratitude. MBM (and its creator Jack Dangers) has a 21-year history that includes a lead architectural role in drawing the blueprints of various micro-strains of electronic music, from industrial and techno to drum & bass and dubstep. Here's a snippet of the band's recent performance in San Francisco, a show that kept my normally sedentary ass moving for the whole time. This clip is worth watching not only to hear "Children of the Earth" from MBM's 10th album Autoimmune, but to see how extraordinary the visuals in the live presentation are, an intricately weaved pastiche of obscure films, television shows and random optical illusions all sequenced to the beat.





8. Tech N9ne: Killer (Strange Music)

Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne parodies Michael Jackson's Thriller on the cover of his 11th independent album Killer by mimicking Jackson's reclined pose while clad in a white straightjacket. This crazy good double album eschews rap's clichés of booty and bling in order to look at these and other concepts from a different angle. "Black Boy" features guest stars Ice Cube, Brother J (of the East Coast rap group X-Clan) and newcomer Krizz Kaliko talks about racial misconceptions and struggles; Cube even takes a not-so subtle dig at Jackson in there, too.





9. Del The Funkee Homosapien: 11th Hour (Definitive Jux)

Also in the realm of hip-hop is Del The Funkee Homosapien. The Oakland-born and seemingly alien bred rapper offers thoughts and beats that are definitely another world from his superstar cousin Ice Cube, who first became famous with his gangster rap. Del created one of the most famous logos in hip-hop with his three-eyed design for his Hieroglyphics collective, and provided the rhymes for Gorillaz' classic track "Clint Eastwood" Ñ both might be his most well-known achievements. After a long absence, his solo album 11th Hour did not receive the attention that it warrants, but that's not due to lack of Del "Workin It."





10. Styrofoam: A Thousand Words (Nettwerk)

Belgian producer Arne Van Petegem made one of the year's most tender-hearted albums about love this year, a work that hearkens back to the sweet electro-pop of early '80s acts like Yaz. Even though it's such a digital album, Van Petegem and his live band no problem making it sound warm and human in person, as Styrofoam does in this Turin performance of the title track, "A Thousand Words."






Tamara Palmer is SuicideGirls' Sound Advice/New Music Editor. During a decade and a half of DJing and writing about music professionally, she has found particular pleasure in championing new artists and sounds. Her work has appeared in outlets such as the Associated Press, Wired, and SF Weekly. She is a former editor of URB and the author of the book, Country Fried Soul: Adventures in Dirty South Hip-Hop.