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Top of the Pops 2008 - It's still all about the music!

I promised it, now here you go: just a couple of days before 2009 starts, 2008 has to be top-fived.
Feel free to complete it with your own view (username: becauseiamguest, password: becauseweare, to handle the format just copy/paste my text)!

Actually, while creating my 2008 charts I noticed I haven't been too busy listening to new albums. Hm.


Top 5 albums:

marie (spr):

1. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
2. Why? - Alopecia
3. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
4. Bodi Bill - Next Time
5. Ratatat - LP3/Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

benni:

1. Black Keys - Attack & Release
2. Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling OST
3. John Frusciante - The Empyrean
4. Andy C - Nightlife 4
5. MGMT - Oracular spectacular

michau:

1. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
2. Santogold - Santogold
3. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Leszek Możdżer, m.bunio.s, Andrzej Bauer - Lutosphere

maciek:

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
3. Air France - No Way Down EP
4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
5. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna

xammm:

1. The Allman Brothers - Live At Fillmore East
2. Miles Davis - Get Up With It
3. Frank Zappa - Imaginary Diseases
4. Ezio - Live In Cambridge
5. Interpol - Antics

jani:

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
3. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

fransua:

1. Why - Alopecia
2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
3. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement
4. Islands - Arm's Way
5. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me

Top 5 songs:

marie (spr):

1. Girl Talk - In Step
2. Bodi Bill - Depart
3. Louie Austen - Too Good to Last
4. Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
5. She & Him - Why do you let me stay/Hot Chip - Out At The Pictures/Munk - Down in L.A.

benni:

1. Black Keys - Psychotic Girl
2. Paul Kalkbrenner - Gebrunn Gebrunn
3. MGMT - Time to Pretend
4. Paul Kalkbrenner - Castenets
5. Black Keys - Remember when (Side B)

michau:

1. MGMT - Electric Feel
2. Bodi Bill - Depart
3. Kraak & Smaak - Squeeze Me
4. Fisz Emade - Wiosna 86
5. Bon Iver - Skinny Love

maciek:

1. M83 - Graveyard Girl
2. MGMT - Electric Feel
3. Cut Copy - Lights & Music
4. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
5. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind

jani:

1. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
2. Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
3. The Mae Shi - Run to Your Grave
4. Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

fransua:

1. Noir Désir – Gagnants - Perdants
2. bodi bill – depart
3. Andrew Bird – Sic of Elephants
4. TV on the Radio – DLZ
5. Why? – PlayThese Few Presidents

Top 5 songs-That-Were-Already-Great-Before-I-Was-Born:

marie (spr):

1. The Motors - Airport
2. David Bowie - Heroes
3. The Zombies - Care Of Cell 44
4. Queen - Don't stop me now
5. Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind (ok no. this was a lie. (wished it was true though. I'm getting old.) but I couldn't really find any other category and it just HAD to be mentioned somewhere!)

benni:

1. Led Zeppelin - D'yer Maker
2. Van Morrison - It's all over now Baby Blue
3. The Stooges - I wanna be your dog
4. New Order - Temptation
5. Van Halen - Ain't talkin bout Love

michau:

Mhm, i think i'm still too young,
but okay, i'll write sth in few days when i'll grow older.

jani:

1. Pet Shop Boys - Heart (ok, am cheating as well, but had to be included, full points for the video, too)
2. The Motors - Airport
3. Sparks (/w Giorgio Moroder) - The Number One Song in Heaven
4. Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the Wind
5. The Velvet Underground: After hours

Top 5 concerts:

marie (spr):

1. Dan Deacon - June 13 @ West Germany Club, Berlin
2. Bodi Bill - June 2 @ Weekend Roof, Berlin
3. The Mae Shi - May 29 @ West Germany Club, Berlin
4. Aavikko - April 25 @ 103 Club, Berlin (now I'd like to thank Koskenkorva for distributing free Salmiakki. Be sure we appreciated it!)
5. Concert of this one blues band I didn't know - Sept 27 @ some café in Kreuzberg, later on in front of the café with all possible instruments. Awesome!/José Gonzales, August 17, Sziget Festival, Hungary

benni:

1. Quit Your Dayjob - Sep 23 @ SO36, Berlin

michau:

1. Massive Attack, Erik Sumo Band, Barabas Lorinc Eklektric and Fatboy Slim - 10-13th July @ Balaton Sound Festival, Zamardi, Hungary.
2. Leszek Możdżer, m.bunio.s, Andrzej Bauer - 21st October @ Filharmonia Łódzka, Łódź.
3. Dj Krush - 30th July @ Zold Pardon, Budapest, Hungary.
4. Exploding Star Orchestra - 10th September @ Jazzga, Łódź
5. Hit Me TV, I Was The Satan Teenage Worshipper - 8th November @ Klubi, Tampere, Finland (it was more about the afterparty than a concert, but still bands were our first goal).
6. Klaxons, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream - 2nd October @ Pepsi Vena Festival, Toya Studios, Łódź.
7. Barabas Lorinc Eklektric @ A38 Boat, Budapest, Hungary.

maciek:

All of them were great, but some were greater. Too many to mention.

xammm:

1. Rage Against The Machine @ Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin

jani:

The theme of my year was rather missing concerts more than seeing them but here we go anyway:
1. Sparks - June 16 @ Tavastia, Helsinki
2. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - June 26 @ Klubi, Tampere
3. The Mae Shi - May 29 @ West Germany Club, Berlin
4. The National - July 6 @ Ruisrock, Turku
5. Seppo Boisman @ Various venues

fransua:

1. TV on the Radio - (01/12/08) @ Bataclan, Paris
2. Girls in Hawaii - (07/05/08) @ L'Olympia, Paris
3. Stars - (09/02/08) @ La Maroquinerie, Paris
4. Sons and Daughters - (04/02/08) @ Maison de Radio France, Paris
5. Death Cab for Cutie - (07/07/08) @ Théâtre de l'Alhambra, Paris

Top 5 concert venues:

marie (spr):

1. Roof of Weekend Club, Berlin
2. West Germany Club, Berlin
3. in the parks, by the streets, in the trains, Berlin
4. Sziget island, Budapest/Hungary
5. Immergut festival area, Neustrelitz

michau:

1. Godor Klub, Budapest, Hungary.
2. A38 Boat.
3. Jazzga, Łódź.
4. Klub 55, Warsaw (i didn't mention this one in the concerts, but i've been there for a Jazzanova set which wasn't superb, but the place was cool enough - in the Palace of Culture and Science. Yes, this one ;) )
5. Filharmonia Łódzka, Łódź.

maciek:

1. Schubas Tavern, Chicago
2. Grant Park, Chicago --> Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago
3. Empty Bottle, Chicago
4. Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago
.

jani:

1. Immergut festival area, Neustrelitz
2. Flow Festival area, Suvilahti old power plant, Helsinki
3. West Germany Club, Berlin
4. Roof of Weekend Club, Berlin
5. Heimolinna, Loimaa

Top 5 newcomers, new discoveries and personal rediscoveries:

marie (spr):

1. Why? (this was nothing new, but new to me!)
2. Erik Sumo from Hungary
3. David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie together with Pet Shop Boys
4. MGMT
5. Modeselektor

benni:

1. Simian Mobile Disco
2. New Order
3. Paul Kalkbrenner
4. Led Zeppelin
5. the will of many companies to react on complaints (shoes, MP3 players, metro tickets (worth 110€),...)

michau:

1. Erik Sumo, Barabas Lorinc and basically hungarian culture and nightlife.
2. Lykke Li as a foreign recent discovery and Noon as latest domestic discovery.
3. A-Ha
4. Bronski Beat
5. that it's easy to be gone, but it's hard to be back.

jani:

1. Pet Shop Boys
2. Cut Copy & M83 (mention them together as they kind of rediscovered themselves, too - Cut Copy making a synth pop album even New Order could be proud of, while M83 updating Air's Moon Safari to 2008!)
3. Deerhunter
4. Erasure (especially the Abba-esque ep!)
5. Paul Simon & Vampire Weekend (so what if the VW guys probably listened to Paul Simon's Graceland quite a bit, they still recorded a great, fun album and made me listen to Paul in the process. Nothing wrong with that!)

Top 5 tops:

marie (spr):

1. Top new toy: the record player from the trashcans together with the growing record collection from the flea markets
2. Top Alter Ego: Faster Harder H. P. Baxxter
3. Top secret favourite song: Culture Club - Karmakarmakarmakarma Karma Chameleon
4. Top alternative festival drink this year: Wilthener Goldkrone - cheers!
5. Top confession: I've attended a (free) Scooter concert in front of Brandenburg Gate. On purpose. I enjoyed it.

benni:

1. Top hip hop gesture: The "E" for East- Berlin
2. Top disco: Moritzbastei, Leipzig
3. Top guitar player: The guy I saw in my dorm in Mainz
4. Top realisation of the year: Badness Dub by King Tubby can make your subwoofer explode
5. Top Song from India with massive beat: Sapna Awasthi & Sukwinder Singh - Chaiyya Chaiyya Bollywood Joint

michau:

1. Top broken item: each and every sunglasses, fcuk!
2. Top summer: this summer.
3. Top drug: definitely not the one in the shop in my courtyard.
4. Top sport of all times: ultimate frisbee, hell yeah!
5. Top hope: this year was awesome, hope next will be better though.
6. Top country to ba back: Finland my friends, Finland.

maciek:

1. USA
2. drugs
3. glasses
4. gay butiqes
5. facebook

jani:

1. Top new toy: Pro-Ject Debut III (matt black)
2. Top tv-series: The Wire
3. Top secret favourite song: Karma Chameleon (couldn't help it)
4. Top Finnish literature classic: Mika Waltari - Sinuhe Egyptiläinen (The Egyptian)
5. Top dance move: Righeira - Vamos a la Playa

merry

we wish you all the bests friends, and we wish you were here under our beautiful christmas tree. take care and take rest...

adam&peter (both still slim, it's just the perspectives!)

* * * * *

I wish all my superfriends, their friends and their families a Merry Christmas and a good start into 2009. Guess I'll start it together with some of you anyway :)

-marie

(And be prepared for the 2008-Top-5-list, coming soon!)

:(

:(

Animal my soul!

Now that no one of you is blogging (shame on you!) I'm gonna spam you.
But with really REALLY funny things.

Brighten up your dark winter evening and check Bob giving tobacco to his bird!