Results tagged “girls”

The year's end is quickly approaching and as we reflect on the past ten months in music in an attempt to define 2009, there are certain trends that, for better or worse, stick out. Across genres, music blogs have become powerful influencers, launching the careers of young bands, but often buzz can backfire. The newest amazing act often turns out to be little more than inexperienced amateurs live. Or, in the case of the recent two-day, sold out stint from San Francsico band Girls at the Empty Bottle, a solid performance falls on an audience of deaf ears all gathered to hear that one song.

In which we take a quick look at a few recent musical releases.

Yup, here it is, the inevitable "Best of 2008" music list (a later post centering on the top local offerings is forthcoming). In order to spare our readers the pain of reading through yet another list that tries too hard to impress with obscure releases or toe the party line on Stereogum / Pitchfork approved artists, we continue our personal decade-plus tradition of merely listing what we actually liked in 2008. That means that the albums below are the one we kept finding ourselves turning to when we wanted to kick back and enjoy some tunes. Sure, there was more artistically challenging stuff released this year than some of the selections below -- and we certainly do appreciate that sort of thing -- but our year end list reflects which music ultimately did for us what we think rock and/or roll is ultimately meant to do to any listener: it grabbed us by the heart and/or crotch and wouldn't let go.

The Sun-Times takes a break from reporting actual news to ask an important question: which team has the hotter fans, Cubs or White Sox?