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Song of the Day #174: ‘L.E.S. Artistes’ – Santogold

santolgoldTen Best Songs of 2008 – #8

It’s a testament to what a strong year for music 2008 was that Santogold’s self-titled debut album didn’t manage to crack my top ten. I feel like it deserves to be there, but looking at the list I’m not willing to drop anything else to make room for her.

Santogold is a delirious blend of M.I.A. and an 80s new wave band, equally at home rapping and delivering a sugar sweet chorus. I considered several songs on her album, including ‘I’m a Lady,’ which I featured on the blog back in August but eventually settled on the lead-off song ‘L.E.S. Artistes.’

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Song of the Day #173: ‘A Few Words in Defense of Our Country’ – Randy Newman

newman2Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #9

A full nine years after his last studio album, Randy Newman provided a breath of fresh air in 2008 with his excellent Harps & Angels. Blending his caustic wit and gift for irony with a few very tender moments, he delivered an album even better than 1999’s Bad Love and on par with his great 70s work.

Harps & Angels contains many great songs, but I was most delighted by his summation of the Bush years, ‘A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.’ Having spent the entire Bush administration off the record, so to speak, Newman manages to express his disgust and dismay in a few short minutes.

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Song of the Day #172: ‘Distant Dreamer’ – Duffy

duffy2Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #10

Over the next ten days, my Songs of the Day will count down what I consider the best songs of 2008, with a maximum of one song per album.

It’s interesting that a few of my top ten albums failed to produce a song on this list… I suppose every song on those albums is a B or an A but nothing is an A+.

The flip side is a song like today’s track (#10), Duffy’s ‘Distant Dreamer,’ which comes from an album that didn’t crack my top ten.

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Song of the Day #170: ‘You Were Right’ – Badly Drawn Boy

badlyOnce upon a time, I thought Badly Drawn Boy would become one of my very favorite artists. The band (which is actually just one guy, Damon Gough) put out a beautiful meandering album in 2000 called The Hour of Bewilderbeast. It’s not quite like any other album I’ve heard, full of sonic detours and recurring themes, alternately delicate and hard-driving.

He followed that album in 2002 with the soundtrack to About a Boy, which contained a few memorable songs, and in the same year Have You Fed the Fish?, an album similar in style to his debut if not quite up to its level. A strong start, to be certain.

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