Reading the Grammy nominations from 2008 depressed me. Looking at online critics’ top albums lists, I saw some things that I liked, but was still disappointed by the crap that seemed to sneek in (that’s right, Lil Wayne). So, I’ve put together a list of my favorite ten albums from last year. Furthermore, since its not news that artists like Bob Dylan put out good records, I’ve tried to limit my selections to ones that you’ve probably never heard of (or at least not listened to). I’m also going to supplement each quick write-up with information about the album that I think is most helpful (as opposed to some general rating on an arbitrary scale), including how immediately catchy the album is, how it holds up after repeated listens, general moods or keywords that come to mind when I think about the album, and my favorite tracks. Without further ado, the first of my selections:

The Stand Ins by Okkervil River

My biggest reservation with Okkervil River’s otherwise excellent ‘The Stage Names’ (2007) is that occasionally singer Will Scheff’s vocals were a bit grating, in the way — but certainly not to the extent — of that guy from Linkin Park or that other guy from Blink-182 (you know who I’m talking about). This isn’t as much of an issue with ‘The Stand Ins.’ I saw these guys open for The New Pornographers in St. Louis about a year ago, and liked their hookiness and the variety of instruments they used; ‘The Stand Ins’ highlights these features, and the second track ‘Lost Coastlines’ is a good example, with (aside from guitars and drums) its tambourine, piano, banjo, strings, and trumpets.

Genre: indie, pop rock
Immediate Catchiness: 4/5
Long-Term Playability: 3/5
Moods: Driving, Sunny, Fun
Favorite Tracks: Lost Coastlines, Starry Stairs, Blue Tulip, On Tour with Zykos

Well, here it is again…confabuler.com is finally back up and running.  It’s new and improved! — although, I’ve never been quite sure how anything can be both new and improved.  If it’s new, it has never existed before, and therefore, cannot be improved from anything.  If it’s improved, how can it possibly also be new?  Anyway, I digress..

We simply hope for confabuler to be a place to discuss our lives and thoughts for anybody interested to read and comment.  There will most likely be a variety of topics, and posts will most likely be written when we obviously have something more “important” to be doing.  So, on with the posts!