via//chicago

2008 Year in Review II: The EPs / The Various and Sundry
And we continue with the via//chicago countdown of the best in music of 2008... first up the 10 best EPs of the year:

1. The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale (Chocolate Industries)
2008 was another great year for Chicago hip-hop, and the future looks even brighter for the breakout duo of Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish. The Bake Sale is chock full of old school beats straight out of 1988, layered with playful rhymes that recall a time before hip-hop was all just gangsters and trap stars. Every song on this EP is a stand out, but particularly "Basement Party" and "Black Mags". I can't wait to hear more from these guys in the year to come.

2. Animal Collective - Water Curses (Domino)
Representing a scaling back from the full-blown Strawberry Jam, Water Curses finds the Collective once more trading in acoustic experiments and spaced-out, dubby jams. It feels at once a piece with the rest of the band's impressive back catalog, but closer listens reveal some unusual sounds twisted into interesting and blissed-out rhythmic melodies. It's impossible to predict where these guys will head next, but this seems to be setting 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion up to be something really special.

3. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (Sub Pop)
Prior to becoming one of 2008's most blogged-about bands, this Seattle band quietly sent this EP out into the world and the accolades began piling up. Given the over-saturation of freak-folk bands over the last several years, it was hard to believe we would be ready for another one - but the soaring melodies and vocal harmonies made these guys difficult to ignore. The quietly beautiful title track set us up for the stunningly gorgeous "White Winter Hymnal" that was to follow, but songs like "Mykonos" and "English House" showed off the band's tremendous range.

4. Crystal Antlers - Crystal Antlers (Touch and Go)
Between Antlers, Stilts, and Castles - 2008 was the year for "Crystal" bands. Out of those three bands, all who hit 2008 was some impressive music, the Crystal Antlers are most definitely my favorite. Mostly because they are so difficult to describe and next to impossible to pigeonhole. When I listen to this hefty EP (25 minute) I hear psych, garage, lo-fi, metal, krautrock, prog and a few other influences tossed into a sweltering blender. At one minute you swear this had to come out of some garage in 1968, while others this pegged as some 1974 German hippie throwback party. Truth is, this could have only come about in 2008, from a band with influences truly absorbed and not simply heard.

5. Lykke Li - Little Bit EP (Control Group)
A great little introduction to one of the indie world's biggest breakout stars from this past year. In a just world, Swedish-born Lykke would be one of the mainstream world's biggest breakout stars as well. Truth is, however, that no matter how beautiful her fractured take on pop is - there's just something a little "off" about it, which keeps the iTunes buying kids a little gunshy. As far as I'm concerned, however, a little bit of "off" is what makes her work so enjoyable. The title track is still her best work, but all four tracks on this EP showcase another adorable facet of her work.

6. One Day As A Lion - One Day As A Lion (ANTI-)
Back after Rage Against the Machine broke up in 2000, many fans were expecting lead singer Zack de la Rocha to blast back with another thrilling project. But years passed with little more than enticing rumors and speculation, while fans were left to deal with the abysmal Audisoslave formed by de la Rocha's former bandmates. It took nearly 8 years, but de la Rocha finally bounced back with another impressive project, this time teaming up with former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore. The band's self-titled debut is a Molotov cocktail of, well, rage - fueled by Theodore's monster rhythms and de la Rocha's nasty synths. Every bit as nasty as I was hoping it would be.

7. Past Lives - Strange Symmetry (Suicide Squeeze)
Along with Jaguar Love, this group was one of the two excellent post-Blood Brothers projects to emerge in 2008. This is basically the entire Blood Brothers line-up, minus lead singer Johnny Whitney and plus one of the dudes from Shoplifting. Past Lives offers a slightly scaled-back version of the Blood Brothers intensity, one that gives the music room to stretch out and breathe. Not as pop-oriented as Jaguar Love, but an impressive debut nonetheless.

8. Jesu - Why Are We Not Perfect? (Hydra Head)
Since striking out under the name Jesu after dissolving the groundbreaking band Godflesh, Justin Broadrick has excelled at a genre that blends the intensity of metal, the dreamy haze of shoegaze, and the barest hint of electronics. The latest in his long string of recent albums and EPs is certainly no exception, although it tends towards the more subdued and relaxed side of things. But that doesn't mean lazy, as each track is as beautifully layered and carefully sculptured as you might expect. Another winner from Broadrick.

9. Smashing Pumpkins - American Gothic (Reprise)
Despite my recent post blasting the Pumpkins for their recent failures, this four-track EP from the dawning of 2008 proves that there are still a few reasons to keep an ear on Corgan and company. As opposed to the all-out alt-rock guitar-a-thon that was the disappointing Zetigeist, American Gothic finds Corgan in stripped-down, reflective mode. A mode that serves him very well this time around, allowing the melodies to shine through while he himself sounds more heartfelt than he has in ages.

10. Coldplay - Prospekt's March (Capitol)
Coldplay tops off a hugely successful 2008 by releasing a follow-up EP to the mega-selling Viva La Vida that contains songs leftover from that album's sessions and new remixes. By nature, this thing is pretty hit or miss, but the songs that do hit are what makes it an essential listen for those who loved the album proper. "Life in Technicolor ii" is my favorite, fleshing out the instrumental intro that opened Viva La Vida. Toss in a handful of well-crafted B-sides, and you're left with one fine EP. Just be sure to skip over the version of "Lost+" with an awkwardly tacked on Jay-Z verse.

Moving on, here are my 20 favorite soundtracks, compilations, reissues and other non-album/non-EP releases of 2008.

1. Pavement - Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (Matador)
The most unfairly maligned Pavement album, and my personal favorite, gets the deluxe treatment that shows just how fantastic this era was for the band.

2. The Jesus & Mary Chain - The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities (Rhino)
A fantastic four-dics collection that compiles this tremendous band's flipsides and obscurities, showcasing just how prolifically talented the Reid brothers were (and still are?).

3. Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 (Reprise)
An intimate and gorgeous performance that finds a funny, talkative Neil striking out shortly after the dissolution of Buffalo Springfield.

4. Black Sabbath - The Rules of Hell (Rhino)
It may read as simply a compilation of all the Dio era albums, but it ends up making the case that Sabbath was just as good (if not maybe a little better) with him than they were with Ozzy.

5. Rodriguez - Cold Fact (Light in the Attic)
One of the year's more interesting success stories, Sixto Diaz Rodriguez was a Detroit-born folkster that unleashed this psych-folk masterpiece on a world that wasn't quite ready for it in 1970.

6. King Khan and the Shrines - The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines (Vice)
King Khan has been supplying his outlandish take on garage rock to overseas audiences for years, but this year finally saw the best of his work compiled for American audiences. Absolutely essential listening for garage rock fans.

7. Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 - Tell Take Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 (Columbia)
The latest in the always exciting Bootleg Series makes a case for Dylan's last 17 years being just as strong as any that came before. Many of these songs are superior to the ones that made the official albums in that time period.

8. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy)
Long a cult favorite among Beach Boys fanatics, 2008 saw the wide re-release of a classic album that proves Brian wasn't the only genius in the family.

9. Mudhoney - Superfuzz, Bigmuff (Deluxe Edition) (Sub Pop)
One of the most important documents of the pre-grunge explosion indie era gets the deluxe reish treatment, adding era appropriate singles, demos, and raucous live tracks that show the band in prime form.

10. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07 (In the Red)
While most of the buzz this year was about his new Matador singles, In the Red wisely compiled the best of his prolific non-album work from the two years previous. Just as exciting and noteworthy.

11. Eels - Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996-2006 (DreamWorks)
12. Belle and Sebastian - The BBC Sessions (Matador)
13. Phish - At the Roxy (JEMP)
14. Beck - Odelay (Deluxe Edition) (Geffen)
15. Grateful Dead - Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 (Grateful Dead)
16. Rocket from the Crypt - All Systems Go 3 (Vagrant/Swami)
17. Between the Buried & Me - Colors_LIVE (Victory)
18. Death - Symbolic (Roadrunner)
19. Xasthur - A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors (Hydra Head)
20. Indian - Slights and Abuse/The Sycophant (Megaforce)

Stay tuned for the best singles and albums of 2008...