My favorite songs of 2008.

My favorite songs of 2008

These are some of my favorite songs of the year. i will do my favorite records of 2008 next month...but I was thinking of the mixes I have made, the songs I have put on repeat, the songs that made me stop and cry or stop and make me smile. They didn't necessarily arrive in 2008 but they certainly resonated in 2008 so I am making a list. Maybe you can find them.

This year was complex and hard. Beauty and Pain filled the year. Death and Celebration. Joy and Sorrow.
My heart was filled with emotion.

Sia: Breathe Me
(Colour the Small One, 2005)
If I could bottle one song and say 2008 it would be this song. I would lay on the floor of the green house with my ear near the speaker and put it on repeat. I am sure that the roommates were sick of this song past April but it is so beautiful. The stings describe the heart where the lyrics described the aches of my soul. I also finished Six Feet Under this year....


Ryan Adams: Come Pick Me Up
(Heartbreaker, 2000)
I think there wouldn't be a day from about March-until I graduated that I wouldn't play this song. DAn would come into my room and laugh because it was playing again. It was in my car, ipod, iphone, cd player, computer. It is A-MAZING. I don't know why it was this year that I connected to the song but I did. and so should you.


The Avett Brothers: Living of Love
(Emotionalism, 2008)
One of the best shows of the year and what life should be lived....with love and the Avett Brothers.


Wilco: Impossible Germany
(Sky Blue Sky, 2007)
The guitar lines of Nels Cline make my heart swoon. We got to see him this year do some avant-jazz and it was a definite spiritual experience. This band is my favorite. This song is a top five favorite Wilco song. Amazing. Beautiful. Unique. Favorite line: Gorgeous and Alone. Face to face.
Are you listening?


Horse Feathers: Hardwood Pews
(Words are Dead; 2006)
I found this band randomly this year. Seriously it took me this long to find this Portland beauty. Americana/folk...best song on the record. His voice is magic.


Bon Iver: Skinny Love
(for Emma Forever Ago; 2008)
My friend Travis and I listened to this song 144 times and then I listened to it 300 more. It is the best song that came out this year. It's amazing. I always without fail play it twice because once is never enough. When I close my eyes I can think of screaming the lyrics with 200 other people one of my last nights in LA. It was a moment I hope I never forget.


Sigur Ros: Ara Batur
(Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust: 2008)
Can this song be anymore beautiful? I honestly don't think it can. It brings peace and stillness to my heart and tears to my eyes when the all boy choir comes in around minute five. I drove to the PCH with all my windows down knowing everything was about to change and I wasn't sad....I was at peace.


Radiohead: Videotape
(In Rainbows; 2007/8)
I got to see Radiohead this year and it was an interesting though fun experience. Many people know my mom died this year and this song makes me thing of here. Last Christmas I put it on a mixtape for her. I can't help but to hope that when I get to the pearly gates her life and her memory will be on my videotape.


Radical Face: Welcome Home
(Ghost; 2007)
My beautiful friend Erika (as well as many others) made mix CDs for my road trip back to Michigan. I heard this song and knew it was the perfect song to welcome me home to the changing leaves of the Michigan mitten. It is what somewhat pictures coming home to. With wind chimes, clothes on the clothes line, scars peeled away, and arms wide open.


Javelins: Out on the Sand
(Heavy Meadows; 2008)
I love this song and I am glad I came back to Detroit to remember how amazing the Detroit music scene is. Best band in the city and this song is so catchy....


Misty Lyn and the Big Beautiful: The Fall
(For the Dead; 2008)
During the saddest week of my life I went to a show in a tiny bar in Hamtramak. I drank some Pabst and I saw some bands play. I am in love with americana and I told the man with the band this. He asked me to wait a moment and came back with this cd. "My other band," he says. I brought it home and this song was on it. It caught by surprise. It is perfect and the line "Lord, will you hold my hand" is the perfect question to this year.

I hope you enjoy these tunes or others like it....