(2008 end-of-year lists) – SERGE YARED

I asked the main actors of this here blog (mostly musicians, of course, but also friends, family, support-givers…) to provide me with a list (5 to 20 albums) of their favorite records of the year.

The results are slowly coming in. There are surprises, resemblances, similarities, incongruous choices… I’ve left the responses intact, exactly as I received them, along with my friends’ comments. So here goes:

Serge Yared: musician (Incompetents)

“Avec grand plaisir
Voila mes selections. As usual j’ai rajoute quelques trucs”

Top erm…. 16:

1- Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
2- TV on the Radio: Dear Science
3- Portishead: Third
4- Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
5- She & Him: Volume 1
6- Sparks: Exotic Creatures from the Deep
7- Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part One
8- Randy Newman: Harps and Angels
9-The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age of Understatement
10- Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree
11- Willard Grant Conspiracy: Pilgrim Road
12- Hot Chip: Made in the Dark
13- Department of Eagles: In Ear Park
14- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: “Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!”
15- Brian Wilson: “That Lucky Old Sun”
16- Sebastien Tellier: “Sexuality”

Reissues:

1- Dennis Wilson: Ocean Pacific Blue
2- Nina Simone: To Be Free
3- Roy Orbison: The Soul of Rock and Roll

Odds and Ends (various singles, iTunes only LPs or EPs, guilty pleasures and other niceties)

1- John Howard: “Songs from the Room Upstairs” and “More Song from the Room Upstairs” (iTunes Only)
2- The Bird and the Bee: “Live at the Palms” EP, “One Too Many Hearts” EP, “Please Clap You Hands” EP
3- Robert Wyatt/ Bertrand Burgalat/ Hot Chip: “Perfect Night” (single)
4- Various: Mojo’s “White Album Vol.1 + 2” compilations
5- Antony and the Johnsons: “Another World” (EP)
6- Various: “The Radio 1 Live Lounge” compilations

They’re good, yet they’re annoying because they’re over-hyped:

1- Black Kids
2- MGMT
3- Tings Tings

Best Concerts I saw in 2008:

1- Akron Family in Barcelona
2- Roisin Murphy in Barcelona (Sonar Festival)
3- Sparks’ extravaganza concerts: Plagiarism/ Lil Beethoven/ Exotic Creatures of the Deep in London (Islington)
4- Goldfrapp in Barcelona (Sonar Festival)
5- Sebastien Tellier in Beirut (Byblos Festival)