Popular With Me, 2008: My favorite L.A. albums

Kevin Bronson on
9

There are 112 albums in my “L.A. stack” for this year, and a few might have been misplaced in my job transition. Here are my favorites:
pwn2008losangeles

1. Darker My Love, “2” (Dangerbird) — A wide-ranging psych-rock record with the legs to take you almost anywhere.

2. Everest, “Ghost Notes” (Vapor) — Indie Americana that will wrench your heart as it is winning it.

3. Honeyhoney, “First Rodeo” (Ironworks) — Singer Suzanne Santo amazes fronting this banjo-toting, string-playing, guitar-picking outfit.

4. The Henry Clay People, “For Cheap or for Free” (Autumn Tone) — A fresh strain of classic rock: Pavement meets Petty.

5. Earlimart, “Hymn and Her” (Majordomo) — Gorgeous ruminations from wizened Silver Lake veterans.

6. Low Vs Diamond, “Low Vs Diamond” (Red) — Massive ’90s-style anthems on a debut by five guys who make everything sound great.

7. The Airborne Toxic Event, “The Airborne Toxic Event” (Majordomo) — Exhilarating, danceable tales of love and loss made for freeway driving and late nights at clubs.

8. The Bronx, “III” (White Drugs) — Punk rock lives on this quintet’s explosive (and cohesive) third disc.

9. The Bellrays, “Hard, Sweet & Sticky” (Anodyne) — Criminally overlooked Riversiders unleash yet another album of gnarly soul-rock.

10. The Movies, “Based on a True Story,” (self-released) — Mercurial Silver Lakers weigh in with keyboard-addled, off-kilter stuff that defies categorization.

11. The Little Ones, “Morning Tide” (Chop Shop)

12. Beck, “Modern Guilt” (DGC)

13. Flying Lotus, “Los Angeles” (Warp)

14. The 88, “Not Only … But Also” (Island)

15. The Shore, “Light Years” (Weather Machine)

16. Imaad Wasif, “Strange Hexes” (Imaad Wasif)

17. Cold War Kids, “Loyalty to Loyalty” (Downtown)

18. Inara George with Van Dyke Parks, “An Invitation” (Everloving)

19. The Broken West, “Now or Heaven” (Merge)

20. Amy Kuney, “Bird’s Eye View” (Spin Move)

Also worth your hard-earned dollars: No Age, Meiko, Liz Pappademas, Bitter:Sweet, the Mae Shi, the Submarines, Jenny Lewis, the Weepies, Gran Ronde, the Soft Hands, Mia Doi Todd, Sam Sparro, Hello Dragon, Health/Disco, Le Switch, Hearts of Palm UK, Starflyer 59, Listing Ship, Obi Best, Jim Bianco, El Ten Eleven, Daedelus, Murs, the Monolators, Juliette Commagere, Gangi, Wait Think Fast, Look Daggers, Willoughby, Spindrift.