>-=-Farewell, Free Will-=->: December 2008

I was going to write an elaborate introduction about the conundrum of making a songs list and about how it doesn’t really represent the best songs, and that it’s just a general survey of a year’s worth of music and good songwriting. But that was a cop-out. Great songs from albums filled with great songs might get shuffled to the back in favour of poorer songs that were stand-outs on the record whence they came. I’m becoming less and less thrilled with the notion of precise music ranking, but since my entire flesh requires it I will continue to force it upon myself. It’s a problem I have. That isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy spending my year listening to music critically and making these lists; I certainly do. It’s just frustrating that the same problem that forces me to make these lists is the one that nags at me about the fact that at any given time any song on this list could be in a completely different position. I spent a lot of time fine-tuning, but no music list can ever be perfect all the time. This list of my 50 favourite songs of the year will probably look different tomorrow. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Was it a weak year for music? I’ve held this view for most of the year and while it’s true that 2008 didn’t give us an abundance of earth-shattering albums like 2007 did (any album from my 2007 top-20 would almost certainly make my 2008 top-10), it’s hard to call it weak when listening through this list of 50 songs, and there’s another truckload that wouldn’t have sounded out of place. As I have become more familiar with some of the bands making the world’s best music today, I have begun to gradually move from discovery to expectation. Many established indie artists wrote and performed their ways onto this list, but 2008 was a great year for new groups, a few in particular who know how to craft near-perfect melodies and brilliant pop songs. Anyway, all of this reading of paragraphs is a waste of time, so get listening.