NG Presents: NG's Top 30 Albums of 2008 (#21-19)
21. N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
Released: June 6, 2008.
Best Tracks: Anti Matter, Spaz, Everyone Nose, Sooner or Later
Hip-punk inspired N.E.R.D.'s third album,
Seeing Sounds, to be the idea of which was to create a record with their visual live act in mind. The album hop-scotches between various genres of old-school hip-hop, rock, pop, and new wave. My favorite track has to be "Anti Matter" which starts with a real promise through throbbing bass line follows by an anthem clearing out "you punk bitch!"
The first single, "Everyone Nose" shows the fun side we know about these guys with the vocal hook that gets everyone asking why are all the girls standing in the line for the bathroom? The album also has its soft side, take "Sooner or Later" for example, the track is mellow as Pharrell's vocal brings you back to the mood of Jackson 5-inspired music. To end this, listening to
Seeing Sounds is a unique abstract experience that left me hunger for more pumping beats and visual sounds.
20. Yelle - Pop-Up
Released: April 20, 2008.
Best Tracks: À Cause des Garçons, Ce Jeu, Je Veux Te Voir, Amour Du Sol
Maybe it's the rapid tempo French lyrics or the goofy sounding melodies, but there is something comical about the new Yelle album
Pop-Up. Most of the songs will make you get down on the floor and dance your butt off. It's one of the albums that I didn't care about the language, yeah it's French, but the music and Yelle's playful vocal control the album. "Ce Jeu" starts off like an American Hip Hop song until you are greeted by a synthesizer and female vocalist spitting lines. One of my favorite is "À Cause des Garçons" because it has made into so many electronic remixes not to mention how dirty the song is. The song is so popular that it has to be made into its own tecktonic dance video! Tecktonic! I love that word! LOL.
19. P!nk - Funhouse
Released: October 28, 2008.
Best Tracks: I Don't Believe You, So What, Sober, Please Don't Leave Me
Funhouse is such an ironic title for a divorce album. Pink makes sure her fans expect the unexpected as her marriage falls right through the whirlpool of media craze. The lead single, "So What" makes my top 30 joints proving Pink still has it, in terms of making a genuinely fun record.
Funhouse also takes a thematic shift as the emotional part of the album kicks in. I am absolutely in love with the track "I Don't Believe You," which boasts a phenomenal vocal turn that is both vulnerable and accusatory, is driven by a sparse electric guitar riff, while "Please Don't Leave Me" and "It's All Your Fault" are in a similar nervy power-pop vein to "Who Knew" from I'm Not Dead. Loves it!
