2008: The Year in Reviews

Regular readers might be interested in noting the top ten most-read reviews of 2008:
1. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes [by a landslide]
2. Peter Gabriel & Friends, Big Blue Ball
3. The Fireman, Electric Arguments
4. Weezer, Weezer [The Red Album]
5. U2, Zooropa [part of the "Lost Classics" series]
6. Garage Rock Round-Up: King Khan and the Shrines; Foxboro Hot [...]

Lookin’ Forward: A 2009 Music Preview

Another new year, another crop of new music. The Hurst Review is going on holiday for a week or two, but, until regular reviews resume in early January, here are a handful of records– in approximate order of release– that make the next few months look very bright indeed.
Derek Trucks Band – Already Free

1/13
Bluesman, guitar [...]

A Golden Age

If things have been a little slow around here lately, it’s because, well, as far as music goes, the year is more or less over. In case you missed it, I’ve posted my Top 15 Albums of 2008, and, later this weekend, I’ll be posting a 2009 Music Preview, spotlighting a few noteworthy albums from [...]

Film Break: “The Tale of Despereaux”

My interview with Gary Ross– director of Pleasantville and Seabiscuit and producer/screenwriter of the new animated film The Tale of Despereaux– is posted at CT Movies.

Pavement: “Brighten the Corners [Nicence Creedence Edition]“

Neither as fun as the ragged, freewheeling Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain nor as bracing as the sprawling Wowee Zowee, Brighten the Corners nevertheless remains as beguiling and curious as any entry in Pavement’s canon, even if its place in said canon is still somewhat disputed. Sporting a much cleaner, tamer sound than the wild, woolly [...]

Film Break: “Slumdog Millionaire”

Danny Boyle has made a career out of complete disdain for expectations. His calling card as a filmmaker is his creative restlessness, and his relatively short career has burned brightly as he’s blazed from genre to genre, turning a zombie pic into an apocalyptic nightmare (28 Days Later), lending his own philosophical stamp to tipsy [...]

Film Break: Philip Seymour Hoffman Round-Up

2008– the Year in Music– is winding to a halt. I celebrated my fifteen favorite recordings of the year earlier this week, concluding a series of year-end wrap-up features that have been popping up on The Hurst Review for several weeks. And I’ve already heard a handful of prominent releases that are set to drop [...]

A first time for everything…

I’ve been scanning a bunch of year-end lists– it seems like there are exponentially more of them with each new day– and, thus far, I’m not sure if I’ve seen any two lists with the same #1 pick. So you can imagine my surprise when Rolling Stone– of all places!– turned out to be the [...]

The Hurst Fifteen: Favorite Recordings of 2008

The standard disclaimer applies: I make no pretense of listing the objective best albums of the year, but, rather, the ones that have moved me, entertained me, rewarded me, and challenged me the most. Here are the fifteen classics that made 2008 a great year to be a music fan:
01. TV on the Radio
Dear Science,
(Full [...]

On Listmaking

Take a look at MetaCritic’s Top 10 Albums of 2008– supposedly a reflection of the ten best-reviewed albums of the year– and you might notice a couple of discontinuities:

Amadou & Mariam, Welcome to Mali
The Bug, London Zoo
Plush, Fed
TV on the Radio, Dear Science,
Shugo Tokumaru, Exit
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Nick Cave and [...]