Missed the list: Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak

Every year, in the weeks after I have submitted my year-end best-of lists, I take a few days to go through everyone else's lists to catch things I overlooked, ignored and missed out on. This has been a ritual since the days I was only making those lists for myself,...

By Cory Casciato

February 6, 2009

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Every year, in the weeks after I have submitted my year-end best-of lists, I take a few days to go through everyone else's lists to catch things I overlooked, ignored and missed out on. This has been a ritual since the days I was only making those lists for myself, and it's yielded some great stuff -- last year, for example, I discovered Yeasayer, one of my current favorites, when the band made multiple year-end-best lists. Originally, I'd ignored it as another hipster flavor-of-the-week band. Oops!

This year, I haven't had time to really dig into the lists (too busy!) but one thing I totally missed the boat on is currently in heavy rotation at Chez Moi: Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak. I've never been a fan of Kanye before (good thing my girlfriend is -- thanks, honey!), and the first time I heard this disc it annoyed me so much I wanted to punch someone -- preferably him -- in the face. But after a few listens, the ultra-minimalist aesthetic and amusing, well-constructed tunes really captured my imagination. I could still do without the auto-tuned vocals (dude, there are so many cooler ways to sound robotic than the fucking auto-tune software...), but it does kind of fit. Anyway, if I had really listened to this disc before my year-ends, it almost certainly would have made the top ten. It's really, really good. Now I just need to find a few days to really look at all the lists and find out what else I missed...

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