The Best Music Blogs of 2008

When I started to think of the usual “Favorite Albums of 2008,” I realized I didn’t have many favorite full-length albums. Sure, there were several. But what I did clearly love this year were music blogs. They’re like having friends who play amazing music for you whenever you visit.

I’m not going to rate these traditionally; rather, I will list them (in no particular order) and give brief reasons for my love. Also, I’ll honor them by adding them to my links. So, here we go.

SOUL SIDES

Run by Oliver Wang, Soul Sides is an excellent blog dedicated to soul, disco, funk, hip-hop, Latin/Afro-Latin/Brazilian, soul-influenced jazz, soulful “world music,” and occasionally a little bit of psychadelic rock. Most tracks featured are “vintage” albums/singles, though new releases do surface occasionally. Every single time a post has been made to this blog, I’ve found at least one song that completely engages me. I can safely say my year would have lacked soul (bad pun: I am aware) were it not for Soul Sides. Sampling of Artists: The Spinners, Stevie Wonder, Milton Wright, Roberta Flack, Ruby Andrews, Q-Tip.

GORILLA vs. BEAR

Chris, David, and Garrison over at Gorilla vs. Bear have an excellent––and broad––taste in music, which is represented in their blog as well as in a Sirius radio show. Excellent representation of many genres. To give you a sampling of artists: Cut Copy, Lykke Li, Hercules & Love Affair, Beach House, Q-Tip, Santogold, Portishead, Erykah Badu, Animal Collective. Pretty broad spectrum. Head over to their site and show some love. You’ll be listening for hours.

JACUZZI KILLERS

If you are looking for new music to play at a party to get everyone dancing, go no further. This NYC blog is run by a group of writers who are extremely dedicated to highlighting quality tracks. They frequently post pretty solid remixes. Artists represented on their blog: Justice, Bonde Do Role, Midnight Juggernauts, Franz Ferdinand, Little Boots, Blonde Acid Cult, Calvin Harris, Chromeo.

AMERICAN ATHLETE

Maintained by Seattle DJ/producer “Pat Les Stache,” American Athlete is an excellent collection of often overlooked (but amazing) “disco, italo, cosmic, and other boogie classics.” If you’re in Seattle, and you’d like to be a part of “a weekly gay-ass disco party,” you can visit Havana on East Pike Street for Studio, a fun dance night where you can catch Pat spinning his magic. Artist Sampling: Ann Margret, Tantra, Sweet Talks, Cher, Constellation Orchestra, and Taka Boom.

THE DISCO WORKOUT

And last, but not least, I present to you The Disco Workout. Run by San Francisco’s “Johnatron, Baron von Luxxury and BearBaby,” this site provides you with disco tunes past and present, ranging from subtle to bold. Their remixes are also really strong. AND they post mindblowing videos like the one below (wait past the intro to get the amazingness):

Representative artists: Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Midnight Prowler, Kool and the Gang, Koto, SALEM, Tiga, Christov.

That wraps it up. I hope you all go visit these sites and love them as much as I do.