Top Albums of 2008: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

via RCRD LBL

Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago wasn’t the only top album released in February ’08. A personal surpriser, Atlas Sound’s Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel was an album that I didn’t expect to like. I’d never really gotten into Deerhunter, so I was skeptical about this other Bradford Cox project. Also, I’m generally not into ambient music; some of it is too muddled/noisy and atmospheric for my tastes. Despite my list of preconceptions, I went ahead and gave Let the Blind a listen. Turns out I don’t even know myself, because I ended up playing this album quite a bit this year.

If you know me personally and you generally don’t listen to lyrics (you know who you are), then I constantly harp on you for not doing so. Well, I think you can manage to listen to the two lines in “Quarantined.” Simple yet haunting, the lyrics were inspired by a story that Cox read of children in Russia living with AIDS. While listening to the song, I daydream that I am tucked away in some near-forgotten room, “waiting to be changed,” as Cox sings.

This past year, Atlas Sound was my gateway to the deerhunter / atlas sound / lotus plaza blog, and eventually to Deerhunter. Funny how things change in a year.

Quarantined - Atlas Sound


River Card - Atlas Sound




Other Top of 2008 Albums:
A Reflection
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Dodos - Visiter
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP
The Walkmen - You & Me
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.