Reflecting on 2008: TOP 20 JustSayin Shows

2008 has been big year for JustSayinIsAll.com... In addition to keeping the art and music flowing online, below are THE TOP 20 shows JustSayin brought to Madison over the past year. Do any stick out to you as favourites?




1) 9/19: Dan Deacon, Leslie & The Lys, Monotonix, High Places (mp3) [review]: One of most dynamic bills I've ever seen... Hairy Israleis rocking on top of the crowd, the debut of a new stunt by Leslie Hall, and the choreographed chaos of a frenetic electronic genius. This was the highlight of the first Forward Music Festival, even while I was genuinely terrified that the house was actually going to burn down.



2) 10/21 - Mount Eerie, Julie Dorion (mp3) [review]: A new collaboration brought a fresh accessibility to an incredible DIY favorite. The setting was an echoey synogogue filled with one hundred voices singing an acoustic Bjork cover until it turned into a dove and flew away.



3) 4/6: The Woodhands (mp3): The sweatiest danceparty of 2008 came from this up and coming indie duo who made the long trek down from Toronto for a Madison "sexy nerd party". Scream it together with your best German impression: YOU'RE A VERY GOOD DANCER, WHAT IS YOUR NAME? WHAT IS YOUR NAME?




4) 9/20: Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (mp3) [review]: At this point in the festival, I was on one of one-hundred trips running back and forth between the Majestic Theater and the Orpheum Theater Stage Door. But from the buzz I heard about the show, this performance lived up to their spot as one of the best albums of the year.

5) 6/25: Frog Eyes (mp3) [review]
6) 9/20: Pale Young Gentlemen, Stars Like Fleas [Forward Music Fest] (mp3)



7) 5/30: Laura Barrett & Great White Jenkins (mp3)
8) 7/24: Shelby Sifers, Jordaan Mason (mp3)



9) 9/19: Neko Case [Forward Music Fest] (mp3) [review]
10) 8/16: Festival (myspace)
11) 5/8: Viking Moses & Golden Ghost (mp3)



12) 4/2: Headlights & Evangelicals (mp3) [review]
13) 2/21: Say Hi To Your Mom (mp3) [review]
14) 5/21: Old Time Relijun, Sleeping in the Aviary (mp3) [review]



15) 6/26: Daredevil Christopher Wright, LAARKS (mp3)
16) 9/20: Flosstradamus [Forward Music Fest] (myspace) [review]



17) 9/20: Aleks and The Drummer, Tune Yards [Forward Music Fest] (mp3)
18) 3/31: Phosphorescent (mp3)
19) 9/19: Grampall Jookabox, PWRFL Power [Forward Music Fest] (mp3)
20) 4/20: Enon, Karmella's Game (mp3)