There was a decided lull in outsideleft's output in 2008. A fallow year of sorts. While the stuff we published was stronger, there was far less of it. Dunno why, but here are the ones that were read the most...
- Drive-By Truckers: Poetry Flies on Chicken Wings and Rides a Mechanical Bull by Alex V. Cook
Did I mention that Drive-By Truckers is my favorite band? I did? Well let me tell you why... - Enter the Little Dragon by LamontPaul
The best Swedish story since that one about IKEA giving Danish names to their least glamorous products, subtle pop darlings Little Dragon swoop in from the Frozen North to melt the hearts and minds of LA-ers - Take Me Home Again, Kathleen by Peter Williams
An American living in London, Kathleen Haskard, offers a reminder that straying far from our roots is a beautiful but bittersweet thing - Yeah, Here Comes the Waterworks - Velvet Revolver R.I.P. by Alex V. Cook
The dissolution of Velvet Revolver has unforeseen repercussions on the OutsideLeft staff. - Robert Mapplethorpe Died for Somebody's Sins, But Not Mine by Alex V. Cook
Patti Smith and Kevin Shields join forces to craft an epic, harrowing work of remembrance of an artist, and for art itself. - Joe Dolan: He Sent Them Home Sweating by Joe Ambrose
Irish showband man, Joe Dolan, remembered well... - Mother Earth is Pregnant for the Fourth Time by Alex V. Cook
Your wretched soul has one last chance for funkification, courtesy of Ms. Erykah Badu - 300 Words From London: SHAM - Jimmy Pursey Live by Lake
Lake remembers buying the Hersham Boys 12", from a record shop in Tenby, Wales when he was 13 with some money that his Grandma gave him. If he still had it he would have thrown it away after Friday night's fiasco. - Kissing Cousins Are Gonna Make It... Alright by LamontPaul
The Echo Park / Silverlake nexus is a hilly rich, rich vein of creative talent. A hive, a giant ant farm, teeming. The Kissing Cousins? Well they're right on the top of it all, The Queens of the Hill - Jamie Lidell, World's Greatest Boyfriend by Alex V. Cook
Formerly annoying soul technician Jamie Lidell finds a change of heart deep within and totally wins me over. - Grant Me The Serenity to Accept the Black Keys I Cannot Change by Alex V. Cook
Black Keys, it's not you, it's me... - Happy Shopper #23:
Tav Falco by LamontPaul
Legendary rocknroller Tav Falco shares his shopping tips with outsideleft readers - Bang On with Your Fangs On: Vampire Weekend and Panther by Alex V. Cook
Vampire Weekend and Panther both sink their teeth into their favorite records for short-lived but palpable thrills - --
- Matt & Sarah & Jimmy & Ben by Jaycentee
The Sarah Silverman/Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel/Ben Affleck videos have been so successful (and now so insanely pervasive on the web that even ABC.com has them), that our inside man on Riverside Dr. Jaycentee heads up you abroad-sters on what the locals know, on how it all came to be... - Succumbing to Evil Urges by Alex V. Cook
A preview of the latest wandering tale from My Morning Jacket, a band that was not long ago considered the last hope for rock 'n' roll. - These Mountain Goats Make a Worthy Sacrifice by Alex V. Cook
John Darinelle crafts his finest yet tribute to recognizing the perverse glory that is the self on Heretic Pride. - Being and Nothingness, Preferably While Drunk: Constantines and Ladyhawk by Alex V. Cook
If Constantines are the pileup of experience in the light of day, Ladyhawk are the atomic breakdown and subsequent explosion at night. - Brian Jonestown Massacre: Idiots, or Harbingers of the Boring Endtimes? by Alex V. Cook
BJM succeeds by caring less about success than any other band ever. - I Can't Believe I'm Writing about Gnarls Barkley by Alex V. Cook
Not because they aren't worthy of analysis, but because I didn't think they would last this long. - Tift Merritt, Country Singer of the World by Alex V. Cook
On her resplendent new record, Tift Merritt finds the country girl inside while holed up in Paris. - 300 Words From London: Verdi Grief by Lake
The signs are up at the opera house. Anna Netrebko will not be performing. She is suffering from bronchitis. - Boris: Such Sadness in their Smile by Alex V. Cook
We plumb the depths opened up by Boris on both the US and Japanese versions of Smile, watching the cultural divide close the deeper and darker we go. - R.E.M. - An Acronym for Themselves by Alex V. Cook
Once upon a time R.E.M. carried ancient burdens, young despite the years. Alex V. Cook offers his shared history with the band - Making it Happen Again by Paul Hawkins
Hawkins rising in the West! Paul Hawkins barely has time to check in to Los Angeles before appraising the career-fest overview of situationalist happener Allan Kaprow at MOCA
