Marcel Winatschek

Best of 2008

I played these songs in 2008 until they were grooves in my brain. Ladyhawke, Lykke Li, The Ting Tings, Santogold. They were there when I needed to cry, when I needed something bright and restless to shake off whatever was sitting on my chest.

Ladyhawke had this cold precision. Lykke Li was doing something I still can’t describe—it felt like she was reaching through the speakers. The Ting Tings and Santogold were different animals, pure momentum, impossible to sit still through.

I don’t think most of them actually came out in 2008. Doesn’t really matter though. A song works when it works. The ones that lasted are the ones that did what I needed—that’s the only reason anything stays.