With already two albums (2004’s Somebody Outside and 2006’s Separation Road) under her belt, Anna Ternheim’s third full-length album Leaving On A Mayday (2008) has finally seen the light of day in the United States after ruling the music charts in her native Sweden.

I’ve been trying to remember specifically what turned me off to her so many months ago, but as of right now it’s futile and pointless. Mayday is stunning in its breadth, balancing the immediacy of today with the sadness of a candlelight’s last moments.

The opening “What Have I Done” perfectly encapsulates this poise. As passionate as the lover may be, the idea of finality is the hardest thing to overcome no matter how lost everything may seem, with the words “I hope you feel the way I do / I hope you give yourself up to” still sounding so distant as though told through a final love letter.

Love is an obvious theme. But is it lost love? While some songs are gloomy (“No, I Don’t Remember”), something eternal never seems to vanish. The melancholy of “Terrified” can at times be overwhelming, but the chorus offers hope of something lasting (“You see me / Like no one / Saw me before”). It’s laid more clearly in “My Heart Still Beats For You.”

It isn’t until the rather uplifting “Make It On My Own” that you truly get the magnitude of love’s power in its pure, bare form. Ternheim sums it up perfectly: “The last album was like a black, shiny, heavy stone. Leaving On A Mayday is a bit like a dirty white feather” (press release).

[photos via Sneak Attack Media]
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Track list:

1. What Have I Done
2. Damaged Ones
3. Terrified
4. Let It Rain
5. My Heart Still Beats For You
6. No, I Don’t Remember
7. Summer Rain
8. Losing You
9. Off The Road
10. Black Sunday Afternoon

2008 marked yet another year in which the music industry saw another decline in total album sales. Of course, that figure looks less bleak when you factor in the big increase in digital music sales.

I can’t imagine anyone actually thinking the industry will collapse so much that it will have to finally embrace the Internet and develop new strategies for promoting its product as well as getting people to buy it. Okay, I lied.

But new strategies have already proved to be successful. Ringtones are super popular given the millions of cellular phones being used in the U.S. and also the billions of cellular phones being used worldwide. Video games have also become a consistent platform to sell music. Whether music will ultimately be given away for free remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, 2008 was still a good year for music, particularly for indie lovers. That being said, here is my top 5 favorite 2008 albums which unsurprisingly none were among the year’s top 10 selling albums.

Top 5

5. Adele — 19

British singer-songwriter Adele seemed to never be mentioned when other British soul artists like Amy Winehouse and Duffy were discussed for their vocal talents. For some reason, even four Grammy nominations seems low for the very moving “heartbroken soul” sound of her debut album 19.

4. Ratatat — LP3

New York duo Ratatat continues their synthe-driven electronica on their incredible third full-length album, aptly titled LP3.

3. Lykke Li — Youth Novels

Swedish artist Lykke Li (Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson) uses infectious dance pop to mask the awesomeness of true sensuality in her debut album Youth Novels.

2. Crystal Castles — Crystal Castles

Canadian duo Crystal Castles proves that the electronic remix can be its own genre on the band’s self-titled debut.

1. Beach House — Devotion

Devotion, the sophomore album of Baltimore duo Beach House, brings you as close to divinity as possible without having to listen to worship music or spend two early Sunday morning hours in a church.

Honorable Mention

El Perro Del Mar — From The Valley To The Stars

Hercules And Love Affair — Hercules And Love Affair

M83 — Saturdays=Youth

The Raveonettes — Lust, Lust, Lust

She & Him — Volume One

My sister went with me. She likes Lykke Li. This was my first time at The Independent that is close to Cafe Du Nord, which I tend to frequent. Much like The Fillmore, The Independent is mostly a large room with a stage and bar. By the way, parking sucked ass.

The concert didn’t start for forty-five minutes past its 9:00 PM start time. Then, UK band Friendly Fires came on. I didn’t try to listen to them before the concert, and I was pleasantly surprised by their energy and upbeat sound. The guitarist is cute. Here’s a picture from the band’s website with them and Lykke Li.

Another thirty minutes pass before Lykke Li takes the stage. I guess there they were having sound problems because a technician was fixing stuff for a while. I must mention that during this time I was pushed from behind by some Asian girl. This was uncalled for during the intermission since there wasn’t any music playing. The guy she was with immediately mentioned it wasn’t the girl’s fault since she was pushed from behind. I took this as a lie since I didn’t see anyone behind her.

She later annoyed me further by rubbing her body all over me during the Lykke Li’s performance. Every time I thought I might get a staph infection with that dirty body sweat. Her high nasal voice was screeching in my ear whenever anything came out of her mouth.

Lykke Li could have made up for this, but her extremely short set marred her otherwise good music. She didn’t even play “Time Flies.”

I couldn’t find any better photos other concertgoers uploaded, so here are my blurry pics. We were actually pretty close to the stage.

Youtube user MAKEYOUSICK took a couple of videos of the concert. Has pretty good musical taste.

Friendly Fires — “White Diamonds”

Lykke Li — “I’m Good, I’m Gone”

To much anticipation, the 22-year-old’s debut album Youth Novels has finally been released in the United States after titillating audiences abroad for months already. Her rise might not have been as rapid or exotic as Duffy or as well-publicized as Winehouse, but Li endured her fair share of lumps and bruises along the way to being both an indie darling and hopefully a mainstream star.

Danceable music is what helps set many of these recent female artists. Lykke Li is no exception. Her keep-on-moving attitude partly stems from the constant moving that her family did when she was young. She eventually found herself in New York City performing at small venues and open mic nights and, fortunately, back in Sweden to work with Bjorn Yttling (of Peter, Bjorn and John) on her music.

From the obvious “Dance, Dance, Dance” (which is dedicated to those that don’t like to dance) to the supremely catchy “I’m Good, I’m Gone” to highly infectious group anthem “Breaking It Up,” Li keeps the music going and her feet moving throughout much of Youth Novels. Even the opening “Melodies & Desires” entices you to move your body with its lullaby rhythm and loving lyrics.

I refrained from mentioning anything sensual in that latter song despite the less-than-subtle lines of anytime lovemaking (“You’ll be the rhythm and I’ll be the beat / Then I’ll be the rhythm and you’ll be the beat / And love, the shoreline, where you and I meet”). There really is no shortage of sexuality, from either the highly suggestive “Let If Fall” or the hypnotically erotic “Little Bit” (listen to the Loving Hand Remix). And any confident man shouldn’t listen to “Complaint Department.”

Lykke Li is never hesitant in her music, going from song to song poised in her ability to successfully traverse from genre to genre and style to style while always moving her feet.

[photos via Sneak Attack Media]
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Track list:

1. Melodies & Desires
2. Dance, Dance, Dance
3. I’m Good, I’m Gone
4. Let It Fall
5. My Love
6. Tonight
7. Little Bit
8. Hanging High
9. This Trumpet In My Head
10. Complaint Department
11. Breaking It Up
12. Everybody But Me
13. Time Flies
14. Window Blues

The concert started late (as most concerts do) and Anna Ternheim took the stage. I had never heard of her before, but she has a nice surreal voice — similar to Cardigans lead singer Nina Persson. She definitely did more talking than the next two artists. I would have pictures, but we found a seat way in the back and wanted to enjoy our beers and french fries before venturing out onto the floor.

Lykke Li was awesome. I have the Little Bit EP and didn’t know any song beyond the EP’s four tracks. I know her debut album Youth Novels is already out in Europe so now I’ll have to get it. Lykke had a lot of energy, mixing her softer songs and her danceable up-beat stuff well. A lot of people left after she performed.

Here’s a cool video of Lykke Li performing a stripped down version of “Little Bit”:

El Perro Del Mar was great. Her album has minimal instrumentation, but here she played most of the time with a full band. It was interesting to hear a suedo-ballad like “God Knows” with drums, a keyboard, and an electric guitar accompanying Sarah’s vocals.

These are pictures that I took on the crappy camera on my cell phone. I need to be better about bringing my actual camera to take some decent photos.

Here are some real photos from the event, courtesy of ToastyKen:

[photos via ToastyKen]

That last photo is my favorite, with him getting the incense in the right light. Nicely done.

Her debut album Youth Novels has already entranced fans overseas, and the EP Little Bit is meant to satisfy American listeners until the LP’s stateside debut.

Lykke Li’s musical stylings are similar to fellow Swede El Perro Del Mar. Both share a frightening relaxed calmness, in spite of heightened emotions or the sudden arrival of dramatic situations. While not as gloomy as El Perro, Lykke Li does showcase a surreal, tranquilizer-like depressed flow of storytelling. It sounds bad I know, but she hides it so well behind her smooth, angelic whispers.

The EP’s title track is mesmerizing, evoking a sensual striptease fantasy by a former love. The song fuses so many sounds, from quasi-bossa nova to soul, while maintaining a simplistic and raw, non-explicitly erotic beat in the background.

“Dance, Dance, Dance” (download mp3 here) extends the simplistic and raw beats from earlier, but are patterned more ritualistically rather than erotically, with the ending chant signaling the bonfire’s audience to participate.

“Everybody But Me” (proving a contrast to the previous two songs) is more solitary, depicting a young girl’s insecurities against the weight of the world: “I get the creeps from all the people in here / I cannot breathe, it’s too crowded in here / Don’t look at me.” The repeating lyrics “I don’t want to…” are surprisingly effective reflections of teen pressures and struggles.

The closing track “Time Flies” is the EP’s centerpiece, extending the theme of insecurities and instead depicting a mother’s fears and vulnerabilities. Parenthood can be frightening, and LL perfectly portrays that idea through her unsure, yet supportive vocals: “I hang on, don’t want to miss my prime / ‘Cause time will fly, upon my baby’s back.”

In only four tracks, Lykke Li takes us almost through (and in no particular order) a few stages of life, including adolescence, sex, and parenting. Little Bit feels both complete and unfinished at the same time, leaving an anxiety for the full LP’s release.

[photos via Sneak Attack Media]
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Track list:

1. Little Bit
2. Dance, Dance, Dance
3. Everybody But Me
4. Time Flies