This year’s music issue contains a mix of great questions: If full-length albums are dead, why do so many people still want them? Is hip-hop growing up or having its Yacht Rock moment? Can lo-fi recordings compete with the digital onslaught? What are the most…distinctive music videos of the year? Have cutbacks at big labels been good for hip-hop? Why has D.C.’s DJ scene been so off the hook? Why did vinyl sell so well?
And Washington City Paper has all the answers:
- Brent Burton explains why people still buy full-length albums.
- David Dunlap Jr. measures the maturation of hip-hop.
- Casey Rae-Hunter explains how the Cassettes managed to get so big on, well, cassettes.
- Ted Scheinman and yours truly sorted through a shit-ton of music videos in order to recommend 10 must-sees.
- Ben Westhoff argued that 2008 was a great year for hip-hop, despite the dry spell.
- Cole Goins caught up with local DJs and found out the secrets to their dance-hall successes.
- Don Carr took stock of the District’s big vinyl sales.
- And of course, everybody had something to say about the 10 best albums of the year.