Top Albums of 2008

Top Albums of 2008

1. The Cardinals(Ryan Adams) – Cardinology This is such a great album. It is common knowledge that I love anything Ryan Adams puts out so I’ll spare you a long fawning write up here, just know that since cleaning up Ryan’s voice sounds light years stronger.

2. Kings of Leon – Only by the night I wrote about this album on my blog when it first came out and I still love it.

3. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago This has shown up on almost every list this year so I probably don’t need to say anything more about how awesome it is.

4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seed – Dig, Lazerus, Dig!!! Like I’ve said before, the Grinderman album that Cave and his cohorts made not long ago really added a spark to this album that sets it apart from some of his recent work. As a long time fan of the Boatman’s Call this album is right up there.

5. Destroyer – Trouble in Dreams Not as immediately catchy overall as Destroyer’s Rubies this album pays off big if you give it a little patience and a couple of extra listens

6. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins A great album, at times a little loose and jangly often poppy and melodic but superb songwriting throughout. Pop Lie reminds me a bit of the New Pornographers at their best.

7. Vampire Weekend – S/T This album is too much fun not to be included.

8. Fleet Foxes – S/T This is another album that many much better writers then myself have written about and included on their lists.

9. Girl Talk I really didn’t like this Girl Talk album when I first picked it up but being the lazy bastard that I am I didn’t erase it from my ipod, then a strange thing happened, I found myself listening to every Girl Talk track that came up on shuffle(I almost exclusively use the shuffle feature) Now at the end of the year my I tunes tells me that I’ve listened to some of these tracks more than albums I loved right out of the gate. If you haven’t heard this album it is a seemless mix of a ton of samples that couldn’t possible have been legally cleared. Part of the fun of this is trying to figure out where that bass line came from or how many decades separate the release of the lyrics and the rhythm track.

10. Herman Dune – Next Year in Zion This is a late entry for me, I’ve had pieces of this album for awhile but only recently bought the entire album. I really like the simplicity of this work and the lyrics are smart and uncomplicated. I was turned onto these guys by posters in the metro advertising one of their shows.

11. Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Lay down in the light Will Oldham at his most awesome. I’ve really not spent as much time with this album as I would like to, I’m sure it would be higher up on the list if I’d spun it a few more times.

12. Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping I probably wouldn’t have listened to this more then once if it weren’t for Gretchen. This weirdly sung collection of funky dance tracks really grows on a fella. I think what put it over the top for me was the video Gretchen showed me where the lead singer was wearing a giant fanny pack. A Giant fanny pack!

EP Love:

One Day as a Lion – S/T While it’s no Rage Against the Machine There are three really strong tracks on this ep that I’ve listened to a lot. This ep is also to blame for me loading my ipod with the entire Rage Against the Machine discography, it ust plays so well on the Metro.

The Decemberists – Always the Bridesmaid As much as Gretchen hates them I love the Decemberists. This ep has several stellar tracks, Valerie Plame is probably my favorite.

Special Mention:

R.E.M. - Murmur(Reissue) – While I could technically place this at number one on my list and be done with it that might be cheating. I’ve probably listened to this entire album more than anything else, ever. This is still an absolutely brilliant album.

Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac(reissue) Another that could technically be placed in my top three for this year. This expanded edition is pretty awesome it has a live and early version of one of my favorite songs Houses on the Hill.

These two tracks will forever be linked in my mind with moving to Paris besides the fact that they are great songs they were played constantly on the French music channel (one of the only places to hear English).

MGMT – Time to Pretend

Estelle featuring Kanye West – American Boy