2008 was an interesting year for me, musically speaking. I found myself at the beginning of the year catching up with albums I missed out on from previous years. The likes of which included Justice's Cross, LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver, and Jim Noir's Tower of Love. It was also a year where I spent more time scrounging around mp3 blogs, resulting in my iPod filling up with singles and tracks instead of albums. So, I found myself in the past couple of weeks struggling to come up with a solid Top 10 list of albums—specifically having difficulty filling the #10 slot. The two major disappointments of the year for me have been Of Montreal's Skeletal Lamping and Kanye West's 808's and Heartbreaks. The later is growing on me a bit as of late, but I still don't think it deserves a spot in an official Top 10. Even stranger, Los Campesinos!, which you will soon find is easily my favorite act of the year, released a second album only months ago, We Are Beautiful, We are Doomed...which I find nearly as impressive as their debut album. I don't know the official rules of Top 10 lists (venturing into obnoxious territory here), but I'm pretty sure it would be weird to put two albums by the same artist in one list.
ANYWAY, all that rambling is just a big excuse for what I'm calling a Top 9 list of albums. To fill in the gap of the missing #10 slot, I've decided to drop a bunch of songs on you as well. I'm not doing a write-up this year on each album, but consider it safe that I heartily recommend all this music for anyone who is looking for a change of pace.
TOP 9 Album Picks:
1. Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster
2. Marnie Stern: This Is It...
3. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
4. Born Ruffians: Red, Yellow, and Blue
5. The Dodos: Visiter
6. High Places: 03/07 - 09/07
7. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
8. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
9. Atlas Sound: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Top 5 Songs:
1. "Ruler" - Marnie Stern
2. "White Winter Hymnal" - Fleet Foxes
3. "Fools" - The Dodos
4. "Paranoid" - Kanye West
5. "Water Curses" - Animal Collective
and a smattering of other great tracks and singles from the year:
"Single Ladies" - Beyoncé
"No One Does It Like You" - In Ear Park
"Toe Jam (Featuring David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal)" - The BPA
"Knickerbocker" - Fujiya & Miyagi
"Walking On A Dream" - Empire of the Sun
"Cranes And Cranes And Cranes and Cranes" - Johnny Foreigner
"In the New Year" - The Walkmen
"Little Bit" - Lykke Li
"5 Years Time" - Noah and The Whale
"Jitterkadie" - Death Vessel
"Arrows of Eros" - Golden Silvers
"RR vs D" - Au
"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" - She & Him
"Bruises" - Chairlift
"With Handclaps" - Y'all is Fantasy Island
"Machine In The Ghost" - The Faint
Feel free to leave comments (ideally, with your own best of lists!)
UPDATE:
(Favorite Albums of 2007)
(Favorite Albums of 2006)
Posts
2 comments:
I just found your blog through Drawn I really like a lot of the music on this list! Also, I had no idea that Los Campesinos came out with another album, so thanks for that!
But yeah, a lot of the albums listed (Los Campesinos, Vampire Weekend, Born Ruffians, Fleet Foxes, Altas Sound...) are some of my favorites of 2008 as well! Department of Eagles' In Ear Park would definitely be up there, too. Either "Teenagers" or "Phantom Other" is probably my second favorite song after "No One Does It Like You" (so gorgeousss). Mother Mother's "O My Heart" is also a fantastic, fantastic album, and oh my this comment is getting long
Sorry if this is coming out of nowhere, by the way! it just makes me really happy to find people that love the things that I love! :)
(Also I've been browsing your blog and I like your art!)
Hi there, Faryn. Thanks! We are definitely on the same page, musically :)
I just realized I didn't link to my lists from previous years. I wonder if we sync up there, too.
I have to say, too, that after all the deliberation over the #10 spot...Kanye has slowly slinked his way closer.808s continues to grow on me.
Right now I'm obsessing over Animal Collective's new Merriweather Post Pavilion. It puts me in a happy trance every time I listen to it. I'm a pretty big fan of the group...I still think Feels is still my favorite. But its so great to hear them do a solid Pop album (toning back on the usual yelps and screams).
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! And thanks again for the kind words.
Post a Comment