Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Top 10 Albums of 2008

As submitted to Melophobe for this list.

1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down in the Light
- His best since "Master and Everyone"

2. Baby Dee - Safe Inside the Day
- Transgendered is the new gay

3. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
- Best revisionist 80s prom ever

4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
- Aussie electropop is the new French house

5. Shearwater - Rook
- Better than step-sister Okkervil River of late

6. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
- PLZ TO HAS MOAR FUZZ DRONE

7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
- Reverb-drenched Seattle alt-country is the new fuzz-drenched Seattle grunge

8. Deerhunter - Microcastle
- Walks that fine line between heroin and music

9. Portishead - Third
- Either I liked "Out of Season" better or I expected less from it

10. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best
- Malawian mash-up mixtape FTW!!!

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Honorable Mentions:

Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules And Love Affair
- "Blind" aside, I just can't keep a straight face while listening to this album

Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
- I liked them more before I read their Wikipedia article

Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life
- If I were in middle school, these guys would be at #1

of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
- Kevin Barnes, dredged in sex and glitter, deep fried

Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
- A sad Finnish circus drowning in a sea of static

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
- Kids these days (and their acid)

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
- The fact that he steps on my artistic toes is no reason to hate

Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
- Badly Drawn Boy meets Architecture in Helsinki. For drinks. In Japan.

Four Tet - Ringer
- The Orbital fan in me can't get enough of this EP

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
- It's nice to know that street preacher rant rock still has a home

TV on the Radio - Dear Science
- Each album is poppier than the last, and I can't say that I mind

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
- "On the Road" ... again

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
- I just hope Part Two doesn't take another five years

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
- Fittingly enough, a perfect winter driving companion

Beach House - Devotion
- More of the same, but it's a good same

Marnie Stern - This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
- What the hell is this, Deerhoof for the masses? Nice

Suzie Magnion - The Other Side Of The Mountain
- Turns out she didn't much need the other half of George

diskJokke - Staying In
- Would make a fantastic video game soundtrack

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
- Paul Simon did a better job of white boy Afropop, methinks

El Guincho - Alegranza
- It is really, really hard to stop moving while this album is playing

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
- Hey look, the endangered straight-ahead indie-rock band!

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