Your Top 10 Albums of 2008?

[Frau_Blucher]

Year's not over yet, so I'll consider this my doodle pad while I keep tweaking my list. I don't think it was as good a year as 2007, but I probably wasn't paying as close attention either. Maybe why mine feels a little mainstream. I'm sure I'm missing something massive that I won't discover 'til halfway thru next year. Really eager to see others'...what am I totally missing??

Top 10 So Far:
01. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (in a huge upset)
02. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
03. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
04. The Duke Spirit - Neptune
05. The Last Shadow Puppets - Age of the Understatement
06. Deerhunter - Microcastle
07. Wire - Object 47
08. Bauhaus - Go Away White
09. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
10. The Young Republic - 12 Tales From Winter City

Honorable Mentions:
The Toxic Airborne Event - The Toxic Airborne Event
Tearwave - Different Shade of Beauty
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
Sons and Daughters - This Gift
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Be Your Own PET - Get Awkward
The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
We Are Scientists - Brain Thrust Mystery
Ladytron - Velocifero
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Mystery Jets - Twenty One
The Fratellis - Here We Stand
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

Top 3 Dishonorable Mentions:
Portishead - Third (Really? THIS is what we get after all these years?!)
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (Glammy posing interesting last year; same ole now)
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (apart from the Casio noodling, a real song would be nice)

Top 3 Harsh Ambient Albums (don't know what else to call these cool pieces):
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier
Laymar - In Strange Lines and Distances

Live clips from my top 3:

Fleet Foxes "Blueridge Mountains" on Letterman:
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BSP "No Lucifer" on Letterman:
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Goldfrapp "Carvan Girl" on BBC4:
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[djcraig]

[quote]
Top 10 So Far:
01. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (in a huge upset)
02. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
[/quote]

Who ARE you and what have you done with Blir?




<a href="http://www.djcraig.net/los_angeles_dj">DJ Craig</a>

[DonGately]

My take on 2008 (not exactly a top 10 list...)

1. Best album by a new artist: The Airborne Toxic Event by The Airborne Toxic Event - also has best single (at least I heard it was released as a single in LA) "Sometime Around Midnight".

2. Best album by a returning artist: Dig Lazarus Dig!!! by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

3. Best album that revels in great influences: Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend

4. Best album that was also promoted by Starbucks: Rockferry by Duffy (Yeah, I like Duffy, so what???)

5. Best album that was released before 2008 that I'd never heard of: Flock by Bell X1

6. Best "annivesrary" reissue: Moon Safari 10 anniversary edition by Air (great remixes on disc 2)

7. Best "what the fuck was that" album? Straight to Hell by Hank Williams III (for disc 2, which is some of the most surreal fucked up trippy music I've heard in a long time)

8. Best career overview: The 2-disc best of collection and the 2-disc b-sides collection by Eels

9. Best album track (non-single release) - The Judas Kiss by Metallica (Yeah, that's right -- I've got blue eyed soul, David Lynch meets outlaw country, and old guys doing speed metal on my best of list. Go ahead, revoke my NWO membership!)

10. Best "That was a great album but so depressing I'll never listen to it again": Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild by Jonathan Richman

11. Award for "I bought this - why haven't I listened to it yet?" goes to Long Road Home by Neil Diamond (produced by Rick Rubin)

12. Best "Pretty Decent Albums with Hot Chicks for Singers" (it's a tie):

- Neptune by Duke Spirit
- Volume 1 by She & Him (Zooey Deschanel is way hot)

13. Best "Could sneak in at last moment and become a contender for 2008" - Safe Trip Home by Dido

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by DonGately[/i]
<br> - Volume 1 by She & Him (Zooey Deschanel is way hot)
[/quote]
Yes.

PS. Good call on Vampire Weekend. I had binned that as a 2007 album because they'd been distributing their CD-R since then. I see it's officially a 2008 release. Definitely at least an honorable mention and maybe a top 10 after further consideration.

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by djcraig[/i]
<br>[quote]Top 10 So Far:
01. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (in a huge upset)
02. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
[/quote]Who ARE you and what have you done with Blir?[/quote]
It does tell you one thing though, doesn't it? I had to believe it was a damned good record to unseat BSP in my eyes..erm, ears. Let's face it, I froth at the mouth over all things BSP to the point of uncaring embarrassment. What's been most rewarding about Fleet Foxes is how it just crept up on me. I read no reviews. I had the album and gave it a couple of quick listens to no great impact. Hell, I even missed them entirely at SXSW (stupid cunt that I am). Then something just clicked, and I went "Whoa, this shit's trippin' me out!"

I think it's an album for the ages, not just this year. To me it's like BSP's "Decline of British Sea Power" or Goldfrapp's "Felt Mountain" or Badly Drawn Boy's "The Hour of Bewilderbeast". The fact that some critics might be gushing about them feels like mere separate and coincidental circumstance versus how and why I personally love this album. After your post I googled to see if they'd shown up on any other list. I saw that Uncut (NME's sister publication) gave it their album of the year with a pretty seasoned review staff...

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[SwampThing]

1. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
2. Beach House - Devotion
3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
4. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
5. Dr. Dog - Fate
6. Deerhunter - Microcastle
7. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
8. Ratatat - LP3
9. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
10. Crystal Stilts - Alight Of Night

<font size="1">[b]Favorites of 2008 (so far):[/b]
Beach House - Devotion
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
</font>

[DonGately]

I forgot "Rain" by Joe Jackson, which has some really nice tracks.

[zill]

I rarely have time to sit through a whole album these days.

But I will add that, according to the "most played" stats on my new iPod, BSP's "Lights Out for Darker Skies" is zill's top of the pops. I love that song.

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by zill[/i]
<br>But I will add that, according to the "most played" stats on my new iPod, BSP's "Lights Out for Darker Skies" is zill's top of the pops. I love that song.
[/quote]
So wise. So insightful. Such great taste. Never thought I'd say that about a Canadian. [8D]

[Frau_Blucher]

In a spasmodic orgy of coincidence, I've had two people separated by 6000 miles text me about The Airborne Toxic Event within 30 minutes of eachother. First Coop says that I need to listen to this album for the top 10. Then my friend Riot in Birmingham England writes to say that he just went to their gig tonight and that he thinks it's the best first gig he's ever been to...including The Clash, Ramones, and British Sea Power. Seriously weird shit. Needless to say, checking out Toxic Event right now...

[DonGately]

They were the opening band at The Download Festival this year and they blew me away. I've listened the their album more than any other this year. Blir, these guys may just be my BSP.

[zill]

[quote][i]Originally posted by DonGately[/i]
<br>They were the opening band at The Download Festival this year and they blew me away. I've listened the their album more than any other this year. Blir, these guys may just be my BSP.
[/quote]

These days I mainly listen to new music based on recommendations, I don't have my ear to the ground, so to speak. I just sampled a few tracks online and was moved to an almost impulse online purchase...great stuff.

[DonGately]

Here's the list of upcoming shows once they get back to the US:

12/06/08 Boston, MA at Orpheum Theater

12/07/08 Philadelphia at Theatre Of The Living Arts

12/09/08 New York, NY at Blender Gramercy Theatre

12/10/08 Kansas City, MO at The Midland

12/11/08 Austin, TX at Emos

[glokstadt]

I'll start my 2008 picks:

Vampire Weekend - S/T
The Hives - The Black And White Album (is this a year old already from 2007?)

Well it's a start...[:p]



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[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by DonGately[/i]
<br>Here's the list of upcoming shows once they get back to the US:

12/09/08 New York, NY at Blender Gramercy Theatre
[/quote]
What a trip. I had circled the Duke Spirit and Ting Tings for this night, not realizing that Toxic Event was on the same bill. Incredible bill. Probably not a chance in hell it's not sold out in NYC.


Edit...yup, way sold out in NYC, but available with Franz Ferdinand in Boston. Hmmm...

Edit2...I have NYC tix! [8D]