Chris's 2008 Picks

After two years of absolutely amazing musical output, 2008 was a bit of a bummer. Although I listened to a bunch of releases, it felt like I had about a dozen albums from which to pick ten. So, without further ado, here are the ten albums from 2008* that I most thoroughly enjoyed.

10. Real Emotional Trash - Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Whenever I needed some guitar, this was the album I turned to. It seems that the more elaborate and eccentric that indie music gets, the more the guitar gets lost in the mix. Sometimes all you need is vocals you can understand (not necesarily lyrics that make sense) and righteous riffs.

Highlights: Hopscotch Willie, Real Emotional Trash, Gardenia

9. Fate - Dr. Dog

It's always nice to have a new album that sounds like an album you've had for years. This year that distinction goes to Dr. Dog's Fate. The album isn't necesarliy amazing, but the familiarity is quite comforting.

Highlights: The Breeze, Hang On, The Rabbit the Bat & the Reindeer

8. Modern Guilt - Beck

While listening to the Gorillaz back in the summer of 2007, I knew (hoped) that a collaboration between Beck and Danger Mouse was inevitable. Although Modern Guilt is not what I had imagined, it works. Not a great Beck album (for that I had my #7 album), but a really solid album, none the less.

Highlights: Orphans, Gamma Ray, Modern Guilt

7. Oracular Spectacular* - MGMT

This album had an unheralded digital only release in late 2007, but the physical release and hype happened in 2008, so I am including the album on this list. I wildly strange and fun band and album ala The Flaming Lips.

Highlights: Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, The Handshake

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Just because hipsters dress like they're homeless doesn't mean they have any more chops than ivy leaguers in polos and boat shoes. The tunes are what matter, and these guys know how to write glorious pop songs.

Highlights: Oxford Comma, One (Blake's Got a New Face), Walcott

5. 808s and Hearbreak - Kanye West

Kanye finally made an album that I don't want to skip tracks on. Not every song is great, but there aren't any horrible songs either. With the release of Graduation, Kanye said that he wanted to make music that was universal and filled arenas, I think that 808s and Heartbreak has aligned him more closely with U2 than 50 Cent.

Highlights: Heartless, Love Lockdown, Robocop

4. At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade

This was my most highly anticipated album of the year, but unlike with Interpol's Our Love to Admire, I wasn't devastated when I heard it. At Mount Zoomer is definitely a departure from Wolf Parade's debut, but having listened to Sunset Rubdown the past two years, I'm neither surprised nor disappointed. I enjoy this album as a whole so much, that I'm always surprised when Kissing the Beehive breaks down into a dance frenzy, signifying the close of the album.

Highlights: Soldier's Grin, Bang Your Drum, California Dreamer

3. Visiter - The Dodos

Visiter may be the most interesting album I heard all year. The album sounds stripped down and yet super rich at the same time.

Highlights: Red and Purple, Park Song, The Season

2. Dear Science - TV on the Radio

Like my number two album of 2007, Dear Science was also a grower. I didn't understand the hype associated with TV on the Radio's 2006 release, and I was struggling to get into Dear Science, but Dancing Choose grabbed me from my first listen and thankfully that track kept me listening to the album until I wised up enough to realize that TV on the Radio is brilliant.

Highlights: Halfway Home, Dancing Choose, DLZ

1. Here's to Being Here - Jason Collett

The fact that this is my number one album is as much of a shock to me as it is to anyone. I'm not a huge Broken Social Scene fan and this album is quite twangy, but since I first heard this back in January it has been a constant in my rotation. I also really enjoy his super poppy EP from 2007.

Highlights: Roll on Oblivion, Out of Time, Not Over You

Extra Pix:
Album that should have made the list but didn't: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

This album is probably on enough lists the way it is. The digital download that came with the vinyl release is quite flat, so I only ever found my self really hearing this album when I took the time to drop the needle and that wasn't very often since we were rarely at home.

Best EP: The Bake Sale - The Cool Kids
Like the Beastie Boys before they discovered Tibet. Fun rhymes and fresh beats.

Albums with too much of a good thing: Chin Chin - Chin Chin, Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles, HEALTH//DISCO - Health

I'm not sure that any of these releases have a bad track, but as a whole the albums are a little too much to take.

Great songs on OK albums:
Yucatan Gold - Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
Shake a Fist - Hot Chip - Made in the DarkHercules Theme - Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Blackmail Blues - Extra Life - Secular WorksI Will Possess Your Heart (full length) - Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Best Album Cover:Fate - Dr. Dog

I really like that the cover is quilted and on the back of the album you can see all of the stitches, too. With the detail, it is a cover stands up even in iTunes.Honorable Mention: The Stand Ins - Okkervil River
I enjoy how the cover completes the image from their 2007 release, The Stage Names. Unfortunately the music doesn't match that of The Stage Names.

Worst Album Cover:At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade

Best Album Goodie:
Modern Guilt (vinyl release) - Beck
Download code for 320-kbit/s MP3s direct from the master vinyl
You can actually here the needle drop on the first and sixth tracks, SubPop take note.

Best Complete Package:808s and Heartbreak (vinyl release) - Kanye West
Tri-Gatefold, Double LP + CD, doubled sided poster & credits/lyrics sheet

Chris's 2007 Picks

20. A Weekend in the City – Bloc Party

I'm a sucker for jangly guitars and I just can't get over his voice.

Highlights: "Hunting for Witches," "Waiting for the 7.18," "I Still Remember"

19. Andorra – Caribou

Everything adds up for Dan Snaith on this release (horrible, I know, but I got nothing - other than I really like this album).

Highlights: "Melody Day," "After Hours," "Desiree"

18. Our Ill Wills – The Shout Out Louds

Sweden does it again.

Highlights: "You Are Dreaming," "Impossible," "Hard Rain"

17. Superman of the Rings – Dan Deacon

Who would have guessed that Darren Keen was onto something?

Highlights: "Woody Woodpecker," "Wham City," "Trippy Green Skull"

16. Graduation – Kanye West

By far Kanye's finest release to date. I'm glad that he finally overcame the urge to interject his album with skits. The good songs are great and the okay songs aren't bad, but the album just isn't as consistent as I think it could be. I love that Kanye is pushing the boundaries of what music can be and who it is supposed to appeal to.

Highlights: "Champion," "Stronger," "Homecoming"

15. Random Spirit Lover – Sunset Rubdown

This is an album that if the bad tracks were mediocre the album would easily be in the top five because the good tracks are absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately the tracks are completely hit or miss. The vinyl release hurt this album's chance of sneaking into the top ten by putting songs that flow so well into each other, on different sides.

Highlights: "The Mending of the Gown," "The Courtesan Has Sung," "The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life"

14. Icky Thump – The White Stripes

Jack is back! and in a huge way. For all the haters that say that The Stripes are a one trick pony, did you actually like Get Behind Me Satan? The White Stripes have always been and will always be about Jack shredding the blues and Meg trying to keep up, deal with it.

Highlights: "Icky Thump," "Conquest," "Rag and Bone"

13. Liars – Liars

Just try to put these guys in a box - you can't. Apart from 2004's They Were Wrong, So We Drowned which musically matched the album cover that looked like vomit, I've enjoyed everything that this band has put out. You never know what you are going to get, but you always know it's Liars.

Highlights: "Plaster Casts of Everything," "Houseclouds," "Clear Island"

12. In Rainbows – Radiohead

Can you believe the audacity of Radiohead, inarguably the biggest band in the world, self releasing a proper album AND letting their fans pick the price of the release (I paid nothing, but I've pre-ordered the vinyl release). Completely ballsy. But what else would you expect, this is the band that gave us Ok Computer. Oh, and obviously this release is great.

Highlights: "Bodysnatchers," "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "Jigsaw Falling into Place"

11. Friend and Foe – Menomena

The complexity of the packaging of Friend and Foe would certainly overshadow most other albums' audio offerings, but instead it mirrors the brilliance of the songs that make up this release.

Highlights: "Muscle ‘n Flo," "Rotten Hell," "My My"

10. Myth Takes - !!!

In my opinion, Myth Takes is a much more consistent album than Louden Up Now. I dare you not to dance.

Highlights: "Must Be the Moon," "Heart of Hearts," "Yadnus"

9. Hissing Fauna, are You the Destroyer? - Of Montreal

Initially this album was a runaway #1, but as I heard more and more albums, it wasn't even going to be in my top 20. I'm glad that I gave another shot, because the consistent absurdity and genius of this album deserves recognition. Apart from Patrick Wolf's "Magic Position," there may not be any songs that are more fun than the tracks on this release.

Highlights: "Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider," "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," "She’s a Rejecter"

8. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – Spoon

Spoon is often described as a "grower" and this album certainly was a grower for me. Upon first hearing this album I knew there were some gems, as per usual for a Spoon album, but eventually I couldn't find a dead track.

Highlights: "Don’t Make Me a Target," "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb," "The Underdog"

7. The Stage Names – Okkervil River

Austin just won't quit.

Highlights: "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe," "You Can’t Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man," "John Allyn Smith Sails"

6. Let’s Stay Friends – Les Savy Fav

This album has the "raw power" that rock 'n' roll is supposed to have and Tim Harrington is certainly as ridiculous as Iggy.

Highlights: "Pots and Pans," "Rage in the Plague Age," "Kiss Kiss is Getting Old"

5. Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem

Forget Daft Punk, I want LCD Soundsystem playing at my house. On the S/T debut, I didn't have the patience necessary to embrace the "brilliance" of James Murphy, but on Sound of Silver, Murphy has reeled in the jam-bandy-ness and made a near perfect album.

Highlights: "Someone Great," "All My Friends," "New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down"

4. Voxtrot – Voxtrot

This is an album that I loved from first listen and with each subsequent listen (and there were lots of those). It's nothing fancy, just good solid indie pop.

Highlights: "Kid Gloves," "Steven," "Every Day"

3. Kala – M.I.A.

I was certain that Kala was destined the same fate as Some Loud Thunder. A sophomore album from an eccentric artist that in no way could match surprising genius of their debut release, but instead M.I.A dropped an album even better than Arular. The energy on this album is unmatched and use of the Pixies and the Clash puts it over the top. I love being pleasantly surprised.

Highlights: "Jimmy," "XR2," "Paper Planes"

2. Boxer – The National

Most reviewers have called this band and their albums "growers," but I was hooked from my first listen. This album has made me forget about how big of a disappointment Our Love to Admire was; who needs Interpol when there is The National?

Highlights: "Fake Empire," "Slow Show," "Apartment Story"

1. Mirrored – Battles

I have to admit that upon my first few listens of this album, as a whole, I was a little underwhelmed. I really enjoyed the A and D sides, but the middle was lacking - for me - or at least I initially thought. Once I really heard all four sides I was, and continue to be, blown away by the sound coming from these four guys from NYC.

Highlights: "Atlas," "Tonto," "Tij"