My album of 2008
Exactly one year ago, I posted my list of the best of 2007. Strange then that I woke up at 6:00am this morning thinking of putting together my 2008 list. I’m a subscriber to eMusic, so most of my music this year has come through downloads from this excellent service. As well, my experience attending some of the music portion of SXSW has helped me find new music this year. Looking over this list, some are quite recent listens, while others have become old favourites, so it’s a little hard to rank them precisely. That being said, here are my choices (idiosyncratic and personal, definitely) for the best music released in 2008:
- Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight
- British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
- Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
- Sigur Rós – Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
- Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
- Deerhunter – Microcastles
- Love is All – A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night
- Islands – Arm’s Way
- The Jealous Girlfriends – The Jealous Girlfriends
- Emiliana Torrini – Me and Armini
Just outside the top ten (either due to quality or just not enough listens yet):
- Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping
- The Dears – Missiles
- Portishead – Third
- The Vivian Girls – The Vivian Girls
- Los Campesinos! – Hold On Now, Youngster
- Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Here are some of the “pro’s” lists:
Chromewaves Best of 2008
Pitchfork Top 50 Albums of 2008
Last.fm’s Albums of the Year
Britt Daniel (Spoon) picks his best of 2008 on the Merge Records blog
How about you? What were some of your favourites?
Glad to see Sigur Ros is on your list…however, what happened to the greatest bands of our time?
Paul McCartney and Wings? Chris de Burgh?
Who says they don't make good music anymore. Some fantastic stuff this year! My picks (in no particular order) are:
1. British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
2. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
3. That Handsome Devil – A City Dressed In Dynamite
4. Kristoffer Ragnstam – Wrong Side of the Room
5. Erin Bode – The Little Garden
6. Creature – No Sleep At All
7. Adam Green – Sixes & Sevens
8. The Hi-Fly Orchestsra – Mambo Atomico
Thanks, Brooke, but have those old farts actually made any new music this year? Not to say I'd like it even then. 🙂
Note: Brooke is my wife. We talk like this to each other all the time. Sadly, she is not kidding, either. Her taste in music really is this bad.
Hey Brad, thanks for sharing your list. I'm going to see if emusic.com has any of those available, so I can check them out.
Maybe I should have added a few details for you…
Kristoffer Ragnstam is some more great Swedish-pop in the Jens Lekman or Suburban Kids vein. Erin Bode and Hi-Fly are both jazz albums, and Creature is an awesome dance band from Montreal. If they ever make an appearance in Toronto I'm there!