My Year in Lists Part 1- 2008 Music

Top 10 Albums of 2008:

10. Everything that Happens will Happen Today- David Byrne and Brian Eno:

Brian Eno had a big year with excellent production on Coldplay’s album and the release of an Iphone app that somehow made its way on Bob Boilen’s Top 10 record list (???). Still, his best work came with longtime collaborator David Byrne. I found their earlier work together a little too sample heavy but beyond the first two muddled tracks, the pair find an impressive level of balance on this album. Both cutting edge and timeless, experimental and melodic, the album showcases two experts who continue to hone their craft.

9. In Ghost Colours- Cut Copy:

With this record, Cut Copy established themselves as the best of the increasingly large number of bands playing indie rock/electronica music. I guess everyone got tired of simply standing around with a beer and bobbing their heads at concerts. Now, they just want to dance. And if there is one thing Cut Copy knows how to do, its to get white people dancing. While other bands try to add some ironic touches to their dance beats and meaningless vocals, Cut Copy simply goes all out. If you’re going to make shameless dance music, just fucking make shameless dance music.

8. Day & Age- The Killers:

This band keeps getting better and better as they grow more and more unpopular with both the mainstream and indie crowds. Well, people are missing out. Sure there are some pretty bad missteps (Joy Ride, the opening minute of Losing Touch), but the lows are simply incomparable to the highs (Spaceman, I Can’t Stay, the rest of Losing Touch). This record is pure escapism which makes it perfect for these hard economic times. Listen to it right before you go see Hotel for Dogs or Bride Wars.

7. No Way Down- Air France

It’s an EP but it’s got more great songs on it than most of the albums that were released this year. Just like the Feist album last year, it has amazing atmospheric production that made it the perfect summer record. The hooks aren’t half bad either.

6. Vampire Weekend- Vampire Weekend:

For some reason people at Columbia seem to be ashamed of Vampire Weekend and in the press there seems to be a backlash to the backlash to the backlash.  Geez. Take away the hype and the alma mater and you have a really good pop album that can be enjoyed all the way through. This is the kind of music that is meant to be blasted in college dorm rooms so just let it happen instead of throwing a fit and talking about how MGMT is soooo much better.

5. You & Me- Walkmen:

This album felt like a knockoff of last year’s effort by The National, clumsier in most aspects but in an ultimately enduring way. Like Boxer, the album has moody production, lyrics about feeling lost in your 30′s, and most importantly great drumming. Many have called this album a real grower that doesn’t have any real singles. I disagree, songs like In the New Year, Four Provinces, and The Blue Route hit hard on the first listen and continue to get better.

4. Los Campesinos!- Hold On Now Youngster:

I’ll admit I came to this album a little late. I had heard the six minute version of You! Me! Dancing! and was like “What the fuck is this shit, I never want to hear this again. It’s just a bunch of fucking little English kids yelling about twee shit for six minutes. This fucking sucks”. Then somehow I ended up hearing the rest of the album and was like, “OMG! These guys are like the best band ever. 12 out of 10! I love all their songs, they are so funny and cutesy! BEST BAND EVER!!!”. And that’s where I am now. (Still who the fuck picked You! Me! Dancing! as the single?).

3. Crystal Castles- Crystal Castles:

Undoubtedly the best singles record of the year. Crimewave is a straight banger, Untrust Us is a coke anthem, and Courtship Dating is marginally better than Ayo Technology (which means its really fucking good).

2. For Emma Forever Ago- Bon Iver:

I remember listening to The Wolves (Act 1 & 2) earlier this year and not being very impressed. Then one night while driving around the Bay Area I listened to the rest of the album. Its perfect for a car ride at night with layered vocals and simple production that still manage to cut emotionally deep. I could have listened to the album just that once and it would still be in my top 5.

1. Dear Science,- TV on the Radio

Like the Bon Iver album, this record floored me on first listen and just kept getting better. Yes there is a dud or two (Red Dress, I’m looking at you) but from the killer chorus of Halfway Home, that guitar lick on Crying, that vocal pause on Golden Age, and the calculated chaos on DLZ, there wasn’t a group of songs that I wanted to come back to more

My Year in Lists Part 1- 2008 Music

Top 5 Albums I just didn’t listen to

5. Saint Dymphna- Gang Gang Dance:

They’re experimental, they’re from Brooklyn, whatever

4. Music from Africa- Various:

Pitchfork loved The Very Best, Metacritic loved Amadou and Miriam, and Bob Boilen loved Toumani Diabate. I didn’t listen to any of them. Blame it on the language barrier and the fact that I’m still waiting for Africa to get gentrified.

3. Third- Portishead:

I technically listened to this album several times when I was in Brazil but thankfully at inaudible volumes. I love The Rip but Machine Gun is a bore and the dudes in Portishead are just assholes. If they hadn’t taken ten years to make this album would people still like it?

2. 808s and Heartbreaks- Kanye West:

I’ll admit to being a big Kanye fan and unlike Portishead, his antics usually don’t turn me off to his music. Still I couldn’t get over how bad Love Lockdown was to ever give this album a listen. It didn’t help that David played the song like 80 times a day for two weeks.

1. Made in the Dark- Hot Chip:

I liked both their first album and the single Ready for the Floor but somehow I never got around to listening to this record. Oh well, maybe in 2009!

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