Comments on: Best albums of 2008

Question: Best albums of 2008

Who_Am_I — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:26:35 -0800

What were the best albums of 2008?

I just realized that I've only got about a dozen albums from last year. I generally enjoy Metafilter's taste in music, so what were the standouts for you? Any genre, new artists or just new releases.

I've already got (and recommend) Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes, Girl Talk: Feed the Animals, Muse: HAARP, and God is an Astronaut: God is an Astronaut.

By: Juliet Banana

Juliet Banana — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:30:56 -0800

Not to snark, but there are probably about ten thousand media outlets who answered this question for you at New Year's. Of course, it's a subjective question, but Ask Mefi is just as likely to be biased as P4K or whatever.

That being said, I really liked Hype Machine's Music Zeitgiest Round-Up; you can stream and fully listen to the top 50 albums, songs, and artists of 2008. Legally. Really.

By: Atom12

Atom12 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:31:03 -0800

The Night Marchers really hit the spot for me last year.

By: The Michael The

The Michael The — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:32:57 -0800

Deerhunter's Microcastle and Weird Era Cont.
TV on the Radio's Dear Science,
Man Man's Rabbit Habits
M83's Saturdays = Youth
Mogwai's The Hawk is Howling

By: nadawi

nadawi — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:37:07 -0800

Lenka - Lenka

can not get enough of that album

By: diogenes

diogenes — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:37:26 -0800

Fleet Foxes were at the top of the list on NPR Listener's Top 25 CDs of 2008. I'll bet you would like many of the other picks.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:37:28 -0800

London Zoo by The Bug
Fed by Plush
Dear Science, by TV On The Radio
Exit by Shugo Tokumaru
For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Hercules And Love Affair by Hercules And Love Affair
Robyn by Robyn

well he asked

By: Who_Am_I

Who_Am_I — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:39:25 -0800

Not to snark, but there are probably about ten thousand media outlets who answered this question for you at New Year's.

True, but I don't have a media outlet that I trust as much as MetaFilter, and I've had good luck with music recommendations from here before. I'll check out the Hype Machine Round-Up, thanks!

By: sickinthehead

sickinthehead — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:40:15 -0800

Vampire Weekend! The link is to a video of them.

By: erikgrande

erikgrande — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:43:00 -0800

Delta Spirit's Ode to Sunshine

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:43:47 -0800

An overview.

By: King Bee

King Bee — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:48:52 -0800

I'll throw my hat into the ring.

Ryan Adams - Cardinology
The Presets - Apocalypso
Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Annuals - Such Fun
Ladyhawke - S/T
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line

Check out a few tracks on last.fm or whatever and see what you think!

By: pasici

pasici — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:50:21 -0800

I really liked Byrne and Eno's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

By: sinfony

sinfony — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:53:55 -0800

The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Fennesz - Black Sea

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:05:26 -0800

Seconding Deerhunter.

By: SamuelBowman

SamuelBowman — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:18:33 -0800

What, no Shearwater - Rook?

By: markjamesmurphy

markjamesmurphy — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:25:06 -0800

Pretty. Odd.

By Panic At The Disco

By: activitystory

activitystory — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:27:07 -0800

This Gift by Sons and Daughters
Rain by Joe Jackson
Antidotes by Foals
Night Drive by Chromatics
Get Awkward by Be Your Own Pet
Casting Shadows by the Black Hollies
S/T by Jean on Jean
Drippers by Black Moth Super Rainbow
Alpinisms by School of the Seven Bells
Fantasy Black Channel by Late of the Pier
Velocifero by Ladytron

And many of those mentioned above by others (specifically Amanda Palmer, Fennesz, Ra Ra Riot, and Hercules & Love Affair)

By: bradly

bradly — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:34:22 -0800

The Middle East- The Recordings of the Middle East

By: dfan

dfan — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:56:46 -0800

http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/; go to the "2008 end of year lists".

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:09:39 -0800

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Shark's Teeth
Uh Huh Her - Common Reaction
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Avishai Cohen Trio - Gently Disturbed (jazz piano, bass, drums)
Enrico Pieranunzi - album of Scarlatti sonatas mixed with improvisations
Erik Friedlander - Broken Arm Trio (pizzicato cello, bass, drums) (go here and look for 2 free mp3s on the right)

More lists, by friends of mine: boingy boingy, letters home from camp.

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:11:14 -0800

Not to snark, but...

...this question gets asked every year and never gets deleted, so apparently it's fine.

By: martens

martens — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:23:50 -0800

We put together this cool feature where we asked music bloggers around the country to list the best albums from the cities they covered. Tons of good, obscure stuff here:

http://bygonebureau.com/2008/12/24/best-local-albums-of-2008/

(Sorry if this is too blatantly self-promoting, but hopefully it answers your question in a unique way.)

By: yeti

yeti — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:24:59 -0800

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
The Dodos - Visiter

Two of my favorites from 2008.

By: heavenstobetsy

heavenstobetsy — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:32:54 -0800

My favourite of 2008 was Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - Not Animal.

By: Lutoslawski

Lutoslawski — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:37:54 -0800

Seconding TV on the Radio. Vampire Weekend sucks.

By: Shesthefastest

Shesthefastest — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:51:13 -0800

Lykke Li - Youth Novels

By: Black_Umbrella

Black_Umbrella — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:53:38 -0800

nthing:

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Others not mentioned:

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Animal
Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
What Made Milwaukee Famous - What Doesn't Kill Us

...oh, i am sure there are more, but you really should check those out.

By: The Michael The

The Michael The — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:27:29 -0800

Vampire Weekend sucks

Yep.

Mentioned above but not in my initial suggestions:

Fennesz - Black Sea
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Both really good. Not in my "Best of the Year" category, but still really good.

By: crapples

crapples — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:39:51 -0800

Haven't read through the other answers, so maybe this is a repeat, but Hype Machine listed the best, according to bloggers. My personal favs off this list are Bon Iver (excellent), Sigur Ros (excellent), and Fleet Foxes (probably my personal #1).

Hype Machine Top 10

By: questionsandanchors

questionsandanchors — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:53:54 -0800

Volume One by She & Him is wonderful, and Stay Positive by The Hold Steady is quite good as well.

By: dogwalker

dogwalker — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:05:46 -0800

Delta Spirit's Ode to Sunshine

Seconded.

By: rebel_rebel

rebel_rebel — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:15:30 -0800

Nthing Byrne/Eno and MGMT, and also recommending of Montreal's "Skeletal Lamping." I think a lot of critics were overly harsh on it, as it was (IMHO) the most creative and unique thing to come out last year. It's really weird, but in the best way possible.

By: Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:19:08 -0800

Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, and Shearwater from above, plus maybe MGMT.

Adding Noah and the Whale 'Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down' and Glasvegas 'Glasvegas'.

By: saul wright

saul wright — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:39:48 -0800

some not mentioned

women - self titled
walkmen - you & me
the tallest man on earth - shallow graves
squarepusher - just a souvenir
the sight below - glider
parenthetical girls - entanglements
the music tapes - for clouds and tornadoes
mount eerie - lost wisdom
lindstrøm - where you go i go too
lil wayne - tha carter III
james blackshaw - litany of echoes
gregg porter - final final EP
flying lotus - los angeles
the felice brothers - self titled
elbow - the seldom seen kid
earth - the bees made honey in the lion's skull
the dutchess and the duke - she's the dutchess, he's the duke
dungen - 4
the donkeys - living on the other side
department of eagles - in ear park
deerhoof - offend maggie
brightblack morning light - motion to rejoin
bonnie 'prince' billy - lie down in the light
blitzen trapper - furr
black mountain - in the future
beck - modern guilt

seconding deerhunter, hercules and love affair, bon iver, nick cave, and man man.

By: opsin

opsin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:13:43 -0800

Definitely seconding Bedlam in Goliath.

Lau - Live
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Old Money

And, god, a whole bunch of others, but I can't work out from my collection what all was last year's releases! Must retag and organise a library...

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:14:08 -0800

Ill add Starling Electric, especially if you liked Fleet Foxes (which is excellent).

By: wearyaswater

wearyaswater — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:39:52 -0800

Dr. Dog - Fate
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Dodos - Visiter
Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation
Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Adele - 19
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now Youngster
Baby Charles - s/t

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:29:03 -0800

This has been mentioned briefly, but I think it needs to be said again:

I did somewhat enjoy the Byrne/Eno album - a fun jam - and squarepusher's new one wasn't that bad. But this year was a pretty thin one; it's not the first thin one, either. There hasn't been a really good year in music in a long time.

However, in my mind, there was one ray of light. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' fantastic opus Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! is the best new album I've heard in years. He's been at the height of his powers for ten years now - and he just keeps churning out great albums - but Dig is, to my mind, a sort of return to the form of Nick's epic late-80's era of Your Funeral... My Trial and Tender Prey. It's a thematic record with the same incredible depth of lyricism that Nick's been consistently reaching year after year for thirty years; he chooses Homer's Odyssey as a central motif, and he manages to throw in enough pointers to cool but obscure shit that the whole thing is a hell of a lot of fun.

It's not only a fantastic record; it also goes beyond what he's been able to do before. I feel this way because the record's pervaded by a kind of confidence and humor that I've never heard in him before. Really, he's more able to laugh at himself and stay light on this record than I think he's ever been; the new shit-eating moustache only seals the deal. Hearing him muse gently about the weird journey he's on as he rides into the sunset of "More News From Nowhere" is pretty fucking cool, after the raging crescendo of Murder Ballads and the aching brokenness that came with The Boatman's Call and No More Shall We Part and even lingered through The Lyre Of Orpheus. It's like the guy's come home. And that would be enough... the fact that he's still capable of rage and dramatic explications of the truth like "We Call Upon The Author To Explain" is just an added proof that he's the best songwriter of the punk generation.

By: thesmallmachine

thesmallmachine — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:30:26 -0800

The Aimee Mann album (@#%&*! Smilers - the word "Fucking" is replaced by those "cussin'" comic-book symbols, in a move that really irritated me for some reason) was the only thing I really loved in '08. I don't know how broad her audience is anymore -I don't think this was even reviewed in Pitchfork; I think she generally bores the indie crowd, which I don't understand- but she's one of the best.

YouTube link to "It's Over."

By: ageispolis

ageispolis — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:20:58 -0800

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
DJ /rupture - Uproot
Santogold - Santogold
Ragga Twins - Ragga Twins Step Out Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
The Bug - London Zoo
& the Eno/Byrne one.

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:23:41 -0800

Cut Copy In Ghost Colours. Also seconding Lindstrom and M83.

By: ThaBombShelterSmith

ThaBombShelterSmith — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:25:49 -0800

Not to toot my own horn, but I write a music blog, and here was my Top 11 of 2008:

Canoe-"Places"
Laura Marling-"Alas I Cannot Swim"
Builders and the Butchers-"S/T"
British Sea Power-"Do You Like Rock Music?"
Horse Feathers-"House with No Name"
Anathallo-"Canopy Glow"
Bonnie "Prince" Billy-"Lie Down in the Light"
Emmylou Harris-"All I Intended to Be"
Elbow-"The Seldom Seen Kid"
The Duke Spirit-"Neptune"
The Lovely Sparrows-"Bury the Cynics"

By: anildash

anildash — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:28:02 -0800

It's unfathomable to me that nobody here mentioned Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreak".

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:06:44 -0800

About Of Montreal's Skeletal Lamping -- could someone who listed this suggest a song or two I should listen to to get into it? I'm a fan of theirs based on some of their earlier albums (The Sunlandic Twins, which I used to listen to constantly, Satanic Panic in the Attic, and Aldhils Arboretum), but I listened to the first few songs of their latest and thought it was pretty consistently bad.

By: rebel_rebel

rebel_rebel — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:17:55 -0800

Jaltcoh: It's hard to suggest tracks off of Skeletal Lamping because it's really intended to all flow together. Even within a single track, there are a lot of fragments that are drastically different and transition from one to another quickly. I guess the most accessible tracks on the album would be the singles, "Id Engager" and "An Eluardian Instance," as well as "For Our Elegant Caste" (that's the one that starts out "We can do it softcore if you want..."). But really, try listening to it straight through a few times and let it grow on you. I think that part of what makes it so cool is its emphasis on the "album" format, as opposed to the single-serve, songs-sold-individually mindset that is more prevalent these days.

Sorry to geek out there. I loves me some of Montreal, and I think that it's easy to dismiss them as gimmicky or too out-there, when really they are doing some super-creative stuff.

By: talldean

talldean — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:45:46 -0800

This seems to be a thread mostly about white guys singing softly, for better or worse.

By: talldean

talldean — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:35:33 -0800

Meh, I'm being an idiot.

Anyways, Mochipet, Bassnectar, and Andrew Bird would make my list.
Hip hop/glitch, dubstep/upbeat glitchy breaks, and a whistling violinist.

Nine Inch Nails "Ghosts" was interesting, if only because it was released nearly as an open source album, and wasn't bad to boot. MGMT was good, hell, Coldplay was good this year.

Atmosphere's "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold" wins for being good hip hop *and* having the best album name of the year. Murs "Murs For President" was something I picked up on a whim, after hearing Z-Trip's "Breakfast of Champions", and that was worth it too. Upbeat hip hop? Who knew? Flying Lotus' Los Angeles is also a winner, with, well, just music and no MC, but still hip hop.

By: dogwalker

dogwalker — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:23:29 -0800

Builders and the Butchers-"S/T"

Oh man, that album is awesome. Forgot it was a 2008 release, feels like it's been around for years. Great live band too.

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:57:26 -0800

I'd like to second the Dodos - Visiter.

rebel_rebel: Thanks, I'll give it a try.

This seems to be a thread mostly about white guys singing softly

Is there anything wrong with that? So what if they're white?