best albums of 2008: 48-21
Here’s what went up today and over the weekend:
48 Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80, S/T
47 Top Choice Clique, Reel Chemistry
46 Army Navy, Army Navy
45 Chris Knight, Heart of Stone
44 Paul Lewis, Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol. 4
43 Elzhi, The Preface
42 Fuck Buttons, Street Horrrsing
41 Avishai Cohen Trio, Gently Disturbed
40 Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza
I feel like the forties here have a lot of lesser known artists that actually have a broad appeal once folks actually listen to them. For instance, there’s Chris Knight’s Heart of Stone, which is a much better Mellencamp album than Mellencamp’s own record this year. And then there’s great guitar pop in Army Navy, fantastic ’90s hip-hop in Top Choice Clique, rambunctious afrobeat in Seun Kuti, jazzy pop from Esperanza Spalding and so on. The Avishai Cohen is my most listened to new jazz album of the year. And Fuck Buttons… definitely not for everyone, but super powerful.
39 British Sea Power, Do You Like Rock Music
38 Kayhan Kalhor, Silent City
37 Liam Finn, I’ll Be Lightning
36 Marco Benevento, Invisible Baby
35 Horse Feathers, House With No Name
34 Crystal Stilts, Alight of Night
33 Valery Gergiev, Mahler Symphony No. 3
32 The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust
31 Richard Swift, Ground Trouble Jaw
30 She Keeps Bees, Nests
This is a fun section. The Liam Finn is great. Just great. I did not expect to like that record. The Kayhan Kalhor is super-listenable and hypnotic, two phrases I would also use to describe the Raveonettes and Crystal Stilts. Horse Feathers is Bon Iver-y, and She Keeps Bees is Cat Power-y. And finally there are two real surprises: Marco Benevento and Richard Swift. Benevento has played with Phish’s Trey Anastasio, and this jazz album is amazing. Very electronic, and at times reminiscent of Deastro’s productions. It’s highly listenable. And the Richard Swift contains two of our favorite songs of ’80s: the very first two. It’s weaker after that, but we were so enamored that he landed this high.
29 The Rural Alberta Advantage, Hometowns
28 Let’s Wrestle, In Loving Memory Of…
27 Atlas Sound, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
26 Beach House, Devotion
25 Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
24 Pete and the Pirates, Little Death
23 Osmo Vanska, Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 7
22 Madvillain, Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix
21 Carl Craig, Sessions
The gettin’ is getting real good here. I’ll just offer that every one of these albums is excellent and worthy of your hard-earned cash. The RAA we love, and first felt weird about putting so highly, but the response by all of you has been so positive we thought it would be okay. Our love of Stolen Recordings artists Let’s Wrestle and Pete and the Pirates has been well-documented (and is deserved). The Atlas Sound I like more than the Deerhunter, but I am a minority here. I was also bummed by the Beach House album (I am a super fan), but it is a good record. And oh look, a Vampire Weekend sighting! How does everyone feel about that one ranking so low? And finally, ignore everyone who dumped on Madvillainy 2. It’s totally fun.
And just a reminder of where we’ve been:
88 DJ/rupture, Uproot
87 Benoit Pioulard, Temper
86 Bobby Watson, From the Heart
85 Mr. Scruff, Ninja Tuna
84 Friendly Fires, Friendly Fires
83 The Avett Brothers, The Second Gleam
82 Zomby, Where Were U in ’92?
81 Olof Arnalds, Vio og vio
80 Jenny Scheinman, Jenny Scheinman
79 The Mole, High As the Sky
78 Fredrik, Na Na Ni
77 Juana Molina, Un Dia
76 Various Artists, Nigeria 70
75 twi the humble feather, Music for Spaceships and Forests
74 Rainbow Arabia, The Basta
73 She and Him, Volume One
72 Bang on a Can All-Stars, Music for Airports Live
71 Otis Redding, Live in London & Paris
70 James Blackshaw, Litany of Echoes
69 Ladyhawke, Ladyhawke
68 Black Mountain, In the Future
67 Cut Off Your Hands, Happy As Can Be
66 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson at Emmanuel
65 John Ellis, Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow
64 Boduf Songs, How Shadows Chase the Balance
63 Huun-Huur-Tu, Mother Earth! Father Sky!
62 Headlights, Some Racing, Some Stopping
61 Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
60 Simone Dinnerstein, The Berlin Concert
59 Studio, Yearbook 2
58 Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson
57 Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
56 The Kills, Midnight Boom
55 Kurt Vile, Constant Hitmaker
54 2562, Aerial
53 Breathe Owl Breathe, Ghost Glacier EP
52 The Fireman, Electric Arguments
51 Titus Andronicus, The Airing of Grievances
50 Blacklisted, Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God
49 Eliza Carthy, Dreams of Breathing Underwater
Am I the only one to wonder how Vampire Weekend ends up this HIGH on the list?
I’m generally of the “too much wonderful stuff to comment on that I don’t have time to say negative things” school…but since you asked…
I’m really excited to see Liam Finn make the list, especially this high up. It’s really a great album from top to bottom. But, I think it actually came out in the summer of 2007!
No it came out this year. I re-investigated that one, and everyone else has a release date of July 08. The eMusic date is wrong.
Vampire Weekend is a solid album. Definitely makes my own Top 15 this year; just not my top 10. Anyway, Breathe Ow Breathe is of course awesome (Sabertooth Tiger is in contention for track of the year to me), and I’m still getting into the austere and beautiful Horse Feathers. It’s been a good year for a real Americana style of folk that I find I really enjoy (even if you want to quibble about when For Emma, Forever Ago came out).
I have to say that a few of those struck me as high. I thought British Sea Power completely lacked punch, though I recognize I’m in the minority on that (though The Great Skua is an incredible piece), and while I really enjoyed Pete and the Pirates more than I thoguht I would, I don’t know how it’s better than some of these other great albums.
I continue to look forward to seeing the rest of the list as more albums draw my interest. 2008′s been a bit of a slow burn for me, but it’s turning out very strong as a complete year of music.
Happy to see Atlas Sound ranking high; I liked it better than Deerhunter too, although I haven’t gotten the latest Deerhunter yet.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’m loving the list this year! So many things I haven’t heard/heard of. I like the rather strong classical showing too. I’ve never been much of a classical listener, but this year’s list has convinced me to try some things out.
Jonathan I hate British Sea Power with a passion. So no disagreement from me.
Thanks for pointing out the Richard Swift to me! I had no idea the EP even existed, and I’ve never bought any of his stuff before, but I really like this one. And I’d say the first three songs are all killer…
I’m just relieved that Beethoven scored higher than Vampire Weekend.
“I liked [Atlas Sound] better than Deerhunter too, although I haven’t gotten the latest Deerhunter yet.”
Microcastle is very good: It mashes together lots of different genre elements (e.g., shoegaze, Krautrock, lo-fi, pop sensibilities) and — a key ingridient for a lot of albums to make a lasting impression — it’s edgy and dangerous (consider, for example, the theme of the second song, “Agoraphobia,” which is about being buried alive for your partner’s sexual gratification; it is unsettling). My money’s on Microcastle for No. 1 on eMusic’s critics list.
I’m still holding out hope for my two favorites this year — The Bug’s “London Zoo” and Gavin Bryars/Philip Jeck/Alter Ego’s “The Sinking Of The Titanic” — tho it’s kind of a faint hope (there are discs with narrow appeal, I’d say).
I really liked the Beach House album. Listened to it a lot over the summer. Few others there I want to check out… However I just can’t see how Vampire Weekend and Pete and the Pirates are so high – downloaded both on the back of the buzz and felt that they were definitely a triumph of hype over substance.
was pete and the pirates hyped? for us that was just a random promo we checked out and started pushing on the site. i had no idea they had any kind of profile.
daniel, i’m sorry to say you will be disappointed. neither of those made the us list (the bug made the uk list). totally forget the jeck thing. uk list: http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/best2008uk/index.html
Sinking of the Titanic is a great album, especially for 1 download, but I think it was a 2007 release.
I’m waiting on Microcastle/Weird Era to see what other list items might catch my attention.
Why were you conflicted about putting RAA so high? Because it’s a Selects or because it’s so new? I was hoping to see some selects albums I haven’t yet. (Deastro is my pick for number 1).
I just felt weird about putting Selects stuff on. Didn’t want to be too self-promotional. But since we’ve gotten little credit for these bands in the first place, it doesn’t really matter!
I would totally have pushed RAA up and Vampire Weekend Down. RAA is my new “all friends must hear” album. Which, trust me, makes me very popular in the indie rock bar I go to.
Happy to see Liam Finn make this list. I have been loving that Album very hard since the beginning of the year and it is deserved. The loving made me rediscover some classic Neil Finn and Crowded House stuff and that was a good time.
She Keeps Bees is nothing like Cat Power. Where Cat Power puts the melencholy back in music Bees brings back the Rock. I love them both for different reasons. But Bees is an entirely different feeling than Cat Power.
Also glad to see The Raveonettes show up. I adored Lust Lust Lust as a workout album.
And the Fuck Buttons, wheee… I get to see them live in January at the ATP festival in Sydney (I also get to see Nick Cave live which is the reason for going).
“daniel, i’m sorry to say you will be disappointed. neither of those made the us list (the bug made the uk list). totally forget the jeck thing.”
‘Saright. (This version of “The Sinking Of The Titanic” is staggeringly good, tho).
I think you guys accidentally reversed the order of this list. Zomby should be at or near the top…not down at 82.
I take it the judges are not particularly Jazz fans?
You should have had me on the panel for balance
Porieux: what’s your favorite jazz album of the year? I’ve found lots of jazz to love, but no new releases have stood out.
Although to be fair, there is a pretty good amount of jazz on the list already.
Jazz that stood out? How about Double Sunrise over Neptune by William Parker?
thanks, that looks great!
Here is my list, you will find plenty of jazz albums and plenty of other excellent albums from 2008, almost all of which you will not find on the official list (mine is 100x better of course
eMusic Top 2008