TOP 5 2008

5.Cut Copy – In Ghost Colors
I love this album. I don't have anything to say about it.
4.Fleet Foxes – S/T

I was lucky (?) to see Fleet Foxes pretty early, after the blogosphere started to buzz with them, but before the album came out and they started taking over the indie-rock world. I saw them play in Berlin, in the same club I had seen an awesome Handsome Fures show with, like, 20 other people. Unfortunately (?) there were lots more people, but the after a disappointing Beach House show, something happened: the crowd became reeaaally quiet, and took on an atmosphere of friendliness I haven't ever experienced (except maybe with devendra banhart). I was in the front row, like maybe 4 feet from the band, and they handed out water bottles and interacted with the crowd on more than a banter level. Afterward I had a beer with a couple of the guys, and they were really nice, asking me to look them up when they came to Austin. I saw the show right at a point when I was getting sick of rock shows in general, and it reminded me that there is stuff in indie rock to get excited about. I know this was a hot band to like, but that just makes me happy for both Fleet Foxes and their fans.
3.Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too

This is the best workout album ever. The perfect beat, something long enough to get a rhythm going, with just enough movements to keep me interested. And my god, those 80s synths. I love them. And I did work out to this album, until grad school got the better of me, and it never got old. I also listened to it at home, walking to school, while writing papers, everything. I just wish that I drove more so I could listen to it there. I was worked up about this album quite a while before it came out, and lo and behold it's right up there with all my favorite Lindstrom stuff, INCLUDING stuff with Prins Thomas. That's saying something.
2.M83 – Saturdays=Youth

It's not really fair that this album is higher on my list than the previous M83 albums, which I like more. It's probably that I enjoy M83 more now than I even did when those albums came out, and this album gets the benefit. There was a time this spring that Saturdays=Youth was my favorite album of the year, but I haven't listened to it enough this fall to make a call on it, so I'll leave it here (it could be anywhere in the top 6-8). Anyway, yes it's more of a pop album than previous stuff, yes it's cinematic/nostalgic but in a good way, yes it is wonderful on headphones. I will return to this one for years to come.
1.Hercules & The Love Affair – S/T

Everyone knows that I love pop and I love dance: the most obvious intersection of these two is disco. Was there any question that this would be in my top 5? Not at all. I thought this would be my #1 since a couple weeks after it came back. And yes I heard this in lots of Berlin clubs, and yes it was amazing. I've heard lots of good remixes of songs from this album, but none touch the originals. “Blind” will probably be in my top songs of the decade.

15-6

15.Jamie Lidell – Jim

Multiply took me by surprise, and I listened to it so much over the next year that the expectations for a follow-up would become exceedingly high. But Jim is everything I wanted in a second Lidell album. Maybe to its detriment: without the shock of such a soulful album with glossy production, Jim went under a lot of radars this year, and still more people forgot about it. And December certainly isn't the time of year to be listening to it. I haven't forgotten, though, and Jamie has stayed solid on my list all year.
14.Little Joy – S/T
I wish the Strokes were still around and sounded like this. Why did they have to try to do so much after Is This It? Couldn't they just make fun rock albums? Isn't that revolutionary enough? I can't wait to listen to this album in the summer, preferably on a beach.
13.Yo Majesty – Kryptonite Pussy EP

I doubt anyone else has this or liked it much, but I LOVE this EP. Back since 2006, when the “Club Action” remixes started to appear, I have secretly enjoyed the dirrrty lesbian club anthems of this Tampa Bay duo. But the Kryptonite Pussy EP takes it to another level of dirrtyness, of flow, of booty-shaking beats. It's a shame that the girls' debut album, also released this year, didn't stick to the club atmosphere of this EP and the early singles. I didn't listen to much new hip-hop this year; this is the only appearance on my year-end list. But damn, I know I will be listening to “Hey There Girl” and “Monkey” for years in the future.
12.Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Grave

It's amazing that this man can sound so much like early Bob Dylan. I did a double take the first time I heard it. Even more amazing, though, is that the songs are much much more than simple reductions of early Dylan, which would probably earn a low place on this list anyway. Shallow Grave has some of the best lyrics of any album I've heard this year, and the guitar work is dry and brings me back for more.
Just when I thought I was past my Dylan phase...
11.DJ /Rupture – Uproot

I really liked /Rupture's last album, Special Gunpowder, but this one takes him to the status of auteur.
10.Air France (EP)
Air + Avalanches? I must admit, when I first started listening to Air France on the blogs, very early thanks to my friend Dan, I wasn't overwhelmed. As I listened more and more, though, it became a soundtrack to my life, coming into my head as I walked to school, or took the Ubahn, whatever. No, it's no Studio, but this EP keeps me wanting as much Balearic music as I can handle.
9.Apes and Androids – Blood Moon

Yes Apes and Androids are in my top 10. No I'm not ashamed of it. Yes they sound like music for adolescent boys with Pink Floyd posters, Steely Dan records, and uncomfortable Monty Python obsessions. And I embrace that. The music is so proggy and joyous that sometimes I don't know what to do. Just when The Apes were getting a little too serious, Apes and Androids step in and take the spot of ridiculously fun, manic music.
8.Antony & the Johnsons – Another World EP

I didn't listen to much sad music this year; overall 2008 has been one of the happiest years in recent memory. But this album still moved me to tears on occasion, even with no negative emotions to dwell on. Lord knows what this would have meant to me some other more angst-ridden year. Antony is becoming one of the more important songwriters of the decade, I feel.
7.Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
I was really disappointed with The Stage Names, but I rediscovered it this year and liked it significantly more. Still, though, I see The Stand Ins as a superior album. “Lost Coastlines” is one hell of an indie rock single, and “On Tour With Zykos” has some of the best lyrics of the year, which is typical for Okkervil River. I see this album as the band's most direct commentary on indie/intellectual culture in our generation. Needless to say they are critical. Songs like “Singer-Songwriter,” I feel, are important for people like us to hear and identify with. Even as I become more and more disenfranchised with indie rock staples (Wolf Parade, TVOTR, etc), I can still rely on Will Sheff et al to draw me to a rock show.
6.Brian Wilson – Lucky Old Sun

I don't expect to win everyone over to this album. I will just say that in the context of SMiLE, this is one of the most happy/sad albums of the year, as only Brian Wilson can be. How can you not be creeped out when Wilson sings about watching a girl when she's sleeping? And how can you be singularly happy when he sings about “that good kind of love”? Once again, I take a pseudo-mystical approach to Brian Wilson's music, and once again, I am rewarded for it.

2008: 25-16

Sorry for being so late; I am currently overwhelmed by term papers. I'm actually being very irresponsible making this list at all, but hey, I need my year-end list don't I? I will hopefully go back and fill these out with more pictures/words later. OK, without further ado:
25.Alphabeat

Is this the token sugar pop album on my list? Maybe. I feel bad about putting this on here, since I start to get stomach aches when I actually listen to it all the way through. I can't ignore the fact that I often listen to “10,000 Nights,” “Boyfriend,” and “Touch Me Touching You” on repeat.
24.Be Your Own Pet – Get Awkward
I'm the only person I know who like Be Your Own Pet as much as I do. So I had no one to complain to when they broke up. The first album was like a slap in the face; this one was much more digestible, with elements of mall-punk and violence I can understand. BYOP is still more of a Siouxsie than a Donnas, though, and I have unashamed fun when I listen to this, their second and last album.
23.HEALTH – Disco
I don't really have anything to say about this album besides its fast, loud, and dancey. I could listen to 20 different versions of Triceratops, if they were as well remixed as these. If I were a professional athlete, this would be my favorite album to listen to before the big game.
22.Nico Muhly - Mothertongue

I really love this album, but I'm not sure I understand it. Who are the multiple voices supposed to be? What is the relationship to folk music? Is there a connection between the first and second halves of the album? I fell asleep once to this album; my dreams are terrifying. Yet I find myself returning to Muhly again and again, for a kind of music I've never experienced before. That kind of album doesn't come around very often.
21.Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Dolores
I wonder if I would have nearly as many drone/post-rock albums on my year-end lists if I made them in, say, June rather than December. There's something about winter that just begs me to listen to slow, grinding, dark music. And this album certainly qualifies; it's been on repeat the past few weeks. Then again, winter hasn't actually hit here in Austin; it's still T-shirt weather outside. Maybe music like this is more associated with term papers for me...
20.Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down in the Light
I'm not a huge B “P” B fan, but this album ranks up there among my favorites, with I See a Darkness and Ease Down the Road. His voice works better, I think, the folkier his songs get, and this as folky as they get. The duets are wonderful too, and there is just enough honk on the album to keep it from dragging into wrist-slitting territory. “Easy Does It” and “For Every Field There's a Mole” are among my favorite singer-songwriter songs in a year in which I don't listen to that kind of music.
19.Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
See: Bohren and Der Club of Gore, but I listened to this album this spring. I can't believe the Earth concert was sold out when I tried to buy tickets in Berlin; I had to go to a disappointing Yeasayer concert instead. When I first heard “The Driver,” the guitar struck a chord in me that is still ringing, I think: it sounds like a darker, not-dated-sounding soundtrack to Twin Peaks. I will see them live, one of the days.
18.Clinic – Do It!

Back in high school I LOVED Internal Wrangler and Walking With Thee; then I got to college and was disappointed by their subsequent albums, which sounded like a rehashing of those, but less interesting. This album, though, has all the bite of the former and all the mood of the latter; I rank it right up there.
17.The Cure – 413 Dream
The Cure are in my favorite 3 bands ever. This is my favorite Cure album since Bloodflowers at least.
16.Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling

OK, so this is no Mr. Beast, but the new Mogwai sound is growing on me. “The Sun Smells Too Loud” is fun in a way that old Mogwai isn't, and “Batcat” rocks hard, even if I miss the long buildups. Have you seen the video for that, by the way? OMG. I fully acknowledge that I have this WAY too high on my list, and I'm not even going to try to prove its worth. At least there's no Ryan Adams on this list, though!