Best of 2008 (Not In Order)
1. Gaslight Anthem - 59 Sound: Another case of me judging a record too quickly. At first I found it repetitive. Yet the more I listened to it the more I realized that Gaslight may very well have released the best album of 2008.
2. The Loved Ones - Build and Burn: An early candidate for best album of 2008. It was fun fast and anthemic. It remains all of these things.
3. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive: What haven't I said about this band.
4. Why? - Alopecia: This is the sound of stream of consciousness. They provided some of the best lines of the year. If you wanted to sum up my mind most of the time, take a line from this album. The first five songs all have been played at least 20 times on my itunes.
5. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: Were they overhyped? Probably. Was this album fantastic and worthy of the hype? Definitely. The sound of a delightful spring and summer.
6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: This is the best album of the year. Subtle, lonely, and cold but incredibly compelling. It was an album that didn't leave my ipod all year.
7. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III: What a weird album, but man did I listen to it. Weezy proved that he can put together a full album, full of weird beats and even weirder lines.
8. Sun Kil Moon - April: This guys voice isn't going to win any singing competitions. Yet there is something about the music that won't let you go. At times it is overwhelming and some tracks go on for too long, but The first half dozen songs are classic.
9. Spiritualized - Songs in A&E: Drugs and Death. All that this album is about. Yet they find all that is beautiful and sublime in drugs and death.
10. No Age/Cut Copy - Nouns/In Ghost Colors: I lumped these two together because they tied for 10th best of the year. No Age's Nouns is a noisy mess of songs, that are both punk rock and completely un-punk. Cut Copy delivered the best dance album of the year, doing for big beat what LCD did for disco.
Honorable Mention
• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP
• Shearwater - Rook
• Booka Shade - The Sun and The Moon
• Seun Kuti - Seun Kuti and Egypt 80
• Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
• Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
Biggest Let Downs
• My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges: What happened to the band that made It Still Moves? Why did anyone want an album of Prince meets Allman Brothers.
• Black Kids - Partie Trumatic: I bought the album based on hype and the great "I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You". Unfortunately no song was close to being as good as that one and I forgot what Public Enemy said: Don't Believe the Hype.
• Young Jeezy - The Recession
• Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static
• Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple: This may not have been the biggest let down, but it certainly lacked a song as good as Crazy or Smiley Faces.
Best Mixtapes
• Wale - A Mixtape About Nothing/100 Miles - If Wale isn't the rapper of the year I don't know who is
• Asher Roth - The Green House Effect
• Izza Kizza - Kizzaland
• B.O.B. - LRG Mixtape
• Diplo and Santogold - Top Ranking
Best Songs: (Only One Per Artist)
• Why? - Vowels Pt. 2
• The Loved Ones - Pretty Good Year
• Gaslight Anthem - Great Expectations
• Bon Iver - Skinny Love
• Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
• The Hold Steady - Sequestered In Memphis
• Wiz Khalifa - Say Yeah
• Wale - W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.
• Colby O'Donis - What You Got
• Ladytron - Ghost
• Sam Sparro - Black and Gold
• Flying Lotus - Camel
• Lil Wayne - A Milli
• Racontuers - Many Shades of Black
• Gnarls Barkley - Run
• Sun Kil Moon - Moorestown
• Jamie Lidell - Another Day
