Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Best Albums of 2008

10. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue 
Already reviewed by me earlier, this album is personal and rich. It is Jenny Lewis finding her voice, and a beautiful voice it is.









9. The Knux - Remind Me In 3 Days...
These guys are bringing hip-hop back to where I like it most. Unbeatable old-skool beats, guitar riffs, and a goofy flow that would make the Beastie Boys proud. I heard a music critic say "these guys aren't cool, and they know they aren't and that's what makes the great." Well, that's all well and good, but I happen to think they're pretty cool. "Bang! Bang!" is the best song, but watch out for some crazy dirty lyrics through the later half of the album.




8. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
This was a new band to me this year, and they really impressed me. "Grounds for Divorce" is probably one of, if not my hands down favorite song of the year. This band captured all the guts and gusto of a Zeppelin tune in that song on the same album that brings joyous chorus of redemption on songs like "One Day Like This."







7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
In many ways this was a year of the vampire. Twilight held tweens in it's campy seductive spell, and Vampire Weekend held hipsters and non alike in their afro-beat pop music spell. This album could be classified as the feel-good album of the year with it's upbeat and catchy tunes. A must for anyone who loves Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel.





6. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
These guys are always pushing the bounds of music and sound. Their debut album last year was fantastic but in some ways lacked a melodic listenability. This year's Dear Science upped the anti and brought out a true rock sensibility in the Brooklyn band. This album captures the feeling of hope and newness that year has borough, and is certainly one of the best albums this year.





5. Adele - 19
At 19 years old, this girl
 has out shown all her neo-soul counterparts to make one of the best albums of the year. It spawned the hit "Chasing Pavement," and most of the songs on the album share in the same story of a feeling of sweet loss.  This album grew on me and worked its way more and more into my rotation towards the end of the year, causing me to now attempt to sing like her constantly, but alas to no avail. This chick has chops.




4. Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
This is a huge break through album for this 
band. Having only been known before by the song "Molly's Chamber," King of Leon created a full album of great, sexy, memorable songs. Their lyrics have matured greatly, even if one of their songs is unapologetically called "Sex on Fire." How can you not love that?






3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 
Not since the Beatles, Crosby Stills & Nash, and Simon & Garfunkel has harmony meant so much to a band. These songs sound timeless, and yet like they've been buried in time and unearthed especially for you. This album added an ethereal layer to my already magical summer.








2. Black Keys - Attack & Release
Just now when I looked at the album cover again, the songs started going through  my head. "Lies" has been one of my most played songs since this album came out, and the entire album heavy with songs that are just as wonderfully bluesy, murky, and oozing with sticky sweet sex, or pounding hard with pure unadulterated rock'n'roll.





1. Santogold - Santogold
I don't really know why this ended up being my favorite album this year other than it's the one I seemed to obsess over the most. I had to find out everything about Santi White, the woman behind the one woman band. These songs made me feel like a kid again, just soaking in the pure joy of a fantastically written pop song with a soul behind the lyrics, and unmistakable magic in the music.

1 comment:

NiNa* said...

I will probably leave more of these comments but I always feel like I am forgetting bands that really deserve mentioning!

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (upbeat music about death! with cello and violin!)