The 26 Best Albums of ’08

This year’s been pretty good as far as music is concerned, and narrowing the choices down for this list has been pretty difficult, to be honest. I had to leave quite a bit off, simply because I’m far too lazy to create a list exceeding twenty-six entries (my original aim was fifty, but I gave that up real fast, and figured twenty-five was just too typical, so I settled on this number).

So, without further ado, here are my favourite albums of 2008. But, if I can spare some ado real quick, I just want to point out that the ordering is rough but not really indicative of overall preference – to be honest, I hate rank-ordering stuff, and only did it for the sake of organization.

26. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard – The Dark Knight OST

I didn’t really care much for this at first. I’ve been listening to the Batman Begins OST over the past year or so quite often, as its instrumental pieces have a nice ambient quality to them. The Dark Knight, by comparison, is loud, thundering, epic and schizophrenic – not at all a gentle listen. After seeing the film, the context adds a real depth to this music, and something that in retrospect I’m not surprised I didn’t appreciate at first. Why So Serious? is a choice cut.

25. Metallica – Death Magnetic

I’ve never been a Metallica fan, really, in any sense. I find their older “classic” albums to be occasionally fun but nothing I’d listen to more than maybe once in a blue moon. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Death Magnetic - it’s not nearly as insufferable as I expected. All the typically metal lyrics – all doom, gloom and hyperbole – are, for the most part, presented in a self-conscious fashion. On the band’s mainstream hit, The Black Album, singer James Hetfield seemed to have a real passion for all the cheese he was singing about. Death Magnetic - even right down to its title – is a more tongue-in-cheek stroll through metal-land. That makes it instantly more enjoyable for me. The crunchy riffs and blistering solos help a bit, too. That Kirk Hammett monster on The Unforgiven III is way better than it has any right to be.

24. Nas – Untitled (a.k.a. Nigger)

This album created tons of controversy before it was even out or had debuted a single song – Nas had originally chosen “Nigger” as the album title, intended as a sort of cultural and political statement. The quest for attention was transparent but it worked – the album garnered the hype it needed in the hip-hop community. For the most part, it lives up to these expectations. It’s Nas’ most consistent record in quite a few years, and although it’s probably his most mainstream and accessible (especially with songs like Hero), it’s still a solid listen.

23. Lindsey Buckingham – Gift of Screws

The Fleetwood Mac guitarist is back with his best solo album since the one he put out two years ago. That’s no light praise. I was never a huge Fleetwood fan but this record, for lack of a better word, is lovely.

22. Diplo & Santogold – Top Ranking

Hugely impressive mixtape. Santogold’s self-titled album almost made the list, too.

21. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals

This is-it-or-isn’t-it-legal album was released online and has become fodder for lawyers. Take away the controversy and the music – all mash-ups engineered by near-genius Gregg Gillis – stands on its own.

20. Nine Inch Nails – The Slip

Trent Reznor released Ghosts I – IV in early 2008 and, quite frankly, it sucked. But that’s okay, because it was a free release experiment, and The Slip - another free Internet release that was eventually also released in stores – makes up for the earlier misfire. Although it loses momentum towards the last couple tracks, as a whole it works, with the agressive (and, truthfully, catchier) stuff in the beginning before it all calms down for the finale. Try listening to Discipline and not tapping your foot.

19. No Age – Nouns

The indie noise rockers are back rather quickly with another album, this one being even better than their last. Big Stooges influence in the music.

18. The Roots – Rising Down

The Roots return with a very good, if slightly inconsistent, album. It’s The Roots so you have to listen to it, but the fact that it’s really damn good certainly helps. These guys are going to be Jimmy Fallon’s live band for his Tonight Show next year. Should be interesting.

17. Okkervil River – The Stand-Ins

One of the best indie rock albums of the year.

16. Sigur Ros – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

What impressed me the most about this album is that it has some of their brightest songs yet. It’s a real joy to listen to, at once moving and evocative.

15. Stephen Malkmus – Real Emotional Trash

The indie godfather returns with one of his better solo outings.

14. Vampire Weekend – S/T

The Hyped Indie Band of ’08, who were met with the unavoidable critical and public backlash after having their egos stroked by Pitchfork for so long. After the hype settles and the hyperbole pushed aside, the simple truth is that it’s a really good album (not perfect, but not bad, either) that wears its Graceland love on its sleeve. My prediction? They’re the next Strokes – sophomore album will be written off as a disappointment and they’ll spend the rest of their careers trying to live up to the acclaim and stature of this one. Hopefully I’m wrong.

13. Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

Best ambient record of the year. Very dark, quite unsettling at times, like Harold Budd and Tim Hecker. Albums like this are defining examples of the difference between new age elevator music and the legitimacy of ambient as an art form.

12. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III

Yeah, it got over-hyped and Lollipop was annoying as hell. The surprising thing is that some of its lesser-praised tracks are the best; Mr. Carter featuring Jay-Z is one of the best hip-hop tracks of the year. I don’t know if it deserves all the acclaim it’s getting, but there’s no doubt that it’s a solid record.

11. The Walkmen – You & Me

I loved the previous album by these guys, and this new one’s even better. When I first heard it, I was sure it’d end up in my top ten for the year. Well, it made it pretty close.

10. Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It

This was my biggest surprise of the year. I’d never really heard of the guy, to be honest, but this blew me away. He takes on the golden sounds of the Motown era and makes them his own, but without the cheesy “throwback” quality that so many revivalists aim for. This sounds genuine, lived-in, and organic – not forced and hollow. It may help that he employed legitimate backing bands and performers from the era, adding an extra air of authenticity. Oh Girl is sex in a bottle, man.

9. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Just watch the music video for the title track and tell me you don’t love this song. My biggest worries early on were that the record as a whole wouldn’t live up to the strengths of the single, but it did – We Call Upon the Author is brilliant. This is one of Cave’s best records, which is saying a lot. I should probably place this higher on the list, come to think of it, but I had this all worked out already. Dammit.

8. Portishead – Third

Portishead return after a lengthy absence with a great, consistent record. Gets better with each and every listen.

7. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

Good thing Bradford Cox’s little Internet breakdown didn’t convince him to pull this from release – it’s nowhere near as ambient as last year’s Cryptograms but neither is it as much noise-rock as Turn It Up, Faggot. It’s a totally new sound for the group, and it’s great.

6. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War

My pick for the most underrated album of the year. This barely picked up any hype or acclaim when it was released – and why not? She never disappoints and this is no exception.

5. Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy

Axl Rose returns to the rock arena with a decidedly unique and off-kilter (get it?) record. It’s easy to laugh at the overblown orchestrations and ProTools symphonies, but the simple fact is that this album hits hard.

4. Blitzen Trapper – Furr

Their album last year hit my favourites list, and this one’s even better. Apparently the Sub Pop label picked them up for Furr, so I imagine they’ll soon be generating lots of indie buzz, if they aren’t already. Anyay, lots of great harmonies that converge with rock riffs here. A fairly short listen, but a solid one.

3. Fleet Foxes – S/T

I’m having trouble getting tired of this one. The harmonies are great, the songs are moving, and it’s just a really consistent album. Best artwork of the year, too.

2. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Insanely infectious, ridiculously fun. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden have obviously been inspired by groups like The Flaming Lips, but they have already developed their own unique sound. This is a great summer album and came to kind of embody the season this year. It’s hard to dislike anything so endearingly wild.

1. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Some people have been claiming this came out in 2007, but most people seem to agree that it was a 2008 release, so I’ll go ahead and keep it here. This was a favourite of mine early on this year, and I expected with time it would fade, but I keep going back to it and not feeling any less impressed with the material being showcased. Justin Vernon holed himself up in a Wisconsin cabin for three months to write this material, and the context only adds even more depth to the music. This is just a great record.

Honorable Mention: Bob Dylan – Telltale Signs – The Bootleg Series Vol. 8

I loved this record and it contains some of Dylan’s finest material (much of it unreleased). However, owing to the nature of it as a compilation, I felt it didn’t really deserve placement on a list of all-new material. Maybe I’m too anal about this stuff? If I had to put it on that list, it’d easily be in the top five, so take that for what it’s worth.

Tagged as: best-of lists, music