This is it. The real list, plus some albums which missed out.
Worst Albums of 2008 That I Own
Konk – The Kooks
Emergency – The Pigeon Detectives
The Script – The Script
Notable But Not Quite Good Enough
Feed the Animals – Girl Talk
An interesting album, and it’s great you can download it for free, but Girl Talk’s style is too ADHD. He has some incredible ideas, Red Hot Chili Peppers mixed with Lil’ Wayne or Chicago with Quad City DJs to name a few, but he does not stick with any of them. Within twenty seconds he has moved on to Roy Orbison or Kelly Clarkson. Enjoyable, but you will wish your favourite moments lasted longer.
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
A beautifully crafted album, but I can honetly say I have no idea why everyone likes it enough to make it one of the best albums of the year. It’s gorgeous, but dare I say bland?
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Very emotional, but also quite dull. It doesn’t do anything worth noting, musically. They are a scottish Killers, but with lyrics that actually mean something.
Not Enough Space In The Best of List
Songs on the Rocks -Nôze
Persian Gypsy Jazz thing put to dance beats. A catchy, fun and interesting electronic album.
We Brave Bee Stings & All – Thao & The Get Down, Stay Down
Folk and country roots mixed with twee lyrics. Charming.
Alas, I Cannot Swim – Laura Marling
Another folk female singer (sort of in Noah and the Whale) with her solo album, a soothing, but smart debut.
Best Albums of 2008
Flight of the Conchords has been a bit of an addiction since I discovered their TV series. I basically downloaded anything I could find from their rather huge collection of music. Of course, I decided to buy their debut. It’s just a shame how it’s not very different from their TV show material. They are at their best when they perform live and since the album is mainly ripped straight from the TV show or studio versons, I didn’t put it any higher on the list. Still, their material is both funny and really good musically. Mimicking styles ranging from David Bowie to Shaggie, Flight of the Conchords’ album is well worth listening to.
The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)
MGMT don’t prove the formula ”quality of quantity”. With ten tracks on the album, only three proved to be amazingly epic (Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, Kids). The rest is just not very interesting. You can argue it’s all experimental, which is fine, but don’t put it on the album then. It’s a shame, because if they had kept up the standard of those three, MGMT’s debut would be the best album of the year.
Peaceful, The World Lies Me Down, is quite a unique album. It has both witty and clever lyrics, produced by a very unlikely kind of vocalist. It has the beautiful voice of Laura Marling and it has some really nice instrumental work, the violins are particularly memorable. Though, I did not enjoy the slow sections of the album, finding them slightly dull, it is the faster paced tracks, like 2 Atoms In A Molecule and Rocks And Daggers that make Noah and the Whale’s first album truly great.
Dark and strange, Alex Turner’s side project, The Last Shadow Puppets, did not really spark my interest initially. But after a couple of months, I can really appreciate it. Age Of The Understatement sounds like an album made of Bond theme songs, but with a lot more depth It manages to keep all the grandness even with the slow, acoustic songs. I can’t wait to see what Alex Turner will do next.
The Blood Red Shoes’ album is short, but ferocious, simple, but still fascinating. With just a guitarist and a drummer, it seems like their music might be basic, but this is where you start listening to their impressive debut. Hard and fast drumming, relentless guitar strumming and the interwoven vocals from Laura and Steven create a great rock record.
It’s got a huge variety of synth work, amazing guitar solos, sharp drum patterns and impressive vocals from the whole band. Late of the Pier took chip music, rock n’ roll, punk and dance and any other genre you can think of and fused it into a twisting wrything beast of electronica. But that is wrong, because it isn’t really electronica, it’s rock. Wait no, it’s pop. Whatever it is, it’s amazing.
Tokyo Police Club produced a pretty amazing EP last year, and their debut was a bit more gritty, but did not disappoint. Their sound is very Strokes-esque, but with a less harsh (Candian) vocalist and distorted synthesisers, which produces a faster sound, something which might be heard on a dancefloor somewhere.
A flawed, but great album from Foals. It’s a real shame they missed out on Astronauts and All and Hummer, for Heavy Water and Big Big Love (fig. 2). The rest is perfect. In the last three months they have creeped into my Last.fm’s 3rd most listened to artists. Battling guitars, addictive bass lines and unbelievable drum work make an album which everyone should try. Red Socks Pugie is definitely one of my favourite tracks ever. They also managed to prove themselves as the best band I have ever seen live .
Lightspeed Champion’s first album is stunning to listen to. With it’s incredibly beautiful melodies, violent and open lyrics, Dev Hynes has created an album where every song is a masterfully created sensation. I don’t need to describe it anyway, because you should already be rushing to get this from the shops or be downloading it right now.
Just an incredibly well-rounded album. There are no flaws, it’s just a barrage of incredible songs. And with a completely different sound, to anything right now, they have a winning formula. From the opening bangs of Mansford Roof, to the simple melody of Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, to the final clash of Walcott, Vampire Weekend’s debut, is a thrill to listen to. You’ve got it anyway, haven’t you?
7 responses so far ↓
Scrap // January 19, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Agree with you on Red Socks Pugie, could listen to that all day
Gabby (avantnoise) // January 19, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I nice assessment. I agree with many of your picks.
MGMT delivers three great tracks, and the rest are nice, but lack the epic quality you speak of.
Late Of The Pier doesn’t disappoint me one bit. I like how Fantasy Black Channel takes on many different forms as the album progresses, but it isn’t a complete mess like Girl Talk’s album. The fusion of various genres is suitable and is done well. It makes sense. I can’t wait for them to do a full U.S. tour. Their live show must be incredible.
Fleet Foxes was a beautiful album, although I can see where you drew the “bland” from. It does get a bit bland, and not much changes around, but all and all, it was crafted beautifully.
I feel like I didn’t give Tokyo Police Club’s full length a proper chance. After listening to A Lesson In Crime repeatedly for over a year, Elephant Shell was initially a disappointment. I think I do need to give it a proper listen, however.
Vampire Weekend’s album was a good album. They blew up fast and within a few months were on the cover of every magazine you could think of. I know many people who, because of the media blast, felt inclined to dislike Vampire Weekend because there was too much “hype” surrounding them. Regardless, it’s an album worth listening to. I saw them at Coachella, and it was an enjoyable performance.
Foals– I love Antidotes very much. It was an album that I found myself listening to over and over.
Hanan // January 20, 2009 at 6:01 pm
hahahha Konk isn’t THAT bad. I agree, it isn’t fabulous and it loses its charm QUICKLY. ok, yeah, it’s awful hahaahha
nice list. I love all of your top albums, especially Vampire Weekendddddddddddd
when will people be able to admit that they like good music?
cc // January 21, 2009 at 5:34 pm
niice list, and great blog keep it up
A. Critic // January 21, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I agree that Fleet Foxes is totally overrated whereas I assert that Beach House is completely underrated. I would replace Toyko Police Club with Cut Copy’s album In Ghost Colours for the best of 2008. The Handshake and Future reflections are the best tracks on MGMTs album yet always overlooked.
Neil // January 23, 2009 at 6:54 am
Hey – So happy to see another person put Lightspeed Champion on their top ten list – I love that cd & can’t wait to hear more from Dev!
fel0nious monk // February 2, 2009 at 3:37 pm
The thing i LOVE about Girl Talk’s ADHD style is that there is soo much material there. So many new ideas and themes and ingenuity all packed into a tight little package with no fluff.
All the little intro/outro pieces ready for consumption. Sure the CD leaves you wanting to hear that sick transition again, but that’s better than being forced to hear it over and over and over again.