My favourite album TITLE of the year was Seasick Steve's "I started with nothing and I've still got most of it left".

Definately two worthy mentions there. I thought that the new King of Leons CD was something a little different than their previous work, sort of evolving into something better.

I'm a fan of heavy metal and hard rock but I didn't like the Mudvayne album very much. I think I just like them more live than in album form, though. The new is pretty good though. Better than their last album.

Here's my best of 2008 list: (no order)

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Guns n' Roses - Chinese Democracy
The Cool Kids - Bake Sale
Flight of the Conchords - s/t
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Portishead - Third
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Vampire Weekend - s/t
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
Metallica - Death Magnetic

having just discovered the Fleet Foxes, I'd have to insert them into my Top 5 somewhere.

Here we go, and in no particular order:

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: Filled with rich harmonies and earthy acoustic guitars. Shockingly feel good, even though it's kind of got this folky-gospel throw back feel. (Highlights: White Winter Hymnal, Ragged Wood, Quiet Houses)

The Dodos - Visiter: Another folk album, a little more bluegrass. Lots of foot stomps and variations on rhythm. Super syncopated at times which I love. Steady; not really anxious to get anywhere, but in a good way. (Highlights: Walking, Winter, Park Song)

She and Him - Volume One: Zoey Deschanel. Who knew? Their spin on alt country is fucking supreme; killer jazz harmonies with this Doo Wop swing. Really charming; charming as hell. Her phrasing is beautiful. (Highlights: This Is Not A Test, Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?, I was Made For You)

TV on the Radio - Dear Science: Tears for Fears beats, a touch of The Clash, Robert Smith vocals, and a little Roots. Fuck. And somehow it's original.

Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs: Ben Gibbard has this metronome swing to his voice that is unrivaled. The crashing wave of guitars and overwhelming ambient noise. Echoing lyrics and pop hooks masked as Indie Rock. (Highlights: Long Division, Bixby Canyon Bridge, No Sunlight)

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular: A fucking revolution of electronic angst and political fervor. A trip. Beatles-esque; I'll explain why. It's got this speed up, slow down anxious flow that songs like Paperback Writer and Elenor Rigby had. The musical is just so synthetic and pure. (Highlights: Time To Pretend, Weekend Wars, The Youth)

m83 - Saturdays=Youth: A French electronic fury of synthesizers and cool melodies. Some of it is a little too heavy, but the things that shine are so bright you forget about the couple of duds. (Highlights: Kim & Jessie, Graveyard Girl)

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping: The first time I listened to Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? I almost cried. But that album is dripping with self-evaluation; even it's sound is analytical. Skeletal, on the other hand, is completely joy driven; like he got laid and wants to tell his friends. The first melody and beat is so dissonant and radiant; it just makes you want to dance on the subway (It makes me dance on the subway). (Highlights: Nonpareil of Favor, An Eluardian Instance, St.Exquisite's Confessions, Women's Studies Victims)

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: Has this Graceland feel, that is dripping with east coast cool; it just seeps interesting melodies and apt world beats. Tribal calls, and a fucking plethora of instruments. So good. (HL: M79, Oxford Comma, Campus, Mansard Roof)

The Virgins - The Virgins: Grimy disco rock that sounds like it crawled from a bar in the Bronx at 7 am. Driving beats and jingly guitars; liquor soaked vocals. Bored and unenthusiastic sounding lyrics; like they want to light the world on fire just to watch it burn. A little to "There Once Was A Girl" for me; a constant sexual advance and it gets a little tired. But the music is so good and catchy you just want to fucking groove. (HL: Rich Girls, Fernando Pando, Love Is Colder Then Death)

Coldplay - Viva La Vida: The first good Coldplay album! It isn't just eurotrash; admittedly so (Chris Martin says they were done making money so they thought they'd do something good). It's got this cool gothic crusade feel, like a march into hell or a stutter step before hitting the ground. Always anxious to get better, shifting focus so fast that you have to fight to hold on; refreshing because Chris Martins vocals don't sound like he is trying to be lazy for the sake of "cool". (HL: Lost!, 42, Viva La Vida, Death and All His Friends)

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Sank: Really surprised me because I'm usually not a fan of MM; I think it's Isaac Brock's spastic vocals that usually kill the song for me. But the pace of this album is so neat; starting with the raucous March Into The Sea [which drifts between contemplation and disorder; the strings make it], to Fire It Up [which works as this cool anthem of sorts with a really pop feel], followed by, in my opinion, the best song on the album, "Florida" [this racing song that crashes everywhere, with probably my favorite rhythm guitar of any album all year]. It's so good. I recommend it to every person I know that likes "music". (HL: Florida, March Into The Sea, Parting Of The Sensory, Steam Engenius)

So that's that. Hope you guys check these out; or a couple of them at least.

Here's my take on 2008. I usually rank a top 100, but I won't bore you with that.

10. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
09. Invincible - Shapeshifters
08. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
07. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
06. Why? - Alopecia
05. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
04. Deerhunter - Microcastle
03. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
02. TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
01. Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

I have got Chinese Democracy - Guns N Roses, so that is my whole list.

Fuck; I can't believe I forgot Stay Positive. Great album. Boys And Girls In America was much better though I think.

I think Boys and Girls In America is more consistent, but the best songs on Stay Positive are better than much of B&G In America.

I want to add one to the list. Psycroptic's album (Ob)Servant has blown me away. It is technical death metal so it isn't for everyone but very few bands play with such tightness between the guitars, bass, and drums.

that's quite possibly the worst drum sound I've ever heard. Sounds like he's hitting a pile of forks and a cardboard box

Best album to come out in 2008 (or the last 8 years in my opinion lol)

Motley Crue - Saints of Los Angeles, and I cant WAIT to see them live next weekend!!!

If you are looking for great production value in death metal you will usually be disappointed.

I just thought that one of the "signature sounds" of death metal was a powerful, bass driven rhythm section

It's more about speed and complexity. The budget for recording a death metal album is almost nothing. Cannibal Corpse (who I can't stand) sold less than 8,000 copies of their new album during it's first week.(US) and they are one of the most well known DM bands.

You don't need a budget to record a good album. There are plenty of local Calgary death metal bands that record quality work on pretty much 0 budget.
-----Added 12/2/2009 at 11 : 35 : 27-----
Saudades de Rock by Extreme was an amazing album. I will put that on my top 10, can't think of anything else I really listened to a whole lot that was released this year.

Here is my top 10 in no particular order aside from the first one. Was not a particularly great year in music in my opinion though I did like all of these albums quite a bit.

Deerhunter - Microcastle
Alaska in Winter - Holiday
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Colleen - The Golden Morning Breaks
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Animal!/Not Animal
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Wye Oak - If Children
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant/self-titled
Times New Viking - Rip It Off
The Daysleepers - Drowned in a Sea of Sound

2009 is already a little more promising to me with obvious top 10 picks for me already released (Animal Collective, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Andrew Bird) and the promise of new Fleet Foxes, Appleseed Cast, Grizzly Bear, Silversun Pickups, etc etc on the horizon.

T.I. - Paper Trail
Jay Z - American Gangster (It came out November '07 but I don't care)




Okay... I didn't buy any 'new' music at all last year. I'm just not a fan of anything that's been coming out. Not saying it's bad. I'm just saying it's not my bag...

Lambchop - OH

In no order:

Opeth - Watershed
No-Man - Schoolyard Ghosts
Steven Wilson - Insurgentes (released in the UK in November)
Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring,
Porcupine Tree - We Lost the Skyline
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sand
The Airborne Toxic Event - Self-Titled
Melvins - Nude in Boots
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Glasvegas - Self-Titled

His new one's kinda half-boring to me. In retrospect, I find a good amount of filler on his previous albums, but it seems more pronounced here with less in the way of standout tracks to reward the wait. "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" and "Anonanimal", and maybe "Oh No" are the only ones I'd put on repeat. And jeez, why'd he have to pick that unremarkable "Fitz and the Dizzyspells" for Letterman? Just because Letterman fans intrinsically like being bored...