Albums Of The Year 2008

[Sunspots]

David Holmes - The holy pictures

I was really looking forward to that in the summer. Then I heard some of it and realised I might as well just listen to La Düsseldorf instead.

Juana Molina - Un dia

I think I've liked everything I've ever heard by her in the last couple of years. -Forgot she'd released another album this year though.

 

[twistedAM]

Who put it out in the UK in 2007? It came out in the US on Slumberland a few months ago.

via Cargo Distribution. It was out in this country before they signed with Angular in UK

 

[Sunspots]

^^ that ruby suns album is pretty good.

Nothing ground breaking or particularly original, but it fizzes with sunshine melodies.

 

[El Jefe]

My ten:



In retrospect, I wish I'd included Q-Tip's Renaissance. Plus loads of others of course...

Fuck -
I forgot Who's Afear'd

 

[Dillinger4]

Nothing ground breaking or particularly original, but it fizzes with sunshine melodies.

yeh.

I think it was one called Mojave that I listened to the most, for that very reason.

 

[El Jefe]

my big fuck up - Surgeon's This Is For You Shits would have been top 5 if i'd remembered it

 

[Sunspots]

Fuck -
I forgot Who's Afear'd

Tbh, although I voted for their album, I haven't even heard it.

I've probably heard all it's songs played in the pub or on their MySpace though, so under special West Country rules, that means I in fact have heard it.

 

[cliche guevara]

EMO

The only thing on that list that could possibly be perceived as emo is Conor Oberst, and that's pretty insulting given the currently accepted interpretation of the word. And yes, I know you are teasing, but I am easily antagonised and you know it.

By the way, you should've come to that Gallows gig. Whatever else you were doing was nowhere near as good. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VH0F8fL-bZE - Video footage there, please excuse my horrible faces.

 

[Dillinger4]

The only thing on that list that could possibly be perceived as emo is Conor Oberst, and that's pretty insulting given the currently accepted interpretation of the word. And yes, I know you are teasing, but I am easily antagonised and you know it.

No need to get all emo about it.

 

[cliche guevara]

I walked right into that.

e2a: That reminds me, we need to send your card. The gf says I must tell you it's my fault it's been so delayed, as I'm shit at getting round to things. I also suffered from late night dyslexia.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

let's have your individual nominations now then.

no fucking idea but i got 5/10 in the top 10

*laughs dementedly*

(6/10 if we include santogold (which i didn't actually think was all that)) caint member what else there was tbh we agreed on nick cave and that was about it.

 

[maximilian ping]

good to see Fleet Foxes and Kings of Leon there.

but no Streets or Duffy?

tut tut

 

[ethel]

Yeah, I know, I just realised I fucked up... Santogold should have been on this list as well, back with lindstrom, SMZ, and the Fall. But nevermind that now, let's go to number 10 in our charts...

M83 - Saturday = Youth

Young people are cool. They have haircuts and can wear wacky outfits without looking like total cunts. They dance in clubs. They have lie ins or, get this, don't go to bed at all. I hate them. The bloke who made this album didn't get bitter, he got wistful, so he made this album about being 15. I haven't heard it, so I got nothing to say, is it worth my eartime? I'd expect it to be horrible, tbh.

i have heard that this record is godawful.

 

[Dillinger4]

Yeh but they have way cool haircuts.

 

[bluestreak]

I don't know if I am allowed to complain, as I did not compile a list of my own, or vote, or whatever, but there are some pretty bad/boring albums in the list this year.

There always are. But that's the interesting thing. See, there are people whose lists I hated 90 per cent of but loved the other 10. It's incredible to me the combinations of good and shit that people like. And of course, it is subjective. Someone voted Duffy's Rockferry as the album of the year. I don't know if they were joking. Girls Aloud are a pop act revered by many urbanites, but only one person actually nominated them. There were two albums, IIRC, that received four seperate nominations but all at the end of people's lists so didn't feature whereas the four shared positions at the bottom all had only two or three nominations but featured very highly in those nominor's charts.

It fascinates me!

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I definitely feel that it's possibly a weaker list than previous years though bluey, as I can remember say 2 years ago where there were 30 albums and you raved about all of them as you counted them down, whereas this time you've been much more blunt that quite a few really weren't your cup of tea or were a bit pony...

 

[clandestino]

If I'd have remembered Magnetic Fields, my list would have been:

(1) Sigur Ros, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
(2) El Guincho, Alegranza
(3) The Wave Pictures, Instant Coffee Baby
(4) Port O Brien, All We Could Do Is Sing
(5) Magnetic Fields, Distortion
(6) Antarctica Takes It!, The Penguin League
(7) Vivian Girls, s/t
(8) Goldfrapp, Seventh Tree
(9) Amadou & Miriam, Welcome To Mali
(10) Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, Days Come And Go

I'm still counting Crystal Stilts as a 2009 release, so I'll be voting for it next year.

 

[Dr. Furface]

I really like MGMT.

But maybe that's cos I'm a wanky young person.

Me too.

It's great being young!

 

[dodgepot]

Girls Aloud are a pop act revered by many urbanites, but only one person actually nominated them.

yeah, cheers fr the support guys.

 

[perplexis]

Thanks for doing the work bluestreak.
There were several albums there I didn't realise were from this year, I'd definitely have nominated Fuck Buttons, damn. And "This is for You Shits" is a fucking stunning mix that I thought was last year.
Quite surprised by the absence of Benga and DJ\Rupture, but maybe I shouldn't be. MGMT, Hot Chip, Kings of Leon... I'm really nowhere near down with the kids am I?
Anyway, my list
1 Mt. Eerie ft. Julie Doiron & Fred Squire - Lost Wisdom: This is the most beautiful album I have heard for ages.
2 DJ\Rupture - Uproot: Pure genius in the mix from Rupture, as usual. Pretty, and not pretty, perfectly paced, lush, good.
3 Why? - Alopecia: I love this guy's word play, and his lo-fi instrumentation isn't too quirky.
4= Andy Stott - Unknown Exceptions: Come on people, enormous warm bass noises with lovely melodies.
4= Vladislav Delay - Anima: Ambient, minimal, experimental, "tehcno", wake up to this every morning and your days will be better, if a little colourless
6 Fennesz - Black Sea: Very, very good, beautiful in parts.
7 Alaska in Winter - Holiday: What can I say, I'm a sucker for this Beirut-with-vocoders sound
8 Zomby - Where were U in 92?: Give me some neo-hardcore from the wobbly-dubstep joker
9= Distance - Repercussions: More dubstep, featuring the dark-as broody Chestplate releases, good shit
9= Headhunter - Nomad: One of the finest dubstep artists out there, making some more technoey pumping stuff, no boredom here.
11 Venetian Snares - Detrimentalist: More of the same from Aaron Funk, it's rinse-out in 7/4 time
12 The Bug - London Zoo: Yeah.
13 Jacaszek - Treny: Ambient harmonies from an experimental Pole of whom I'd never heard before this year. Surprisingly nice combinations of neo-classical, samples and production
14 Maga Bo - Archipelagoes: Good shit from DJ\Rupture labelmate, some great "foreign" vocalists accompanied with a great range of hiphop, dubstep, ?step, production
15 Skulldisco - Soundboy's Gravestone Gets Desecrated by Vandals: Shackleton et al doing their space-dark-dubstep thing again, and doing it just as well. Heavy going, some say they're better remixed, but very interesting however you look at it.
16 Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Continued: done
17 Scuba - A Mutual Antipathy: Another great dubstep production, an album that works well as a piece, surprisingly not boring.
18 Benga - Diary of an Afro-Warrior: surprised this wasn't voted into the top 30, fairly mainstream appeal with some quality dancefloor tracks and some intelligent bits
19 Earth - The Bees Made Honey in The Lion's Skull: I reckon this probably deserved a higher rating from me, but I listen to Hex a lot more.
20 Optimo - Sleepwalk: lovely bit of ambient, electro, industrial, out-there from the Optimo boys.

 

[mitochondria]

why? - alopecia

 

[dodgepot]

Thanks for doing the work bluestreak.

oooh i haven't said thank you yet. cheers bluey

 

[mitochondria]

15 Skulldisco - 'Soundboy''s Gravestone Gets Desecrated by Vandals': Shackleton et al doing their space-dark-dubstep thing again, and doing it just as well. Heavy going, some say they're better remixed, but very interesting however you look at it.

^^ this a close second

 

[g force]

MGMT is should be called MGPS (as in musical Magpies; the most derivative plagiaristic shit out there)

Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Elfuckingbow

Indeed. Off the top of my head my Top 10 would be (in no real order):

Q-Tip
The Bug
Crystal Castles
Fuck Buttons
TV on the Radio
Vampire Weekend
Cut Copy
The Gaslight Anthem
The Walkmen
Los Campesinos!

 

[El Jefe]

here's my 20 - 40 list

21 Glasvegas s/t
22 The Fall Imperial Wax Solvent
23 A Silver Mount Zion 13 Blues For 13 Moons
24 Jonathan Richman Her Beauty
25 Kitty Daisy & Lewis s/t
26 She & Him Volume 1
27 Fuck Buttons Horrrsing
28 Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
29 Los Campesinos We're Beautiful, We're Doomed
30 Parts & Labor Receivers
31 Grace Jones Hurricane
32 Lindstrom Where You Go, I Go Too
33 King Khan & The Shrines The Supreme Genius Of…
34 Laura Marling Alas, I Cannot Swim
35 Amanda Palmer Who Killed Amanda Palmer
36 Half Man Half Biscuit CSI Ambleside
37 JD Twitch (Optimo) 10 Inches Of Fear / 60 Minutes of Fear
38 Caspa & Rusko Fabric Mix
39 Clark Turning Dragon
40 Optimo Sleepwalk

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

was my number 1 of the year. Anyone that has a tap dancer instead of a drummer is fine by me

 

[Augie March]

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

Hot Chip - Made In The Dark

They were this year? I'd have voted for them if I'd realised that.

 

[Augie March]

My own (now amended) list:

1. Third (Portishead)
2. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
3. The Seldom Seen Kid (Elbow)
4. Angles (Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip)
5. Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)
6. Made In The Dark (Hot Chip)
7. The Bedlam In Goliath (The Mars Volta)
8. Hold On Now, Youngster (Los Campesinos!)
9. Dear Science (TV On The Radio)
10. Distortion (The Magnetic Fields)
11. Oracular Spectacular (MGMT)
12. Nights Out (Metronomy)
13. To Survive (Joan As Policewoman)
14. Flight Of The Conchords (Flight Of The Conchords)
15. In Our Space Hero Suits (Those Dancing Days)
16. Ladyhawke (Ladyhawke)

I can't believe Angles didn't make it in the final countdown, it's fucking ace.

 

[Dr_Gonzo]

Thanks for putting the list together, I was surprised by a few omissions. Anyway here's my list, I think there have been a few changes since I submitted it for my Urban vote but it's basically the same:

1. No Age - Nouns
2. Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
3. Times New Viking - Rip It Off
4. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
5. Xiu Xiu - Women as Lovers
6. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
7. High Places - High Places
8. The Bug - London Zoo
9. Cadence Weapon - After Party Babies
10. Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior
11. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
12. Fiery Furnaces - Remember
13. Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics
14. Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
15. Zach Hill - Astrological Straights
16. Mount Eerie - Lost Wisdom
17. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
18. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
19. Amadou and Miriam - Welcome to Mali
20. The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion

 

[F_Burnside]

I've seen a lot of people on various sites slating the Glasvegas album, but it really is ace. They're so much better live though, and only seems to really work in small venues. Could be said of loads of bands though really.