2008 Music Review

Best of the Best

• Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
  Call it a combination of Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel, with more whimsy and fun. The band is made up from Columbia University college friends; Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio. The band new was influenced by an indie horror movie Ezra had made (of the same name). A phenomenal debut.
  
  • Walcott
  • M79
  • A-Punk

• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
  The album "officially" came out in the late late 2007, but was widely released in 2008; so I nearly overlooked this stunning debut album. Bon Iver is the work of Justin Vernon, and the story goes that he holed himself up in a cabin in the wilderness of Wisconsin for three months, and wrote/recorded this album. Think a mix of somber tones of Sam Beam and the soul of Ray LaMontagne, somewhere between is Bon Iver.
  
  • For Emma
  • Flume
  • Re:Stacks

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• M83 - Saturdays = Youth
  Shoegaze will never die, which makes me feel very vindicated for still adoring the masters of the craft. "Saturdays = Youth" is the French band's fifth album (and really the only one I've heard of).
  
  • Graveyard Girl

• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
  Full and haunting, the echoing choruses of Fleet Foxes debut album is stunning, it feels as if the songs were born in a dark cave in the Appalachians, effortless and timeless. The more I listen, the more I appreciate the album.
  
  • Blue Ridge Mountains
  • White Winter Hymnal
  • Your Protector

• This Will Destory You - This Will Destroy You
  I cannot get enough of this album, very much like Explosions in the Sky (and also from Texas) emotional, orchestral instruments swell and dip. I find myself caught up in overload of sweeping sounds.
  
  • Threads

• TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
  At times this album reminds me of Depeche Mode, with is electronic infusion, and then sometimes an updated version of the Ramones. An overall great album that explores soundscapes unlike too many albums released this year (and successfully blending a wide variety of genres, making it near impossible to pinpoint any specifcally).
  
  • Family Tree
  • Golden Age

• The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
  After their bland sophomore release (Without Feathers) I had all but dismissed The Stills as moving in a direction that I wouldn't like any longer; but Oceans Will Rise is fantastic (though, not every song), so pleased they are back.
  
  • Being Here
  • Snow In California

• Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
  Some might say that is Sigur Ros "letting their hair down" (so to speak), but to me it seems like a great accumulation of their many divergent abilities, to be captivating, engaging, sweeping and energetic. The title roughly translates to: "With Buzzing in Our Ears We Play Endlessly". This is the first album to feature an English based-lyric song "All Right".
  
  • Gobbledigook
  • Inní mér syngur vitleysingur

• Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
  Kings of Leon have that retrospective sound of CCR or America, old-fashioned American rock; with a twang and soul and gospel. Kings of Leon are an interested band, made up of the 3 Followill brothers (Caleb, Nathan and Jared) as well as a cousin (Matthew). Being sons of a preacher has obviously influenced their work. "Only By the Night" is not KoL's best album, but its much more "accessible", and further develops their roots.
  
  • Sex on Fire
  • Use Somebody
  • Closer

Good But Not Great

• Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
  At least they are attempting to vary their sound, a good portion of the songs have neither (traditional) guitars or drums, as they further explore the more "progressive" conceptual album route.
  
• Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
  You can never count Trent Reznor out, even though the sound is still of the industrial meta/rock, he manages to make it effective and new.
  
• Sun Kil Moon - April
• The Black Keys - Attack & Release
• Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
• Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
  

Very Meh

• MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
  I found I could only tolerate a handful of the songs from the album (but those few are pretty spectacular)
• Islands - Arm's Way
• Beck - Modern Guilt
• Bloc Party - Intimacy
  

I Should Have Liked, but I didn't

• Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
  Don't even try to convince me that this album was good. Because it wasn't - it sounds like they are trying too hard to be Radiohead, and lack anything resembling their own sound.
• Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns
  Even less of the same thing. More mellow, less captivating. I've listened to it several times through and can't remember any of the songs.
• Keane - Perfect Symmetry
  A band trying so hard to sound iike Coldplay, who sounds like U2, who sounds like Radiohead. I could not get into this album at all.
  

I didn't give you a chance (maybe next year)

• Santigold - Santigold
  Perhaps the album cover is keeping me from listening. Yeah. That's exactly what it is.
• Dr. Dog - Fate
  I have this album, but its failed to capture my attention, but I'll give it a thorough listen in 2009.
• Lykke Li - Youth Novels
  

Bands that I didn't know still existed (and released albums in 2008)

• Whitesnake
• Dokken
• White Lion
• Filter
• Europe

There ya go. If you subscribe to the site, you'll see this list in your reader -- I obviously still haven't gotten the site updated yet, but soon enough, I promise ...