This year was perhaps the most scatterbrained, unfocused year of my life.  I spent the first half of the year questioning where I would be in the second half, as possibilities included Wales, Italy, and New Mexico, and it turned out that I ended up in New Mexico.  So I moved all the way across the country, living on my own for the first time, living with people from all around the world.  Especially with the horrendous Internet connection on campus, music was not exactly on my mind when I first arrived.  My reviewing came to almost a complete halt, and for a while, so did my listening. 

Suddenly, I realized that 2008 would soon come to an end, and I needed to catch up.  I managed to catch up in the end, and I am happy with the results of my lists, but I certainly hope for better next year.  Many albums that may have grown on me later just didn't have the time.  Thus, my list represents a lot of albums that hit me as fantastic as soon as I listened to them. 

From my stilted point of view, 2008 released tons of excellent albums but little to no classics.  I found my top albums very easy to rank while my bottom 15 got much more difficult, and at that point, the rankings became more and more arbitrary. 

A subtle, beautiful work, Fordlandia combines neo-classical strings with modern electronics for a further expansion in his already unique sound.  With a cool beauty that only Iceland could produce, the album's bookending epics give Sigur Ros a run for their money in “most epic Icelandic song of the year.”

 

I have to say, I was not expecting this at all.  I heard “Love Lockdown”, and like most everyone else, wondered where the song was.  Then, he added some more drums, and suddenly, the album was looking up.  With 80s synth jam “Paranoid” and the chilled, dark “Say It All”, Kanye shocked the world with his surprising musicality.  Bring on the imitation albums.

 

It's a little spastic, but undeniably good through every section.  As Tyler Munro said in his full review, it grabs hold of you immediately and never lets go.  The clean sections are gorgeous, the heavy sections intense, and somehow, it all makes sense in the end. 

With number 22, we reach our first full out post-rock album of the list.  A little more rock based than most and perhaps more off-kilter, Goodbye Melody Mountain keeps pumping the adrenaline for the most energetic post-rock album since Moving Mountain's Pnuema, although that isn't saying much.  Some of the sections reek Jaga Jazzist, while others scream Do Make Say Think, but the combination of these aspects is something all their own.

When I first heard this album, I overhyped it.  I placed it in my top five for the year and thought for certain it would never leave.  To say the least, it grew off of me, but I still love the general ambiance of the album.  Despite being a one-man solo project, it at times sounds like a real quartet, especially with the brilliant chord voicings.  Kronos Quartet goes completely electronica.

Some say it's horrible.  Some rate it as the album of the year.  I fall somewhere in between.  "Halfway Home", "Dancing Choose", and "Love Dog" are undeniably catchy while "Family Tree" and "Stork and Owl" are some of the more beautiful things the band has done in their own weird way.  Quite simply a fun album to listen to no matter what way you look at it.

Honestly, I still haven't heard Focus, but if it's anything like Traced in Air, I'm very excited to hear it.  It has everything a good metal album needs - technicality, intensity, and melodicism, plus the digitalized vocal twist and complete restraint at all times.  It's as if the whole band is kept on a leash the whole time, which caused some metal diehards to lash out against the album, but in the end it just makes a more interesting, original listen.  "The Space for This" for metal song of the year.

Despite ranking #18 on my list, I have to say that this album disappointed me, seeing that the first two volumes finished so high on my list last year.  Despite holding some of the best songs on the entire collection ("Daedalus", "Child of Dust"), the EPs could not stand up as a whole to the beauty of Water or the intensity of Fire. 

Ever since the beginning of the year, Japan has been blowing me away.  This is the first of four Japanese albums that will appear on this list.  Like a post-rock Mars Volta, this group is only a quartet, but they manage to sound like a full orchestra and a full rock band combined.  "Ginga o Kowashite Hatsudensho o Tsukure" is easily one of the most beautiful and epic things composed all year, and the rest of the album falls somewhere in a freaky jazz-rock hybrid that any prog rock band would be proud of. 

Contrary to popular opinion, Feed the Animals has more merit than the "ultimate party record", although it works particularly well in that setting.  Greg Gillis has compiled some of the worst pop songs ever and put them into a listenable setting, a remarkable feat in itself.  His version of "Crank Dat" is the only version I will accept at this point.

Japan pt. 2.  This man, if he sang in English, would be huge.  His crossover success is still greatly underappreciated, as Tokumaru is making some of the most enjoyable pop music around.  "Parachute" is impossibly catchy, and even when he sings in Japanese, the vocal melodies will get stuck in your head.  It has the ballads, the uptempo hits, and everything in between.

When it's good, it's the best post-rock of the year.  When it's bad, well, you've heard it all before.  If the climaxes in "The Day Shift" and "Siren" don't get you sweating, check your pulse. 

Japan pt. 3.  Very few artists can pull off an electronica "remix" of Pachelbel's "Canon" and not have it sound like completely rehashed garbage.  Unlike most of his contemporaries, no. 9's music is, on the whole, not solemn and somber.  He titled his "Canon" remix "I Hope", and other  titles include "Alive" and "Princess."  The album is essentially electronica mixed with blistering acoustic guitar passages (that still manage to be pretty) and driving beats.  Sorry I couldn't publicize it a little more this year, but I encourage everyone to check it out.

Proof that Sigur Ros is still the best band in Iceland.  Some people hated it because the album changed in the wrong direction, while some people accused them of not changing.  For sure, this album is different than anything they've ever done before, a more spontaneous, fancy-free nature that sees the band in a more poppy style.  Still, "Ara Batur" capitalizes on that fundamental nature of the band to combine grandeur and beauty, this time in the most organic way possible - orchestra and choir.

Visiter utilizes such a simple formula - folk songs with ridiculous percussive grooves - and makes it work for over an hour.  The lyrics, vocal melodies, guitar patterns, and percussion are all brilliant here.  Remarkably, it all flows together as if one gigantic song, a risky move for such an acoustic album, but here, it creates necessary cohesion in such a lengthy album.

Another album that shows the possibilities of what can be done in a studio, this duo blends post-rock and electronica for a sublime experience.  It divides into three sections, with the first four tracks comprising the first section that really should just play as one gigantic song.  If we consider that one song, it's in the top 5 songs of the year.

Take out all the bullshit in their first two albums, add the energy and technicality of Thomas Pridgen's drumming, and you have The Bedlam in Goliath.  In addition to being an awesome album, it created one of the most hilarious lyrical misunderstandings of all time:  "I got a penis that'll rip through the very fabric of time."

 

Finally, the folk album of the year.  There is absolutely nothing in this album other than Kristian Matsson and his instrument of choice, whether it be guitar or banjo.  As soon as the album started gaining steam, the Bob Dylan references started pouring out despite the fact that he sounds nothing like Dylan.  Yet the comparison seems so fitting in the end.

The final installment of my series on awesome Japanese music.  While the album certainly has its footings in math rock, LITE makes their music instantaneously accessible, and at times, might not sound too out of place on a dance floor.  Unlike most math rock, however, their music has direction and purpose.  Just listen to "Solitude", easily the band's best work to date.  The modulations are perfect and the rhythmic development pushes the song further and further into insanity.

For those who have heard the band's debut, And the Battle Is Won, Embers is much in the same vein, except they got better production and made their sound much, much bigger.  With their new production, they pushed further into heavier territory, and the almost metal "McDoomish"  marks  the climax of the whole album, while songs like "Murmurs Part 2" show how just about any band can beat Explosions in the Sky at their own game.

 

The world has waited twelve years for another great instrumental hip-hop album, and while 2008 yielded many, Late Night Cinema wins the crown pretty easily.  In the beats, the production duo Kingston and Young God keep most hip-hop cliches, but what surrounds those beats is one of the most organic hip-hop sounds around.  Horns, soulful vocal samples, and post-rock-esque harmonic motion make this release truly something special.

This album is seventy minutes long and it never blinks.  Moving from genre to genre, instrument to instrument, mood to mood, the 31 vignettes that make up this masterpiece piece together a scattered life full of tranquility, happiness, anger, and depression.  As with so many remarkable albums, the combination of genres and styles almost magically works.  Starting right at the beginning, "Kirilan Voyager" and "Steel for Papa" should not work together, but the simple input of birds chirping at the end of the former sets the mood perfectly for the latter.  Nuances like this tie the entire album together.  All seventy minutes.

• Black Milk- Tronic:  Honestly, this should've made the list, but I didn't get the album soon enough.  Best traditional hip-hop album of the year.
• Blitzen Trapper- Furr:  Just flat out good songs, man.  Butch Walkers of the West.
• DJ /rupture- Uproot:  While this one never latched onto me like it did for so many others, I still enjoyed its atmosphere and mood.
• Tobias Hellkvist- Sides:  The first half of this album, which comprises of layered guitar and electronics, is brilliant.  Too bad the second half delves into boring, self-righteous ambient music.
• Lights Out Asia- Eyes Like Brontide:  They have a gorgeous sound, but not much else.  I get sick of it after the first few songs.
• Apple Juice Kid- Miles Remixed:  This is exactly what you think it is.  Miles Davis - remixed.  Somehow, it works.

• Rise Against- Appeal to Reason:  I'm not entirely sure what I expected out of this, as it's just like every other Rise Against album, but I guess I was ready for a change, and they aren't.
• Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago:  I just don't get this album.  I don't find anything particularly special about it.  Maybe it would be one of those albums that grew on me if I had the time.
• Harvey Milk- Life... The Best Game in Town:  The guitars sound horrible, the vocals are laughable, and it just doesn't make any sense overall.  Why is this getting notoriety?  Here's to hoping the movie is better.
• Mogwai- The Hawk Is Howling:  Everything is so boring.  I thought the Zidane soundtrack was a one-off thing, but I guess not.
• Sun Kil Moon:  April- After releasing one of my favorite albums of all time, Sun Kil Moon really let me down here.  Just about every song is way too long and way too repetitive.  Even Kozelek's voice can't save this one.

2007:  Efterklang- Parades
I'd always heard about Efterklang, and after discovering Peter Broderick (who plays violin for them live), and hearing my Danish friend rave about them, I just had to check it out.  Suddenly, the Leaf Label sent it to me!  What a deal!  I should probably get around to reviewing it...

2006:  Tim Hecker- Harmony in Ultraviolet
I heard about this one from our favorite plagiarist, Akbar Jaffry, and it competes with some of the best in the ambient world.  Absolutely gorgeous, surreal, and spiritual.

2005:  Laura- Radio Swan Is Down
While I may be a little late on this parade, I've fallen in love with this album after neglecting it for so long.

2009 will either rule or be a huge disappointment.  I'm already anticipating new albums from dredg and Jaga Jazzist, perhaps my two favorite bands, although the new material I have heard from dredg is less-than-promising.   Muse may have a new album out in the second half.  Also in the works are albums from The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, The Appleseed Cast, India.Arie, M. Ward, and Tortoise.  The Roxy Music reunion album may come to fruition.  In all honesty, though, I just want to have a less scattered musical year now that I've adapted to my new life as a residential student.  I will begin writing as a full-time critic for Popmatters at the New Year, so I am sure that I will pull in all kinds of new music from them. 

Enjoy the rest of our features, and enjoy the rest of your year.

 

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