Bradford Pearson

Top 10 Albums of 2008 (plus some others)

Now I could just say I wanted to wait until 2008 was actually over to post this list, but the truth is I've been a little lazy. But I figure if I put this this out two weeks ago it would've just been white noise and you would've ignored it.
That being said, this list is not of the Top 10 BEST albums of 2008, it's of my favorite albums. I'm going to try and post a song or at least a link with each song. Since most of you probably don't really care what I think, I'll keep my comments to a minimum and let you just listen to the songs.

So here it is, with some honorable mentions. Feel free to comment on the list and tell me how I ignored My Morning Jacket or placed Girl Talk too high.


Honorable Mentions:
Kanye West "808s and Heartbreak"
The Walkmen "You & Me"
Crystal Castles "Crystal Castles"
Fleet Foxes "Fleet Foxes"
Q-Tip "The Renaissance"

Song of the Year:
I really loved a bunch of singles this year, but this track melts everything else. And since I didn't have enough room for the album in my Top 10, here's Bon Iver's "Skinny Love," via David Letterman.



Top 10 Albums:

10. Lil Wayne "Tha Carter III"

As much as I love this album, I have to admit that a lot of that admiration comes from this album cover.

(UPDATE: If you want a great review of this album, go here, to Ross' blog.)

9. Cut Copy "In Ghost Colours"
I think this was a really good year for dance music, and this album proves that.

8. Girl Talk "Feed the Animals"
Just go see him live. That's all I have to say. This video clip is from the show I was lucky enough to attend in Baltimore in October, and the audio file below is from the album. The sound is a bit off on the video, but I didn't include the link for the sound, I included it for the insanity.

7. Los Campesinos "Hold on Now, Youngster..."
Welsh band. Spanish name. Fun.



6. No Age "Nouns"
I watched only one music video on MTV this entire year, and I caught this one. It sold me instantly, and the rest of the album is even better than this single.


Eraser - No Age

5. War on Drugs "Wagonwheel Blues"
Great Philadelphia band, going on tour with The Hold Steady this spring. Alas, they aren't stopping in DC.



4. Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend"
The backlash against this album was really unwarranted. It's a fun album, so why all the fuss? Plus, it made me look up what an oxford comma was.



Any of these last three albums could've easily been my number one album, but after listening to each one more time this week I decided on this order. So, technically I guess, these are the top three albums of this week.

3. TV on the Radio "Dear, Science"
This is easily the band's most accessible record, something that may upset old fans but bring the band a host of new ones. Aside from this album, singer Tunde Adebimpe's version of Neil Young's "Unknown Legend" from the Rachel Getting Married soundtrack is one of the best songs of the year.



2. The Hold Steady "Stay Positive"
Not as good as 2006's "Boys and Girls in America," but a sub-par Hold Steady record is better than most regular records. The last track,"Slapped Actress," is the band's best album-closing track since 2004's "Killer Parties," off its Almost Killed Me album.



1. The Daylight Brigade "Spring"
This group of musicians from Nashville was introduced to me a friend (Charlie), and this album floors me every time I listen to it. It's much softer than all of the other albums on this list, and aches in a way that old Ryan Adams albums used to. I'm hoping to head down to Nashville this spring, so there may be some interviews with the group here in a few months.

The group (not a band, they say) has a pretty small Web presence, but if you click here you can download their albums. Do it.

So, there it is. Feel free to rib me in the comments section.

(UPDATE: Some people have asked me— both in the comments section and off-line— about some other albums I didn't include. So here are a couple more that I really enjoyed but didn't put on the initial list: The Foreign Exchange "Leave it All Behind"; The Roots "Rising Down"; Wale "Mixtape about Nothing"; Times New Viking "Rip it Off".)