Wednesday 24 December 2008

Top 30 Albums of 2008

Having hummed and hah-ed over this for the past couple of weeks or so, I now present to you my favourite thirty (yes, thirty!) albums of 2008. Despite my overall impression of the musical year being a somewhat lacklustre one, it seems that I've listened to a whole heck of a lot of stuff and surprised myself somewhat by just how much of it I have come to love. There's several that didn't make it for one reason or another - Goldfinger's Hello Destiny, The Futureheads' This Is Not The World, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals' Cardinology, We Are Scientists' Brain Thrust Mastery, Jack's Mannequin's The Glass Passenger, to name a few - but let's not dwell on those. Instead, let's get right down to business with a nice old list. No, I'm not going to wax poetic about the albums in the list, mostly because it's Christmas Eve at 10.00pm and I can't be arsed, but also because there's only so much smoke I can blow up musicians' arses before I start to get a bit, well, bored. So here it is, the top 30 of the year, in all its naked, ungarnished glory...

30. BAYSIDE: Shudder
29. FLEET FOXES: Fleet Foxes
28. THE WALKMEN: You & Me
27. BE YOUR OWN PET: Get Awkward
26. THE SUBWAYS: All Or Nothing
25. BLOC PARTY: Intimacy
24. BRITISH SEA POWER: Do You Like Rock Music?
23. THE OFFSPRING: Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
22. FUCKED UP: The Chemistry of Common Life
21. FLOGGING MOLLY: Float
20. STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS: Real Emotional Trash
19. LAURA MARLING: Alas, I Cannot Swim
18. ANTI-FLAG: The Bright Lights of America
17. FRIGHTENED RABBIT: The Midnight Organ Fight
16. CHRIS TT: Capital
15. RISE AGAINST: Appeal To Reason
14. THE KING BLUES: Save The World, Get The Girl
13. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: Narrow Stairs
12. LOS CAMPESINOS!: We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
11. VAMPIRE WEEKEND: Vampire Weekend
10. R.E.M.: Accelerate
9. ALKALINE TRIO: Agony and Irony
8. LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION: Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
7. FOALS: Antidotes
6. LOS CAMPESINOS!: Hold On Tight, Youngster
5. GLASVEGAS: Glasvegas
4. CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
3. BLOOD RED SHOES: Box of Secrets
2. FRANK TURNER: Love, Ire and Song
1. THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM: The '59 Sound

1 comment:

screenager said...

Top 20 Albums of 2007:

20. SUM 41: Underclass Hero
19. THE DYKEENIES: Nothing Means Everything
18. BAD RELIGION: New Maps of Hell
17. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE: Era Vulgaris
16. DROPKICK MURPHYS: The Meanest of Times
15. THE ARCADE FIRE: Neon Bible
14. RADIOHEAD: In Rainbows
13. IDLEWILD: Make Another World
12. THE KISSAWAY TRAIL: The Kissaway Trail
11. FALL OUT BOY: Infinity On High
10. MANIC STREET PREACHERS: Send Away the Tigers
9. EDITORS: An End Has A Start
8. AGAINST ME!: New Wave
7. BIFFY CLYRO: Puzzle
6. THE CRIBS: Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
5. JIMMY EAT WORLD: Chase This Light
4. INTERPOL: Our Love to Admire
3. FRANK TURNER: Sleep is for the Week
2. BLOC PARTY: A Weekend in the City
1. BRIGHT EYES: Cassadaga