The Top 20 Albums of 2008

2008 was an interesting year for me. In case you missed my little rant on the state of indie music as a genre from last year, here's what you need to know: personally, I feel like I've grown past a phase where indie music qualifies as good music just because it helps to differentiate the hipsters from the mainstream. This year, I learned that maintaining that growth is just as difficult as growing. It's a tough place to be in, striving to have relevant musical tastes on the Internet and not polarize oneself by admitting an affinity for, say, Miley Cyrus, (or Girls Aloud, but enough time has passed between Pop Stars and 2008 that it's cool to like them now), while still maintaining an independence of thought that reacts independent of the top critics on Metacritic. Being in the scene while refusing to be shaped by its tastes seems generally implausible, but it's what I've attempted to do for the last year and change. Sometimes, I think it's working. Other times, I can't decide if I like Ben Folds anymore (yay? nay?).

I try hard to listen to something on its own merit, but it's tough notto be swayed by a critic, especially since that's almost always how I hear of the product. The problem is that there's so much music to be found on the Internet these days that, at some point, you have to trust a critic or a blogger when he says to stay away or to dive in headfirst. But when to do this, and with whom to ally oneself? It's all a big muddle. In truth, music criticism and the hipster scene will probably be with us forever, in some capacity, and it's up to us to grow up and grow out of it in order to hear with our own ears. But when to break the mold? Was Vampire Weekend an overhyped, masturbatory hipster project, the heir to the ever-vacant indie Soweto throne, or just a decent album? It depends on who you talk to. It depends on who they talked to. There are so many voices on the Internet, there's seemingly nobody to trust, and when you can't trust yourself to be objective, who can you trust? I repeat, it's all one big muddle.

In the end, here are the albums I liked and listened to the most this year. I can't decide whether or not I should revel in or be ashamed of any moment when this list will overlap with any of hipster prophets' year-end lists... but you can make up your own mind. And try to be objective.

20. Lykke Li - Youth Novels

If you want my opinion, don't waste your time with Lady Gaga. That glitchy dance-pop stuff has been outright perfected by the Scandinavians, and just recently, I think it was suffused right into their blood. Making perfect music within that specific genre is now an inborn trait for Norwegians, Swedes, Fins, and the Icelandic, like black people and the ability to vote down gay marriage (I kid), or gays, and the ability to enjoy same sex sexuality. For evidence, look no further than New Yorker-via-Scandinavia Lykke Li, whose debut album, Youth Novels, was the best dance-pop album of the year. With catchy, skittery numbers like "Dance Dance Dance" (which far surpasses Lady Gaga's much more simple "Just Dance", at least in terms of the urgency of the command) and "Little Bit", one of the surprise singles of the year, Lykke Li is poised to wind up on every car commercial ever for the rest of time.

"Little Bit" - official music video

19. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

In truth, my enchantment with Vampire Weekend lasted all of two weeks. As a grammar nerd, I was particularly taken with "Oxford Comma", and "Mansard Roof" was a treat as well. The rest of the album doesn't stray too far from these two tracks, which intelligently blend the prototypical indie rock sound with African Soweto music ala 1986's Graceland or The Indestructible Beat of Soweto. It's a pretty tight, new sound. The pretentious argument that trailed this eponymous debut was a question of whether the band came by this sound naturally, or forged it dispassionately. Perhaps it's a testament to their actual talent that your opinion regarding this matter changes the quality of the album definitively. They're at #19 because I can't make up my mind.

"Mansard Roof" - official music video

18. Marnie Stern - This is it...

Marnie Stern's sophomore album, named, in full, 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, exudes confidence, if you couldn't get that from the title. And that's not to say her last album lacked it--far from it--just that this one somehow, has more, as though Stern has developed a second belly full of guts. On This is It, Stern repeats the formula from her first album, In Advance of the Broken Arm, by beating her guitar to death while Zach Hill performs a similar assault on his drum kit, but the difference here is that the songs are beginning to take on real structure while maintaining Stern's unique delivery, like album standout "Transformer". The comparisons to Deerhoof remain, insomuch as they also began as a band with no structure and grew into a tight outfit whose songs, while having a distinct shape, were still vastly different from anybody else's. The difference between Stern and Deerhoof is that Deerhoof's gotten sweeter over the years, like a mom becoming a grandpa, while Stern's gotten more imposing, like a mom becoming a witch. Stern is fearless and there's nobody like her.

"Transformer" - official music video

17. Man Man - Rabbit Habits

Man Man's third album, Rabbit Habits, brings exactly what you've come to expect from Man Man: Honus Honus on the forethroat, yelping like a caveman, and the rest of the band beating percussive items like, well, also cavemen. It's always been a primitive sound, so you can imagine the surprise of some when "Rabbit Habits" arrived with what appeared to be musicianship. It's an irony that growth for some (like Stern, above), is seen as mellowing and selling out for others (ala Man Man, right here). As a result of this dichotomy, Rabbit Habits did not receive a fair shake despite excellent tracks such as "Mister Jung Stuffed" and "Hurly Burly". The critics seem to have forgotten that most of Man Man's best tracks on previous albums weren't the Neanderthalic freakouts of "Young Einstein on the Beach", but the simpler moments in between, such as "Sarsparilla" and the lovely "Van Helsing Boombox". If there's one criticism of Rabbit Habits, it's that the dissonance has been filed away to a point at which those standout moments of simplicity are no longer as pleasantly surprising. But what a trifling complaint. Rabbit Habits is great.

"Mister Jung Stuffed" - official music video

16. Bodies of Water - A Certain Feeling

The Bodies of Water sound has been compared to the Mamas and the Papas, but I think these comparisons are way off. Apart from the fact that Bodies of Water is twoguys and two girls harmonizing, musically, they aren't even close. I'd be more inclined to look towards the B-52s, another foursome who moved past just singing songs and into performance art. A Certain Feeling picks up where 2007's Ears Will Pop and Eyes Will Blink left off, but improves the craft by cutting down on the Spectoresque production qualities and focusing more on the songcraft. Rather than pack a wallop, as did their debut, Bodies of Water now have other ways of getting to you. They drift, they lilt, for instance. Mind you, they also still wail and rock and crescendo their way into your gut, but you can't change everything. If you're a fan of the theatrical and religiousand you've already had a dose of Andrew Lloyd Webber this year, this might be your cup of tea. I recommend Under the Pines as a good starting point, or, if you reall want your mind blow, back up a year and listen to These Are the Eyes.

"Darling, Be Here" - MP3

15. Ben Folds - Way to Normal

Poor Ben Folds. Once hailed as a darling of the critics for his acerbic, piano-based power-pop, he now gets bashed by the same contingent for a) growing up or b) not growing up enough. His last album, Songs For Silverman, was his maturest effort, but for some, it was a bland and tidy affair. He was too old, the critics said. On Way to Normal, he brings back the sass, and suddenly he's called juvenile. He's too old for this, the critics said. So what to do? Well, ignore the stupid critics, for one. Musically, these are Ben Folds' best songs since he went solo--look no further than anthemic opener "Hiroshima", or bouncing standout, "You Don't Know Me" for proof--and lyrically, he may have dropped the sweetness and melancholy of songs like "Gracie" and "Too Late" for a return to infantile ditties like "Dr. Yang", "Effington", and others, but he's having a lot more fun here, and, as a result, so am I.

"Cologne" (Fake Version) - official music video

14. Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim

Laura Marling was the winner of this year's ridiculous Blatchelor competition--a blog series where I explore a number of female musicians who I might otherwise have overlooked. I fell head over heels with a teenage songwriter from Hampshire whose rambling soliloquys take on a similar shape to Kate Nash or Lily Allen's British-drawl-drenched folk songs. To Marling's credit, at only 18 years old or some such other terrible age, she already has more talent, more potential and more depth than either of the two aforementioned songwriters. The best tracks on Alas I Cannot Swim, such as "Ghosts", or "Cross Your Fingers/Crawled Out of the Sea", hint at a songwriter whose uniquely lovely style will beget numerous more albums as good (or possibly better) than this one.

"Ghosts" - official music video

13. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams

It's taken me quite awhile to come around to Destroyer, and Dan Bejar's off-kilter delivery and pretentious lyricism. Songwriters I admire greatly, such as Okkervil River's Will Sheff, have said Dan Bejar is one of the best writers writing today. After one time through Trouble in Dreams, it's a definite possibility (though I'd stick with Sheff, humble as he is). The real trick with Destroyer is Bejar's powerfully nasal voice, which sounds like Bob Dylan if he were a muppet voiced by a woman, but it's an acquired taste that, once acquired, makes every word he sings sound like pure poetry--which they often are. If you've avoided this one because of previous difficulties with Bejar and co., Trouble in Dreams may be one of Destroyer's most accessible moments, primarily because the songwriter seems to have lost the disdain for his backing band. Trouble in Dreams sounds like an album put out by a musical group rather than a Bejar solo project with resented studio musicians, and the product is better for it. Each song, from "Blue Flower/Blue Flame" onward, is a thrilling, full-ensemble performance piece as good as anything Destroyer's produced in their many years.

"Foam Hands" - official music video

12. Hanne Hukkelberg - Rykestrasse 68

Rykestrasse 68 has been floating around for the better part of two years. Its best songs, such as the lovely, jazzy "Cheater's Armoury" and "The Northwind" won my heart way back in the summer of 2006. But the Norwegian songstress, unlike American major-label Scandinavian Lykke Li, is a true foreigner, and her albums take years to arrive stateside. This one was worth the wait. Rykestrasse 68 is chock-a-block with the same sort of beautiful, icy jazz-pop as Little Things, but the album is much tighter as a unit. While nothing here rivals the pop perfection of "Do Not as I Do", this is Hukkelberg's best complete statement. If you haven't given her a chance now, considering this recommendation a Harrison Exists! Christmas gift from me to you. Of the many Scandinavian women blessing our ears these days, Hukkelberg is at the top of the heap.

"A Cheater's Armoury" - official music video

11. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Let's pretend that "Dancing Choose" never happened. It was a gut-wrenching moment for me, a devoted TV on the Radio fan, when I heard the lead single from the otherwise excellent TV on the Radio album and began to wretch at the atrocious rap-rocking that Tunda Adepimpe was attempting. I know some enjoyed it, but I couldn't help thinking of now-defunct Christian band All Together Separate, who followed up a surprisingly excellent rock album (an overlooked Christian gem) with the bloody-awful Unusual, one of the worst Christian albums I've ever heard. I had blocked it out of my mind until now, especially their lowest point, a rap-rock butchery titled "I'll Rise (Asteroid)" that sounds frighteningly similar to the TV on the Radio single mentioned above. "Dancing Choose" is bad--real bad. But! If that song were somehow lost in a studio fire, the rest of the album is exactly the kind of AMAZING, spacey, dissonant, funky rock I've come to adore from TV on the Radio. Opener "Halfway Home", and standout "The Golden Age" especially, make me smile. I don't need to say much about the album, really. It's not enough unlike the stellar Return to Cookie Mountain that you won't know what you're expecting if you've heard that album, which is both a positive and a negative. But "Dancing Choose"? Well, I'd rather not talk about it.

"Dancing Choose" - official music video

10. The Bug - London Zoo

There really isn't ever a lot of hip hop on these year-end lists because I can't stand most of it. I especially hate that gritty, Rastafari stuff that sounds like black men barking like dogs. As a black man, I find I hate any music that makes black people sound like animals. It's not helping. Plus, they're never really saying anything of value--just advocating domestic abuse or some such other social problem. But that's where London Zoo is different. On it, London dancehall master Kevin Martin, going by moniker The Bug (one of many handles), filters Jamaican music through the London dubstep scene, producing an offspring that is danceable, twitchy, and more aurally pleasing than almost anything else that's come out of Jamaica in this decade. Opener "Angry" sounds like the follow-up to "I Like to Move It" and "The Macarena", except that it's way better. "Murder We" is conscious, intelligent Rasta-spit, and the rest of the album never comes down from its early heights. It's an angry album, full of grumbling, bass-heavy tracks that will shoot your computer speakers to death if you let it, but it's an absolute classic, so buy new speakers and play it loud.

"Skeng" - official music video

9. Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs

Some reviews of this album have incorrectly cited that the legendary Hawksley Workman produced this album. This is incorrect because Hawksley is not legendary: he hasn't made a good album in three tries, and my patience for him has worn thin over the years. That said, as a producer, he's still one of the best in the business, because he's a minimalist. Take, for instance, the debut album from Hey Rosetta!, properly titled Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and Through Your Blood), in which he passes on the opportunity to take an otherwise epic and moving band and swaddle their dramatic crescendos in studio strings and other such accoutrement. Instead, Into Your Lungs is a massive, full-scale rock album with stadium anthems galore, dripping with the sort of theatricality that propelled artists such as The Arcade Fire and Jeff Buckley to stardom, and without any of the overheft we've come to expect from albums of this magnitude. In 2008, no band made use of the crescendo like Hey Rosetta!. If you like your rock anthems understated, look elsewhere. If you like it when they blow your ears off, go listen to "There's an Arc."

"New Goodbye" - live in Toronto

8. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins

Maybe I'm selfish, but when a musician nearly kills himself in striving for the realization of an artistic vision, and then chooses to redeem his life and his joy by simplifying the process for his next few albums, I find myself wanting more of the life-threatening stuff pretty quickly. It's an inhumane demand, really, but here we are, two albums removed from Black Sheep Boy, and all I want is more of that. Will Sheff songs are narrowly impossible to relate to at the best of times, which is why his songs about being on the road in a rock and roll band , despite being a little more down-to-earth than songs about a man with the head of a giant, grotesque goat, don't resonate like they should. Sheff is still the best songwriter on earth, and The Stand-Ins is further proof of that, what with its witty, lyrical paragraphs glutted with raw ire and wistfulness, but as an all-too similar follow-up to The Stage Names, it's a bit overkill, which is why it sits just outside the top ten. Still, if you want to hear the best songwriter in the world in 2008, you start here.

"Lost Coastlines" - official music video

7. Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married...

Martha Wainwright is the heir apparent to the throne of Kate Bush and Mary Margaret O'Hara--a songstress with no interest in singing to the beat, or simplifying her vocals to encourage imitation. A Martha Wainwright song sounds like it's been recorded on a rollercoaster, with her vocal inflections taking her up and down the scale without restraint. It's not for everybody, but I don't want to be friends with anybody for whom it isn't. I Know You're Married but I've Got Feelings Too is an artists' album, polarizing its listeners with a unique style that belongs to Wainwright alone. It doesn't always translate, as on the enjoyable "Jesus and Mary", which might seem like overkill to a non-fan, but when it does, as on the Starbucks-loved "You Cheated Me", it bests other popular Canadian songstresses with a similar disdain for structure (hint: rhymes with "Malanis Borrisette") by prairie miles. Here's hoping that Canada recognizes what they have in Martha before she, like her brother, decides it's better off on the other side. You know, and defects to the States. What did you think I meant? Oh, right.

"Jesus and Mary" - live in Paris

6. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Part One: 4th World War

One of the most dependable names in nu-soul, and certainly the most interesting, Erykah Badu returns with the first of a two-part series titled New Amerykah. It's a funky, retro affair, filled with the sort of dark, dissonant, socially-conscious funk of modern American classics such as Sly Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On and Curtis Mayfield's Superfly. This album is nothing like those two, really, excepting that it's rambling, unfocused rhythms and sonic textures allude to a general frustration with the black community as a whole, not to mention the way they make their music. Here, Badu seems to be pushing against her own beats, struggling to make them her own despite the stamp of a hip hop community with which she has trouble. On "Me," she even goes so far as criticize herself for being a baby mama to two separate rappers, a development which certainly pokes holes into her social consciousness. "Honey" is just killer. New Amerykah is filled with the sort of sadness of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On--no surprise that both albums are haunted by the death of a loved one: Terrell for Gaye, Dilla for Badu. All that said, I could reference other classic, dark soul albums all day and it wouldn't touch what Badu has done here. It's completely different, it's beautiful, and it's thrilling. It's not just a soul album loaded with rappers. There are none to be found here. This is Badu's moment, and she kills it, because it's bigger and better than hip hop, and so is she.

"The Healer" - Live on Soul Stage

5. HILOTRONS - Happymatic

It's a shame, really, that Canadian indie bands like The Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade have gotten so much attention when Ottawa's HILOTRONS receive so little. Furthermore, it's a shame that danceable, funky, repetitive indie bands like Franz Ferdinand have gotten so much attention when equally danceable and much more innovative bands like HILOTRONS continue to toil in relative obscurity. Happymatic is further proof, after 2006's Bella Simone, that these guys are one of the best bands in the business, and there's so little fanfare around them that it makes me ill. There are few hipster bands working today that make indie rock as textured, musically innovative, listenable and complex as HILOTRONS. Happymatic is the best Canadian album of the year. So why haven't you heard of them? Beats me. Maybe they're too good? Well, I'm sure that when it all comes down to it, it's just bad marketing, or bad management, or some such other issue that, far too often, obscures the breadth of the music being made. Whatever it is, do not let it stop you from hearing "Emergency Street", "Dominika", "Deep River" or any of the other flawless tracks on Happymatic. There's too much good stuff here to be wasted on the people of Eastern Canada.

"Emergency Street" - MP3

4. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

People talked about Offend Maggie as some sort of return to form for Deerhoof after the disappointing Friend Opportunity. Well, I loved Friend Opportunity and everything about it, so, for me, we're just talking about consistency. Ignoring that experimental noise-rock phase at the beginning of their career, Deerhoof has never made anything even close to resembling a bad album. Offend Maggie, then, is more of the same, but I refuse to punish them for consistency, especially when this album is near-perfection from start to finish. Opener "Tears of Music and Love", and lead single "Offend Maggie" are among the band's best tracks, but, unlike Friend Opportunity, which ended with unimpressive noodler "Look Away", there's no low point here. If you're looking for the Deerhoof album you use to hook your friends on Satomi and the gang's special skills, they finally made it. Deerhoof is the most reliable band in music and Offend Maggie is the proof.

"Chandelier Searchlight" - official music video

3. Shearwater - Rook

It seems to me that the best way to get out from under another's shadow is to outperform them, which is why Shearwater, led by former Okkervil River member Jonathan Meiburg, is such a triumph. Rook is an album by turns sophisticated and glorious, with intelligent, Romantic lyrics and orchestration more often seen outside the realms of indie rock, in concert halls and theatres. Rook's emotional grandiosity is beyond beautiful--Shearwater make other bands look like they're just learning to play the recorder in comparison to how intelligent and wise this music sounds. It's like comparing the Jewel to John Keats. But Meiburg isn't just a literate songster, and this isn't just heady music; it's also remarkably catchy, hook driven, prone to fits of crescendo, and successfully experimental at almost every turn. Listening to it sounds like an education in music, but not a tedious one, because you're totally hot for teacher. Lead single "Rooks" is one of the musical highlights of the year, and the opening song suite, ending with Leviathan, Bound, is the strongest front half of any album in 2008. By the end, the album begins to weigh, but only because it's so densely packed with sophisticated musicianship. And while we're gushing, the vocals are a treat, as Meiburg wails in a deep, affected vibrato that makes former bandmate Will Sheff's expressive singing style seem Leonard Cohen flat. A complete triumph.

"Rooks" - live at SXSW

2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Not since the Oh, Inverted World has there been a debut that seemed so simultaneously simple and studious. The members of Fleet Foxes seem wise beyond their years, so it's probably no surprise the record sounds completely timeless. Opener "Red Squirrel/Sun it Rises" could just as easily have been sung by an early church congregation somewhere in Appalachia, that then segues into something utterly beautiful, harmonic, and pastoral. "White Winter Hymnal" continues that trend, perfectly blending elements of folk, rock, and gospel into a song you imagine growing beneath your feet. Fleet Foxes is as stunning a debut as I've heard in years, mature, full, and lush, but with plenty of room to grow. Somehow, Fleet Foxes seem like they've been around forever, as though the album was dug out of a box in grandfather's attic--but perhaps it was. Nothing on it, by itself, seems new. Each element feels utterly nostalgic, so much so that when lead vocalist Robin Pecknold sings, to end the album, of "Oliver James/lost in the rain/no longer", you feel as though you know Oliver James and his story quite well. And that's Fleet Foxes' biggest triumph, and the thing that raises their music above Shearwater's otherwise superior musicianship: Rook feels distant. Fleet Foxes feels like home.

"White Winter Hymnal" - official music video

1. Shugo Tokumaru - Exit

If it's a crying shame that it took Hanne Hukkelberg's Rykestrasse 68 until 2008 to reach us over here, the bigger shame is that Exit is the first Shugo Tokumaru album that's ever been released here. Exit is actually his third release, following 2004's strong Night Piece and 2006's very strong L.S.T. All three albums are very similar, but what differentiates Exit from those two and makes it such a unique pleasure is its immediacy and consistency. Tokumaru sings entirely in Japanese and is prone to a humble, sleepy 1960s pop that is never unpretty, but not always guaranteed to hold one's attention, especially considering the words are gibberish to everybody but team Japan. L.S.T., for example, had a lead track ("Mist") so aesthetic and gripping I often play the album just to hear it, but I couldn't hum a single bar from anything after that. Exit, on the other hand, has just as strong an opener in "Parachute", but follows it up with song after effortless song that is equally as effective ("Button", "Green Rain", "Clocca"). In summation, Exit is his first complete work, a thrilling piece of international pop from beginning to end, and, if there's any justice, the album that will finally earn him some attention in North America. So please, get to know him. I'll even get you started: Tokumaru is a twenty-something multi-instrumentalist from Japan. His music is full of joyously twee arrangements and soothing dream-pop you're unlikely to hear anywhere else. In my opinion, if he sung in English, he'd be Sufjan popular. He probably wears really cool jeans. Oh, and his latest album, Exit, is the best album of 2008.

"Parachute" - official music video



Not a fan of albums? Like your artistic statements a little more concise? Check out the Top 50 Songs of 2008 here.