Fleet Foxes – s/t
A delightful, dreamy folk album that evokes the softer side of Jethro Tull. It’s lovingly and masterfully crafted from beginning to end. “White Winter Hymnal” is the perfect song for a chilly December afternoon, and “Ragged Wood” feels like a long walk through a familiar forest.
Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
I’ll admit, this album would likely have been higher on the list if I didn’t consider it an immense guilty pleasure. Thumbing his nose at the RIAA and other creativity destroying goons, Girl Talk gleefully samples across eras and genres to create his distinctive sound. The tracks are light and fluffy like the pop music they sample, transitioning from earworm to earworm at a furious pace. Like no other artist, Girl Talk coaxes harmony out of cacophony.
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
This album came as a complete surprise to me, as their breakthrough effort and its massive hit “Crazy” left me cold. I picked up The Odd Couple on a whim and discovered an urgent, poignant pop/soul/hip hop album that was uniformly excellent all the way through. I can’t imagine why singles like “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” and “Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)” didn’t chart well.
Santogold – s/t
I wrote about Santogold‘s terrific debut album back in May, and I’m still listening to it regularly today. It’s a lovely eclectic record, M.I.A.-like on “Creator” while “Lights Out” is upbeat alternative. Amazingly, the disparate tracks come together to produce a refreshing coherent whole.
Shugo Tokumaru – EXIT
In October I described Shugo Tokumaru as falling “somewhere between Sufjan Stevens and the Katamari Damacy soundtrack.” EXIT is a quirky potent mix of pop, folk, and elements that I can only assume are uniquely Japanese. It’s dreamy and clever and, frankly, I’m nuts about it.
Honourable Mentions
- Beck – Modern Guilt: It didn’t reach very far artistically, but it’s the return of the catchy concise Beck we didn’t see on 2005’s The Information.
- Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue: More honky tonk indie rock? Yes please.
- TV on the Radio – Dear Science: It featured some very solid singles, but didn’t grab me as a whole.
Happy new year, I’ll see you all in 2009!
UPDATE: I’m sheepish about admitting this, but the list previously included Cross by Justice, an album I was quickly told was released in 2007. It was new to me! Thanks to Denis for the correction.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Thanks for the list. I’ll have to check these out. I just couldn’t get into Fleet Foxes though; I think I should give them another listen.
Oh, if you’re interested, I made a half-assed playlist of some songs I liked from 2008 here:
http://8tracks.com/scrawledinwax/navs-favourite-tracks-of-2008
Hope you have a fun New Year’s dude!
December 31st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Wow very impressed by Shugo Tokumaru. Nice find – thanks :)
Some 2008 albums I liked this year:
Julia Marcell – It might like you. (her debut and fan paid for album):
http://www.last.fm/music/Julia+Marcell/It+Might+Like+You
Joan as Police Woman – To Survive. (her 2nd album).
She was amazing live. My best gig of the year (I admittedly didn’t see that many, but she was wow…)
http://www.last.fm/music/Joan+as+Police+Woman/To+Survive
And of course also the fleet foxes was a revelation to me. It’s so exciting to be finding these amazing new artists, It seems like a new era of innovations. Then again it could just be I’m discovering more music then I used to.
December 31st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
@Nav: That’s a great chill-out playlist, I really like the Kathleen Edwards songs too.
@Tim: The Julia Marcell album is fantastic, thanks for the tip. I’m glad you enjoyed my selections, this was indeed an exciting year for new music :)
January 1st, 2009 at 2:13 am
You know… if you want to link to Justice, you could always post about their live album ‘A Cross the Universe’ which came out this year. I’ve only just started listening to it and its (for better or worse) near identical to the studio album. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cross_the_Universe
January 1st, 2009 at 8:06 am
Sorry ’bout that. But I do enjoy the musical picks you have. Am considering writing a list of my own, especially since I listened to more new albums this year than in years past.
Ben, this is why I loathed them live. They and Ladytron left me with a sour taste in my mouth that has yet to leave (hence why I reluctantly listened to Planisphere and have not listened to them much since). They had no stage presence, which can be fine, but it was like listening to the CD at a venue. No thank you.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
@Ben: I typically avoid live albums barring a select few artists that are better live than in studio (Jethro Tull, The Who, etc.) I’ll make a point to check this one out, thanks for the suggestion.
@Denis: At least I had to correct it before too many people read it ;)
January 5th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Have you read Laurence Lessig’s newer book, “Remix”? It wasn’t until I started reading that that I started appreciating that GT album more. :)
January 5th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
@Brilliam: I’ve read a fair amount of Lessig’s work, but not that particular book. I’ll add it to my reading list :)
January 8th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Odd. I thought The Odd Couple was less interesting than St. Elsewhere and that Modern Guilt was less interesting than The Information.
Album I liked about 100x more than I thought I would: Panic at the Disco – Pretty. Odd.
I hated their first album and had no desire to pick it up until their song came up on Rock Band 2. Ended up loving the entire thing.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
@Zack: That Panic at the Disco song in Rock Band is really catchy, I’ve been bashfully tempted to pick up the entire album.
Harmonix will never sell me on Paramore though!