The 10 Best Albums Of 2008

December usually finds me hunkered down with a big pile of albums, catching up on what happened during the year. For a variety of reasons – including one serious book proposal, a hectic work schedule, and a bout with the flu – that didn’t happen this year. My yet-to-hear list includes highly touted albums by TV On The Radio, Lil’ Wayne, Girl Talk, Santogold, and many more. So if your favorite album isn’t included here, it may be because I still have yet to wrap my ears around it.

But that disclaimer shouldn’t detract from the artists who are included here. The past year featured a wealth of music in a wide variety of genres, and while I didn’t get to all of it, I did hear a lot of albums that sound great in spite of repeated play, and would rate highly no matter what year they were released. Here’s the honor roll for 2008…

10] Neon Neon | Stainless Style – This concept album about 1980’s automaker John DeLorean is as sleek and stylish as its subject matter. The synth lines and grooves here are cold and spare like the stainless steel shells on the cars that bear DeLorean’s name, making for an inspired tribute to the sounds of the Me Decade.

Listen: Dream Cars

9] Flight Of The Conchords | Flight Of The Conchords – 2008 found the world badly in need of humor, what with a tense US Presidential election and a deflating world economy. On their self-titled debut, Flight Of The Conchords did their part in taking on the smile deficit by taking bites out of French Pop, Hip-Hop, David Bowie, and more. Laugh track supplied by you…

Listen: Bowie

8] DJ Mark Farina | Mushroom Jazz, Vol 6 – San Francisco-based DJ Mark Farina has quietly been spinning together some fine albums (the best of which can be found in his Mushroom Jazz series) that make Jazz, Hip-Hop, and House sound like the most natural of bedfellows. This is intense chill-out music…

Listen: Groovin’ [Kero One]

7] AC/DC | Black Ice – The simple formula that AC/DC has stuck to over the last three decades – pulverizing riffs, howling lyrics, and fist-pumping anthems – is still a winner. This is a punishing batch of songs, and a natural extension of the the excellence of 1980’s Back In Black.

Listen: Rock ‘N Roll Dream

6] Black Keys | Attack & Release – Their spare blues-rock racket would seem like a poor match for producer Danger Mouse, but he tastefully augmented The Keys’ sound with a banjo here, some hammond organ there, and a few backup singers when the mood calls for it. The result? An enjoyable, mature album that is evolutionary without being unnecessarily revolutionary.

Listen: I Got Mine

5] Hercules And Love Affair | Hercules And Love Affair – Utterly contemporary and undeniably retro, Hercules And Love Affair has the diva vocal stylings and infinite bass lines of the best vintage Disco. It’s a bold, brash dance album, and a smart, tongue-in-cheek (check the Greek references) update on the sound that stirred Studio 54.

Listen: Blind [Full Album Version]

4] Kings Of Leon | Only By The Night – I don’t ask for much, but I absolutely need a few rock bands that are reliable for an excellent album every year or so. Imagine my relief that the Followill family band rebounded from a disappointing third album to drop this gem. With heavier, more textured guitars and harder songs, it’s less Southern Strokes than pseudo-Stones. ‘Sex On Fire’ is kind of silly, but most of the nasty on this album can be found in the guitar licks.

Listen: Crawl

3] Raphael Saadiq | The Way I See It – Saadiq, former hit-maker with 90’s act Tony! Toni! Tone!, fires up a Motown-influenced time machine and matches his musical heroes hook for hook. The Way I See It was carefully crafted to mimic the dusty sound of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, and The Jackson 5 – but the music here sounds fresh as an ocean breeze, and the enthusiasm Saadiq brings to this material is entirely contagious.

Listen: 100 Yard Dash

2] Bon Iver | For Emma, Forever Ago – Coming off twin breakups with his girlfriend and his band, Justin Vernon decamped to the Wisconsin woods in the dead of winter and created this album. Part lullaby and part primal scream, For Emma is a primitive cry in the wilderness – the sound of an artist pouring his heart into the winter snow, and capturing the results on tape for posterity. The album was released to no notice in late ‘07, but on reissue it has been lauded as a haunting slice of perfection.

Listen: Skinny Love

1] Fleet Foxes | Fleet Foxes – While most modern Folk seems to be aiming to recreate either Greenwich Village in the 60’s or Laurel Canyon in the 70’s, Fleet Foxes sounds like a product of the 1500’s. With layered, baroque harmonies that are as organic as a stroll in the woods, this music is miles removed from the hurly burly of the Billboard Hot 100.

The album’s liner notes thank Brian Wilson, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Charles Mingus, Igor Stravinsky, Arthur Lee, Colin Blunstone, Rita Lee, John Lennon, Townes Van Zandt, Van Morrison, and Marvin Gaye, among others. Connect those disparate and far flung dots, and you’ve got a timeless, pastoral masterpiece that reveals the depth of its elemental beauty with each subsequent listen.

Debut albums are notoriously poor indicators of the future output of any artist, but if Fleet Foxes never turn out another note, their legacy is sealed with this fine record.

Listen: Blue Ridge Mountains

Listen: White Winter Hymnal

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Question: What was your favorite album of 2008?

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Tags: AC/DC, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Flight Of The Conchords, Hercules And Love Affair, Kings Of Leon, Mark Farina, Neon Neon, Raphael Saadiq, The Black Keys