Below, you will find our album list, along with any little comments that people sent in. We’re actually doing a top 25 list because I want to include the #25 record, because it is awesome.
25. 
Anthony Hamilton, The Point of It All
This record came out a couple of days ago and it is destined to go down in history as one of the best soul albums ever released. No I am not kidding about this. No one else on staff or on any other website has heard it so it’s not showing up on any lists but BELIEVE ME when I say that it kicks like sixty. I have it at #2, which is the only reason it’s here at all, but I know these writers and when they hear it they will all agree that it should really be at the top of our list. Except maybe Raposa but that guy’s crazy anyway.
24. 
Torche, Meanderthal
I got nothin’ here. Maybe Dave R can explain why these guys are the crunchiest thing to hit the world of hipster metal since whatever.
23. 
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
beards and falsetto
Southern psychedelia
does a body good (Zeth)
22. 
The Shackletons, The Shackletons
I’m pretty sure that Justin summed up his feelings here.
21. 
Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza
A last-second change of heart by Rodney was enough to squeak this album onto our chart; she had already infiltrated our hearts back in June.
20. 
No Age, Nouns
Still getting to know these guys, myself; they kind of sound like if most of Battles quit, or something. Hopefully Barry will expound on them some more sometime.
19. 
Bardo Pond, Circuit VIII
Leee sez: “What Ticket Crystals should have been: gnarly gritty psych.”
18. 
Harvey Milk, Life…the Best Game in Town
They’re metal? They’re southern? They’re smart? They’re brutal?
17. 
Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman
Finally a break from all that beardy stuff. Smooth like Tisha Campbell.
16. 
M83, Saturdays = Youth
See, from the title and the cover I wanted to hate this but it’s quite good. Barry wrote a “silly haiku” sequence to explain his top pick:
80s weren’t this good
while i was living through them
just a lad was i
wishing i was a
member of duran duran
but i missed something
actually i
missed plenty as we all do
fighting to grow up
now these days we have
m83 to make it
all better again
molding memories
into something better than
real life ever was
here there’s no puzzling
cold war bullshit, just sunshine
“Kim and Jessie’s” synths
it’s the way we’d like
to reminisce about those
times we so enjoyed
both cheese and heartbreak
our hearts looking back with pride
tainted by nothing
15. 
Aaron Parks, Invisible Cinema
Don’t be fooled by his puckish good looks or the weird photo — apparently young Mr. Parks is one hell of a jazz pianist and composer. I wish we’d reviewed this — any thoughts, Justin?
14. 
Neon Neon, Stainless Style
I love SFA and all their works but this one passed me by somehow. Zeth says:
john delorean
is concept album fodder
cue synthesizer
13. 
Prisonshake, Dirty Moons
Daniel calls this “Zen Arcade for pissed-off dudes who used to work at record stores,” but I thought that was just, y’know, Zen Arcade already. Anyway, he promises he’ll write more about it, and it’s our only album cover featuring naked female butt, so it’s all good.
12. 
Lil Mama, VYP — Voice of the Young People
Dave M will be happy that he helped get this so high up the list. I wrote about it here and it made me feel creepy and old but I don’t care, it’s great pop music AND SHE IS ACTUALLY A GOOD RAPPER AND I’M NOT KIDDING.
11. 
Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life
Dave R’s top pick, and Daniel and I liked it too. Maximalist hardcore, what a concept.
10. 
TV on the Radio, Dear Science
OMG we are turning into Pitchfork. This is great for several reasons, most of which are “Dancing Choose” and the guitar slam on “Halfway Home,” none of which are the mopey things.
9. 
The Major Labels, Aquavia
I have never heard this, but several people here swear by it because it’s supposedly hot power-pop and there are Liverpudlian things about it. I don’t swoon over all things Beatle-esque so someone’s gonna have to do better than that, but the one track I’ve heard makes it sound pretty good after all.
8. 
Boris, Smile
Again, Leee: “Throttlin’ omnimetal (get the Japanese version for extra HEAVY RAWKS).” Okay, bet. Several of us flipped for this one.
7. 
T.I., Paper Trail
The thinking man’s thug hip-hopper, dude has a knack for hooks and wordplay and introspection. Do your time, player, don’t let the time do you. (Shut up. –Ed.)
6. 
Portishead, Third
What can we say, we like pretty and we like weird and this has, in the words of Baloo, plenty of both.
5. 
The Duke Spirit, Neptune
It is impossible to calculate how much effect Liela Moss’ big black boots had on our voting team. I’m guessing A WHOLE LOT.
4. 
Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
What can we say, the year cried out for LOLz and the Kiwis delivered. Zeth: “too many mutha’/uckas ‘ucking with my shi-/uckin’ with my shi-”. Word.
3. 
The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust
I really could not be more surprised that this ended up at #3, but maybe Leee’s on to something with his contention that the Jesus and Mary Chain would have been better with lady vox and VOILA HERE IS JAMC WITH LADY VOX. I didn’t even vote for this and it ended up this high, a testament to how much it was beloved in the Cave.
2. 
Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
Wow, wtf with this one scoring so high? Well, because it is everything we like around here: experimental and lovely and retro and shiny and murky and ambiguous and open-hearted and probably addled by drugs. I wrote about it here but this ended up on more ballots than I thought it would, and happily so. But seriously — would you have guessed this?
AND HERE IS THE LEAST SURPRISING ENTRY ON THE CHARTS
1. 
Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part 1 (4th World War)
I think we all need to get together to do a list of why this was our #1 record but let me just point out that THREE of us had this as our TOP ALBUM, so I guess there is a hivemind around here. If so, who cares, that’s awesome — this record ruled my year and I’m surprised that I never wrote about it. (Rodney and I were gonna but we were too lazy or intimidated to get it together.) I’ll leave it, once again, to Zeth:
like Funkadelic
groovy food for your big brain
tell your feet to move
Okay here’s that list in order for your cutting and pasting pleasure. TELL YR FRIENDS>>>>
1. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part 1 (4th World War)
2. Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
3. The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust
4. Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
5. The Duke Spirit, Neptune
6. Portishead, Third
7. T.I., Paper Trail
8. Boris, Smile
9. The Major Labels, Aquavia
10. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
11. Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life
12. Lil Mama, VYP — Voice of the Young People
13. Prisonshake, Dirty Moons
14. Neon Neon, Stainless Style
15. Aaron Parks, Invisible Cinema
16. M83, Saturdays = Youth
17. Ne-Yo, Year of of the Gentleman
18. Harvey Milk, Life…the Best Game in Town
19. Bardo Pond, Circuit VIII
20. No Age, Nouns
21. Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza
22. The Shackletons, The Shackletons
23. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
24. Torche, Meanderthal
25. Anthony Hamilton, The Point of It All
21 Comments
Maybe Dave R can explain why [Torche] are the crunchiest thing to hit the world of hipster metal since whatever.
Dave R did an OK job (if he says so himself — he’s trying to keep self-deprication to a minimum) trying to explain the album’s charms two times via Le Pfork, and even tried to make “new pop metal” happen (should’ve added a “-core”), but if you have to ask why an album of sludge-gone-Foo is awesome, then you have to hear the album.
Also, re: the Prisonshake album (which I liked OK, tho it was a little too bumpy for my tastes) — I think that’s a dude’s butt.
“(Rodney and I were gonna but we were too lazy or intimidated to get it together.)”
Damn, maybe a bit of the former, but a LOT of the latter. I still feel like I don’t know all I need to know about that record.
Dave is right that I haven’t heard the album. I did read a review of his on that Pitchfork thing but I didn’t want to like LINK to that or anything, they don’t need our traffic. I mean we need you to explain it here dammit.
Seriously, a guy’s butt? Damn, I either need new glasses or to realize I’m gay. MAYBE BOTH.
Rodney OTM about intimidation factor. All writers, stay tuned for email.
My #s 1-2 were the site’s #s 1-2. I feel so hivemind-y But I’m very happy with the list!
Everyone here is free to post his own list with full commentary. Solange ended up on four lists, shocked the hell out of me!
On further review, DR, Torche should have been a few spots higher. And they kind of sound awesome now. How did I hear like 500 records this year and not this one?
I’ve been meaning to review that Aaron Parks record here for weeks, so I’ll try to get to it soon.
For the record, I’ve got it on good word from the writers suggested of colluding that no such thing happened and that they were, in fact, surprised when they compared lists.
Man, I dunno. I disagree. That Portishead disc is just plain bad. It’s noisy, unfocused, unclever, pretentious, and self-consciously difficult in the worst way. Just imagine it getting the slightest notice if it were not preceded by Dummy. (Which for the record was also most definitely pretentious, though none of the other attributes apply.)
The whole world seems to have decided 3 was some sort of great achievement, but I think maybe that’s just because it made people rediscover/revisit the other Portishead records, and good for them, I guess.
I didn’t hear any of the rest of the music on the collective list. When the time is right I’ll put together my own set.
Fwiw, I’ve never heard the other two Portishead records (which I need to remedy) and love Third. No nostalgia on my part. To me, it perfectly captures a depressing winter night vibe, and even though they’re obviously working different genre territory, it reminds me stylisticly of GZA’s Liquid Swords, one of my favorite albums ever. I love me some dark chaos.
So the facts are straight, here are the three (all highly recommended) previous Portishead records:
Dummy (1994)
Portishead (1997)
Roseland NYC Live (1998)
all on Go!Discs/London.
Yeah, I want a Nils list — I wonder how much overlap there will be with the stuff on other people’s lists that did not make this final tally. Maybe a little.
And yeah let’s keep it cool around here; no one has to like or not like anything for any reason whatsoever. The ear is one judge and the heart is another, and everyone has both.
Cool it is. Disagreement is outstanding. If I’m going to say what I don’t like, I’m going to give a reason for that opinion. We all better have good reasons for what we like/dislike, if you ask me. At least pretend to, as it were.
The main point of the vented steam is that I strongly object to the word “we” applying to yours truly above, though obviously I haven’t been writing much here lately, so maybe I’m not so much part of the “we” thing any more. Whatever. For the record, duly stated.
Raveonettes at #3 :0
:0
The funny thing is, I’m the last person you’d ask to explain the appeal of No Age, in the sense that my music collection contains virtually nothing a) by LA bands, b) that is even remotely punk-ish. And yet “Nouns” was my #2. Even I can’t really explain it.
“Maybe Dave R can explain why [Torche] are the crunchiest thing to hit the world of hipster metal since whatever.”
“Meanderthal” wins my “Sometime in the Next Couple of Months, I’m Going to Feel Stupid That I Ranked it This Low” prize for 2008.
And just to be clear — by “low”, I mean only at #18 and not somewhere in the top 10.
I’ve always found it weird, and also a bit unsettling, that end-of-year listmaking sometimes destroys that music’s relevance. It’s as if the list provides some measure of closure on the year, and after it’s done, I put some of that music away and don’t listen to it again for months. Chalk it up to burnout, best vs favourite debates, or whatever, but it’s something I’ve never been quite comfortable with.
I can tell that “Meanderthal” will not be one of those albums — I will keep it in heavy rotation for a while. And that’s one reason why I probably underrated it.
OK, checking out Anthony Hamilton!
Yeah, happy with the VYP placement if only because it’s probably the only artist on my list with any overlap (I kind of veered personal/conservative this year, w/ some unabashed comfort food like Randy Newman and Dolly Parton ranking surprisingly high on my list…Solange is maybe just the most common of these? It felt like a comfort food year.) I hope that Lil’ Mama pulls some Benjamin Button thing and DE-matures as she gets older, because the girl’s seriously bringing me down most of the time. But yeah, good rapper!
I love putting music away with a false sense of closure. There’s too much of it NOT to pretend that some of it is “over.”
I predict that I was the only one to vote for the Bardo release, though if you want to correct me, Barry, please…
My top 20 was 6 albums deep, so I imagine my picks skewed the results a little, for which I’d like to apologize…
Also, that’s obviously ladybutt.
Solange is the bomb…I’m still playing it.
Leeeeeee, you’re right that I didn’t vote for Bardo Pond, in fact I haven’t even heard that album. And I’m skeptical about any claim that “Ticket Crystals” should have been anything other than what it was, i.e. CRAZY PANTS AWESOME.
My list:
1. M83, “Saturdays = Youth”
2. No Age, “Nouns”
3. Scarlett Johansson, “Anywhere I Lay My Head”
4. Portishead, “Third”
5. Petar Dundov, “Escapements”
6. Raveonettes, “Lust Lust Lust”
7. Various, Fabric 41 (mixed by Luciano) (Fabric)
8. Fennesz, “Black Sea”
9. Kardinal Offishall, “Not 4 Sale”
10. Wold, “Stratification”
11. Sigur Ros, “Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust”
12. Ladytron, “Velocifero”
13. Pyramids, “Pyramids”
14. The Mole, “As High As the Sky”
15. James, “Hey Ma”
16. Various, “Depth Perceptions Vol 1″ (Pronounce)
17. Jamie Lidell, “Jim”
18. Torche, “Meanderthal”
19. Spiritualized, “Songs In A&E”
20. Growing, “All the Way”
this iz mah list:
1. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part 1 (4th World War)
2. Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
3. The Bug, London Zoo
4. Kelley Polar, I Need You to Hold on While the Sky Is Falling
5. Calle 13, Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo
6. The Foreign Exchange, Leave It All Behind
7. The-Dream, Love Me All Summer Hate Me All Winter
8. Robin Thicke, Something Else
9. Portishead, Third
10. Nappy Roots, The Humdinger
11. Hercules & Love Affair, Hercules & Love Affair
12. Matmos, Supreme Balloon
13. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
14. Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman
15. T.I., Paper Trail
16. Sébastien Tellier, Sexuality
17. LaBelle, Back to Now
18. J*Davey, The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost
19. T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz
20. Lupe Fiasco, The Cool Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza
errr, the Lupe Fiasco was supposed to be strikethroughed out
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