Albums: 2008
1. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash2. Lee Miles - Heathen Blux3. Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.4. Paul Westerberg - 49:005. She & Him - Volume One6. Portishead - Third7. Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea8. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Lie Down in the Light9. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges10. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
11. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
12. The Baseball Project - Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
13. Sun Kil Moon - April
14. Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine
15. Beck - Modern Guilt
16. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
17. Breeders - Mountain Battles
18. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
19. R.E.M. - Accelerate
20. Vampire Weekend -Vampire Weekend
21. Mount Eerie - Lost Wisdom / Dawn / Black Wooden Ceiling Opening
22. Eef Barzelay - Lose Big
23. M83 - Saturdays=Youth
24. Beach House - Devotion
25. Decemberists - Always the Bridesmaid EP
26. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
27. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
28. No Age - Nouns
29. Ryan Adams - Cardinology
30. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes LP
31. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
32. The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers
33. Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
34. Nick Cave - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
35. Dr. Dog - Fate
36. The Whigs - Mission Control
37. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
38. Women - Women
39. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
40. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
41. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
42. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
43. Megapuss - Surfing
44. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
45. Todd Snider - Peace Queer
46. Flowers Forever - Flowers Forever
47. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
48. Shugo Tokumaru - EXIT
49. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
50. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah
This was the first year that I actually kept all of my sub-lists around, so be sure to call in sick to work so you can check all of those out below. Lots of crazy, obsessive compulsive stuff there to dig through.
This was also the year that my girlfriend, Carly, and I changed everything for ourselves. Early in the year we knew that she'd be graduating from grad school. We'd long been talking about moving somewhere and trying a new city, and suddenly felt like it was now or never situation. (What a stupid thing to think. Ever.) We started looking into our options and, once Carly knew when her summer internship was going to end, we started making plans. We had a list of cities that eventually came down to either Portland, OR or Seattle, WA. Once we settled on Seattle, we started telling people and planning out the next couple of months. We sold all of our shit, packed up all of our CDs, movies and books and headed West in the Fall.
This divided my listening for the year up into two parts. First, the Indiana part. Kind of lame. I realized after moving to Seattle that there in fact isn't a REAL record store in the state of Indiana. Sure, there are some good stores, but NOTHING when compared to the places I went in Seattle. Moving there and discovering their stores reminded my how important record stores are to my DNA. Knowing this, and also knowing that record stores are disappearing quickly as this evil decade plays out, I decided to get a job at a record store in Seattle. So I worked at one store and wrote album reviews for another store's website (all along trying to get a job at said record store, which is, without a doubt, the best record store I've ever been to).
Chosing a No. 1 for 2008 was tough. The Malkmus and Miles albums are both all-time classics for me. I love those two records like children. Malkmus saw me through a strange year and the Miles album is easily one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriter records. Yeah, there are lots of great albums from 2008, but those two stand out for me. They suite me. I love 'em. But, mostly, I loved spending 2008 in record stores again. The Easy Street store in the Lower Queen Anne hood of Seattle is my favorite place on the planet. For a year it was three blocks from my front door. I'll never get over having to leave that place behind.
FAVORITE REISSUES/COLLECTIONS OF 2008:
1. Pavement - Brighten the Corners (Deluxe Edition)
2. The Microphones - The Glow. Pt. 2 (Deluxe Edition)
3. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs
4. Big Dipper - Supercluster
5. Beck - Odelay (Deluxe Edition)
6. Marmoset - Record In Red (LP Issue)
FAVORITE PERSONAL FINDS OF 2008:
1. Bradford Cox / Deerhunter / Atlas Sound
2. Easy Street Records
3. The Kinks - EP Collection
4. Silver Apples
5. Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos
6. Big Dipper
7. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
8. Zumpano - Look What the Rookie Did
9. Paul McCartney - Wild Life
FAVORITE NEW ARTISTS OF 2008:
1. She & Him
2. Bon Iver
3. Delta Spirit
4. Justin Townes Earle
5. Vampire Weekend
6. Fleet Foxes
7. Women
8. Flowers Forever
9. Lykke Li
10. Vivian Girls
FAVORITE ARTISTS OF 2008:
1. Bradford Cox (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound)
2. Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie)
3. Paul Westerberg (Solo, catalog)
4. Peter Buck (Baseball Project, R.E.M.)
5. Mark Kozelek (Solo, Sun Kil Moon)
MOST-LISTENED-TO ALBUMS OF 2008:
1. Lee Miles - Heathen Blux
2. Thunderhawk - Gravity Wins!
3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
4. Deer hunter - Microcastle
5. She & Him - Volume 1
6. Paul Westerberg - 49:00
7. Joanna Newsom - Ys
8. Paul Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble
9. Paul McCartney - Ram
10a. Neutral Milk Hotel - In An Aeroplane Over the Sea
10b. Thunderhawk - Black Label Summer (Not Yet Released)
FAVORITE SONGS OF 2008:
1. “See Fernando,” Jenny Lewis
2. “Gardenia,” Stephen Malkmus
3. “Down at the Massacre,” Lee Miles
4. “Chemtrails,” Beck
5. “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” She & Him
6. “Untitled,” Paul Westerberg
7. “Valerie Plame,” The Decemberists
8. “Deserters,” Lee Miles
9. “Agoraphobia,” Deerhunter
10. “Dragonfly Pie,” Stephen Malkmus
11. “Frankie’s Gun,” The Felice Brothers
12. “So Everybody,” Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
13. “Lord, I’m Discouraged,” The Hold Steady
14. “Plastic,” Portishead
15. “Recent Bedroom,” Atlas Sound
MOST UNDERRATED ALBUMS OF 2008:
1. Beck - Modern Guilt
2. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
3. Breeders - Mountain Battles
4. Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
5. The Whigs - Mission Control
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT WORKS” ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
“ALBUM TO GROW OLD WITH” OF THE YEAR:
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
WORST ALBUM COVER/ART DESIGN OF THE YEAR:
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
BEST ALBUM COVER/ART DESIGN OF THE YEAR:
Lykke Li - Youth Novels
COMEBACK OF THE YEAR:
1. Portishead
2. Q-Tip
3. Sun Kil Moon
4. R.E.M.
5. Breeders
MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS OF 2008:
1. Ryan Adams - Cardinology
2. Old 97’s - Blame It on Gravity
3. Ben Folds - Way To Normal
4. Common - Universal Mind Control
5. Flaming Lips - Christmas on Mars
6. Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
7. Robert Pollard - Is Off to Business
8. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
9. Marah - Angels of Destruction
10. Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
FAVORITE SHOWS OF 2008:
1. Thunderhawk & Vandolah, Brass Rail, January
2. Lee Miles & Thunderhawk, Brass Rail, July
3. Stephen Malkmus, Neumos, December
4. Eef Barzelay & Lee Miles, CS3, August
5a. Stephen Malkmus & John Vanderslice, Vogue, February
5b. Silver Jews, Neumos, October
ALSO WORTH LISTENING TO IN 2008:
- Lykke Li - Youth Novels
- Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
- Horse Feathers - House With No Name
- Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
- Mark Kozelek - The Finally LP
- Common - Universal Mind Control
- The National - The Virginia EP
- Little Joy - Little Joy
- Flaming Lips - Christmas on Mars
- Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
- Jay Reatard - Matador Singles ‘08
- Brightblack Morning Light - Motion to Rejoin
- Times New Viking - Rip It Off
- Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That
- Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
- Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
- Dungen - 4
- The Music Tapes - Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes
- The Cool Kids - Bake Sale
- Brendan Canning - Something For all of Us
- High Places - High Places
- Ben Folds - Way To Normal
- Frida Hyvonen - Silence Is Wild
- Los Campesinos - Hold On Now, Youngster
- Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
- Murs - Murs For President
- Chad Vangaalen - Soft Airplane
- The New Year - The New Year
- The Moondoggies - Don’t Be a Stranger
- The Dutchess and the Duke - She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke
- Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
- Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw
- The Donkeys - Living On the Other Side
- Old 97’s - Blame It on Gravity
- Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
- Damien Jurado - Caught in the Trees
- Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
- Elf Power - In a Cave
- Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
- Vetiver - Thing of the Past
- Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
- Shearwater - Rook
- The Lord Dog Bird - The Lord Dog Bird
- Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling
- Robert Pollard - Is Off to Business
- Nik Freitas - Sun Down
- Tift Merritt - Another Country
- Spiritualized - Songs in A & E
- Thee Silver Mount Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
- Robert Forster - The Evangelist
- Weezer -Weezer (Red)
- Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll
- Elvis Costello - Momofuku
- Cryptasize - Dig that Treasure
- Mudhoney - The Lucky Ones
- Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
- Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
- Mark Pickerel - Cody’s Dream
- Windsor for the Derby - How We Lost
- Bowerbirds - Hymns For a Dark Horse
- Matthew Ryan - Vs. The Silver State
- Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant
- Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
- Black Mountain - In The Future
- Marah - Angels of Destruction
- Instruments of Sciene & Technology - Music From the Films of R/Swift
- White Hinterland - Phylactery Factory
- Left Lane Cruiser - Bring Yo' Ass to the Table
- Evangelicals - The Evening Descends
- Baby Dee - Safe Inside the Day
- MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
- Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
- Rafter - Sex, Death, Cassette
- The Hands - The Hands
- Ike Reilly - Poison the Hit Parade
- The Explorers Club - Freedom Wind
- The Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust
- The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
- Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
- Retribution Gospel Choir - Retribution Gospel Choir
- The Kills - Midnight Boom
- Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams
- Richard Swift - As Onasis
- Cat Power - Jukebox
- Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
- Sigur Ros - Blah, Blah, Blah
- Albert Hammond, Jr. - Como te Llama?
- Sloan - Parallel Play
- Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers
- Tapes ‘n Tapes - Walk It Off