The Top Albums of 2008: A Year In Disgusted Review

The end of the year is near, and getting nearer by the hour, so before everyone else gets their mitts on an editorial gem such as this, I must do it first.

THE TOP ALBUMS OF 2008

That’s right.  The top albums of 2008, not my favorites, or perhaps personal choices, no.  None of that bullshit.  This is the definitive list, compiled from only the most impressive, dignified, and well-regarded source: Alex Denison.  I listened to over 75 albums from the year, and couldn’t take it any longer.  The year was fairly weak.  But I will post my top 25, with little write-ups for the top five. 

Now before some of you indie gods lynch me for the lack of 2008 list mainstays, (Fleet Foxes came in at 27 on my list, the Mars Volta even further down, and Deerhunter?  Forget it,) I have to say that the two most heavily defended genres, indie and metal, both were considerably weaker than anticipated.  So chill.

The List:

25.  Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God (Death Metal)
24. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig!!! (Post-Punk, Rock)
23. Andre Williams & The New Orleans Hellhounds – Can You Deal With It? (Soul)
22. Made Out of Babies – The Ruiner (Alt-Metal, Post Hardcore)
21. The Tallest Man On Earth – Shallow Grave (Folk)
20. TV On the Radio – Dear Science (Indie Rock)
19. Intronaut – Prehistoricisms (Metal)
18. Isobel Campbel and Mark Lanegan – Sunday at Devil Dirt (Folk-Duet)
17. Have a Nice Life – Deathconsciousness (Shoegaze, Post-Rock)
16. Q-Tip – The Renaissance (Hip-Hop)
15. Beck – Modern Guilt (Indie Rock)
14. Coil – The New Backwards (Ambient Industrial)
13. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Is It The Sea? (Americana, lowered due to being live)
12. Opeth – Watershed (Progressive Metal)
11. Steven Wilson – Insurgentes (Progressive Rock)
10. Secret Chiefs 3 – Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9 (Avant-garde)
9. Al Green – Lay It Down (Soul)
8. Nurse With Wound – Huffin’ Rag Blues (Industrial)
7. The Melvns – Nude With Boots (Hard-Rock)
6. Antony and the Johnsons – Another World EP (Chamber Pop)

5. Matt Elliott – Howling Songs (Folk)
Another moody release from musician Matt Elliott brings forth a galleon of Spanish guitar melodies and haunting vocals.  The final in his “Songs” trilogy, (the previous edition being the magnificent “Drinking Songs,”) this release might be the weakest of the three, but still remains an amazing piece of indie-folk, dueling guitars against computers to create a sound of melancholy retreat.

4. Portishead – Third (Trip-Hop)
Maybe it’s due to the lack of material that they produce, or maybe it’s because no other female vocalist in the business dabbles in music quite like this, but Portishead’s “Third” was completely unique among 2008 releases.  Again, not nearly the brilliant piece of history that is “Dummy,” this album still was able to rise above the majority of this year’s music, combining her operatic vocals and bass-heavy beats to create a piece of intense beauty.

3.  Erykah Badu – Amerykah Pt. 1 (Neo-Soul, Hip Hop)
This is one of my biggest surprises of the year.  I expected the same manufactured bullshit that gets shoveled into our ears every year: black women forced to sing “conscious” soul music while being backed by an enormous amount of hip-hop mainstays and big names.  Instead, this album actually IS completely conscious, socially and internally, and Badu is brilliant not only in song, but in rhyme, and the entire album plays out like a theatrical performance rather than a print.

2.  Current 93 – Birth Canal Blues EP (Apocalyptic Folk/ Industrial)
Easily one of my favorite bands, Current 93 get back to the weird and scary music that got me involved with them in the first place.  They put out so much music, (often repetitive and re-prints, full of new ideas backed by old ones, and just bizarre drones,) that its easy to forget about them, and pass over a new release that actually breaks through.  This breaks through.  It’s scary, it’s odd, and it’s just a taste of the new album that is coming out in 2009, (accompanied by the new Antony & the J’s disc, I will be content in the occult and estranged for the year.)  Wonderful production, and full of David Tibet’s too-deep-to-be-reality lyrics.

1. Randy Newman – Harps and Angels (Piano Pop)
They made fun of me.  They said I was delusional, misguided, corrupted by the media.  They said I was revolting against the truckloads of monotonous indie garbage and continuous four-chord sludge metal riffs.  I’m not.  As I said about the Current 93 release, I believe the best kind of music is the kind that can elicit an emotional response, whether it be fright like Birth Canal Blues, or absolute pointed comedy like Harps and Angels.  There is so much going on, so many little pokes, that I couldn’t help but love it.  I’ve said it many times, I’m a 45 year old in a 20 year old’s body, and the theme of middle aged decline connected with me like it shouldn’t have.  Delightful.

Now, a couple other little awards.

Best Comeback:
Metallica – Death Magnetic (Thrash Metal)
Finally, Metallica came back with an album that sounds like Metallica.  It was loud, and it was fast, and Lars didn’t fuck up the drums that bad, and I really, really liked what I heard.  For the first 4 minutes of every song at least.  Cut down on the almost ten-minute tracks, and this might have cracked my top 10, instead of ending up at 26.  Still a promising listen.

Runner up: Neil Diamond – “Home Before Dark.”

Biggest Disappointment:
(Tie) Kanye West – 808s and Heartbreak (Hip Hop)
George Clinton – George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love (Funk)
Both of these albums suffered from the same ailment: over production.  Kanye with his autotuned vocals and lack of bitey lyrics that I expect from every one of his outputs, and Clinton resorting to silly vocal effects and less than impressive synthesized melodies in old age.  For some reason though, I feel like if they got together, I’d like it.

Runner Up: The Gutter Twins – “Saturnalia”.

Worst Collective Genre:
Indie music as a whole is just boring.  Whatever you want your definition of indie music to be, and whether indie is even indie at all anymore, I have just gone ahead and changed my definition to boring.  The Fleet Foxes album was cute and popsy.  And boring.  Same with Deerhunter.  Same with almost every other little group of white kids with skinny jeans and cigarettes in the pocket of their neo-retro-scum western wear shirt.  Mars Volta dropped the ball. TV On the Radio was alright, not mind blowing, and only Beck really grabbed my interest past initial listening, and even he was half assing it.  Maybe he’ll get out of the loop and start making real folk albums, or just real, emotional, music.

Runner Up: Metal, (i.e. Meshuggah – “obZen”, A Storm of Light – “The Ocean Wept Within,” and Grails – “Doomsdayer’s Holiday.”

That’s all.  If you feel there’s an album I should definitely give a listen to, let me know, and I’ll check it out.  I probably already heard it, and I can tell you why I didn’t like it.

Otherwise, keep listening.