Best Music of 2008

There was a lot of good stuff this year, so instead of the typical top ten, I’ve gone ahead and given you 20 gems to get excited about.

With this many records, I found myself shuffling things back and forth. I feel pretty good about my top 10. Numbers 11-20 could get rearranged and I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape about it. I tried to lump everything else into the honorable mention-ables that I enjoyed, but not in a Top-10 kind of way.

If I shafted your favorite band, or you contest the order of the picks – make your case in the comments.

Hope you all have a happy holiday season, and best wishes for another great year of music!

TOP 20:

1. The Walkmen – You & Me
2. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Wierd Era Continued
3. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
4. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
5. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
6. No Age – Nouns
7. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
8. Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
9. Beach House – Devotion
10. The Roots – Rising Down
11. Damien Jurado – Caught in the Trees
12. Blitzen Trapper – Furr
13. Born Ruffians – Red, Yellow, and Blue
14. Sun Kil Moon – April
15. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
16. Portishead – Third
17. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
18. Black Mountain – In the Future
19. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
20. The Muslims – The Muslims

HONORABLE MENTION:

• Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
• Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Lie Down in the Light
• Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
• Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
• Lupe Fiasco – The Cool
• Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
• Fennesz – Black Sea
• The Grand Archives – The Grand Archives
• Shugo Tokumaru – Exit
• Amadou & Mariam – Welcome to Mali
• She & Him – Volume One
• Beck – Modern Guilt
• Q-Tip – The Renaissance
• The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
• The Buffalo Killers – Let it Ride
• The Black Keys – Attack & Release
• The Whigs – Mission Control
• Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
• The Dodos – Visitor
• Connor Oberst – Conner Oberst
• Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
• Women – Women
• The Ruby Suns – Sea Lion
• Wax Fang – La La Land
• Paul Westerberg – 49:00

RE-ISSUES / BOX SETS:

• Buena Vista Social Club – At Carnegie Hall
• Plush – Fed
• Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series, Volume 8: Tell Tale Signs
• Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue
• Mission of Burma – Signals, Walls, & Marches
• The Replacements – Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
• R.E.M – Murmur (Deluxe Edition)
• David Bowie – Live Santa Monica ‘72
• Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff (Deluxe Edition)
• Otis Redding – Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul