My Favorites of 2008

Everyone’s making a 2008 favorites list it seems. I strongly desire to be liked by people I don’t know on the internet, so I guess I should too. I hate ranking music though…I hate it…why am I even doing this? You know what, screw it. I’m not numbering anything, I’m just listing them. Maybe I won’t be prom king, but I feel good.

My list is slightly different than most I think…I’m not limiting it to best albums of 2008. Why?

1. I buy old stuff regularly, and I have favorites of this year that weren’t produced in 2008.
2. I’m just not that on top of it to know all the great albums that were produced in 2008 alone.
3. How could bands like New Pornographers, Future of Forrestry and Athlete not be some of my favorite bands this year? None of which came out in 2008.

Here goes, listed alphabetically (honestly, I just don’t feel like thinking that hard):

• The Album Leaf – Into the Blue Again: Such a great, chill, depressing album.
• Athlete – Tourist: An oldie, but a goodie. I finally bought it, and I really dig it. Thanks, Jer!
• Coldplay – Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends: Say what you will, this is a really well crafted album. I love it.
• Copeland – You are My Sunshine: This almost made my “Let Me Down” list; but I’m too biased.
• David Crowder – Remedy: The guy has a gift for producing joy.
• Deas Vail – All the Houses Look the Same: Amazing harmonies, epic bridges, and incredible falsetto.
• Future of Forestry – Twilight: So awesome! Their Christmas EP was excellent, and their album just keeps getting better. Thanks to The Album Project for this find.
• Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead: An amazing find. The song “Hallelujah” is so big, it’s hard to believe there’s only two guys.
• Jack Johnson – Sleep Through the Static: Took me awhile; but I just love Jack and this disc was a bit different; but keeps coming back.
• The Killers – Day & Age: This album just keeps getting better – and it’s pretty diverse.
• Madeleine Peyroux – Half the Perfect World: No better jazz vocalist out there.
• Mew – Frengers: Wish I would’ve known earlier. They’re now a favorite band.
• Nada Surf – Lucky: Still getting to know this album; but so far it’s really good all the way through.
• The New Pornographers: So good! Amazing indie band – guy girl duet with some good funk. If you don’t have this you should. So great…thanks to Chris and Em for these guys.
• Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope: Fun, creative and a breath of fresh air
• Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust: I love everything they do. This is the most joyful album they’ve ever produced – kind of threw me off it was so happy. Amazing.
• Stars – Sad Robots EP: Still one of my top 3 bands, this EP is awesome.
• Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend: Still getting to know this, I’m mostly posting it because of my friends Ryan’s deep obsession for this disc.

Let Downs:

• Bloc Party – Intimacy: I actually enjoy this disc; but I was hoping for more
• Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stars: Not a bad album, I just don’t go back to it often
• Keane – Perfect Symmetry: This is still growing on me; but it’s just not great
• Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns: All sounds the same to me. I wasn’t expecting much after the last one either…not too happy.

You can listen to most of these bands on my mixtape, and buy all of these albums from the music is for lovers store.

What about you? Favorites?