Album of the year

lordgoat

Top 3 albums from everone... Nice and simple.

pinksoir

I dunno. I'm not that mad into that much that came out this year past... Stuff like Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver just doesn't do it for me. As albums. Some good songs...

As albums go, I'd say My Morning Jacket's 'Evil Urges' is pretty consistent, Oracular Spectacular was good but I got bored with it pretty quick. Neon Neon's is a pretty fun record.

Don't get Elbow. Randy Newman, on the other hand, released a good record this year. The Fireman 'Electric Arguments' was good in doses too.

To be honest, 2007 was a better year for music.

jill_valentine

Agreed, nothing struck me this year at all. 2007 was a hell of a year by comparison.

11811

yeah nothing really did it for me either this year, this year I discovered a lot of great music alright, but nearly all of it older stuff..
a few new albums i've enjoyed are

TV on The Radio - dear science
The Faint - faciinatiion
Los Campenios - Hold On now, Youngster

pinksoir

Cuddleworthy wrote: »

yeah nothing really did it for me either this year, this year I discovered a lot of great music alright, but nearly all of it older stuff..

Likewise. That's sort of par for the course though, isn't it?

Though I will say, I finally bothered listening to Elliot Smith this year. Figure 8. Wow. It's seldom that you hear something that significantly affects you, to the point that you can't understand why you had made yourself so wilfully ignorant of it in the past.

Also, I finally realised what all the fuss about Arcade Fire was about.

John

If you can't find good music out of the thousands of albums released in a given year, then you really need to go into a record store once or twice. 2008 was (like every year) a great year for music. I picked three albums below but they are just what are most suited to this forum out of a much larger list of my favourite albums in 2008. Get out there and explore more than what's headlining the festivals or what's on the cover of NME!

Albums of the year for me:
1. Emeralds Solar Bridge (Hanson)
2. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy with Harem Scarem & Alex Neilson Is it the Sea? (Domino)
3. Portishead Third (Universal)

pinksoir

Actually, Portisheads album is very good. Forgot about that.

funktastic

Glasvegas
R.E.M. – ‘Accelerate’
White Denim – ‘Workout Holiday’
French Kicks – ‘Swimming’
Ports of Call – ‘Like Thieves’ http://www.myspace.com/portsofcallpa
The Fireman - 'Electric Arguments'

jill_valentine

I wasn't blown away by Third. I know that's not quite what Portishead are for, but still. Parenthetical Girls' album was great, that was this year, right?

Seriously though, 2007 was so good I was finding a new OMFG! album every month, this year was a lot less generous.

pinksoir wrote: »

Also, I finally realised what all the fuss about Arcade Fire was about.

I've heard this from a couple of people this year. I can't help thinking maybe they're just successful enough that people have developed a kind of hype-resistance instinct about them.

I think we're less guilty of it here, but in America and Canada certainly, there was a weird kind of anti-Pitchfork backlash thing that caught up with them just in time for Neon Bible. Unfairly IMHO, that's a fantastic album so long as you're not looking for Funeral: Pt. 2.

Ruskie4Rent

1. Dear Science, TV on the Radio
2. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
3. Orancular Spectacular, MGMT

pinksoir

Ruskie4Rent wrote: »

1. Dear Science, TV on the Radio
2. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
3. Orancular Spectacular, MGMT

Vampire Weekends record was 2007 though. Technically. If it had been 2008 it would have definitely been in my top 3.

My bad. It was released in January. I got my copy in November 2007 though. In this case Vampire Weekend takes the number one spot for me.

whatawaster

1. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
2. Stay Positive - The Hold Steady
3. The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow

xOxSinéadxOx

Vampire Weekend
TV on the Radio
The Saturdays

Photi

2008 has been great, my top 10 list would include the likes of:

Bon Iver
Mogwai
Fleet Foxes
Peter Broderick
Frightened Rabbit
Elbow
British Sea Power
Aidan Moffat
Burial
Department Of Eagles
**** Buttons
Lykke Li
Okkervil River
Portishead
Shearwater
Sigur Rós


It's hard to choose between them.

eclectichoney

Sun Kil Moon - April
Department of eagles - In Ear Park
Portishead - Third / Black Mountain - In the future (can't make my mind up, sorry!)

S.M.B.

**** buttons is my fave of the year

i've been catching up on a lot of last years albums

Creamy Goodness

mogwai - the hawk is howling.

frightened rabbit - the midnight organ fight.

m83 - saturdays = youth.

lordgoat

Bon Iver's album is from last year.

Pink- Figure 8 is the best elliott album out there. It just takes time for most people to realise it. Listen to them all for years and this is what happens!

Haven't had as much time to listen to music this year as i'd like. To pick a top 3 for this thread.

Frightened Rabbit
Le Sac and Pip
and maybe Hercules and Love Affair as i'm listening to it now with a sudden new found appreciation.

Don't lie to me my love... my heart, it will not stand a recall.

KnifeWRENCH

I actually don't listen to that much new music, as recently I've spent most of my time investigating music that was before my time!
My top 2 albums of 2008 are both by veterans :

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Before this album came out the only Nick Cave song I knew was "Where The Wild Roses Grow". However, I was lucky enough to hear this album's title track on the radio and instantly loved it. I got the album and initially I wasn't blown away. But the more I listened, the more I kept falling in love with this album.
The aforementioned title track, "Hold On To Yourself" and "Midnight Man" are three of my favourite songs of the year. "We Call Upon The Author" is absolutely hilarious - always makes me chuckle. "Albert Goes West" is insanely catchy, "Moonland" is wonderfully broody and slow-burning.
This album has really got me interested in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. I bought Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus shortly afterwards and plan to investigate a lot more of his back catalogue in '09.

The Breeders - Mountain Battles
I love, love, LOVE the Deal sisters. And Mountain Battles was a brilliant return for them. From the beautiful ballads ("We're Gonna Rise", "Here No More") to the irresistible pop/rock tracks ("Overglazed", "Walk It Off", "It's The Love"), the slightly quirky ("Spark", "Reglame Esta Noche") to the downright bizarre ("German Studies", "Istanbul", "Mountain Battles") this is an almost perfect album for me.

I don't really have a 3rd favourite, because I didn't actually buy that much new music this year, and I have yet not got a chance to listen to those albums I did get.

Other albums I purchased/borrowed/stole* in 2008 were (in no particular order):
Duffy - Rockferry
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
Santogold - Santogold
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Primal Scream - Beautiful Future
The Long Blondes - "Couples"
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Portishead - Third
CSS - Donkey

I haven't listened to those albums enough to pass definitive judgement on them but I've been impressed by what I've heard from them. Albums on my "To get" list are ¡Forward, Russia! and Fleet Foxes.



* I did not steal any of these albums

SligoBrewer

MGMT, Crystal Castles and Cage the Elephant's are the favourites of the year for me.

Particularly, Crystal Castles. (Although is that more Electronica?)

John

square_igloo wrote: »

This album has really got me interested in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. I bought Abattoir bluse / The Lyre of Orpheus shortly afterwards and plan to investigate a lot more of his back catalogue in '09.

If you want my advice, I recommend the following as good places to go next:
From Her to Eternity: His first album with the Bad Seeds. Very raw and dark compared to his recent stuff but stunning.

Tender Prey: Mid-period album from around the time when he was coming off heroin. Heavy going but again, stunning.

Henry's Dream: My favourite album, I think it's perfect. Right balance of rock out songs and more melancholy pieces. Some of his blackest humour too.

Let Love In: Featuring probably his most famous song, "Red Right Hand", and one of his most accessible. My second favourite (and up until recently my favourite).

Murder Ballads: The one with Kylie on a couple of the tracks Hilarious and fantastic album about murder.

The Boatman's Call: His most grown up album, much more laid back than most of his albums. One of the songs was in Shrek. My third favourite.

And of course the rest are great too but I think these would be the big guns. Although maybe steer clear of the older ones for now, purely because they're being reissued soon with bonus discs so no point spending money now for single disc versions.

cautioner

I spent a lot of this year buying older stuff and even more of the yar not buying anything but here's what springs to mind:

Fleet Foxes - S/T
Folky acoustic indie loveliness.

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Grounds for Divorce is probably my single of the year.

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
So glad to see them continuing in the direction they started in with BoTT. Even if it does mean we all have to put up with girls claiming to "ohmygod LOVE Kings of The Leonz" whenever they hear Sex on Fire.

Sun Kil Moon - April
Haunting, low-key, simple acoustic indie.

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
I first got into them this year and while it wouldn't be my favourite album of theirs, it still managed to somehow stay in my CD player for a solid month. Grapevine Fires is bliss.

Alphabeat - This is Alphabeat
OMGZ IZ NOT ALTERNATIVE AND/OR INDIE?
Don't care, best pop album ever, no hang ups, no pretensions, just straightforward catchy-ass pop tunes.

On my 2008 to-do list:

Sigur Ros
Dear and the Headlights
Bloc Party
Kanye West
Source Victoria
Bon Iver

pinksoir

Also, whilst not purely music, Flight Of The Conchords was by far the best thing this year for me. Top notch parody.

11811

pinksoir wrote: »

Also, whilst not purely music, Flight Of The Conchords was by far the best thing this year for me. Top notch parody.

+1 hehe yeah was quality! its business time- genius.

FockRoysh

Kings of Leon has gotta be the winner for me, followed by Vampire Weekend

Creature

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
Vampire Weekend
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

KnifeWRENCH

John wrote: »

If you want my advice, I recommend the following as good places to go next:

.....

Great post, very informative. Thanks!

pinksoir wrote: »

Also, whilst not purely music, Flight Of The Conchords was by far the best thing this year for me. Top notch parody.

Heh, I'd forgotten about that :pac: Brilliant album, although I wish they'd put "Albi The Racist Dragon" on it.

insinkerator

square_igloo wrote: »

Heh, I'd forgotten about that :pac: Brilliant album, although I wish they'd put "Albi The Racist Dragon" on it.

A friend of mine is playing that for his Leaving Cert music practical! :rolleyes:

Top albums for me this year would be:

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Bon Iver - For emma, forever ago
Foals - Antidotes
Holy F*** - Holy F***
MGMT oracular Spectacular.
Ting tings get a mention too

There was a lot of albums i was dissapointed in this year too.
TV on the radio
Oasis
Snow Patrol
The Killers to name but a few

Bubs101

Mine are ashamedly

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter 3
Death Cab - Narrow Stairs
Ashlee Simpson - Bittersweet world (Think new Love Angel Music Baby)

Shocking year for guitar music

Podge2k7

jill_valentine wrote: »

Agreed, nothing struck me this year at all. 2007 was a hell of a year by comparison.

+1

Placid_Casual

Ok, i'll try and stick to the OP's criteria and pick three albums from the year

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (Definitely the feelgood album of the year, edging out MGMT in that regard)

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (I can't believe I knew nothing about these guys until a few months ago - genre hopping brilliance)

Sigur Ros - With a Buzzing In Our Ears We Play Endlessly (I'm not even going to attempt to type the Icelandic title! The album with which I finally "got" Sigur Ros. And i'm not ashamed to admit that its probably because its their most accessible and commercial release so far.)

Ask me tomorrow and i'll probably pick three different albums. So honourable mentions must go to MGMT, Death Cab For Cutie, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, British Sea Power, Elbow, Lisa Hannigan, Hot Chip, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and others that i've probably forgotten just now.

pinksoir

jill_valentine wrote: »

I've heard this from a couple of people this year. I can't help thinking maybe they're just successful enough that people have developed a kind of hype-resistance instinct about them.

I think we're less guilty of it here, but in America and Canada certainly, there was a weird kind of anti-Pitchfork backlash thing that caught up with them just in time for Neon Bible. Unfairly IMHO, that's a fantastic album so long as you're not looking for Funeral: Pt. 2.

To be honest, I never even got round to listening to Funeral when it came out. I avoided it because of all the hype around it, I just felt that it couldn't be as good as it was being made out to be.

And it isn't. But it is a very good record. I generally employ this kind of approach to new stuff anyway. If the stuff is that good, then two years later it'll still be as good. As in, is it a record that's very much of its time, or is it a record that'll last? Funeral is a record that lasts.

I don't care much for being the first to discover stuff. In fact, I'm perpetually discovering and listening to music from the last 60+ years of popular music. There's no rush! As I say, if it's good it ain't going anywhere and it'll still stand up years later.

Consequently, I haven't gotten round to Neon Bible yet. Can't wait!

KnifeWRENCH

insinkerator wrote: »

A friend of mine is playing that for his Leaving Cert music practical! :rolleyes:

Haha, your friend's a legend!

Albeit one who will most likely fail LC Music.

AnonoBoy

Why? - Alopecia
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (it was released in 2008, not sure who said it was 2007 but they're wrong)
In 3rd I'd go with either
Jape - Ritual or Fleet Foxes.

AnonoBoy

pinksoir wrote: »

And it isn't. But it is a very good record. I generally employ this kind of approach to new stuff anyway.

So you avoid listening to albums that people recommend for a couple of years? That's a weird approach dude.

Ekels

My top 20:
1. iForward, Russia!- Life Processes
2. Youthmovies- Good Nature
3. Bloc Party- Intimacy
4. This Et Al- Figure Eight EP
5. Dananananaykrod- Sissy Hits
6. Tokyo Police Club- Elephant Shell
7. Errors- It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever
8. Johnny Foreigner- Waited Up Til It Was Light
9. Her Name Is Calla- The Heritage
10. Maybeshewill- Not for the Want of Trying
11. This Town Needs Guns- Animals
12. Maps & Atlases- You and Me and the Mountain
13. Mogwai- Hawk Is Howling
14. No Age- Nouns
15. Foals- Antidotes
16. Adebisi Shank- This Is The Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank
17. This Will Destroy You- S/T
18. Waiting Room- Battle Lines are Gently Drawn
19. Portishead- Third
20. TV on the Radio- Dear Science

pinksoir

AnonoBoy wrote: »

So you avoid listening to albums that people recommend for a couple of years? That's a weird approach dude.

Are you for real?

kryptyk500

Difficult to pick just 3 albums that I liked the most this year, but here goes:

Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
American Music Club - The Golden Age
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Other albums I've enjoyed this year:

Robert Forster - The Evangelist
Bob Mould - District Line
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws
Spiritualised - Songs in A & E
Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
David Byrne & Brian Eno -Everything That happens Will Happen Today

AnonoBoy

pinksoir wrote: »

Are you for real?

Seriously no need to get uptight, it's how I read the post. What did you mean?

Schlemm

sigur ros
m83
vampire weekend
bon iver

Goosewad

Grouper-Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill... and that's it.
Third was good.
Sigur Ros' album was disappointing...

Didn't listen to that much new music.

pinksoir

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Seriously no need to get uptight, it's how I read the post. What did you mean?

The 'two years' comment was figurative. Some music I put on the back burner.

Everything's alright.

Fringe

I'd definitely say Foals - Antidote would be one of my favourite albums this year. They are brilliant, catchy and new and the whole album is great to listen too. I also like the Vampire Weekend one. Can't quite think of another one off the top of my head but Foals definitely wins it for me.

Creamy Goodness

foals is one that is up there in my top 10 that's for sure.

possibly nearing my top 3.

the reason behind it not edging in there was that it needed me to go and see them live for me to truely appreciate the album.

none of my top three have i seen live (except for one song of frightened rabbit) :P.

insinkerator

square_igloo wrote: »

Haha, your friend's a legend!

Albeit one who will most likely fail LC Music.

The shock factor is all hes got going for him, trust me, he wont pass unless the examiner is an immature moron lol.

I like the foals, album, its a little repetitve though, and im wonderin what the next album is going to be like, whether its going to be more of the same or a new approach... They are recording it in Hawaii becasue they want to get a beach/"surf rock" feel to it. That will definitely be interesting

Madou

I call shenanigans!! 12 months of appreciating 'In Rainbows' - the only other thing that came close for me was Bon Iver.

smackbunnybaby

Album of the Year

Land Lovers - Romance Romance

AnonoBoy

Madou wrote: »

I call shenanigans!! 12 months of appreciating 'In Rainbows' - the only other thing that came close for me was Bon Iver.

Wasn't In Rainbows a 2007 release?

pinksoir

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Wasn't In Rainbows a 2007 release?

It was. As was Bon Iver, technically. It was released independently in late 2007 (according to wikipedia) and then got a full release through Jagjaguwar in 2008. But who's counting?

Madou

Yeah yeah 'In Rainbows' was October 2007, but Bon Iver still stands - that new/old live album from Neil Young gets a mention too

AnonoBoy

pinksoir wrote: »

But who's counting?

Nobody except this guy: