Music: Best Albums of the Year Series: 2008

[Saturated Fats]

1965: The Beatles - Rubber Soul
1966: The Beatles - Revolver
1967: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1968: The Beatles - The White Album
1969: The Beatles - Abbey Road
1970: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1971: Led Zeppelin - IV
1972: Neil Young - Harvest
1973: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Supertramp - Crime of the Century
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1976: Eagles - Hotel California
1977: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
1978: (TIE) The Police - Outlandos d'Amour / The Cars - The Cars / Van Halen - Van Halen
1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall
1980: AC/DC - Back in Black
1981: Rush - Moving Pictures
1982: Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
1983: Metallica - Kill 'em All
1984: Metallica - Ride the Lightning
1985: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
1986: Metallica - Master of Puppets
1987: Guns 'n Roses - Appetite for Destruction
1988: Metallica - ...And Justice for All
1989: Pixies - Doolittle
1991: Nirvana - Nevermind
1992: Alice in Chains - Dirt
1993: Nirvana - In Utero
1995: Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
1996: (TIE) Soundgarden - Down on the Upside // Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
1997: (TIE) Radiohead - OK Computer // Foo Fighters - The Color and the Shape
1998: (TIE) Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill // System of a Down - System of a Down
1999: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
2001: The Strokes - Is This It
2002: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
2003: The White Stripes - Elephant
2004: (TIE) Madvillain - Madvillainy // The Killers - Hot Fuss // Green Day - American Idiot
2005: Coldplay - X & Y
2006: Tool - 10,000 Days
2007: Radiohead - In Rainbows
2009: Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
2010: The National - High Violet
2011: No definitive winner
2012: (TIE) Kendrick Lamar - good kidd, M.A.A.D. city // Deftones - koi no yokan
2014: Behemoth - The Satanist
2015: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

1990: Megadeth - Rust in Peace (14 votes)

Not my style and not my vibe, but a good album for what it was. Gave it a listen for the first time since I was in my late teens, and enjoyed it well enough. Still blows my mind entirely that Pantera and a mediocre Judas Priest album got more love than Violator or Fear of a Black Planet. Think that, if anything, this vote has taught us exactly what the majority musical aesthetic of this board is.

2008 is an interesting year. I don't see it as being particularly deep, but it does contain my very favourite album of all time... So I'm a bit torn on it. Still, not sure if that album will have the legs to get to the finish line in the poll.

Thanks for bearing with me on these polls, guys. This time of year is always mental for us teachers. Pair that with a couple toddlers at home, and I just haven't found as much time as I would like to spin these threads together. But I'm committed to seeing the project out completely, and greatly appreciated everyone's continued patience and participation

Remaining Years
2013
1994
2016 - Now
1900 - 1964

Click to read more...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Other:

NIN - Ghosts I-IV

A great collection of atmospheric stuff from Reznor.

Metallica - Death Magnetic

A long awaited return to real thrash from them. All Nightmare Long is up there with any song they've done

 

[plank]

1. Real Animal - Alejandro Escovedo
2. Left for Dead - Wussy
3. Down Inside the Bottle - Psychobilly Kadillaks
4. The Last Country Album - Heybale
5. Just Us Kids - James McMurtry
6. Neptune - The Duke Spirit
7. s/t - Mudcrutch
8. Seeing Things - Jakob Dylan
9. Urban Myths - Courtney Marie Andrews
10. Warpaint - The Black Crowes
11. Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket

 

[Azathoth]

Voted Opeth-Watershed even though thats pretty much where I started to give up on Opeth.

Other:
Amon Amarth-Twillight of the Thunder God
Korplikaani-Korven Kuningas
The Faceless-Planetary Duality

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

My apologies for the very long list... Weird year for me, top-end is kind of weak compared to most years, but there's so much depth...

1. Ceramic Dog – Party Intellectuals
2. Jeremiah Cymerman – In Memory of the Labyrinth System
3. Brown Wing Overdrive – ESP Organism
4. Won James Won – The Flood of Ixtlan
5. Saez – Varsovie - L'Alhambra – Paris
6. Agaskodo Teliverek – Psycho Goulash
7. Kikuri (Keiji Haino & Merzbow) – Pulverized Purple
8. Pyramids – Pyramids
9. Arrington de Dionyso – I See Beyond the Black Sun
10. Maybe Monday – Unsquare
11. The Gaslamp Killer – I Spit on Your Grave
12. The Goslings – Occasion
13. Braxton, Graves & Parker – Beyond Quantum
14. Secret Chiefs 3 – Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9
15. Midori – Aratamemashite, hajimemashite, Midori desu.

HMs:
John Zorn (Moonchild Trio) – The Crucible (my favorite of the Moonchild albums)
Natural Snow Buildings / TwinSisterMoon / Isengrind – The Snowbringer Cult (NSB has 9 albums in 2008, haven't heard everything, this one is special – 2 CDs with contribution from their 3 projects ; Slayer of the King of Hell is also very good)
The Legendary Pink Dots – Plutonium Blonde
Cyro Baptista – Banquet of the Spirits
Guillermo E. Brown – Handeheld (very uneven, very hard to rank, certainly interesting, someone I need to explore more)
Evangelista – Hello, Voyager
Daniel Padden – Pause for the Jet
Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Leucocyte
All India Radio – These Winter Dreams
Cities Last Broadcast – The Cancelled Earth
Birchville Cat Motel – Four Freckle Constellation
Fred Frith & Danielle Roger – Pas de deux
T Bone Burnett – Tooth Of Crime
Mugison – Mugiboogie
Various Artists – The Art of the Virtual Rhythmicon
Indian Jewelry – Free Gold!
Vincent Delerm – Quinze chansons
Timesbold – Ill Seen Ill Sung
f*** Buttons – Street Horrrsing
Anthony Pateras – Chromatophore
Skeletons – Money
Li Jianhong – San Sheng Shi
Gnaw Their Tongues – For All Slaves a Song of False Hope
Fennesz – Black Sea
Autistic Daughters – Uneasy Flowers
Various Artists – Hated Perversions
:zoviet*france: – Shteirlel
WHY? – Alopecia (fun and often hilarious)
MoHa! – One-Way Ticket to Candyland
Arthur Russell – Love Is Overtaking Me
Black to Comm – Fractal Hair Geometry
Meshuggah – obZen
Volcano! – Paperwork album
Times New Viking – Rip It Off
Across Tundras – Western Sky Ride
Apse – Eras
U.S. Christmas – Eat the Low Dogs
Suishou no Fune – The Gold Labyrinth
Matana Roberts – The Chicago Project
f***ed Up – The Chemistry of Common Life

Very special mentions:
Fred Frith – To Sail To Sail
Marc Ribot – Exercises In Futility
That's two of my three favorite guitarists making very “simple” (or tone-down) albums of solo accoustic works. I prefer the Frith one because it has more of a soul while the Ribot one is presented as kind of exercises or challenges for fellow guitarists. Not albums that I go back to much, but always a pleasure to hear them playing (with) their instrument.


Curiosities:
Henry Cow – Stockholm & Göteborg (this should be in my top-10, it's mostly great, but it's recorded live and sometimes sounds not so good)
Sonargemeinschaft – Drift (same, even better stuff recorded live)
Diamanda Galas – Guilty Guilty Guilty (another very good live album)
Lou Reed/Laurie Anderson/John Zorn – The Stone: Issue Three (live stuff, parts of a series to help finance Zorn's nonprofit venue in NY)
The Matches – A Band In Hope (a drop from their previous album, but still, this bubblegum punk band should have been something special)
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst (not bad but doesn't quite have the Bright Eyes je-ne-sais-quoi... Kind of the same style, I prefer the Timesbold album from 2008)
LSD Pond – LSD Pond
Hans Krüsi – EX HK
No Age – Nouns
Tagaq – Auk/Blood
Berangere Maximin – Tant que les heures passent
Nico Muhly – Mothertongue
Anok Pe / Current 93 – Birth Canal Blues
Various Artists – A Young Person's Guide to Antoine Beuger
Phurpa – Trowo Phurnag Ceremony
Zach Hill – Astrological Straits
Trio Slicnaton – Glinkowski Slaton Sparacino
Deerhunter – Microcastle / Deerhunter – Weird Era Continued
Worms of the Earth – The Angels of Prostitution
Mike Patton – A Perfect Place (soundtrack for a short film, the songs – A Perfect Twist, A Dream of Roses – are amazing, maybe my favorite stuff of the year)

 

[Cas]

Darkthrone - Dark Thrones and Black Flags
Enforcer - Into the Night
Hail of Bullets - Of Frost and War
Hibria - The Skull Collectors
In Solitude - In Solitude
Lord Vicar - Fear No Pain
Mitochondrian - Archaeaeon
Panopticon - Panopticon

I don't have a lot from 2008, and I don't think its an especially strong year for metal. I'm going to name Hibria - The Skull Collectors, which is a monster power metal album (and unfortunately the second of their two good releases).

 

[Teemu]

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Sigur Ros - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Kings of Leon – Only by the Night
Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

 

[frisco]

Other:
R.E.M.-Accelerate
Rick Springfield-Venus In Overdrive

My Best-Carey

 

[kihei]

Portishead: Third
Coldplay: Viva la Vida
Sigur Ros: Iam Nos Re Mem Berum Da Tit Le

---all I've got

 

[TheDoldrums]

1. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont
2. Air France - No Way Down
3. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
4. F'ed Up - Chemistry of Common Life
5. Crystal Castles - self titled
6. Fleet Foxes - self titled/Sun Giant
7. Beach House - Devotion
8. Jean Grae - Jeanius
9. Kanye - 808s and Heartbreak
10. Sigur Ros - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust

Never done one of these before, cool idea. This was a pretty good year for me. Deerhunter broke out and became one of my favourite bands for awhile. The Air France EP is still one of my favourite electronic releases, so beautiful and catchy. This was my first M83 album as well and he's still one of my favourites.

Also some good Canadian content for me with F'ed Up and Crystal Castles.

 

[beowulf]

NIN - The Slip
Metallica - Death Magnetic


Note of interest though not a best album for the year was the long awaited release of Guns 'n Roses - Chinese Democracy

 

[Mescaleroman]

Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid
Flight of the Conchords - s/t
Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI , Ambleside
the Soundtrack of our Lives - Communion
James - Hey Ma

 

[Ceremony]

The best album released in 2008 was The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit:



If you think the best you can do from 2008 is Coldplay, Elbow or Kings of Leon, please listen to this.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I'm committed to seeing the project out completely, and greatly appreciated everyone's continued patience and participation

Still the most fun threads around. I think the change of pace makes it easier for everybody right now. It certainly does for me.

 

[Mikeaveli]

1. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
2. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle (Revisited): The 40th Anniversary Concert

Thats all for me lol.

 

[Voight]

I get its hugely popular, but Viva La Vida was a freaking sick album. Did a full listen of it couple weeks ago, still rocks.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Perfect Symmetry by Keane for me, very consistent album, took a while to grow. The title track is one of my all time favourites to date. They were always in the shadow of Coldplay but certainly outdid them on that one imo.

 

[plank]

Still the most fun threads around. I think the change of pace makes it easier for everybody right now. It certainly does for me.

I just put together my list for 2016-now and boy, it's going to be a long one

My list for 1900-1964 is going to be relatively short because as of now I believe I only have around 19 studio albums. Maybe I'll have a post of compilation albums from my favorite folk, country, blues, old standards and early rock artists.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I just put together my list for 2016-now and boy, it's going to be a long one

My list for 1900-1964 is going to be relatively short because as of now I believe I only have around 19 studio albums. Maybe I'll have a post of compilation albums from my favorite folk, country, blues, old standards and early rock artists.

I'm looking at 1994 now. There's a few other years I want to get back to. The bookend lists scare me a bit. Like you 1900-1964 will probably end up kind of short, but in both cases, just too much material I'm afraid to miss - I was thinking of maybe skipping them!

 

[belair]

Fleet Foxes was an outstanding album.

 

[plank]

I'm looking at 1994 now. There's a few other years I want to get back to. The bookend lists scare me a bit. Like you 1900-1964 will probably end up kind of short, but in both cases, just too much material I'm afraid to miss - I was thinking of maybe skipping them!

Don't skip 'em! Even a half-assed list is better than no list.

 

[MakeTheGoalsLarger]

other: Cage The Elephant

 

[Ouroboros]

Per Nørgård - String Quartets 7, 8, 9, 10 [Kroger Quartet] [Modern Classical]
Salvatore Sciarrino - Variazioni... [RAI National Symphony Orchestra] [Modern Classical]
Jakob Ullmann - Voice, Books and Fire III [Ensemble Für Experimentelle Musik] [Modern Classical]
Iannis Xenakis - Kraanerg [Callithumpian Consort/Stephen Drury] [Modern Classical/Electroacoustic]

Jason Crumer - Ottoman Black [Noise/Drone]
Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion [Drone/Ambient]
Ryoji Ikeda - Test Pattern [Glitch/Microsound]
Zbigniew Karkowski and Daniel Menche - Unleash [Collaboration] [Noise]
Daniel Menche - Glass Forest [Drone/Noise/Electroacoustic]

Dead Congregation - Graves Of The Archangels [Death Metal]
Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet In Aeternam: Chaining The Katechon [Black Metal]
Virus - The Black Flux [Post-Metal/Rock]
Antediluvian - Under Wing Of Asael [Death Metal]

Stealing a page from Pranzo's book here and including something under the 'curiosities' heading...

Ehnahre - The Man Closing Up [Death Metal/Modern Classical/Serialism]

 

[kihei]

Portishead: Third
Coldplay: Viva la Vida
Sigur Ros: Iam Nos Re Mem Berum Da Tit Le

---all I've got

Not surprisingly, no one has questioned nor even likely noticed the made-up title I created for the Sigur Ros album. I wrote it in ancient Icelandic and it translates as: "I am not remembering the title."

 

[Saturated Fats]

Not surprisingly, no one has questioned nor even likely noticed the made-up title I created for the Sigur Ros album. I wrote it in ancient Icelandic and it translates as: "I do not remember the title."

I mean, it sounds like a Sigur Ros album title.