Best Albums of 2008: Part 2 (of 3)

Posted by Brian Berry on 12.16.2008

Death Cab For Cutie, Oasis, and MGMT are just a few of the bands included in Part 2 of my picks for the Best Albums of 2008! Check in as we get closer to the Best Music of the Year with #50-21...

This is the 2nd part of my picks for The Best 100 Albums of 2008. Today I'll look at #50-21. If you missed Part 1 you can find it by clicking here.




#50 The Breeders-Mountain Battles
Alt-rock radio may have been ignoring The Breeders after their breakthrough classic Last Splash wowed listeners with "Cannonball" and "Divine Hammer" in '93 but they deserve another listen. Mountain Battles is the Deal sister's best work in fifteen years. This is all over the map noise-pop, which goes in so many unusual directions: experimental fuzz, surf-rock, country/western, pop-punk, and even plain ol' rock ‘n roll. This was a delight of a comeback following 2002's lackluster Title TK.


#49 Of Montreal-Skeletal Lamping
#48 James-Hey Ma
#47 Foals-Antidotes
#46 The Gaslight Anthem-The 59 Sound

#45 Ra Ra Riot-The Rhumb Line
Besides Vampire Weekend, no indie act in 2008 was buzzed about more than this upstate New York band. If you're holding your breath for the next chamber pop offering by The Arcade Fire or Belle and Sebastian, you might want to pick up The Rhumb Line to tide you over. These are soaring, heartfelt songs with bouncy guitars, gorgeous violin and loungy vocals that serve as an admirable tribute to their drummer who passed away before the album was released.



#44 Cheap Time-Cheap Time
#43 The Notwist-The Devil You & Me
#42 The Mountain Goats-Heretic Pride

#41 Frightened Rabbit-The Midnight Organ Fight
One needs to look no further than The Midnight Organ Fight's "Fast Blood" or "The Twist" to hear that Scotland's Hutchinson brothers are incredibly gifted songwriters, crafting emotional pop that has more impact than the best that similar bands, such as Snow Patrol, have to offer. The closest kindred spirits to this band are fellow Scots, The Twilight Sad; only Frightened Rabbit play songs with song lengths ready for mainstream radio. If mainstream radio programmers had any sense, you'd hear FR in heavy rotation on AOR and Modern Rock radio.


#40 Oasis-Dig Out Your Soul
Ask most people in the United States and you'd think Oasis fell off the face of the Earth after releasing their brilliant 2nd album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory. This is unfortunate, especially since their last two albums are the best releases since their first two (Morning Glory and their breakthrough Definitely Maybe). Dig Out Your Soul shows Oasis playing louder, harder, and more psychedelic, leaning more toward The Stone Roses end of the spectrum than The Beatles or The Jam. If you can get over the fact that their 7th studio album doesn't have a smash hit a la "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger", or "Live Forever" you'll be treated to a fun & noisy rock ‘n roll album by one of the better bands of the past twenty years. Noel Gallagher may crib riffs from all his favorite bands, but at least he steals the best ones.

#39 Shearwater-Rook
#38 Santogold-Santogold
#37 Subtle-Exiting Arm
#36 Testament-The Formation of Damnation

#35 Grand Archives-Grand Archives
Mat Brooke left the critically lauded band Band of Horses to start a project where he had more creative control. Those familiar with BOH or his brilliant, overlooked, former sadcore band Carissa's Weird [sic] will instantly notice the outstanding differences: favoritism toward melodic West Coast harmonies and a more optimistic worldview. Fans of early predecessors like America, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and The Association should take note of this solid debut.



#34 Beach House-Devotion While this might not be a good selling point for some, Beach House's 2nd studio album is the best album to lull you to sleep this side of an atmospheric sounds CD found at the checkout line of Bed Bath & Beyond. Dreamy tambourine, Casiotone, and slide guitar flavor this offering of down tempo folk. Whether you're going through Air or Mazzy Star withdrawals, you'll find your quick fix in Beach House's Devotion.




#33 Death Cab For Cutie-Narrow Stairs
Narrow Stairs is much darker than their major label debut (Plans), or any other Death Cab For Cutie release for that matter, but Ben Gibbard didn't lose his keen ear for pop song craft on this album. While lacking in his trademark love songs, Gibbard delivered two unlikely breakout singles: the subtly creepy "I Will Possess Your Heart" and their most desperate song yet, "Cath". Death Cab was due for a shift of some type to avoid stagnation, and this change in tone was just the right move for one of indie-pop's smartest bands.



#32 The Hold Steady-Stay Positive
Their 4th studio album finds The Hold Steady more polished, while maintaining their "what if Bruce Springsteen were raised on a steady diet of punk rock and Pabst Blue Ribbon" sound. With each album, The Hold Steady gets a little stronger while maintaining the formula that's garnered them so much acclaim. The highlight is album opener "Constructive Summer": the pub song of '08.




#31 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds-Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Nick Cave's latest finds the Australian cult hero in top form. Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! is a concept album about the biblical character Lazarus being raised from the dead, and walking the streets of New York City. Lyrically, Cave creates a world of religious cynicism with an often sharp sense of humor. Musically, the Bad Seeds sound takes on a Las Vegas revue version of Cave's garage side project, Grinderman. This is an upbeat, slyly amusing album, which shows the diversity of Cave's discography, especially when compared to a dark, brooding work like Murder Ballads (1996). 14 studio albums in and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds sound just as fresh as on their 1984 debut.



#30 The Kills-Midnight Boom
Heroin chic, blues-punk from a couple of scenester folks who seem to be hungover all the time (why else the need for sunglasses 24 hours/day and deadpan interviews?). Outside of the ‘look' this band crafted their strongest effort yet with Midnight Boom, making their drum machine and guitar pop more full of life than on their previous two full-lengths. Several of the songs here are even danceable ("Last Day of Magic" being the highlight) but they wear their moody, too cool for school mystique still, like a badge of honor. Ultra sexy and hip, this is the perfect soundtrack for a dimly lit, trashy dive bar.



#29 Silver Jews-Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City)
This is the strongest offering of wordy, alt-country from D.C. Berman and company since the 1998 masterpiece American Water. Not as silly/catchy as that album, or as subtly draining as their last effort (Tanglewood Numbers), this is a fun album full of catchy knee slappin' numbers. D.C. Berman continues to prove himself as one of the more gifted lyricists of underground music with another standout album.



#28 Sloan-Parallel Play
Like clean power-pop in the vein of Badfinger and Big Star? Look no further than the always pleasurable Canadian band Sloan (they're as big in their homeland as Oasis is in the UK...but hardly known South of the border) who delivered yet another album of infectious tunes for ‘70s AM rock geeks. Parallel Play is much faster in parts and more streamlined than last year's stellar 30-track album, Never Hear the End of It, but just as enjoyable.



#27 No Age-Nouns
This is one of the louder albums to place on this list, but there's good reason this Los Angeles band's debut full-length was one of the best reviewed albums of the year. They take the influence of other noise making titans like My Bloody Valentine, Mudhoney, and Sonic Youth but they reduce the formula by only using drums and a (loops and effects heavy) guitar. Music to upset your parents by.



#26 Stereolab-Chemical Chords
Like The Hold Steady, Stereolab are one of those bands that have found success in honing a very specific, recognizable sound and refuse to deviate from it with each succeeding record. They make really good albums that you could pick out of a line-up, even during their most deviant tracks. To put it mildly, if you like Stereolab's past work, you'll dig Chemical Chords. What's different here is the brevity of the album, with attention to editing songs down to lengths playable on radio. Fans shouldn't worry though: Stereolab's brand of humanistic Kraftwerk, with traditional instruments, is still in tact…it was just cleaned up a little bit for this outing.



#25 Department of Eagles-In Ear Park
This side project from Grizzly Bear member Daniel Rossen, trumps anything by his impressive main band. In Ear Park is a highly personal, densely layered, experimental pop album, reminiscent of the ambitious effort behind a record like Panda Bear's Person Pitch (my #1 album of 2007). Dedicated to his late father, Rossen and collaborator Fred Nicolaus have structured a beautiful work of mature, thoughtful music.



#24 M83-Saturdays=Youth
French producer & multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez's (aka M83's mastermind) tribute to ‘80s synth-pop shows characters seemingly stripped from a collection of John Hughes films on the cover. Don't judge this book by its cover though: this is just as much Cocteau Twins as it is Thompson Twins. Saturdays=Youth owes more to ‘80s avant-pop acts like Kate Bush than it does to Top 40, as evidenced in the hypnotic body of work created here. The most straightforward songs are the singles "Kim and Jessie" and "Graveyard Girl" but the dizzying "We Own the Sky" is the most intense prize on M83's 3rd studio album.



#23 The Dodos-Visiter
The Dodos proved this year that you don't have to wear face paint to fly the freak-folk flag. This San Francisco duo's debut is tribal percussion heavy, with well placed loops, and strong layered vocals throughout. The mood is mostly bouncy and upbeat but they come up for air on the 7-minute opus "Joe's Waltz", which eventually evolves halfway through into the barn burner typical of the rest of Visiter. While some bands go a little too heavy on the "freak", The Dodos found an excellent balance here with an album for the everyman.


#22 MGMT-Oracular Spectacular
MGMT are drug ingesting New York prep school kids making a peculiar blend of T. Rex inspired, psychedelic glam rock mixed with ‘80s New Wave inspired synth-pop. Somehow this clusterfuck of unlikely styles resulted in one of the better party records of the year. "Time To Pretend" and "Kids" are the exceptionally strong first singles, but the album goes in so many stylistic directions throughout that it's hard to pick a best track. Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie fans, take note.


#21 Atlas Sound-Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Can Not Feel
At an Atlas Sound concert in San Francisco earlier this year, frontman Bradford Cox (also of Deerhunter) seemed like he might lose control of himself in a drunken stupor. The show's worst moment occurred when the bass player was hit in the head by a microphone stand knocked over by Cox…followed by a lack of apology, then unintelligible ranting. It was a sad state of affairs, as is per usual with Cox; and his Atlas Sound project (his solo project) is the best audio representation of the young man's struggle as the "other" (most notably on "Quartined"). In health and physical appearance, he's much different than most people and he puts these differences in the foreground of this melancholy work of looping, samples, white noise, a multitude of conventional and unusual instruments and always haunting vocals. If Panda Bear's self-made Person Pitch was his Pet Sounds this is Bradford Cox's Velvet Underground & Nico.


Bonus List #1: 10 Albums I Was Underwhelmed By In 2008 But Other People Seem To Really Like

Cat Power-Jukebox
Hercules & Love Affair-Hercules & Love Affair
Goldfrapp-The Seventh Tree
Lil Wayne-Tha Carter 3
She and Him-Volume 1
The Switches-Lay Down the Law
The Teenagers-Reality Check
Tokyo Police Club-Elephant Shell
Kanye West-808s and Heartbreak
Brian Wilson-That Lucky Old Sun



Tomorrow I'll unveil my picks for the Top 20 Best Albums of 2008