Best of 2008 so far
 

Yeah so, I like making lists and can't really wait 'till the end of the year to make one so let's do one half way through!http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...lpower/yay.gif What's your 2008 breakdown thus far? http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/treptrep.gif

Here's mine:

Bon Iver - For Emma, forever ago 10/10 (technically self-released in 2007 but it got a proper release in 2008).
Cut copy - In ghost colours 9/10
M83 - Saturdays=Youth 8/10
Santogold - Santogold 8/10
Hercules and Love affair - Hercules and Love affair 7/10
My morning jacket - Evil urges 7/10
Coldplay - Viva la vida or Death and all his friends 7/10
Young Knives - Superabundance 7/10
The Black Keys - Attack and release 7/10
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the lonely 7/10
Beck - Modern Guilt 7/10
Fleet foxes - Fleet foxes 7/10
Hot Chip - Made in the dark 7/10
Foals - Antidotes 7/10
Gnarls Barkley - The odd couple 7/10
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend 6/10
Mystery jets - Twenty one 6/10
Madonna - Hard candy 6/10
Be your own pet - Get awkward 6/10
The presets - Apocalypso 6/10
Does it offend you, yeah? - You have no idea what you're getting yourself into 6/10
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular 6/10 (did this come out in 2008 or last year?*unsure*)
Black kids - Partie Traumatic 6/10
Beach house - Devotion 5/10
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer 5/10
Sigur ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust 5/10
These new puritans - Beat pyramid 5/10

The Kills - Midnight Boom 9/10
Cat Power - Jukebox 8/10
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons 8/10
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!! 8/10
Portishead - Third 7/10
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree 7/10
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing 7/10
No Age - Nouns 7/10
M83 - Saturdays = Youth 7/10
Muse - HAARP 6/10
The Duke Spirit - Neptune 6/10
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer 6/10
Fleet Foxes - S/T 5/10
Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head 5/10

Those are the ones worth a mention. Early days though.

A couple of others that haven't been mentioned.

R.E.M. - Accelerate 8/10
Radiohead - In Rainbows 8/10

Animal Collective - Water Curses 6/10
Arghoslent - Hornets of the Pogrom 7/10
Ayreon - 01011001 6/10
Bloodbath - Unblessing the Purity 8/10
Brain Drill - Apocalyptic Feasting 8/10
Coldplay - Viva La Vida 7.5/10
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs 7.5/10
Eluveitie - Slania 6.5/10
Kayo Dot - Blue Lambency Downward 7/10
King's X - XV 6.5/10
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath 7/10
Meshuggah - obZen 8/10
Moonlyght - Shining 9/19
Moonsorrow - Tulimyrsky 8/10
Necrovation - Breed Deadness Blood 9/10
Opeth - Watershed 9/10
R.E.M. - Accelerate 7/10
Sahg - Sahg II 7/10
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust 7.5/10
The Sword - Gods of the Earth 7/10
The Tangent - Not as Good as the Book 8/10
Textures - Silhouettes 8/10
Týr - Land 6/10
Zero Hour - Dark Deceiver 9/10

In Rainbows is from 2007. Also, this is a personal best of list, not an attempt to compile a comprehensive list of good albums from this year. So it doesn't matter if people have already mentioned your favorites, I wanna see what they are...;)

i'm in physical pain just trying to think of something that i've enjoyed from this year that isn't grime...
silver jews!!
there we go. i actually have a problem listening to new albums, the way they're mixed. so LOUD and CRISP. too much range. these lists are a good indicator though

It's been a great year so far.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago 10/10
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down In The Light 9/10
Cassandra Wilson - Loverly 8/10
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid 9/10
Fleet Foxes - s/t 8/10
Health - HEALTH / DISCO 6/10
Hercules and Love Affair - s/t 7/10
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III 8/10
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool 7/10
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! 7/10
Opeth - Watershed 8/10
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely 7/10
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust 8/10
Vampire Weekend - s/t 9/10

I demand an upload...


...and it'd better be good.

Hoo boy! Is someone condoning full-album uploads? Don't worry, I'll make a nine-track composition of all Bon Iver's works. :wink wink:

Mmm...how long does it take for mediafire to upload?

pm. ;)

Tut.... and I started a thread on Bon Iver too. Whatsamatta? Don't trust my exquisite judgement? ;)

So far this year for me:

Nick Cave-Dig Lazarus Dig
Bon Iver-For Emma Forever Ago
Foals-Antidote
These New Puritans-Beat Pyramid
Bong Ra-Full Metal Racket

I cannot stand the MGMT album and I'm not a big Coldplay fan. The latest Opeth album just sort of washed over me too. I am usually far behind with new releases and get there in my own time!

My favorites from this year...

Prosumer & Murat Tepeli - Serenity 9/10
These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid 9/10
Benga - Diaries of an Afro Warrior 8/10
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours 8/10
Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair 8/10
Ivan Smagghe - Cocoricò 03 8/10
Loco Dice - 7 Dunham Place 8/10
Nôze - Songs On the Rocks 8/10
Sébastien Tellier - Sexuality 8/10
The Black Ghosts - The Black Ghosts 8/10
Bruno Pronsato - Why Can't We Be Like Us 7/10
Daedelus - Love to Make Music to 7/10
Ellen Allien - Boogybytes Vol. 4 7/10
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles 7/10
Jay Haze - Love & Beyond 7/10
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III 7/10
Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia - Pain Disappears 7/10
Morgan Geist - Double Night Time 7/10
Quiet Village - Silent Movie 7/10
Sascha Funke - Mango 7/10
Shonky - Time Zero 7/10
Sonar Kollektiv Orchester - Guaranteed Niceness 7/10
The Mole - As High As the Sky 7/10
The Virgins - The Virgins 7/10

I have heard exactly 2 of those! I do remember your views on 'These New Puritans' being a lot less favourable than 9/10 though!

I kept changing my mind about them, the album really grew on me.

I'd say that seeing them live also helped, but then I saw them a second time and they were terrible (and so unbelievably pretentious, talking all this **** about how "TNPS are a lot of things, being a band is just one of them," etc.), so I guess I can't really.

Only one to take full marks so far this year, Nick Cave - Dig Lazarus Dig. Best thing I've heard since the last great Talking Heads album.

Not strictly this year, but Bettye LaVette's 2007 album - The Scene of the Crime... scored 11.

I'll come back here after i've heard the CSS & Primal Scream albums on Monday.

The Grinderman album last year was fairly decent too. If you like Bettye LaVette you should like Cassandra Wilson. Not as powerful, but a very talented jazz singer, and her new album was gorgeous.

I've heard barely a bad word spoken about it, a brilliant album that everyone seems to love at the moment. I hope it does well in the end of year Best Album polls.

Jackie, how could you NOT mention Portishead?

Because my brain is usuall fried after 12 am!

Portishead-Third added!

The Subways - All Or Nothing

The M's - Real Close Ones
Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
Electric President - Sleep Well
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Ratatat - LP3
Venus - The Red Room
Telepathic Butterflies - Breakfast In Suburbia
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Why? - Alopecia
Vampire Weekend - ST
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Submarines - Honeysuckle Weeks
Beck - Modern Guilt
The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
Tapes N' Tapes - Walk It Off

The Raconteurs - Consolers of the lonely 7/10
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend 8.5/10
Fleet foxes - Fleet foxes 9.5/10
Sigur ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust 7.5/10
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs 8.5/10
Flogging Molly - Float 9.0/10

Beck's Modern Guilt has really grown on me and along with Van Morrison's "Keep it Simple" are my favorite releases this year so far.

so far:

Opeth- Watershed
Crystal Castles- S/T
Protest the Hero- Fortress
Sigur ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Children of Bodom- Blooddrunk
Less Than Jake- GNV FLA

****, I completely forgot the new Hold Steady album was coming out. Metacritic's giving it good reviews. I'm gonna hit it up tonight see what I think about it...

Fav to least:

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster…
The Kooks - Konk
Islands - Arm's Way
Feeder - Silent Cry
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
The National - The Virginia (EP)
Augustana - Can't Love, Can't Hurt
The Long Blondes - Couples
Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams
Nada Surf - Lucky
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
She and Him - Volume One
The Twilight Sad - Here, It Never Snowed, Afterwards It Did (EP)
R.E.M - Accelerate
Youth Group - The Night Is Ours (ranked last because I've only had one listen, and nothing jumped out. Sounded kinda **** compared to CTD, but it may take time).

This is very loosely ordered. I'm crap at ordering lists past my favourite 1 or 2.

DeVotchKa - A Mad & Faithful Telling
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
The Roots - Rising Down
iTAL tEK - Cyclical
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Protest the Hero - Fortress
Jamie Lidell - Jim
Beck - Modern Guilt
Boris - Smile
Meshuggah - obZen
Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Sia - Some People Have Real Problems
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Immortal Technique - The 3rd World
Venetian Snares - Detrimentalist
Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
Opeth - Watershed
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
Arsis - We Are the Nightmare


an EP
Ólafur Arnalds - Variations of Static

And a Mixtape
Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing

The worst
Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8

^^^
A nice varied list there. Good call on Benga. That is slowly growing on me.

damn forgot about that one. Amazing album. Failing Winds of Hopeless Greed is easily my favorite song off there. :beer:

Now thats an awesome album i forgot!

Just a few more i didn't mention-

Virgin Black - Requiem - Fortissimo
Isole - Bliss of Solitude
Draconian - Turning Season Within
Moonspell - Night Eternal
Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom
Origin - Antithesis
Agalloch - The White
Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
Russian Circles - Station
No-Man - Schoolyard Ghosts
Moon Safari - Blomljud
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
NoSound - Lightdark

Too much metal(especially doom) & psychedelic/progressive stuff this year. Most of the indie rock stuff didn't do much for me.

Actually, Shallow Grave is the album, The Tallest Man On Earth is the artist.

Good call! Thats a pretty solid EP, though I don't think they'll ever top The Mantle! My favorite album of 2008 is probably Blooddrunk by Children of Bodom by far. I know I know, I get a lot of gripe about that but I can't help it. I love Bodom!

erm ya..
Me and my copy paste ^^

And thinking back on the Agalloch EP, compared to their previous releases, it was kinda ok. A solid EP none the less, but i didn't end up listening to it all that much. I'm goona give it another go now.

Edit: I take those words back! These guys can never go wrong. Liked the EP all the way through.

Bump!
Just a couple more i listened to, which i liked.

Grand Magus - Iron Will
A 2008 version of 80s epic heavy metal, with some pagan influences. This one blew me away...Especially the vocals!

Jack Bruce & Robin Trower - Seven Moons
These guys still have music left in them! Trower's guitar playing is still awesome. Bruce's vocals were equally good. Excellent Blues rock! Recommended for cream fans :thumb:
Just feels a little weird though...a 70s kinda sound released in 2008.

You should post here a lot more often. You seem pretty clued up and have tastes that are a little off the mainstream

Well I should like to add:
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping 7/10
Calexico - Carried to dust - 7/10
Friendly fires - Friendly fires - 6/10

Add the new Metallica and Kayo Dot to mine.

Well, It's mainly because of these underground metal/progressive bands or some obscure technical stuff...kinda an endless list.
I might start a review thread on them. But I'm generally bad at reviewing :(

Death Magnetic could well be in my top 10, as well as Hail Destroyer by Cancer Bats which i've played the hell out of this week.