My Favorite Albums of 2008

Copeland - You Are My Sunshine

I’m a really big fan of what Aaron Marsh has been doing with Copeland over the last few years. “In Motion” and “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” have both been in heavy rotation, but not to the level that “You Are My Sunshine” has been lately. Marsh’s vocals may be a bit too much for some people — at times very processed and ethereal — but I think the the combination of Marsh and Aaron Sprinkle made it a work worth of listening.

“You Are My Sunshine” is a fairly even album in it’s tone but has enough variance to give each song a unique attitude. This is an album that I tend to listen to all the way through, rather than individual tracks. Each song leads well into the next. It’s a really pleasant and enjoyable album that has quite a few stand out tracks, but I have to agree with some reviews I’ve read that site Rae Cassidy (the female guest vocalist on several tracks) completely steals the show. Her Zooey Deschanel quality really takes over the songs she’s on. “Not So Tough Found Out” is by far the best track on the album, with Rae’s vocals really playing a big part in giving the 10 minute long track a solid marker to break up the perceived monotony of such a long listen. Overall, “You Are My Sunshine” really plays well in my ears. I expect to be listening to it often in the future.

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

I gave this album so much crap when it came out and I’m happily eating my words at this point. “Narrow Stars” totally captured me after the 4th or 5th listen. I typically don’t stick around that long with albums that don’t sit well with me, there’s just too much good music out there for me to use up listening time to force myself to learn to love something, but Death Cab has a special place in my heart so I decided to give them more of a chance that any other band in the same situation.

This album is one of my favorite Death Cab albums at this point. The detail in this album really takes time to rise to the surface, but once it does, it’s truly a great album. “I Will Possess Your Heart” is one of my favorite tracks of the year, despite it’s 8+ minute long length and it’s ridiculously stalker-esque lyrics, but the lyrics on this album really stand out. Ben Gibbard has an amazing talent for weaving together great stories and pictures with minimal work on the listeners part. Several songs really pull together all of Death Cab for just great listens, “Cath…” being my favorite.

If you’re a long-time Death Cab fan, I can totally understand you not liking this album, but that’s your loss (and mine, initially), but I really love this album. Go buy it.

The Duke Spirit - Neptune

Liela Moss’ voice is enough of a reason to buy this album. She has come in second place to Feist on the list of women I would marry based strictly on their voices. Moss fits perfectly with the slightly dirtiness of the guitar and bass work on “Neptune”. This is as close to a 70’s girl-front band that we have come to producing. There is a metric-ton of passion on this record, in both the highs and lows of each track.

I never buy albums based off of my feelings over one track, but “The Step and The Walk” was strong enough to make me consider it. After listening to the rest of the album, I was hooked.

The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath

The Mars Volta are messed up, I have no doubt in my mind that both Omar and Cedric need some professional help and a giant hug. That being said, they make some of the most amazing music being recorded today.

Believe what you want about the Andy Kaufman-ish back stories of each album they release, it won’t change how great these albums are. “Bedlam” is a giant, giant musical accomplishment the likes of which I would never be able to even dream of creating. Each song has a personality that seems larger than life. Cedric’s vocal work is off the charts and Omar’s guitar and production is some of the most amazing and complex I have ever heard. Each song on this album makes me want to dance around a room for imaginary music videos in my head. By far, this is my favorite album of 2008.

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Read all the reviews on this album, make up your own mind. All of those reviews aside, MGMT has put out an album that really blew everyone out of the water, like it or not. This whole album is good, but the best tracks are the ones you’ve never heard on a commercial or TV show. I’m amazed at the amount of variety this album has that gives each song it’s own uniqueness but all at once retains an over all completeness and continuity.

The amount of originality this album possesses is quite spectacular, and it has one of my top 5 favorite tracks in “Electric Feel”.

Santogold - Santogold

This is the album I told the people about the most. Santogold manages to marry some great indie rock vocals with a really low key level hip-hop that really makes me think of M.I.A.. I love this album so much. I think the thing that excites me the most is what her next album is going to sound like. tracks like “Shove It”, “Creator”, “My Superman”, and “You’ll Find a Way” really get me psyched about the Santogold future. Toyota commercials are not the end for Santogold, but just the beginning. I really hope that more people get into this album, which won’t be hard. She’s already pretty huge.

Say Hi - The Wishes and The Glitch

If you’ve ever listened to Pedro the Lion or Headphones and thought to yourself “I really wish I could listen to this and not get so incredibly depressed” then Say Hi is for you! There are a whole lot of happy lyrics and up tempo beats that will make you glad you spent money on this album. This album is a great beginning to end listen, and I recommend doing that several times a day.

Starflyer 59 - Dial M

I love Jason Martin and everything he does and this album did not disappoint. Shoegazer rock never left my heart, even after Tooth & Nail gave up on most of it back in ‘97. I’ll continue to buy everything Jason Martin touches. His ability to write songs that really touch and excite me is something that I don’t have happen often over the lifetime of most bands.

“Dial M” is just as strong as “My Island”, which leads to a side point about Starflyer 59. While the music has grown significantly over the years, it hasn’t changed an immense amount. The real treasure lies in Starflyer 59’s ability to continually create music inside of a rather closed out genre that still reaches people and delivers quality, originality, and passion. I hope Jason Martin never stops making music.

Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea

I really am in love with this album. Tyler Ramsey just kills every acoustic guitar album you’ve ever owned. His vocals are perfectly rough and lovely. His guitar work is amazingly crafted. I can’t say enough about this album. If there was one album I wish I could write what I truly thought about it, this would be the album, but I can’t, I’m just not able to do that.

This is the only album I’m linking to, just to show how much this album impacted me last year. I think that may be one of the reasons I love it so much, but that doesn’t detract from it’s amazing qualities. This is an album I wish I could listen to for the first time each time. I remember how great it was to hear it for the first time.

I hope Tyler keeps putting out his own albums, even though he’s now in Band of Horse…

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

This album is all kinds of fun. Great pianos, great guitar licks, great bass and drum layers, super fun lyrics from a voice that doesn’t sound like it should sing well at all, but it all works. I just wish it wasn’t just 9 tracks, though “Call It a Ritual” almost makes up for the lack of additional songs. I still can’t believe that this album came out of improv sessions. I wish I could write songs as well as Wolf Parade seems to just spit them out.

Honorable Mentions

Cartridge - Fractures

“Fractures” had to kind of grow on me, but the upbeat and happy nature of it made it easy for me to play often. The vocal work is super fun and fits well with the alternating nature of the music. Sometimes acoustic and at sometimes very electric and processed, it seems to work really well as a whole. I think what I love most about it is the airiness that it has. It’s somehow feels like you have the windows down when you’re listening to it.

I’m really disappointed that I haven’t seen these guys everywhere. It’s such a great album, really accessible and fun, why it isn’t used in commercials and TV shows is beyond me. I was also hard pressed to find any sort of press on it at all. This album is one of the most fun albums I got all year. Please listen to this.

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Everyone loves this album, and everyone probably should. It’s a really accessible album that doesn’t offend too much, with some really catching bite size songs that are easy to sing along with. It’s a fun album and I’m ashamed to say I listened to it a lot this year.

Imaad Wasif - Strange Hexes (With Two Part Beast)

I found Imaad Wasif opening for Jeremy Enigk at The Troubadour up in Los Angeles a long way back, and he blew my mind like very few open bands have (Mellowdrone comes to mind, who I also found opening for The Fire Theft in Orlando). The guitar work on this album is enough of a reason to give it a listen. It’s amazing Imaad can play all this and still sing and lead as well as he does.

Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling

I wanted to have this as a favorite but I can’t give you a reason why. It’s a great background album, it’s just too unassuming to have as the focal point. There are a few tracks that stand out really well though, “Batcat” being the one that comes to mind.

One Day As a Lion - One Day As a Lion - EP

Oh how I wish Zach de la Rocha and Jon Theodore would have stayed in the studio for another few months and had given us 5 more tracks to make this a full LP. I can only imagine how much that would have rocked my face off. Forget about all the stuff that’s come out since Rage Against the Machine broke up, One Day As a Lion makes up for all of that white noise.

United Nations - United Nations

Geoff Rickly is back to his Thursday roots and screaming again. Who else is in the band besides Rickly? Who knows, and who cares. Contract or not, the anonymous members all work together well, giving me my favorite hardcore album of the year.