(Your) Favourite Albums of 2008

[ShinjiPG]

I read it all tho, Bromithia :x
The only one I listened to was Oracular Spectacular, tho.

Btw, even tho I won't add it to my list, I would like to mention Bon Iver's album because it's on most people's list and I only heard it for the first time today. It sounds like Grizzly Bear meets Beirut meets something-completely-else <3 Don't think it's something really really impressive, compared to the rest of this year's releases, but it's a great "debut" no doubt.

[Inaudible-Whisper]

Originally Posted by bromithia

VAMPIRE WEEKEND! My favorite album without a doubt! I have at least like 15 plays on each song (and that's a lot for me, haha.) Except for Boston, but that's because it wasn't on the version I downloaded or something. Truly excellent.

I spent about 6 months listening to this album with Boston in place of M79 and 'I Stand Corrected' missing too. I still adored the album, but you can imagine my surprise when I randomly read their wikipedia page only to find my album has two missing songs and 1 that shouldn't be there. In the end it worked out great; I love the two missing songs and Boston has turned out to be one of my favourite VW songs and had I not downloaded it accidentally I probably wouldn't have heard it. Definitely get Boston if you haven't already!

[gekokujyo]

1. MAGGOT IN TEARS, KAREN - I thought this was, like, 2137819237218 times better than anything ART-SCHOOL has ever done.

2. ISOLATION, Spangle call Lilli line - I can never tire of this album. I really like the sound they have gone for here; it's unintrusive but still interesting enough to keep you engaged. The piano here is really warm and nostalgic. Definitely one of my favourite all time late night albums.

3. Exit, Shugo Tokumaru - I am 300% partial to his stuff, which I think is Charming (for the want of a better word). Parachutes is probably the cutest song I've heard all year.

4.「100種生活」, 盧廣仲 - He's a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, who totally rocks the geek specs/t-shirt/berms look. His sound is a bit like Jason Mraz's. Straight up pop rock, with a dash of funk here and there. In fact, I think some of his songs remind me of some of Ringo's earlier works, like Suberidai, MaruSadi.

Nothing else really made that big an impression on me, really. I mean, this was definitely a good year for music, and I heard a lot of good stuff this year, but I realised that when it came to recapping, these 4 records were the only ones that sprung to mind, that I wholeheartedly LOVED. I really liked a few others, like Utada's "HEART STATION" and Chara's "honey", but when it came down to it, I realise that I was really only listening to the same few tracks from those albums. I feel like I need to include one token album written in English, but none really stood out. I did really, really like a few songs off the Jenny Lewis album, though, and a few off the Lykke Li one. Same for Cut Copy and M83.

[bromithia]

I was going to add Exit by Shugo Tokumaru to my list, but I thought it was a 2007 release, so I didn't.

The only one I listened to was Oracular Spectacular, tho.

No Vampire Weekend? You should definitely check it out.

[Migoto]

Just a few albums that I can remember...

• H ZETT M - PIANOHEAD (Had some good weeks looping in my playlist)
• SID - Sentimental Macchiato (Pretty good album, they deserved to become major)
• Jackson Jackson - Tools for Survival (so different from the first one, but still pretty good)
• EGO-WRAPPIN' - BEST WRAPPIN' (yeah, it's a best album, but it's like a definitive collection)
• MONORAL - Via (Amazing songs... These guys deserved to be more known in other countries)
• Appa - Rashipoki (still listening, Izawa is really a great composer and pianist!)

[gekokujyo]

Ok, I just listened to the Santogold album (yes, am a bit slow) and am Really getting into it. Big Time. If I'd heard this a little earlier and given it more time to sink in, it probably would've made my year end list.

Exit was first released in Japan in October 07 but it only got its international release in September 08, so it sorta counts, I guess? =p I wanna watch him live so badly, he's touring Japan in Jan/Feb (I think he's kinda cute).

[HEDOfloe]

Here are my favorite albums of the year in no particular order:

Little Joy - Little Joy (this is the debut album of a group started by the Strokes' drummer. It was surprisingly good and a softer style of music than anything the strokes have done)
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement (went to see these guys live in NY, it was flippin' amazing. Sent me into a binge on their album again right after the concert.)
The Killers - Losing Touch (I didn't think The Killers had this album in them. It was really good and varied in ways I didn't think they could vary.)
The Rascals - Rascalize
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
We Are Scientists - Brain Thrust Mastery

It was a busy year for me in music because I was catching up with a lot of oldies (active oldies and some dead oldies) so I wasn't bothered by the fact that there weren't so many amazing albums for me. Even some of what I listed here I haven't listened to a while but I did like them a lot for some time so I figured I'd list them anyway.

[bromithia]

The Killers album is called Day & Age, no? Although I do love the song Losing Touch.

[HEDOfloe]

^ Hahaha yes it is! Hmmm, I think that happened because I was trying to write some lyrics and they had the word "losing" used in a similar way and it was driving me crazy that it could be linked to the Killers song. Paranoia got the best of me, I suppose =). I won't change the post or the lyric, though haha.

[jigenbakuda]

I didn't really listen to much new music this year...

Utada hikaru - love station
Ymck - family genesis
Capsule -more more more
Aira mitsuki - Copy

Those are the best I can think of now. All superb albums....