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Top 10 albums of 2008

Everyone’s making a list, so I figured I’d give it a try. I’ve found most of the lists elsewhere to be somewhat biased towards the end of the year, but mine is quite the opposite since I listened to a lot more music early in the year. Well, here goes:

10. Invincible - ShapeShifters

A record I discovered in early ‘09, which blows most hip-hop I’ve heard in recent years completely out of the water. Intelligent, forceful, and articulate. You could argue there’s a lack of catchy hooks or party beats here, but with rhymes this inventive who cares. This isn’t music for a party, it’s music to listen to on headphones and rewind a song 10 times because, damn. This girl is mad smart, and it’s testament to how warped the music industry is that nobody will ever hear of her.

9. Q-Tip - The Renaissance

Ultimately funky, soulful, and start-to-finish excellent. In a way the polar opposite of #10: maybe a bit slim on substance, but enough style to more than make up for it. A great record to throw on in the background of any social gathering.

8. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs

Dylan is so good that volume 8 in a series of bootlegs and unreleased recordings manages to be one of the best records released this year. Some songs we’ve heard before in different forms, and some we haven’t. It doesn’t matter, because they’re all great.

7. Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue

Gotta give some love to the local boys. Phenomenal summer jam-band music: lots of great songs complemented with great playing and a relaxed feel. Also probably my pick for best record title of the year.

6. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals

Girl Talk’s music is incredibly hard to listen to, but I have to give him props both for the statement he’s making and for the undeniable modernity of his music. Worth at least one listen-through, if only for the fun of trying to identify all the familiar samples.

5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

It took me forever to come around to this record, despite what seemed like everyone in the world recommending it to me. But it’s something amazing. In the past I’ve championed Blood On The Tracks as the ultimate album for feeling miserable to, but even I have to admit that it can be uneven at times (Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts?) For Emma, on the other hand, is a beginning-to-end masterpiece of sadness.

4. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

This album is suffused with such a deep and clearly thought-out aesthetic that in a sense it creates its own universe as you’re listening to it. The Healer is my favourite individual track of the year.

3. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark

If you’re one of those people who answers the question “What kind of music do you listen to?” with “Oh, all kinds of things. Everything really. Except country.”, then you owe it to yourself to check this one out. DBT also wins the “best lyric of the year” award with this gem from Perfect Timing:

I used to hate the fool in me
But only in the morning
Now I tolerate him all day long

2. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak

I’m as surprised as you are about this one. I’ve always been a bit of a Kanye hater, but I’ll be damned if he hasn’t finally made something just straight-up awesome. Listen to the opening cello on Welcome to Heartbreak and right away you can tell you’re in for something different. The auto-tune may lead to this record aging poorly, but right now it’s the best pop music out there.

1. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Not much of an artistic statement here, but it’s just too much fun to pass it by. This is the record on the list that I can most easily envision myself listening to regularly in 10 years, and that’s why I’m giving it the number 1 spot.