December 23, 2008 @ 8:56 pm

Top 10 Albums of 2008

Its that time of year again folks: top 10 lists ahoy! First up, its my top 10 favourite albums of 2008, as well as some honourable mentions. I’ll post my top 10 favourite games of 2008 soon. Click the “read more” link below to see the top 10.

Honourable Mentions

Albums which didn’t quite make the cut but still deserve a mention…

Top 10 Albums of 2008 (in my opinion)

	10. Cut Copy – “In Ghost Colours” Melbourne electronic act Cut Copy fuse extremely catchy lyrical riffs with uplifting electronic synthpop. A great summer album with plenty of anthems which work both in the club and outside of it. Even my girlfriend approved of this one. Last.fm album page (full stream) Myspace link
	9. Gemma Hayes – “The Hollow of Morning” Ever since I seen her several years ago supporting Counting Crows, I’ve really enjoyed her music. Her first full length album “Night on My Side” was a great album (and was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize). The follow-up album “The Roads Don’t Love You” seen Gemma try to crack the mainstream with a more poppy accessible mainstream sound; however since this didn’t succeed in throwing Gemma into the limelight, she’s went back to her lo-fi roots for her third album “The Hollow of Morning”, and in my opinion its for the best. This album is simply beautiful: mellow acoustic sounds perfect for sending you off to sleep (not in a boring way, more of a soothing lullaby). 7digital album page (with previews) Myspace link
	8. Death Cab For Cutie – “Narrow Stairs” Death Cab for me are just one of those bands that you know every album they release is going to be one to enjoy. I first fell in love to them thanks to the stellar “Transatlanticism” (if you haven’t heard this, I heartily recommend you seek it out), but follow up “Plans” was somewhat of a let down, even though it was still a great album. Their latest effort “Narrow Stairs” is somewhere between “Plans” and “Transatlanticism”. It has some fantastic moments (intro “Bixby Canyon Bridge”, “Grapevine Fires”, “Long Division”) but also some skippable filler tracks (“Talking Bird” and “You Can Do Better Than Me”). Despite the low moments, its still a cracking album, and having had the privilege of seeing these guys live this year, I can safely say Death Cab firmly remain as one of my favourite bands. 7digital album page (with previews) Myspace link
	7. Kyte – “Kyte” Not so sure if this qualifies as a full length album since its sold as an EP, but with 7 tracks and totalling in around 40 minutes, it certainly qualifies an album, and an absolute beaut of one at that. Mellow ambient with electronic elements and soothing vocals. Kyte also released a second EP this year entitled “Two Sparks, Two Stars” also well worth checking out. Last.fm album page (some full tracks for streaming, previews of the rest) Myspace link
	6. Balmorhea – “River Arms” Guitars, pianos, banjos and voices: “River Arms” seems like Balmorhea’s first full effort of going into a studio and recording a full quality record, including re-recordings of tracks from the raw predecessor self-titled album. An excellent album to unwind to, although theres still something I prefer about the self-titled album. Either way, both are fantastic – can’t wait to hear more from these guys. Last.fm album page (full stream) Myspace link
	5. Bon Iver – “For Emma, Forever Ago” So the story goes… singer-songwriter Justin Vernon retreated to a remote cabin in Wisconsin after a traumatic breakup. There he recorded the majority of this album, a powerful compilation of folk songs visiting love, loss and loneliness. Regardless of the hype the story created with this album, the album stands up to the hype, despite some occasional seemingly nonsensical lyrics. One of my regrets of this year was not being able to see these guys when they visited Ireland. For Shame (Forever ago)… 7digital album page (with previews) Myspace link
	4. Sigur Rós – “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” For those of you not fluent in Icelandic, the album title translates to “with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly”. These guys playing endlessly certainly sounds like a fine plan to me! I’ve seen these guys twice now (2005 in Dublin and this year at Pukkelpop) and both gigs were a completely inspirational experience. “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust”, when compared with previous albums, seems like the band taking a perscription of happy pills, throwing one heck of a party, and then coming down towards the end. Its a party I’d be a happy to a part of. Last.fm album page (full stream) Myspace link
	3. Maybeshewill – “Not For Want of Trying” Its no secret that I’m a huge fan of post-rock. Most post-rock that I listen to consists of atmosphere, melody and emotion. Very little of the post-rock I listen to, unforunately, couples all these things with aggression and full-on energy (the other notable exception to this is my favourite local band, And So I Watch You From Afar). This is where UK band Maybeshewill come in, with their fantastic debut full-length album. Highlights include “Seraphim & Cherubim”, “He Films The Clouds, Part 2″ and title track “Not For Want of Trying”, which samples 70′s film “Network” in a rant about the breakdown of society and the economy, even more poignant now with the current economic crisis happening around the world. Its also very much worth checking out the band’s latest EP, a split with Her Name is Calla, which includes two cracking tracks from Maybeshewill. Last.fm album page (full stream) Myspace link
	2. Glasvegas – “Glasvegas” I have to admit it took me quite a while to warm to this band. My first time even hearing of the band was frontman James Allan’s terrible appearance on TV show “Never Mind the Buzzcocks”, where he appeared to have been in desperate need of some funny pills, as well as looking somewhat ridiculous sporting a pair of sunglasses in a tv studio. Add on top of that the fact that word had been getting around that (wrongly) these guys were tipped to be the next Oasis. This didn’t exactly encourage me to listen to the band, but thanks to a persistant friend and seeing several recommendations for the album online, I decided to give it a go. At first I struggled to get used to Allan’s strong Glaswegian accent which is prominent throughout the entirity of the album. Hearing loutish chants of “Here we, here we, here we fucking go” during songs also threatened to curb any chance I had of liking this band. Eventually repeated listens prevailed, I got over the Glasgow accent and fell in love with the lushious soundscapes, the heartfelt stories within the songs and hell, even the accent. Opening track “Flowers & Football Tops” conveys the emotions of how it feels to lose a son, with the touching finish of “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine… how could they take my sunshine away”, while “Daddy’s Gone” displays a son’s anger and hate towards his dad for walking out on his family. The genuine songs, unashamed to reference the hardships of growing up in a tough area with a broken family, coupled with the wall of sound (reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine) makes this album an absolute essential. 7digital album page (with previews) Myspace link
	1. Frightened Rabbit – “The Midnight Organ Fight” Two Scottish bands with strong Scottish accents in their music topping my list – who’da thunk it? I discovered these guys thanks to seeing their name listed as the support band for Death Cab For Cutie prior to their Dublin gig. I always like to check out bands before gigs because if they’re my kind of thing, I want to know the songs when I see them. These guys really took me by surprise: a breakup album whose lyrics ranges from hilarious (“I’m armed with the past, and the will, and a brick”) to crushing (“Why won’t our love keel over as it chokes on a bone? We can mourn its passing and then bury it in snow. Or should we kick its cunt in and watch as it dies from bleeding? If you don’t want to be with me just say and I will go”) to strong (“You can mark my words: I’ll make changes to earth”). Melodic, meaningful, fun, tragic, inspirational, this album really does its best to cover all the ranges of emotion that one goes through after a fucked up relationship. Like frontman Scott Hutchison says, “there’s nothing worse than a song without meaning” – and there’s certainly none of those in here. Scott has definitely succeeded in making a small change to Earth. 7digital album page (with previews) Myspace link

So there you have it. Keep an eye on my blog for my favourite games of 2008 within the next week or two. Let me also take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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