Current location:	Home
Current mood:	sick
Current music:	M.I.A. f/50 Cent "Paper Planes" (Remix)

My Top 5 Albums of 2008 (because i was too lazy to do 10...)
FIVE:

MGMT "Oracular Spectacular" Released: Sony, 2008 Fav Tracks: Electric Feel, Kids, Time To Pretend "All along the western front People line up to receive She got the current in her hand Just shock you like you won't believe"

found almost by accidental popularity i guess, i listened to mgmt amongst the sea of other bands that lost vowels in their names, but i enjoyed what i heard. it was an interesting mix of sounds that either worked really well, or not at all, which is what i feel about this album. but when hit rather than missed, it is crafted very well. probably the most unique sound to come out all year.

FOUR:

Ratatat "LP3" Released: XL Recordings, 2008 Fav Tracks: Shempi, Mumtaz Khan, Imperials

at a time when all i was listening to was simply down low and lo-fi, i randomly found a leak of the newest ratatat album on the interweb and fell in love months before its actual release. in comparison with their previous albums, LP3 is definitely a maturing of sorts, with a lot more going on technically than just the usual dj and guitar solo goodness. i even had a chance to see them live this past year and was amazed to see that they created such music with only three people on stage. and some of the tracks on this album seem almost trance and dream like, which isnt a bad thing at all, but can definitely show the scope of where their music can take you, seventeen years and beyond.

THREE:

Damien Jurado "Caught In The Trees" Released: Secretly Canadian, 2008 Fav Tracks: Everything Trying, Sheets, Predictive Living "Is he still coming around like an injured bird needing a nest? A place to rest his head in a song you'll regret Still you take him Lord knows I don't want to compete But I still sleep in the very sheets he's been in"

i do this to myself every year, and every year damien comes out with another record and i fall head over heels for it. the way this man writes songs, no matter how simple they may be moves me like no other. before this cd came out i got a chance to download a few demo tracks from the cd, most notably a demo of "Everything Trying", which i not only prefer much more to the actual studio cd version, but ended up being my most played track of 2008 according to my last.fm charts, played almost 300 times. and again, lyrically, this is a very simple track but the way he composes it just makes my heart tune in a keep listening. not sure how he does it, but i hope he does it forever.

TWO:

Fleet Foxes "Fleet Foxes" Released: Sub Pop, 2008 Fav Tracks: Blue Ridge Mountains, White Winter Hymnal, Sun It Rises "In the quivering forest Where the shivering dog rests Our good grandfather Built a wooden nest And the river got frozen And the home got snowed in And the yellow moon glowed bright Till the morning light."

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Like a dream that i never had but i can totally picture. what a journey that an album like this can take you on. throughout all the beautiful instrumentation and vocal harmonies, i find myself in a place much better than the one that i had left. music like this doesnt come very often from a debut and im happy that i got to experience it so early on in their career. i still find it weird to see how big this album has become over the past year, seeing them in magazines like nylon (what?) and being sold at places like starbucks and such, but you cant hide such goodness for long as we all know. but this became one of my most listened to cds of the year, where i consistantly put it on repeat and just listen over and over, and even still i will love it every time i put it on.

ONE:

Bon Iver "For Emma, Forever Ago" Released: Jagjaguar, 2008 Fav Tracks: Flume, Lump Sum, Skinny Love "This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away Your love will be safe with me"

what can i say about bon iver that hasnt already been said? tugging at your heart strings for an entire album, and then gut wrenchingly displaying it for you at the end, this album shows what happens to a person when you unabashedly hide nothing than what your feeling and all the comes forth is entirely great music. this right here kids, is exactly everything that dashboard should have/could have/would have been had he not sold out to the masses. although some could say cheesy and hard to listen to, you can hear the honesty in the sparse vocal delivery and gentle guitar that envelops the listener, as if it was made so gently and softly so that you would be forced to listen and pay attention. from the very beginning of 2008 i have been listening to this album and have not stopped since. if i was to sum up my year in a nut shell, it would definitely be in this album.

Honorable Mention:

Starflyer 59: Dial M Released: Tooth & Nail, 2008 Fav Track: Mr. Martin

although it came out a few months prior, i have only recently purchased this cd about a week ago and havent given it a proper listen to yet. but seeing how it has topped the majority of my friends top 2008 album lists and of course, its starflyer and can do no wrong, im sure i will not be disappointed.