Top Ten Albums of 2008

I have to say that I was thrilled when Current music editor Jeremy Martin announced a formal year-end best albums list, and doubly thrilled to be asked to contribute to it. I’ve heard a lot of great music this year (much of it coming from Music Town), and saw more shows in 2008 than any other year combined. I got to see Radiohead (twice!), Okkervil River (three times!), The National (twice, also!), Deerhoof (finally!), and a slew of bands good, bad, and in-between. And the local scene hasn’t been too shabby either, and seems to be developing a healthy taste for non-metal.

So, here’s a disclaimer: I’ve heard lots of music this year, but it is dwarfed by the amount of music that I haven’t heard . Even the “breakout” acts of 2008 — namely Fleet Foxes, and Department of Eagles — have only just now found their way onto my iTunes (for the record, I actually really like both groups now). So like every list, keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and that judging by the albums on the list, I’m split between the “thinking” and “dancing” camps. My top pick, however, rallies both camps into an all-night thinking/dancing bonfire party. (Hint: it’s not Fleet Foxes.)

And here’s the list (if previously reviewed, click on the title for a link to my original write-up):

10. Foals, Antidotes

9. Beck, Modern Guilt

8. Hot Chip, Made in the Dark

7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

6. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours

5. Deerhunter, Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

4. Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping

3. Deerhoof, Offend Maggie

2. Okkervil River, The Stand Ins

And, my number one favorite album of the year is … after the jump!

1. TV on the Radio, Dear Science

I groaned a little when I found out that Rolling Stone also picked TV on the Radio’s Dear Science as its 2008 Album of the Year. It’s not just because they didn’t even have the balls to put the band on their cute, newly miniaturized cover (the mag bravely opted for a mugshot of a porn-mustachioed Brad Pitt instead), but the fact that TVOTR shares the top 10 with Metallica and John Mellencamp (what is this, 1983?) makes their top choice — and mine, by extension — seem suspect.   

Whatever — Dear Science deserves any and all accolades it receives. After reaching the rocky, foreboding peak of 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain, TVOTR decided to plant their freak-flag and climb even higher, only to end up zooming into the stratosphere. Science sounds like music from another planet, or from some future, utopian Earth where conflicts are settled by dance-off.  

The celebratory vibe asserts itself from the first second of album opener “Halfway Home,” as frontman Tunde Adebimpe joyfully scats over a pulsing, polyrhythmic drone that morphs into a half-time feel and back again with impressive ease. Every genre the group tackles, from the snarling, percussive dance groove of “Red Dress” to the gauzy, sweetly aching ballad “Family Tree,” sounds effortless, honest, and innovative. Guitarist-producer Dave Sitek  must take a bow for the group’s signature sound. Science is brilliantly mixed, ranging from delicate to dense — sometimes in a single song — but never overpowering Adebimpe’s or Kyp Malone’s impassioned vocals. Dear Science would be a high point for any artist, but what makes TV on the Radio special is that it’s just one more pitstop in their mission to go where no band has gone before.