Anthony's Top Albums of 2008

I'm going to be honest, I am very out of touch with the latest and greatest music. Most of 2008 for me was listening to my favorite records of years past and catching up on music of the past couple of years more than listening to the newest thing out there. I think there's reason for that; I think that this year's crop of music is a bit lacking compared to other years. With that said, here's my short list of my favorite records of the year... only Top 10 this year... instead of my normal 25 to 50 records of the year.

#10  Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

solid indie rock album from John Darnielle and company. it's amazing that this band has so many albums... 

#9 The Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping

another good low key indie album... check it out!

#8 Portishead - Third

a bit disappointing for me as this was a very long anticipated third album from one of my most favorite groups... but it does show that even after an 11 year hiatus, they still can make high caliber music

#7 The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me

this one really grew on me. another huge favorite band of mine, the notwist, come back with an anticipated return following a semi-disappointing 12 record which followed their masterpiece, Neon Golden. Anyway, this record is solid.

#6 Hot Chip - Made in the Dark

British dance group Hot Chip return with another fun dance album that'll get you "ready for the floor."

#5 Mono in VCF - Mono in VCF

Tacoma, WA band Mono in VCF's moniker sounds a lot like VHS or Beta but that's about the only thing they share musically. This band produces some extroardinarily epic music backed by Bond-like vocals from Kim Miller.

#4 Ladytron - Velocifero

One of my premiere indie electro-rock bands and while this isn't any step forward from their previous album, Witching Hour, being on the same level of quality isn't a bad thing.

#3 TV on the Radio - Dear Science

This NYC band continues to improve with every album. Their style has refined quite a bit and each one of their records has its own flavor. This one might be the most accessible of them all.

#2 The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

This might be a questionable high ranking album for many, but I just love this Danish band's total self-admitted rip off of Jesus & Mary Chain / Sonic Youth / Velvet Underground. While they share so much of their success and musical direction to those great bands, they do have their own unique character and I just love the simple, poppy, yet melodramatic and engaging sound of each and every one of the songs on this album.

#1 The Drive-By Truckers - Brighter than Creation's Dark

Here's my surprise pick. A southern country rock gem from Georgia's Drive-By Truckers. This band has consistently produced good to great records, and they continue that with this album, which I think explores a bit more and has so many different sounds to it that it's comparable to a You Forgot it in People/Broken Social Scene type album, where no song sounds the same, and there's something for everyone. That is, of course, if you can tolerate the deep southern accents of the 3 vocalists on this record.

the sort of real #1 by technicality --- Radiohead - In Rainbows

This was released with no label on the interwebs in October of 2007, however Radiohead released the official CD-format of this album on January 1st of 2008. Whatever the case, this album is fantastic and another worthy record for the greatest band on Earth.