So we're halfway through 2008; what are your top 10 albums of this year, so far?

Extremely tentative Top 25 snapshot of this random point in time, including a number of releases (asterisked) that might conceivably make more sense on a reissues ballot, if there is one, and if I made the more-or-less aribitrary decision to put them there:

1 - 10:
Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song (Mercury)
Rose Tattoo – Blood Brothers (Wacken)
Ross Johnson – Make It Stop! The Most Of Ross Johnson (Goner)*
The Knux – Remind Me In 3 Days… (Interscope)
Rick Springfield – Venus In Overdrive (New Door/Universal Music Enterprises)
The Tonic Rays – The Tonic Rays (thetonicrays.com ’07)
Woodbox Gang – Drunk As Dragons (Alternative Tentacles)
Carter’s Chord – Carter’s Chord (Show Dog Nashville)
Teacher’s Pet – Teacher’s Pet (Smog Veil)*
Prisonshake – Dirty Moons (Scat)

11 - 20
Morel – The Death Of The Paperboy (Outsider Music)
The Lizards – är-chē-ol’-ō-gy (Hypserspace)
Banastre Tarleton Band – Huzzah! Greatest Hits (Green Horse)*
(Various) – 1970s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground (Subliminal Frequencies)*
Steinski – What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006 Retrospective (Illegal Art)*
New Bloods – The Secret Life (K EP)
Girlschool – Legacy (Steamhammer/SPV/Wacken)
Trace Adkins – X (EMI)
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours (Goner)
Toby Keith – That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy (Show Dog Nashville)

21 - 25
Black Diamond Heavies – A Touch Of Someone Else’s Class (Alive)
Sonny Rollins – Road Shows Vol. 1 (Doxy)*
Final Solutions – Songs By Solutions (Goner EP ’07)
Ashlee Simpson – Bittersweet World (Geffen)
Fotheringay – 2 (Fledgling)*

1. The-Dream - Love/Hate
2. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster/We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt 1: 4th World War
4. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07/Singles 08
5. Jerusalem and the Starbaskets - The Howling
6. Kelley Pollar - I Need You to Hold on While the Sky is Falling
7. Kleerup - s/t
8. Mariah Carey - E=MC2
9. Mahjongg - Kontpab
10. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

― Tape Store, Sunday, November 2, 2008 4:09 PM (1 hour ago)

jerusalem and the starbaskets put out a full-length? i can't find it anywhere. i really like their song "i cannot radiato without you"

pretty close to the tracks list...

1. The Drones - Havilah
2. Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner
3. Shearwater - Rook
4. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
5. Parts and Labor - Receivers
6. Wolf Parade - At Mt Zoomer
7. Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
8. Hilotrons - Happymatic
9. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
10. Jaguar Love - Take Me to the Sea

Portishead, The Cure, Badu, Santogold, Mountain Goats

jerusalem and the starbaskets put out a full-length? i can't find it anywhere. i really like their song "i cannot radiato without you"

i ordered mine from their myspace a month or so ago, so they might still have some, and they also seem to have copies here:

http://www.goner-records.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3379

there's also another LP coming out on great pop supplement early next year

add au revoir borealis to my list, it is absolutely beautiful.

i'll talk to jeremy this week...i only have the lp, not a cd.

the usual disclaimers apply.

1. Hercules and Love Affair - s/t
2. Erykah Badu - the long-ass title of that record
3. Ital Tek - Cyclical
4. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
5. Luomo - Convivial
6. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
7. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
8. TV On the Radio - Dear Science
9. Autechre - Quaristice
10. The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm

not that it matters, as i don't/won't vote in the vv poll, but here goes my top 25, not necessarily in order. remember it is only november 2.

erykah badu, nuamerykah vol. 1: fourth world war
dub colossus, a town called addis
gipsy.cz, reprezent
lila downs, shake away
gilfema, gilfema +2
lil mama, voice of the young people
a.r. rahman, jodhaa-akbar soundtrack
plastilina mosh, all u need is mosh
xx teens, welcome to goon island
esperanza spalding, esperanza
various artists but mainly stew, passing strange soundtrack
eddie floyd, eddie loves you so
akoya afrobeat, p.d.p.
cuong vu, vu-tet
t.i., paper trail
george clinton and the gangsters of love, s/t
solange, sol-angel and the hadley st. dreams
tv on the radio, dear science
goldfrapp, seventh tree
kasai all-stars, in the 7th moon...
fuck the facts, disgorge mexico
of montreal, skeletal lamping
gym class heroes, the quilt

There's a lot I haven't heard that I want to hear (not necessarily on the lists above), but these are my favorites so far (a list which has hardly changed since the spring):

Boris - Smile [Japanese version]
Nejo & Dalmata - Broke and Famous [realy late 2007]
Soneros All Stars, Featuring Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso - La Timba So Yo
Henry Fiol - De Cachete

Also, Cesar Pedroso has a solo album out which I'm pretty sure will be one of my favorites once I hear the rest (two tracks I haven't heard yet).

I just got Dungen 4, which will probably bump something off my list above.

Right now I'm feeling like:

The-Dream - Love/Hate
Luomo - Convivial
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Air France - No Way Down EP
V/A: Wighnomy Brothers - Metawuffmischfelge
Young Jeezy - The Recession
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop
V/A: Fred Deakin - Presents Nu-Balearica
El Guincho - Allegranza

The albums I haven't heard that I suspect are most likely to smash this list are Taylor Swift and Ne-Yo. School of Seven Bells is just on the outside and might end up overtaking stuff in the lower stretches, too.

good list. i forgot guincho

100% agree on dream and jeezy. whats that nu-balearica comp about?

It's a bit of a 'NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL NU-BALEARIC' cash-in - lots of stuff like Reverso 68, Aeroplane, A Mountain of One, Prins Thomas, Todd Terje etc. etc.

Predictable and objectively rather samey at times (subjectively this stuff is catnip for me so I don't really notice), but there's an astonishingly high number of amazing tracks. In some ways it's more of a chance to collectively big-up a whole bunch of stuff I loved last year than a life-changing statement in and of itself.

The best track I hadn't heard before is Wallis Bird's "Counting To Sleep (Reverso 68 Remix)" (and the best track I HAD heard is probably Reverso 68's "Piece Together Part 2" - god I love them).

Re El Guincho - I'm kind of hoping it falls outside of my top ten by the end of the year. I love it but I'd be even happier if it was, say, only the thirteenth best album I had in 2008.

Let's see. Not sure it's ten yet and in no particular order but...

No Age - Nouns
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Lindstrom - Where you go I go too
Melchior Productions - No Disco Future
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Walkmen - You and Me
Air France - No Way Down
The Breeders - Mountain Battles
High Places - High Places

Prisonshake – Dirty Moons (Scat)

You just made my day Chuck.
I had no idea they had a new one.

1. Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Erykah Badu-New Amerkyah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
3. Antony & The Johnsons-Another World EP
4. Tape-Luminarium
5. Portishead-Third
6. Hercules And Love Affair-S/T
7. Bird Show-Untitled
8. Four Tet-Ringer
9. Autechre-Quaristice
10.Lucky Dragons-Dream Island Laughing Language

I don't even know if I could make a top 10 out of things I heard this year, but...

people need to quit sleeping on the bug CD

I couldn't get into a mountain of one until the other day when I had a massive hangover and it was the only thing in the pile that made any sense. how is it not on any of these lists? also liked:

landed - how little will it take?
naked on the vague - blood pressure sessions
teeth mountain
some of that destroyer album

things I need to spend more time with: endless boogie, prurient

things I still haven't heard: the ex & getatchew mekurya, indian jewelry, made in mexico, usaisamonster, growing, no age, cut copy

things I tried to listen to but stopped because it felt like homework: marnie stern, ponytail, portishead, times new viking, guns n roses, vampire weekend

If it makes you feel any better it is actually the 2nd top album on metacritic:

http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2008.shtml

As of today...although I feel like I'm forgetting something

1 Erykah Badu
2 Solange
3 The Foreign Exchange
4 Portishead
5 The-Dream
6 Robin Thicke
7 Kelley Polar
8 Nappy Roots
9 Calle 13
10 Hercules & Love Affair
11 The Bug
12 Matmos
13 Vampire Weekend
14 T.I.
15 Labelle
16 Lil Wayne
17 Ne-Yo
18 T-Pain
19 Sebastien Tellier
20 Jazmine Sullivan
21 J*Davey
22 TV on the Radio
23 Lupe Fiasco
24 Lindstrom
25 Janet Jackson

1. Made Out of Babies – The Ruiner
2. Secret Chiefs 3 – Xaphan: Book of Angels
3. Asva – What You Don’t Know is Frontier
4. Meshuggah – obZen
5. Harvey Milk – Life...the Best Game in Town
6. Mike Patton – A Perfect Place
7. Marnie Stern – This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
8. DeSalvo – Mood Poisoner
9. Melvins – Nude with Boots
10. Koenjihyakkei – Hundred Sights of Koenji

I forgot Santogold, which would be about #20 or so.

you didnt forget anything rev

here's a rough version of the top 50 I will continue to tinker with over the next month:

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: 4th World War
Young Jeezy - The Recession
Parts & Labor - Receivers
Jaguar Love - Take Me To The Sea
Robin Thicke - Something Else
Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
Pink - Funhouse
A.B.N. - It Is What It Is
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Raheem DeVaughn - Love Behind The Melody
Jonathan Richman - Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
Sloan - Parallel Play
My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Shark's Teeth
Prodigy - Product Of The 80s
Sheek Louch - Silverback Gorilla
T.I. - Paper Trail
Walter Becker - Circus Money

The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
Rich Boy - Bigger Than The Mayor
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
John Legend - Evolver
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
T-Pain - Thr33 Ringz
Termanology - Politics As Usual
Ne-Yo - Year Of The Gentleman
Grand Buffet - King Vision
Blake Leyh - X-Ray Yankee Zulu Tango

The B-52s - Funplex
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Dan Friel - Ghost Town
Jazmine Sullivan - Fearless
Nas - Untitled
Statik Selektah - Stick 2 The Script
Dwele - Sketches Of A Man
Prodigy - H.N.I.C. 2
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious

various artists - The Wire: " … and all the pieces matter"
Firewater - The Golden Hour
Foxboro Hottubs - Stop Drop And Roll!!
Slim - Love's Crazy
The Roots - Rising Down
AZ - Undeniable
Apollo Sunshine - Shall Noise Upon
The Pretenders - Break Up The Concrete
Little Feat - Join The Band
The Alchemist - The Cutting Room Floor Vol. II

Top 20 I submitted in a couple of places

1 Be Your Own Pet ‘Get Awkward’ (XL)
2 The Doubtful Guest ‘Acid Sauna’ (Planet Mu)
3 Blood Ceremony ‘Blood Ceremony’ (Rise Above)
4 Silver Jews ‘Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea’ (Drag City)
5 Billy Bao ‘Dialectics Of Shit’ (Parts Unknown)
6 Hercules & Love Affair ‘Hercules & Love Affair’ (DFA)
7 Geoffrey Oi!Cott ‘The Good, The Bad & The Googly’ (Boss Tuneage)
8 RTX ‘JJ Got LIve RATX’ (Drag City)
9 Jex Thoth ‘Jex Thoth’ (I Hate)
10 Fucked Up ‘The Chemistry Of Common Life’ (Matador)
11 Gnaw Their Tongues 'An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood' (Crucial Blast)
12 Half Man Half Biscuit 'CSI: Ambleside' (Probe Plu)
13 Volcano! 'Paperwork' (Leaf)
14 Krallice ‘Krallice’ (Profound Lore)
15 Harvey Milk 'Life... The Best Game In Town' (Hydra Head)
16 Lords ‘Everyone Is People’ (Gringo)
17 Racebannon 'Acid Or Blood' (Southern)
18 Koushik ‘Outside My Window’ (Stones Throw)
19 Black Mountain ‘In The Future’ (Jagjaguwar)
20 Dimension X ‘Dimension X’ (KML)

Top Twenty:

The-Dream - Love/Hate
Luomo - Convivial
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
V/A: Wighnomy Brothers - Metawuffmischfelge
Air France - No Way Down (UK Version)
DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman
Young Jeezy - The Recession
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop

Trus'me - Working Nights
Lee Jones - Electronic Frank
Taylor Swift - Fearless
El Guincho - Alegranza!
V/A: Fred Deakin - Nu-Balearica
School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
Move D & Benjamin Brunn - Songs From The Beehive
TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
Noze - Songs on the Rocks
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

Brightblack Morning Light - Motion To Rejoin
Alex Moulton - Exodus
Dungen - 4
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Air France- No Way Down
Endless Boogie - Focus Level
D. Lissvik - 7Trx + Intermission
Hercules and Love Affair - S/T
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Trusme - Working Nights

also loved:

The Juan Maclean - Happy House 12"
TV on the Radio - Dear, Science,,
Sea and Cake- Car Alarm
Jacques Renault - RVNG EP"
Boris - Smile
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
VA- After Dark (Italians Do It Better 3x12")
Voodoo Chili - Titans EP
Chaz Jankel - Get Myself Together 12"
Betty Botox - Mmm Betty
VA - Computer Incarnations for World Peace 2
Clinic - Do It!
Morten Sorensen - Start Something 12"
MIA - Paper Planes DFA mix 12"

albums that come to mind:

free agents brass band, 'we made it through that water'
rebirth brass band '25th anniversary'
seun kuti, 'many things'
blind boys of alabama, 'down in new orleans'
raphael saadiq, 'the way i see it'
brian blade & the fellowship, 'season of changes'
mint condition, 'e-life'
parts & labor, 'recever'

what is this "ragged wood" and is it as boring as their self-titled?

"Ragged Wood" is a song from the self-titled.

Tim, is that DJ Sprinkles out/coming out in 2008?

a "no particular order, off the top of my head stuck at work on thanksgiving" selection

Times New Viking - Rip It Off
Oneida - Preteen Weaponry
Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
El Guincho - Alegranza
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Lil Wayne - Carter III
Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X
Indian Jewelry - Free Gold

tie for 10th place - Sic Alps, No Age, High Places, Hercules, TV on the Radio, Vivian Girls, Nu-Balerica, Endless Boogie ...

still need to hear new Dungen and Brightblack. and psyched for that Dan Lissvik record if I can get my hands on it.

los campesinos! - hold on now youngster
the-dream - love/hate
vampire weekend - s/t
deerhunter - microcastle/weird era cont
young jeezy - the recession
kanye west - 808s & heartbreak
t-pain - thr33 ringz
cut copy - in ghost colours
hercules & love affair - s/t
jay reatard - matador singles 08

lil boosie - da beginning
hot chip - made in the dark
tv on the radio - dear science
alex moulton - exodus
lil wayne - tha carter III
ne-yo - year of the gentleman
los campesinos! - we are beautiful, we are doomed
air france - no way down
the game - l.a.x.
lindstrom - where you go i go too

1. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
2. Jacaszek - Treny
3. Scott Tuma - Not for nobody
4. Shed - Shedding the Past
5. High Places -
6. Fleet Foxes - s/t
7. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
8. Bruno Pronsato - Why Cant We Be Like Us
9. Grouper - Dragging a dead deer up a hill
10. Zdzislaw Piernik & Piotr Zabrodzki - Namanga
11. Air France - No Way Down Ep
12. Clark - Turning Dragon
13. Four Tet - Ringer Ep
14. Death Vessel - Nothing is good enough for us
15. Tape - Luminarium

^^are you the motel de moka guy??

forgot about that Grouper album, that's a good one too

guess I need to hear Air France huh

young jeezy - the recession
esham - sacrificial lambz
doap nixon - it's been a long time
t-rock - roaches n da ashtray
rip one - epitome
cut copy - in ghost colors
reks - gray hairs
king magnetic - the co-$ign
catalyst - fuck the radio
some atl mixtape ish
i dunno was mood muzik 3 this year???

that gorilla zoe dj noize mixtape

1. Los Campesinos – Hold On Now, Youngster
2. Half Man Half Biscuit – CSI: Ambleside
3. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
4. Royce Da 5’9” – The Bar Exam 2
5. Los Campesinos – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
6. Elzhi- The Preface
7. Corb Lund – Horse Soldier Horse Soldier
8. Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It
9. Ballboy – I Worked On The Ships
10. eMC – The Show

dom what the fuck is a los campesinos?? the only ish i heard off your list is raphael saadiq (decent) and emc (got played out in a week & a half for me). you heard any of mine??

actually my boy played me that elzhi and i was sleepin

need 2 check 4 the royce

dom what the fuck is a los campesinos??

― dat dude delmar (and what), Thursday, 27 November 2008 21:57 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Welsh sugar rush indie band consisting of seven vegans who used to refuse MySpace friend requests from people if they found their profile misogynistic.

^^^best track on the album in my opinion

EMC isn't a great album, I get that, but I just find it massively comforting. I said it elsewhere, it just reminds me of a kinda legends' sports match, all the highspots being formed at half the speed and yeah you're cutting them a lot of slack because of what they did before, but you gotta show love.

Royce probably isn't the 4th best album of the year, but I've not enjoyed one artist more in the 08. That verse on "Motown 25" on the Elzhi album, man...

I actually dl'd the Esham album after you repped for it on here as well... I dunno, I liked it, but I think I would have gone gaga for it if I was 16. I think I was listening to shit like Molotov back then, it would have filed alongside well.

Heard enough of the Cut Copy at a friend's house, not really my thing. The rest I'll have to do the Myspace run on at some point.

you'll be feelin this --- catalyst - fuck the radio

heres 1 of the joints off that

http://artwork.datpiff.com/mc11e259/Catalyst_Fuck_The_Radio-front-large.jpg
11-STYLIN ON YOU _PROD. THE CATALYST http://www.zshare.net/audio/5193791919590f39/

lol raz b diss

btw los campesinos youtube vid sucked major dick

i've liked lots of music this year but these are the main ones i got really in to and that lasted more than a week or so of serious listening

sic alps - us ez
nick cave & bad seeds - dig lazarus dig
the dutchess and the duke - she's the dutchess, he's the duke
harvey milk - life ... the best game in town
prairie spies - surplus enjoyment
the spectacles - home
wilderness - (k)no(w)here

other stuff i liked: fucked up, krallice, oh sees, flying lotus, gang gang dance, excepter, born ruffians, deerhoof, elf power/vic chesnutt

oh and guys don't forget my band's album is eligible for all your top ten list

ethan i think that reks album is hot too -- way better than dudes like skyzoo imo