Under The Radar's Best of 2008

[Dementia32]

I hadn't noticed any "best of" lists being posted here so far and the year is pretty much over at this point. Some of you may be familiar with Under The Radar magazine. I think that it's a pretty decent read from time to time, but there's plenty that I don't agree with in their list for the top 50 albums of the past year. Of course, there's plenty that I do agree with as well. So... here's the list. Opinions?

50. Frida Hyvonen - Silence Is Wild
49. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
48. School of Language - Sea from Shore
47. The Week That Was - The Week That Was
46. The Verve - Forth
45. The old Believers - Eight Golden Greats
44. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
43. Jim Noir - Jim Noir
42. Dungen - 4
41. F*ck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
40. Ladytron - Velocifero
39. Beck - Modern Guilt
38. Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
37. Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
36. The Walkmen - You & Me
35. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
34. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
33. Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
32. Fujiya & Miyagi - Lightbulbs
31. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
30. Frances - All the While
29. Pop Levi - Never Never Love
28. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
27. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
26. Jamie Lidell - Jim
25. Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw
24. Black Mountain - In the Future
23. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
22. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
21. Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
20. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
19. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
18. R.E.M. - Accelerate
17. No Age - Nouns
16. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
15. Neon Neon - Stainless Style
14. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
13. Plants and Animals - Pare Avenue
12. Deerhunter - Microcastle
11. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
10. The Dears - Missiles
9. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
8. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
7. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
6. She & Him - Volume One
5. The Duke Spirit - Neptune
4. Portishead - Third
3. The Dodos - Visiter
2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

[JonG]

That is very similar to other lists I've seen. I personally wouldn't rate the Vampire Weekend record so high. Everyone is putting Fleet Foxes in their top three. That I agree with.

[Dementia32]

I own 8 of the top 10 albums that they have listed. The two that aren't a part of my collection are the releases from Vampire Weekend and The Dears. That may have a direct impact on what I'm about to say, but I personally feel as if the Vampire Weekend release really doesn't deserve to be anywhere near that high.

Also, the Flight of the Conchords album is fun but the 9th best album of the year? Really?

The really consistent choices from most lists that I've seen seem to be Fleet Foxes, Portishead, and M83. I think that they are pretty much in every top 10 list and have topped a few of them. I can't disagree with any of that.