Albums Of The Year (SO FAR) 2008

We are now about a 1/3rd into the year and the have been many good releases!

So I bring you my top 10 so far!

[1] Subtle - exitingARM

The appeal of this album lays in the sheer amount of imagination these guys have, the rapping

has been toned down for a more vocal performance but what makes subtle... subtle is still here

incredibly desne beats which combine both elements of the dark, eary and the light to make

intoxicatingly addictive music full of punch & mystery... comparissons to TV On The Radio welcome.

[2] Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

With Indie pop bands being so common and quite frankly all over the place it's hard to stick out

but Fleet Foxes are really looking like the band to put on a large stir like 'The Shins' sub pops new

darlings are being hyped to death and like 'The Shins' their hype is fully justified with amazingly

beautiful folky indie pop with some of the best vocals and harmonies your likely to hear.

[3] Why? - Alopecia

Why? Are pretty much the modern equivelent of Beck, combining several genres and a combonation

of rap and singing in order to get the full effect. This album is full of hooks and catchy melodies

intelligant lyrics and this is the case threw out EVERY SINGLE SONG... even the the bridges between

2 tracks.

[4] Mystery Jets - 21

Mystery Jets seem to completely drop their proggy psycadelic sound for a straight forward pop

ethic... in theory for most bands this will spell disaster and selling out but for the Mystery Jets

it just.... works. Much more consistent then their debut this album contains some of the best

singles your likely to hear and is a cross over album to be admired.

[5] Portishead - Third

Portishead return after a long absence with a dark moody album... no suprises there, the sound

is less trip hop and more of a distorted hip hop vibe going, the vocals are as ghostly as ever

and none of the tracks have been ruined by lazy rapping, JUST AS THEY INTEDNED GREEN

LANTERN! BAD REMIXES! BAD!

[6] Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim

Featuring on the Mystery Jets album its quite clear to see that Laura is being pushed heavily

by parent label Virgin. Unlike many of her female singer song writer peers such as 'Lilly Alen'

or 'Kate Gash' her music is inteligant and well written, her voice is pretty much right on the

money and the melodies are beautiful at times. The sense though that this album is in some

way flawed only adds to the charm! FANTASTIC DEBUT.

[7] Boris - Smile

Going from Psycadelica, to drone to doom metal the arent many bands whilling to experiment

as much as this NOISEY NOISEY japanese band 'Boris' the album has tracks to zone out to

tracks to rock out to and just lots of densely layerd heavy chrunching music, terribly difficult

to get into, requires a classy sound system... but my God its soooo worth it.

[8] The Breeders - Mountain Battles

Kim of 'Pixies' bring us the latest Mountain Battles album, a delightful lo-fi affair full of curve

balls in the way of the funky free flowing 'German Studies' to the more bluesy numbers, not

as good as 'Pixies' but better then Frank Blacks latest offerings.

[9] Black Mountain - In The Future

This band do sound very classic rock, in the same way Led Zep and the like do, the very Led

Zep sound in unconventionally structured progressive tracks make this album a winner in many

ways in terms of riffs, hooks and general diversity.

[10] Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell

'A Lesson In Crime' was a frantic punchy affair with songs comming thick n fast and whilst the

tracks here are just as short they are alot less frantic... adding slow melodic songs into the

mix may not be everyones cup of tea but for me.. it works. Fans of 'The Strokes' should check

this one out for sure.

Now its ur turn!

I downloaded the new Panic album t'other day and it's sounding quite promising.

I'm also liking the debut from One Night Only; it's fun and youthful and I can't resist those Sheffield accents.

New Found Glory's Best Of, Hits - isn't really a proper album like but it's pretty good.

Antidotes by Foals, I've not listened to it to a great extent yet but Cassius is a tune and the video is brilliant.

I should really get the new We Are Scientists album haha but I cba going to buy it yet.

Albums I'm eagerly awaiting;

Alkaline Trio - "Agony and Irony" - The two songs they've released from it are soooo great and they're one of my favourite bands so obv I'll be glad to see them back!

The new one from The Subways.

And the new Green Day one, not sure when it's supposed to be released but it should be sometime this year.

NEW greenday?

EPIC FAIL!

The only stuff from this year I've heard is the Ayreon album, the REM album, the P.O.D. album, and the Panic At the Disco album, so... yeah.

Oh yeah, I also heard Ghosts I-IV and In Rainbows. Good stuff...

And the new Green Day one, not sure when it's supposed to be released but it should be sometime this year.

there's a Green Day Album out but under another name "Foxboro Hot Tubs"

best of this year so far?

Santogold - Selftitled ...clearly the best release. She's awesome and reminds me of MIA but with a more mainstream kinda feeling...not as much experimantaton going on. - click name for myspace link

Gnarls Barkley - Odd Couple...yeah I always liked Gnarls Barkley and this album is even better than their previous one.

REM - Accelerate...damn man...I never thought they would put out an album again that can rock like this. I like it eventhough I'm not a big fan of them.

Chaundon - Carnage ...some good NY Hip Hop from someone who really cares about the music. - click name for myspace link

That's it...waiting for that new Roots album, N.E.R.D's Seeing Sounds and the new Madonna disc.

Santogold is a bit overrated in my most humble of opinions, she has a couple of tracks that remind me of a cross between Kate Bush and MIA but I would rather see Kate Bush or MIA. But shes playing Great Escape twice so chances are I will see her, probably see her at 2am in a small club rather then the supporting slot in a venue

Gnarls Barkleys album is much stronger this time round.... sometimes... it's alot more inconsistent but it's decent, I havent gotten around to R.E.M yet though.

The Black Mountain album is incredibly easy to find Gradon

hmm let's see, this year I'm definitely doing a better job of following releases

I haven't heard all of Bedlam in Goliath by Mars Volta yet, but judging by the tracks Ive heard so far it seems alright.

meshuggah - obzen

talk about guitar stamina, so energetic, so dissonant, so heavy, so thrashing, great album simply.

we made god - as we sleep

interesting debut of this post-metal meets post-rock meets screamo

the arsis album was pretty good as well

celestine - at the boarders of arcadia

a brutal yet mystic fest of dissonant guitars, frantic screams, and so on. great energy

sun kil moon album

surprised me. very sincere, very sweet

tusk - the resisting dreamer

even more experimental and progressive than pelican (this is the side project of pelican)

much better than the easy-going weird post-rock-esque city of echoes released by pelican last year

influences from all sorts of rock, drone, post-metal, black-metal, and more. very dark

in the not so good section, I have to say that in flames and children of bodom were a disappointment

I didnt include Sun Kil Moon?

Im a fuckin FAG! I love that album