I have a few immediate music memories of 2008. I was listening to MGMT nearly an entire year before anybody else. Kanye West released an album that was somehow both artistic garbage and culturally influential with 808's & Heartbreaks. There was this super brief excitement about indie noise rock. By the time 2008 ended, there was no obvious pick for album of the year. And looking back, there still isn't.
It was a weird year. And my taste was at a crossroads. I bought many of these albums listed below upon 1 week of their release. I'm scared to admit which ones.
There are 11 albums here. They are ranked. Enjoy!
My high school drama teacher burned me a copy of this! I still know how to play "June Apple." "Orphan Of The Storm" has kinda stuck around. And "The Wrong Thing To Do" is classic badass Tom Petty!
R.E.M. was one of those bands I worshiped at age 17. I like that they shifted from dinky lounge pop to more fun, hard-hitting rock for this album.
9 Beck Modern Guilt
I called this album underrated in a blog post back in October. This is incorrect. "Chemtrails" is an underrated track, that's for sure. But I can't remember the last time I listened to this whole album.
8 Nine Inch Nails The Slip
Looking back, this is actually pretty good. But I remember downloading for free. For some reason.
This album is strangely memorable. Songs like "Human" and "This Is The World We Live In" are actually more enjoyable to me now than they were in 2008.
Having owned their 3 previous albums, this stuff didn't settle well with me at first. I had to re-imagine Coldplay as (ahem) "rock stars." Despite their popularity, I still couldn't swallow that thought. But you really have to give in to it. In 2008, arena rock didn't get more interesting than this.
*COFFEE BREAK*
It's fair to note that I had to recount my old 2007 list. I own 17 albums from that year, not 15! With all due respects, here is the actual list of all the artists I own albums from circa 2007:
Against Me! Animal Collective. Barenaked Ladies. Bon Iver. Bruce Springsteen. Burial. Iron & Wine. Jens Lekman. LCD Soundsystem. M.I.A. Modest Mouse. Queens Of The Stone Age. Radiohead. The Shins. Spoon. White Stripes. Wilco.
Meanwhile, the rest of this 2008 list basically consists of household hipster band names. So fill your mason jar with some Horchata and enjoy.
I guess by all technicality, my dad bought this, not me. So I see it as a totally separate release from their self-titled follow-up LP. Which I have a lot to write about.
I'll never forget watching these guys perform "Blue Ridge Mountains" on Letterman and buying this album right away. Fleet Foxes hype was the pinnacle of the "weird Americana" movement. Nobody was making music specifically like this in 2008. That sounds dumb now, but you had to be there.
I'd say if I wanted to combine this + Sun Giant as one entity, the overall 2008 work of Fleet Foxes would be #1 on this list. If "Mykonos" + "White Winter Hymnal" were on the same literal album, that'd be a big fat deal. You really had to be there.
3 Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
Oh yeah, these guys. Most annoying band in the world, am I right? I admit, I roll my eyes every time I hear "A-Punk" these days. But that used to be the only VW song I knew. Over time, the album tracks have become bigger hits than the singles. Despite the band's pompously hoity-toity personality, you don't forget these songs. "M79." "Walcott." "Campus." "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance." This thing is stacked.
So, this album was actually released in 2007. Most reviewers didn't catch wind with it until 2008. And by the end of the decade, it had become wayyy more popular than it ever intended to be. I'll take it.
Possibly more so than Ezra Koenig or Robin Pecknold, Justin Vernon's voice is immediately recognizable; an indie vocalist standard. Which is crazy, because this originated from the most minimalist low-budget depths imaginable. Just wanted to note that this didn't crack my top 5 in the 2007 list I made. But it's easily an album-of-the-year qualifier if considered a 2008 release. Food for thought.
If you came here thinking I wrote this blog just to reminisce about TV On The Radio, you're right! The last few artists I've mentioned have become the face of hipster shtick, with their 30-minute albums full of songs everyone can play and sing. You can't play these songs. You can't sing them. And you sure as heck can't produce them! This is the only album on this list I get excited to listen to. It's big, electric, colorful... Still today, it's rare to come across a straight-up indie act who can convince you they're the biggest band in the world.
