I decided to post my second annual marginally informed list of my favorite CDs from 2008. As per usual, there was a lot of quality music that I just didn’t get to. Plus my portable CD player crashed at work about two months ago, seriously curtailing my music listening. Insert comment about how Mark is behind the times on his music technology. (Hey, I didn’t even get a CD player for my stereo until ‘94.)

Per Aaron, I’m putting my list in alphabetical order. Per Kris, I’ll keep my comments brief.

Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours. The best New Order album of 2008.

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes. If there was a soundtrack for 2008, this was it for me.

Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant EP. See above. Would make the cut for “Mykinos” alone.

Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair. Disco fabulous.

Los Campesinos! – Hold On There, Youngster. I loved the youthful energy on this album.

M83 – Saturdays = Youth. At first I thought this was a little too Spandau Ballet-like for my taste, but it grew on me.

No Age – Nouns. Strangely loud. It’s hard for me to describe my reaction to this album; I just liked it.

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely. Seems like Jack White can do no wrong these days. Except for that James Bond theme song…

Santogold – Santogold. I have Kris to thank for recommending this to me. One of the most consistent albums from start to finish of the year.

Shearwater – Rook. Hey, sometimes pretty is good too.

Times New Viking – Rip It Off. Funny, but I feel like I missed the whole noise rock scene the first time around. Maybe I’m just a late bloomer.

TV on the Radio – Dear Science. Can’t really add much that everybody else hasn’t already said about this.

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend. “I wish I could hate Vampire Weekend’s music, but I can’t” became the most overused music cliche since “Interpol is ripping off Joy Division”. It’s sort of true, but still…

Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls. Post apocalyptic girl group? I dunno. More noise rock, and under half an hour to boot…

Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer. This seemed to be the forgotten album of the year. I actually thought it was pretty epic.

Honorable Mention:

Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See…
Dodos – Visiter
Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Kasai Allstars – In the 7th Moon…
The Ruby Suns – Sea Lion
The Walkmen – You + Me

Like I said, if I didn’t mention something that you really liked, it’s probably because I just didn’t get around to listening to it in time. Get back to me in July.

Final topic of conversation: Portishead’s “Third” as Pitchfork’s #2 album of the year. What do we thing of this?

Happy New Year, everyone.