2008 ended up being a decent year for music; nothing overwhelmingly special about it, but still plenty of records I ended up enjoying quite a bit and another crop of promising debuts from new bands. That's really all I hope for, apart from the occasional masterwork from the few bands that have the talent or cultural timing and luck to do such a thing. I don't believe the past year had one of those, but that's alright. Without further ado, my favorite records of 2008, summed up in eleven words or less. Click through the top 20 mini descriptions for full reviews and artwork. 
Cheers!

Honorable Mentions, in no particular order:

Girl Talk – Feed The Animals: More dirty, sexual dance pastiche

Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha: Straightforward, Brit-rocking return to form

Tobacco – Fucked Up Friends: Heavy, psychedelic elctronic music with a hip hop sensibility

Cadence Weapon – Afterparty Babies: Smart, electronic dance rap

The Black Keys – Attack & Release: Tasteful seventies-style blues rock

White Denim – Workout Holiday: Texas-charged rock & roll

Throw Me The Statue – Moonbeams: Summer-tinged quirky pop about girls

Benoit Pioulard – Temper: Contemplative organic-sounding electronic music with vocals

The Very Sexuals – Post-Apocalyptic Love: Pleasant, instantly accessible indie-pop from Denmark

Top 20:

20: The Soft Pack – The Muslims: Garage rock done well

19: The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale: Big, slow hip-hop beats that sound awesome

18: Eagles Of Death Metal – Heart On: Stones inspired cock-rock with unexpected depth

17: MGMT – Oracular Spectacular: Dancy, hyper-sexual electro-pop goodness

16: Clark – Turning Dragon: Electronic hate-fuck music for robots
15: Portishead – Third: Noir-tinged beats and haunting, vulnerable vocals

14: Deerhoof – Offend Maggie: Catchy, odd, creative art-rock

13: Beck – Modern Guilt: Restless, Groovy melancholy pop music

12: Women – Women: Off-kilter, rhythmic indie rock with group chanting

11: Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life: Celebratory, angry and anthemic long-form
punk

10: Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go Too: Joyous, experimental club music

9: Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls: Lo-fi, girl-group garage rock mashup

8: Deerhunter – Microcastle: Feel-good indie rock

7: Beach House – Devotion: Dreamy vocals over hazy, pretty organs and guitars

6: No Age – Nouns: Noisy, catchy bursts of guitars, drums and weird sounds

5: The Walkmen – You & Me: Intimate, moody ballads that sound enormous yet quiet
4: Blitzen Trapper – Furr: Successful blend of Dylan-esque folk and seventies-style classic rock

3: She & Him – Volume One: Sugary-sweet, highly addictive ballads about love and heartbreak

2: Arms – Kids Aflame: Quirky, charming, melancholic indie pop

1: Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood: Old-fashioned sounding folk-pop with big melodies and bigger harmonies

Labels: 2008 Recap

20: The Soft Pack – The Muslims
1928 Recordings

The Soft Pack (who were until recently called the Muslims) make stripped down, nothing-but-the-gritty-necessities garage rock. What separates them from the legions of bands that do exactly the same thing, poorly, is a strong sense of melody and straight up musicianship: they know how to play their instruments, and they know how to play them together. The Soft Pack cram their debut with intensity, energy and a fuck-off attitude that reminds me pleasantly of the Strokes, back when they didn’t suck. There’s also a hint of eighties nostalgia that manages to not annoy me, which is notable for its rarity. If you think that you’re tired of this style of music, of which there have admittedly been far too many bands trying to play it during the past decade, give the Muslims a listen: you’ll find that what you’re tired of is not stripped down rock and roll, but all the bands that do it poorly.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, The Soft Pack

19: The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale
Chocolate Industries/XL

What drew me to the Cool Kids are the fat, slow beats. It’s hard to quantify what exactly makes a good beat, but you know one when you hear one. The Cool Kids have excellent taste in sounds, ranging from vintage video game samples to completely illegal rock snippets, which they then space together with a slow hand: not too rushed, quick when it needs to be, always just right. While the beats are the best part, the Cool Kids are also decent emcees, with a relaxed, lilting delivery and rhymes that entertain while walking the fine line between cocky and smart. A strong debut hinting at more good things to come.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, The Cool Kids

18: Eagles of Death Metal – Heart On
Downtown

Heart On is a big step forward for the Eagles of Death Metal, who make blatant Rolling Stones worship and juvenile lyrics (two things I normally don’t like, especially together) unexpectedly awesome. This record is full of big, badass Stones-style guitar riffs, with machine gun drumming that more than rises to the challenge. What the EODM have this time is unexpected depth; this is no-longer a band about in-jokes and truly excellent moustache rides, but a legitimate band that’s pretty damn good at what they do. What really sold me on the record is oddly enough, a ballad: “Now I’m a Fool” is the best song of its kind from 2008. It’s got that magical space in it that tickles my nostalgia for reasons I don’t understand and choose not to question.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Eagles of Death Metal

17: MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Colombia

Despite the critical love given to other debuts, when many, many people think of 2008, it will sound like MGMT. As of the time of this review, Oracular Spectacular has sales of over 350,000 in the US and been on the charts for 50 consecutive weeks (beating every other critical hit except perhaps Vampire Weekend). The tremendous A-side of the record, starting with “Time to Pretend” and ending with “Kids” is expansive, electro-pop goodness with catchy and danceable melodies delivered by a couple of hyper-sexual Brooklyn hipsters. While the songwriting is direct, strong and ready for easy consumption, Oracular Spectacular’s secret weapon is Dave Fridmann, who turns in his best production since the Soft Bulletin. Unfortunately, the second half of the record is awful, but it can be easily avoided by playing the first five songs over again instead.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, MGMT

16: Clark – Turning Dragon
Warp

Turning Dragon sounds like hate-fuck music for robots that you can dance to, if you’re in shape. Clark took a harder turn since Body Riddle, using much more aggressive, even abrasive science fiction sounds that are continuously thrown in your face by the fast, driving drums. Despite the fact that it’s not a soothing listen by any means, the level of detail and precision do not disappoint: Clark is meticulous in his sound manipulation and complexity; Turning Dragon is consistently catchy despite its confrontational tone.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Clark

15: Portishead – Third
Mercury

Phew. I’m so very, very pleased that this record didn’t suck. After a solid decade away, Portishead came back and did what great bands are able to do: they evolved their sound, stripping away any remnants of trip-hop but still sounding exactly like themselves. For the band that more or less defined that genre, that’s quite an achievement. Third is full of prodding, crisp rhythms, orchestral, noir-tinged flourishes and haunting vocals. It’s not a smooth listen; in fact, some of their experimentation is jarring, and not in an immediately pleasant way. But Portishead was fearless (sometimes to a fault) in expanding their sound, culminating with either the barbershop harmonies of "Deep Water," or on the opposite end of the spectrum, the aptly titled "Machine Gun" which drills your ears with heavily processed drum machines. Overall, a compelling listen from a compelling band that I’ve missed.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Portishead

14: Deerhoof – Offend Maggie
Kill Rock Stars

As a fan that came to know Deerhoof with the excellent The Runner’s Four, I’m most drawn to their work when it’s relatively direct and a little bit rocking. Offend Maggie is exactly those things: there’s still plenty of off-kilter melodicizing, but the band's return to a quartet has also brought back a focus that I didn’t hear in last year’s Friend Opportunity, and a welcome fattening of their sound. There’s plenty of excellent dueling guitar work, and the vocals have become a bit smoother this time around. There’s still really no other band that sounds like this, Offend Maggie is absolutely worth picking up if you’ve been into any of their previous work.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Deerhoof

13: Beck – Modern Guilt
Interscope

Modern Guilt, while not at the top of Beck’s catalogue, is another solid and worthy effort that continues to mine his very singular version of restless, groovy melancholy. Openers “Orphans” and “Gamma Ray” are classic Beck, the first a stylish ballad and the second a quick, catchy rocker. The record is unfortunately a bit inconsistent after that, but is full of pleasant surprises where you least expect them. The production is big and spacious, with lots of well placed electronic touches both playful and tasteful thanks to Danger Mouse, who manned the helm for this record.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Beck

12: Women – Women
Jagjaguwar

Women’s self-titled debut is a strange record; what makes it good are the collage of quick rhythms, great tones from creative, lo-fi production (with lots of great sounding noises dispersed throughout), group sing-alongs sometimes resembling melodic chanting, and fast, intricate guitar lines (with the emphasis on running, tricky melodies, not guitar virtuoso wankery). This record also has a stand out single, "Black Rice," which summarizes a specific, recent strain of indie rock very nicely and also features a killer xylophone melody. Ultimately, Women is defined by an underlying tension with unexpected and cathartic releases, all of which are off-kilter but familiar to all of us Pitchfork readers.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Women

11: Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
Matador
The Chemistry of Common Life is a celebratory, angry record that thrives on strong melody and execution. Father Damien’s intense vocals are both credible and compelling, accenting the punchy, big guitar riffs and driving drums. This is the sound of a punk band that elevated their musicianship and songwriting beyond the conventions of their genre, creating something that feels both epic and grandiose without losing any of the attitude that makes punk intense and direct.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Fucked Up

10: Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go To
SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND

Where You Go I Go To is easily my favorite electronic/club record of the past year. For those that do not like electronic nor club music, allow me to try and explain: Lindstrøm uses much of the instrumentation that probably turns you off, because it sounds like the tremendous amount of terrible, stereotypical eurotrash music you may have been subjected to in the wrong place and time. What’s different about Lindstrøm is his meaningful discipline, patience and most importantly melodicism that weaves these club sounds into something that’s simply much better. Yes, there are cheesy sounding synths, lots of build up without any immediate payoffs, and a consistent four on the floor beat. But it begs to be embraced, because when it is, it can make you happy. The melodic crescendos feel like they belong in a heavenly disco party. They actually made me blush. But it’s all worth it, and the subtlety to his craft reveals itself to be excellent over repeated listens.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Lindstrøm

09: Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
In the Red Recordings

There are many ways that records can be good, though the most consistent recipe is pretty simple: take a sonic aesthetic that you love, couple it with a style that you also love (and can execute), cut out all the fat and hit record. The Vivian Girls’ self titled-debut is a perfect example of this principle: they love old sounding garage rock with loud guitars; they love girl-group harmonizing sixties-style; they combined the two for a twenty-two minute record with catchy, instantly accessible results and no fat.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Vivian Girls

08: Deerhunter – Microcastle
Kranky

Fluxblog, the place that turned me on to Deerhunter a couple of years ago, has always been insistent that Deerhunter are a pop band. I never really agreed with that until this record, Microcastle, which has managed to slowly worm its way into my good graces over the past year. This record is a pop record in a specific way: it aims to make you feel good, which to me seems the best definition of pop music. The vocals and melodies are fairly restrained, with occasional moments of uninhibited glee that tap into the energy that has always been the band’s best asset. The instrumentation is a lot less noisy this time around, but to good affect. Overall, this is the sound of a band learning to be more consistent.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Deerhunter

07: Beach House – Devotion
Carpark

Devotion’s dreamy, gently oscillating soundscapes are, above all else, calming, even when they’re exploring complicated emotions. Adding Victoria Legrand’s hypnotic crooning to the mix creates an effect that’s simultaneously ethereal and firmly rooted, like someone who could give you a tour of the heavens while allaying your fears of falling. While I often put this record on for its soothing effect, it is also a thoughtful, interesting meditation on commitment, with a developed story arc that speaks to many of its surrounding emotions.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Beach House

06: No Age – Nouns
Sub Pop

Nouns does three things well, all of which combine for a satisfying listen when the mood strikes: first, it’s noisy, with loud drums, equally loud distorted guitars, and occasional loud noises of questionable origin; second, it keeps moving, alternating comfortably between driving rhythms and quick steadiness when the band turns the fuzz down, never losing momentum (despite some blissed-out noise filler tracks) but rather building it through the end of its thirty-one minutes; third, these songs are simple but good, proving again to folks like myself that good music can be made with two or three chords per song, and simple melodies where the singing is the least important part.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, No Age

05: The Walkmen – You & Me
Gigantic

You & Me’s defining feature and greatest strength is the focused, intimate and quiet space the band create with the listener. Like all Walkmen records, the production sounds wonderfully huge, but unlike most Walkmen records, it’s not loud. It’s restrained, cut down to its most core qualities, those that most directly communicate to the listener. Singer Hamilton Leithauser is in fine form: just as wistful as ever, but seemingly less bitter and more knowing in a way that brings the listener in close, as if ready to have a conversation (in stark contrast to the often rallying-cry quality of so much of their previous work). The music gently reflects this sensibility, amplifying its effects to easily make this the best Walkmen record since Bows & Arrows and one of the finest of their catalogue.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, The Walkmen

04: Blitzen Trapper – Furr
Sub Pop

Blitzen Trapper showed that they had the talent to do a lot of things on last year’s breakthrough Wild Mountain Nation; for their follow-up, they focused their craft in a more specific direction, and the results are astonishingly good: Furr plays like a hybrid of Dylan-esque folk and seventies, southern-tinged classic rock, making both styles sound current and relevant—something that nearly all contemporary bands working in the same styles fail at consistently. There are, in my opinion, three reasons they succeed where others don’t, all of which build upon each other to make this record so good: first, they are unafraid and wildly successful working in unexpected sounds (like weird synths) and modern production flourishes into the instrumentation, all of which sounds and feels expertly balanced and natural. They have excellent taste in tones. Second, these songs are simple and catchy, but have unexpected chord changes and melodic tangents that clearly separate them from their source material (most bands fail miserably at this one in particular). Third and perhaps most importantly, Blitzen Trapper have a compelling and talented singer who keeps on getting better, not just with his delivery and melodies (which are already excellent), but also as a storyteller and lyricist. Among the records released this year that I’ve listened too, this record’s narrative and lyrical strengths are nearly un-rivaled. The overall effect of these things combined exceeded my wildest expectations for this band, and make Furr a don’t-miss record of 2008.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Blitzen Trapper

03: She & Him – Volume One
Merge

In a year when many of my favorites records are outside the boundaries of what I consider my typical musical tastes to be, She & Him's Volume One is by far the record I’m least disposed to like, let alone be addicted to like crack. Apparently, these sugary sweet ballads about love, heartbreak and romance have proven to so infectious that I often play this record for acquaintances in completely inappropriate situations, such as when everyone left at my local bar is trashed and only interested in listening to old punk records. This record, which ventures confidently between sixties-style harmonizing pop and old fashioned country-tinged ballads is immensely musical in ways that indie rock normally is not, and this is much to its credit. I am also now a firm believer in the talents of M Ward, who I’ve never listened to except for this record, and Zooey Deschanel, who shows that singing may be her strongest gift.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, She and Him

02: Arms – Kids Aflame
Melodic Records

Kids Aflame is a consistently strong collection of quirky, melancholic pop songs that feel oddly familiar and comforting, like a lost favorite from high school or college that induces pleasant nostalgia upon rediscovery. Built equally around swooping vocal melodies and catchy, well-crafted guitars, Todd Goldstein (also of the Harlem Shakes) fleshes out his sound with eclectic percussion, the occasional synth and whatever else he had lying around, creating a true multi-instrumental effect that’s reminiscent of Stephen Merritt on multiple levels (particularly his distinctive, melodramatic croon). While this record is well constructed and executed, what’s drawn me back to it consistently over the last year is a kind of aching, honest sincerity that elevates these songs beyond the sum of their parts.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Arms

01: Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood/ Sun Giant EP
Sub Pop
Last March, I went to see Blitzen Trapper headline the Bowery Ballroom with up and coming label-mates Fleet Foxes opening. While I’d listened to both FF’s debut and the Sun Giant EP in the background a few times, and thought it was pleasant, I had no idea that I was about to be thoroughly convinced that this band was not only good, but special. Why such a strong reaction? Robin Pecknold started to sing, which stole my attention in a most pleasant and captivating way. Then, the rest of the band came in with perfect harmonies on top of the tasteful, warm and sparse instrumentation that flesh out their repertoire. I never heard them coming, but I could hear a pin drop in the completely packed Bowery while they finished their set. I felt bad for Blitzen Trapper, who were upstaged before they even had a chance to play. Sometimes a singer, or a group of singers, produces a sound that cuts across tastes, biases, and any of the other artificial barriers we erect to help classify, judge, and ideally appreciate music. It’s a sound that’s human and rich and universal; that’s what this band has going for them. I don’t know what their next step will or ought to be, but as long as they can keep playing to their many strengths, I believe Fleet Foxes capable of putting out records better than these sturdy, confident first steps.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Fleet Foxes