The Best Albums of 2008
Now that 2009 is almost over, I’m finally confident enough to proclaim the five best albums of 2008. I’ve lived with each of these albums for over a year, and they’ve stood the test of time—noting that a year has become an almost incomprehensibly large metric in a music world where new best-album-evers are blogged about every 15 minutes.
I hate writing about music, and these aren’t in order:
Saint Dymphna – Gang Gang Dance
Saint Dymphna feels like an emergent force, a hurricane made of voices and guitars and synthesizers and lots and lots of drums.
Microcastles / Weird Era Cont. – Deerhunter
Deerhunter and I probably listened to the same music growing up. The difference between us is that they loved it more and are better musicians. I’m really glad they’re making music. All 82 minutes of this double album are good and worth listening to all the way through.
(k)no(w)here – Wilderness
If I put this list in order, this would go at the top. (k)no(w)here is a short album that should be listened from start to finish. I think it’s about the apocalypse (I think all Wilderness albums are about the apocalypse). For some reason, I think they’re libertarians too. The closing track, “<….^….>,” cannot be played loud enough.
Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill – Grouper
The cover art and title make this album seem more morbid and creepy than it really is—Focus on the rain and the forest instead. It’s a beautiful and quiet album.
Devotion – Beach House
This album is much heavier and harder than it sounds.
