Best Album on My Favourite Albums of......2008! !

Portishead, Haveanicelife or The Bug

P3 and Badu were the biggies for me in '08--went with the 'head

This is easily the Robert Forster album. Grant's death hit me hard and this album captures the joy and sadness of his life perfectly.

(That Department of Eagles record is a great and IMO underrated one, though)

Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too

Tellier

real emotional trash
dragging a dead deer up a hill
new amerykah pt 1
third
where you go i go too

are all classics

but my favourite, air france's no way down, is missing

Erykah gets my vote here. Portishead, Sebastien Tellier, Lindstrøm, Portishead, Santogold and Robert Forster are all albums I go back to a lot.

2008 was one of my favourite years of the decade for albums. Solange, Cut Copy, Goldfrapp, Perfume, Jazmine Sullivan, Ne-Yo, Ladyhawke and Grace Jones would all make my list too.

Oops, doubled up on Portishead there.

the Bug

although CSI Ambleside... is probably the last HMHB album I've really loved

xp oh shit lol didn't even see Portishead

favourite Gang Gang Dance album

i've heard one of those albums! so i'll vote for that one. but i think its controversial now? or one of the members got cancelled or something. my memory...is...dim.

at least now i remember what i was doing in 2008. not listening to these albums.

wait i will just vote for half man half biscuit. that's an easy choice. don't need to hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyo7-D8f5M

xp National Shite Day encompasses everything I like about Half Man Half Biscuit in one song

wish i still had my "Oh Shit Gang Gang" shirt :(

probably my most cherished year of the decade, at least at the top. other years were deeper

(honorable mention for the-dream’s love/hate, which I voted for in the last poll)

1) the walkmen - you & me
2) portishead - third
3) the gaslight anthem - the 59 sound
4) air france - no way down
5) erykah badu - new amerykah pt1
6) of montreal - skeletal lamping
7) vampire weekend - s/t
8) taylor swift - fearless
9) the hold steady - stay positive

xp if I have one bone to pick with myself, the line about the Bus Replacement Service doesn't hold up, they are called Rail Replacement Buses where I live. perhaps someone involved with Network Rail was a fan

badu will get plenty of love, so it’s between the bug and gang gang dance

This is easily the Robert Forster album. Grant's death hit me hard and this album captures the joy and sadness of his life perfectly.

Love that record. I wish I heard it sooner - I didn't listen to it until late 2019 after I saw Forster at the Bell House. Hope he plays here again soon - he loved the reception so much, he openly expressed his eagerness to return for another NY show via a social media post the following morning. Unfortunately, the pandemic was right around the corner.

Bon Iver, Sigur Ros, Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit - lots of good stuff this year.

gotta go with Sun Araw

i like the marnie stern album a lot

this was also the year of the second kelley polar album which is my most played from this year

hmhb

lots of my personal favs missing here :(

The decade that got weaker as it went on.

You could say that about the 90s too imo

2002-2006 was a cesspool as far as I’m concerned, some house/tech and rap aside. 2007+ things started to flaw but there was still loads and loads of bullshit. Things got really sweet again around 2012/2013

Flaw? Flow upwards

wow this is a dryyyyy year man. and yet i remember being even more into music as the decade progressed. god knows what i was listening to

Write in for In Ghost Colours

Would have voted In ghost colours too
Went for Portishead over Vivian girls

The ones that I went back to most recently would be London Zoo, The Evangelist, Third, Vivian Girls and Lookout Mountain Lookout Sea. So maybe one of those. The latter seemed broadly unheralded/underrated such that I missed it altogether at the time, which was unfortunate.

The one I'm most conscious of possessing a somewhat neglected copy, such that I feel compelled to refresh my memory right now: Q Tip

not a great year for me at least as shown here, Bug/Fall/Grouper are my faves, voted The Fall

Weak year.

with hindsight (physical copies in my library), some faves of mine from this year that are not here:

Carter Tutti - Feral Vapours Of The Silver Ether
Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Pantaleimon - Heart Of The Sun
Kelley Polar - I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling (ty ILM)
Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
Maybe It's Reno - Maybe It's Reno
Larkin Grimm - Parplar
Emeralds - Solar Bridge
Lau Nau - Nukkuu
Pierced Arrows - Straight To The Heart
Alan Bishop & Richard Bishop - Present The Brothers Unconnected
Einstürzende Neubauten - The Jewels
Nurse With Wound - The Bacteria Magnet
Tranko - Tranko
Wooden Shjips - Vol. 1

pretty good in my world!

Fonal Records ruled my world around this time, I think there is a good Islaja CD from this year as well

Frightened Rabbit AOTY by a distance, but saving that, it's Grouper.

Write-ins for Darkspace, DJ Sprinkles, Earth, Meshuggah, Raphael Saadiq & The Tallest Man on Earth.

One of my favourite albums of all time came out in 2008: Azeda Booth - In Flesh Tones. And then the band fell apart, and nobody knows about them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nthdVGc9nk

Other favorites: Vampire Weekend, Paavoharju, Parts & Labor. Great year!

Lindstrom (this is the only time solo L had clicked for me, and clicked hard).

wish i still had my "Oh Shit Gang Gang" shirt :(

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, March 29, 2024 9:58 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh I would’ve bought that shirt, if I’d known there was one!!!

wish i still had my "Oh Shit Gang Gang" shirt :(

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, March 29, 2024 9:58 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh I would’ve bought that shirt, if I’d known there was one!!!

Lol

Badu's album is one of the best of all time.

hard to vote for anything but third

everyone's saying it's a weak year, but it has new amerykah, and third, and london zoo, and a dozen great albums that didn't make the list (dear science, limbo panto, tha carter iii, savage life 2, etc.)

2008 faves of mine not on the list:

Seun Kuti - Many Things
Rebirth Brass Band - 25th Anniversary
Brian Blade Fellowship - Season of Changes
Blind Boys of Alabama - Down in New Orleans
Parts & Labor - Receivers

Great list, a lot of albums I wanna revisit (Nouns, So7B, Robert Forster) and others I wanna listen to for the first time (Half Man Half Biscuit, the Malkmus album)

If anyone ignored it at the time, that Mudhoney album is on par with their classic stuff.

Damn, a supremely weak year.

Portishead (got my vote), Badu, SVIIB, GGD and Fleet Foxes are the only albums of note surrounded by a sea of meh

everyone's saying it's a weak year

yeah don't agree at all but then I don't do this strong/weak years thing

Happy to vote for Badu now as I did then

I'm strongly inclined toward Third, but I've got to say I still really like MGMT's debut. Lots to revisit here

I found my own old list from 2008

5ive - Hesperus ,
Apostle of Solitude - Sincerest Misery ,
Ascend - Ample Fire Within ,
Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier ,
Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony
Boris - Smile, Darkspace - III ,
Caïna - Temporary Antennae ,
Cave - Hunt Like Devil ,
Coffins - Buried Death ,
Colour Haze - All ,
Darkspace - Dark Space III
Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull ,
Emeralds - Solar Bridge ,
Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale -
Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday ,
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill ,
Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
Hammers of Misfortune - Fields / Church of Broken Glass ,
Harvey Milk - Life . . . The Best Game In Town ,
Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness ,
In Solitude - In Solitude ,
Jex Thoth - Jex Thoth
Journey To Ixtlan - Journey to Ixtlan
Krallice - Krallice ,
Melvins - Nude With Boots
Menace Ruine - The Die Is Cast ,
Meshuggah - obZen ,
Morkobot - Morto
Moss - Sub Templum ,
Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Part I ,
Nadja - Desire In Uneasiness ,
Ocean - Pantheon Of The Lesser ,
Portishead - Third ,
Skepticism - Alloy ,
Spritualized – Songs In A&E
Sunn 0))) - Domkirke ,
The Austrasian Goat - pieces to oblivian ,
The Bug - London Zoo
The Gates of Slumber - Conqueror ,
The Goslings - Occasion ,
Torche - Meanderthal ,
Trees - Lights Bane
Ufomammut - Idolum
Unearthly Trance - Electrocution
Virus - The Black Flux

Portishead Third is one of the best albums of any year

here's my old 2008 list

Morgan Geist - Double Night Time
Belong - Colorloss
Hercules & Love Affair - S/T
Franco - Francophonic
David Byrne/Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
Kelley Polar - I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling
Les Savy Fav - After the Balls Drop
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue / Bambu
Va - Nigeria '70: Lagos Jump: Original Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife & Afro-Funk
Fucked Up - Chemistry Of Common Life
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
TV On the Radio - Dear Science
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Was tough. Toss up between Grouper, No Age and Portishead. Went with Grouper because I still listen to that all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPSvi3Czeg

2008 also had this gem, from _The Golden Age_. "Decibels..." is an AMC catalog highlight for me.

Pulled out my 2008 faves cdrs to be reminded of good records from You Am I, Empire of the Sun, Robyn, Styrofoam, Firefox AK, The Notwist, At the Close of Every Day, Shearwater, Ida, Get Well Soon, and others.

Every year rewards me if I keep looking for new music.

I think I was mainly listening to old music this year. Vampire Weekend is my pick, followed by Fleet Foxes, Santogold, and Malkmus.

Grouper, Torche, and Marnie Stern were my favs at the time; I could see myself voting for Erykah Badu as well.

xp love love LOVE that Kelley Polar album, would probably be my pick in an open poll

Ooh Dømkirke was that year too?? I didn't hear that one until much later (when I started using Bandcamp and left physical media behind entirely) but I think it's my favorite Sunn 0))) release

I must check out that Kelley Polar album. I've never listened to any of his music.

Probably gotta go with the Silver Jews album out of these options, just over Real Emotional Trash, Skeletal Lamping, and the Lambchop one.

This is actually one of my favorite music years, but for me it's defined mainly by nerdier stuff:

Simon Bookish - Everything/Everything (one of my favorite albums ever)
Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
Sparks - Exotic Creatures of the Deep
Momus - Joemus
The Chap - Mega Breakfast

A few others I like a lot that haven't been mentioned:
The Matthew Herbert Big Band - There's Me and There's You
Passing Strange: Original Broadway Cast Recording
The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

And if we're counting EPs:
Final Fantasy - Spectrum, 14th Century EP
Jesca Hoop - Kismet Acoustic EP

Portishead - 3rd got my vote. Favorite album of 2008: Earth's - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull

my fav album of 08 is viva la vida. followed probably by weller's 22 dreams. there's always been a Q Magazine Dad side to...

then bloc party's intimacy. then made in the dark. then third.

i'm very bittersweet for 2008 in general. there hasn't been a better year since in my life. and i'd rank now 69, 70 and 71 decidedly higher than any now album since. but in terms of knockout albums in general it's surprisingly a relatively fallow year compared to 07 and 09.

oh shit hold steady - stay positive came out in '08? i must've listened to that one every day that summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yy3ZRZS9jo

This thread reminded me of this favorite 2008 track. <3!

I must check out that Kelley Polar album. I've never listened to any of his music.

bump his thread when you do, also listen to the first (better*) album first...also the decent 'Au Suisse' album from two years ago

or:

Listen to an album you've never heard by an artist you never listen to and then tell us about it!

Just found a few albums sorely missing from the lists above that def paint 2008 in a slightly better light (all are absolutely phenomenal and would be in my top 10 for the year easy):

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Fennesz - Black Sea
Hammock - Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow
Beach House - Devotion
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Quiet Village - Silent Movie

I feel Los Angeles was a seminal record that helped usher in the west coast bass sound and revitalized experimental electronic music in the US the way Burial did in the UK post-Warp/IDM, making it cool.

I finally got around to that Fennesz record last year after being a casual fan for decades, it is indeed great

echo last 2 posts - los angeles and black sea are so good

I was gonna mention M83, still his best album.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Respectable 3rd place for Lindstrom. That's the album out of all of these I go back to the most.