Most people rush into these top album lists mid-December, but I’ve decided to chill out and really think hard about my top 10 favourite albums from the year that once was. Okay, I lie, I just haven’t got around to it yet. But here it is anyways. :(

So, 2008. It was a toughy, and apparently not so many solid albums were released throughout its economically crashing months. Despite the drought, I’ve still managed to find a good deal of great new artists and albums, a few of which made my overall favourite albums of all times! So without further delay, let’s begin my fruity-flavoured list of top ten albums NOW!!!

#10 Squarepusher – Just a Souvenir

The next album in Squarepusher’s genre-blending jazz electronica career is a good one. Ranging from relaxing jazzy bass jam sessions to rocking drum ‘n’ bass technical riffage and a few random oddities thrown in-between. Fans of Squarepusher will love it, and if you’re not yet acquainted, you’ll certainly be intrigued by his jazz-handed danceable tunes. Oh, and the album cover is awesome.

Buy

#9 Nik Freitas – Sun Down

I’ve never heard a Nik Freitas album before this one, but I’m definitely a fan after hearing Sun Down. It’s pretty inspiring knowing he plays almost every instrument on the album. With songs ranging from upbeat pop with folkish influence to soft, piano + drum machine ballads. Oh, and it’s apparently released on Conor Orbest’s label or something. It doesn’t make the music any better, but it’s nice to know!

Buy

#8 Moto Boy – Moto Boy

Lipstick, heavy metal guitars and a vocal range that would make any choir boy’s head turn. Strange combo, you say? Yes! Very strange indeed, but the music is all that matters, and Moto Boy (real name Oskar Humlebo) creates some very moving music. Songs like ‘Beat Heart’ are enough to send chills down even the most manly of men. It’s not all slow, lamenting guitar songs though; ‘Young Love’ and ‘Blue Motorbike’ are upbeat and laced with love. Manlove. Mmm.

Buy

#7 Jukebox The Ghost – Let Live & Let Ghosts

Take elements of Queen and elements of Ben Folds, mix them up in a pot made of apocalypse and you’ve got something that resembles Jukebox The Ghost’s debut. This really is a bloody good album. Half way through the tracks begin to fuse together into one big song of ever changing musical genius. Gorgeous piano work, and there’s a lot of catchy vocals in here, an album I can sing along to every time I listen.

Buy

#6 Vessels – White Fields and Open Devices

Vessels are a post-rock band from Leeds, with elements of math-rock in there too. But enough about the genres, these guys are so much awesome and so much epic that you might implode. Oh and the cover art is beautiful. Beautiful in a sort of airship-bombing-an-innocent-lake kind of way.

Buy

#5 I Was A Cub Scout – I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope

‘I Was A Cub Scout’ seem to get bundled with the ‘emo’ crowd. But they’re just writing songs that cheer you up rather than to complain. Hinting somewhat at The Postal Service as an electro-duo, they have their own unique and characteristic style. It’s music you can dance to, which is always a plus for me. Too bad they’ve broken up now. :(

Buy

#4 This Town Needs Guns – Animals

Animals is an awesome album. Not just because all the tracks are named after animals. The blinding drumming and insane guitar work (I quote: “Something a three-armed guitarist would play”) really make this album for me. From the roaring opener ‘Chinchilla’ to the moving, string-infused ‘Zebra’, this is an album you really can’t pass up on.

Buy

#3 Youthmovies – Good Nature

It’s post-rock, it’s math-rock, it’s prog-rock. It’s also very marvelous. The opening track, Magdalen Bridge, takes a whopping 4 minutes 30 seconds to get into the actual song. It’s an almost silent wall of feedback, that slowly loudens, adding strings and choir vocals before the acoustic guitar melts in and the real song takes over. A favourite track of mine is ‘If You’d Seen A Battlefield’. Its just such an epic, epic song. Light guitar plucking, infused with pumping brass eventually shifts into a huge musical explosion, prog-riffs and all the math-rock stops and starts you can dream of. Just when you think it’s calmed off, the fun begins again.

The band is definitely going somewhere with this release, it’s miles ahead of their older stuff under their old ‘Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies’ name. I’m looking forward to big things from this band in the future, so check them out now while they’re fresh!

Buy
Mp3: If You’d Seen A Battlefield

#2 Simon Bookish – Everything / Everything

Being released in October, and having only found it early December, this album was quite the late-comer to my top 10 party list, originally placing it in 7th. After a few listens, I really saw the true genius of this album and naturally it moved up my list. Being a fan of his previous releases, which consisted of electronic bleeps, ambient sounds, effects and talking, it was quite a shock to hear something so different from the otherwise bizarre musical mind of Leo Chadburn.

I’ll get around to reviewing this one eventually since I have a lot to say about it, so i’ll save my rambling for then! For now, check Everything/Everything out if you’re a fan of brass and/or dance music with a twist! Or just check it out anyway? You’ll seriously like it.

Buy
Mp3: Carbon

#1 Max Tundra – Parallax Error Beheads You

I spent a long time debating which album should be crowned my favourite album of 2008. Most of the albums listed here have their own special place in my collection (and heart), but never before have I heard an album so unique, thrilling and awe-inspiringly impressive as Max Tundra’s ‘Parallax Error Beheads You’.

PEBY will mark Ben Jacobs’ first full-length release since 2002, and is by far his best work to date. He has put more effort into each song than most bands put into an entire album. There’s so much depth and layer within the tracks that you couldn’t possibly hear every note, noise and effect through one listen. ‘Orphaned’ is a favourite of mine from the album. It’s hard to decipher all the different little sounds and voice within this song, which makes it so hard to describe what it actually sounds like, you really have to hear it to understand its genius. But it has this sort of crazy, yet masterfully controlled energy bursting through it. It’s bloody fantastic.

As you progress through the different tracks, you’re also progressing through many different genres and styles of music. ‘Will Get Fooled Again’ is a sort of weird pop-song, something a band with five synths and hyperactive fingers would create. ‘My Night Out’ definitely has some jazz-qualities to it, and moving on to ‘The Entertainment’ you’ll hear some trance-esque beats and melody going on. You’ll eventually end up hitting the final track on the album, the eleven minute long ‘Until We Die’. It’s one of my favourite tracks on the album. It’s just lyrically lovely (as is the rest of the album) and has some wonderful moments. It even has quite an impressive synth solo! Which doesn’t count as skill-wankery (hello Flint) since it’s pre-programmed, but still nonetheless impressive.

This is one album you need to hear from 2008. It’s horribly, horribly underrated. If you’ve invested yourself in some quality headphones recently, do yourself a favour and try them out on this album. Your ears will never feel so alive.

Buy
Mp3: Orphaned

Tags: I Was A Cub Scout, Jukebox The Ghost, Max Tundra, Moto Boy, Nik Freitas, Simon Bookish, Squarepusher, This Town Needs Guns, Vessels, Youthmovies

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 3:34 am and is filed under Friday Fix, Other, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.