Dryvetyme Onlyne

Let’s get straight to the point: this post is all about what I personally consider to be the Best Music of 2008. We’re beginning with the Top Ten Albums of 2008, moving into a rundown of my other favorite albums from 2008, talking about some other music news, and generally wrapping up all that is 2008.

Over the course of 2008, with my 1/3 and 2/3 Editions, I’ve kept my readers updated on what I feel are the best records of 2008. Hopefully, you’ve appreciated them. As with those, I’ve included some albums that I have really and thoroughly enjoyed, but aren’t quite worthy of being included in the actual Top Ten. My desire is to give credit where credit is due, as opposed to constructing a Top Twenty or Thirty. I don’t want to parse hairs and create some inane list just for the sake of numbering things. As usual, I want you, my dear readers, to feel free to chip in your thoughts on my list, and share any albums that would be in your Top 10, but I haven’t included in mine. I’m a fan of group participation. Enjoy!

The Best of 2008
**In Alphabetical Order**

Beach House – Devotion
(My review was found in the March 2008 issue of ENVY Magazine.)

Buxton – A Family Light
(My review was found in the February 2008 issue of ENVY Magazine.)

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

Hercules &and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
(My Review)

Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III
(My review of the leaked mixtape back in February)

M83 – Saturdays = Youth
(My Review)

Portishead – Third

Spiritualized – Songs in A&E
(My review of this album appeared in the June 2008 issue of ENVY Magazine.)

TV On The Radio – Dear Science,

A Weather – Cove
(My Review)

Honorable Mentions include:
Animal Collective – Water Curses EP
Erykah Badu – New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
Blind Pilot – 3 Rounds and a Sound
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
The Bug – London Zoo
Bun B – II Trill
(Broken Social Scene Presents) Brendan Canning – Something For All Of Us
Cheap Girls – Find Me a Drink Home
The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
Deerhoof – Offend Maggie
Evangelista – Hello, Voyager!
Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant EP
Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
Al Green – Lay It Down
Headlights – Some Racing, Some Stopping
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Joy Electric – My Grandfather, The Cubist
Damien Jurado – Caught In The Trees
Man Man – Rabbit Habits
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping
Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual
Peachcake – What Year Will You Have The World?
Q-Tip – The Renaissance
The Raveonettes – Lust, Lust, Lust
The Roots – Rising Down
School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
She & Him – Volume One
Showbread – Anorexia Nervosa
Slingshot Dakota – Their Dreams are Dead, but Ours is the Golden Ghost
Starflyer 59 – Dial M
Subrosa – Strega
Tambersauro – Theories of Delusional Origins
Tigers Jaw – Tigers Jaw
Times New Viking – Rip It Off
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

In other music news, much of the talk centerd around the ever-present free (or pay-whatever-you-think-is-fair) album download. This entire means of doing business was brought into the forefront in 2007 by Radiohead (In Rainbows) and Trent Reznor (working with either Nine Inch Nails or Saul Williams), but it came to greater prominence in 2008, led by acts such as Girl Talk (with Feed The Animals) or Bloc Party (with Intimacy), whether it was to purely get the music out to the public as fast as possible (Girl Talk) or to get the music out to the public before it could be jacked by the torrents and distributed without compensating the band (Bloc Party).

Also, even with the concept of the mashup on a bit of a downward spiral, there were two primary vehicles for said tracks in 2008: 1) The Hood Internet still found ways to combine the top indie rock and hip-hop tracks together in fresh and intelligent ways, releasing two slamming mixtapes to the masses, including one devoted exclusively to artists from the DJ’s hometown of Chicago; and 2) M.I.A. saw two tracks – “Boyz” and “Paper Planes” – from her stellar, new classic Kala chopped, spliced, and reworked by damn near everyone (including Jay-Z remixing “Boyz” towards the end of the year), prompting top-flight DJ Mad Decent to declare those two tracks as “retired” (which I assume is DJ code for “I’m tired of people killing a great song with over-exposure in the clubs.”).

All in all, it was a great year for music. 2009 promises to bring along a host of new albums from iconic artists, including Wilco and Morrissey.

I want to extend to my readers my wholehearted appreciation for following along with Dryvetyme Onlyne during the course of 2008. It’s been a great year and I have all of you to thank for it!

I shall return on Monday, January 5th, 2009.

Peace.

APN.