My favourite albums of 2008
About time I posted this, mostly so I can start enjoying this year’s offerings and stop shuffling and revisiting ad nauseam. Seeing Fleet Foxes live earlier this month only underscored what competent musicians they are: it’s a safe choice for album of the year, particularly backed up by the Sun Giant EP released just three months prior.
- Fleet Foxes — Fleet Foxes
- Hymns For A Dark Horse (Reissue) — Bowerbirds
- Vesuvius — Luke Buda
- For Emma, Forever Ago — Bon Iver
- The Stand Ins — Okkervil River
- Arm’s Way — Islands
- House With No Home — Horse Feathers
- Straight Answer Machine — Sam Flynn Scott & the B.O.P.
- Vampire Weekend — Vampire Weekend
- In Ghost Colours — Cut Copy
The two albums you might not be familiar with from this list are solo releases from the creative forces behind New Zealand pop maestros The Phoenix Foundation, best known beyond our shores for penning the lion’s share of the soundtrack album for Taika Waititi’s Eagle Vs Shark. For the past few years they’ve alternated between solo records and a band record every other year. Vesuvius in particular is a darker record for Buda, but not without its lighter moments. Real Groove noted that Buda’s “ethereal vocals and cosmic arrangements and harmonies transform his domestic/homespun lyrics into hugely haunting and colourful pop songs”.
Near misses from the ten best include You & Me by The Walkmen, Volume One by She & Him, Re-Arrange Us by Mates Of State, Oracular Spectacular by MGMT, and Jamie Lidell’s Jim.
See also: my favourites from 2007.
