So I was reading through the ‘Guide To Being One Of The Cool Bloggers’ (You can download it on Pitchfork, but you have to answer a 20-question quiz on Kraut-rock before you can access it.  I used my Julian Cope book to cheat.) and it says that I have to do a “Best of the first half of 2009″.  Seriously?  Are the cool kids that desperate for content?  I started reading through the lists a few sites have already published and noticed a disturbing trend: They were listing albums released in 2008.  Sorry everyone, but Ida Maria was released in July of 2008 and I don’t want to hear the “it wasn’t released in the U.S. until 2009 argument.   Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ was released online in 2007 and was properly put on the 2007 “Best of” lists.  NOBODY, put but it on their 2008 list.
Instead, I make a different proposition.  Why not put out a revised ‘Best of 2008′?  I’m the first to admit that sometimes I miss an album release.  With so many bands self-releasing albums and with the internet creating a larger number of accessible bands, it’s hard to catch everything.  So I’m going to take this opportunity to reflect back on 2008 and list my revised top 10.

Here’s the list I published on January 1 of this year.

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune (Both of their albums have been my number 1 for their respective year.  Clearly, the most under-rated band on the planet)

2) The Virgins- Self-Titled (Still a good pop record, but fading fast in my memory)

3) Darker My Love- 2 (Despite mailing it in when they were interviewed by me, this album still packs a wallop.)

4) Steve Malkmus- Real Emotional Trash (As with many Pavement records, it continues to grow on me.  Such a great songwriter.)

5 thru 10 were occupied by albums that I still like, but have quickly faded from my frequently played list: The Kooks (Konk), The Late Greats (Life Without Balloons), The Pigeon Detectives (Emergency), Fujiya & Miyagi (Lightbulbs), We Are Scientists (Brain Thrust Mastery), The Bronx (3)

So, with apologies to those I originally forgot, here’s the revised Best Albums of 2008…with a little perspective:

I’m efforting to post some videos that haven’t been shown here before.  With bands like TDS, it’s hard because we’ve written them up so many times.  But I’m pretty proud of these brand spankin new videos.

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune

2) The Black Box Revelation- Set Your Head On Fire

3) The Black Keys- Attack and Release

4) Ida Maria- Fortress ‘Round My Heart

5) Darker My Love- 2

6) Jaydiohead- Jaydiohead: What?  I can’t put a mashup album on my list?  Well, this is the best mashup I’ve ever heard and deserves to be on this list.

7) Steve Malkmus- Real Emotional Trash

Division of Laura Lee- Violence Is Timeless

9) The Pigeon Detectives- Emergency

10) The Virgins- The Virgins

What do you think?  What albums did you miss the first time around in 2008, that you’re loving now?

One of my pet peeves is the number of websites who post their “best of” lists beginning in mid-November.  With albums still being released and still plenty of opportunity to give an album a couple more spins, why rush?  Having said that, I’ve seen the release schedule for the last couple of weeks in December and there’s nothing coming out that has the slightest chance of being on this list.  As I get older, I hate hear my (older) friends say that there isn’t as much good music coming out.  Unfortunately, this year seemed a little sluggish.  The top three on this list would make my list any year, but beyond that I struggled.  Good news is that there are quite a few bands who put out amazing singles (I’m looking at you White Lies and It Hugs Back) and will be releasing great albums in 2009 (not that I’ve heard leaked versions or anything…).

I’ve tried to do something that’ll seperate my list from the masses.  Not only have I posted one video for each of the albums, I’ve tried to steer clear of the “official” video.  This presented challenges since the “live” videos tend to have bad sound quality.  In almost every case I was able to come up with something that is a little special.  Enjoy!

…and with that, here’s the list:

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune

2) The Virgins- The Virgins

3) Darker My Love- Darker My Love 2

4) Steve Malkmus & The Jicks- Real Emotional Trash

5) The Kooks- Konk

6) The Late Greats- Life Without Balloons

7) The Pigeon Detectives- Emergency

Fujiya & Miyagi- Lightbulbs

9) We Are Scientists- Brain Thrust Mastery

10) The Bronx- The Bronx 3