Blog

Alright, so we're well past the halfway mark of 2008, and while it's a bit early for me to start making a top 20, I still like to make a journal of all the releases I've heard in a year, to keep track of them for myself, and hopefully to help someone else find something good. This will be updated on pretty much a daily basis, as I have a substantial backlog of music that I have yet to really piece together my thoughts on, or to even listen to at all. Also, I encourage recommendations, and nothing is off limits, so don't be afraid to toss something out there!

Oh, and feel free to let me know if I should perhaps re-evaluate some of these albums. Sometimes really great material can get lost in the mix, and I'm sure I'll be periodically changing some of these ratings as it is.

Italicized text indicated album ratings added at last update.

Bold text indicates albums that should be picked up pretty much no matter what. Note that these are not necessarily the albums with the highest scores, but ones that have stood out as something special. These are the best of the best.

Bolded Albums: 48
Perfect Score Albums: 4
Last Update: Saturday, December 20

Albums Rated: 141

65daysofstatic - The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties
7/10

AC/DC - Black Ice
7/10

Adam Linder - Burning Up
8/10

afternoon naps - Can't Stop the Weather EP
6.5/10

Agalloch - The White
9/10

Alt-Ctrl-Sleep - Alt-Ctrl-Sleep
7/10

Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
8/10

Architecture in Helsinki - Like it or Not
8/10

Au - Verbs
7/10

aves - Officious
7.5/10

Beach House - Devotion
6/10

Beck - Modern Guilt
8.5/10

Big Delusion - Rock Bottom
7/10

The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever
8.5/10

Billie the Vision & The Dancers - I Used To Wander These Streets
8.5/10

Black Francis - Svn Fngrs
7.5/10

The Black Keys - Attack & Release
6.5/10

Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
7.5/10

Black Mountain - In The Future
8/10

Blank Dogs - On Two Sides
6.5/10

The Blue Seeds - The Blue Seeds
8/10

Bodies of Water - A Certain Feeling
7.5/10

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
9.5/10

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
5/10

Bryan Scary & the Shredding Tears - Flight Of The Knife
7.5/10

Cat Power - Dark End Of The Street
7/10

Cat Power - Jukebox
9/10

Clark - Turning Dragon
6/10

Coldplay - Prospekt's March
5/10

Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
8.5/10

Cranes - Cranes
7.5/10

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
8/10

Damiera - Quiet Mouth Loud Hands
7/10

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles
9/10

Dawn Landes - Fireproof
7/10

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
6.5/10

Deerhunter - Microcastle
9/10

Deerhunter - Weird Era Cont.
6/10

Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine
8.5/10

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
2/10

Don Chambers & GOAT - Zebulon
8/10

Dosh - Wolves and Wishes
9/10

The Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia...
5.5/10

Echo Is Your Love - Lion Tamers vs. Tigers
8/10

Electric President - Sleep Well
7.5/10

Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini
8.5/10

Envy / Jesu - Split
8/10

Fiction Nation - Altered State
6/10

The Flashbulb - Soundtrack To A Vacant Life
7/10

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
7.5/10

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
9/10

Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!
7/10

The Funeral Drums - Songs of the Collective Age
8/10

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
8.5/10

Glasvegas - Glasvegas
8.5/10

Glissando - With Our Arms Wide Open We March Towards the Burning Sea
9/10

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
5/10

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
8/10

Guillemots - Red
8/10

Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
4/10

Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness
8/10

The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
7.5/10

I Call Shotgun - I Call Shotgun
6.5/10

I'm From Barcelona - Who killed Harry Houdini
8.5/10

Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
6/10

The Imaginaries - Another Side Of The Imaginaries
8.5/10

The Imaginaries - Exoskeleton
7/10

The Imaginaries - The Imaginaries and Nico
8/10

The Imaginaries - Spider Legs EP
7.5/10

Je suis Animal - Self-Taught Magic From A Book
7.5/10

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
10/10

Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong - Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
7/10

Johnny Flynn - A Larum
9/10

Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up 'til It Was Light
7/10

Justin Gray & The USB Orchestra - I am ok
8/10

Karkwa - Le volume du vent
9/10

Killing the Dream - Fractures
8/10

Kind of girl - Lonely in a modern way
6.5/10

Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
9/10

The Living End - White Noise
4.5/10

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...
9/10

Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
9/10

Lykke Li - Youth Novels
6/10

M83 - Saturdays=Youth
10/10

Marnie Stern - This Is it and I Am it and You Are it and so Is That and He Is it and She Is it and it Is it and That is That
8.5/10

The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
6/10

Meiko - Meiko
8/10

The Meltdowns - Them Letdowns
6.5/10

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
5/10

Mount Eerie - Lost Wisdom
9/10

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
9/10

Nada Surf - Lucky
5.5/10

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
8/10

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
6.5/10

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
8/10

No Age - Nouns
4/10

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
5/10

of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
7.5/10

Opeth - Watershed
6/10

Oxford Collapse - Bits
6.5/10

Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws - Weather's Coming...
10/10

Pompeii - Nothing Happens For A Reason
8.5/10

Porn On Vinyl - I spent the night thinking, with short periods of sleep, interrupted by visions
7.5/10

Portishead - Third
8.5/10

R.E.M. - Accelerate
9/10

The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
7/10

Rivers Cuomo - Alone II: The Home Recordings of RIvers Cuomo
8/10

Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
7/10

Set The White Flags On Fire Slowly - [album artist=Set the White Flags on Fire Slowly[/album]Even If The Proletariat Takes The Power Into Its Own Hands, The Spring Will Be Left For Us, And The Aims Of War Will Remain The Aims Of War[/album]
8/10

She & Him - [album artist=She & Him]Volume 1[/album]
6.5/10

Shearwater - [album artist=Shearwater]Rook[/album]
8/10

Sigur Rós - [album artist=Sigur Rós]Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust[/album]
9.5/10

A Silver Mt. Zion - [album artist=A Silver Mt. Zion]13 Blues for Thirteen Moons[/album]
9/10

sister city - [album artist=Sister City]Foma[/album]
7/10

Skipping Girl Vinegar - [album artist=Skipping Girl Vinegar]Sift the Noise[/album]
8.5/10

The Smashing Pumpkins - [album artist=The Smashing Pumpkins]American Gothic[/album]
4/10

The Sound of Animals Fighting - [album artist=The Sound of Animals Fighting]The Ocean and the Sun[/album]
8/10

Sparks - [album artist=Sparks]Exotic Creatures of the Deep[/album]
7.5/10

Spiritualized - [album artist=Spiritualized]Songs in A&E[/album]
7/10

Starfucker - [album artist=Starfucker]Starfucker[/album]
9.5/10

Sugar Daddy - [album artist=Sugar Daddy]This Ain't No Party This Ain't No Disco[/album]
9/10

The Summer Set - [album artist=The Summer Set]In Color[/album]
8/10

Susan Tedeschi - [album artist=Susan Tedeschi]Back to the River[/album]
7.5/10

The Tallest Man on Earth - [album artist=The Tallest Man on Earth]Shallow Graves[/album]
9/10

Thao with The Get Down Stay Down - [album artist=Thao with the Get Down Stay Down]We Brave Bee Stings and All[/album]
8/10

That's Adultery - [album artist=That's Adultery]Prostitution, Promiscuity, and a Bunch of Other Things[/album]
7/10

Thee Oh Sees - [album artist=Thee Oh Sees]The Master's Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In[/album]
6/10

This Town Needs Guns - [album artist=This Town Needs Guns]Animals[/album]
8.5/10

Tilly and the Wall - [album artist=Tilly and the Wall]o[/album]
8.5/10

Tim Ten Yen - [album artist=Tim Ten Yen]Everything Beautiful Reminds Me of You[/album]
7.5/10

The Ting Tings - [album artist=The Ting Tings]We Started Nothing[/album]
6.5/10

TV on the Radio - [album artist=TV On The Radio]Dear Science,[/album]
8.5/10

Tyler Ramsey - [album artist=Tyler Ramsey]A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea[/album]
7/10

Vampire Weekend - [album artist=Vampire Weekend]Vampire Weekend[/album]
7.5/10

Various Artists (Broken Social Scene, FemBots) - The Tracey Fragments OST
8.5/10

We Versus The Shark - [album artist=We Versus the Shark]Dirty Visions[/album]
8/10

Weezer - [album artist=Weezer]Weezer (Red Album)[/album]
8/10

White Guys Jumping - [album artist=White Guys Jumping]Outside[/album]
7/10

Why? - [album artist=Why?]Alopecia[/album]
10/10

Wolf Parade - [album artist=Wolf Parade]At Mount Zoomer[/album]
8.5/10

Women - [album artist=Women]Women[/album]
7/10


Check back often for updates, and again, feel free to critique my list and/or give suggestions!