Top Albums of 2008

rated by: Eric Lamb, Independent Music Critic

(with a few liberties taken, as some of these may have been released in 2007, but received heavy rotation in my i-pod in 2008)

1.)The Jealous Girlfriends: The Jealous Girlfriends

2) Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

3) Thom Yorke: Eraser

4) Counting Crows: Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

5) Coldplay: Viva La Vida

6) P.O.D.: When Angels and Serpents Dance

7) Mute Math: Mute Math

The Airborne Toxic Event: The Airborne Toxic Event

9) Chris Cornell: Chris Cornell

10) So Indie It Hurts: ROIR Rocks, Volume #1

Here’s the top 8 of ’08 for ya because I cannot settle on ten!!

Fleet Foxes – self titled
Sub Pop
Some of you will chuckle at this choice and shake your heads but I loved this CD the minute I heard it. While a lot of people love this band, it seems an equal amount want to ridicule them for pretty much taking My Morning Jacket’s sound and doing it better than My Morning Jacket has ever done it. Pastoral, ethereal, soaked in reverb and yet still rocking, Fleet Foxes have distilled the best elements of The Jacket’s sound and added their own little nuances (elements of early ’70′s Beach Boys and a little Zombies here and some British folk there) and come up with something gorgeous. Let’s face it: anyone who heard this album loved the hell out of it. Maybe it was before they knew it wasn’t My Morning Jacket, but still. And something has to be said for being at the right place with the right sound at the right time. My Morning Jacket has been a critic’s darling band for years now. It seems funny that the same year they put out an album which deviates from their trademark sound, the Fleet Foxes have a monster album using a lot of the elements from which The Jacket were trying to distance themselves. This is an album that is either loved or hated by the listener. In my opinion, you’re much smarter if you love it. I’m just sayin’.

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As I listen to a lot of different types of rock music, my list of the best albums from 2008 contains many different styles of rock. The list includes the albums that I consider the best that I have heard this year:

1 Lemuria- “Get Better”
www.myspace.com/lemuria
2 Backyard Tire Fire- “The Places We Lived”
www.myspace.com/backyardtirefiremusic
3 Winslow- “Crazy Kind of Love”
www.myspace.com/winslowsoul
4 Red Wanting Blue- “These Magnificent Miles”
www.myspace.com/redwantingblue
5 Walk The Moon- “The Anthem EP”
www.myspace.com/walkthemoonband
6 Stever- “Playground Isolator”
www.myspace.com/stevermusicrocks
7 Vary Lumar- “Waiting Room”
www.myspace.com/varylumar
8 The Brakes- “Tale of Two Cities”
www.myspace.com/thebrakes
9 BMZ- “Live at The Winchester”
www.myspace.com/bmzcleveland
10 American Werewolves- “The Lonely Ones”
www.myspace.com/aw

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