The best new releases of 2008 (so far) in easy-to-digest lists
We’ve reached the half-way point in the year so here are some Best Of lists drawn from the last six months of new releases. Doing this now also means (a) I’ll save myself some work at the end of the year and (b) I can point those folks who were asking me to recommend some music for them towards this post. All the following lists are in no particular order and links given after each album are to interviews and reviews which I have done for The Ticket. In the case of the reviews, you may have to scroll down the page to get to the review.
10 albums which are still making me smile and/or jump around
No Age “Nouns” (Sub Pop)
Vampire Weekend “Vampire Weekend” (XL) [Review]
Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes” (Sub Pop/Bella Union) [Review]
Lykke Li “Youth Novels” (LL) [Interview / review]
White Denim “Workout Holiday” (Full Time Hobby) [Interview / album review]
Bon Iver “For Emma, Forever Ago” (Jagjaguwar/4AD) [Review]
Kleerup “Kleerup” (EMI Sweden) [Review]
Chequerboard “Penny Black” (Lazybird)
Times New Viking “Rip It Off” (Matador) [Review]
Jape “Ritual” (Co-Op)
10 other albums which I also like a lot
The Notwist “The Devil, You + Me” (City Slang)
The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock “The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock” (Transduction)
Our Brother The Native “Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels (Fat Cat) [Review]
Pivot “O Soundtrack My Heart” (Warp)
Hercules & Love Affair “Hercules & Love Affair” (DFA) [Interview / review]
Santogold “Santogold” (Downtown)
Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III” (Cash Money)
The Ting Tings “We Started Nothing” (Columbia)
She & Him “Volume One” (Merge/Domino) [Review]
Crystal Castles “Crystal Castles” (Last Gang) [Review]
And 10 other albums which could have made the last list but for the fact that a list of 10 albums can only have 10 albums
These New Puritans “Beat Pyramid” (Domino) [Interview / review]
Ratatat “LP3″ (XL)
Thao “We Brave Bee Stings And All” (Kill Rock Stars) [Review]
Daedelus “Love to Make Music To” (Ninja Tune) [Review]
Paul Weller “22 Dreams” (Island) [Interview]
Foals “Antidote” (Transgressive)
The Kills “Midnight Boom” (Domino) [Interview]
The Hold Steady “Stay Positive” (Rough Trade)
Cool Kids “The Bake Sale” (XL)
The Black Keys “Attack & Release” (Co-Op) [Review]
Enough about me, what about you? What new music has rocked your world this year so far?
9:13 am
Why and Nine Inch Nails stand out for me.
Comment by Sean D