Updated 12/11
In lieu of publishing reviews for the remainder of 2008, here is a list of 179 albums and EPs I believe are worthy of recommendation. I will update the list frequently, as I still have 48 albums on my iPod I haven't listened to yet. I also download an average of two or three new albums a day, which are then appended to my playlist. This list will get longer.
I also hope to publish some reflections on this year's new music over the next few weeks. I have a pretty hectic schedule ahead of my relocation, so I can't make any promises in this regard.
UPDATE: I am starting to add links to either my review or to another that more or less echoes my sentiments. If I have written a review of the release, I will link to my own review. If not, I will link to a positive review from a source I consider reputable.
Note: Some of these were released earlier than 2008 in limited tour editions, digital-only or outside the U.S. I have included them because they received their first physical release in the U.S. this year. Others were released for the first time in some form, but a domestic release is forthcoming. Expect to see these albums listed again next year.
Bold text indicates release was recently added to the list.
A Weather: Cove
Alias: Resurgam
Theresa Andersson: Hummingbird, Go!
Autechre: Quaristice
The B-52's: Funplex (AV Club review)
Nat Baldwin: Most Valuable Player (Pitchfork review)
Barr: Skogsbo Is the Place
Be Your Own Pet: Get Awkward
Beach House: Devotion
Andrew Bird: Soldier On (Pitchfork review)
The Black Dog: Radio Scarecrow (Tiny Mix Tapes review)
Black Mountain: In the Future (AV Club review)
Blood on the Wall: Liferz
Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Lie Down in the Light
Brazilian Girls: New York City (Boston Globe review)
Breathe Owl Breathe: Ghost Glacier
British Sea Power: Do You Like Rock Music?
The Bug: London Zoo (Dusted review)
David Byrne & Brian Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Tiny Mix Tapes review)
Brendan Canning: Something for All of Us... (Delusions of Adequacy review)
Pelle Carlberg: The Lilac Time (PopWreckoning review)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
The Chap: Mega Breakfast
Vic Chesnutt: Dark Developments (Prefix review)
Cheveu: Cheveu (cokemachineglow review)
Clinic: Do It!
Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (The Sneeze review)
The Cool Kids: The Bake Sale
Julian Cope: Black Sheep (Playlouder review)
Crystal Antlers: EP
Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles
The Cure: 4:13 Dream (Sputnikmusic review)
Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
Dead Confederate: Wrecking Ball (AV Club review)
Death in June: The Rule of Thirds
Deerhoof: Offend Maggie (AV Club review)
Deerhunter: Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. (Tiny Mix Tapes review)
Dengue Fever: Venus on Earth (Dusted review)
Department of Eagles: In Ear Park (Delusions of Adequacy review)
Destroyer: Trouble in Dreams
Detektivbyrån: Wermland (It's A Trap review)
DeVotchKa: A Mad & Faithful Telling
diskJokke: Staying In
The Dø: A Mouthful (Drowned In Sound review)
Dodos: Visiter
Dungen: 4 (Paste review)
Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006
Earth: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
Eat Skull: Sick to Death
Edie Sedgwick: Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer
El Guincho: Alegranza!
Elf Power: In a Cave
Evangelicals: The Evening Descends
Evangelista: Hello, Voyager
The Faint: Fasciination
Firewater: The Golden Hour
Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
Flying Lotus: Los Angeles
Josephine Foster: This Coming Gladness
Dan Friel: Ghost Town
Tobias Fröberg: Turn Heads
Fuck Buttons: Street Horrrsing
Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life
The Futureheads: This Is Not the World
Gang Gang Dance: Saint Dymphna
The Gaslight Anthem: The '59 Sound
Girl Talk: Feed the Animals
Glasvegas: Glasvegas
Growing: All the Way
Growing: Lateral
The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia
Hauschka: Ferndorf
Head of Femur: Great Plains
HEALTH: DISCO
Hello Saferide: More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide
Herman Düne: I Wish That I Could See You Soon
High Places: High Places
The Hold Steady: Stay Positive
David Holmes: The Holy Pictures
Horse Feathers: House With No Name
Frida Hyvönen: Silence Is Wild
I Scream Ice Cream: Me Too
Ryoji Ikeda: Test Pattern
Iran: Buddy
Japancakes: Loveless
Japanese Motors: Japanese Motors
Jarboe & Justin K. Broadrick: J2
Jeremy Jay: A Place Where We Could Go
Jóhann Jóhannsson: Fordlândia
Kelley Polar: I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling
Kleerup: Kleerup
Koushik: Out My Window
Kutiman: Kutiman
Lambchop: OH (Ohio)
Land of Talk: Some Are Lakes
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip: Angles
Leila: Blood Looms and Blooms
Dominique Leone: Dominique Leone
Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue
Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III
Lindstrøm: Where You Go I Go Too
The LK: The LK vs. the Snow
Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster...
Los Campesinos!: We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Low Motion Disco: Keep It Slow
Luomo: Convivial
Lykke Li: Youth Novels
M83: Saturdays = Youth
The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Man Man: Rabbit Habits
Max Tundra: Parallax Error Beheads You
Mirah: The Old Days Feeling
Monkey: Journey to the West
Mount Eerie: Lost Wisdom
The Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride
My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
My Teenage Stride: Lesser Demons
Nadja: Desire in Uneasiness
Neon Neon: Stainless Style
Nomo: Ghost Rock
Conor Oberst: Conor Oberst
Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping
Okkervil River: The Stand Ins
Oneida: Preteen Weaponry
Parenthetical Girls: Entanglements
Parts & Labor: Receivers
PAS/CAL: I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura
Pete & The Pirates: Little Death
Peter Bjorn & John: Seaside Rock
Plants and Animals: Parc Avenue
Poni Hoax: Images of Sigrid
Portishead: Third
Q-Tip: The Rennaissance
Quiet Village: Silent Movie
Radiohead: In Rainbows
Radiohead/AmpLive: Rainydayz Remixes
Rafter: Sweaty Magic
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Robyn: Robyn
The Rosebuds: Life Like
The Ruby Suns: Sea Lion
RZA as Bobby Digital: Digi Snacks
Samamidon: All Is Well
Schlammpeiziger: Schwingstelle Für Rauschabzug
School of Seven Bells: Alpinisms
Shearwater: Rook
The Sight Below: Glider
Sigur Rós: Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Smart Growth: Surrey
Patti Smith & Kevin Shields: The Coral Sea
SoiSong: qXn948s
Solange: Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
Spiritualized: Songs in A&E
Stereolab: Chemical Chords
The Streets: Everything Is Borrowed
Suishou No Fune: Prayer for Chibi
Susu: Win
Syclops: I've Got My Eye on You
Thee Oh Sees: The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
Titus Andronicus: The Airing of Grievances
Tobacco: Fucked Up Friends
TV on the Radio: Dear Science
The Twilight Sad: Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Venetian Snares: Detrimentalist
Violent Femmes: Crazy (single)
Quinn Walker: Laughter's an Asshole/Lion Land
The Walkmen: You & Me
The War on Drugs: Wagonwheel Blues
Wax Fang: La La Land
The Week That Was: The Week That Was
The Weepies: Hideaway
Kanye West: 808s & Heartbreak
Why?: Alopecia
Wilderness: (k)no(w)here
Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer
Women: Women
Xiu Xiu: Women as Lovers
In lieu of publishing reviews for the remainder of 2008, here is a list of 179 albums and EPs I believe are worthy of recommendation. I will update the list frequently, as I still have 48 albums on my iPod I haven't listened to yet. I also download an average of two or three new albums a day, which are then appended to my playlist. This list will get longer.
I also hope to publish some reflections on this year's new music over the next few weeks. I have a pretty hectic schedule ahead of my relocation, so I can't make any promises in this regard.
UPDATE: I am starting to add links to either my review or to another that more or less echoes my sentiments. If I have written a review of the release, I will link to my own review. If not, I will link to a positive review from a source I consider reputable.
Note: Some of these were released earlier than 2008 in limited tour editions, digital-only or outside the U.S. I have included them because they received their first physical release in the U.S. this year. Others were released for the first time in some form, but a domestic release is forthcoming. Expect to see these albums listed again next year.
Bold text indicates release was recently added to the list.
A Weather: Cove
Alias: Resurgam
Theresa Andersson: Hummingbird, Go!
Autechre: Quaristice
The B-52's: Funplex (AV Club review)
Nat Baldwin: Most Valuable Player (Pitchfork review)
Barr: Skogsbo Is the Place
Be Your Own Pet: Get Awkward
Beach House: Devotion
Andrew Bird: Soldier On (Pitchfork review)
The Black Dog: Radio Scarecrow (Tiny Mix Tapes review)
Black Mountain: In the Future (AV Club review)
Blood on the Wall: Liferz
Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Lie Down in the Light
Brazilian Girls: New York City (Boston Globe review)
Breathe Owl Breathe: Ghost Glacier
British Sea Power: Do You Like Rock Music?
The Bug: London Zoo (Dusted review)
David Byrne & Brian Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Tiny Mix Tapes review)
Brendan Canning: Something for All of Us... (Delusions of Adequacy review)
Pelle Carlberg: The Lilac Time (PopWreckoning review)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
The Chap: Mega Breakfast
Vic Chesnutt: Dark Developments (Prefix review)
Cheveu: Cheveu (cokemachineglow review)
Clinic: Do It!
Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (The Sneeze review)
The Cool Kids: The Bake Sale
Julian Cope: Black Sheep (Playlouder review)
Crystal Antlers: EP
Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles
The Cure: 4:13 Dream (Sputnikmusic review)
Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
Dead Confederate: Wrecking Ball (AV Club review)
Death in June: The Rule of Thirds
Deerhoof: Offend Maggie (AV Club review)
Deerhunter: Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. (Tiny Mix Tapes review)
Dengue Fever: Venus on Earth (Dusted review)
Department of Eagles: In Ear Park (Delusions of Adequacy review)
Destroyer: Trouble in Dreams
Detektivbyrån: Wermland (It's A Trap review)
DeVotchKa: A Mad & Faithful Telling
diskJokke: Staying In
The Dø: A Mouthful (Drowned In Sound review)
Dodos: Visiter
Dungen: 4 (Paste review)
Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006
Earth: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
Eat Skull: Sick to Death
Edie Sedgwick: Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer
El Guincho: Alegranza!
Elf Power: In a Cave
Evangelicals: The Evening Descends
Evangelista: Hello, Voyager
The Faint: Fasciination
Firewater: The Golden Hour
Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
Flying Lotus: Los Angeles
Josephine Foster: This Coming Gladness
Dan Friel: Ghost Town
Tobias Fröberg: Turn Heads
Fuck Buttons: Street Horrrsing
Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life
The Futureheads: This Is Not the World
Gang Gang Dance: Saint Dymphna
The Gaslight Anthem: The '59 Sound
Girl Talk: Feed the Animals
Glasvegas: Glasvegas
Growing: All the Way
Growing: Lateral
The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia
Hauschka: Ferndorf
Head of Femur: Great Plains
HEALTH: DISCO
Hello Saferide: More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide
Herman Düne: I Wish That I Could See You Soon
High Places: High Places
The Hold Steady: Stay Positive
David Holmes: The Holy Pictures
Horse Feathers: House With No Name
Frida Hyvönen: Silence Is Wild
I Scream Ice Cream: Me Too
Ryoji Ikeda: Test Pattern
Iran: Buddy
Japancakes: Loveless
Japanese Motors: Japanese Motors
Jarboe & Justin K. Broadrick: J2
Jeremy Jay: A Place Where We Could Go
Jóhann Jóhannsson: Fordlândia
Kelley Polar: I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling
Kleerup: Kleerup
Koushik: Out My Window
Kutiman: Kutiman
Lambchop: OH (Ohio)
Land of Talk: Some Are Lakes
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip: Angles
Leila: Blood Looms and Blooms
Dominique Leone: Dominique Leone
Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue
Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III
Lindstrøm: Where You Go I Go Too
The LK: The LK vs. the Snow
Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster...
Los Campesinos!: We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Low Motion Disco: Keep It Slow
Luomo: Convivial
Lykke Li: Youth Novels
M83: Saturdays = Youth
The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Man Man: Rabbit Habits
Max Tundra: Parallax Error Beheads You
Mirah: The Old Days Feeling
Monkey: Journey to the West
Mount Eerie: Lost Wisdom
The Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride
My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
My Teenage Stride: Lesser Demons
Nadja: Desire in Uneasiness
Neon Neon: Stainless Style
Nomo: Ghost Rock
Conor Oberst: Conor Oberst
Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping
Okkervil River: The Stand Ins
Oneida: Preteen Weaponry
Parenthetical Girls: Entanglements
Parts & Labor: Receivers
PAS/CAL: I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura
Pete & The Pirates: Little Death
Peter Bjorn & John: Seaside Rock
Plants and Animals: Parc Avenue
Poni Hoax: Images of Sigrid
Portishead: Third
Q-Tip: The Rennaissance
Quiet Village: Silent Movie
Radiohead: In Rainbows
Radiohead/AmpLive: Rainydayz Remixes
Rafter: Sweaty Magic
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Robyn: Robyn
The Rosebuds: Life Like
The Ruby Suns: Sea Lion
RZA as Bobby Digital: Digi Snacks
Samamidon: All Is Well
Schlammpeiziger: Schwingstelle Für Rauschabzug
School of Seven Bells: Alpinisms
Shearwater: Rook
The Sight Below: Glider
Sigur Rós: Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Smart Growth: Surrey
Patti Smith & Kevin Shields: The Coral Sea
SoiSong: qXn948s
Solange: Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
Spiritualized: Songs in A&E
Stereolab: Chemical Chords
The Streets: Everything Is Borrowed
Suishou No Fune: Prayer for Chibi
Susu: Win
Syclops: I've Got My Eye on You
Thee Oh Sees: The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
Titus Andronicus: The Airing of Grievances
Tobacco: Fucked Up Friends
TV on the Radio: Dear Science
The Twilight Sad: Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Venetian Snares: Detrimentalist
Violent Femmes: Crazy (single)
Quinn Walker: Laughter's an Asshole/Lion Land
The Walkmen: You & Me
The War on Drugs: Wagonwheel Blues
Wax Fang: La La Land
The Week That Was: The Week That Was
The Weepies: Hideaway
Kanye West: 808s & Heartbreak
Why?: Alopecia
Wilderness: (k)no(w)here
Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer
Women: Women
Xiu Xiu: Women as Lovers
