No. 1: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Most great albums exist somewhere in between technical knowledge and a vivid imagination. In contrast, the self-titled debut from Vampire Weekend flirts with Ivy League sophistication and elementary school playfulness to create something grand and altogether new.
It's difficult not to immediately fall in love with the tight rhythms, the tremolo guitars and the bashful tone of Ezra Koenig's voice. The record clocks in at 32 minutes with little hesitation other than the apologetic I Stand Corrected,"" which stands out because of its atmospheric maturity amidst a record of unapologetically rambunctious tracks.
Vampire Weekend plays out like a tour of the East Coast. ""A-Punk"" bounces through the New York subway with its wordy verses and indecipherable chorus, while ""Walcott"" feels like an exhilarating late-night retreat from the safety of normalcy. ""Campus"" is an ode to the band's intellectual background at Columbia University, and the tracks ""Bryn"" and ""Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"" have eccentric rhythms that pull heavily from the city's diversity.
Vampire Weekend accentuate their almost tribal rhythm section with lush orchestral synthesizers and moody organs, splicing well-polished melodies in between spider-like bass lines. The outcome is a record that is strong and upbeat, plucking even the most tentative wallflower from the wall with its abounding energy.
- Anthony Cefali
No. 2: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
With the release of their EP Sun Giant in April and self-titled debut album in June, Fleet Foxes have been one of the most intriguing new bands of 2008. Their rustic sound calls to mind the madrigal music of the Renaissance by blending vintage folk with worldly rock and baroque overtones. The album itself is a brilliant concoction of bucolic lyrics, ethereal melodies and sweeping harmonies largely driven by singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold's stunning vocals.
The common comparisons to fellow Seattle group Band of Horses are valid given their strong vocals, liberal use of reverb and guidance of producer Phil Ek, but Fleet Foxes differ in their meticulously crafted pastoral sound. Pecknold's lyrics incorporate imagery of the great outdoors to illustrate stories of love, adventure and tragedy in simplistic rural settings.
The rustic imagery is exemplified in the aptly named ""Ragged Wood,"" a ballad about returning to the countryside that begins with the phrase, ""Come down from the mountain / You have been gone too long."" The earthly theme continues throughout the album with charmingly somber songs like ""Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,"" ""Meadowlarks"" and ""Blue Ridge Mountains.""
On Fleet Foxes, Pecknold's graceful voice and enchanting lyrics brilliantly merge with the band's swirling melodies to create one of the most authentic and innovative albums of the year.
- Justin Dean
No. 3: TV on the Radio - Dear Science
TV on the Radio had an enormous task: to follow up Return to Cookie Mountain, which appeared on the top of many critics' top album lists in 2006. A repeat of the dense, muddy tones of Cookie would have been one of those good-but-not-great follow-up albums most bands churn out. Instead, they livened it up while keeping their style, turning Dear Science into something special.
Opening with the track ""Halfway Home,"" the Brooklyn-based band makes the style of the album clear: It's going to be a little catchier and a little more fun, but it is distinctly TVotR.
David Andrew Sitek's haze of guitar is still there, Tunde Adebimpe still groans on the vocals, and Kyp Malone still chimes in with his high-pitched squeaks.
But the album just feels more fast-paced. Malone takes the lead vocals more often than before (his best performance is on the stellar track ""Crying""), a heavier use of synthesizer keeps the beat speedy and Adebimpe even busts out a rap performance on the hectic ""Dancing Choose."" It's TVotR alright, but (dare I say it) better.
- Gabe Ubatuba
No. 4: Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Calling the three-year layoff between Wolf Parade's impressive 2005 debut, Apologies to Queen Mary, and this year's At Mount Zoomer a ""break"" would be a joke. Since Apologies, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner have combined to release four albums with three different bands. Although each release deserves recognition, At Mount Zoomer proves that each songwriter's quirky style is best displayed in complement to the other's.
Between Wolf Parade discs, two separate writers come into their own, and we can thank them for not rushing back into this project. The result is two brilliant minds, married in eccentricity and finally matured and comfortable with themselves, working in perfect cohesion.
More than just one of 2008's best albums, At Mount Zoomer is a very strong argument for Wolf Parade as Canada's best indie rock super-group. You get the sense while listening to At Mount Zoomer that this is a classic waiting to happen. Twenty years from now people will look back and recognize At Mount Zoomer as the crowning achievement of two of our most fruitful songwriters.
- Kyle Sparks
No. 5: Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...
Combining raw punk-rock aggression, overstuffed arrangements, hyper-verbosity, youthful angst and a level of self-conscious indie-ness that would be offensive in almost any other context, Hold On Now, Youngster... sounds like an awful mess on paper but plays like a glorious one through speakers or headphones.
Lead guitars buzz through effortlessly catchy riffs on fast-paced tracks ""Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats"" and ""...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison,"" while ""Knee Deep at ATP"" makes excellent use of the band's string section as a soft background to richly detailed lyrics before the song swells into a chaotic climax.
Belying Youngster's messy aesthetic is the solid construction of its songs, from the album's catchiest track, ""My Year in Lists"" - a pop gem at just a minute and 49 seconds - to ""You! Me! Dancing!,"" whose opening maps out the previously uncharted territory of punk-rock orchestral music. Los Campesinos!' attention to detail bears further fruit on repeat listens, as each track on Hold On Now, Youngster... packs a wealth of melodic hooks and turns of phrase too large to take in all at once. It's an ambitious feat for a young band, and one that Los Campesinos! nail with confidence and enthusiasm on this stellar debut album.
- Matt Hunziker
Staff picks and honorable mentions
Titus Andronicus - o The Airing of Grievances
Titus Andronicus might not be the voice of our generation, but The Airing of Grievances might as well be our diagnosis. Combining Springsteen-inspired grooves with Conor Oberst-like conviction and an Ian Mackaye-esque DIY mentality, The Airing of Grievances is the sonic equivalent of Chuck Palahniuk's ""Fight Club."" Embodying angst, these guys aren't dumb high-schoolers: They're educated citizens who have made a lifetime of impartial observations, and they've come to the revelation that everything in the world really does suck. And for my money, nobody has said that better.
- Kyle Sparks
My Morning Jacket - o Evil Urges
2008 has been good to My Morning Jacket. The Louisville quintet spent the year headlining major venues like the SXSW music festival, Bonnaroo and Radio City Music Hall, all while celebrating the success of their fifth studio album, Evil Urges. The album represents MMJ's most daring studio collaboration yet, featuring dance-floor drums and sinister keyboards that complement singer Jim James' passionate wails and create an orchestral sound absent from their previous compilations. The most impressive aspect of Evil Urges has to be MMJ's ability to constantly vary their style without losing their musical identity, as they brilliantly balance the electronic elements of the album with the warmth of their southern rock roots.
- Justin Dean
The Notwist - o The Devil, You + Me
It's been six years since the laptop-pop romantics the Notwist released Neon Golden, and they have never sounded better. The Devil, You +Me is a sonic masterpiece. Electronic drums and analog synthesizers weave seamlessly in between acoustic guitars and Markus Archer's phonetic German accent to transcend the loss of integrity as information passes from organic creation to digital nonsense. The lyrics are wonderfully poetic, Archer writing in German and translating to English to get the full effect of every word. ""Let's just imitate the real,"" he almost whispers, ""until we find a better one."" There was no better quality record this year than the Notwist's.
- Anthony Cefali
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Like a late-Romantic symphony, the debut album from this experimental noise duo is the kind of music that should come with program notes. First reactions to Street Horrrsing are likely to be of the ""What the hell?"" variety, but take the time to listen through these six tracks in one continuous session and the album begins to make sense as it progresses from gorgeous ambient loops to a nightmarish jungle soundtrack, to washes of static and finally on to a mind-blowing finale that blends them all together. Street Horrrsing is not only 2008's most inventive album, but also one of its best.
- Matt Hunziker
The Bug - London Zoo
With a diverse cast of guest vocalists, including Tippa Irie's blistering flow on the leadoff track, ""Angry,"" Flowdan's menacing delivery on ""Jah War"" and Warrior Queen's staccato bursts on ""Insane"" (which might suggest a darker M.I.A. to listeners), the third album released by Kevin Martin as ""The Bug"" is unified by its dub-inspired production and the relentless darkness of its lyrics. Treating the imminent apocalypse as a foregone conclusion and focusing on terrorism, death and hypocrisy, London Zoo manages to make a political statement without coming off as preachy or monotone. Much of this success is owed to the jaw-dropping chops of its MCs, as well as Martin's thumping production, which assures that no matter how dark the subject matter, London Zoo is still fun to listen to.
- Matt Hunziker
The Dodos - Visiter
Occasionally mislabeled as an indie-folk band due to their focus on acoustic guitar, on Visiter the Dodos stretch the possibilities of the instrument, making it sound huge and even frightening on faster tracks like ""Red and Purple"" and ""The Season."" Quieter moments on ""Winter"" and ""Ashley"" show off the group's knack for melody, while the closer ""God?"" brings both of these ends together in one of the year's most epic songs. ""Fools"" suggests a more straightforward pop version of Animal Collective, but otherwise the Dodos are operating in a territory all their own.
- Matt Hunziker
The Walkmen - You & Me
The Walkmen came into prominence on the strength of The Rat, a hard-charging standout off 2004's Bows & Arrows. The band's fortunes slipped in 2006, when the slower follow-up, A Hundred Miles Off, failed to wow critics to the same extent, but they've made a triumphant return in 2008 with You & Me, which finds the group mastering their newer, unhurried sound. A hoarse-voiced beacon of goodwill, ""In the New Year"" has stolen most of the album's focus, but there's nary a weak track to be found on You & Me, which veers closer to the group's old sound on the driving ""Postcards from Tiny Islands"" but finds its most beautiful moment on the drumless ""New Country,"" which backs Hamilton Leithauser's soulful yowl with nothing more than a loosely picked electric guitar lick.
- Matt Hunziker
