2008 Revisited

Because I tend to get a lot of stuff second hand, and because I just don't spend enough time on blogs, I came quite late to a lot of the best stuff released in 2008. So, since I haven't written anything on here for a while and I'm having a break from revising, is a roundup of my favourite stuff from last year, nearly six months on.

Here's my original end-of-year list:
10 No Age - Nouns
9 The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
8 Shearwater - Rook
7 Dodos - Visiter
6 Times New Viking - Rip it Off
5 Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night
4 Deerhunter - Microcastle
3 A Silver Mount Zion - 13 Blues for 13 Moons
2 Los Campesinos - Hold on Now Youngster
1 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Here's the new one:

10 Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
9 No Age - Nouns
8 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
7 Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night
6 Times New Viking - Rip It Off
5 A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
4 The Manhattan Love Suicides - Burnt Out Landscapes
3 Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster...
2 Enablers - Tundra
1 Deerhunter - Microcastle


Deerhunter's was the record that's just kept growing for me this year, and it's pretty clearly my favourite. There's at least three brilliant songs which stand out right from the first listen, and the more atmospheric ambient stuff takes some getting used to, but is pretty great as well. Tundra by Enablers is pretty overlooked, but is really good: Slint-ish math-rock with spoken poetry lyrics. Sounds hard to listen to, but really isn't. That Manhattan Love Suicides record is properly a compilation, but has some new stuff on so I'm going to count it.

Oh, and listen to Rare on Sunday for a very special show. More details to follow.