2008: The Year That Was, Is, Has Been, and Always Will Be. Part I: The Best Album(s) of 2008. [UPDATED!]

Kingston picks a favourite album from 2008. Photo is Barbeau’s.

Annie Clifford: PS I Love You, PS I Love You EP

Michael Davidge: Album(s)? 2008 was the year I learned about the Genius function on iTunes.

Katrina Enros:

1. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
2. Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron, Lost Wisdom
3. Born Ruffians, Red, Yellow, Blue

Who knows? I only find out things are cool seven years later…

Lucas Huang:

Unwed Sailor, Little Wars

Little Wars is a very diverse, but also very carefully assembled album; it feels delicate and cautious, but with a lightheartedness which prevents them from becoming overbearing or self-conscious. The songs are brimming with details from years of work, so that each listen to the record seems to present a new set of tiny nuances: a nearly inaudible glockenspiel or shaker reveals itself; a shy tambourine comes out from hiding in the back corner of the mix.

It’s a very understated recording. Like the colourful and unfocused photograph on the cover, Little Wars is somewhat indeterminate: the percussion ebbs and flows in waves, seeming to tumble accidentally into patterned rhythms. There are melodies, but they tend to weave in and out of the background. Little Wars doesn’t so much sing as hum quietly to itself.

Wendy Huot: Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

Laura Kelly:

1. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
2. Chad VanGaalen, Soft Airplane
3. Menahan Street Band, Make the Road by Walking

Jared MacKay: Old Man Luedecke, Proof of Love

As a CFRC DJ, I spent the better part of 2008 actively browsing the new music section at the station to find the best new releases to play on air. You’d expect I’d have formed some opinions during this search – and you’d be wrong. Perhaps it’s the “paradox of choice”. I am so over-whelmed by the volume of music each year I couldn’t possibly choose just one great album. Except Proof of Love. That was the best album of 2008.

Darren Springer:

1. Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life
2. No Age, Nouns
3. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
4. Bound Stems, The Family Afloat
5. Steinski, What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective

Greg Tilson: Chad VanGaalen, Soft Airplane

I don’t care how over-played it is. I still play it almost every day.

Lisa Visser:

1. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Lykke Li, Youth Novels
3. Hot Chip, Made in the Dark
4. Plants and Animals, Parc Avenue

Nich Worby:

1. Human Highway, Moody Motorcycle
2. The Bicycles, Oh No, It’s Love
3. $100, Forest of Tears
4. The D’Urbervilles, The D’Urbervilles EP

Stephen Guy: Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life

Lindsay Heggie:

Seven, in no particular order:

1. She & Him, Volume One

Beautiful; also, I love M. Ward. Zooey is very nice, too.

2. Human Highway, Moody Motorcycle

Superteam!

3. PS I Love You, PS I Love You EP

Local hero makes good!

4. Old Man Leudecke, Proof of Love

Hearing his music makes my heart happy.

5. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

Knew I loved it in the first 10 seconds of “White Winter Hymnal.”

6. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago

Achingly beautiful.

7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

It’s catchy, it’s over-hyped, and I can’t deny that I like it. Plus, they have a song called “Oxford Comma,” which is my favourite piece of punctuation.