A.V. Club's Best Music of 2008

A.V. Club's Best Music of 2008

Original Source →

30.

February 26, 2008
Critic Score
72
21 reviews

Devotion's half-submerged, half-weightless ambience feels like a shaky yet sure transition into something even more abstract and fragile.

29.

January 29, 2008
Critic Score
75
14 reviews
The opener "Lately" is a mournful break-up ballad bolstered with Mercury Rev-ish broad strokes, while "The Captive Mind" recalls the best '80s synth-pop (alternating among Peter Gabriel, The English Beat, and Julian Lennon) without using the influence as a crutch.

28.

November 11, 2008
Critic Score
73
17 reviews
Gillis' sense of sonic proportion gives the whole mix a curvaceousness that make even the most unnatural tandems seem perfectly logical.

27.

October 7, 2008
Critic Score
75
17 reviews

In the absence of a new Grizzly Bear album, In Ear Park provides a valuable service while showcasing Rossen as a skilled composer and arranger in his own right.

26.

June 24, 2008
Critic Score
78
30 reviews
It's a gorgeous descent for an inimitable group that knows better than most how to deliver its highs high and its lows low.

25.

June 10, 2008
Critic Score
80
17 reviews

24.

April 22, 2008
Critic Score
81
19 reviews
Best of all, the Conchords never force their hand, frequently letting bizarre sonic references and awkward lyrical fumbles serve as unspoken punchlines.

23.

June 17, 2008
Critic Score
74
22 reviews

Scaling back the frenetic pace and combustible forcefulness of 2005's Apologies To The Queen Mary, Wolf Parade no longer sounds like a band pushing itself excitedly to the breaking point.

22.

June 10, 2008
Critic Score
77
15 reviews

From the monster first track, "What Up Man," onward, Cool Kids ain't saying nothing new, but they have a damn infectious way of saying it; they're charmingly obnoxious in the best possible way

21.

January 21, 2008
Critic Score
79
26 reviews
Loud-quiet-loud has never been so dizzying.

20.

April 14, 2008
Critic Score
81
18 reviews
It's Hutchison's utterly believable desperation and frank lyrics that push the whole thing from good to great.

19.

January 22, 2008
Critic Score
77
19 reviews

As a collection of songs, Brighter Than Creation's Dark ranks among Drive-By Truckers' best, even though there are a couple of skippable tracks.

18.

May 20, 2008
Critic Score
71
10 reviews

The Mates recapture a bit of brio of 'The Re-Arranger' and 'Help Help,' but the rest of Re-Arrange Us is only useful for putting the kids to sleep.

17.

American Music Club - The Golden Age
February 19, 2008
Critic Score
76
16 reviews

His trademark gloom still dominates, but his ability to bend glacial chords around pure poetry remains vital. In fact, it's stronger than ever.

16.

April 1, 2008
Critic Score
78
17 reviews

April, his third full-length under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, and the first made up of new songs since 2003, easily bears the weight of expectations, proving once again that he really does transcend any slowcore or singer-songwriter tags that have been tossed his way.

15.

June 24, 2008
Critic Score
84
24 reviews
He knows when to kick disco into action and when to just kick back and listen.

14.

Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's The Cool
December 18, 2007
Critic Score
72
18 reviews

Though its conceptual component feels fuzzy and abstract at best, The Cool oozes geek chic with terrific songs, smart, dense lyrics, and nimble, eclectic production.

12.

June 3, 2008
Critic Score
87
28 reviews
The wilderness goes from breathtaking to sort of boring after a while, but the overall effect is as refreshing as country air.

11.

June 10, 2008
Critic Score
80
19 reviews
He's the man of the moment, but the disc's best moments strive for timelessness and attain it.

10.

April 28, 2008
Critic Score
85
33 reviews

Barrow and Utley provide deep spaces for Gibbons' raw emotions to sink into, and nearly every track provides some little sonic goodie midway through as a reward for continued attention after all these years. For once, it's worth the effort.

9.

May 13, 2008
Critic Score
74
24 reviews

Narrow Stairs finds Death Cab comfortable with all aspects of its musical personality—and on top of them all.

8.

February 26, 2008
Critic Score
84
17 reviews

It's a challenging, even frustrating listen, but Amerykah stakes out Badu's place between vinyl crackle and tape hiss among things to be fond of, no matter how outmoded they become.

7.

January 29, 2008
Critic Score
82
27 reviews

The young band's saving grace is compactness, which not only saves thousands of dollars in kora-player and backup-singer bills, but also keeps things alert and accessible.

6.

July 14, 2008
Critic Score
82
27 reviews

A record made for blasting and getting blasted, Stay Positive makes it easy to follow through on its title.

5.

July 8, 2007
Critic Score
85
23 reviews

The album evocatively conjures the loneliness of a long northern winter, placing Vernon's lovely songs in a distant, blurred vacuum of physical and emotional isolation.

4.

February 22, 2008
Critic Score
78
23 reviews

Hold On Now, Youngster—an appropriate title for a bunch that looks barely post-pubescent—makes its case with sunny, sarcastic looseness and an unfakeable sense of joie de vivre.

3.

August 19, 2008
Critic Score
77
24 reviews

In "The Blue Route," it hits home like a 30th birthday—and as the standout "In The New Year" points out, realizing "It's all over anyhow" can be invigorating, a way of readying oneself for the next, far more interesting chapter.

2.

October 7, 2008
Critic Score
82
28 reviews
While it's offset on a few songs by "clean" female vocals, Damian Abraham's glass-gargling roar remains the primary source of Fucked Up's visceral energy. From this point on, it'll be more exciting to see how much farther beyond gut-level the band is willing to go.

1.

September 22, 2008
Critic Score
86
32 reviews

On Dear Science, TVOTR finds a more traditional consistency, transmuting that dirty experimentalism into a lush cleanliness that eases—rather than hurls—its songs into the art-making ether.

Original Source: http://www.avclub.com/article/the-best-music-of-2008-2562
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