AWmusic

#9 Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
This album is a tribute to drummer John Pike who died tragically and has left his mark all over this album having helped pen songs (perhaps even hautingly) like Dying Is Fine and Ghost Under Rocks. While Ra Ra Riot takes a much different approach to death, unlike Arcade Fire whom is all about being gloomy and sad, Ra Ra Riot celebrates the life of John Pike. This may bother people but even without looking at this album on a emotional album, it’s still one of the better musical albums. Everything is classically influenced and Ra Ra Riot is able to pull off the big band aspect to perfection. I have no qualms about giving this album a perfect score because in some aspects from top to bottom it’s a great album. I guess it’s not higher on this list because it’s not too far of what’s already been done and it’s a tad little bit repetitive.
Too Too Too Fast by Ra Ra Riot
Dying Is Fine by Ra Ra Riot
#8 Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Younster…
Original Rating: 5 out of 5 Another top 10 spot to a big band, I feel as if I like too many of these big bands, however nobody quite does it like Los Campesinos! While Gareth has unique but rough vocals that many point to being annoying, Aleks balances it perfectly with her soothing female touch. The best part of this record is the song writing but it doesn’t hurt to have a wide variety of instruments being used such as the violin,glockenspiel and a variety of others on this septet. I think why I and others rate this album so highly is the uniqueness, no band is like Los Campesinos! They can make a record fun, thought provoking, while capping it off with great music. I understand that this album is a bit hit or miss though so not everyone is going to like it.
You! Me! Dancing! by Los Campesinos!
My Year In Lists by Los Campesinos!

#7 Why? – Alopecia
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Alopecia, the condition in where you are bald, in some cases without hair all over your body. In that sense being without hair is like being bare, and Yoni Wolf bares all on Alopecia. I actually had a problem listening to this album when writing this review. I found myself feeling depressed and that’s arguably what makes this album great. It passes on that emotion with ease and is my Rap album of the year (although I only check out a few records). Why? has moved onto more of a full band ensemble but at its core it’s a rap album with instrumental sections. No fancy beats or anything of that sort, just a high level of rap from start to finish and you’ll rarely find a rap record that is abstract and wide open as this. Yoni Wolf’s writing is downright brilliant and some of these songs are greater then words I could ever come up with. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the record check out these tracks:
Fatalist Palmistry by Why?
These Few Presidents by Why?
#6 Vampire Weekend – Self Titled
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
2008 was a crappy year in general but not for Vampire Weekend. They’ve gone from blogger favorites to superstars. I remember listening to their Blue CD-R and thinking what a great band they were where the production values were absolutely flawless. With success comes criticism though and while I find their success may far exceed expectations, overrated is not a term I use to describe this album. Yes, somewhat African influenced, it doesn’t overdo and VW stays within what makes a great pop song while including classical influences where Rostam Batmanglij’s work is by far the most significant. Anyway while the actual official album was mercifully released with just two new tracks (albeit great ones) after almost a full year with the CD-R, it was still an album that went through extended longevity and that’s ultimately why I chose to give it a high score. It’s basically a pop album that has paved the way (or has other bands mirroring) for bands to use more African influenced music. It’s still a great pop album and Vampire Weekend themselves has showed that this album is no fluke. If you’ve heard their covers and some new tracks (like Ottoman) you’ll find that they maintain the high level that got them to the top while expanding their sound. (You can’t say that for a band like MGMT who just has people remixing their stuff).
M79 by Vampire Weekend
Oxford Comma by Vampire Weekend

#5 Fleet Foxes – Self Titled
Rating: 5 out of 5
I like to pat myself on the back as one of the first blogs to discover the Fleet Foxes outside of the Seattle area, who can honestly say they had White Winter Hymnal in their 2007 top songs list? Too bad it doesn’t mean anything when you have no readers. But I digress. The Fleet Foxes do have an folk/Americana style but their emphasis is on their tight vocals from all members. While at first I felt the #5 ranking was too high, going back to this album makes its undeniably difficult to do so. While this album is necessarily an album that fits together but song by song, each track seems to have countless effort in crafting the absolutely perfect vocals on each track.
White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
Ragged Wood by Fleet Foxes

#4 The Bug – London Zoo
Rating: 5 out of 5
I was really happy to pick up this record by producer Kevin Martin. It completely goes outside of the music I normally like even though this album is more or less genre-defying. It’s an electronic album using influences from dubstep and and a large group Reggae and Grime vocalists. It’s hard to find weaknesses in this album as Kevin Martin’s beats are as daring and bring to light to the angst and anger without shoving it done your throat. A track like Jah War uses trip hop elements and reminds me a lot of the Machine Gun intro but of course being more significant in a track that clearly expresses the artist’s point of view on war. This has to be a lock for the Mercrury prize or at least it better me.
Jah War featuring Flow Dan by The Bug
Skeng featuring Killa P and Flowdan by The Bug
#3 M83 – Saturdays=Youth
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
The album starts slowly with You, Appearing but picks up with Kim & Jessie and doesn’t turn its back. It’s a dream pop album by nature using a variety of electronic elements that make you wish you were young again. It gives off a cool 80s feel without being overly cheesy (arguable on Graveyard Girl when the poem hits). However there are no mistakes or misses on this album, where can I ultimately fault it? It has some of the best songs of the year but the more I look into it, might as well just include the whole album (each song has an argument). Another level where this album works that many do not, it’s actually themed toward about being youthful, while that can be slightly annoying for some, it works with the song writing and actually feels like an album, a collection songs put together like a story and ultimately feeling like they belong together.
Highway of Endless Dreams by M83
Graveyard Girl by M83

#2 Deerhunter – Microcastle
Rating: None, reviewed by Christian.
I was forced by writers to check this album out. I’ve always know how talented Bradford Cox was by the few tracks I did check out but I guess I should’ve taken it a bit more seriously. It’s a bit tough as I’m still familiarizing myself with this album but I definitely agree that it should be held up with high regard. The album starts with with Cover Me (Slowly) an instrumental and works itself in a simplistic track Agoraphobia. This album actually progresses with each song, slowly building up toward a climax. Some of these tracks are straight up pop songs but while it is actually simplistic, it just doesn’t feel that way when Lockett Pundt, is repeating “Come for me, comfort for me”. Their experimenting is obvious but subtle at the same time. This album is flawless and while calling an album a pop record may be taboo, it’s more or less brilliant pop. It shifts a little bit toward the end being less pop and more experimental. It does this at a perfect pace, not in a rush just to shift gears to a new style and sticking within it’s own sound.
Agoraphobia by Deerhunter
Never Stops by Deerhunter

And FINALLY….

#1 Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
I don’t know how serious I was when I said that Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight might be on the best albums of the year. Little did I know, many other people were thinking that too but it has been by far the most listened record of the year for me and that alone merits putting it in the first spot. Being a folk rock album, the key is the songwriting and Scott Hutchinson discusses things such as the absurdity in religion, sex for pleasure, death being overrated and loneliness. A lot of detractors say that it’s typical sad sappy indie rock boy banter but I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss this album as just that. In a way while at times where Hutchinson seems lonely and depressed, he surprises you a track with Head Rolls Off, shrugging off his death as no big deal in some sort of hopeful manner. At times he’s more angry like in Keep Yourself Warm, criticizing those who have one night stands while other times he’s just showing how vulnerable he is like on The Twist or admitting weakness like in The Modern Leper. It’s basically a complete album on human nature and encompasses all the feelings one can honestly have. It’s not one particular emotion but all of them battling each other (hence the midnight organ fight) once, where no particular thought prevails but it’s a mind where each thought is muddled with the other. Sometimes cute, sometimes just being fed up, it’s ultimately an album that will be a favorite of mine for years to come.
Head Rolls Off by Frightened Rabbit
The Twist by Frightened Rabbit

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