It occurred to me this morning, in an anal sort of way, that we should probably talk about the best records of 2008's first six months. To that end, I've just been through my blog archive and come up with my ten favourites of the year up 'til the end of June. Plenty to choose from as usual (there's never such a thing as a bad year for music if you look hard enough, I always think), and I found nearly 40 albums that merit a mention. These, though, are looking to me like the best ten - this morning, at least. Rather pathetically, I haven't managed to put them in anything other than alphabetical order. . . 1.James Blackshaw - Litany Of Ashes (Tompkins Square) 2.Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD) 3.Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute) 4.Endless Boogie - Focus Level (No Quarter) 5.Howlin Rain - Magnificent Fiend (Birdman) 6.Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash (Domino) 7.Portishead - Third (Island) 8.The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely (XL) 9.Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL) 10.Wild Beasts - Limbo, Panto (Domino) Send me your charts and we'll try and come to some kind of consensus. Remember: January to June only, so all votes for The Hold Steady will be cruelly and summarily discounted.
It occurred to me this morning, in an anal sort of way, that we should probably talk about the best records of 2008’s first six months. To that end, I’ve just been through my blog archive and come up with my ten favourites of the year up ’til the end of June.
Plenty to choose from as usual (there’s never such a thing as a bad year for music if you look hard enough, I always think), and I found nearly 40 albums that merit a mention. These, though, are looking to me like the best ten – this morning, at least. Rather pathetically, I haven’t managed to put them in anything other than alphabetical order. . .
1.James Blackshaw – Litany Of Ashes (Tompkins Square)
2.Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD)
3.Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)
4.Endless Boogie – Focus Level (No Quarter)
5.Howlin Rain – Magnificent Fiend (Birdman)
6.Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash (Domino)
8.The Raconteurs – Consolers Of The Lonely (XL)
9.Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (XL)
10.Wild Beasts – Limbo, Panto (Domino)
Send me your charts and we’ll try and come to some kind of consensus. Remember: January to June only, so all votes for The Hold Steady will be cruelly and summarily discounted.
