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Albums Of The Year - The Aggregated 'Super-List'
By Luke Lewis
Posted on 10/12/08 at 12:49:48 pm
In the new issue of NME we present our top 50 albums of 2008. You can view the winning 10 (and nominate your own picks) elsewhere on the Office Blog.
Of course, ours is just one of the many critical run-downs that appear at this time of year, which is why we've trawled the net to bring you the ultimate list of lists, an aggregation of all the key tastemakers' choices, both in print and online.
The rules are simple: each album gets one point if it's at number ten, and ten points if it's at number one. For your reference, the individual source top 10s are all listed below.
continued...
What's remarkable, looking at these lists, is the relative lack of consensus. There are albums that recur, but nothing dominates the field like, say, Arctic Monkeys' 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' did in 2007.
If you had to pinpoint a trend, you could argue that 2008 saw the resurgence of a particular strain of wintry, backwoods folk-rock: it's hard to remember the last time acts as delicate as Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes were quite so lavishly praised. Perhaps that reflects the apocalyptic tenor of world events in 2008 – economic meltdown, looming environmental catastrophe – and hence a collective desire to retreat from the big bad world, like Justin Vernon in his Wisconsin log cabin.
But if hushed, rootsy Americana was big in 2008, so too was the more modern sound of the States - specifically Brooklyn. No fewer than three bands in NME's, and the aggregated, Top 10, hail from that borough of NYC: MGMT, Vampire Weekend, TV On The Radio, all of whom delivered records that surprised and intrigued in a way few British albums managed this year.
What's also noticeable is how few of the biggest-selling albums of 2008 – Duffy, Keane, etc. – made it on to these lists, which proves that the disjunction between what critics like, and what people actually buy, is as deep as ever.
Here, then, based on the views of some of the world's most respected critics, is as 'definitive' a run-down of the year's best albums as you'll find anywhere.
1. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
4. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
5. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
6. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
7. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
8. Portishead - Third
9. Amadou And Mariam – Welcome To Mali
10. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
Meanwhile, here's a selection of artists discussing their albums of the year:
NME
1. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
2. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
3. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
4. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
5. Foals – Antidotes
6. Metronomy – Nights Out
7. Santogold – Santogold
8. Mystery Jets – 21
9. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
10. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
Uncut
1. Portishead - Third
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
6. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
7. Neon Neon - Stainless Style
8. Nick Cave - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
9. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
10. Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
Last.FM
1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
2. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
3. Portishead - Third
4. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV
5. The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
6. The Kooks - Konk
7. Death Vab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
8. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
9. Jack Johnson – Sleep Through The Static
10. Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Pitchfork
1. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
2. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
3. No Age - Nouns
4. Hercules And Love Affair – Hercules And Love Affair
5. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
6. DJ Rupture - Uproot
7. ****ed Up – The Chemistry Of Common Life
8. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
9. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
10. Portishead – Third
Q
1. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
6. Duffy - Rockferry
7. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
8. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
9. Raconteurs – Consolers Of The Lonely
10. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
The Observer
1. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Amadou And Mariam – Welcome To Mali
3. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
4. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
5. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
6. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
8. Kanye West – 808s And Heartbreak
9. Portishead – Third
10. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
Metacritic
1. Amadou And Mariam – Welcome To Mali
2. The Bug – London Zoo
3. Plush – Fed
4. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
5. Shugo Tokumaru – Exit
6. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
7. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
8. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
9. Neil Young – Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968
10. Robyn – Robyn
The Sunday Times
1. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
2. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
3. Paul Weller – 22 Dreams
4. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
5. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
6. Aidan John Moffat – I Can Hear Your Heart
7. Al Green – Lay It Down
8. Kanye West – 808s And Heartbreak
9. REM – Accelerate
10. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
Blender
1. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
2. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
3. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
4. Metallica – Death Magnetic
5. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
6. Robyn – Robyn
7. Of Montreal – Of Montreal
8. Randy Newman – Randy Newman
9. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
10. Fall Out Boy – Folie A Deux
Filter
1. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3. Dr. Dog - Fate
4. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
5. Foals - Antidotes
6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
7. She And Him - Volume One
8. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
9. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colors
10 The Dears - Missiles
Sasha Frere Jones / The New Yorker
1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Portishead - Third
3. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit are The Very Best
4. Dungen - 4
5. Taylor Swift - Fearless
6. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
7. Ashton Shepherd - Sounds So Good
8. Benga - Diary Of An Afro Warrior
9. Flying Lotus - L.A. EP 1 x 3
10. Cat Power - Jukebox