Listmania: Our Favorite Albums of 2008 (50-26)

Everyone else is doing it so why shouldn’t I? That’s right, listmania 2008 is finally here and what I’ve got to present to you here is the first half of my favorite albums of the year. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, these are the albums that made the cut. I decided to stick with a list of 50 this year mainly because that’s what I’ve done in the past and also because 2008 was a really great year for new music and narrowing down the list to fewer than this just seemed unfair.

50. Helios – Caesura (Type)
Beautiful instrumental guitar melodies mesh with percussive beats and found sounds in a gauzey haze of nostalgia that walks the line between ambient, IDM, and post rock.
MP3 | Helios – Hope Valley Hill

49. LaGrecia – On Parallels (Suburban Home)
Jason Shevchuk’s (sadly) now-defunct post-None More Black project was a little more bouncy and a little less hardcore than either of Shevchuk’s previous bands but will still get your toes tapping. Read more…
MP3 | LaGrecia – You Like Baseball, I Like Ghosts

48. Bound Stems – The Family Afloat (Flameshovel)
Chicago’s Bound Stems have made one of the best and most under-noticed indie rock records of the year. It is overflowing with engaging, off-kilter rhythms, and obtuse but catchy-as-hell melodies.
MP3 | Bound Stems – Happens To Us All Otherwise

47. The Tim Version – Decline Of The Southern Gentleman (No Idea)
Gainesville punk rock that sounds like classic country music fueled by whiskey and PBR and sung by the shredded throats of Hot Water Music and/or Leatherface.
MP3 | The Tim Version – Shin Splints

46. The Weight – Are Men (The Colonel)
The second album from Joseph Plunket and The Weight is a slow-burning twangy Southern-fried alt-country album that sounds as great late at night as it does during a 4th of July afternoon BBQ. Read more…
MP3 | The Weight – Had It Made

45. Matt Pryor – Confidence Man (Vagrant)
This isn’t music that’s fancy, sexy, or any other adjective that might get all the hipster kids to listen to it. Instead, the solo debut from the former Get Up Kids/New Amsterdams front man is just plain comfortable. Read more…
MP3 | Matt Pryor – A Totally New Year

44. The Riot Before – Fists Buried In Pockets (Say-10)
Gritty melodic fist-pumping punk a-la Against Me! from the RVA. Throw in a little Americana twang for good measure and it adds up to one remarkably (and unexpectedly) cohesive album.Read more…
MP3 | The Riot Before – You Can’t Sexy Dance To Punk Rock

43. Austin Lucas – Putting The Hammer Down (Magic Bullet)
Wonderfully sorrowful country music that sounds as if it floats just beneath the low-hanging fog of the Appalachian foothills with Lucas’ fragile and flailing vocals front and center. Read more…
MP3 | Austin Lucas – Man Alive

42. Sigur Rís – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (XL)
Sigur Rís’ “pop” album finds the Icelandic group sounding much smaller and much more personal rather than reaching for the stars on a grandiose cinematic scale. Read more…
MP3 | Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook

41. William Fitzsimmons – The Sparrow And The Crow (Self-Released)
This is hushed indie folk that isn’t dissimilar in tone to a certain Sufjan. It’s also a heartbreaking look into the beardmaster’s recent divorce that is (at times) almost uncomfortably intimate. Read more…
MP3 | William Fitzsimmons – You Still Hurt Me

40. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals (Illegal Art)
This would be the token hip hop-ish album on the list except that I listened to this one… a lot. Even if you don’t like hip hop or mash-ups, there is no denying that this is some stellar shit. Read more…
MP3 | Girl Talk – Play Your Part (Pt. 2)

39. The Heavenly States – Delayer (Rebel Group)
This Oakland, CA trio combines elements from a wide range of styles to creates their own unique vision of garagey American rock music that’s anything but typical. Read more…
MP3 | The Heavenly States – Lost In The Light

38. Graham Lindsey – We Are All Alone In This Together (Spacebar)
Dark and unapologetic roots folk-blues that’s somewhere in the middle of Gillian Welch and William Elliott Whitmore. Lindsey’s aching gravelly voice, his guitar, and his banjo are at the heart of this haunting and timeless Americana. Read more…
MP3 | Graham Lindsey – Shit On A Shovel

37. Teenage Bottlerocket – Warning Device (Red Scare)
This is take-no-prisoners punk-pop that falls right in like with the likes of The Ramones, Screeching Weasel, and The Huntingtons. It’s the same old song and dance but near-flawless in execution. Read more…
MP3 | Teenage Bottlerocket – In The Basement

36. Dosh – Wolves And Wishes (Anticon)
Martin Dosh’s fourth album is a potpourri of disparate musical themes smashed and stretched into a mesmerizing fusion of instrumental hip-hop, electro-pop jams, almost-jazzy indie rock, and more. Read more…
MP3 | Dosh – Hit And Pearle

35. Algernon Cadwallader – Some Kind Of Cadwallader (Self-Released)
Their bubbly and spastic mid-90’s Midwest emo diatribes anchored by twinkling melodies, shouty vocals, and intertwining guitar lines that sound almost straight out of the schmap’n schmazz playbook. Read more…
MP3 | Algernon Cadwallader – Serial Killer Status

34. JJ Grey & Mofro – Orange Blossoms (Alligator)
A killer soul/blues album where the songs, the performances, and the production are almost flawless and constantly sound as if the ghost of Otis Redding had a hand in all of it. Read more…
MP3 | JJ Grey & Mofro – Orange Blossoms

33. Carpenter – Law Of The Land (Smallman)
Roots-rock Americana meets mid 90’s midwest emo somewhere just outside of Vancouver, BC. With acoustic guitars and the oddly-placed harmonica this is post hardcore of the most earnest variety that isn’t afraid to also show its love of John Cougar. Read more…
MP3 | Carpenter – You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down

32. Sun Kil Moon – April (Caldo Verde)
Like the warm orange glow of the late afternoon sun on your face; your eyes closed and the smells of the summer evening hanging in the cool breeze, Mark Kozelek sings like he is woven into the frayed threads of a slowly unraveling American dream. Read more…
MP3 | Sun Kil Moon – Lost Verses

31. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
This is the synthesis of the Beach Boys vs. Simon & Garfunkel vs. backwoods Applalachian folk singers all wrapped up and drenched in some warm glowing Jim James reverb. Read more…
MP3 | Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal

30. Dillinger Four – Civil War (Fat Wreck)
Do I even need to say anything more about this album or this band other I’m not sure I can trust anyone that doesn’t like Dillinger Four? I didn’t think so. Read more…
MP3 | Dillinger Four – Gainesville

29. Parts & Labor – Receivers (Jagjaguwar)
Frenetic indie-power-pop songs that are obscured by shrieking feedback-laden synths, the glitch-ridden overdriven oscillations of malfunctioning electronics, and walls of distorted guitar. Read more…
MP3 | Parts & Labor – Nowheres Nigh

28. Able Baker Fox – Voices (Second Nature)
This is the debut album the from post-hardcore supergroup featuring members of The Casket Lottery, Coalesce, Small Brown Bike, and LaSalle and it sounds just as good as you think it should. Read more…
MP3 | Able Baker Fox – Stuttering

27. Off With Their Heads – From The Bottom (No Idea)
Anthemic sing-a-long pirate punk rock fueled by rough-but-catchy-as-fuck melodies. These guys are Minneapolis and fit right in with their neighbors D4 and Banner Pilot. Read more…
MP3 | Off With Their Heads – For The Four

26. Polar Bear Club – Sometimes Things Just Disappear (Red Leader)
Polar Bear Club blends catchy pop-punk hooks and angular post-hardcore guitars, finding a balance between gruff vocals and melodic harmonies. They slow things down just enough to sound a little more intriguing than the majority of their peers. Read more…
MP3 | Polar Bear Club – Burned Out In A Jar