While much of the rest of the music obsessing public has taken to revealing their "best of" lists a bit earlier (some even in late November), my brother and I have made a grand tradition of posting our lists on January 1. There's a bit of overlap on our two lists, with Satogold's self-titled debut placing high on both. That combined with the fact that my girlfriend also really liked it make Santogold the New and Used Records Album of the Year (excluding our own releases of course). An eclectic mix of tracks, Santogold's music finds itself somewhere in the land between Gwen Stefani, Kate Bush and M.I.A. The latter is a frequent comparison, and Santogold would be in good company (M.I.A. did drop our favorite record of 2007). But to make such a comparison simply because the two work with some of the same producers and don't fit into any pre-constructed genre is a bit, well, obvious. Music in 2008 is about breaking down genres with no pretense (from Kanye's Portishead-meets-Usher leanings to Girl Talk's 80 song pileups to Vampire Weekend's Africa-meets-New York sound). No one exemplifies this exciting new world than Santogold, whose record is cohesively genre-defying and all-around brilliant. Here's the rest of what grabbed us in 2008:Will's Top Ten
1. 808's and Heartbreak, Kanye West
2. The Age of the Understatement, The Last Shadow Puppets
3. Alopecia, Why
4. Santogold, Sanotogold
5. Real Animal, Alejandro Escovedo
6. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
7. Feed the Animals, Girl Talk
8. Something For All of Us, Broke Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning
9. Microcastle, Deerhunter
10. The Carter III, Lil Wayne
Charlie's Top Ten:
1. In Ghost Colours, Cut Copy
2. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
3. Santogold, Sanotogold
4. Alopecia, Why
5. Dear Science, TV on the Radio
6. Stay Positive, The Hold Steady
7. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
8. Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair
9. The Age of the Understatement, The Last Shadow Puppets
10. 808's and Heartbreak, Kanye West
3 comments:
From having the same top album in 07, we seem to have diverged considerably this past year. And I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Bring on the musical diversity, I say.
What was your top ablum of last year?
I must admit I haven't listened to the latest Kayne album. Although I have enjoyed all of his previous work. I must get to that.
Last year's #1 was MIA's Kala. For me, it was pretty much a tie last year between MIA and Kanye.
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