Editor’s Note: Each of the writers from Aural States was given free-reign to make an optional year-end post, filled with lists, oped, whining, whatever…this is what one came up with:

2008 has been a life-changing year for me in many ways, especially music. I remember being very intimidated by any genre that pushed experimental or noise and now it’s what I live for. Every season, new styles come back around from previous decades: saddle shoes, bell-bottoms, and grungy flannel shirts. Our generation is the melting pot of the past. Can’t we say the same for music?

And with the rapid advances in technology it’s only getting better through sampling and digitally modified sound. I guess that is my biggest realization this year—If music is sequential and cumulative then every vibration is the offspring of this movement of time and each second is a new opportunity for the creation of sound. Everything is possible at the present moment. We may find some to be more pleasing to the ear, to the brain, but it is only natural that we embrace it. We must celebrate all that is euphonic and aural.

Here are my picks of the most important tracks for my 2008 (Ed Note: Some tracks are not from 2008, and we know that.  Thanks). Have a great New Year!

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   MP3: High Places- The Tree with the Lights in It

2. Panda Bear- Comfy in Nautica
3. Radiohead- Jigsaw Falling into Place

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   MP3: Sigur Ros- Med sud i eyrum

5. Imperial China- There is no translation

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   MP3: Crystal Castles- Courtship Date

7. Evangelicals- Skeleton Man
8. Say Hi- Northwestern Girls
9. Yeasayer- Waves
10. Battles- Leyendecker

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    MP3: Monotonix- Summers and Autumns

12. Double Dagger- Army vs. Navy

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    MP3: Lykke Li- Dance, Dance, Dance

14. Diplo- Must Be a Devil
15. White Rabbits- Kid On My Shoulders
16. Darker My Love- Two Ways Out
17. Parenthetical Girls- The Weight She Fell Under
18. Department of Eagles- Around The Bay

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    MP3: No Age- Teen Creeps

20. Celebration- Holiday

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