In line with tradition, here is my unordered, incomplete list of awesome albums from 2008.  Things seem a bit folk heavy for me.  Interesting.  Do share your thoughts.

Baltimore

Small Sur – We Live in Houses Made of Wood

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Small Sur – Roots

A subtle beauty, a gentle giant of a release from a local treasure.  Bob Keal is calling us all back to nature; it’s a wondrous journey.

——

Zomes – S/T

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Zomes – Coloured Matter

Warm and addictive melodies make this album glow as Asa Osborne meticulously tinkers with tone and form.

——

Arbouretum/Pontiak – Kale Split

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Pontiak – Green Pool

Two spectacular bands pay homage to the great John Cale, and bring along some of their own material to boot.  Win/win.

——

Beach House – Devotion

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Beach House – Gila

A glittering gem of a release, ornate and lush.  Not to mention all the positive Baltimore PR they’ve been gathering.

——

Matmos – Supreme Balloon

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Matmos – Les Folies Francaises

Our fair city’s resident transplanted experimental superstars.  How can you resist?  You can’t.

——

Lo Moda – Replica Watches

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Lo Moda – Real Real

Never has a band been so hard to pin down, so damn likable and addictive.  The maturity of their songwriting is almost without compare, taut and diverse.

——

DC

Imperial China – Methods: EP

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Imperial China – There is no translation

Picking up where it feels like Q and Not U left off, Imperial China’s EP is a short-but-sweet blast of angular and textured experimentalism that has felt sorely lacking in DC where precious, diabetes-inducing indie-pop and overly ironic rock have prevailed as of late.

——

Caverns – Kittens! EP

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Caverns – Brodown High Noon

A late-comer, sneaking in just under the wire at the end of December, this EP is the visceral punch in the gut and stab at the heart that I was waiting for all year.  For me, instrumental rock doesn’t get much better than this.

——

CANNOT BE STOPPED – Mountain

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: CANNOT BE STOPPED – Dull Fangs

I really remained firmly against one-man drum acts.  Until I heard Farley Miller’s CANNOT BE STOPPED project.  Consider me converted.

——

The World

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Ah Nick, do you never falter?  Probably my favorite in his catalog, hands down.  And that’s impressive.

——

These New Puritans – Beat Pyramids

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: These New Puritans – Swords of Truth

An invigorating, underappreciated album filled with mesmerizing beats, a maelstrom of post-punk guitars, and dripping with the influence of dub and hip-hop.

——

High Places – High Places / 0307 – 0907

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: High Places – From Stardust to Sentience

One of those times transcendent actually means something, High Places dropped TWO albums of zen-like beauty and inventive experimentalism.

——

Shearwater – Rook

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Shearwater – Rooks

Achingly melodramatic, at times bordering on histrionic.

And I love every second of it.

——

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet – S/T

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet – Strange Things

Redefining how I view globalized music, truly proving that music is a language with universal aspects that can be tapped into, regardless of your culture of origin.

Probably my album of the year, if I had to choose one.

——

Horse Feathers – House With No Name

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Horse Feathers – Working Poor

Folk meets classical amidst the twirling counterpoint of gentle string lines and gorgeous vocals.

——

Nina Simone – To Be Free

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Nina Simone – I Loves You, Porgy

A timeless talent with a luscious voice with near-limitless range that could woo legions of men.  This 3-CD and DVD box set is probably one of my most valuable purchases of 2008.

——

The Bug – London Zoo

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: The Bug – Poison Dart

Bass.  Dub.  Love.

——

The Rumble Strips – Girls and Weather

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: The Rumble Strips – Alarm Clock

At first I was slightly non-plussed about this record.  But over time it became one of my most frequently spun all year.  A dose of adrenalized, bittersweet joy.

Related posts

1. 2008 Wrap-Up (Alexa) – A Personal, Anachronistic Best Tracks of 2008Editor’s Note: Each of the writers from Aural States was...
2. 2008 Wrap-Up (Nolan) Editor’s Note: Each of the writers from Aural States...
3. 2008 Wrap-Up (Zack) – Reflections and PredictionsEditor’s Note: Each of the writers from Aural States was...
4. 2008 Wrap-Up (Sam): 2008’s Top U.S. Orchestras – Plan Vacations Accordingly[Audio clip: view full post to listen] MP3: Shostakovich –...
5. 2008 Wrap-Up (John) – Happy New Year from the Morlocks! Editor’s Note: Each of the writers from Aural States...