top albums of 2008

1. Black Kids, Partie Traumatique
2. Sons and Daughters, This Gift
3. The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
4. Santogold, Santogold
   
5. The Subways, All Or Nothing
6. The Submarines, Honeysuckle Weeks
   
7. Blood on the Wall, Liferz
8. The Teenagers, Reality Check
9. Annie, Don’t Stop
   
10. Ladytron, Velicifero
    
11. Does It Offend You, Yea?, You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Into
12. Calexico, Carried to Dust
13. Bloc Party, Intimacy
    
14. Old 97s, Blame it On Gravity
    
15. Islands, Arm’s Way
16. The Hush Sound, Goodbye Blues
    
17. Cloud Cult, Feel Good Ghosts
18. The Von Bondies, We Are Kamikazes Headed Straight For Your Heart
19. The Fratellis, Here We Stand
    
20. We Should Be Dead, Forget Romance, Let’s Dance!
21. I Was a Teenage Satan Worshipper, The Lemonade Ocean
22. WHirlwind Heat, Scoup du Jour
    
23. White Denim, Workout Holiday
    
24. The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely
25. Delays, Everything’s The Rush
    
26. Mates of State, Re-arrange Us
    
27. The Kills, Midnight Boom
28. The Black Keys, Attack & Release
29. The Dirtbombs, We Have Your Surrounded
    
30. The Mars Volta, Bedlam in Goliath
31. Forward, Russia!, Life Processes
32. Mystery Jets, Twenty One
    
33. The Whigs, Mission Control
    
34. We Are Scientists, Brain Thrust Mastery
35. The Presets, Apocolypso
36. Madonna, Hard Candy
    
37. Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
38. The Kills, Midnight Boom
    
39. Tilly and the Wall, O
    
40. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig Lazarus Dig!
41. Dirty Pretty Things, Romance at Short Notice
    
42. Sloan, Parallel Play
43. Earlimart, Hymn and Her
44. Coldplay, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
45. Breeders, Mountain Battles
46. Black Angels, Directions to See a Ghost
47. Youth Group, The Night Is Ours
48. Mudhoney, The Lucky Ones
    

The overhyped, let-downs, mediocre, and just plain bad:

Weezer, The Red Album

The Virgins, The Virgins

Tokyo Police Club, Elephant Shell

Tapes N Tapes, Walk It Off

She & Him, Volume One

Scarlett Johannson, Anywwhere I Lay My Head

Phantom Planet, Raise the Dead

Nada Surf, Lucky

Mudhoney, The Lucky Ones

Moby, Last Night

The Last Shadow Puppets, The Age of the Understatement

Infadels, Universe in Reverse

The Hold Steady, Stay Positive

Girl Talk, Feed the Animals

The Futureheads, This is Not the World

French Kicks, Swimming

Everclear, The Vegas Years

Duffy, Rockferry

Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs

Dandy Warhols, Come on Feel the Dandy Warhols

Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles

Alkaline Trio, Irony and Agony

The Vines, Melodia

The Stills, Oceans Will RIse

Peter, Bjorn & John, Seaside Rock

Hot Chip, Made in the Dark

The Futureheads, This is Not the World

Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs

Burning Brides, Anhedonia

Beach House, Devotion

The Academy Is, Fast Times at Barrington High

The Music, Strength in Numbers