The Top 20 Albums of 2008 - Page 4

So while I may not love Asking for Flowers like I love Failer, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have value. It's probably better for Edwards as an artist to expand into more playful tracks like "The Cheapest Key" or "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" while mixing in some of her trademark melancholy with "Alicia Ross" and "Sure as Shit". Plus, when you can produce a track as majestically sorrowful as "Buffalo", you're still cool with me.

11. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us: Not that music need be depressing to be good, as my next few selections show. The interesting thing about Mates of State is that you can use the exact same terms to praise them as you can to criticize them. I heard one critic derisively dismiss their sound as "being pelted by candy", to which another critic responded "you say that like it's a bad thing". Because it IS like being pelted by candy, and THAT IS AWESOME.

Personally, I can relate to a band made up of a young married couple who write pleasing songs about their mature love and emerging family, but I realize that it isn't for everyone. That said, I like what it says about me that it is for me.

10. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular: There were a lot of electropop bands big in the indie world in 2008, like CSS or The Ting Tings, largely because Apple decreed it to be the sound of the iPod. With each album, I enjoyed them as I first started listening to them, but would quickly tire of them before the album was even over, relegating the fun tracks to mixtape status.

I expected it to be the same way with MGMT, but as I listened to Oracular Spectacular, I didn't tire of it. In fact, it gets more rewarding each time I listen to it. Maybe that's because the Brooklyn duo aren't quite electropop, fusing more organic pop sensibilities into their electronic sound. The result is an album of surprising depth for something that initially sounds like little more than a fun listen.

9. She & Him - Volume One: When I first heard that Zooey Deschanel was putting out an album, I was curious, but dubious. Too many celebrities treat music as something their fame will allow them to dabble in, rather than an art form that requires dedication and craft. There's also something a little unseemly about how their fame lets them jump the queue and get instant record deals or access to top producers like M. Ward (who makes up the "Him" of the band).

Article Author: Andy Sayers

Andy Sayers is a technical writer from Canada, which automatically makes him funnier than people from other countries. When not writing about pop culture, he is consuming it alongside his loving wife.

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