We've got a couple of other threads for listing our own favorite albums of the year, but here's one for collecting and commenting on year-end lists from other sources.

Paste is first out of the gate, naming She & Him's debut as their top record of the year. An admirable choice, it seems to me. I'm also pleased to see them mention The Tallest Man on Earth!

I'm glad Paste is giving She & Him some love. I have their album sitting in my Top-Five and I was feeling very, very alone in my appraisal. People seem to like it, but not that much. I'm glad at least one taste maker approves.

Looking through Paste's list made me realize that the Best of 2008 lists are going to be incredibly diverse. TV on the Radio came in #50 at Paste. It will be #1 on many lists and Paste's #1 won't even make some lists.

Two curious choices: Of Montreal's Skeletal Lamping at #12 and Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs #17. Look, I listen to both bands. I'm over-familiar with what they are capable of. Ranking Of Montreal's steaming pile of poo-poo platter is odd. Perhaps its retribution for past slights? And Narrow Stairs? Popular, but boring!

Let the complaining begin!

*#$% Paste.

I'm just getting warmed up. What are these people thinking? Actually, part of the fun of these lists is seeing all the irate letters and email responses they generate.

So let me be the first (okay, the second). What the hell are these people thinking? She and Him? Okay. Mediocre. Not even Top 100, let alone #1. The latest steaming piles o' shite from Deathcab for Cutie and Of Montreal in the Top 20? And, God help me, Lucinda "Remember When I Could Write and Sing?" Williams in the Top 10? Sorry Pasties, not even Top 800, based on what I've heard this year.

Okay, I got that out of my system. I think it's a decent list. I really do. I think they've got Sun Kil Moon, Bon Iver, and Fleet Foxes about right. I think they've ranked the latest from Sigur Ros and the debut from Vampire Weekend too high, but I'd certainly include both on my Top 50 list. Same with Nick Cave, Girl Talk, The Hold Steady, Liam Finn, Johnny Flynn, TV On the Radio (but I'd rank Dear Science, far higher than #50), Laura Marling, and The Tallest Man on Earth. The other thirty-five or so I'd toss in favor of albums that I think are better.

But this is the way it always is. For what it's worth, I've already compiled my (final, no, I mean it this time) Top 10 of 2008 list, with a bunch of Honorable Mentions appended at the bottom. None of my Top 3 choices appear anywhere on that Paste Top 50 list. Six of my Top 10 not only don't appear anywhere on the list, but have never been mentioned, at all, in Paste Magazine. I think that was about par for the course last year as well.

I view it this way: I've heard maybe four hundred albums this year that I think are good to really good, as in I'd recommend that people spend their hard-earned cash to add them to their music collections. My guess is that there would be significant overlap between my 400 and Paste's 400 (and Pitchfork's 400, etc.). The arguments come in the rankings. And I'm always happy to oblige in that area, but really, the bottom line for me is that Paste has compiled a list I can live with, even as I disagree about many of the details.

Andy, I'm interested in how you guys put your list together. Do you know what happens after each writer submits his/her top 50 list?

I'm not the biggest fan of the Paste list, myself. I actually had a nightmare -- an honest to goodness nightmare -- that Pitchfork and all the other magnates were ranking She & Him at #1. For some reason that I'm scared to unpack, this was the most terrifying dream I've had in a long, long time. Not that I didn't like She & Him, but #1? And the new Sigur Rós is pretty weak, on their scale.

I'm sure of one thing: El Perro Del Mar's From the Valley to the Stars is a masterpiece.

Anyone?

I probably shouldn't reply here, but I'll bite: I've missed this one, but I liked her previous album (the name fails me at the moment). "God Knows" was one of my favorite songs from 2006.

Well, I'm one of the "you guys" only by proxy. I write for Paste, but I'm not employed by Paste, so I have no idea what goes on inside those plush conference rooms (cough). Back in the late summer I responded to a request to submit my Top 10 albums of the year. What happened to my list, and how that last list was factored in with everybody else's lists, is anybody's guess.

I also had started with this first album, enjoying most of the tracks. The difference with the second is that the latter is more a treat from start to finish, and incredibly inspired, in a sublime, whispered, elevating way. Your soul slowly soars somewhere above, during the sequence of the songs, each of them being a quiet gem. "masterpiece" is not an usurped word in this case.

you're quite the sales person. I'm going to have to track it down now.

Sandra McCraken at number 49? I've always liked Sandra as a songwriter and singer, but wasn't aware of this album. I'm glad Paste called it to my attention, and somewhat stunned that I haven't read a thing about it here at A&F.

Q posts their top 50, a truly bewildering, mind-numbing list.

Agreed. Bewildering.

I'm a KoL fan, and even I don't think that album deserves to be anywhere near the top.

This is the best time of year, and it's just beginning. The magazines and websites bravely set forth their Top 10 (20, 50, 100), and then everybody else takes potshots.

Here's how it works:

1) Magazine publishes list.
2) Stereogum reposts list on website.
3) 893 hipsters leave comments, stating that the 1,493 albums mentioned in the comments are the albums that really should have appeared on that Top 10 (20, 50, 100) list.
4) 1,922 hipsters leave more comments, ridiculing the tastes of previous 893 hipsters. Popular rejoinders include:
a] I can't believe you put <Album_Name> at #33. You suck.
b] No, you suck. You're probably some 14-year-old who has to repeat fourth grade for the fifth time.
c] Yeah? Well you're probably some 55-year-old boring old fart in slippers who has to carry around a colostomy bag.
d] No, I'm not. What's a colostomy bag?
e] I knew you were clueless.
5) 2,873 commenters leave comments stating that lists themselves are stupid, that they, as the true arbiters of popular taste, are above lists, and that they are content with creating a year-end music matrix, the goal being to sniff haughtily at the very presupposition that music can be numerically and/or objectively rated.
6) All hell breaks loose when 5,983 commenters begin the round-robin debate on aesthetics, invoking names such as Cicero, Duns Scotus, Alberti, Shaftesbury, Hegel, and Ulrich of Strassburg.
7) Pitchfork publishes the definitive list at the actual (December 31st) end of the year.

Five more weeks to go, and that doesn't even include all the post-mortems of the Pitchfork list.

Should we dare to hope that Pitchfork will top their list this year with something that's actually really great, even in the eyes of non-indie elitists-- like, say, TV on the Radio?

Wow. No Sam Phillips. Best album of her career, too. If PASTE doesn't have her on their list I guess she really is under-appreciated.

If Don't Do Anything is my standard I'm really going to be disappointed with the year end lists, aren't I?

Not if the only one you read is Jeffrey Overstreet's.

Well, I'll be a contrarian here and state that I don't think Don't Do Anything deserves to be on a Top 50 list. It's not that it's a bad album. Sam Phillips never makes bad albums, and she hasn't made one here either. But it's not significantly different from Fan Dance and A Boot and a Shoe, either, and I hear the same kinds of lyrical riddles that I've heard since she changed her name from Leslie. Don't get me wrong. I have great respect for Sam, and I always appreciate her music. But the question is whether there were 50 albums released in 2008 that were better than Don't Do Anything. And for me the answer is an unqualified Yes. It's a 4-star album in a sea of better 4-, 4.5-, and (one or two) 5-star albums.

Major aside: How is it that most movie-review ratings came to use a 4-star scale, while most album reviews use a 5-star rating scale?

This is a 1-star question, so feel free to ignore it.

That Q list is ridiculous. Kings of Leon gave us one of the most disappointing and embarrassing albums of the year. It contained nothing but hot air and empty posturing. It's right up there with the glossy drek of MMJ's Evil Urges, which i see also made their list. And Beck? How forgettable was that thing? Holy mackerel.

The Fleet Foxes album is not only the best album of the year, it's one the best albums of the 00's.

Perhaps my outlook is a little bleaker. But I just don't hear a lot lately that does much for me, and Don't Do Anything was a notable exception.

I'm pretty sure I haven't heard 50 different albums from this year. That is partly intentional in that I've grown a bit weary of looking for the next thing to blow me away; and partly practical, as I simply can't afford to buy as much music as I'd like to. Of the 25-30 albums from 2008 that I do have, only about five of them have stood out as exceptional. Well, 5 may be too generous. I've been surprised at how many established, critically-favored bands are putting out so-so albums - Silver Jews, Calexico, Drive-By Truckers, and so on.
So when I see a gushing list of 50 (or Lord help us, 100) albums from the last 12 months that I have to hear, I go straight into skeptic mode.

Having said that, since you said your top 3 didn't even make Paste's list I'd be interested in seeing what you submitted.

Let's face it: we all need to listen to our records more and more again to list our preferences. You're like me, right?

I'm still expecting in the mail the Prozac and the Platypus CD, a play Jill Sobule put in music and sang.

Here's a live example:



but so far (isn't it so far till the end of our life anyway?), my preferences go like this:

1. Lonely Drifter Karen – Grass Is Singing
2. Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim
3. El Perro del Mar – From the Valley to the Stars
4. Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
5. Karine Polwart – This Earthly Spell
6. The Walkmen – You & Me
7. Brazilian Girls – NYC
8. Johnny Flynn – A Larum
9. Mates of State – Re-Arrange Us
10. Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
11. Prototypes – Synthétique
12. David Karsten Daniels – Fear of Flying
13. Fleet Foxes
14. Dar Williams – Promised Land
15. The Ditty Bops – Summer Rains
16. Jolie Holland – The Living & the Dead
17. Dr Dog – Fate
18. Moore + Sons – Local Attachments
19. Richard Julian – Sunday Morning in Saturday’s Shoes
20. Matt Curreri & the Exfriends – Joy of Life

Can't remember if people mentionned The Walkmen here, I didn't know this band and they're quite impressive. And also David Karsten Daniels. I'd be curious to know what Andy thinks of this one, it sounds right up his alley. Great singer, great guitar playing (in a sensitive way). Maybe slightly too much influenced by Neil Young (imagine a solo Crazy Horse if that's possible), but that guy is too good to be missed.

And I think Johnny Flynn is the folk revelation of the year. I mean: folk. I've been impressed by the quality of Johnny and band's sound. Stuff like "Wayne Rooney", "Eyeless in Holloway", etc... And I think something's happening currently in the UK, a folk revival of sort.

I could talk a lot about all what I chose here. But I can say that Lonely Drifter Karen and Laura Marling are my too big personal favorites. One is totally enchanting and that's usually what I ask: to be totally enchanted, and not asking question. Just being lost in a constantly wonderful music. The other is the revelation of a strong musical personality in my opinion (Miss Marling).

One of my definitive fave songs of the year is Jolie's "Mexico City" - which is about Joan Vollmer (who died in this city, a sad story you probably all know, but I didn't). Well, that's not the story I like, but the melody and the voice. It's just... enchanting.

Another gem is Amy Rigby's "A Taste of the Keys" from the album she made with Wreckless Eric.

Another live example? (yeah! yeah! ok:)



And of course the Lonely Drifter Karen album is full of them... ("La Hierba Canta"!)

I highly disagree with this. The thing is, when I listen to the last string of Sam Phillips albums (the Nonesuch years), I hear a deep, careful, intensely silent flow of music. I don't hear that often in any record I listen to. It's quite above her peers to my ears, at least in the pop department. It's so tasty the way she assimilated the Beatles, and filtered it in her own intimate, existential personality. It's not a matter of creating something new about her, but rather a matter of finding a way to create meaningful pop.

She's more interested in being true and meaningful than innovative. But more than that: I think she creates something musical, or pop musical, that transcends her message. Trying to reach a kind of secret harmony in phase with all her questions and feelings. In short, with her I feel that we're listening to the work of a real artist. And her humbleness can only add to her charm.

The most sane thing with her, is that she probably doesn't care at all of our year-end lists.

Seriously: that's what I feel with her, too - long time ago, she decided to go to the heart of what she wanted to do. And the way of her art is more like going to the church. But her church may be just a haven of trees.

I'm going to go ahead and say it:

I don't think that the Fleet Foxes record is that good.

*Phew*

It's not that I don't like it -- I like it just fine, in the same way that I liked most of the records I heard this year. But it didn't floor me, really, with the exception of "White Winter Hymnal." For me they're this year's Radiohead -- the major release that just didn't grab me. I made my year-end list last year without even considering In Rainbows, and when I made my list this year, Fleet Foxes never really crossed my mind.

Am I the only one who doesn't really understand the fawning? Or, if you happen to be the fawner (?), what makes it better than, say, MMJ's It Still Moves, or Band of Horses, or any of the other bands to whom FF are compared?

Well, I unashamedly consider myself a fan of the Fleet Foxes record--it's probably one of my favorites this year. Though the vocals have been compared to MMJ's Jim James and the music is heavily reliant on 60s/70s folk and pop, I think Fleet Foxes are able to maintain a pretty unique sound. After listening to the record once or twice, I don't think it would have been possible for me to confuse them with MMJ, The Beach Boys, or whoever--however, I may be biased since I liked it from the first listen. Great melodies, great harmonies, arrangements that are sparse and yet lively, pastoral/nature-oriented lyrics, these are the things I really dig about that record. It sounds simultaneously old-fashioned and fresh. For me, it was very accessible and a very consistent album--not a bad song in the bunch. I wouldn't say it was an album that necessarily "floored me," but it kept me coming back frequently.

However, I completely understand when albums and listeners simply don't connect. I certainly know a few folks who don't like Fleet Foxes. A few 2008 records that I wanted to love--but just couldn't--are Portishead - Third, Jolie Holland - The Living and the Dead, Son Lux's - At War with Walls & Mazes, and My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges. I definitely think all four are really fine records that were very well-made, but I just couldn't really get into them for whatever reason.

What impressed me about the Fleet Foxes album are more the craft and the delivery than the tunes. They really succeeded in creating a captivating sound. And I think that's what's comparable to the Beach Boys with albums such as Pet Sounds. What amazed me in the first place with Pet Sounds, is also the sound quality, the way the instruments and the vocals are used and placed. I'm not sure it's more about the tunes. There's a great care set to the sound. And there's also that thing you could find in Neil Young's Harvest, with something quiet, that leads you to a break of time. The common point between Pet Sounds and Harvest? Some resonance. The use of echo in a kind of religious way.

(I'm aware that my english is weird - but what I try to explain isn't easy already!)

Hm. You're not alone. There are a couple of you out there, so huddle together and brave those chilly winds of unbelief.

I gushed about these guys after hearing the Sun Giant EP. The full length only heightened what I already felt. I think both efforts are great-- not just good-- and I will go out on a limb and say that the full length will become an enduring piece of music that will be talked about many years down the road. Repeated listens dims none of the magic, if anything it just gets better. And that's probably because the tunes themselves come from a much different sonic angle than the bands they're often compared to. There may be dollops of reverb on the vocals, but thats where any similarities to MMJ and Band of Horses end. FWIW, MMJ is not much more than a power chord, southern rock band hailing from the Oasis school of songwriting; which is basically, take three chords and a blues riff and hit "infinite loop". I happen to dig that kind of music, but it doesn't tap anything deep in me. Fleet Foxes does, musically and lyrically. There's no hide-n-go seek irony embedded in their songs, there are real compositions with clever arrangements, great harmonies and a white man with tremendous soul, who is unafraid to scoop notes and belt it out. My initial impression was something i almost never feel in modern music, which was, "holy sh*t this music is alive!" Indeed not only do the tunes transcend the obvious 60's and 70's influences, they transcend the confines of 2008 music trends. It's as if these guys are gloriously unaware of what the Club of Pitchfork thinks is cool this year, or last year or next year or any year. Rave on.

As a curious footnote, I have found it amazing that all of my kids love this music as well, especially my 5 1/2 year old son and 4-year old daughter who have gone to bed listening to this album for the past five months or so and can recite every line in their own lingo. "I was following the EYE, was following the EYE..." is their bedtime chant. It's like the beginning of the album opens up this sunny, dream-safe world for them where bad and yucky stuff cant come... and I totally understand that, cuz i feel exactly the same way.

This will sound very corny, but I don't care: Fleet Foxes debut is more than music , it's magic.

Uncut picks Portishead; Mojo goes with Fleet Foxes. (Via Stereogum)

I've watched several lists linked at stereogum, and when I see so many common albums mentionned in all these lists, I think it doesn't underline their quality, but to the contrary, the lack of strong opinion (or taste) from the listers. I can never understand how so many people could have so common taste? We should give a definition of taste. It's a really individual thing, what we call "taste". In my opinion...

So, I would say this: don't give too much interest to these lists anyone. I know, I give them some interest myself - generally to listen to any stuff I don't know, to have an idea of what it is, and to see if I like it. And I've found some good ones (The Walkmen, for example - where are they, by the way? - and where did I saw them listed?? oh I remember: on the Wilco forum), but I really did it for myself. I hope nobody really thinks they've got the most important music of each year just buying the records topping these lists... It really didn't work for me that way, anyway...

It doesn't work that way for me, either. I've already mentioned that 6 of my Top 10 (including my Top 3) don't appear anywhere in Paste's Top 50. But I don't think it's fair to conclude that similar album listings from different magazines indicate a lack of strong opinion (or taste) from the magazines. A magazine's rankings will represent some composite voting effort on the part of its staff. For Paste, that means that their Top 50 list is based on the votes of 20 or so fulltime staff and interns and another 20 or so writers. So 40 people contributed to that list. And the more people who contribute, the more likely it is that individual favorites/pet bands will be pushed to the side as more well known or critically acclaimed bands get more love from more people. That's how it worked with that Paste list. The She and Him album that ended up ranked as #1 was far from a unanimous choice. In many cases it wasn't even listed in an individual voter's Top 10 vote. But because it was #1 on a few ballots, in the Top 5 of a few more, in the Top 20 of a few more, etc., it ended up as the highest ranked album in the composite rating. And I assume that a similar process goes on at other magazines. It's a group effort, and the group tends to eliminate the obscure personal favorites and elevate the albums that everybody's heard.

By the way, I'm all for the obscure personal favorites. Two of my Top 3 for 2008 are about as obscure as can be. The other one is by some guy named Dylan, who is apparently well known.

Heck, two of my top 5 albums still can't be bought in the United States-- that's about at obscure as it gets, isn't it?

I do find it interesting that, thus far, ever list I've seen has had a different #1 pick, which leads me to wonder: When was the last time there was something resembling a consensus, or at least a very strong majority, as to which album was the best of the year? Was it Sufjan in 2005?

Two of my top 5 albums aren't even written yet. Take THAT!

As far as seeing a general consensus, I know Metacritic often has a year-end critics list that shows what albums showed up on what lists at what spot. It's pretty helpful to see the round-up.

Yeah, I know what you mean. St. Cloud's debut EP is still being recorded and has been pushed back to Feb--March 2009. Stay tuned ye critics.

Stephen King's picks.

How'd he do?

He did all right. He was doing really well until he picked #2 and #1. AC/DC and Buckcherry? But the rest of his list is okay by me, and it's an idiosyncratic mashup of styles and genres that has me thoroughly convinced that he actually listens to, and loves, the music. None of the bottom eight are great, in my opinion, but they're all good. This is actually the best (and best thought out) list I've seen thus far.

I'll give King props for Coldplay, Randy Newman, and Lindsey Buckingham.

I'm always thankful for King's lists; I think Buckcherry might be the worst pick possible for #1, but at least he's honest, and isn't trying to play the hipster card.

The always enjoyable PopMatters have listed their favorite 50 singles of 2008.

1: "American Boy" by Estelle feat. Kayne West.

Never heard it. BFWIW, there are youtube videos embedded for every song, a nice feature for the uninformed such as myself.

AMG's top jazz albums of 2008.

I always applaud PopMatters for this, since it makes getting in on something pretty easy.

AMG's top folk albums, including well-earned nods for Vetiver, Jolie Holland, and Morley.

Yep. And I found out that I don't care too much for their #1 song. Not that it's a bad song, it just seems pretty weak for #1.

Jim Dero goes for Nick Cave. TV on the Radio is #11.

Kudos to Brazilian Girls (who aren't Brazilian girls), a really original album I quite enjoy. OTOH I think Nick Cave sounds like an old joke.

I was listening to At Dawn the other night -- that's a record that touches something deep inside, and I think it predates that Oasis thing you're talking about. I caught my dad, who is a huge fan of haunting country music. He digs MMJ because, as he said, "Country music needs that high, sweet lonesome." It's a shame that MMJ have gotten away from that.

Largehearted Boy has compiled the list of year-end Best Of lists that could keep you reading for several days if you were so inclined.

Along the same lines... all the lists that are fit to print...

FWIW, TV on the Radio's Dear Science is #2 in TIME Magazine. Right above Metallica.

Rolling Stone NAILS IT. TV on the Radio for #1!

I'm loving the PopMatters two week countdown. Today's installment:

The Best Indie-Pop Albums of 2008: #1 = the Lucksmiths

and

The Best Singer-Songwriter Albums of 2008: #1 = Steve Wynn

and

The Best Metal Albums of 2008: #1 = Harvey Milk

The RS #1 and #2 picks were my #1 and #3 picks. But hey, I did it first. I don't know whether to be honored or frightened.

There are still the headscratchers (the Jonas Brothers? Really?), but it's a surprisingly eclectic and well-informed list. Now, why can't RS actually write about this music during the other 25 issues per year? All of this, of course, assumes that the standard by which all such lists should be measured is mine. :-)