Records I liked in 2008

well, it has been another busy month with no posts.  i actually have been planning this post for several weeks, but i wanted to check it twice before finally putting it out there.  no discussion, just a list of the records i liked in 2008. most links provide either artist-sanctioned downloads of individual tracks (whenever i could find one), streams of full albums (mostly at last.fm), or streaming tracks as a last resort... with a couple exceptions*.  

i hope everyone else is also still finding new music they enjoy.

top eleven:

the black crowes - warpaint (stream warpaint)

the gutter twins - saturnalia (download "idle hands")

melvins - nude with boots (stream nude with boots)

modey lemon - season of sweets (download "milk moustache")

no age - nouns (download "eraser")

oxford collapse - bits (download "the birthday wars")

parts & labor - receivers (download "nowhere's nigh")

prisonshake - dirty moons (download "crush me")

scorch trio - brolt! (stream three tracks here)

times new viking - rip it off (download "my head/r.i.p. allegory")

the wedding present - el ray (download "the thing i like best about him is his girlfriend")

second top eleven:

cheap time - cheap time (stream tracks here)

dead meadow - old growth (download "i'm gone" and "what needs must be")

don caballero - punkgasm (stream punkgasm)

endless boogie - focus level (download "the manly vibe")

magic lanterns - high beams (download "deathheads hawkmoth")

nissenenmondai - neji/tori (stream "pop group")

the shaky hands - lunglight (stream lunglight)

suffocate for fuck sake - blazing fires and helicopters on the frontpage of the newspaper. there´s a war going on and i´m marching in heavy boots (stream blazing fires...)

vandermark 5 - beat reader (stream 'further from the truth (for walker evans)" here)

wale - the mixtape about nothing (*download here, because it was meant to be given away in the first place)

witch hats - cellulite soul (stream cellulite soul)

honorable mention:

atlas sound - let the blind lead those who can see but not feel (download "river card")

blood on the wall - liferz (download "hibernation")

bonnie "prince" billy - lie down in the light (stream lie down in the light)

david holmes - the holy pictures (stream the holy pictures)

the dirtbombs - we have you surrounded (stream "ever lovin' man" here)

home blitz - weird wings (ok, technically weird wings is a portion of home blitz' self-titled full length which was released in 2007.  sue me.  stream tracks 11-15 here)

koushik - out my window (download "lying in the sun")

ted leo/pharmacists - rapid response (*buy here, support worthy causes like this and this)

stephen malkmus - real emotional trash (download "cold sun" and "baltimore")

mudhoney - the lucky ones (download "i'm now")

portishead - third (stream third)

the roots - rising down (stream rising down)

subtle - exitingARM (stream exitingARM)

ten kens - ten kens (stream ten kens)

torche - meanderthal (stream "healer" here)

why? - alopecia (stream alopecia)