Best Albums of 2008.

I’m sure I’ll get nailed by this guy . . . but what can I say? At least we agree on Viva La Vida. Sorry my list doens’t have more detail.

Honorable Mention: Unfamiliar Faces, Matt Costa & Only By The Night, Kings of Leon

10. The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, Rivers Cuomo – Weezer’s frontman Rivers sits at home and plays all of their B-Sides plus a few originals. If 3 or 4 of the songs weren’t so whiny and poor sound quality, it might be higher. Only a diehard Weezer fan would put it this high.

9. Day & Age, The Killers -Better than the original, but not as good as Sam’s Town. But being brave and trying new sounds gets them cool points.

8. Fight With Tools, Flobots – Not a huge fan of rap-ish music. Even moreso, political rap-ish music. But this is about as much as I can tolerate and the lyrics are damn near perfect.

7. Red Album, Weezer – I agree with these guys though that the second half drag down the first half. The first half being classic Weezer, the second belonging to a 7th graders mix.

6. I Believe In Santogold, Santogold -Very good album all the way through. There’s not a Paper Planes single on it. But it’s good all the way through where M.I.A. doesn’t work for a whole album. Just a good club, dance album.

5. Think Before You Speak, Good Shoes – The UK’s good version of the Arctic Monkeys. What the Arctic Monkeys would be if they focused on being fun instead of trying to be serious.

4. Modern Guilt, Beck -Beck’s best stuff since Sea Change. But back to his Odelay days. Everything is solid through and through. And you can thank Danger Mouse for making it happen.

3. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend – Just a good solid fun album all the way through. There are at least 4 singles that could pass on any pop or rock station if they weren’t in bed with the record labels.

2. Pass It Around, Donovan Frankenreiter – Donovan is no longer the poor man’s Jack Johnson. He’s the real deal and has the mustache to prove it. This is a very good album. Not great. But good enough and fulfills my Brushfire fetish. It’s a tough genre, but it works for me with my coastal roots.

And now for #1 . . . a tie!

1. The Rhumb Line, Ra Ra Riot – This album is so very good. I went through a month where all I did was listen to this album on repeat. I’m not really sure how to describe these guys. They feel kind of like a genuine 80s band meeting up with their grandkids a few years later. They don’t necessarily sound like anybody. But if you haven’t checked these guys out, you’re missing out. Booyah.

Midnight Organ Flight, Frightened Rabbit – I almost made this album #1 by itself. It’s as if R.E.M. grew up and borrowed Adam Duritz, (Counting Crows) vocals and then brought on David Bazan to write lyrics and sing. Scott Hutchison (the lead singer) sounds different on almost every song. Seriously moving from Bazan to Stipe to Duritz. I feel like I’m listening to what R.E.M. would have sounded like had they started their band in the back room of a club in Scotland as opposed to a small town in Georgia in 1980. This album feels more like a variety of bands performing but it still has a great feel.