Top 10 Albums of 2008
Originally published at breyt. You can comment here or there.
I've already posted my top 50 albums for 2008, and my top 10 songs, but I should write something about the top 10 albums of the year (as that's where the songs come from after all).
10. Coldplay - Viva La Vida The fourth studio album of Coldplay, that was said to be more lyrically deep. It delivers, while still remaining unrecognizable Coldplay. Much for my love of this album is in the way that arrangements are great, and sometimes the supporting melody is even more beautiful than the main melody (which is exactly why Viva La Vida is on the top 10 songs).
9. Emiliana Torrini Emiliana's third internationally released album is a much lighter album than her previous one. And that is a good sign. I love the diversity of this album, ranging from the typical folky songs such as Fireheads, and the slightly more upbeat songs such as Me and Armini to the chilly Dead Duck. This is all exeplified in the song Birds, which starts off as a quiet folks song, then lingers a bit, and suddenly turns more intense and reminiscent to an Air song.
8. Sia - Some People Have REAL problems Sia's third album delivers nice sounding songs in general. Compared to the second album, the songs are more "gounded", so to speak, as it comes of less dreamy. The best song on this album is Academia, a collaboration with Beck (who made a good album as well this year).
7. Hello Saferide - More Modern Short Stories ... Hello Saferide is a norwegian band, fronted by Annika Norland. As with much of my music discoveries, I found out about Hello Saferide through last.fm. The main characteristic of the songs on this album is that they simply have great lyrics, and end in a smewhat srprising fashion (either musically or lyrically).
6. The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing The Ting Tings debut album delivers primarily because of the awesome singles, which are incredibly catchy and will not get out of your head. Just fun music to listen to.
5. Lykke Li - Youth Novel Highly interesting, this Swedish singer. The album contains great songs, with often one or more odd sound effects in them ;), and pleasuring arrangements. Lykke's dreamy voice also adds to the greatness of the album.
4. Morcheeba - Dive Deep Morcheeba kicked out their lead singer, before working on this album. Normally, this is not a good sign. Anyone remeber Sneaker Pimps? They were no fun anymore when they threw out Kelli Ali. But somehow, Morcheeba came out for the better on this one. Several artists lend their vocals for the songs on the album, and they picks are great. I'm starting to think that this is their best release since Big Calm, which came ot in 1998.
3. Charlotte Sometimes - Waves And The Both of Us Charlotte Sometimes is an american singer, who is just 20 years old. The album features songs where she comes off strong and with confidence. And if you think that maybe she's getting a little bit too cocky, then there's the more fragile Build the Moon and Pilot.
2. The Killers - Day and Age The Killers' third one is a major hit -- I think it is by far their best album. The best about this album is however, that they are balancing on the thin line of being either completely serious or completely absurd. And that's difficult to pull off. Anyway, the intrumentation, which lends heavily from the 80's is irresistible.
1. Adele - 19 The most impressive album of this year, however, is Adele's debut. She has an awesome voice, and is pleasently modest about her achievements. The songs on this album are all greatly executed. High points (for me) are Tired, with the awesome intrumentation, and the more than excellent cover of Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love.