Best Albums of 2008 - Part 1 - Rules and Runners Up

Here it is, the long awaited list! Well, it begins after few little notes, anyway.

Little note #1: You may have noticed that I just started the review in late October. Prior to that time, I wasn't paying much attention to new releases, so I've had a lot of catching up to do to get this list together. During that process, my brain ended up very cluttered, so I had to just eliminate some contenders for the sake of sanity. I just didn't have time to listen to it all this year. So here are the rules I made:

 a. It has to be at least partly rock/pop, which in this case includes some electro and folk, but excludes most rap, blues, country, "world," etc.

 b. No albums by "established" bands, which I defined as anyone who's been in the top hundred or so on the Billboard charts prior to 2008. That ruled out a lot of folks who would might have made it otherwise (Nick Cave, Portishead, Metallica, the Verve, etc.)

Yes, this is all very arbitrary and it's not ideal. But I started off too far behind, and I only have two ears and twenty-four hours every day to listen to all of this.

Little note #2: In general, this is a "Best of" list but it's got elements of a "favorites" list, in that some albums that were probably really great were too low key for me and my short attention-span (I'm thinking of Beach House, Grouper, etc.), so those didn't make the cut.

I tried to look for the most original, exciting albums more than for the most solid, most pretty or most polished - but obviously, these are all factors.

Little note #3: I always love comments! What did I miss? What's overrated? Share with the class!

OK, let's get started! First up, here are the albums that didn't make the top 20 (mostly on counts of originality) but deserve an honorable mention anyway:

Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward
The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever
The Black Angels - Directions to See a Ghost
The Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night
Deerhunter - Microcastle
The Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust
The Ruling Class - Tour De Force [EP]
Werewoves - ES [EP]
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Women - Women

NEXT >> Part 2: #20-16
Part 3: #15-11
Part 4: #10-6
Part 5: #5-1