2008 “Best of” Round-Up!

Because we all love lists...

Now that we are in 2009, I have gone back and tried to digest as many “Best of 2008″ lists as I can.  Each year I do this, I seem to notice that there are a few albums that seem to show up on every list.  I am not sure if that’s because the specific discs are actually transcendent, or if it’s because the person submitting the list feels as though they need to add that specific disc to their own list in order to seem “current”.  I also like to take a cue from some of the lists and ”catch up” on some of these critically lauded albums and see if I have missed anything. 

I like to keep it positive here on the Knob, so I wont bash the specific albums that I found to be over-hyped or just plain mediocre (sorry, Alejandro…oops).  I will say that I have these various lists to thank for lighting a fire under my rear to crack open discs from Blitzen Trapper (Furr), Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes, it took a few spins, but I got there), The New Year (The New Year) and The Felice Brothers (The Felice Brothers). Again, these specific LP’s are likely old news to many of you, and they are to me also, I just never got around to truly checking them out for one reason or another.  I don’t need another blog to tell me what to like, but it sure helps (joke…sort of).  Below are some of the”year-end” lists that I found to be the most informative:

Muzzle of Bees Top 30 Albums

Dallas Observer’s Best Albums (by genre): Country / Indie / Americana

Aquarium Drunkard’s Top Song’s List

The 9513.Com’s Top Albums of 2008. (hint: check each individual contributor’s list, wink wink)

Chip at Amber Waves of Twang does a bang up job pumping out a Top 50 list that crosses many borders…

Nine Bullets gives us the grittiest, dirtiest list of the year (and one of the best)…and I bet he digs that…

Since one of my resolutions for 2009 is to promote more local, North-Texas bands that deserve more pub, here is Pete’s (Dallas Observer Music Editor) well-executed list of the Top 20 “Local” albums of the year for the general D/FW area.