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Music Blog Zeitgeist 2008

Top 50 Albums of 2008

Top 50 Albums of 2008

The Hype Machine & Blog Fresh Radio have teamed up to present each set of 10 albums as a radio show featuring songs from the albums & interviews with key music bloggers.

Explore The Top 50 Albums of 2008

Click on the album cover to stream each album in its entirety or browse through reviews by music blogs on the right!

50Mates of State • Re-Arrange Us

228 Total Album Points 24 Total List Mentions 5.9 Avg Album Rank

Each track is beautifully crafted and I love how this duo has taken the time to let each song linger on for just the right amount of time. READ POST »
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49The Kills • Midnight Boom

232 Total Album Points 26 Total List Mentions 6.4 Avg Album Rank

Post-Strokes New York punk rock. Midnight Boom will please any skinny jean, leather-jacket wearing indie rocker READ POST »
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48Glasvegas • Glasvegas

240 Total Album Points 24 Total List Mentions 5.5 Avg Album Rank

solid, more accessible british sea power, for fans of U2 and coldplay, but not outstanding READ POST »
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47Drive By Truckers • Brighter Than Creation's Dark

248 Total Album Points 21 Total List Mentions 3.9 Avg Album Rank

Each song tells a story of a personâ€™s troubles, but without being a classic tale of woe. READ POST »
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46Shearwater • Rook

251 Total Album Points 24 Total List Mentions 5.2 Avg Album Rank

The shear gorgeousness of the music often masks a strong undercurrent of anger and frustration. READ POST »
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45R.E.M. • Accelerate

252 Total Album Points 26 Total List Mentions 5.7 Avg Album Rank

I can't emphasize enough how pleasantly surprised I am by this album, even shocked. READ POST »
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44Flying Lotus • Los Angeles

253 Total Album Points 26 Total List Mentions 5.7 Avg Album Rank

Deep within the layers theres something scary. Its noise; Its a heartbeat; Its something to shake an ass to. READ POST »
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43Ra Ra Riot • The Rhumb Line

266 Total Album Points 29 Total List Mentions 6.2 Avg Album Rank

The Rhumb Line so engaging is that it's ultimately life-affirming: It's a tribute to the ones who stuck around through the worst times. READ POST »
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42sun kil moon • april

266 Total Album Points 23 Total List Mentions 4.2 Avg Album Rank

April could be the soundtrack to an early morning drive down a country road. READ POST »
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41Jenny Lewis • Acid Tongue

271 Total Album Points 28 Total List Mentions 5.7 Avg Album Rank

Rilo Kiley songstress' second solo effort less instant than the last. Songs get into your brain after a few listens. Costello guests. READ POST »
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40Beck • Modern Guilt

272 Total Album Points 29 Total List Mentions 6 Avg Album Rank

Combines the folky and somber elements of an album like Sea Change with the addictive pop hooks of albums like Guero and Midnight Vultures. READ POST »
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39Of Montreal • Skeletal Lamping

289 Total Album Points 28 Total List Mentions 5.3 Avg Album Rank

Skeletal Lamping is an audio feast and worth every cent. READ POST »
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38Blitzen Trapper • Furr

300 Total Album Points 28 Total List Mentions 4.9 Avg Album Rank

A little like if you let The Beatles, The Who and CSNY co-record an album. READ POST »
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37The Gaslight Anthem • The '59 Sound

348 Total Album Points 32 Total List Mentions 4.7 Avg Album Rank

whoâ€™d have thought the classic â€œamericanâ€ rock album would be reinvented by a new jersey punk band rocking out the basement circuit? READ POST »
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36Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds • Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

350 Total Album Points 35 Total List Mentions 5.5 Avg Album Rank

The record delivers with no waste, perfectly identifying the strengths of the band without reaching extravagantly far. READ POST »
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35Lykke Li • Youth Novels

353 Total Album Points 36 Total List Mentions 5.6 Avg Album Rank

Youth Novels is one of the yearâ€™s most fun albums, if not one of the best. READ POST »
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34Death Cab for Cutie • Narrow Stairs

361 Total Album Points 40 Total List Mentions 6.3 Avg Album Rank

A dark, strangely compelling record that trades the group's bright melancholy for something nearer to despair. READ POST »
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33The Black Keys • Attack and Release

368 Total Album Points 36 Total List Mentions 5.3 Avg Album Rank

It is more ferocious than all of their previous records put together and seals their fate as a classic blues rock band suitable. READ POST »
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32Foals • Antidotes

375 Total Album Points 40 Total List Mentions 6 Avg Album Rank

Good music to listen to whilst jumping on a trampoline! READ POST »
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31Wolf Parade • At Mount Zoomer

377 Total Album Points 38 Total List Mentions 5.6 Avg Album Rank

This is Krug and Boeckner's fully realized musical vision and it's literally blowing my mind. READ POST »
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30Why? • Alopecia

395 Total Album Points 34 Total List Mentions 4.1 Avg Album Rank

My album of the year. A self-contained universe of found sounds and marble-mouthed rhymes that trip off the tongue like lyrical hairballs. READ POST »
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29Hot Chip • Made In the Dark

396 Total Album Points 44 Total List Mentions 6.3 Avg Album Rank

The major off-putting thing about this album is the disturbing repetition of the vocals on some songs. Other than that, a solid dance album. READ POST »
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28Department of Eagles • In Ear Park

413 Total Album Points 43 Total List Mentions 5.8 Avg Album Rank

An album beamed in from an alternate history of pop music, existing in its own era (even if it does sound a bit like Grizzly Bear). READ POST »
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27Beach House • Devotion

427 Total Album Points 43 Total List Mentions 5.6 Avg Album Rank

It's dark, a little creepy, and if it happens to be raining where you are, it'll provide the perfect soundtrack. READ POST »
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26My Morning Jacket • Evil Urges

435 Total Album Points 42 Total List Mentions 5.2 Avg Album Rank

Nonplussed with it. MMJ are wildly inconsistent. READ POST »
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25Kanye West • 808s & Heartbreak

453 Total Album Points 48 Total List Mentions 6 Avg Album Rank

Kanye=rapper, producer, and, now, song-writer. This is a love it or hate it album. I, for one, love it. READ POST »
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24Okkervil River • The Stand Ins

483 Total Album Points 47 Total List Mentions 5.3 Avg Album Rank

Music about musicians, while slightly masturbatory, works out for the better on this finely wrought, lyrically superb concept record. READ POST »
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23Kings of Leon • Only By the Night

494 Total Album Points 45 Total List Mentions 4.7 Avg Album Rank

Every song bests the previous. Fun to rock out on full blast. READ POST »
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22Lil Wayne • Tha Carter III

499 Total Album Points 49 Total List Mentions 5.4 Avg Album Rank

OK, itâ€™s true: he really is the best rapper alive. READ POST »
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21She & Him • Volume One

540 Total Album Points 56 Total List Mentions 5.8 Avg Album Rank

Their acoustic vibe conjures up a time-travel fantasy of key parties, hot tubs and Chablis-crazed groping behind the spider plants. READ POST »
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20The Dodos • Visiter

546 Total Album Points 56 Total List Mentions 5.7 Avg Album Rank

And speaking of nervous systems, if Visiter doesn't make you tap, nod, shake, or just plain move, then you don't have one. READ POST »
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19No Age • Nouns

554 Total Album Points 55 Total List Mentions 5.5 Avg Album Rank

The album is a fine, fun piece of work. Nouns will leave you wanting more. READ POST »
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18Elbow • The Seldom Seen Kid

576 Total Album Points 57 Total List Mentions 5.4 Avg Album Rank

Very inventive, textured record layered w/ acoustic gtrs, piano, percussion. Guy Garvey's voice is alternately haunting and uplifting. READ POST »
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17Crystal Castles • Crystal Castles

617 Total Album Points 61 Total List Mentions 5.4 Avg Album Rank

A NES stuffed with ecstasy and not even dust blown first! Staring at the resulting fuzz for days on end because it's all that's left to do. READ POST »
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16The Walkmen • You & Me

631 Total Album Points 63 Total List Mentions 5.5 Avg Album Rank

We needed this. The Walkmen needed it, sure, but so did our collective timelines. So did the year 2008, if we're talking about indie rock... READ POST »
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15Coldplay • Viva La Vida

666 Total Album Points 71 Total List Mentions 6 Avg Album Rank

Their most musically interesting album to date but its political messages are too vague to be heard amid its outsize hooks. READ POST »
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14Girl Talk • Feed The Animals

702 Total Album Points 70 Total List Mentions 5.5 Avg Album Rank

Worth whatever just to see how many samples you recognize. Consider donating, he'll need the lawyer fee money. READ POST »
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13Frightened Rabbit • The Midnight Organ Fight

745 Total Album Points 63 Total List Mentions 3.9 Avg Album Rank

While we were skeptical at first of the clean, crisp sound on this new set, The Midnight Organ Fight is a landmark recording for the band. READ POST »
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12Santogold • Santogold

851 Total Album Points 84 Total List Mentions 5.4 Avg Album Rank

There's great hooks aplenty and you'll be humming these songs all summer. READ POST »
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11Deerhunter • Microcastle

852 Total Album Points 74 Total List Mentions 4.2 Avg Album Rank

"Deerhunter are either one of the toughest ambient bands or one of the most ambient tough bands you will ever come across." READ POST »
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10The Hold Steady • Stay Positive

875 Total Album Points 83 Total List Mentions 5.1 Avg Album Rank

Stay Positiveâ€™s message is that with each new step there are more and more reasons to love this band. READ POST »
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9M83 • Saturdays=Youth

921 Total Album Points 90 Total List Mentions 5.3 Avg Album Rank

Saturdays... is an album best listened to alone, or at 3am at an open-minded party. READ POST »
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8Sigur Ros • Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust

945 Total Album Points 92 Total List Mentions 5.2 Avg Album Rank

After 8 listens, the album keeps growing on me. Sigur Ros did it again and make any wait for their music worth every minute. READ POST »
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7Cut Copy • In Ghost Colours

967 Total Album Points 87 Total List Mentions 4.6 Avg Album Rank

Luckily I had occasion to listen to the whole thing more closely, and the sleek dance grooves on display wound up winning me over. READ POST »
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6Portishead • Third

1126 Total Album Points 101 Total List Mentions 4.5 Avg Album Rank

Third is a remarkably vivid work that sustains the group's legacy and offers an overdue chapter in their subtle musical development. READ POST »
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5MGMT • Oracular Spectacular

1289 Total Album Points 128 Total List Mentions 5.4 Avg Album Rank

I didn't expect it to be this good. This is the first band in a while that truly manage to produce perfect pop & remain effortlessly cool. READ POST »
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4Bon Iver • For Emma, Forever Ago

2187 Total Album Points 180 Total List Mentions 3.6 Avg Album Rank

It's the musical equivalent of reading someone else's diary. READ POST »
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3Vampire Weekend • Vampire Weekend

2198 Total Album Points 211 Total List Mentions 5.1 Avg Album Rank

Even without an album Vampire Weekend has made one of the yearâ€™s most impressive debuts. READ POST »
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2TV On The Radio • Dear Science

2413 Total Album Points 204 Total List Mentions 3.9 Avg Album Rank

A big melting pot of genres all fused together into one innovative sound. READ POST »
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1Fleet Foxes • Fleet Foxes

2747 Total Album Points 234 Total List Mentions 4 Avg Album Rank

Itâ€™s like watching the sun rise over distant mountaintops, over and over, familiar and captivating all at once. READ POST »
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