Top 10 Albums of the Year

Here is my Top 10 Albums of the Year. The list could probably change in a few weeks since I'm leaving off a few good albums that I'm uncomfortable putting on a Top 10 with only one or two listens under my belt.

10. Ben Folds - Way to Normal
9. Jack Johnson - Sleeping Through The Static
With Ben Folds and Jack Johnson you pretty much know what you're going to get and I find that comforting.
8. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Seeing "Kids" performed live was one of the highlights of my summer. I liked the first two singles off the album and was pleasantly surprised it turned out to be a pretty solid album throughout.
7. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
If I was doing a list of Top 10 singles of '08, "Get Better" would be jockeying for a top spot. I'm a sucker for male and female harmonies.
6. Gary Louris - Vagabonds
I loved The Jayhawks and for awhile I was on Team Mark Olsen, but within the last few years I've jumped ship. This is a solid album with some great guests. Don't be surprised to see the Mark Olsen/Gary Louris collaboration on my Best of '09 list next year.
5. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Unfortunately this album would have been a top 3 for me but I'm too easily swayed by how a band is live. And if you read our comments on the Okkervil River show this year you know I was disappointed. Maybe they'll just have to be a really good studio band for me...like my Steely Dan perhaps.
4. She & Him - Volume 1
I'm very much looking forward to Volume 2. It was exciting to learn that her voice carries over live too. It gives me the same kind of feeling as the Matthew Sweet and Suzanna Hoffs : Under the Covers Volume 1 gave me...which was good.
3. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
I feel like I pork MMJ enough on this blog so go back and read it if you really need to know how I feel about this album.
2. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Getting to see them twice on their Stay Positive tour helped out this ranking alot. Not to say that it wouldn't have been top 5 but I listen to this album and it brings back great memories. Constructive Summer might be one of those songs I play on a loop every Memorial Day for the rest of my life.
1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Crazy harmonizing. I actually got into the game really late with this album. But since I got it a few months ago I haven't been able to go more than two consecutive days without listening to it. I'm looking to putting it on during a heavy snowstorm while drinking some sort of seasonal winter lager.

I'll drop some honorable mentions in there too:
-Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Would have easily been in there if the year ended in September. Enjoyable album except for the Blake's Got a New Face song which is my least favorite songs of the year. They started to wear on me a tad so they fell a little.
-Weezer - Red Album
If for no other reason that every time I hear Weezer it brings me back to some happy teenage places. Average album compared to the Blue Album and Pinkerton but still enjoyable. "Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" would probably have a spot on my Top 20 song countdown.

My apologies to:
Deerhunter, Matt Costa, Death Cab for Cutie, Jenny Lewis, Bon Iver, Neil Diamond, Aimee Mann, Calexico and Blitzen Trapper. For one reason or another I didn't spend enough time with your 2008 release or just haven't gotten it yet.

1. The Shield - Possible Kill Screen - Original Air date: 11/18/08

This is another penultimate episode of a series. The series finale of The Shield could have easily had my top spot as it was one of (if not the best) series finales ever. But the reason I chose "Possible Kill Screen" instead was because it had the best scene in television this year. When Vic Mackey sits in front of that microphone about to confess all of his sins I actually almost had to pause it to compose myself. Then to actually hear him say it all (and who was around to hear it) was as intense as fiction can get. It was honestly the only non-sports related thing I've ever watched on television that I couldn't sleep afterwards.

**Bonus note** -- The Shield gets kudos from me for having an episode title so fitting to the plot and also a great pop-culture reference. "Possible Kill Screen" is reference to King of Kong which is one of my favorite documentaries.

2. The Wire - Late Editions - Original Air date: 3/2/08

Series finales usually show where characters are going to end up after the show finishes, but penultimate episodes is where the s**t goes down. So with The Wire being one of the best shows ever to on television, it was no surprise that they ended perfectly. Seeing the final actions that lead all the characters down their future paths is both heartbreaking and satisfying.

3. Lost - The Constant - Original Air date: 2/28/08

As I mentioned earlier, when I watch a serial based drama, I like my payoffs. I've always watched Lost and was going to watch it til the end regardless of it's quality. I've invested too much time not to see how it ends. Lost spent a good season and half not telling us anything and actually went from must-see on Wednesday night to something I could watch on DVR the next day. This past season though got back to what was great about Lost and this episode was the "gamechanger" for me. Not only was it based around my favorite character (Desmond), it was just a complete mind "F" of a concept. Somehow they fit a crazy time jumping adventure and an epic love story into 44 minutes and it didn't even seem rushed. I still haven't deleted it from my DVR yet.

4. 30 Rock - Subway Hero - Original Air date: 4/17/08

David Puddy (Seinfeld) was probably my favorite recurring character on a television show ever. I don't know if he's passed him yet, but Dean Winters' ("Beeper King" and Exonerated Sex Predator) Dennis Duffy on 30 Rock is gaining on him fast. Out of his five appearences so far, Subway Hero was his best episode. He saves someone's life in a subway station and becomes a local hero. Everything out his mouth has been quoted by me and my friends a couple of hundred times since it aired. And the "B" story about Jack trying to pull Tracy over to the Republican Party was good for some laughs too.

"I knew that girl was eighteen. She told me her last boyfriend was Asian, and that crap doesn't start until college." --Dennis Duffy

A Best of 2008 List - Television Edition

What fun is having a blog if you can't force your end of the year lists upon people. My first crack at it is going to be my Top 5 Best Episodes of Television in 2008. I'll try to do at least one a day for the next week.

5. Mad Men - The Jet Set - Original Air date: 10/12/08
When I'm watching a serial based drama I usually like my payoffs early and often. Mad Men does not do this. The whole series is a slow burn. But it does it in a way where, not only I'm I not annoyed, but I don't even care if they tell me anything new. For the first time in Mad Men we leave the East Coast and see Don Draper make some uncharacteristic decisions. We know that he's unfaithful and he lies so it's not a leap of faith to believe he would have a dalliance with someone in California, but to blindly follow a woman and blow off work responsibilities in the process was actually as exciting you can get on Mad Men.