Favorite albums/singles/songs of 2008 (International Edition)

[Stryfe]

We've had this thread on Japanese releases in previous years, but looking at all the foreign shoutouts and 'oh and also' lists, I figured we could use a more comprehensive thread including all music, regardless of origin. And Sev wanted a thread where he could list his favourite Big Bang releases of the year.

So yeah, you can list your 2008 top albums, singles, releases, rap albums, polka ep's, anything. Any kind of format is fine, of course. Simple lists or thorough reviews, just go for it.

Other Ideas: Worst releases/biggest disappointments, music discovered (not necessarily released) in 2008, top <insert country> releases

...

Just to get things a-rollin', I'll list my top 20 albums for the year. I'll edit in some more thoughts and shit later on.


Top 20 albums of 2008

• (1) Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlândia (Iceland) myspace
  Grabbing the number one spot in my rankings for the year is the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson with Fordlândia, an orchestral behemoth and a musical journey inspired by real stories of failed utopias and mystical scientists. It is a masterful symphony consisting of several movements with varying mood and instrumentation, all building slowly towards an explosive finale. Fordlândia has that rare ability to transport the listener in place and time into a fascinating, almost fantastical world it weaves and creates with music alone.
  
  
• Bosques de mi Mente - Ruido Blanco (Spain) myspace
  Bosques de mi Mente is a solo project of a Spanish pianist-composer. The theme of Ruido Blanco (which translates to White Noise) is loneliness and isolation, feelings that stem from his move to Madrid, leaving all his friends and family behind. The result is one of the most simply beautiful releases I've heard in a long time. The music consists mostly of Bosques' sad piano melodies, often accompanied by a violin. The occasional samples, along with some moments of static and feedback bring some variety to the sometimes overbearing sadness. This gem is available for free download at Clinical Archives.
  
  
• Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling (Scotland) myspace
  The latest offering from the Scottish post-rock pioneers, Hawk feels like a spiritual successor to their previous album Mr. Beast. There aren't that many examples of the extreme soft-loud dynamics that made early Mogwai such an influential giant in the genre. The band is rather exploring old and new soundscapes, sometimes moving mountains with delicate build-ups and majestic sounds, sometimes just bulldozing them with sheer power, Batcat-style.
  
  
• Opeth - Watershed (Sweden) myspace
  The undisputed kings of progressive death metal returned in May with their latest offering, Watershed. The usual mix of extremes is there as the band shifts effortlessly from 70's prog rock to death metal and back, creating a very unique sound of their own. The high standard of the band's releases doesn't waver one bit, and while Watershed isn't the new Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries, it can stand tall next to them.
  
  
• Suffocate For Fuck Sake - Blazing Fires and Helicopters on the Frontpage of the Newspaper. There's a War Going On and I'm Marching In Heavy Boots (Sweden)
  Suffocate For Fuck Sake are Swedish band combining post-rock dynamics with hardcore elements. Blazing Fires... tells a true story about a Swedish girl's breakdown, subsequent struggles with mental illness and time spent in the mental ward. The story is told with sometimes lengthy excerpts of interviews (in Swedish) of the people involved as well as with soft and screamo vocals. The music is appropriately ever-changing, ranging from soft acoustics to aggressive distortion-laden moments. It's a gloomy, tormenting package that works extremely well, even if you don't understand the Swedish parts.
  
  
• Geskia - Silent77 (Japan)
  Bringing a new, beat-driven twist to the good old glitchy recipes used by the likes of WEG and Kashiwa Daisuke, Geskia's debut album opens slowly and entrances sneakily. Drawing upon countless influences from Boards of Canada to Aphex Twin, Geskia's beats take the center stage among a chaotic multitude of sampled instrumentation.
  
  
• Veltpunch - Paint Your Life Grey (Japan)
  In short, the best rock album of the year. To give a shitty comparison... it kinda reminds me of Weezer's Blue Album. It's rock with a poppy edge or vice versa. Granted it's a tad more complex and shifts more from an extreme to another between songs and within songs, but it's catchy, quality songs from start to finish.
  
  
• Yasushi Yoshida - Little Grace (Japan)
  Like his contemporaries WEG, Kashiwa and the like, Yoshida masterfully bends samples and classical music. His approach, however, is less chaotic and far more subtle, concentrating on simple, lonely melodies.
  
  
• Sgt. - Stylus Fantasticus (Japan)
  First impressions from the album were somewhat around "Wtf! This is not the sgt I know..." which quickly turns to a very pleasant surprise. The traditional post-rock dynamics have been replaced by a prog free-jazz jam vibe, and it works. I certainly can't remember another album sounding quite like this.
  
  
• LITE - Phantasia (Japan)
  Intense, groovy, immensely technical and thoroughly enjoyable, Phantasia pushes LITE's aggressive math rock forward like a freight train.
  
  
• Mouth of the Architect - Quietly (USA) myspace
  Mouth of the Architect are an atmospheric sludge metal band from Dayton, Ohio, USA. Naming the album Quietly seems somewhat peculiar, as the thematic material is mostly about anger. Borrowing heavily from post-rock concepts and passages, Quietly is however not a constant sonic assault. At times the band lingers in haunting little interludes and build-ups, replacing the powerful growls with clean, melancholic vocals. On the defining track Generation of Ghosts, female vocals join in, and the mood is nothing sort of despairing. Quite simply, Quietly sets a new bar in its genre.
  
  
• North - What You Were (USA) myspace
  The other representative of atmospheric sludge in the list is the Arizona six-piece North. The slow, unrelenting and surprisingly melodic What You Were is one enormous metal song after another. It is an overload of slowly hulking distortion, growls and frozen, barren landscapes... just what you'd expect from a band simply called North.
  
  
• Gifts From Enola/You.May.Die.In.The.Desert - Harmonic Motion vol. 1 (USA) gfe myspace :: ymdit myspace
  Described as a long-awaited comeback of post-rock's two young heroes, Harmonic Motion vol. 1 is an album-length split release that lives up to its reputation. Both bands released their debuts two years prior in 2006. Gifts from Enola blew me away with Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind, an intense first album with a style of powerful, distortion-laden, larger-than-life instrumental rock. YMDITD's Bears in the Yukon, while not as impressive, was still a very solid release. On Harmonic Motion vol. 1, both bands pull out all the stops while cranking out massive post-rock anthems one after another, and the title of the opening track, The Sound of Titans, describes the whole album rather well.
  
  
• The Samuel Jackson Five - Goodbye Melody Mountain (Norway) myspace
  Three years after the monumental Easily Misunderstood, SJ5 finally return with Goodbye Melody Mountain. Following an album so borderline perfection can't be easy, but the band doesn't seem to even think about it. They feel relaxed, progressive, and not afraid to take new chances. Goodbye Melody Mountain isn't as jazzy, nor is it as emotional an experience, but it is a brilliant record full of catchy tunes and different moods... absolutely one of the top albums of 2008.
  
  
• Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends (USA) myspace
  Tobacco is a sort of a fucked up stew of BoC-style sampling and psyched out hip hop. Fucked Up Friends is jam-packed with catchy, edgy tunes and surprises one after another. Aesop Rock makes an appearance on one track. The album was also released on DVD with music videos filled with 80's clips and imagery for each and every song.
  
  
• Balmorhea - Rivers Arms (USA) myspace
  
• Bersarin Quartett - Bersarin Quartett (Germany) myspace
  
• Hauschka - Ferndorf (Germany) myspace
  
• Sumner McKane - What a Great Place to Be (USA) myspace
  
• The Black Dog - Radio Scarecrow (England) myspace
  

Late additions still coming to prolly fuck things up:

• Neil On Impression - L'oceano Delle Onde Che Restano Onde Per Sempre (Italy) myspace
  

[Sev]

Nice initiative Stryfe. I was missing an International Edition.

I'll update with the best (Big Bang) albums later when i get home, for now, best song. Done!

[ Best Song 2008 ] is hands down:

• BoA - Eat You Up
  - I don't think i've been grinding a song that much on mah stereo and iPod ever. It's phat, it's sexy, it's adjusted for an International audience and It's BoA. Just fucking wawaweewawesome!!

[ Best Albums 2008 ]

• Ice Cube - Raw Footage
  - Nobody thought the old man still had it in him! But his head is so big they call him Jack in the Box.
• T.I. - Paper Trail
  - Who has not been hitting the clubs ripping the dance floors to Swagga Like Us, huh?
• Nas - Untitled
  - All in all not one of my favorite albums, but with 'Hero' and 'Make the World Go Round' it just gotta be there.
• The Game - L.A.X
  - Used to hate the game. Now I love it. In my opinion maybe the biggest upset of the year.
• Usher - Here I Stand
  - For the ladies. For making love. A couple of lit candles, a bottle of nice Cabernet Sauvignon and Usher's sweet voice. Baby you know you want it.
• SNSD - Baby Baby (Girls' Generation vol. 1 Repack)
  - Coz these girls make my day. Every day.
• Nakagawa Shoko - Big Bang!!!
  - A special nominee just coz it was such a big surprise. I was not ready to be rocked like that by Shokotan. And the name of the album of course.
• Big Bang - Remember
  - OH, AH, OH!!!
• Big Bang - Number 1
  - Coz 'With U', The English 'Remember', 'Come Be My Lady', 'Number 1' and 'Heaven' are all epic tracks that make me dance.
• TaeYang - Hot
  - LET ME SAY WOOOAAAH OOOOH!! Tama loves when i sing this shit.

Happy Stryfe? I got you 3 Big Bangs.. well 4 sorta.

[shirenuファクトリー]

Sev and Stryfe are making me post even if I don't listen to/keep up with any new music but H!P and few select Kpop groups...

Big Bang - Haruharu, and that OH AH OH song from their minialbum
Wonder Girls - Nobody and So Hot

THERE.

___
Actually Sev's post reminds me, I'm also addicted to Eat You Up, although I think that the lyrics are horrible (Not the yum yum part)

[Ayabie]

The only 3 international releases I listened to this year...

The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord & Melody (USA)
Final Days Society - Noise passes, silence remains (Sweden)
This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You (USA)

...and the only ones I need.

[SomethingWild]

Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown

Doesn't get much better than that 

[boykun]

Hm, here's the few I listened to,

Beautiful Days - boy + girl (Korea)
Those Dancing Days - In Our Space Hero Suits (Sweden)
Peppertones - New Standard (Korea)
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (USA)

Yeah.

[iacus]

Totally re-did my list.  Integrated the Japanese music and re-ordered the whole thing.

Top 30:

Caboladies - Earth canal (USA) Noise
Encompassing; but not comfortably a part of; the genres of ambient, noise, and drone. It basically sounds like a bunch of rocket ships taking off over and over again.

Dengue Fever - Venus On Earth (USA) Pop
Friendly, warm, and intelligent pop music.

Wavves - Wavves (USA) Punk
Catchier than all hell. The best punk album of the year.

にせんねんもんだい - デスティネーション トーキョー (Japan) Dance/Post-rock
Simply sublime dancefloor jams of epic construction

ZAZEN BOYZ - Zazen Boyz 4 (Japan) Post-punk
Seemingly disjointed at first glance. Slowly reveals itself to have the same intelligence, passion, and daring as everything else the Zazen Boys have ever done.

Quinka, with a Yawn - Field Recordings (Japan) Folk
Flat out heartbreaking. Stunningly beautiful.

IMAHORITSUNEOYOSHIDATATSUYA - Dots (Japan) Prog-rock
Faster and more technical than anything else released this year.  This gets on the list through the sheer number of plays it managed to rack up. Totally insane, partially nonsensical, and perhaps actually terrible prog-rock.

Idea Of A Joke - We Are All Making History (Japan) Pop/Rock
Catchier than the plague.  And twice as funky.

LSD POND - LSD Pond (Japan) Psychedelic
Drugged-out insane stoner rock jams. Ranging from free-form rock to blasts of feedback and noise. Surprisingly patient and sensitive.

Fred Frith - To sail, To sail (USA) Free-improv
Quiet and strange solo album from one of the worlds great masters of the guitar. I'm not entirely sure how he made some of these sounds.

Lantern Parade - Tokyo Eye and Ear Control (Japan) Trip-hop/Hip-hop
A strange and unbalanced album. Becoming in turn everything from trip-hop to funk to rap it constantly retains a level of dark intelligence and introspection even in it's most schizophrenic moments.

Ricardo Villalobos - Vasco (Germany) Techno
Minimalist electro-funk. Hypnotizing and deep.

Shing02 - 歪曲 (Japan) Hip-hop
As groovy and tight as humanly possible. The best Hip-hop album of the year.

A.M - Rag Red Reverie (New Zealand) Noise
Loud and strong psychedelic blues noise. Powerful in it's individuality and single mindedness.

Boredoms - 77 Boadrum (Japan) Psychedelic
Boredoms keep up their winning streak. Pounding, primal beats and wild, strong melodies clashing together in the open sun.

Li Jianhong - 三生石 (San Sheng Shi) (China) Noise
A vicious horrible wall of sound. Beautiful and ugly in equal measure, nearly incomprehensible.

TWIN TAIL - すべては許されている (Japan) Post-rock
Tatsuya Nakamura from losalios and Katsui Yuji from Rovo collaborate to make one of the most groovy and well structured albums of the year.

SITAAR TAH! - Semimimimimin (Japan) Drone/Folk
Beautiful 43-minute long symphony of flutes, cicadas, voices, and sitaars.

Buraka Som Sistema - Black Diamond (Portugal) Dance
Ass-shakingly good dance music. Not much more to say than that really.

Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie (USA) Ambient/Drone
Big shocking thunderclouds of sound.  Surprisingly "active" for a drone album.

Sparta Locals - Leecher (Japan) Pop/Rock
Twisty impassioned pop songs performed at breakneck speed. Catchy as hell.

Chris Watson - Cima Verde (UK) Field recordings
I had forgotten this came out this year. Gorgeous, quiet, and full of surprising detail.   

Burning Star Core - Challenger (USA) Noise/Pop
A series of beautiful pop ballads. . . . as performed by a noise artist.

The Magic I.D. - Till My Breath Gives Out (Germany) Pop
Another series of beautiful pop ballads. This time deconstructed to their bare skeleton and put back together haphazardly. Hard to describe, but very beautiful.

accidents in too large field - New Buildings (Japan) Post-punk
Funk/psychedelic/hardcore/hard to describe. Sort of hard not to listen to multiple times in a row.

Rovo - Nuou (Japan) Funk
Another fantastic record of shining and spiraling walls of electric space funk from the peerless Rovo.

Coh - Plays Cosey(Germany?) Glitch
Jittery and calm all at once. Loops and beats constructed entirely out of vocal samples.

El Guincho - Alegranza (Spain) Dance
An insane smile-happy dance party.

Fabio Orsi & Valerio Cosi - We Could For Hours (Italy?) Ambient/Drone
Beautiful and overwhelming walls of light.

Sawako - Bitter Sweet (Japan)Ambient/Drone
Shining, glittery tones and soft, offhanded interjections of field recordings, violins, cellos, and vocals. Gorgeous and bright.

I'm so terrible at describing music.

[xerony]

jaja

Top 5 "pop" tracks
Boa - Eat You up
Yuna Ito - I'm Here
Utada Hikaru - Take 5
Utada Hikaru - Fight the Blues
BoA - Style

Top 5 Albums Chillout
Bersarin Quartett - Bersarin Quartett
Fjordne - The Last Three Days Of Time
Geskia - Silent 77
Library Tapes - Fragment
Sumner Mckane - What A Great Place To Be

Top 5 Albums discovered this year
Junkie XL - Booming Back At You
Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling
Ken Ishii - Jelly Tones
Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
Erlend Oye - Unrest

[tenkei]

I only listened to a few international acts this year (well, that were RELEASED this year):

BoA - Eat You Up (USA)
Peppertones - New Standard (Korea)

[Tuffty]

Well, like Tenkei, I too have listened to not that many albums released this year. It's hard to find new acts anyway as any new acts featured in the UK are usually indie rock, not really my forte, besides there's more crap indie bands than good ones. Anyway, my favourite albums from this year are:

Man Vs Monster - Fighting With Wire (N.Ireland)
Carve Our Names - Dutch Schultz (N.Ireland)

[StreakInTheSky]

I've actually listened to more non-japanese music this year than japanese I think. But a problem is a lot of it wasn't released this year, and I haven't really been paying attention to newer music other than what has been on the radio.

Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire (USA)
- I don't really like these guys that much, but I'm addicted to the song
Taeyeon- Manyage (Korea)
- Amazing girl
Wonder Girls - Nobody (Korea)
- Only song of theirs I've liked and it's catchy as hell
MGMT - all singles released this year. (USA)
- haven't listened to the album yet, but I've really liked what I heard
Ne-Yo - Closer (USA)
- Best club song released all year

Album
Lil Wayne - Carter III (USA)
- Wasn't feeling the singles, but the album was actually pretty damn good besides the singles.

no other full albums I've listened to really got me so that's it. And I've been too lazy to look for the stuff that isn't just fed to me this year, so it's mostly very mainstream stuff, which is very strange for me. lol

[Tuffty]

Oh and I forgot to mention, anything by Brokencyde, these guys are just great:

[youtube=425,350]4Nhob7UZP3M[/youtube]







I kid, of course. 

[StreakInTheSky]

• North - What You Were (USA) myspace
  The other representative of atmospheric sludge in the list is the Arizona six-piece North. The slow, unrelenting and surprisingly melodic What You Were is one enormous metal song after another. It is an overload of slowly hulking distortion, growls and frozen, barren landscapes... just what you'd expect from a band simply called North.

Listening to their myspace, and just gotta say, GIMME!

nvm got it.

[Stryfe]

Be sure to check out the Mouth of the Architect album too if you liked North.

Can hook up with shit if ya peeps find some stuff on the list interesting.