10. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
The idea of Dulli and Lanegan collaborating together as the Gutter Twins has been in the works since 2003. But it wasn't until last year that the pair finally turned their full attention to the project. Saturnalia, the Gutter Twins' debut, was released earlier this year by Sub Pop. The album is yet another exploration of the dark side.The Gutter Twins website
The Gutter Twins at Myspace
9. Thalia Zedek Band - Liars and Prayers
Thalia Zedek's second album for Thrill Jockey finds the ex-Come frontwoman in fine voice and backed by a band who know just how to present her songs. A very political record - the title refers to those who lie and those who pray - LIARS AND PRAYERS finds Zedek's wonderfully coarse voice enveloped by simple but moving arrangements and the best set of songs she has written since her Come days.Thalia Zedek Band at Myspace
8. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes)
The group, led by Craig Minowa, might best fit in the electronica-folk-indie-chamber-pop-rock genre. That won't really give you an idea of what goes on through the 13 tracks of Cloud Cult's latest album, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes). It's a genre-mashing set of songs that is at once weird, wonderful, inspiring, exciting, and strange. Cloud Cult is a remarkable band who have made a album just as full of melodic hooks as mind-blowing experimentation.Cloud Cult at Myspace
7. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Abandoning the Bright Eyes moniker he's been performing under since his teens, Conor Oberst reverted to his birth name for his 2008 follow-up to 2007's Cassadaga.Conor Oberst at Myspace
6. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
Essentially a sequel to 2007’s The Stage Names, which was briefly considered for release as a two-disc album before being scaled down to a single album, Okkervil River's The Stand Ins uses central images of musicians and life on the stage to again address many of the themes that first surfaced on the band's 2007 album.Emotional without being weepy, literate without being pretentious, The Stand Ins is another excellent release from a highly creative and evolving band.
Okkervil River at Myspace
5. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Dear Science is a brilliant balancing act between pop aspiration and music-geek aesthetics. More tuneful than its predecessor, the album is packed with New Wave hooks and funky dance beats — albeit amid bleak lyrical visions, Afrobeat rhythmic arrangements and densely layered, terabyte-era production. Though that sound might not make for megastardom, it's made for one damn fine record.TV on the Radio at Myspace
4. Samamidon - All is Well
Sam Amidon, more commonly known as Samamidon, very quietly released one of the year’s best folk records way back in February. It’s called All Is Well, and if it sounds at all timeless, well, it’s because it basically is. All 10 songs come from the public domain, songs passed down through generations until the origins are all but forgotten. There is a natural sadness in Amidon’s voice, which suits the quiet and contemplative mood of these 10 songs perfectly.Samamidon at Myspace
3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes describe their music as "baroque pop, music from fantasy movies, Motown, block harmonies ... not much of a rock band", which is one way of describing the indefinable brilliance of one of those records that sounds like it has arrived, fully formed, from another planet. Though there are musical touchstones - English folk, late 60s west-coast music (particularly the Beach Boys and Love) - this is the sound of late-night forests, skipping animals, music made by people as old as the hills they dwell in. Implausibly, they are actually in their 20s and live in Seattle. The dizzyingly uplifting four-part harmonies of songs such as Tiger Mountain Peasant Song are interspersed with profound darkness in the death-stalked Your Protector, or Oliver James, the chilling tale of a child's drowning. It all adds up to a landmark in American music, an instant classic.Fleet Foxes at Myspace
2. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
With their fifth full-length album, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust, Sigur Rós have taken the poppy, sunshiny leanings of their previous album a step further into the light. As ever with Sigur Rós, if you're a fan you will lap this up - the unconvinced will, despite the more commercial touches, probably remain unconvinced. Overall though, this is another wondrous album from a band at the height of their considerable powers.Sigur Rós at Myspace
1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Nu folk's Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, recorded For Emma, Forever Ago in an isolated cabin in Wisconsin, where he existed on a diet of deer he'd slaughtered and water and leftovers delivered by his dad. Accordingly, his debut prompts few comparisons, as if Vernon's three-month stint in self-imposed exile wasn't just an exercise in survivalism but an attempt to underscore the distance dividing Bon Iver from his contemporaries. Certainly, For Emma, though only nine tracks long, is as beautiful, bleak and intimate as anything 2008 is likely to throw up.Bon Iver at Myspace
