It's that time again -- time to choose the top CDs of the year. Despite our efforts, we didn't hear every disc that came out in 2008. But we did listen to more than 1,000. Here are the ones we'll still be listening to next year:
1. Guns N' Roses
Chinese Democracy
(Universal)
It's been said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
And maybe -- just maybe -- the greatest trick Axl Rose ever pulled was convincing the world Chinese Democracy was never coming out.
Think about it: Had Rose slapped together a disc 10 years ago, few would have cared about a Guns N' Roses album with no other original members of GN'R on it. But by vanishing from the scene, holing up in studio after studio, treating his bandmates like interchangeable pawns, and control-freakishly tweaking these songs over and over, he slowly persuaded the world he was building something monumental. And by withholding it for year after year, he turned it into the mythical Holy Grail of rock: The Most Wanted Album in Music History.
Everyone thought he was nuts. Turns out he knew exactly what he was doing. Listening to Chinese Democracy, you can hear -- and appreciate -- how much time and effort went into these songs. Nearly every one of these 14 cuts is a massive epic crammed with umpteen parts, endless twists and turns, and layer upon layer of overdubs: A Great Wall of buzzsaw guitars and wild shredding from Bumblefoot, Buckethead and others, sure, but also electronica beats and loops, horns, strings, choirs, sound effects, you name it. And, amazingly, it all hangs together: Instead of a bloated, indecisive, self-indulgent mess, Rose -- whose corroded snarl and Joplinesque shriek are still pretty impressive, by the way -- has created an audacious, unstoppable magnum opus that almost justifies all the years and money, all the mayhem and hype.
And, to give the devil his due, that's a helluva trick in itself.
2. Bloc Party
Intimacy
(Atlantic)
Bloc Party threw a surprise party back in August, announcing this album on a Tuesday and then releasing it online two days later. And while we'd normally prefer root canal to a surprise bash, we happily made an exception in this case. The third full-length from singer-guitarist Kele Okereke and his arty East London rockers is hands-down their most distinctive and daring work to date -- and all the more striking coming barely 18 months after their bold sophomore album A Weekend in the City. Reportedly inspired by a breakup Okereke went through in 2007, Intimacy is a tangled collision of emotions, sounds and styles that mirrors the turmoil of a relationship on the rocks. Wiry angular guitars, hard-charging indie-rock beats and plaintive Robert Smith vocals remain the foundation of their sound. But on these 10 cuts, they boldly interface with everything from block-rockin' electronica beats, spaced-out synths, glitchy noise and futuristic effects to lush choirs and strings. Vocals are chopped, treated, looped and layered; tunes break down and reassemble themselves without warning; instruments and melodies appear out of nowhere, make their point and vanish. It all lands somewhere between rock, electronica and IDM -- as if Chemical Brothers were tripping on Ecstasy while doing an album-length mashup of Radiohead, The Cure and Gang of Four. If that doesn't sound like a party, we don't know what does.
3. Drive-by Truckers
Brighter Than Creation's Dark
(New West)
With 19 songs that sprawl over 75 minutes, the eighth disc from singer-guitarist Patterson Hood and his Georgia Truckers is easily their longest effort. Despite the loss of a key member -- guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell -- it's also one of their strongest. This monster finds the Athens roots-rockers once again unspooling literate, powerful stories of hardscrabble lives and tragic deaths against a raggedly glorious musical backdrop of Exile-era Stones country, chugging Crazy Horse rock and ballads bleak enough to bring a tear to Lucinda Williams' eye. Their future has never looked brighter.
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
(Anti/Epitaph)
"I don't know what it is, but there's definitely something going on upstairs," Nick Cave growls on his magnificent 14th album. Coincidentally, that sums up our view of the erudite Australian -- a guy who drops words like myxomatoid and prolix in his lyrics, recasts Bible stories as modern-day parables on fame, name-checks Bukowski and Berryman, and generally makes typical rock lyrics look like the drivel they are next to his pitch-black fables of resurrection, redemption and retribution. But even though Cave's post-grad esoterica can fly over your head, his band of Bad Seeds never fail to haul it down to earth with their messy, swaggering brand of noisy garage-blues, which comes with plenty of churning organs and some distortion-pedal guitars left over from last year's Grinderman side project. To put it another way: There's something going on downstairs here, too. And if you can appreciate a disc that smacks of Dylan, Iggy, Reed, Morrison and Waits, you'll definitely dig Cave's latest darkly intense masterpiece.
5. Girl Talk
Feed the Animals
(FAB)
Saying Gregg (Girl Talk) Gillis makes mashups is like saying Picasso dabbled in painting. The copyright-flouting Pittsburgh DJ is the master of ADD mixes, cramming over a dozen classic and current samples -- setting the chorus of Lil Mama's Lip Gloss over the grinding guitars of Metallica's One, for instance, or layering a Mary J. Blige vocal atop the piano intro from The Guess Who's These Eyes -- into every jaw-dropping cut. His fourth freak-flag-flying disc came out online in June, and sold for whatever you were willing to pay. If you can still get that deal, we urge you to dig deep -- if only to cover his legal bills when some artist, manager, label or lawyer without a sense of humour sues him.
6. Coldplay
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
(EMI)
"We reached the stage where we thought, 'We can't get much bigger, so we have to try and get better.' " So said Chris Martin last summer, explaining Coldplay's state of mind going into their fourth album. Well, lots of bands talk that talk. But these Brit-Rockers actually walked the walk. They set up a rehearsal space/clubhouse to work casually and undisturbed. They brought in visionary producer/guru Brian Eno -- known for his work with U2 -- who reportedly made them switch instruments and jam every day to get their juices flowing. And most importantly, they tore up their rule book, slowly and painstakingly rebuilding their music from the ground up. It shows. On Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay aren't just better; they're the best they've ever been. And the most original. On these 10 songs, the band -- Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berriman and drummer Will Champion -- dispense with cliches and go with their guts. Big choruses and crescendos are few and far between. Songs flow organically, often shifting in midstream. Guitars and drums are swapped for strings and Middle Eastern percussion. Martin's swooning falsetto is deployed sparingly. And his big-picture lyrics -- which juxtapose life and death, rags and riches, right and wrong, love and revolution -- are poetic and less personal (not to mention far less wussy). Striking early singles like Violet Hill and Viva la Vida hinted at the greatness. The full album confirmed it. Maybe that's why their label EMI was reportedly counting on the CD to single-handedly fill their drained coffers. The band did their part; Viva la Vida was the biggest-selling pre-order in iTunes history, and ended up one of the year's biggest albums, with seven Grammy nominations. Looks like Martin was wrong. They can get bigger after all.
7. The Hold Steady
Stay Positive
(Vagrant)
"It's one thing to start it with a positive jam," explains Craig Finn on the title cut of The Hold Steady's latest CD, "and it's another thing to see it on through." The first part of that lyric -- a reference to the opening cut on their 2004 debut Almost Killed Me -- tells you where the Minneapolis singer-guitarist and his Brooklyn bar band began. The second part tells you how far they've come. It's a long way, baby. In just four years, Finn and co. have catapulted from unknown indie-rockers to critical darlings to bona fide major-label act. More crucially, their creativity and passion have grown along with their fame. That evolution is front and centre on the band's fourth and most mature album Stay Positive. Musically, the quintet has never sounded bigger or bolder, adding everything from vibes and banjo to harpsichord and talk-box into its arsenal and spreading its wings beyond Springsteenish rock into jazz and folk. And while Finn continues to lean heavily on his favourite lyrical topics -- rock and religion, booze and drugs, sex and death -- his rich, densely packed tales of disaffected youth living seamy secret lives in the underbelly of the American dream mark him as one of the most literate songwriters of our time. Thanks to some vocal lessons, he can also hit a few more notes with his foghornish sing-speak pipes. Given all that, it should be easy for him to stay positive about his band's destiny. And to see it on through.
8. Death Cab for Cutie
Narrow Stairs
(Atlantic)
We're not in The O.C. anymore, kids. Hell, we're barely in the same ZIP code. For their sixth album and second major-label release, the sensitive Seattlites of Death Cab For Cutie have shifted gears and taken a hard left turn into an artsier neighbourhood. Inspired by everything from Jack Kerouac and recent California wildfires to surf-pop and synth-rockers like Can and Brainiac, the daring Narrow Stairs is several steps removed from 2005's Plans. In contrast to that disc's sombre beauty, these 11 strikingly crafted tracks find the band -- singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard, guitarist-producer Chris Walla, drummer Jason McGerr and bassist Nicholas Harmer -- mussing up their poignant, well-read indie-pop balladry with plenty of grit: Buzzing guitars, noisy synths, dusty textures and a darker ambiance best typified by the eight-minute stalker-rock ballad (and Grammy-nominated single) I Will Possess Your Heart. Narrow Stairs certainly owned our heart this year -- and commandeered our stereo for much of that time, making one thing clear: Death Cab aren't just spinning their wheels.
9. Pretenders
Break Up the Concrete
(Shangri-La)
She went back to Ohio -- again. And it's about time. After decades abroad, Chrissie Hynde returned for real to her Akron hometown. And the ninth Pretenders studio disc (and first release in six years) proves it's the smartest move she's made in ages. Returning to her roots apparently inspired the singer-songwriter to craft the rootsiest work of her career -- a no-frills, immediate album that rings and reverberates with the sounds of old-school rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, blues and country. Anchored by the messy, behind-the-beat grooves of ace drummer Jim Keltner (filling in for longtime stickman Martin Chambers) and dripping with twangy licks, spiky solos and sweetly weeping slide lines from her latest backing band, these 11 underproduced cuts harken back to the glory days of Elvis, Bo Diddley and Buddy Holly. Naturally, Hynde and her unmistakable alto -- which seems to have lost almost none of its power, yearning or sultry swagger over the decades -- are still the real stars of the show. But this time, for the first time in a long while, the rest of the show is worth catching. Guess you can go home again.
10. Metallica
Death Magnetic
(Warner)
"What don't kill you make you more strong," barks Metallica's James Hetfield on Death Magnetic. OK, it isn't the most grammatical turn of phrase. Or the most elegant. Or even the most original. But it sums up where the veteran San Francisco thrashers are at on this ninth CD. Their last album -- 2003's unpopular St. Anger, recorded amid personality clashes, personnel changes and Hetfield's struggles with addiction, rehab and therapy -- nearly destroyed them. But in its wake, the band has regrouped, refocused and re-emerged with their strongest, heaviest and most uncompromising album in two decades. Loosely helmed by Rick Rubin -- who essentially told the group to pretend they were writing songs for Master of Puppets, and then left them to their own devices -- the 74-minute Death Magnetic reverses all the mistakes of St. Anger, from drummer Lars Ulrich's annoying anvil-ping snare sound to the total lack of solos from guitar slinger Kirk Hammett. More to the point, it successfully integrates all the chapters of their history, bridging the blazing frenzy of their early days, the complex epics of their middle years and the muscular midtempo southern metal of their more recent work. In short: It's some kind of monster.
11. The Ting Tings
We Started Nothing
(Sony-BMG)
Sometimes it's a no-brainer. You hear one song, see one video, catch one set by a band and you just know: They're gonna be big. We knew when we laid eyes on The Ting Tings at SXSW last March. We were even more certain once we heard the co-ed British pop duo's debut, which quickly became a semi-permanent fixture on our stereo. Drummer Jules De Martino wallops the skins while triggering basslines and keyboard samples with his feet. Bratty pixie Katie White rocks the mic and plays rudimentary chang-a-lang guitar. And that's all the scrappy twosome need to create infectious -- and slyly stylish -- dance-pop singles that draw from the glory Days of Blondie, Toni Basil, Bananarama, The Bangles and a few bands that don't start with B. Unless you were in a cave with Osama, you heard Shut Up and Let Me Go on that iPod ad. And it's not even the catchiest song on this disc: If one spin doesn't make you spend the next several hours incessantly singing Great DJ's hypnotic refrain ("The drums, the drums, the drums ...") or That's Not My Name's schoolyard-chant chorus, your name must be Dick Cheney. Oh, they started something, all right.
12. Marah
Angels of Destruction!
(Yep Roc)
If fame and fortune were based on conviction and creativity, Marah would be as big as U2. Instead, these Brooklyn-based roots-rockers have spent a decade slugging it out in the indie trenches, issuing criminally overlooked albums that have earned them a rabid cult following (which includes Stephen King and Nick Hornby), endless critical comparisons to Springsteen, and a well-deserved rep as The Best Band You've Never Heard. Here's another chance to rectify that oversight. Angels of Destruction!, the band's sixth studio set, is right up there with anything they've ever done (with the possible exception of the 2000 masterpiece Kids in Philly). It has all the Marah hallmarks: The starry-eyed street-poet lyrics; the loose, earthy performances; the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink instrumentation; the warm, homey production. Plus it's got a few new wrinkles: Sweet female vocals that complement frontman Dave Bielanko's raspy croon; a recurring old-timey Vaudeville vibe; and more personal lyrics that focus on spiritual redemption, thanks to Bielanko's recent sobriety. Too bad the band imploded within days of its release -- but hey, that's just par for the course for these guys.
13. James Hunter
The Hard Way
(Hear Music)
Hard? More like The Old-Fashioned Way. British soul man and former Van Morrison sideman Hunter's fourth CD was cut at Liam Watson's defiantly retro London studio Toe Rag (the birthplace of albums like The White Stripes' Elephant). And it's a match made in R&B heaven. Hunter's gritty Sam Cooke pipes and searing guitar solos, coupled with the horn-laced old-school arrangements and Watson's mono production, fuse to evoke a long-lost treasure from the vaults of Atlantic, Stax, Motown or King Records. If this is the result, we hope Hunter never takes the easy way.
14. Alejandro Escovedo
Real Animal
(Manhattan)
Were Alejandro Escovedo really an animal, he'd have to be a cat. The 57-year-old Texas singer-guitarist has had enough lives over his 30-year career. In the '70s, he was a punk who opened for the Sex Pistols. In the '80s, he pioneered alt-country with Rank & File and True Believers. In the '90s, he found his own voice and penned deeply personal works about the dissolution of his marriage and his wife's suicide. In this decade, he's become one of music's most acclaimed troubadours, collaborated on a stage show about his family's Mexican roots, expanded his sound with strings -- and battled back from a serious bout with hepatitis. And he's done it all while being ignored by the masses. Maybe that score will finally change. Real Animal, his 10th solo release, garnered mucho mainstream attention, even landing in the Canadian top 40 in its first week of release. And deservedly so. Superbly produced by the legendary Tony Visconti, this is Escovedo's most fully realized and accessible album in years -- a musical memoir that chronicles his misspent youth, pays tributes to influences like Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople, Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, and showcases his magnificent songwriting, earthy vocals and striking arrangements. Even better: It's his hardest-rocking outing since his days with Buick MacKane (another of his endless string of criminally overlooked bands). In short: This cat's for real.
15. Kings of Leon
Only by the Night
(Sony-BMG)
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Give Kings of Leon credit; not many bands make us think of Shakespeare. But that line from Henry IV Pt. 2 popped into our noggin after we listened to KoL's Only by the Night. And no wonder: The Tennessee foursome's fourth album is certainly their darkest and gloomiest work. Dripping with headnodding grooves, atmospheric overdubs and lyrics consumed by a sense of impending doom, these 11 stark cuts owe more to Radiohead or U2 than the tangy southern rock of 2004's Youth and Young Manhood or 2007's Because of the Times. Why the mood swing? Well, singer-guitarist Caleb Followill told Rolling Stone that some pain medication he was taking after a fistfight with his drumming brother Nathan inspired these songs, which goes a long way to explaining all the narcotized beats and trippy sonics. It doesn't explain why most of these songs are also shorter and more focused than some of their jammier early tunes, or why Caleb has finally decided to rein in his mushmouthed drawl and start enunciating his lyrics. Will these seemingly opposing forces align to create a disc destined to go down as the Kings' crowning achievement, or simply a tale full of sound and not much fury, signifying nothing? That, as The Bard would say, is the question.
16. Kanye West
808s and Heartbreak
(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
As they say: No pain, no gain. Well, West has seen some pain lately -- including a romantic breakup and the death of his mother after cosmetic surgery. And he's channeled that despair into his darkest and most personal CD. Not to mention his riskiest work; by ditching hip-hop for synth-soaked pop, discarding slick overproduced beats for the primal banging of the classic Roland 808 drum machine of the title, and even eschewing raps for T-Pain-style AutoTuned crooning, West has produced a disc fans will either love or loathe -- after they're done scratching their heads over it. Had this challenging and daring effort come out a few weeks earlier, it might have ranked higher in this list; something tells us that this one is only going to grow in stature as time goes by.
17. Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
(XL/Beggars Group)
Sure, at first blush their name sounded like a Nordic goth-metal band. But that didn't last long; Vampire Weekend quickly made a name for themselves as the much-buzzed-about new kings of the N.Y.C. indie scene. Going by this debut, it's no wonder. The lyrics are erudite and arch. The vocals are dry. And the infectious, literate tunes deftly balance hip indie-rock, lilting Afro-pop and baroque classical flourishes, with echoes of Talking Heads and Paul Simon's Graceland for good measure. Sure beats Nordic goth-metal.
18. The Wet Secrets
Rock Fantasy
(Six Shooter)
They wear marching band outfits. Their lineup includes tuba and trombone but no guitar. And they might be the freakiest band you'll hear this year. They're Edmonton's Wet Secrets -- and this sophomore CD (originally self-released in 2007) is a wild party where hilariously profane lyrics and fuzzed-out Stranglers bass riffs rub up against crash-bash drums, brassy horns and sexy-sinister vocals. Secret's out, kids.
19. TV on the Radio
Dear Science
(Interscope)
Men of science or men of faith? Artsy Brooklynites TVOTR are a bit of both on their third CD. The twitchy beatboxes, layered synths and producer Dave Sitek's icy sonics showcase their love of technology. But the orchestral textures and funky grooves -- not to mention Tunde Adebimpe's yearning falsetto and passionate Peter Gabriel wail -- will restore your faith in a higher power.
20. Your Call:
Take your pick from this list of the other 89 notable releases of the year (in alphabetical order). And if you favourite isn't here, well, feel free to make your own list right HERE.
Ryan Adams / Cardinology
Airbourne / Runnin' Wild
Erykah Badu / New AmErykah Part 1: 4th World War
Beck / Modern Guilt
Black Crowes / Warpaint
The Black Keys / Attack & Release
Black Mountain / In the Future
British Sea Power / Do You Like Rock Music?
The Bronx / The Bronx
Hayes Carll / Trouble in Mind
Elvis Costello / Momofuko
Cradle of Filth / Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder
Rodney Crowell / Sex & Gasoline
The Cure / 4:13 Dream
Deerhunter / Microcastle | Weird Era Cont.
Destroyer / Trouble in Dreams
Ani DiFranco/ Red Letter Year
D.O.A. /Northern Avenger
Duffy / Rockferry
Bob Dylan / Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
Kathleen Edwards / Asking for Flowers
Elbow / The Seldom Seen Kid
Extreme / Saudades de Rock
Fall Out Boy / Folie a Deux
The Fireman / Electric Arguments
Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes
Ben Folds / Way to Normal
Foxboro Hot Tubs / Stop Drop & Roll!!!
F--ed Up / The Chemistry of Common Life
Glasvegas / Glasvegas
Gnarls Barkley / The Odd Couple
Al Green / Lay it Down
The Gutter Twins / Saturnalia
Emmylou Harris / All That I Intended to Be
Hercules and Love Affair / Hercules and Love Affair
Hey Rosetta! / Into Your Lungs
John Hiatt / Same Old Man
Islands / Arm's Way
Jucifer / L'Autrichienne
The Killers / Day & Age
B.B. King / One Kind Favour
The Last Shadow Puppets / The Age of the Understatement
Jenny Lewis / Acid Tongue
Lil Wayne / Tha Carter III
Local H / Twelve Angry Months
Los Campesinos / Hold on Now Youngster
Los Campesinos / We are Beautiful, We are Doomed
Magnetic Fields / Distortion
Steven Malkmus / Real Emotional Trash
Mars Volta / The Bedlam in Goliath
John Mellencamp / Life, Death, Love & Freedom
The Melvins / Nude With Boots /
Men Without Pants / Naturally
Mercury Rev / Snowflake Midnight
MGMT / Oracular Spectacular
Monkey / Journey to the West
Van Morrison / Keep it Simple
Moetley Cruee / Saints of Los Angeles
Mudcrutch / Mudcrutch
Mudhoney / The Lucky Ones
My Morning Jacket / Evil Urges
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis / Two Men With the Blues
Randy Newman / Harps & Angels
The Night Marchers / See You in Magic
Nine Inch Nails / The Slip
North Mississippi Allstars / Hernando
Oasis / Dig Out Your Soul
Conor Oberst / Conor Oberst
Okkervil River / The Stand-Ins
Portishead / Third
Protest the Hero / Fortress
The Raconteurs / Consolers of the Lonely
Raveonettes / Lust Lust Lust
R.E.M. / Accelerate
Robyn / Robyn
The Rolling Stones / Shine a Light
Santogold / Santogold
Spiritualized / Songs in A&E
Marnie Stern / This is It and I am It and You Are It and So is That and He is It and She is It and It is It and That is That
Tokyo Police Club / Elephant Shell
Tricky / Knowle West Boy
Martha Wainwright / I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
The Walkmen / You and Me
Cadence Weapon / Afterparty Babies
The Whigs / Mission Control
Whitesnake / Good to be Bad
Lucinda Williams / Little Honey
Brian Wilson / That Lucky Old Sun
Neil Young / Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
ALERT: You've heard from the critics, now it's your turn to tell us YOUR top albums of 2008. SUBMIT THEM HERE.
