You wanted to see it...

So here it is. There was a bit of interest in seeing what my favourite albums and tunes of 2008 actually were, after I aborted it at some point in January. I'm not going to write something about every entry but here are the lists and there's five links for all the top 100 tunes down the bottom of the post. Hope you enjoy/agree/vehemently disagree...

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2008

1. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp)

2. Kelley Polar - I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling (Environ)
3. Starkey - Ephemeral Exhibits (Planet Mu)
4. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair (DFA/EMI)
5. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (4AD)
6. Portishead - Third (Universal Island)
7. Zomby - Where Were U In '92? (Werk)
8. Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies (Big Dada)
9. Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too (Feedelity)
10. Thomas Function - Celebration (Alive Records)
11. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna (Warp)
12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)
13. Man Man - Rabbit Habits (Anti-)
14. Roots Manuva - Slime & Reason (Big Dada)
15. Quiet Village - Silent Movie (Studio !K7)
16. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls (In The Red)
17. The Night Marchers - See You In Magic (Vagrant)
18. The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune)
19. No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
20. Killer Mike - I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II (SMC Recordings/Grind Time Official)
21. Syclops - I've Got My Eye On You (DFA/EMI)
22. Low Motion Disco - Keep It Slow (Eskimo)
23. Osborne - Osborne (Spectral Sound)
24. The Roots - Rising Down (Def Jam)
25. Neil Landstrumm - Lord For £39 (Planet Mu)
26. Morgan Geist - Double Night Time (Environ)
27. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. (4AD)
28. Hatchback - Colors Of The Sun (Lo Recordings)
29. Dan Lissvik - 7 Trx + Intermission (Information)
30. Toby Tobias - Space Shuffle (REKIDS)
31. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)
32. Black Mountain - In The Future (Jagjaguwar)
33. Harvey Milk - "Life... The Best Game In Town" (Hydra Head Records)
34. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Todomundo)
35. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III (Cash Money Records)
36. Black Milk - Tronic (Fat Beats)
37. Koushik - Out My Window (Stones Throw)
38. Young Jeezy - The Recession (Def Jam)
39. JME - Famous? (Boy Better Know)
40. Windsurf - Coastlines (Internasjonal)
41. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)
42. Clinic - Do It! (Domino)
43. Q-Tip - The Renaissance (Universal Motown)
44. Dusk & Blackdown - Margins Music (Keysound)
45. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)
46. The Kills - Midnight Boom (Domino)
47. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)
48. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (Illegal Art)
49. Bun B - II Trill (Rap-A-Lot)
50. 2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)

Yer Mam!'s Top 100 Tunes Of 2008

1. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind (DFA/EMI)

2. The Juan Maclean - Happy House (DFA)
3. TV On The Radio - Golden Age (4AD)
4. Portishead - Machine Gun (Universal Island)
5. Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City) (Environ)
6. Flying Lotus - Parisian Goldfish (Warp)
7. Jay Reatard - Screaming Hand (Matador)
8. Aeroplane feat. Kathy Diamond - Whispers (Eskimo)
9. Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Roc-A-Fella)
10. Thomas Function - Can't Say No (Alive Records)
11. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones (Todomundo)
12. Hudson Mohawke - Polkadot Blues (Warp)
13. Lil' Wayne - A Milli (Cash Money Records)
14. Syclops - Where's Jason's K? (DFA)
15. The Cool Kids - What Up Man? (XL)
16. Osborne - 16th Stage (Spectral Sound)
17. Roots Manuva - Let The Spirit (Big Dada)
18. Watussi - If All We Had Was Love (StickyDisc)
19. Young Jeezy feat. Nas - My President (Def Jam)
20. Janelle Monae - Sincerely, Jane (Bad Boy Entertainment)
21. Joker - Snake Eater (Soul Motive)
22. Hot Chip - One Pure Thought (EMI)
23. Canyons - Apples And Pears (Hole In The Sky)
24. Toby Tobias feat. Kathy Diamond - The Feeling (REKIDS)
25. Cadence Weapon - Julianne Wilding (Big Dada)
26. Mayer Hawthorne & The County - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out (Stones Throw)
27. King Midas Sound - Cool Out (Hyperdub)
28. 6th Borough Project - Planets (Jiscomusic/Five20East)
29. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - We Call Upon The Author (Mute)
30. Mujava - Township Funk (Warp)
31. Mark E - Slave 1 (Running Back)
32. No Age - Teen Creeps (Sub Pop)
33. Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (Warp)
34. Zomby - Liquid Dancehall (Ramp Recordings)
35. Camille - Money Note (EMI)
36. Man Man - Big Trouble (Anti-)
37. Starkey - Gutter Music (Planet Mu)
38. Wiley - Wearing My Rolex (Asylum Records)
39. James Pants - We're Through (Stones Throw)
40. Plastique De Reve - Lost In The City (Supersoul/Death From Abroad)
41. Solange - Sandcastle Disco (Geffen)
42. Vampire Weekend - One (Blake's Got A New Face) (XL)
43. T.I. feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Lil' Wayne - Swagga Like Us (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)
44. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (4AD)
45. Mickey Moonlight - Interplanetary Music (Ed Banger)
46. Bostro Pesopeo - Falls (Permanent Vacation)
47. The Barbaras - Summertime Road (Goner)
48. Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan (Lex)
49. Chris Brown - Forever (Jive)
50. Robert Owens - I'm Chained (Compost)
51. The Kills - Last Day Of Magic (Domino)
52. Vivian Girls - Tell The World (In The Red)
53. The Muslims - Nightlife (1928 Recordings)
54. Koushik - Bright And Shining (Stones Throw)
55. Padded Cell - Word Of Mouth (DC Recordings)
56. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Which Way To Go (Goner)
57. Max Essa - Back To The Beach (Bear Funk)
58. Runaway - Brooklyn Club Jam (DFA/REKIDS)
59. Late Of The Pier - The Bears Are Coming (Zarcorp)
60. Mock & Toof - Underwater (DFA)
61. Morgan Geist - Ruthless City (Environ)
62. Pinch - Joyride (Tectonic)
63. Babytalk - Chance (StickyDisc)
64. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final (Skull Disco)
65. White Denim - Sitting (Full Time Hobby)
66. The Rapture - No Sex For Ben (Rockstar Games)
67. Quiet Village - Pacific Rhythm (Studio !K7)
68. Wavves - Side Yr On (Woodsist/Fuck It Tapes)
69. Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep (Sincerely Yours)
70. Dam-Funk - Burgundy City (Stones Throw)
71. Black Mountain - Wucan (Jagjaguwar)
72. Yacht - It's Boring/You Can Live Anywhere You Want (DFA)
73. Martyn - Natural Selection (3024)
74. Britney Spears - Womanizer (Jive)
75. Crystal Antlers - A Thousand Eyes (Touch And Go)
76. Crazy Cousinz - Bongo Jam (Bongo Records)
77. Mr Raoul K - Le Cercle Peul (Club Mix) (Baobab Music)
78. Erykah Badu - The Healer (Universal Motown)
79. Ramadanman - Carla (Soul Jazz)
80. The Bug - Murder We (Ninja Tune)
81. Linkwood - R.I.P. (Prime Numbers)
82. Killer Mike - God In The Building (SMC Recordings/Grind Time Official)
83. L.S.B. - Loco Motion (Eskimo)
84. Cheap Time - People Talk (In The Red)
85. Rustie - Zig-Zag (Wireblock)
86. The Night Marchers - In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ) (Vagrant)
87. Fulgeance - Revenge Of The Nerd (All City)
88. The Dirtbombs - La Fin Du Monde (In The Red)
89. Kode9 Vs. LD - Bad (Hyperdub)
90. Wild Rumpus - Purple Somersault (Bitches Brew)
91. Schwarz, Ame, Dixon - D.p.o.m.b. 1 (Innervisions)
92. Ikonika - Please (Hyperdub)
93. Tiedye - Nothing Else Matters (Italians Do It Better)
94. The Long Blondes - Here Comes The Serious Bit (Rough Trade)
95. Thriller - BBQ (Thriller)
96. Telepathe - Chrome's On It (IAmSound)
97. Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (Italians Do It Better)
98. POLLYester - You Are Amen (Love In C Minor)
99. Nas feat. Keri Hilson - Hero (Def Jam)
100. Toddla T feat. Serocee - Soundtape Killin (1965)

Download all 100 tunes in five convenient zips below...

1-20

21-40

41-60

61-80

81-100


Back soon, kids...

JMx

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2008: 45-41

45. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring; remember the name. Their chosen moniker might not trip off the tongue, but there's nothing convoluted about the music of this Aussie four-piece. Favouring a stripped-down, raw power aesthetic approach to well-worn garage-punk tropes, Primary Colours might not be the most refined album released this year, but it's certainly one of the most primally thrilling.



ECSR throw unrestrained Stooges-esque proto-punk, Mission Of Burma-like fury and Gang Of Four's wit and way with rhythm into their admittedly derivative brew but the fact that all the elements are stolen doesn't detract from the massive replayability of songs like the menacing 'I Admit My Faults' or the stark, hypnotic 'Colour Television', whose "Switch on, switch off" refrain will stick in your head like an icepick. It may take a little while to get your head around that name but the 10 songs on Primary Colours will hit immediately.



Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Colour Television (mp3)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Memory Lane (mp3)

Bonus: Very amateur footage of 'I Admit My Faults' live in Sydney.

44. Dusk + Blackdown - Margins Music (Keysound Recordings)

There's no escaping from the fact that Margins Music is very much a London record. It's there in the artwork depicting a fruit and veg market stall, it's in the multifarious references to certain boroughs of the city, hell, even the album's catalogue number is LDN006. It's also in the atmosphere though, as Margins Music is a smoky, suffocating record that sounds as harsh and austere as the average London street at night.



That said, take away the obvious "This is London" shout-outs and Dusk + Blackdown's massively impressive debut album could have come from any bustling, multicultural metropolis. For all its frequent darkness however, Margins Music is also an album of rare, disarming beauty that expands the dubstep pallette to incorporate fragile Indian motifs such as alluring tablas and stirring sitars. D+B are also not afraid to bring a bit of forcefulness to proceedings as evidenced by the midsection one-two punch of 'Concrete Streets' (with Durrty Goodz) and 'The Bits' (with Trim). Margins Music is a marvellous, absorbing treatise on inner city life in the 21st Century, with a life and an appeal outside of the big smoke.



Dusk + Blackdown - Con/Fusion (feat. Farrah) (mp3)

Dusk + Blackdown - The Bits (feat. Trim) (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the great short promo vid for the album. See, advertising can still be artful.

43. Q-Tip - The Renaissance (Universal Motown)

2008 was the year of the comeback and there were fewer returns as emphatic and like-they've-never-been-away than the rebirth of Jonathan Davis aka Kamaal Fareed aka Q-Tip. From the opening treated guitar lick of 'Johnny Is Dead' and Tip's affirmation that "What good is an ear if a Q-Tip isn't in it", it was obvious that The Renaissance would be worth the nine year wait.



It really is all that and then some, arguably a better album than his last official solo effort, 1999's Amplified (which itself is a lot better than the lukewarm critical reception it received at the time suggests), The Renaissance is bright, effusive, hugely optimistic and nostalgic. It's also a very timely album, setting Tip up (if he can avoid anymore record company troubles) once again as an affable outsider alternative to the hip-hop mainstream. After all he works a Can sample better than Kanye did.



Q-Tip - Gettin' Up (mp3)

Q-Tip - Dance On Glass (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the brilliant video for 'Move'.

42. Clinic - Do It! (Domino)

Along with the rest of the music-following world, I'd written Clinic off as a one-trick pony who'd forgotten how to perform its one trick. Treading water doesn't really cover just how 'meh' Clinic's albums have been since the glorious debut, Internal Wrangler way back in 2000. Thankfully Do It! is their most confident release since that brilliant first shot across the boughs and one of 2008's most pleasant surprises.

Ade Blackburn and gang have been boning up on their songcraft lately as Do It! assays at a disarmingly frequent rate. They're charming and eloquent on 'Free Not Free' and 'Emotions', fractured and punky on 'Shopping Bag' and 'Tomorrow' and woozy and psychedelic on 'Mary and Eddie' and 'Memories'. If you've tuned out on Clinic since Internal Wrangler then Do It! is more than worth tuning back in.

Clinic - Shopping Bag (mp3)

Clinic - High Coin (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video for 'Tomorrow'.


Another year, another Deerhoof album. While Offend Maggie doesn't quite match up to the audacity of Milk Man, the frenzied, hyper-kinetic charm of The Runners Four or the streamlined, odd-pop greatness of Friend Opportunity, it's still another fittingly barmy and fulfilling entry into the Deerhoof discography.

If there's something that marks Offend Maggie out from those that preceded it, it's that it sees Deerhoof edging closer towards a union between their more outre experimental sensibilities and their clear 'gift' for classic pop music. On songs like 'Chandelier Searchlight', the band showcase some of their brightest melodies to-date, whilst 'The Tears And Music Of Love', 'My Purple Past' and 'Buck And Judy' rock almost as hard as their heroes The Who. Offend Maggie isn't their best album, but the mere existence of each Deerhoof record is cause enough for celebration and this collection further marks them out as one of America's most pleasingly consistent and idiosyncratic indie-rock bands.

Deerhoof - The Tears And Music Of Love (mp3)

Deerhoof - Eaguru Guru (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the typically strange video for 'Chandelier Searchlight'.

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2008: 50-46

Okay, it's the turn of the albums now, starting the countdown with numbers 50 through 46. In addition, there'll be the occasional little post about albums that didn't make the list, as a kind of added bonus. Let's get it started...

50. 2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)

The austere cover is no red herring, what lies inside is stark and forbidding. It's also one of the most thoroughly listenable 'head music' albums of the year. Dave Huismans doesn't take us for an easy ride through Aerial's ten tracks, but it's as enjoyable as it is bumpy. Huismans' heady debut full-length appropriates Rhythm & Sound's dub techno ('Redux'), skippy Seiji-like broken beat ('Enforcers') and the unrefined bass pressure of Pinch ('Techno Dread') to make for an intoxicating, suffocating listen.

If it frequently comes off as scrappy, jumping from one stylistic quirk to the next from track to track, that's part of the charm. Huismans is really trying something here and Aerial's been integral to the dubstep genre's forward motion this past year. It's a cavernous, surprising record that manages to be both texturally harsh and inviting in its make-up.

2562 - Morvern (mp3)

2562 - Greyscale (mp3)

Bonus: Pattie Blingh And The Akebulan 5 - Brother: The Point (2562 Remix) (mp3)

49. Bun B - II Trill (Rap-A-Lot)

Anyone expecting the southern rap version of a candlelit vigil for Bun's late UGK counterpart, Pimp C will be disappointed by the fiery II Trill. Maybe it's because he's missing Pimp's clownish flow as a counterpoint, but Bun B has never sounded as filled with ire as he does here, due in part to the ear-buzzing, coked-up production from the likes of CHOPS, J. Rotem, Scott Storch and Mr Lee, amongst others, that sets Bun's stentorian bark in a suitably forthright context, but mostly because of B's clear anger at his sidekick's passing.

The guest list is massively impressive, with most of Southern Rap's major players popping up throughout. Lil' Wayne makes his obligatory guest spot on the superb 'Damn I'm Cold' and serves as a remarkably able Pimp C replacement, whilst David Banner puts in a verse better than anything on The Greatest Story Ever Told on elegy to the South, 'You're Everything'. Lupe Fiasco also proves himself a perfect fit to the Southern style on 'Swang On 'Em', while Chamillionaire actually doesn't sound too bad on 'Underground Thang'. Overall though, it's Bun B himself who shines through and it's a great start to his death-enforced solo career.

Bun B - You're Everything (feat. Rick Ross, David Banner and 8Ball & MJG) (mp3)

Bun B - Get Cha Issue (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video for 'You're Everything' on youtube.

48. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (Illegal Art)

It's absolutely futile reviewing a Girl Talk album, when the only real way to experience them is first-hand, where you're bombarded at first by the sheer outrageousness of the samples. The more you listen, the more difficult it becomes to separate these songs that you've known for so long from the new context that Greg Gillis sets them in. Hearing 'Paranoid Android' now, for instance, you can't help but think of Jay-Z spitting 'Roc Boys' over the top and, for me at least, Faith No More's 'Epic' will forever be twinned with 'Drop And Gimme 50'.

Feed The Animals is more proof of just how smart Gillis is. He's got a magnificent ear for the best bits of pop songs, but the joy of the album doesn't just lie in the thrill of acknowledgement, it's in the way Gillis constructs new perfect pop songs entirely from old ones. Each track here has a life of its own outside of the mix-y nature of the album. That said, Feed The Animals is best served whole, preferably at a party and that's what's really great about it.

Girl Talk - What It's All About (mp3)

Girl Talk - In Step (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the rather good fan-made video mash-up for 'Still Here'. You can link to videos for the rest of the album from there.

47. The Kills - Midnight Boom (Domino)

I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to pair The Kills with producer, Armani XXXchange, but thank the gods they did, as the Spank Rock-er injects the primal boogie of VV and Hotel's previous albums with a renewed rhythmic focus and an ear for odd percussive noises. Midnight Boom is all about the rhythm and bounce of great pop music, but it's never at the expense of a good hook. The Kills' latest has memorability by the pound and some of their best songs to date.

'Cheap and Cheerful' is all bubblegum, brain-dead sexuality and all the better for it, the metronomic kraut-pop of 'What New York Used To Be' sounds both vacant and heartfelt in equal measure, whilst 'Tape Song' smoulders and struts better than anything on their previous two full-lengths. The real highlight though is the stunning 'Last Day Of Magic', one of the best rock songs of the year. Midnight Boom is a stylistic leap-forward from a band that needed it most. More please.

The Kills - What New York Used To Be (mp3)

The Kills - M.E.X.I.C.O. (mp3)

Bonus: 'U R A Fever' live on Later With Jools.

46. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)

Amidst all the backlash against Vampire Weekend, a lot of people forgot what made them sit up and take notice in the first place. VW are a pretty great pop band, despite the vaguely trustafarian air about them and their none-more-white appropriation of African highlife music. Nobody sniffed, however, when Talking Heads did it. Not that I'm comparing Vampire Weekend to that band in the slightest, but you can't ignore David Byrne's influence on this almost pitch-perfect, breezy indie-world-pop record that never outstays its welcome and always tickles the ear in ways that very few other high profile debuts did this year.

Familiarity may have bred a little contempt, as tracks like 'A-Punk', 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' and 'I Stand Corrected' were damned inescapable this past summer, but Vampire Weekend still stands up as a brilliant pop record in a sea of mediocrity. That's all albums like this need to be really and this was the best of its kind in 2008.

Vampire Weekend - M79 (mp3)

Vampire Weekend - Walcott (mp3)

Bonus: 'Oxford Comma' live at this year's Glastonbury.