Albums: Ten of the best from 2008

10. TV on the Radio: Dear Science

The avant-garde New Yorkers’ fourth LP is their most accessible yet. Intelligent lyrics and brash, multilayered textures make for an exhilarating and varied ride, whilst Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals like those of a tamed beast, his restrained baritone giving way to frequent falsetto cries. Amongst the onslaught of grinding beats, brass, synths and loops lies ‘Family Tree’, a tender ballad the likes of which TVotR have never released before.

9. Adem: Takes

Once a member of the proggy Fridge Collective, Adem Ilhan is now an acclaimed nu-folk artist. With two albums of originals behind him, ‘Takes’ is a collection of cover versions of songs from the decade leading up to 2001; Adem’s self-proclaimed ‘formative years’. A wide-ranging selection of songs is reimagined with sensitivity and warmth, including tracks by Björk, dEUS, Smashing Pumpkins and PJ Harvey. Most notable is the excellent splicing of two electronic tracks from Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James album.

8. The Hold Steady: Stay Positive

Craig Finn and co. returned with their fourth album this year, combining their classic bar-room rock format with something more sophisticated. Both harpsichord and mandolin were included as the Hold Steady’s tales of American youth developed, and Finn's engaging stories of drugs and relationships were combined with the more adult realm of the courthouse. A fundamental optimism reigns throughout, and Stay Positive is invigorating.

7. Laura Marling: Alas, I Cannot Swim

Much has been made of Marling’s age (only 17 at the time of recording this, her debut), but it takes more than just years to provide the insights she offers. Her contemporary folk music, oft-inspired by the likes of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, combines with her unique yet universal observations to provide an excellent set of songs. ‘Ghosts’ and ‘My Manic and I’ are standout tracks, but the whole album is affecting.

6. Hot Chip: Made in the Dark

Hot Chip’s eagerly awaited return began with successful singles ‘Shake a Fist’ and ‘Ready for the Floor’, the latter of which produced the perfect pop that established their reputation back when ‘Over and Over’ came out. The rest of the album embraces clunky beats and odd sounds that other groups couldn’t get away with, but they always combine to produce something infectious and danceable. Strangely missing from the Mercury Prize shortlist, ‘Made in the Dark’ is the pop record of the year.

5. Son of Dave: 03

The most obscure record here, Son of Dave is Benjamin Darvill, once a member of Crash Test Dummies and now a one-man blues phenomenon. 03 sees a short a-cappella opening with a female backing vocalist give way to the catchiest half hour of music I’ve heard this year. A joy from start to end, Son of Dave combines addictive foot-stomping, looped beatboxing, harmonica and guitar riffs. Get your hands on a copy if you can, and turn it up loud. Just make sure you don’t have any deadlines looming; you might be unable to stop listening for days afterwards.

4. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago

Behind Justin Vernon’s debut effort as Bon Iver lies a story almost too good to be true: man gets his heart broken, runs away to live alone in a cabin for the winter months, hunts for food, writes songs, finds inner strength. It would be easy for that context to overpower the actual content, but it doesn’t. The songs are sparsely arranged and stunning, and evoke the solitude which produced them. Closing track ‘Re: Stacks’ beautifully portrays Vernon letting go of his past, and it resonates long after listening.

3. Portishead: Third

Of all the bands returning from hiatus this year, only Portishead have done something exceptional. Without sounding like a different band, the dinner party trip-hop of their 90s output has been reinvented into an almost wholly original style. A synthetic industrial backing contrasts with Beth Gibbons’ haunting vocals to make an album which is harsh and scary, whilst also completely human, full of vulnerable beauty. The acoustic doo-wop of ‘Deep Water’ is an unexpected but pleasing turn, sandwiched between the jarring ‘We Carry On’ and ‘Machine Gun’.

2. Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow’s Mercury Prize win this year was well-deserved. In ‘Grounds for Divorce’ and ‘One Day Like This’, the album produced two of the top singles of the year, whilst album tracks including ‘Friend of Ours’ (which referred to the band’s late friend, Brian Glancy, the seldom seen kid of the album title) were enough to make grown men cry. Guy Garvey’s lyrical wit and sensitivity, the music of the band and some subtle string arrangements proved Elbow to be far more than ‘just another Coldplay’.

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!

Most rock musicians, by the age of 50, have either accepted that their best work is behind them and retired to a mansion somewhere, or continue putting out increasingly inane records until they are no longer physically able. Nick Cave is still going, but rather than falling victim to the stereotype, the Bad Seeds’ fourteenth album shows Cave at his brilliant best.

Partly inspired by his Grinderman project, Cave has returned with one of his most musically violent albums. The opening track brings the biblical Lazarus’ story to 1970s New York, and the remainder of the album addresses all the big questions: of sex, society, human nature and God, with Cave’s unique biting wit. The Bad Seeds are as together and powerful as ever, from Warren Ellis’ loops in ‘Night of the Lotus Eaters’ to the whole band’s backing vocals in ‘Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl)’.

Dark, edgy, and very, very funny, Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! might just be the best album Nick Cave has released, and is untouched by any others this year.

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