Best albums of 2008: Rodbard's picks

Girl Talk (Credit: Andrew Strasser)

1. Girl Talk, “Feed the Animals” (Illegal Art)
Judging Girl Talk tracks is not an exercise in picking the “best,” but rather what most hits your musical wheelhouse. Opener “Play Your Part (Pt. 1)” starts with the vocals from UGK’s pimping manifesto “International Player's Anthem” blasted over a sweet blend of “Gimme Some Lovin',” “Oh, Pretty Woman” and that Unicorns song from 2003. The track ends four minutes later with “Stuntin' Like My Daddy” and “Nothing Compares 2 U” trading leading and backing roles. Huey Lewis, Lil Mama and Temple of the freaking Dog show up in between. Seems exhausting. It’s breathtaking fun. Plus, you can pay what you want for it.

2. British Sea Power, “Do You Like Rock Music?” (Rough Trade)
In a year without an Arcade Fire fix, here’s the next best thing—a band that nerds out over 1830s ocean current maps, yet has a sound big enough to fill stadiums. Magnificent single “No Lucifer” answers the album title’s amusing inquiry just swell.

3. Novillero, “A Little Tradition” (Mint)
Novillero follows in the tradition of former label-mates the New Pornographers, playing smart synth/organ pop tracks with such calculated abandon, it recalls the earliest days of the NPs—when the "side project" played small clubs, drank heavily and started dance riots on a nightly basis. So we shall refer to Novillero as the Old Pornographers for now.

4. TV on the Radio, “Dear Science” (Interscope)
So many genres and well-executed concepts mixing around on this album, be it blippy soul singing (“Crying’), New Orleans jazz (“Red Dress”) or the massive electro-funk hit (“Golden Age”), sculpted by the band’s production dynamo Dave Sitek.

5. Q-Tip, “The Renaissance” (Universal Motown)
Didn’t see this one coming out—this decade. But here we are, nine years after a middling solo debut, Q-Tip has released his real solo debut, a deep album packed with well-placed soul samples (“Getting Up”) and a posthumous cameo from producer J. Dilla (“Move”). D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq appear during choice neo-soul moments.

6. Vampire Weekend, “Vampire Weekend” (XL Recordings)
To some, it feels like this band is so 2007 (release date: January 29, 2008). To some, it feels like this band is debatable fashion and bad world music aping. To some, step off! Vampire Weekend sorta blew up the world in 2008, and rightly so. This album is a perfect storm of crystal clear guitar licks, intriguing percussion choices and frontman Ezra Koenig’s boyish singing style.

7. Jim Noir, “Jim Noir” (Barsuk)
The character Jim Noir is played by a psychedelic-pop fanboy from Manchester, England named Alan Roberts, a cartoon of a fellah with a thing for covering territory prized by the Beach Boys, Beck and Super Furry Animals. We love those bands! And Jim Noir! 

8. Cut Copy, “In Ghost Colours” (Modular)
This Melbourne trio successfully navigates the stylistic fault lines between Daft Punk, My Bloody Valentine and cheese puffs Erasure. In a possible nod to Cyndi Lauper and Toni Basil, prime cut “Far Away” encapsulates the best of ‘80s electro-pop—Brit-kissed accents and Ms. Pac-Man shimmies included.

9. Wolf Parade, “At Mount Zoomer” (Sub Pop)
Screw the sophomore slump: Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner crafted an imaginative, sometimes jammy, always interesting follow-up to "Apologies to the Queen Mary". With a driving drum march and swirling synths, opener “Soldier’s Grin” could be the ideal soundtrack for fighting Ganon in one of those Zelda forests—there are elements of computers, fantasy and violence in this weird (and standout) opening track.

10. Koufax, “Strugglers” (Doghouse)
Robert Suchan has been the only constant member in Koufax, a decade-old piano-pop band that was most famously a side project of Get-Up Kids brothers Robert and Ryan Pope. Suchan was always the guiding force, releasing songs laced with synth bounce (the Cars) and soaring harmonies (Beach Boys) to confident studio atmospherics (Spoon) and PG-rated cathartics (Dashboard Confessional). It all came together in 2008, with the election run-up as prime source material.

Honorable mention:
The Hold Steady, “Stay Positive” (Vagrant)
The Dodos, “Visiter” (Frenchkiss)
Pas/Cal, "I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke and Laura" (Le Grand Magistery)
The Phenomenal Handclap Band, "The Phenomenal Handclap Band" (Common Folks)
Neon Neon, “Stainless Style” (Lex)
Tobacco, “F---ed Up Friends” (Anticon)
She & Him, “Volume 1” (Merge)
Beck, “Modern Guilt” (Interscope)
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, "Real Emotional Trash" (Matador)
Colourmusic, "f, monday, orange, february, venus, lunatic, 1 or 13" (Great Society/Worlds Fair)