Countdown to 2009: Bill's Top Ten Albums of 2008

8. Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
Most people are familiar with the New Zealand parody duo Flight of the Conchords (Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) through their brilliant HBO seri... oh wait. Nobody watches that channel anymore since they canceled Deadwood for no reason. Well, anyway, Flight of the Conchords is coming back in January 2009, and the uninitiated may want to familiarize themselves by listening to this album. It is enjoyable not only for how funny it is, but also for how musically refined it turned out to be. The album primarily consists of songs produced for the television series, but also includes some that originated as part of their live act. While maintaining their original structure, the songs benefit from the addition of keyboards, drums, and other accouterments. The result is the proto-reggae of "Boom," the faux soul of "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)," and, in a relatively weak year for hip-hop, what might be the best rap tune of the year, "Mutha'uckas."

7. Heart On – Eagles of Death Metal
Maybe this band is a side project for Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Homme, but it is one really, really good side project. Homme, as drummer here with singer/guitarist Jesse Hughes, has found gold with the stripped-down, straightforward rock of his "time-killing" duo. The band, which had success with its 2006 album Death by Sexy, registers even stronger this time with a recipe that includes sophomoric lyrics, crushing percussion, and a gang of riffs so ripped-off from Keith Richards you might assume that Hughes has a man-crush on the mummified Rolling Stone—which he does, and is proud of it. While the entire album is bruising, good fun, one must only look to showcase "High Voltage" for why this set of 12 songs kicks ass: the tweeter-blowing intro hands off to a dagger-sharp scratch-guitar riff, which leads to a chorus so simple and huge it transcends literature class. "She loves rock 'n roll?" Uh... so do I, and this album is kinda why.

6. Robyn – Robyn
It's hard to believe that the stylish, envelope-pushing pop on the fourth album by Swedish chanteuse Robyn could get made in 2008, an age of cynical corporations hiring overexposed songsmiths to write tired clichés for prepackaged teenyboppers to sell digital units to mindless, tween iPod owners. Of course it can't, since this album was actually released in her homeland in 2005 and took three years to get to the United States after time as an international sensation in the U.K. and across Europe. Once it hit the States, the thinking was that domestic music enthusiasts would be blown away by the hip-hop tinged "Bum Like You," the innovative, retro-Chic "Crash and Burn Girl," and the entrancing R&B of "Anytime You Like." Alas, the album didn't really catch fire because Robin Miriam Carlsson is older than 15, and, well... the Jonas Brothers are in town tonight!!! Anyway, it is still an incredible album.

5. Attack & Release – The Black Keys
For pure, blow-your-hair-back blues rock, not many bands can match the Akron duo of Dan Auerbach (guitar and vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). On this release, their incredible sound is bolstered by the technical and keyboard wizardry of uber-producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton. Could these songs have worked just as well with the duo's usual minimalist approach? Perhaps. But the extra depth added by the producer leaves the listener glad to not have an answer to that question. The tinkering reaps major rewards in almost every song, but several stand out as highlights. In "Psychotic Girl," Burton's ragtime piano matches well with Auerbach's banjo-plucking breakdown, while a perfectly placed Hammond organ adds greatly to the drama of album closer "Things Ain't Like They Used to Be." If you like the band more as the grimy, surging pair you used to know, you can press repeat on the tracks where the producer keeps to the sound board, such as "I Got Mine" and "Remember When (Side B)."

4. Modern Guilt – Beck
It was quite a year for Danger Mouse. I've already mentioned his work with The Black Keys, and his band, Gnarls Barkley, released The Odd Couple, a solid follow-up to their 2006 debut, St. Elsewhere. Since his schedule wasn't already packed enough, he served as producer on the eighth studio album from the inimitable Beck Hansen. Many critics have said that the album is a return to form after the mixed results of Guero and The Information. As a fan who has never heard a full-length Beck album that I would rate below a solid B, it is tough for me to say that. I will simply say that the end of the world, which seems to be the jumping-off point for most of the lyrics on Modern Guilt, has never sounded so fresh and full of sonic vitality. For instance, "Gamma Ray" is supposed to be about global warming or something, but all I can hear is the sound of one of those 1960s Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon surf movies with a house band of some obscure British Invasion collective that I am not cool enough to have ever heard of. Other standouts include "Youthless"—a labyrinthine masterpiece built out of a looped guitar, some space-age tape effects, and Beck's underrated MC skills—and "Replica," a drum-and-bass driven piece of distortion topped off with strings and, of course, Burton's keyboard noodles.

3. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Not since The Strokes 2001 release, Is This It?, has an album been so full of hummable melodies and perfectly structured choruses. Of course, when history looks back and wonders which band launched the end-of-the-decade regurgitation of Afro pop wannabes, this will be the band to blame. But, for now, it is OK to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of the foursome's seeming obsession with Johann Sebastian Bach and Paul Simon's Graceland. Mixing in classical instruments, echoing drums, and the distinctive sound of singer Ezra Koenig's vocals, Vampire Weekend constructs an album full of songs that could have been released as first singles. Love-struck romantics at heart, the group shines brightly on up-tempo love songs like "Bryn" and "Campus," which are both marked by jumpy guitar lines, thumping drums, and pulsing keys courtesy of multi-instrumentalist/producer/guy with unpronounceable last name Rostam Batmanglij. Still, the band is not all pep and light. Witness the epic closer and possible economic indicator "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance," a beautiful, four-minute mini-concerto consisting mostly of violin, a lonely bass drum, and a single keyboard note.

2. Third – Portishead
Back into the mist they go. No tour. No appearances on Leno. No agreement to prostitute themselves through merchandising agreements with Volkswagen, Walmart, or Starbucks. The only thing we got out of British trio Portishead once they emerged from their 11-year slumber was a date at Coachella, a tiny tour of Europe, and an album of ominous, kaleidoscopic, psychedelic, and, yes, mind-blowing songs called Third. Now they're all back to their personal lives or whatever. To be fair, though, you may take another full decade listening to this 11-song set and still find something new to chew on with every trip through the ol' Apple listening device. There is the pure joy of hearing lead singer Beth Gibbons, a singular voice in 1990s “alternative” music, actually opening her mouth and forming syllables to music. There is the pure wonder of finding out where the group is going to take each song from moment to moment. Many of the songs feature dramatic shifts in their direction, including "The Rip," which moves from tender guitar plucking to piercing drum-and-keyboard theatrics. And then there are the sonic adventures for which nothing in the previous Portishead discography can prepare even the most devoted listener. Two particular examples are "We Carry On," a stirring anthem energized by a humongous bass drum and a jangling lead guitar, and the absolutely ferocious "Machine Gun," in which Gibbons' delicate voice stands in stark contrast to a cornucopia of both traditional and digitized drums and a gang of mechanized sounds made by... you know what, I have no idea how they made them, but they rule!

1. Dear Science – TV on the Radio
The only question remaining now that Brooklyn quintet TV on the Radio has followed up its superior Return to Cookie Mountain with an even-better amalgam of funk, indie dance, and art rock is what's next…and when are they releasing it so I can get in line? While I knew that guitarist/singer Kyp Malone (who shares the duties with traditional front man Tunde Adebimpe) had a monster falsetto, I did not anticipate him using it to get his Prince on in "Crying," one of many album highlights. I knew producer David Andrew Sitek would continue to seek out new variations of the group's multilayered sound, I had no idea he would call on members of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra (it's OK if you don't know who these guys are; neither do I) to add rich horn sections to "Dancing Choose" and "Halfway Home." The group's previous work prepared me for the delicacy of their vocal harmonies, but the ornate "Family Tree" shone a new light on Malone and Adebimpe, voices that are quickly becoming two of the most interesting in the musical landscape. Finally, how can you not love an album that features a war protest song ("Red Dress") that, rather than going all gloomy, has the band going all upbeat and future-funk like Parliament Funkadelic fronted by a hip-hop Iggy Pop. As Malone would sing, "There's a golden age coming 'round," and hopefully it includes more albums by these guys.

Image Credit: Flickr user tammylo