Best of '08

Earlier this week, Pitchfork published the results of the aforementioned readers' poll, and although my original picks for best albums of the year didn't fare as well as I would have hoped, it's a good list.

They're going to begin announcing their official Best of '08 lists tomorrow, beginning with honorable mentions, and so I thought I should throw mine out there - less in hope that it will predict their picks (it won't) and more to validate my choices as unintentionally non-hipster (as opposed to decidedly counter-cool).

The problem with lists: In any top five list, the first four are solid and the fifth is a nearly impossible and perpetually shifting position. In top 10 lists, you get a solid four, followed by three or four that could have been number five, and a few more solid choices to round things out.

I'll admit that my picks have changed since I last posted them. But, so what? I can change my mind, can't I?

That said: My 10 Favorite Albums of 2008

1. High Places - S/T
2. Man Man - Rabbit Habits
3. Jay Reatard - Singles '08
4. The Dodos - Visiter
5. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
6. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue
7. Sleepingdog - Polar Life
8. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
9. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
10. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dympha

My Top 10 Honorable Mentions (coincidentally, the list that will more likely resemble Pitchfork's top 10)

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
2. Cat Power - Jukebox
3. Fleet Foxes - S/T
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Ratatat - LP3
6. Juana Molina - Un Dia
7. Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
8. Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends
9. Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
10. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park

I'll save further commentary for later this week, but for now, feel free to post your lists here. And keep an eye out for tracks from some of these bands in this Friday's "Track of the Week" post.