And today we wrap our look back on the last twelve months with a list of the Top 50 Albums of 2008 according to via//chicago...
50. The Cure - 4:13 Dream (Geffen)
49. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)
48. Fall Out Boy - Folie A Deux (Island)
47. Sigur Ros - med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust (XL Recordings)
46. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell (Saddle Creek)
45. Foals - Antidotes (Sub Pop)
44. Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday (Temporary Residence)
43. The Goslings - Occasion (Not Not Fun)
42. Ruby Suns - Sea Lion (Sub Pop)
41. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (Sony)
40. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (Geffen)
39. Darker My Love - 2 (Dangerbird)
38. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (Cash Money)
37. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar)
36. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost (Light in the Attic)
35. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (Kranky)
34. Opeth - Watershed (Roadrunner)
33. Nomo - Ghost Rock (Ubiquity)
32. M83 - Saturdays=Youth (Mute)
31. Oneida - Preteen Weaponry (Jagjaguwar)
30. Dungen - 4 (Kemado)
29. Dodos - Visiter (French Kiss)
28. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (ANTI-)
27. Jaguar Love - Take Me to the Sea (Matador)
26. Sun Kil Moon - April (Caldo Verde)
25. The Walkmen - You & Me (Gigantic)
24. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (Astralwerks)
23. Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1 (Century Media)
22. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
21. Longwave - Secrets Are Sinister (Original Signal)
20. Harvey Milk - Life... The Best Game in Town (Hydra Head)
These Georgian riff-monsters continue their career resurgence with one of their best LPs yet, a thrillingly agile record that pulls from a wide variety of influences to give us one of the most creative metal releases of 2008.
19. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst (Merge)
Conor sets aside the Bright Eyes moniker to release what may just be his most mature album yet, letting his natural songwriting shine through without his overindulgent tendencies and these are some of the strongest of his career.
18. Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward (Ecstatic Peace)
Another blast of fresh air from these Nashville kids that, sadly, will more than likely end up as the band's swan song. Jemina Pearl explodes like a Pop Rock and Coke bomb, delving into tales of high school rivalry, refusing to grow up, and... oh, yeah... zombies. Awesome.
17. Black Mountain - In the Future (Jagjaguwar)
A psychedelic, retro stoner rock album of the finest pedigree, cramming crushing riffs, soaring organs, prog interludes and garage rock rhythms into every nook and cranny.
16. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)
Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner activate their Wonder Twin powers for the second Wolf Parade full-length, and it's a doozy. In a more just world "Call It A Ritual" and "Language City" would have been the Top 40 hits they deserve to be.
15. Jay Reatard - Matador Singles 08 (Matador)
To tide fans over until next year's proper full-length, Jay spent 2008 tossing out some highly prized singles that showed off different aspects of his songwriting prowess. Even if 2009 fails to deliver for Reatard (highly unlikely), this will stand as an excellent testament to his skills.
14. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)
Quite likely the best thing to come out of the backwoods of Wisconsin since, I don't know, venison jerky. Freedom and desolation feed a hauntingly lovely album.
13. No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
This L.A. duo single-handedly revived '90s indie rock with last years Weirdo Rippers and this album, combining pop sensibility with a penchant for noise. A hard record to ignore and even harder to get out of your head.
12. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador)
One of the more adventurous releases of 2008 came courtesy of a Canadian hardcore band that saw fit to toss some hallucinogenic prog-rock in with their otherwise brutal assault.
11. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. (Kranky)
Beautiful, gauzy indie pop filtered through layers upon layers of shoegaze haze and shimmering chords. Bradford Cox continues to improve with each successive release.
10. Portishead - Third (Mercury)
Eleven years after their last album and they haven't lost a single step. In fact, judging by the variety on display within, seems like they've managed to pick up a trick or two over the last decade. The grower of the year for me.
9. Torche - Meanderthal (Hydra Head)
It's too bad that Torche is considered a "metal" band, because that's going to scare a lot of potential fans away from one of the poppiest, most accessible riff-fests I've ever heard.
8. Lykke Li - Youth Novels (Atlantic)
Forget Britney, forget Katy, forget Mariah - Lykke is the pop diva of 2008. Sexy, charming, playful and, most importantly, wholly original - the Swedish Li represented everything that the other ladies on the pop chart seemed to be lacking this year.
7. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (Fat Cat)
Because the '00s bedroom depressives needed their own Smiths. Between the larger than life vocals and the bleeding heart-on-sleeve lyrics - its not a bad comparison.
6. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (Capitol)
Who knew? It only took four albums, but Chris Martin and his band finally live up to all the expectations piled on them since the beginning. Let U2 fade quietly into the night - we have our new biggest band in the world.
5. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (Interscope)
They deserve a spot on this list for the gorgeous "Family Tree" along, but the rest of the disc is nearly as good, adding a healthy dose of funk to the band's already potent sonic stew.
4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (Modular)
Blatantly derivative, backwards-focused pop that belies all expectations and ends up being one of the more pleasant releases of the year. Getting DFA mastermind Tim Goldsworthy to produce certainly helps, but when you have tunes as killer as "Hearts On Fire", "Out There on the Ive", "So Haunted", and "Lights & Music" - it's going to be a great year.
3. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... (Arts & Crafts)
The first of their two(!) impressive 2008 albums is the better of the two, but only because it features the more immediate tunes of the bunch. The best young band on the planet.
2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL Recordings)
Now that the hype has died down and we've gotten past the backlash to the backlash to the backlash to this band's early success, we can appreciate the debut for what it is - a fantastic pop album with bucketloads of charm.
1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) (Motown)
Badu's compelling neo-funk album was a fitting soundtrack for 2008 - all of the anger, fear, passion and anxiety with a strong undercurrent of hope. An album worth returning to again and again and again. Dilla would be proud.
And a few honorable mentions...
Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts - Temporary People (Lonely Astronaut)
Blitzen Trapper - Furr (Sub Pop)
Bun B - II Trill (Rap-A-Lot)
Jason Collett - Here's To Being Here (Arts & Crafts)
Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom (Earache)
Dead Meadow - Old Growth (Matador)
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs (Atlantic)
The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound (Side One Dummy)
The Gates of Slumber - Conqueror (Profound Lore)
Gojira - The Way of All Flesh (Prosthetic)
The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (Sub Pop)
Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair (Mute)
Intronaut - Prehistoricisms (Century Media)
The Killers - Day & Age (Island)
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night (RCA)
Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel (EMD International)
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (Warner Bros.)
Jamie Lidell - Jim (Warp)
Little Joy - Little Joy (Rough Trade)
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash (Matador)
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling (Matador)
Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd. (Fueled By Ramen)
Quiet Village - Silent Movie (K7)
Santogold - Santogold (Downtown)
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E (Fontana International)
These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid (Domino)
T.I. - Paper Trail (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)
U.S. Christmas - Eat the Low Dogs (Neurot)
Vandermark 5 - Beat Reader (Atavistic)
Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella)
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