Brian's top albums of 2008. . .

Love as laughter - Holy. This album is really good. I don't know it took me a while to like it, and now I put it on without even thinking about it. I know the CD art and just spot it and put it in without even realizing it. Thanks Isaac for finding this band and pushing them into the Sub Pop family.

David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything that happens will happen today. Ok, the first time these two collaborated it wasn't anything special, but now with "Everything" they seem to have found a sound that really makes sense at the time when it was made. Note to other bands try and do this, and you will be famous, or at least be noticed as that's all that really matters nowadays.

Valient Thorr - Immortalizer. This band is more rock than any band out there today. They are sweaty, denim clad, bearded, head banging rockers that will give you their kidney's if you need it. Well not really, but their lead singer Valient Himself did document his kidney removal for his own father in their—really solid music dvd—In Heat.

Titus Andronicus - Airing of Grievances. This band came out of nowhere and for some people they never came out at all. Their debut album is so visceral one might mistake it for a really good live album. The album has its highs and lows, but as a whole it is still better mix of musicianship and feeling than any album that came out this year; remember the name it will give you points.

Fucked Up - The chemistry of common life. I hate hardcore music. I hate that you have to sing in certain way to be categorized as hardcore. Point of fact, I hate tag lines for music in general; and its for that reason that I loved Fucked Up's latest. This album is not hardcore, but the lead singer sings like it is. In all the reviews I read for this album "reviewers" had problems categorizing it and that means that the band was able to accomplish something that hardly any band this year did, it made the listener think about what kind of music this exactly is. My answer: just music.

Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground - Self. Every time I get sick of local music, some band comes along and reminds me that there is a good band for all the bad ones (see: Throw Me The Statue, Jaguar Love, Grand Archives). Kay Kay features the former lead man from Gatsby's American Dream with a large supporting cast including members of the Lashes and the live band for the Blue Scholars. What they sound like is for you to determine, but should you—yes!

New Albums by Kings Of Leon, Cold War Kids, The Hold Steady, My Morning Jacket, and TV On The Radio: These bands were just buzz bands a year ago and now they are the mainstay acts to see as headliners, and sure bets for albums of the year. One look at www.metacritic.com shows just how many top ten lists these bands made with their latest releases.

Colour Revolt - Plunder Beg and Curse. This is the best band you have never heard of. Plain and simple, post-punk is a used up genre but these Mississippians do it right, and how they do it seems to be all their own. For evidence of this go over to www.daytrotter.com and search the bands name. They have a terrific sensibility for melody and timing and with those elements they excel.

Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band - Conor Oberst. When you go on a road trip like I did at the end of the summer of 2008, its always good to have good road music. And, there was no better road music than the first "real" solo record from the Bright Eyes front man. This album just breathes freedom with lines such as, "when I get to moab and get my canteen filled, there's nothing that the road cannot heal."

Wolf Parade - At Mt. Zoomer. This album is a little too good; I mean not really, but seriously the players on this record know how to make music. Then I saw them live and they were young, not just out of high school, young but pretty young, and it made me wonder if hipsters had found a way to sell their souls to the devil for – all to tight – pants, and a musical style that shows a knowledge of music past ones own age and ability to absorb mass amounts of quality music.

Honorable Mentions: Oasis – Dig out your soul, Blitzen Trapper – Furr, Stephen Malkamus – Real emotional Trash, Toadies – No Deliverance, The Roots – Rising Down, The Verve – Forth, Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely, The Little Ones – Morning Tide, The Cops – Free Electricity, Spiritualized – Songs in A & E, Shim – Feel like a king, Scott Weiland – Happy in Golashes, The Night Watchmen – The fabled city, Mars Volta – Bedlam in Goliath, Los Campesinos – We are beautiful we are doomed, Brian Wilson – That lucky old sun, Elbow – That seldom seen kid, Common Market – Tobacco road, Annuals – Such Fun, Eagles of Death Metal – Heart On, Foals – Antidote, Jay Retard – Matador singles, The Knux – Remind me in three days, and just for Axl—Guns and Roses – Chinese Democracy.