My Favorite Albums of 2008, so far – updated for October

So much great music this year, as always. Here’s what I’m thinking right now are my favorite albums of the year.

  1. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (ATO)

    Not the oddball left turn everyone says, but the band taking the atmospheric-rock sound of the last album and allowing the soul and funk influences they’ve dabbled in before to take hold in interesting ways.

  2. Willie Nelson – Moment of Forever (Lost Highway)

    One of his best in years, maybe even decades. Better than every single one of the many “comeback” albums he’s made the last couple decades.

  3. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah, Part One: 4th World War (Motown)

    All of her albums are genius, but this one especially so. It’s the most hip-hop album she’s made, and also the weirdest – a Funkedelic/J-Dilla-influenced vision of the apocalypse, with glimmers of hope within.

  4. The Capstan Shafts – Fixation Protocols (Rainbow Quartz)

    Best album yet from this lo-fi, GBV-influenced eccentric from Vermont. Homemade rock n’ roll album of the year.

  5. Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song (Mercury Nashville)

    Tough, sad country music in the “outlaw” tradition, an exciting update on Waylon Jennings specifically.

  6. Beaujolais – Love at Thirty (Parasol)

    Or, more precisely, the destruction of love at age 30. Just as harrowing as the Jamey Johnson album but in a different genre – melodic pop-rock.

  7. Ponies in the Surf – See You Happy (Darla)

    Such a unique band, with a great sound – romantic and melancholy.

  8. No Kids – Come Into My House (Tomlab)

    Short-stories of frustration, cast in a gorgeous light as orchestral-pop tunes.

  9. Dolly Parton – Backwoods Barbie (Dolly)

    A fun, lively album from the country-music legend. Love that Fine Young Cannibals cover, as odd as it is!

  10. Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City)

    This keeps growing on me, it’s moving upward…