The AV Club's Best Music of 2008

The AV Club has released their annual list of the best in music, which means it is once again time for me to break that list down into an expose of my staggering ignorance of modern music. This is my fourth year of doing this, believe it or not, and it just keeps getting sadder.

This year, the AV Club has listed their top 30 albums, as voted on by their 19 (!) music critics. And it's a great crop, as far as illustrating my massive lack of musical awareness goes.

Literally, Swear To God, Never Heard Of Them (Unless They Maybe Appeared On A Previous AV Club List And Made Zero Impression On Me)

Beach House, Devotion
The Helio Sequence, Keep Your Eyes Ahead
Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
Department of Eagles, In Ear Park
Flying Lotus, Los Angeles
Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer
The Cool Kids, The Bake Sale
Black Mountain, In the Future
Frightened Rabbit, The Midnight Organ Fight
Mates of State, Re-arrange Us
Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair
The Gaslight Anthem, The '59 Sound
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
The Walkmen, You & Me
Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life

Heard Of Them, Never Listened To Them

Sigur Ros, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
American Music Club, The Golden Age
Sun Kil Moon, April
Lupe Fiasco, The Cool
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Portishead, Third
Los Campesinos, Hold On Now, Youngster...

Heard Of Them, Heard Their Music, Don't Care For Them

Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs
Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Part One: 4th World War

Heard Of Them, Heard Their Music, Secretly Believe People Who Claim To Like Them Are Just Pretending In Order To Fuck With Me Personally, That's How Much I Can't Stand Them

TV on the Radio, Dear Science

Heard Of Them, Heard Some Of Their Music, Still Undecided

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
The Hold Steady, Stay Positive

Heard Of Them, Heard Their Music, Favorably Disposed Toward Them, Don't Own The Album

Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
Drive-By Truckers, Brighter Than Creation's Dark

Own The Album

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And there you have it: Tom's Musical Ignorance, 2008. As far as what I actually did listen to this year, well, I liked the latest Weezer album, which probably means I totally suck.

Anything above you want to recommend? And keep in mind, I mostly like good old fashioned rock and roll. Loud and fast. If you're going to suggest something that could be described as "sadcore," or "Icelandic," for Christ's sake don't bother. But if there's an actual gem in there I'm missing out on, please let me know!