My 2008 Itunes playlist can keep me occupied for ceaseless hours.  It is an eclectic mix ranging from straight up dirty folk to electronic dance rage to some fine indie rock tunes and everything in or around.  As the year comes to an end lets stop and take a gander at some of the ridiculously awesome albums of 2008.  

January: MGMT-Oracular Spectacular, Electric Dance Rock music at its finest.  Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser started out rockin in school together and have basically exploded into an indie sensation.

Feburary: Hot Chip - Made in The Dark, 13 tracks of electro dance goodness, these guys could get even the scroogiest of scrooges to bust a move on the dance floor.

March: The Dodos - Visiter, Not only are the lyrics poetically powerful but Meric Long, the lead singer, has an enchanting voice.  The guitar and drums are some of the best I have heard in a long time.

April: The Presets - Apacolypso, The best track off the new album is “Talk Like That.”  This group is blessed with the sexy skill of incorporating the organ into a sick dance floor track.

May:  Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid  18 years in the bizz, this might be their best album yet.  

July: Black Kids - Partie Traumatic, keep an eye on these kids, their indie rock tunes are going to be around for a while.

August: Lykki Li - Youth Novels, The Swede’s first album is a smash.  17 tracks full of amazing lyrics, beats, and rock.  We love her.

September:  TV On The Radio - Dear Science, The 16 track album (including remixes, and some bonus tracks) follows the feel of previous TV On The Radio albums but sounds more refined and refreshing. 

October: Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping, They are not from Montreal, but rather from Athens, Georgia.  Either way they know how to entertain.  ”Of Montreal will never get ya down” 

November: The Sound of The Smiths, 2 Discs of The Smiths, 

what more could you want?  Oh wait, theres a 12 minute video on there too.  Formed in 1982 this collection of tunes is the best of the best, making it the 5th compilation album of The Smiths to date.

December: Cat Power - Dark End Of The Street, The Queen of smokey blues numbers, Cat Power, brings us an EP of six tracks recorded during her Jukebox sessions, four of which are previously unpublished.

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Tags: 2008 albums, Apacolypso, Black Kids, Cat Power, Dark End Of The Street, Dear Science, Elbow, electronic dance, Fleet Foxes, folk, Hot Chip, indie rock, Jukebox, Lykki Li, Made In The Dark, MGMT, Music, of montreal, oracular spectacular, Partie Traumatic, Skeletal Lamping, The Dodos, The Presets, The Seldom Seen Kid, The Smiths, The Sound Of The Smith, tv on the radio, Visiter, youth novels

Chan Marshall has been singing and performing music under the name Cat Power since she dropped out of high school back in Atlanta.  Her eighth album Jukebox came out in January of this year and her ninth, as of December 9th, can be found on local music store shelves.  The later is an EP of six songs, four of which are unpublished tracks from recordings during Jukebox.   Dark End Of The Street consists of everything that we love Cat Power for, including her low sultry voice, sparse guitar, and minimalist piano accompaniments.  

In the past, live performances by Cat Power have been unpredictable, with no real flow for songs and many ending shows early and abruptly.  Cat Power finished touring in Europe this past summer but will be performing on the Jay Leno show on February 11th.

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Tags: album, Cat Power, Chan Marshall, Dark End Of The Street, indie, Jukebox, Music