Here are the TOP 12 releases of 2008

The year 2008 has been a great musical year with excellent album releases! Here are our monthly favorites for this year. See you soon and stay tuned for 2009′s New Frequencies. Happy New Year!

January: MGMT – ‘Oracular Spectacular’

‘Oracular Spectacular’ is the first major label studio album by Brooklyn, New York indie rock band MGMT, released digitally October 2, 2007 on Columbia Records, available in CD & LP formats from January 22, 2008. The album features new versions of both “Kids” and “Time to Pretend”, songs from their previous release, ‘Time To Pretend EP’ (2005), the opening track serving as a “mission statement” and theme continued through the proceeding tracks. Pitchfork Media compared MGMT to Muse and Mew but weaving in an early 90s Britpop sound. Prefix Magazine said the album “sounds like a college-dorm experiment gone horribly right.” It was named the best album of 2008 by NME Wireless Bollinger ranked the album as #5 in its top 10 albums of 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracular_Spectacular

February: Jack Johnson – ‘Sleep Through The Static’

‘Sleep Through the Static’ is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, released in the U.S. on February 5, 2008. The effort was announced on Johnson’s personal website as renovation began for the release of the album. It was recorded at L.A.’s Solar Powered Plastic Plant, which makes it Johnson’s first album not made in Hawaii. This more political album was played live for the first time at the BBC in December for a select number of fans. It has been reviewed by music critics around the world to mostly unenthusiastic reception. The album received mixed reviews from critics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Through_the_Static

March: The Raconteurs – ‘Consoleurs of The Lonely’

‘Consolers of the Lonely’ is the second album of The Raconteurs. It was released on March 25, 2008 on Warner Bros. Records in most parts of the world, and a day earlier on XL Recordings in the UK. The band did no promotion before the album’s release, and its existence was only confirmed a week before. Even so, the record was accidentally leaked by iTunes, and some fans managed to purchase the album early. It is available on all formats including CD, vinyl, and MP3. A video for the first single from the album, “Salute Your Solution” was released on the same day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolers_of_the_Lonely

April: Portishead – ‘Third’

‘Third’ is the third studio album by English musical group Portishead, released on April 28, 2008 on Island Records in the UK ,on April 29, 2008 on Mercury Records in the US (see 2008 in music) and on April 30, 2008 on Universal Music Japan in Japan (see 2008 in music). It represents a departure from their previous trip hop sound into a darker, rawer, more industrial style. It is their first release in 10 years, and their first studio album in 11 years. Equaling the performance of their first two studio albums in their native United Kingdom, Third entered the UK Album Chart at #2, and became the band’s first ever U.S. Top 10 album on the Billboard 200, reaching #7 in its entry week. As of October 2008, it has sold more than 1.5 million copies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_(Portishead_album)

May: Death Cab For Cutie – ‘Narrow Stairs’

‘Narrow Stairs’ is the sixth studio album by alternative rock band Death Cab for Cutie. It was released on May 12, 2008 in the United Kingdom and released on May 13, 2008 in the United States. The first single of the album was “I Will Possess Your Heart”, released on March 18, 2008. The second single is “Cath…”. The album was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200. The album has received mostly positive reviews. MTV’s James Montgomery referred to Narrow Stairs as “unquestionably the best thing [Death Cab has] ever done.” On another positive review, Rolling Stone called the album “a dark, strangely compelling record that trades the group’s bright melancholy for something nearer to despair.” The album has so far been highly rated by critics and fans, having been awarded 4 stars out of 5 by publications such as Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, Spin, Alternative Press, The Times, The Independent and The Guardian, as well as by the website Allmusic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow_Stairs

June: Weezer – ‘Weezer (Red Album)’

‘Weezer’, also known as “The Red Album”, is the sixth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on June 3, 2008. Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee both helped to produce the album. It is also the band’s third eponymous album. Like the first self-titled album (and unlike most Weezer records that featured Rivers Cuomo as the main songwriter and vocalist), other band members contributed to songwriting. This is the first Weezer album to feature lead vocals from all band members. The video for the album’s first single “Pork and Beans” quickly became the most-watched video on the internet the weekend following its release. Additionally, an unconventional Hootenanny Tour replaced the traditional rock concert tour to promote the album. The sales of The Red Album are below that of its 2005 predecessor, Make Believe, which was certified Gold (500, 000 copies) after the same amount of time The Red Album took to shift 300,000 albums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weezer_(2008_album)

July: Beck – ‘Modern Guilt’

‘Modern Guilt’ is a Grammy nominated, eighth studio album by American musician Beck. It was released on July 8, 2008. The album fulfills Beck’s recording contract with Interscope Records. Outside of North America, the record was released by XL Recordings. (see 2008 in music). ‘Modern Guilt’ features two contributions by Cat Power and was produced by Beck and Danger Mouse. A vinyl edition of the album, including download codes for 320-kbit/s MP3s direct from the master vinyl, was released on July 22, 2008. The album entered both the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart at number four, and gave Beck his first ever Top 10 placing on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine. The album has also been Beck’s best charting album in Australia, reaching 13. It sold 84,000 copies in its first week. Although successful, this does not match the first week sales of The Information, which were 99,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Guilt

August: Songs For Tibet – ‘The Art Of Peace’

‘Songs for Tibet – The Art of Peace’ is a music album with contributions from number of musicians from throughout the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa. The artists include Sting, Garbage, Rush, Suzanne Vega and Alanis Morissette. The album is an initiative to support Tibet, the promotion of peace, basic fundamental human rights, including freedom of speech and religion and the current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. Songs for Tibet – The Art Of Peace is a project from the Art of Peace Foundation in Washington DC. The Executive Director of the Art of Peace Foundation, Michael Wohl, is executive producer the album. Producer Rupert Hine oversaw the musical direction of the project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_for_Tibet

September: TV On The Radio – ‘Dear Science’

‘Dear Science’ is the fourth studio album from New York Indie band TV on the Radio. It was released on September 22, 2008 in most countries, with a release of September 23, 2008 in North America. The album was released on Interscope Records, with 4AD taking the worldwide distribution. Despite the marketed release date of September 23, the album was released to the American iTunes Store for download on September 16. Dear Science was named the best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin Magazine, Consequence of Sound, MTV, Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork Media’s readers poll, and was ranked 7th in Q Magazine’s list of the 50 best albums of 2008, where it was described as “art rock with a human face”. Wireless Bollinger, Uncut and the NME placed it at #2 in their top albums of 2008. John Earls placed it at #4 on Planet Sound’s top 50 albums of 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Science

October: The Dears – ‘Missiles’

‘Missiles’ is the fourth full-length studio album by Canadian indie rock band The Dears which was released on October 20, 2008 on Dangerbird Records. The album was marked by creative tensions within the band. By the time the recording process was complete, most of the supporting musicians had left, leaving only core members Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missiles_(album)

November: Butch Walker – ‘Sycamore Meadows’

‘Sycamore Meadows’ is the fourth full-length album by Butch Walker. It was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. Walker wrote three tracks (Ships In a Bottle, Vessels, and The 3 Kids In Brooklyn) prior to the Malibu house fires that took his home in November of 2007. These tracks were made available on Walker’s Myspace site in demo form in late 2007. Butch stated in an interview with InklingsTV that “[the fires] made [him] feel like [he] had something to prove, something that [he] needed to say”. The physical packaging of the album is, according to Walker, very ‘bare-bones’, because he wanted it to be ‘all about what’s on the disc’. Butch released a online-only video for Ships in a Bottle through his Myspace website on September 15, 2008. The music video for The Weight of Her premiered on Amazon.com November 24, 2008. A special 180-gram vinyl-edition release of Sycamore Meadows will be available for the 2008 holiday season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Meadows

December: Fall Out Boy – ‘Folie À Deux’

‘Folie à Deux’ is the fifth studio album by Fall Out Boy. The album, which is the follow-up to their 2007 album ‘Infinity on High’, was released on December 13, 2008. Collaborators include Lil Wayne, Pharrell, Panic at the Disco and Debbie Harry from Blondie. Fall Out Boy also stated that Elvis Costello recorded with acts from Decaydance. In its debut week, the album sold over 150,000 copies to place at number 8 on the Billboard 200. In its debut week, the album sold over 150,000 copies to place at number 8 on the Billboard 200.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_Deux_(album)