It’s that time of year again — the turkey leftovers are long gone and we’re hearing Christmas music in every store in town, so it must be time for best-albums-of-year lists.

After screaming matches, insults and a fist fight or two, the dust has settled and the Stranger Dance staff stands before you united with our humble list of the Top 15 Albums of 2008. We’ve also listed our personal top ten lists below.

As always, please let us know how foolish we were (both collectively and individually) for leaving your favorite band’s album off in favor of our dreck.

For fun, you can also check out our favorite albums of 2007 and see how they hold up a year later.

Without further ado, here are our final picks for the finest records of the year. (Drum roll, please…)

1. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes is hardly a sexy pick for #1. They say not to judge a book by it’s cover, but in this case, it’s a little enlightening. Take one look at the 16th-century cover art (by Pieter Bruegel the Elder) of their eponymous full-length debut and you realize that this is not a band trying to rock the boat or push the envelope.

In fact, when the results of the Stranger Dance voting came back with Fleet Foxes in first, there were a few calls for a recount. But as someone who did give them the number one vote, I couldn’t be happier.

Their music at first seems like a straight homage to ’60s folk (insert troubadour joke/reference here), but a deeper influence emerges after repeated plays, one that goes even further back, including even medieval music. For their part, the Foxes refer to their music as “baroque harmonic pop jams” — again, not exactly sexy.

While it’s not as flashy as ground-breaking albums, the Fleet Foxes are all about the perfect execution of an existing, simple form. Think vanilla ice cream (the good stuff with vanilla specks) or a perfect ribeye (medium rare, of course). You’ve heard music like this before, but when it’s done so incredibly well, the result is still inspiring.

We’ve talked about their vocal prowess before, and it is truly something that you have to hear live to believe. Comparisons to choral harmonies of the Beach Boys and the reverb of recent indie-Americana greats like My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses are easy, if not disrespectful of their right to be compared to no one but themselves. Rest that on a foundation of bare, soul-plunging songwriting, sparse (yet solid) musicianship and you’ve got yourself a masterpiece.

With its vocal rounds, steady steel strums and booming drums, “White Winter Hymnal” may be my favorite song of the year — even if it is only 2:27 long. But that might be a difficult call when you’ve got an entire album of mysterious songs that leave you wanting more no matter how long you listen. The cascading piano outro to “He Doesn’t Know Why” is a siren song drawing you into “Heard Them Stirring” — a lost, wordless song that proves this is not an album of feel-good answers, but rather, a declaration of lost beauty (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter). You almost have to let the album repeat to get the re-affirming “Sun It Rises” after the death of “Oliver James,” lest you like to walk away with teary eyes.

- Vague Panther

Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal”
Fleet Foxes – “He Doesn’t Know Why”

2. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Last winter, Justin Vernon retreated to his father’s cabin in northern Wisconsin to re-examine his life and remove himself from the distractions of the outside world. When he emerged, he did so with a renewed sense of self, and one of the most beautiful and viscerally honest collections of songs ever recorded. Most will disagree, but I’m ready to include Bon Iver’s debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, alongside Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks among the greatest breakup records of all time.

The first thing you notice when you listen to For Emma, Forever Ago from start to finish is the consistency — not just in the quality of the melodies and songcraft — but in the cohesiveness of the sound. While each song introduces a new melodic theme, they are all tied together by a sparse, almost heartbeat-like rhythm that makes the record feel like an opus; the songs, like chapters in a book. In this sense, For Emma is an album in the truest sense of the word.

This driving rhythm often builds to a crescendo in tracks like “Skinny Love” and “Creature Fear,” where the palpable tension is created by Vernon’s mastery of dynamics. In a single song, Vernon softly mewls over one verse, then erupts in the next — as if triggered by yet another agonizing memory. There is also a meticulous attention to detail — every ringing harmonic, every layered vocal track, every clatter of percussion — is placed with painstaking precision. The greatness is in the unexpected choices (horns in “For Emma,” wah guitar lick in “Wolves,” Vernon’s grainy falsetto delivery) that add a textural complexity and depth that separates For Emma from your run-of-the-mill folk record.

Despite the complexity and the countless layers, Bon Iver’s music is somehow uncluttered, even crystalline; notable for it’s honesty, passion, and poised lyrics. It’s also a work of art that is highly indebted to circumstance. In a recent interview Vernon confessed, “In reality I headed out to the cabin because I just didn’t know what to do next in my life. Once I got there though it just felt like all the blocks that I had put in my brain and heart in terms of musical expression started to loosen.” What this loosening revealed is a painfully beautiful portrait of a man who’s been blindsided and tormented by the anguish of loss — yet still willing to confront it.

- Scooter

Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”
Bon Iver – “Re: Stacks”

3. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue

After doing some quick math, I’m convinced that based on Canada’s modest population, every Canadian man, woman and child is in an indie rock band. The Canadian government has clearly started an official state program for world dominance through indie rock.

In the past few years, America’s hat has been responsible for Broken Social Scene/Fiest, Wolf Parade, Besnard Lakes, New Pornographers/A.C. Newman/Neko Case/Destroyer, Arcade Fire and Patrick Watson, among others. Amazingly, they’ve squeezed out yet another top-notch act in Plants and Animals.

While their sound is difficult to describe, it’s clearly indebted to the late ’60s and early ’70s (in the best sense). Combining the freak folk of Devendra Banhart with Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles, the three members of P&A create an odd and alluring balance between folk and orchestral rock. Their Web site explains that: “Some called it post-classic-rock… some called it folk-prog.” But suggests: “Those who knew better didn’t say anything at all.” Well said.

Parc Avenue is an exuberant collection of songs that hold up as an album — a novelty in 2008 — with a cohesive feel, gracefully stretched across a wide range of moods. It’s almost dreamlike in its ability to seamlessly blend disparate styles with little warning.

Lead track “Bye Bye Bye” is the album in a microcosm. Its genre-bending twists and turns ratchet up intensity by building and releasing before finally climaxing with a symphonic outro complete with choir and brass. Ultimately, the album exudes warmth and passion, and begs for repeated listens.

- Stranger Jay

Plants and Animals – “Faerie Dance”
Plants and Animals – “Feedback in the Field”

4. Stephen Malkmus – Real Emotional Trash

The opening lines to this album, from the wonderfully weird lead-off track “Dragonfly Pie,” serve as either a thematic setting or a mission statement for Real Emotional Trash: “Of all my stoned digressions, some have mutated into the truth.”

Like all of Stephen Malkmus‘ best work — Pavement’s Brighten the Corners, the Jicks‘ Pig Lib — on Real Emotional Trash, he simply writes great songs and leaves the dirty work of stuff like, you know, sorting out meaning, to everyone else. Spanning from glimmering pop gems (”Gardenia,” “Cold Son”) to twisted experiments (”Baltimore,” “Hopscotch Willie”) to sprawling jams (”Elmo Delmo” and the superlative title track), this album is by far the best work Malkmus has ever done with the Jicks, and — dare we say it — approaches the creative heights that Pavement achieved.

It’s a damn good album from start to finish, that’s as accessible as it is progressive, but what makes it exceptional is its creativity and Malkmus’ musical growth. We floated the idea of Malkmus as a guitar anti-hero before… this album would be “Exhibit A.”

- Uncle Corey

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – “Real Emotional Trash”
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – “Gardenia”

5. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Though the talk around these guys usually is of the “Oh-my-God-they’re-22-and-sound-like-they’re-from-1968!” variety, what’s really remarkable about MGMT is how sharp the band seems to have already honed its pop sensibilities. Who knows if it really was, but the songwriting and construction on Oracular Spectacular seems virtually effortless — the bubbly psychedelia that’s become the band’s signature seems like a bonus.

With ten songs, clocking in at a tidy 40 minutes, Oracular Spectacular really is a near-perfect pop record, but ultimately, fits much better as the psychic (mutant?) love child of Strawberry Alarm Clock and !!!. It’s also one of those rare albums where the collective body stands up as well as the individual songs do. There’s no standout tracks (though “Weekend Wars” and “Electric Feel” come close), but rather a great collection of songs that are fun and interesting from cover to cover.

- Uncle Corey

MGMT – “Electric Feel”
MGMT – “Weekend Wars”

6. TV on the Radio – Dear Science

I may be misquoting here, but I think it was the Stranger who called 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain the second coming of Radiohead’s OK Computer. So does that make Dear Science the new Kid A? Well, not exactly, but I thought it brings up an interesting parallel — both Kid A and Dear Science are victims of the primacy effect.

Although Return to Cookie Mountain will forever remain the critical darling, Dear Science still could be the better album. Think about it — what if Dear Science came first? The argument that it’s somehow not as experimental and generally “friendlier” falls apart if you switch the order. Yes, songs like “Crying” and “Dancing Choose” may be easier to listen to, but I still think that’s just because our ears were tuned two years ago. In fact, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it: I like Dear Science MORE.

There’s better guitar chops, better beats, better vocals and a general sense that this record isn’t trying blow your apocalyptic mind — it’s trying to be uplifting even without knowing that Obama was going to win the election. At least that’s how I read the trumpet blasts of celebration in “Golden Age.” Don’t get me wrong, “Red Dress” is still the angry battle cry in the vein of Fela Kuti’s “I.T.T.” — everything from the bone tickling guitar riff to the muted Rhodes at the end screams homage to the Nigerian legend — but in the end, you can’t deny feeling energized and feeling like you can conquer the world (or at least have the amazing sex that “Lover’s Day” promises — tee hee).

- Vague Panther

TV on the Radio – “Halfway Home”
TV on the Radio – “Golden Age”

7. Dr. Dog – Fate

Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog wear their love of ’60s and ’70s pop-rock all over their sleeves, with little concern for current fads in the indie scene. Their music is blatantly indebted to rock legends like the Beatles and Beach Boys — and that’s ok.

Fate is a big step forward for the band — who have thankfully graduated from their DIY roots to record an album that doesn’t sound like it was recorded straight to cassette in their garage. Plenty of critics fault them for blindly aping their idols, but a careful listen to the song-writing reveals a band that’s forging its own path, crafting catchy hooks, solid melodies and quirky song structures.

Opener “The Breeze” is appropriately breezy with arpeggiated piano and ooh-and-ahh background vocals. Conversely, “The Beach” crunches along with menacing guitar and Toby Leaman’s vocals which straddle the line between singing and yelling.

- Stranger Jay

Dr. Dog – “The Breeze”
Dr. Dog – “The Beach”

8. The Dodos – Visiter

The first official release by San Francisco’s own, Dodos, is a glorious mess. A mash-up of psychedelic freak outs, plaintive acoustic gems and intricate percussive experiments, Visiter is, at times, a nonsensical and disparate combination of musical ingredients. Still, the end result is just short of genius.

Multi-intstrumentalist/singer Meric Long and percussionist/drummer-extraordinaire Logan Kroeber write songs that pay little attention to the rules. Droning alternate tunings, West African polyrhythms and unconventional song structures are accented by an odd array of instruments like toy pianos, cheap Casio keyboards and even trash cans. Add in the requisite indie-pop sensibility and you’ve got one of the most refreshing and enjoyable records of 2008.

Just take a listen to the first 15 minutes — from “Walking” through “Fools” — for a taste of the musical schizophrenia that makes Visiter great. The “songs” bleed into one another seamlessly, sounding like a continuous and sprawling suite that zig-zags back and forth between introspective folk and fragmented explosions of noise. While this ambition occasionally falls short, Visiter is an exciting introduction to a local band that has only begun to reveal its potential.

- Scooter

The Dodos – “Walking”
The Dodos – “Red and Purple”

9. The Tallest Man on Earth – shallow grave

I unfortunately read about The Tallest Man on Earth before I listened to shallow grave. His backstory in some ways makes him all the more interesting — but also distracts from his talent. For those unfamiliar with his bio, skip the rest of this review until you’ve listened to songs below. (I’ll wait.)

Although any conversation about the Tallest Man has to start with unfortunate, if accurate, comparisons to early Dylan or earlier musicians from America’s folk tradition (Dock Boggs, Son House, etc.), it turns out that The Tallest Man on Earth is the pseudonym of Kristian Matsson of Dalarna, Sweden.

You can’t help but imagine that shallow grave is some relic from the Library of Congress. Consisting of no more than voice and guitar or banjo, the spare arrangements are matched by appropriately lo-fi production (most of the album sounds like it was recorded with a single mic). Matsson offers up the kind of seemingly effortless command and controlled intensity that make it so you can’t help but believe. Songs like “Shallow Grave” sound both ancient and immediate, with an earnestness that’s all too rare in music today.

- Stranger Jay

The Tallest Man on Earth – “I Won’t Be Found”
The Tallest Man on Earth – “Shallow Grave”

10. Deerhunter – Microcastle

Just because a lot of critics are dropping the “more accessible” bomb, stating there’s less supposed art (read crazy atmospheric buzzings of 2007’s Cyrptograms) at work in Microcastle doesn’t mean that Atlanta’s Deerhunter failed to live up to the hype. It’s just the opposite. Microcastle is Deerhunter’s best effort yet because Bradford Cox seems to have been able to finally focus on the craft of songwriting for the sake of songwriting. It’s as if he left the experimentation to the side projects and put what works into this album.

“Greenjacket” allows for chirping guitar delays to form a sonic backdrop to the traditional piano without letting things get out of control (he still couldn’t resist the faint, reverberated vocals towards the end). A couple of tracks later, “Nothing Ever Happened” is a fucking good-old rock tune with a driving bass that kind of reminds me of Wilco’s “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” — jamming ensues. And just when you thought you were safe, there’s some sort of vampire dialogue in “Saved by the Old Times” to creep you out and let you know that Cox may have loosened up, but he’s still in control.

So, if you find yourself taking a double take throughout this album, that’s OK. Let it happen. Let the pop and the weird happen (yes, that was a veiled reference to part two entitled Weird Era).

- Vague Panther

Deerhunter – “Never Stops”
Deerhunter – “Nothing Ever Happened”

11. Man Man – Rabbit Habits

I know this pick is going to raise more than a few eyebrows, but that’s ok. My bet is that most people never give Man Man more than a 30-second listen if at all. The fact is that Man Man isn’t the easiest band for the average music fan to like. They’re often lumped into the off-putting and vague “experimental rock” sub-genre (they prefer “Viking-vaudeville, manic Gypsy jazz”), members have each adopted pseudonyms (Pow Pow, Critter Crat, etc)… and they wear war paint in concert. This isn’t The Monkees.

Although Captain Beefheart and Island-era Tom Waits are the usually cited influences, that’s really just a lazy way of saying that they are idiosyncratic and difficult to describe. But their mercurial nature is part of their charm. They can be both catchy and challenging, cacophonous and beautiful, manic and soulful — and often in the same song.

Rabbit Habits is a great step forward, with the group coming into their own. The music is both tighter and more relaxed and the song-writing is more consistent. Lead-off track “Mister Jung Stuffed” and “Top Drawer” are both excellent manic romps in the spirit of their earlier work, but the slower numbers are the album’s great surprises. The ballad “Doo Right” and rolling pirate shanty “Whalebones” are two of the strongest cuts and clearest signs of maturation.

Man Man’s music isn’t going to be instantly accessible, but the rewards come more quickly than you might imagine and they continue to build after each listen.

(Side note: their show at the Great American Music Hall was also easily in my top-5 of 2008.)

- Stranger Jay

Man Man – “Doo Right”
Man Man – “Top Drawer”

12. Beach House – Devotion

One of the best late-night records to come along in years, Beach House’s sophomore effort Devotion, is an artful gem, drenched in dreamy lo-fi. Sometimes haunting, sometimes comforting, the album plays like a soundtrack to a forgotten dream.

Devotion is a continuation of the same basic formula the duo used for their self-titled debut, with lithe melodies, languid tempo and ethereal arrangements. At the center is Legrand’s hypnotic alto that recalls ’60s girl groups and Warhol-era Nico.

Although one can argue about how suitable the band’s name is to their desolate sound, they were right on when naming the album. The songs themselves are a meditation on devotion – a series of introspective and confessional odes to lost love (”Holy Dances”, “Heart of Chambers”) and lost innocence (”D.A.R.L.I.N.G”).

While they’re playing in the same sandbox on this outing, a strong batch of songs and sublime execution keeps the effort feeling fresh.

- Scooter

Beach House – “Gila”
Beach House – “D.A.R.L.I.N.G.”

13. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals

Comprised of 265 samples spanning a dizzying number of artists across any genre you can think of, it’s easy to think too hard about Feed the Animals. Above all, it’s a kick-ass good time made by someone with an insane creativity and an ear for finding common musical elements in divergent music styles, but Girl Talk is so acutely good at what he does makes it seem like something else is up.

Did whimsy pair Eminem’s “Shake That” verse, “Hit the strip club, don’t forget ones, get your dick rubbed/Get fucked, get sucked, get wasted, shit face-ed/Pasted, blasted, puke drink up, get a new drink/Hit the bathroom sink, throw up” with Yael Naim’s “New Soul,” a similar, but different, ode to youthful mistakes? Or did the verse just sound good flowing into the signature “la la la” chorus of “New Soul”? It really doesn’t matter, just shut the fuck up and dance.

- Uncle Corey

Girl Talk – “Play Your Part (Pt. 1)”
Girl Talk – “Play Your Part (Pt. 2)”

14. Koushik – Out My Window

Koushik may confuse you. He falls into that “other” category for the respected hip hop label Stones Throw Records. His singles were always that refreshing texture beat with airy vocals on the Peanut Butter Wolf compilations. While there’s clearly a hip hop influence, and he did make an OK stab at remixing the Madvilliany, he’s more of an atmosphere-ist. In essence, he is to hip hop what post rock is to rock.

Out My Window demonstrates that Koushik is an unparalleled architect of melody and beat. He builds an arrangement one limb at a time reaching a beating crescendo, eventually backing off until he resurrects the theme in a different form (”Bright and Shining,” “Out My Window”). Either that or he’ll hypnotize you with something so simple and beautiful you can’t get it out of your head (”Buttafly Beat,” “Forest Loop”). More importantly, everything he does is so understatedly funktastic that you might get a contact high just from listening.

Perhaps the only thing that frustrates massive appeal is his insistence on reverb drenched vocals. A pretty lame argument coming from a generation of music critics who hold My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless as a masterpiece. In the end, Out My Window is my pick for most underrated gem of 2008 — you can thank me later.

- Vague Panther

Koushik – “Bright and Shining”
Koushik – “Nothing’s the Same”

15. Metallica – Death Magnetic

Part of what makes this album good is where Metallica has been the last 17 years, but most of what makes it good is its raw, violent power. Death Magnetic is really an exercise in aggression — and a great one at that. Don’t believe us? Take a listen to the album opener, “That Was Just Your Life.” The song rages for seven straight minutes both musically and lyrically (”Like a siren in my head that always threatens to repeat/Like a blind man that is strapped into the speeding driver’s seat”) and sets the tone for the whole album.

While every song doesn’t equal the strength of the first, listening to all 74 minutes leaves you tense and almost physically tired — just how Metallica wants it. We would post a song for you to sample, but, y’know….

- Uncle Corey

Individual Staff Lists:

Stranger Jay:

1. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. The Tallest Man on Earth – shallow grave
4. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Man Man – Rabbit Habits
6. Drive-By Truckers – Brighter than Creation’s Dark
7. Cat Power – Jukebox
8. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
9. The Dodos – Visiter
10. Beach House – Devotion

Vague Panther:

1. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
2. Koushik – Out My Window
3. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
4. Deerhunter – Microcastle
5. Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
6. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
7. Dr. Dog – Fate
8. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
9. Megapuss – Surfing
10. Lykke Li – Youth Novels

Uncle Corey:

1. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
2. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
3. Metallica – Death Magnetic
4. The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale
5. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
6. Santogold & Diplo – Top Ranking?
7. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
8. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
9. Mogwai – The Hawk is Holwing
10. GZA – Pro Tools

Scooter:

1. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue
4. The Dodos – Visiter
5. Sun Kil Moon – April
6. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
7. Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
8. Beach House – Devotion
9. The Fireman – Electric Arguments
10. Dr. Dog – Fate