My Top 10 CDs of 2008
“Music, true music, not just rock ’n’ roll, it chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone, listening to your headphones, vast scenic rituals and angelic choirs in your brain. It’s a place apart from the vast benign lap of America.” – Lester Bangs
I think it’s safe to say that music plays a big role in my life and a big part of my life involves work. I am constantly listening to music, if it’s not on the studio media player it’s on my headphones at my workstation. With this in mind I decided to list the 10 albums that had the biggest impact on me in 2008.
Let me start by saying that the 10 CD’s in this list isn’t necessarily from 2008, I mean, the one CD on this list was released in 1967! Just because it was new to me doesn’t mean it was new to anyone else. 
So in no particular order, here they are:
The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico
The year is 1969, the lead singer.. Lou Read, the producer.. Andy Warhol. The result: One of the greatest albums ever made. This album was as genius as it was experimental. It opened up my eyes to a whole new set of musical rules and styles.
Justice – Cross
These guys seem to have come out of nowhere and just blew me away! They sound similar to Daft Punk, but don’t let that put you off, because you will soon forget that comparison.
The Black Angels – Passover
Not sure as what to classify this… Its great and after giving the song “Young men dead” one listen, most people are hooked to the music of this band. They bring some old psychedelic rock culture back into the modern plastic music scene.
Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
I know I’m going to get a lot of slack for this one, but this album is simply amazing and if you can’t see that now, you might be walking in a mall 15 years from now and it will play in the elevator and you will think to yourself: “Gerhard was sooo right about this one!”
Time will show the genius of this album as a lot of people are caught in the giant douche bag ego web of Kanye West at the moment.
Citizen Cope – Every Waking Moment
This is an interesting CD. Not sure as what to classify it, but if I have to choose I will go with something like Blues, Soft rock maybe? This is a quality CD from a guy that seems to be very talented. Its great for those days where you just want to drown out the noise of the world, put your head down and d get some work done.
Daft Punk – Alive 2007
I’ve always had a soft spot for the music of Daft Punk… but hearing in a live environment like this, with the energy of the crowd, is simply awe inspiring. This CD was on loop on the iPod for at least 3 weeks (which is way waaaay longer than most albums last on there)
Eddie Vedder – Into the Wild
I have never been a huge fan of Pearl Jam. I think I only decided to give this album a listen after I heard bits and pieces of it in the movie with the same title (which was an amazing movie, I would recommend it any day)
Gym Class Heroes – As Cruel as School Children
OK, so a coder have to let his hair down every once in a while too. This is a pretty light hearted album and doesn’t get too serious at any point in time. I still enjoy it and it sure as hell makes me code at light speed when I’m in the right frame of mind.
The Mars Volta – The Bedlam In Goliath
The Bedlam In Goliath maybe isn’t something everyone will enjoy and to be honest, I’m not sure exactly what it is that draws me to this music either, but I still get sucked in every time I listen to it. It goes from experimental rock all the way to just plain weird at certain times, but it’s a great journey through the peaks and valleys of audio land. Will I still like this in 5 years? Who knows, but I sure as hell love it now!
Radiohead – In Rainbows
This one is a little depressing at times, but it’s a good way to change your direction of thought… if I get stuch on something that needs an alternate workaround I will pop in this CD and roll with it.. It gets things done. “House of cards” is definitely on my personal list of best tracks for the year.
And that’s it! I included links to youtube videos and other pages, where I could, to give you a sample of the music.
Have a great festive season and please be safe!
Sat, December 20th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Great list!
Sat, December 20th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
safe as houses buddy!
Mon, December 22nd, 2008 at 8:27 am
nice one, There`s some albums there i`ve never heard of, ill check them out.