Quite simply, the best albums and the best tracks of the year…
Our Top 40 tracks of 2008 were arrived at by a combination of reader votes and editorial opinion. Every one of the hundreds of nominations was counted, considered and either approved or rejected (yes, we caught a few sneaky bands trying to nominate their own songs!).
The below is just a list of these best songs. You can see the full top 40 with comments and video clips HERE.
Our albums of the year were reached after much argument in the Clash office. Our high-tech system – Post-It notes stuck all over one wall of our London HQ – soon sorted the wheat from the chaff, as records favoured by only one of many scribes were sidelined by those attracting numerous votes. Read interviews with selected acts and commentary on all entries in the current issue of Clash magazine (issue 33, Kanye West cover).
You’ll notice a degree of crossover – could it be that these acts are, in a way, the best of 2008?
Could be, could be…
– – –
The Clash Top 40 Tracks of 2008
(Commentary and videos HERE)
1 MGMT – ‘Time To Pretend’
2 M.I.A. – ‘Paper Planes’
3 Kings Of Leon – ‘Sex On Fire’
4 Vampire Weekend – ‘A-Punk’
5 Wild Beasts – ‘The Devil’s Crayon’
6 Santogold – ‘L.E.S. Artistes’?
7 The Bug – ‘Poison Dart’?
8 British Sea Power – ‘Waving Flags’?
9 Buraka Som Sistema – ‘Sound of Kuduro’?
10 Portishead – ‘Machine Gun’
11 Hot Chip – ‘Ready For The Floor’?
12 Gang Gang Dance – ‘Princes’?
13 Elbow – ‘Grounds For Divorce’?
14 Dizzee Rascal/Calvin Harris/Chrome – ‘Dance Wiv Me’?
15 Crystal Castles – ‘Courtship Dating’?
16 Kanye West – ‘Love Lockdown’?
17 DJ Mujava – ‘Township Funk’?
18 Oasis – ‘Shock Of The Lightning’?
19 Kid Cudi – ‘Night & Day’ (Crookers remix)?
20 Mystery Jets – ‘Young Love’
21 Benga & Coki – ‘Night’?
22 Chairlift – ‘Bruises’?
23 Late Of The Pier – ‘Heartbeat’?
24 Dananananaykroyd – ‘Pink Sabbath’?
25 Fuck Buttons – ‘Bright Tomorrow’?
26 No Age – ‘Teen Creeps’?
27 Foals – ‘Cassius’?
28 Friendly Fires – ‘Paris’?
29 Deerhunter – ‘Nothing Ever Happened’?
30 Bon Iver – ‘The Wolves (Acts I & II)’
31 Johnny Foreigner – ‘Salt, Peppa & Spinderella’?
32 My Morning Jacket – ‘Highly Suspicious’?
33 Roots Manuva – ‘Buff Nuff’?
34 Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida’?
35 Black Lips – ‘Bad Kids’?
36 High Places – ‘From Stardust To Sentience’?
37 Fake Blood – ‘Mars’?
38 Lovvers – ‘No Romantics’?
39 Cats In Paris – ‘Foxes’?
40 Mogwai – ‘BatCat’
– – –
The Clash Top 40 Albums of 2008
(See issue 33 of Clash magazine for interviews and more)
1 Kings Of Leon – ‘Only By The Night’
2 Vampire Weekend – ‘Vampire Weekend’
3 Late Of The Pier – ‘Fantasy Black Channel’
4 Foals – ‘Antidotes’
5 Benga – ‘Diary Of An Afro Warrior’
6 Elbow – ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’
7 TV On The Radio – ‘Dear Science’
8 Santogold – ‘Santogold’
9 Gang Gang Dance – ‘Saint Dymphna’
10 The Bug – ‘London Zoo’
11 Laura Marling – ‘Alas, I Cannot Swim’
12 White Denim – ‘Workout Holiday’
13 MGMT – ‘Oracular Spectacular’
14 Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’
15 Portishead – ‘Third’
16 Aliens – ‘Luna’
17 Deerhunter – ‘Microcastle’
18 Oasis – ‘Dig Out Your Soul’
19 Mystery Jets – ‘Twenty One’
20 Neon Neon – ‘Stainless Style’
21 Bon Iver – ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’
22 Dr. Dog – ‘Fate’
23 Emiliana Torrini – ‘Me And Armini’
24 Hot Chip – ‘Made In The Dark’
25 Fleet Foxes – ‘Fleet Foxes’
26 Wild Beasts – ‘Limbo, Panto’
27 My Morning Jacket – ‘Evil Urges’
28 Hercules And Love Affair – ‘Hercules And Love Affair’
29 Why? – ‘Alopecia’
30 Friendly Fires – ‘Friendly Fires’
31 British Sea Power – ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’
32 Primal Scream – ‘Beautiful Future’
33 Eine Kleine Nacht Musik – ‘Eine Kleine Nacht Musik’
34 No Age – ‘Nouns’
35 The Killers – ‘Day And Age’
36 Flying Lotus – ‘Los Angeles’
37 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’
38 Adele – ‘19’
39 Cadence Weapon – ‘Afterparty Babies’
40 The Last Shadow Puppets – ‘The Age Of Understatement’
– – –
And that’s that for 2008. We’ll see you in 2009 with our first issue of the year in shops on January 8, featuring a world exclusive interview with Pete Doherty (check out our preview videos) alongside articles on Ben Kweller, Animal Collective, Diplo and many more. Oh, and some small thing called Ones To Watch 2009. Be there, or be without the best music coverage money can and, in the case of this here site, can’t buy…
