Best Of 2008: Non-Hip-Hop Albums

As the year comes to a close, I'll be bringing you a series of "Best Of 2008" lists. Thus far, I'm planning on putting out lists for best mixtapes, songs, rappers, producers, and the top 25 albums of the year. If you have any other ideas you'd like to see, hit up the comment section or send me some electronic mail.

As for this first list, I figured I should at least mention some of my favorite non-hip-hop albums of the year. I have not been able to listen to some albums that I would have liked to yet, so this list may not be entirely comprehensive. I'll be more thorough, and provide more elaboration with all the hip-hop related posts to follow. Commentary was provided for albums that I had something to mention at the moment. But if I didn't write something about an album, it does not mean I liked it any less than the others. So without further adieu, here are my favorite non-hip-hop albums of 2008, in no particular order.

• Al Green: Lay It Down

He's still got it, ladies and gentleman. One of my favorite singers ever outperformed most of today's more youthful crooners in dropping another splendid soul record. This has been in steady rotation since the summertime. ?uestlove also executive produced Lay It Down, so that's pretty cool too.

• TV On The Radio: Dear Science
• Raphael Siddiq: The Way I See It
  

Another terrific soul record. The Way I See It did a great job recreating that Motown sound, and Siddiq's smooth vocals topped it all off. And the "Oh Girl (Remix)" featuring Jay-Z was icing on the cake.

• Portishead: Third
• Gnarls Barkley: The Odd Couple
  

Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse easily could have just hit the studio and banged out some cookie-cutter replica of St. Elsewhere. But they chose not to — and still were successful. I definitely regret not going to the Gnarls Barkley concert at the Minnesota State Fair last summer.

• Foreign Exchange: Leave It All Behind
  

I'll admit I was pretty pissed when I discovered that Phonte was not going to rap on Leave It All Behind. Their last album, Connected, was a near-classic that too often gets overlooked, and it worked because Phonte's typically intricate wordplay was even more on point than usual. Leave It All Behind ended up with something like one verse from Tigallo, and singing admittedly isn't his strong point, but the album was still pretty damn good. Nicolay took the reigns with this project, and his beats are perfect to chill out and vibe to.

• Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
  

This is some great pop music. These songs are fucking catchy. Let's hope they don't suffer from that dreadful sophomore slump that has ruined many an album in the past.

• The Black Keys: Attack and Release

This is some grimey blues rock. Danger Mouse executive produced this album, too, and did a good job. I saw these guys live in September or October earlier this year, and they were great. They were in the lineup at this SoCo Music Experience, wedged right in between GZA and The Roots, and fucking killed it. It's hard to describe how good they are live, but The Black Keys are only two dudes, and they make some drums and guitar sound like a 5-person rock band. Amazing show.

• The Hold Steady: Stay Positive

I really like the song "Sequestered in Memphis." There is also this cool bonus song at the end of this album where the lead singer references some Twin Cities landmarks — four of the five band members lived in Minneapolis at one point. I think on one of their older albums they have this song that is completely about various drug-buying hotspots all over the Twin Cities metro area.

• The Raconteurs: Consolers Of The Lonely
  

Jack White is one of the best muscians doing it right now. I love pretty much everything he does, unless it's a song that Meg White sings.

• DJ/Rupture: Uproot
• The Walkmen: You & Me
• Kanye West: 808s and Heartbreak
  

This is last on the list because I thought long and hard — that's what she said? — about including this album on the list. I really didn't want to put it on, but I suppose Kanye might actually be as good as he says he is if he releases an all autotuned-singing album, and it didn't suck balls. That alone earns him a place on my list.

Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Feel free to post/critique/criticize in the comments section or drop me an email.