If you read this blog regularly, you may find my 1500 word Coldplay rant from earlier this year to be pretty hypocritical, considering I didn’t even put the album on my own Top 10 for 2008. I guess, in the end, I couldn’t justify bumping any of these albums off of my list in favor of my 3rd favorite Coldplay record (even though I love them and you need to deal with that). If this were a top 20, Viva La Vida would definitely be on there (and most likely be #11), and the past few weeks would have probably been a lot easier for me.

After a million edits, a dozen number changes, and a near deletion of my #9 on a technicality, I’m finally effing done with this Top 10. My list is a little strange this year, and I can’t imagine anyone who holds issue with any other 2009 list approving of any of these picks and/or the order I put them in. I tried my best to explain. Also, despite all the love it’s getting from SPIN and Rolling Stone, the TV on the Radio record was more of a Top 20 pick imho.

Lord help me, the Kanye record is on here. I was powerless against it. Sorry Mom, Sorry God.

Close calls:
Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends Coldplay
Oracular Spectacular MGMT
Dear Science TV on the Radio
Santogold Santogold
The Rhumb Line Ra Ra Riot

Honorable Mention:
Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best The Very Best
I’ve been having a problem deciding whether or not, on principle, I can include mixtapes in my countdown. It would be a lot harder to make a fair list of all releases this year (where would Santogold and Diplo’s Top Ranking and Nas’ Nigger Tape go?), I’ve decided to include Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit’s free online release under the name The Very Best as an honorable mention. So, with a name like The Very Best, you better be pretty effing good, right? Well, they are. The combination of Esau’s native Malawian singing style and Radioclit’s eclectic production is one of the best things I’ve ever heard in my life. Included on this jam-packed tape is covers of VW’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” (that may, very possibly, out-do the original), M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” and originals that blow away most anything else released this year. The best part? Esau sings in Malawian on those covers too. Looking forward to an official release in 2009.

10. You & Me The Walkmen
Even as a huge fan of 2004’s critically acclaimed Bows & Arrows with “The Rat” among my all time favorites, I wasn’t expecting You & Me to be on here. It was silly of me. The crisp guitars and raspy vocals on this record are as gritty as the New York City streets that surely inspired them. Lead Singer Hamilton Leithauser rips his vocal chords for these melodies and the guitars break like glass in Paul Maroon’s hands. The album’s lead-off single, “In the New Year,” is an optimistic lo-fi anthem that still manages to see light at the end of the Lincoln Tunnel, despite all of the darkness. This is one of the greatest NYC Subway albums I’ve ever commuted to.

9. Alegranza El Guincho
I don’t know exactly what this is, but it makes me want to go windsurfing in The Caribbean (oh wait, I know why). El Guincho’s exotic debut album throws some beats on old tropical music samples and mixes in some unrelated audio clips for one of the coolest and most original albums I’ve heard in years. Barcelona’s Pablo Díaz-Reixa tops it off with layered Spanish vocals that translate to lyrics like, “And I come back to repeat what you say like a parrot to its owner.” There’s irony there, considering that most all the album’s lyrics are in fact repeated over and over. The record’s inventiveness and abstractness is completely unpretentious, even though I’d forgive it if it weren’t.

8. Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust Sigur Ros
What can I say about Sigur Ros that won’t make me sound like a total babbling idiot? This band has ripped out my soul, stomped it to death, and then brought it back to life all within single tracks. One of the best live moments of 2008 that I sadly missed (as I’ve mentioned many times, 2003’s ( ) Tour wore me out), this record has more an arena sound than any of their others. This is the closest Sigur Ros could come to making a straight-up pop record, as there are what could be considered verses and choruses among these rising drum line beats and whirling piano riffs. The band opted for their native Icelandic instead of the made-up language found on ( ). Have you translated the lyrics to “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” lately (scroll down to the 6th post, here)? Yeah. Yup.

7. Rockferry Duffy
I’ve seen a couple of people get flamed for even a mention of Duffy’s Rockferry as one of the best albums of the year; but seriously, itis. Duffy’s voice is literally like no other, and the production and songwriting on her A&M debut is incredible in every sense of the word. The Welsh singer allegedly underwent a sort of soul and R&B crash course before recording, and all of the Al Green and Burt Bacharach shines through in every single note of Rockferry. I’m actually in the middle of picking between 4 songs on this album for the 2008 Playlist. This is just a beautiful pop record.

6. In Ear Park Department of Eagles
Daniel Rossen’s other band (he usually co-fronts the incredibly talented Grizzly Bear) re-formed this year to release an album that took its time with me. The first track I heard from this was the single “No One Does it Like You,” and, truth be told, it’s a bit misleading as an intro to In Ear Park. The bulk of this record seems lost in time, and is comprised mostly of lo-fi, low-key, melodic pop tunes reminiscent of late Beatles and their respective solo careers. As I went through my collection to start to compile a short list for this post, I realized pretty quickly that this was going to be a lot higher than I first thought. As I wrote earlier this year, this record is subtle, but great. It gets better with every listen, and my favorite track is constantly changing; From “Teenagers,” to “Herring Bone” to the title track. Right now, it’s “Floating on the Lehigh,” and its massive, psychedelic chorus.

5. The Odd Couple Gnarls Barkley
This was a very big last minute change. When this came out, I wrote that it could possibly be a better all-around record than St. Elsewhere. I don’t know that I can back that up, but I do know that Gnarls Barkley somehow managed to make a worthy follow-up to the album with “Crazy” on it. Danger Mouse was busy producing Beck’s Modern Guilt and The Black Keys Attack & Release (two more of the best albums this year), and somehow found time to make more pop-funk-soul-dance music with Cee-Lo, who continues to sing the sh*t out of everything he records. The odd couple’s show at Highline Ballroom earlier this year was one of my favorite moments of 2008 and one of the most enjoyable sets I’ve ever seen live. Gnarls Barkley are a timeless act that sound like they were sent from the future to teach us how to make a pop record that transcends all boundaries, genres, and eras. The Odd Couple is what they made.

4. 808s & Heartbreak Kanye West
I know. I know, OK? I don’t really care; this record is f*cking awesome. Though there are many things I’d rather hear than “Love Lockdown” live, I don’t see a real problem with the auto-tune. In theory, I understand that it seems like a cop-out, but these songs are too great. It doesn’t matter if he can’t sing. We all already knew he couldn’t sing. As much as he boasts about being beyond genres and being a true genius and the, um, voice of this generation; he’s right (well, not about the “voice of this generation” thing?). I found it impossible to listen to tracks like “Paranoid,” “Streetlights,” and “Bad News” without making this a Top 10 record. After the shocking death of his mother (which he blames himself for) and the separation from his long-time fiancé, it would be expected for him to make an album like this one, rather than, say, Good Ass Job. Highlighted by stellar production, surprisingly introspective lyrics (”My friend showed me pictures of his kids/and all I could show him was pictures of my cribs”), and his everlasting ability to make a brilliant pop song, 808s is light years better than all the flack it’s catching. I’m just going to go ahead and ignore that “Pinocchio Story” freestyle at the end.

3. Third Portishead
When I heard confirmation that this record was coming out, I didn’t believe it. I watched a few of the tracks performed live on Current TV, and I still questioned whether it was real. Dare I say that this record is better than Dummy? Ah, I just did. This is one of the few times an artist makes a come-back record that trumps all of their previous efforts. The album’s intense, innovative electronica successfully carries Portishead over into the 21st Century with a sound that evolved rather than adapted. Beth Gibbons’ haunting vocals are as chill-inducing as ever. and the tracks vibrate a sort of morbid energy that only Portishead could create. This record is a firm declaration that great veteran bands rarely make; ‘We’re even better than you remember.’

2. Tha Carter III Lil Wayne
First off, this is one of the best hip hop albums of the decade. A testimony that lyricism in hip hop is still an art form that, when done right, is pure poetry. Lil Wayne has released a lot of music in the past few years, and a ton of mixtapes were dropped in anticipation of this release; all of which still could not prepare any of us for the mayhem that is Tha Carter III. Taking into account the fact that the production on some of these tracks is earth-shattering (That’s you, “Let the Beat Build”), this record could survive on vocals alone. It almost does on the album’s biggest single, “A Milli,” where Wayne gets backed only by a snare drum, and drops nothing but killer verse after killer verse. The album is 15 tracks of unstoppable hip hop monsters, with enough quotable lines to fill 10 Facebook profiles. “Lock load ready to aim at any target/i can get your brains for a bargain like i bought it from target/hip hop is my supermarket/shoppin’ cart full of fake hip hop artists/I’m starvin’.” “Like a silk wife-beater and a wave cap/or the wave pool in blue bayou/And I waved fool as I blew by you.” “And I be the shit now you got loose bowels/I don’t O U like two vowels.” “I got summer hatin’ on me cause I’m hotter than the sun/Got spring hatin’ on me cause I ain’t never sprung/Winter hatin’ on me cause I’m colder than ya’ll/And I would never I would never I would never fall.” Mm.

1. Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
These guys, man. They’re rich, and they’re super talented? What a bunch of assholes.

It wasn’t even a week into the new year when the reviews started trickling in, naming Vampire Weekend’s self titled debut the ‘album of the year’ (including mine). SPIN threw them on the cover before the thing was even released (and before most people had any idea who they were). Like always, the taste-makers who helped them get noticed turned their backs and turned up their noses (though, I’m pleasantly shocked to still see the record on Pitchfork’s Top 10). I wanted to be one of them (I just wanna be cool, guys), but how could I? Every single song on this record is A+ 5 star 100% awesome. The band’s subtle array of influences spanning decades/continents, mixed with their impeccable knack for writing choruses that are catchier than a Britney hook and lyrics that are as clever and articulate as they come (nice to know that 40k a year at Columbia paid off), makes their charming 40 minute debut a near perfect record. Take note, this is what an instant classic sounds like.