The Best Albums Of 2008

As 2008 drifts to a sun-drenched conclusion, 3news.co.nz has gathered together some Top 5 Album lists from a range of well-known and not-so-well-known staff members and their friends.

The results show a mottled range of music, displaying an array of tastes from a diverse collection of music lovers.

Have a browse and if something catches your eye, go to the nearest record store and check it out. Feel free to leave your comments at the bottom of the page.

John Campbell - Campbell Live

	The Woolshed Sessions - The Woolshed Sessions John says: "The perfect summer album. Blissfully sunny music, although as they're mostly Wellingtonians a Southerly front sometimes passes through their lyrics. Magic music for the months ahead."
	David Kilgour - The Far Now John says: "One of the greatest albums ever to come out of New Zealand. So stunningly brilliant that I'm completely ignoring the fact it came out last year in order to make it one of my albums of the year for 2008 too."
	The Bats - The Guilty Office John says: "Twenty-six years after they were formed, to make music as fresh and joyful as this is almost miraculous. Everything I want music to be. And Kaye Woodward is one of the two sexiest women in music."
	SJD - Dayglo Spectres John says: "I love the way Sean Donnelly never rests. And James Duncan's song-writing is brilliant on this record too. For my money, the best SJD album so far. Which is really saying something."
	Steve Abel - Flax Happy John says: "What a beautiful album. He is such a fine song-writer and the musicianship is glorious but never showy. Gently sublime."

Kate Rodger - 3 News Entertainment Reporter

	Radiohead - In Rainbows
	Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
	Tv On The Radio - Dear Science
	Portishead - Third
	Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

David Farrier - Nightline Entertainment Reporter

	Messhuggah - obZen Dave says: "Louder and more unrelenting than anything else in 2008. Plus 'Bleed' is my favourite music video of the year, it's even scarier than a Slipknot video!"
	Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak Dave says: "Everyone laughed at the thought of him doing an entire album of autotune, then it came out, and now everyone sees its genius, just like everything Kanye West does!"
	Nine Inch Nails - The Slip Dave says: "It was free, and it's the best thing since The Fragile. Trent makes a return to form by singing about shooting himself in the head, a theme he hasn't touched on since 1994!"
	Immortal Technique - The 3rd World Dave says: "Tech teamed up with DJ Green Lantern and is finally sounding polished, despite a few clunky bits, it's ALMOST perfect."
	Metallica - Death Magnetic Dave says: "'All Nightmare Long' is a dream come true!"

Samantha Hayes - Nightline Presenter

	TV on the Radio - Dear Science
	Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
	MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
	Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
	Luke Buda  - Vesuvius

 
Phil Bostwick - C4 Guru

	Santogold - Santogold
	Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
	TV on the Radio - Dear Science
	Coldplay - Viva La Vida
	The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

Karl Puschmann - Editor of Rip It Up

	Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy Karl says: "Epic, ridiculous, kick-ass, overblown, awe-inspiring, confused, grandiose, exasperating, totally rocking and madder than a bag of frogs. Obviously highly recommended."
	Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend Karl says: "A delicious blend of indie-pop and african rhythms that sounds like a prozac popping, Graceland era Paul Simon jamming with a fuzz pedal-less Strokes within earshot of a practicing baroque orchestra."
	Tricky - Knowle West Boy Karl says: "The welcome return of Tricky's paranoia and disturbed mental state yank trip-hop back to the smoky rooms where it belongs after the genre languished as the soundtrack to dinner parties for far too long."
	Cobra Khan - Helgorithms Karl says: "Cobra Khan's debut has been gestating for a long while now but the final result pushes NZ hardcore forward by being simultaneously punky as gob, heavier than concrete and not at all afraid of a solid melody."
	Plastician - Beg to Differ Karl says: "Slipping effortlessly from austere dubstep menace to full blown grime assaults Beg to Differ can be considered essential for those with a penchant for Waco style bass."

 
Daryl Fincham  - Editor of undertheradar.co.nz

	Deerhunter - Microcastle Daryl says: "The long awaited album by Deerhunter, the group that has teased us all year with their perfect pop, psychedelic, indie."
	Body Corporate - Howlaround Daryl says: "It's an album of guitar rich pop-indie-post /experimental-rock flavours with a kind of pulsing undertone that moves this record along."
	Collapsing Cities - Elixer Always Daryl says: "An Auckland band that has promised so much over the last years deliver their debut album with out an inch of disappointment."
	HDU - Metamathics Daryl says: "Metamathics is HDUs 4th album and it’s as rich and diversive as they ever were."
	Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart Daryl says: "What a welcome surprise. The new album by Australian electronic (and I use that term in the best sense of the word) band Pivot is an ensemble of tunes from borderline glitch to outright math rock."

Tony 'Tunes' Stamp - bFM

	The Walkmen - You & Me Tony says: "This album is the aural equivalent of sitting in a bar at 3am, drinking whisky and pining over a lost love. You & Me is simultaneously melancholy and uplifting, a self contained, definitive work by a band who now fully inhabit their own unique sound."
	TV on the Radio - Dear Science
	Deerhunter - Microcastle
	Why? - Alopecia
	Starfu*ker - Starfuc*er

Daniel Rutledge - Entertainment Editor of 3news.co.nz

	DragonForce - Ultra Beatdown Dan says: "The most ridiculously technically proficient album of the year. Just as epic and insane as previous efforts but with more slow, ballad sections, less fantasy lyrics, yet somehow even more energy."
	Santogold - Santogold
	Stanton Warriors - Stanton Sessions III
	Metallica - Death Magnetic
	Unkle - More Stories

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Hannah Sarney - bFM and 3news.co.nz

	Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
	Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
	Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
	Ponytail - Icecream Spiritual
	The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion

Paul Gallagher - Political/International Editor of 3news.co.nz

	Deerhunter - Microcastle Paul says: "This release frames those little nuanced peculiarities of life through a lens of ambient noise and tart melody. If you need a break from sugary festival music, twist-top beers and twee summer dresses then listen once or twice to this record over the break. It’s real. It’s anxious. It’s an anchorage of talented musicians."
	No Age - Nouns
	Blank Dogs - The Fields
	Mount Eerie - Black Wooden Ceiling Opening
	Wavves - Wavves

 
Dan Satherley - 3news.co.nz

	Ladyhawke - LadyHawke Dan says: "At the end of the year it's easy to list albums that'll win you indie cred, but an album like LadyHawke's debut? For me it would be dishonest to say it wasn't the album I enjoyed most of all in 2008. It's not cool, it's not modern and it's barely even original, but Pip Brown's songwriting takes her music beyond pastiche into pure pop genius."
	Portishead - Third
	Scars on Broadway - Scars on Broadway
	My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
	Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement