20 Best Albums of the Year (Part 2)

10. Lil Wayne - Carter III: It's easy to call this album overexposed - it pretty much owned pop radio this year. Hip-hop has produced several creative and well-hyped records this decade, but something has to be said for selling a million CDs in a week even though CD sales are dying across the board. "A Milli" is a classic lesson in free-form word association and"Mrs. Officer" is the kind of mindless fun the radio used to play, but the album really shines when it moves into experimental territory such as "Dr. Carter" and "Phone Home". Even if you're worn out on him this year, this is a hip-hop album that people will be playing years from now.

9. Shearwater - Rook: Jonathan Meiburg's Shearwater is no longer an Okkervil River side project - it deserves to be its own band. Rook is an album that seems to celebrate desolation. It's best songs are not rock songs at all: "Leviathan Bound" and "The Snow Leopard" are based on spare pianos and harpsichords. But what really makes this album special is Meiburg's voice. his Buckley-esqe opera howl gives emotional weight to these songs that is unparalleled in most of this year's indie rock. Plus, it's nice to see an art-rock project last only 35 minutes.

8. Coldplay - Viva La Vida: Yes Chris Martin, smite the haters! Make an artsy world-beat tinged album and get it played day and night on the radio! Yes, there are parts that don't hold together, but there are also moments like "Lost?", a tribal organ-driven gospel rock track that makes spiritual emptiness sound beautiful. The lyrics are more pretentious than ever - Chris sings about meeting God in a cemetery and walking the streets he used to own - but is trying to be the next U2 really a bad thing? I still don't think they've made their masterpiece, but their status as the world's biggest band is safe for a few more years.

7. Q-Tip - The Renaissance: What title do we give him, "The King of Sophisticated Rap"? "The Underdog for Greatest Rapper Ever"? I'm not sure, but his return from an 8-year recording absence is everything we wanted: a smooth, relaxing rap record, which is something nobody makes anymore. "Gettin' Up" is a should-be hit and one of the greatest rap singles this decade, and even the Norah Jones cameo works! Everything goes right on this album, and if Q-Tip can work out his record label problems, his solo catalog can someday match or surpass Tribe Called Quest's amazing catalog.

6. Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal: The year's best alt-country album in a great year for alt-country, this album evokes punk, soul, Texas rock, and country in equal measure. "Chelsea Hotel '78" is a brilliant recollection of the punk era, and rock-blues like "Smoke" show why he should be touring with Bruce Springsteen. For country ballads, nothing this year tops "Sister Lost Soul", "Sensitive Boys", and "The Swallows Of San Juan". Why isn't the radio playing any of these? This follow-up surpasses the already outstanding The Boxing Mirror, and he's peaking at his old age.

5. Portishead - Third: Would you expect a band that disappeared for over a decade to return with their strangest, most uncompromising album? Combine the Cure's Disintegration, Scott Walker's Drift, and Massive Attack's Blue Lines and you will be somewhere close to this. Dark and brooding (even by their standards), this album has unexpected turns into folk, acid jazz, club beats, and British rock. "Silence" is the most nervous, tense album opener since Joy Division's second album, and "Machine Gun" is the year's darkest, angriest single. Welcome back, Portishead.

4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: While the idea of mixing Beach Boy's vocals with backwoods Americana is a great idea on paper, what's more amazing is how they pulled it off. The songwriting is catchy, complex, and unbelievably developed for a new band. "White Winter Hymnal" is a breath of fresh air and boasts some of the best male harmonies heard in indie rock. After buying this, you won't be able to resist hunting down the Sun Giant EP. This is the best debut record since the Arcade Fire's Funeral - let's just hope they stay on track and stick to this plan.

3. TV On The Radio - Dear Science,: This is how you should follow up a masterpiece: write catchier songs, add more layers, and don't forget what you were good at in the first place. For this band, the key has always been R&B singing and rhythm that sets them apart: they add sexuality and romance into songs that are typically about death and the end of the world. "Crying" and "Love Dog" work as slow jams as well as angry rock songs, and they finally make real ballads with "Stork & Owl" and "Family Tree". This album, along with Return To Cookie Mountain, make one of the best one-two punches ever, and this band might be just getting started. By the way, "Golden Age" is the song of the year.

2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig! Lazarus, Dig!: Yes, he is getting crazier with age. Imagine a deranged preacher ranting about sin while The Stooges make noise behind him: that's basically what you are getting here. However, he still shows off his songwriting chops that gave us albums like Boatman's Call on "Hold On To Yourself" and "Jesus Of The Moon". "We Call Upon The Author" and "More News From Nowhere" evoke Dylan for long apocalyptic rants, the former of which comes with Sonic Youth noise freakouts between every verse. The title track relies on sense of humor as much as it relies on guitars: what other songwriter could pull this idea off? Nick is still one of a kind and at the age of 50, he's far from done.

1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: I had few doubts about this being 2008's best album. Every person who bought this album felt like they found a hidden gem. Whereas Coldplay, Lil Wayne, and TV On The Radio made big-sounding records to be shouted along with by the masses, it feels like Bon Iver made this album just for you to hide in your room and reflect on. At its core, it's a voice and an acoustic guitar. Given the songwriting depth, that would have been enough, but then he handed it over to atmospherics: listen to the multi-tracked voices on "Lump Sum" or the raining snare drums on "The Wolves (Act I and II)". "Skinny Love" showcases his full-sounding voice and narrative-style lyrics. "For Emma" takes a conversation with a lost love and puts horns and traditional rhythm behind it.

What became my favorite part of this album is the closer. On "Re: Stacks", he sings his softest falsetto about "when your money's gone and you're drunk as hell" for over six minutes. It's a spare, undramatic closer that feels like a man coming to terms and moving on; you can almost hear him leaving the cabin where he wrote these songs ready to face life again and ready to leave isolation and self pity behind. This album isn't about self-loathing or anger, it's about reflection and renewal. I never would have believed that a man could go to a cabin in Wisconsin, isolate himself from all human contact for three months, and write one of the best albums of the decade, but here it is. Whether or now we ever hear another album from Bon Iver is irrelevant: this album is, simply, perfect.