PSF's 2008 Writers' Poll
Our favorite things

Left to right: Byrne/Eno, Billy Prince Bonnie, Be Your Own Pet, Howling Hex, Why?

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Better much later than never, it's our annual round-up of PSF writers' favorite music of the year. Forget those wimpy top 10 list- we give our scribes double the slots to fill so that they can name their 20 favorites. As always, no tallied poll to tell you which records are supposedly the best of the best- instead, we hope you like seeing the individual selections. Maybe you'll find some stuff you agree or disagree with or discover a new favorite. Enjoy!

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Michael Baker

• Hank IV Refuge in Genre
  
• Eddy Current Suppression Ring Primary Colours
  
• Drive By Truckers Brighter than Creation’s Dark
  
• Deerhunter Microcastle + Weird Era Cont.
  
• Thomas Function Celebration
  
• Spiritualized Songs in A & E
  
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
  
• TV on the Radio Dear Science
  
• Sun Kil Moon April
  
• Dodos Visitor
  
• Portishead 3
  
• The Drones Havilah
  
• Duchess and the Duke She's the Duchess, He's the Duke
  
• Turpentine Brothers Turpentine Brothers
  
• Mountain Goats Heretic Pride
  
• No Age Nouns
  
• Alejandro Escovedo Real Animal
  
• Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby
  
• The Notwist The Devil, You + Me
  
• Supergrass Diamond Hoo Ha
  

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Tim Broun

• Elbow the Seldom Seen Kid
  
• Bauhaus Go Away White
  
• Fuck Buttons Street Horrrsing
  
• Brett Dennen Hope For the Hopeless
  
• Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
  
• The Ting Tings We Started Nothing
  
• Liquid Liquid Slip In & Out of Phenomenon
  
• Joe Higgs Life of Contradiction
  
• Randy Newman Harps & Angels
  
• Primal Scream Beautiful Future
  
• Hercules & Love Affair Hercules & Love Affair
  
• Mekons The Mekons Story
  
• Lester Young The Count Basie Sessions 1936-1940
  

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Dan Coffey

• Van der Graaf Generator Trisector
  
• Boston Spaceships Brown Submarine
  
• Psycho and the Birds We've Moved
  
• Steve Lacy Five Facings
  
• Jonathan Richman Because Her Beauty Is Raw & Wild
  
• Dawn Landes Fireproof
  
• Henry Cow Stockholm & Goteborg
  
• Anthony Braxton The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton
  
• Musica Elettronica Viva MEV 40 (1967-2007)
  
• Mountain Goats Heretic Pride
  
• Steve Lacy The Forest and the Zoo
  
• Marilyn Crispell Vignettes
  
• Fred Frith To Sail, To Sail
  
• kue Mori Phantom Orchard
  
• The Fall Imperial Wax Solvent
  
• Dan Fogelberg The Innocent Age
  
• Emiliana Torrini Me and Armini
  
• Dawn Landes Dawn's Music
  
• Van der Graaf Generator Time Vaults
  
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy Lie Down in the Light
  

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Robin Cook

• Baby Charles Baby Charles
  
• Black Angels Directions to See a Ghost
  
• Ladyhawke Ladyhawke
  
• Mudhoney The Lucky Ones
  
• Santogold Santogold
  
• Sia Some People Have Real Problems
  

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Ken Cox

• Duffy Rockferry
  
• Little Richard The Very Best of Little Richard
  
• Jerry Lee Lewis The Real Thing-Rare and Unreleased
  
• Juliana Hatfield How to Walk Away
  
• The Oak Ridge Boys The Gospel Collection
  
• Jolie Holland The Living and the Dead
  
• Various Artists 75 Pumpin' Piano Greats
  
• Hank Williams The Unreleased Recordings
  
• Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison
  
• Dave Grusin The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (Soundtrack)
  
• Glen Campbell Meet Glen Campbell
  
• Louvin Brothers Classic Album Collection
  
• Taylor Swift Fearless
  
• Ernest V. Stoneman The Unsung Father of Country Music: 1925 – 1934
  
• Merle Haggard Live from Austin, TX
  
• Various Artists First Ladies of Country
  
• Merrill E. Moore Bellyful of Blue Thunder
  
• Moon Mullican Moon's Rock
  
• Joan Osborne Little Wild One
  
• The Veronicas Hook Me Up
  

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Kieran Curran

• TV On The Radio Dear Science
  
• Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
  
• Fuck Buttons Street Horrsing
  
• Roots Manuva Slime and Reason
  
• Portishead Third
  
• Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak
  
• Sigur Ros Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
  
• Withered Hand Religious Songs E.P
  
• The Wave Pictures Instant Coffee Baby
  
• Los Campesinos Hold On Now, Youngster
  
• Woodpigeon Songbook
  
• The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride
  
• ballboy I Worked On The Ships
  
• So Cow I'm Siding With My Captors
  
• Robert Wyatt Comicopera
  
• Various The Tellus Series
  
• (Ubu.com) Pavement Brighten The Corners (Nicene Creedence Edition)
  
• Sebadoh Bubble and Scrape (reissue)
  
• OMD Dazze Ships (reissue)
  
• Pere Ubu Dub Housing (reissue)
  

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5-Track

• Howling Hex Earth Junk
  
• Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs
  
• The Breeders Mountain Battles
  
• Nikka Costa Pebble To A Pearl
  
• howardAmb electricaLanguage
  
• Jasper Johns The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
  
• The Wax Evolution Acousticophilia
  
• Earth The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull
  
• Debashish Bhattacharya "Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey
  

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Michael Freerix

• Joanne Robertson The Lighter
  
• Cat Power Jukebox
  
• Eccentric Soul Vol. 10/The Deep City Label
  
• Autistic Daughters Uneasy Flowers
  
• Bohren und der Club of Gore Dolores
  
• The Kills Midnight Boom
  
• Bonnie ‚Prince Billy Ask Forgiveness
  
• Black Lips Good Bad Not Evil
  
• Halma Broad Peak
  
• Bob Mould District Line
  
• Skeletons Money
  
• Giant Sand Provisions
  
• The Dodos Visiter
  
• Satan's Claws Satan's Little Pet Pig
  
• Serge Gainsbourg Les Annes Psychedelics 1966-71
  
• Sandy Denny Sandy
  
• O'Death Broken Hymns Limbs and Skin
  
• The Nerves One Way Ticket
  
• The Raveonettes Lust Lust Lust
  
• The Black Keys Attack Keys
  

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JP Gelinas

• Dr. John City That Care Forgot
  
• John Hiatt Same Old Man
  
• The Hold Steady Stay Positive
  
• Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen Poetry For The Beat Generation (reissue-import)
  
• The Replacements Let It Be (reissue)
  
• Cold Play Viva La Vida
  
• Nick Lowe Jesus Of Cool (reissue)
  
• Jon Cleary Mo Hippa
  
• Various Artists Christmas A Go Go
  
• Brian Wilson Lucky Old Sun
  
• Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Years Vol. 8
  
• The Iguanas If You Should Ever Fall On Hard Times
  
• Jack Bruce Spirit: Live At The BBC 1971-1978
  
• Elvis Costello & The Imposters Momofuku
  
• Beck Modern Guilt
  
• Cloud Cult Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
  
• Randy Newman Harps and Angels
  
• The Pretenders Breaking Up The Concrete
  
• Neil Young Sugar Mountain: Live At The Canterbury House 1968
  
• Real Animal Alejandro Escovedo
  

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Gary Gomes

• Delta Saxophone Quartet Dedicated to You but You Weren't Listening
• Hugh Hopper Numero D'Vol
• Soft Machine Legacy Steam
• Soft Machine Drop
• The Wrong Object Stories from the Shed
• DFA Kaleidoscope
• Alex Maguire Sextet Brewed in Belgium
• Asaf Sirkis The Song Within
• Isotope The Golden Section
• Brotherhood of Breath Eclipse at Dawn
• Refugee Live in Concert-Newcastle City Hall 1974

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Jason Gross

• Wussy Left for Dead
  
• The Whigs Mission Control
  
• Hot Chip Made in the Dark
  
• Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Honeydripper
  
• The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride
  
• The Heavy Great Vengeance & FUrious Fire
  
• Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Youngster...
  
• Clark Turning Dragon
  
• James McMurty Just Us Kids
  
• Absentee Victory Shorts
  
• Münchener Kammerorchester Haydn, Yun: Farewell - Symphonies Nos. 39 and 45 / Chamber Symphony I
  
• Paul Westerberg 49:00
  
• Girl Talk Feed the Animals
  
• GZA Pro Tools
  
• Lil Wayne Tha Carter III
  
• Martha Wainwright I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
  
• Lucinda Williams Little Honey
  
• The Knux Remind Me In 3 Days...
  
• TV on the Radio Dear Science
  
• Okkervil River The Stand Ins
  

Full lenghty list at Ye Wei blog

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Richard Haslop

• Balla Et Ses Balladins The Syliphone Years
  
• Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
  
• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
  
• Shirley & Dolly Collins The Harvest Years
  
• Lowell Davidson Trio
  
• Toumani Diabate The Mande Variations
  
• Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol 8
  
• Alejandro Escovedo Real Animal
  
• Etran Finatawa Desert Crossroads
  
• Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
  
• Bill Frisell History, Mystery
  
• Emmylou Harris All I Intended To Be
  
• The Hold Steady Stay Positive
  
• Randy Newman Harps And Angels
  
• Okkervil River The Stand Ins
  
• Portishead Third
  
• Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli Yeraz
  
• Umalali The Garifuna Women’s Project
  
• Various Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977
  
• Marcin Wasilewski Trio January
  

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Billy Hell

• Thalia Zedek Band Liars and Prayers
  
• Wire Object 47
  
• The New Year The New Year
  
• Mudhoney The Lucky Ones
  
• Philip Jeck Sand
  
• Retribution Gospel Choir Retribution Gospel Choir
  
• The Human Bell The Human Bell
  
• Audrey The Fierce and the Longing
  
• Black Francis Svn Fngrs
  
• Mogwai The Hawk is Howling
  
• Chris Brokaw Canaris
  
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
  
• Nisennenmondai Neji / Tori
  
• Yaneka Roots
  
• Bilge Pump Rupert the Sky
  
• Einsturzende Neubauten The Jewels
  
• Giant Sand Provisions
  
• Calexico Carried to Dust
  
• Last Harbour Dead Fires and the Lonely Spark
  
• The Sontaran Experiment The Sontaran Experiment
  

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JC Lockwood

• Lvmen Heron
  
• Plastic People of the Universe Magor's Shem
  
• Terakaft Akh issudar
  
• Make a Rising Infinite Ellipse and Head with Open Fontanel
  
• Experimental Dental School Jane Doe Loves Me
  
• Little Cow I'm in Love with Every Lady
  
• Dengue Fever Venus on Earth
  
• Laibach Laibachkunstderfuge
  
• Suishou No Fune Prayer for Chibi
  
• Bang on a Can All Stars Music For Airports, Live
  

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Domenic Maltempi

• Max Richter 24 Postcards in Full Color
  
• Kurt Vile Constant Hitmaker
  
• The Oh Sees The Master’s Bedroom
  
• The Silver Jews Look Out Mountain Look Out Sea
  
• Shugo Tokumaru Exit
  
• Sic Alps U.S. EZ
  
• Jonas Reinhardt (Self Titled)
  
• Tommy Jay’s Tom’s Tall Tales of Trauma
  
• Escape Mechanism Emphasis Added
  
• The Instruments Dark Smaland
  
• Tape Luminarium
  
• William Parker Double Sunrise over Neptune
  
• Juana Molina Un Dia
  
• Ignatz 3
  
• The Duchess @ the Duke She’s the Duchess, He’s…
  
• Koushik Out my Window
  
• Deer Hunter Microcastle
  
• Stereolab Chemical Chords
  

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Richard Mason

• Kluster 1970-71
  
• Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Beirut Slump Shut up and bleed
  
• Porter Wagoner The Cold Hard Facts Of Life / Soul Of a Convict (reissue)
  
• Wooden Shjips Vol 1
  
• Anthony Braxton The complete Arista recordings of Anthony Braxton
  
• The Red Krayola Fingerpointing
  
• Harry Pussy You'll Never Play This Town Again
  
• Sun Ra Newport Jazz Festival / The Electric Circus
  
• Taj Mahal Travellers Live Stockholm 1971 (reissue)
  
• John Fahey Mill Pond (reissue)
  

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Neila Mezynski

• Melody Gardot "Worrisome Heart"
  
• Richard Goode (playing anything)
  
• Murray Perahia (the same)

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James Nadal

• Dr. John City That Care Forgot
  
• BB King One Kind Favor
  

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Marc Philips

• Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
  
• TV on the Radio Dear Science
  
• Flobots Fight With Tools
  
• Boy Eats Drum Machine Booomboxxx
  
• Shearwater Rook
  
• Ida Lovers Prayers
  
• Anja Garbarek Smiling and Waving
  
• The Whispertown 2000 Swim
  
• Why? Alopecia
  
• Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
  
• Portishead Third
  
• Headlights Some Racing, Some Stopping
  
• She & Him Volume One
  
• Jenni Potts Take This and Go
  
• Jean on Jean Jean on Jean
  
• Stuart Davis Something Simple
  
• Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs
  
• Alejandro Escovedo Real Animal
  
• The Notwist The Devil, You + Me
  
• Various Artists Eccentric Soul--The Young Disciples
  

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Danny R. Phillips

• The Gits The Best of The Gits
  
• Justin Townes Earle The Good Life
  
• Charlie Pickett Bar Band Americanus: The Best of Charlie Pickett
  
• Oasis Dig Out Your Soul
  
• The Architects Vice
  
• The Black Keys Live at The Crystal Ballroom
  
• (DVD) Ha Ha Tonka Buckle In The Bible Belt
  
• Firewater The Golden Hour
  
• Kate Nash Made of Bricks
  
• The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound
  
• The Breeders Mountain Battles
  
• The Terrible Twos Jersey Giant
  
• The Dirtbombs We Have You Surrounded
  
• The Raconteurs Consolers of The Lonely
  
• Metallica Master of Puppets (vinyl reissue)
  
• Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life
  
• Federation of Horsepower Stay Down
  

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Tim Shannon

• Boris Smile
  
• Breeders Mountain Battles
  
• Mudhoney The Lucky Ones
  
• Paul Westerberg 49:00
  
• Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely
  
• All of the Replacements Reissues REM< I>Accelerate
  
• Spiritualized Songs in A and E
  

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Al Spicer

• Amadou and Mariam Welcome to Mali
  
• Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
  
• Glasvegas Glasvegas
  
• Kings of Leon Only by the Night
  
• MGMT Oracular Spectacular
  
• Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak
  
• Portishead Third
  
• TV on the Radio Dear Science
  
• Duffy Rockferry
  
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
  
• Lil' Wayne Tha Carter III
  
• Foals Antidotes
  
• Sigur Ros Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Enderlast
  
• Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
  
• The Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement
  
• The Streets Everything is Borrowed
  
• Hot Chip Made in the Dark
  
• Roots Manuva Slime and Reason
  
• RihannaGood Girl Gone Bad
  
• The Fall Imperial Wax Solvent
  

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Hank Shteamer

• Graham Smith Yes Boss
  
• Cynic Traced in Air
  
• Dennis Wilson Pacific Ocean Blue
  
• Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy
  
• Krallice Krallice
  
• Andrew Hill and Chico Hamilton Dreams Come True
  
• Metallica Death Magnetic
  
• Josh Fix Free at Last
  
• Randy Newman Harps and Angels
  
• Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
  
• Extra Life Secular Works
  
• Kanye West 808s & Heartbreak
  
• Harris Eisenstadt Guewel
  
• Kayo Dot Blue Lambency Downward
  
• Walter Becker Circus Money
  
• Ocrilim ANNWN
  
• Marnie Stern This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
  
• One Day as a Lion One Day As A Lion
  
• Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet Tabligh
  
• Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
  

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Jeffrey Thiessen

• Brian Jonestown Massacre My Bloody Underground
  
• Black Keys Attack and Release
  
• Corb Lund Horse Solider!Horse Solider!
  
• Fucked Up Chemisty of Modern Life
  
• Jesus and Mary Chain The Power of Negative Thinking
  
• Ween La Cucaracha
  
• Mount Eerie Lost Wisdom
  
• Spiritualized Songs in A & E
  
• Deerhoof Microcastle
  
• Portishead Third
  
• Lunatic Soul Lunatic Soul
  
• Thrice The Alchemy Index Volumes III & IV-Air and Earth
  
• Joe Bonamassa Live From Nowhere in Particuliar
  
• Testament The Formation of Damnation
  
• Sun Kil Moon April
  
• Grouper Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
  
• Lights Out Asia Eyes like Brontide
  
• Mooncake Lagrange Points
  
• Pg.Lost It's Not Me, It's You!
  
• The Fall Imperial Wax Solvent
  

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Pat Thomas

• Neil Young Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
  
• Graham Nash Songs For Beginners
  
• Kevin Ayers What More Can I Say
  
• Various Artists The Complete Motown Singles Volume 11: 1971
  
• Fotheringay/Sandy Denny Fotheringay 2
  
• Grateful Dead Road Trips: Summer '71
  
• Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs: 1989-2006
  
• The Who At Kilburn 1977 (DVD)
  
• Van Morrison Veedon Fleece
  
• John Martyn BBC Live in Concert: 1971-1981
  

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Gregg Wager

• Gamelan Son of Lion Sonogram
  
• Gloria Cheng Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky, And Lutoslawski
  
• Pandit Jasraj Baiju Bawra: A Tribute to Pt. Jasraj
  
• Lukas Ligeti Afrikan Machinery
  
• Stan Ridgeway and Pietra Wexstun Silly Songs For Kids, Vol. 1
  
• Dary John Mizelle Shadows
  
• Fieldwork Door
  
• Ralph van Raat Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
  
• Los Angeles Opera, James Conlon, cond. Weill/Brecht: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny
  
• Hawnay Troof Islands of Ayle
  
• Dweezil Zappa et al. Zappa Plays Zappa
  
• Lee Hyla Lives of the Saints
  
• Ray Manzarek and Roy Rodgers Ballads Before the Rain
  
• NOW Ensemble NOW
  
• Chick Corea and Gary Burton The New Crystal Silence
  
• Michael Gordon [purgatorio] POPOPERA
  
• Markus Stockhausen SYMBIOSIS
  
• Barry Schrader Monkey King
  
• Seo Taiji 8th Atomos Part Moai
  
• Kronos Quartet and Wu Man Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic
  

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Dan Weiss

• Be Your Own Pet Get Awkward/Get Damaged
  
• Girl Talk Feed the Animals
  
• Portishead Third
  
• No Age Nouns
  
• Conor Oberst Conor Oberst
  
• Lil' Wayne Tha Carter III/The Leak
  
• Raphael Saadiq The Way I See It
  
• Stereolab Chemical Chords
  
• TV on the Radio Dear Science
  
• The Breeders Mountain Battles
  
• Hot Chip Made in the Dark
  
• Blitzen Trapper Furr
  
• Deerhunter Microcastle
  
• The Roots Rising Down
  
• Al Green Lay It Down
  
• RL/VL Chagrin
  
• Weezer Weezer
  
• [Red Album] The Magnetic Fields Distortion
  
• Nas Nas
  
• K'Naan The Dusty Foot Philosopher
  

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Kurt Wildermuth

Old friends:

• David Byrne and Brian Eno Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
  
• Calexico Carried to Dust
  
• Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs
  
• Chris Eckman The Last Side of the Mountain
  
• Firewater The Golden Hour
  
• Old 97's Blame It on Gravity

Left to right: Juliana Hatfield, Nick Cave, Nick Lowe, Liquid Liquid, Ikue Mori