Top 5 Albums of the Year So Far

...I know you want it, Rory.

Opeth - Watershed
Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge
Mike Patton - A Perfect Place OST
Portishead - Third
My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Shark's Teeth

Heh, I got a CD with Metal Hammer a few months back that had an Alestorm track on, I remember thinking it was like if Korpiklaani actually were pirates. Pretty cool, but I never sought out the album.

Which song was it?

Let me consult my iTunes...

*does so and types this in the time iTunes takes to load...fucksake*

Same name as the album.

Ohhh, great song. I strongly recommend the album,

I am tempted, I do enjoy my Viking Metal... I can't find it in me to turn down actual Pirate Metal.

Haha. They're not a bunch of over-dressed idiots either - I saw them at BOA this year and they just looked like hobos... how pirates should look! The album isn't very long either, only about 40 minutes so it doesn't really get tiresome.

You've sold me. I'm gonna hunt for it.

I'm not going to post mine on here. I'd rather save it for the real MTV2 top 5 board just in the hope that Zane might read it out on Gonzo.

So blacksheep.

Football Manager 2008.

lulz.

You can post them in both places, Rory. You don't have to be such a media whore.

I think I'm ready to compile my top 5 as I don't think their will be any stellar albums in the next month or so.

1. British Sea Power -- Do You Like Rock Music?
2. Vampire Weekend -- Vampire Weekend
3. Wolf Parade -- At Mount Zoomer
4. The Walkmen -- Me & You
5. The Dodos -- Visiter

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6. Clinic -- Do It!
7. Fleet Foxes -- Fleet Foxes
8. Q-Tip -- The Renaissance
9. Bon Iver -- For Emma, Forever Ago
10. Glasvegas -- Glasvegas

Notable mentions (in no order):

dEUS -- Vantage Point
Hercules and Love Affair -- Hercules and Love Affair
TV on the Radio -- Dear Science
Lupe Fiasco -- The Cool
No Age -- Nouns
Esau Mwamyway and Radio**** are the Very Best
Kanye West -- 808s and Heartbreaks
Wire -- Object 47
Okkervil River -- The Stand Ins
Oxford Collapse -- Bits
Eagles of Death Metal -- Heart On
The Gutter Twins -- Saturnalia

I think I've compiled quite a comprehensive yet definitive list of albums that have really blown me away this year. 2008 has been an outstanding year for music, on par with 2005 (which has to be one of my favourite years for music on record).

British Sea Power's Do You Like Rock Music, released on January 14, hasn't left my CD player, MP3 player playlist or my head since I first heard it. Not only that, I have managed to see them twice this year; the first at Glastonbury, the second here in Southampton. Their Southampton gig has to be one of the best gigs I've ever been to. Anyway, the album is just class from start to finish. The album's real opener, Lights Out for Darker Skies, is a genuine tour-de-force of sheer power that sets the pace for the rest of the album perfectly. The stand-out track is definitely Waving Flags - a piece of majestic, atmospheric rock. It's like hand-gliding over the mountains of Spain. Incredible.

Arguably the act of 2008, Vampire Weekend have gone from strength to strength since the release of their debut album in January. Mansard Roof, a keen favourite for 120 Minutes viewers since mid-2007, is a pure piece of Beach Boys throw-back pop while A-Punk, Oxford Comma and The Kids Don't Stand A Chance will be the songs we all look back on to remember 2008. Sheer class.

After producing my favourite album of 2005 (Apologies to the Queen Mary), it was always going to be hard for Canadian indie kings Wolf Parade to surpass my expectations. Sophomore efforts are usually dire affairs (Unless you're Radiohead or the Beastie Boys) but Wolf Parade tried hard to better their debut and, you know what?, they nearly succeeded. California Dreamer is the album's stand out track for sure while songs like Language City, Fine Young Cannibals and Bang Your Drum clearly show how talented frontman Spencer Krug is and I eagerly anticipate what they can produce in the future.

The Walkmen are one of my favourite bands. Bows + Arrows is one of the finest albums produced in the 21st century, in my opinion, and they are back on form with You & Me. Frontman Hamilton Leithauser has the best voice in music at the moment. You can feel his passion, and the rest of the band's for that matter, throughout the record. It is a record that will grab you by the lapels and not let go. I urge you to listen to it. On the Water, In the New Year and Canadian Girl are my picks for stand out tracks.

Visiter by The Dodos completes my top 5 albums for 2008 list and could have slotted in at number three if Wolf Parade and The Walkmen hadn't produced stunning albums. Not to everyone's taste, the energetic two-piece have created a unique sound that puts them apart from many other acts around at the moment. Their charm is frantic, penetrating drum beats (see Fools) and distorted guitar action mixed in with raw, grating vocals. This band is as raw as you'll get right now and they can only go on to greater things.

Song of the year: Waving Flags (British Sea Power)
Runner-up: It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (Glasvegas)

Disappointment of the year: This Is Not The World (The Futureheads)
Runner-up: Vantage Point (dEUS)