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30 Melanie Doane A Thousand Nights 2008 Prairie Ocean
In 2008, Melanie finally released a new album, her first in five years. This time around, she did a collection of covers which seems to be the in-thing lately following Jann Arden, Serena Ryder and others. And really, it's an obvious choice. As a songwriter, the money comes with various airplay but if you can't get that, go with songs that have already been established before. Melanie's versions of non-typical covers have a country flair which sounds great coming from her. Apparently, she has an album of originals in the works for release soon so this record works until then.
Key Tracks Devoted To You, All The Diamonds, Songbird

29 Robert Plant/Alison Krauss Raising Sand 2007 Rounder
An unlikely pairing with a great result. This record contains a lot of older songs reworked with Plant and Krauss with legendary producer T Bone Burnett at the board. My favourite moment on this album has to be in 'Gone Gone Gone' where Robert Plant's voice sounds like a wild guitar.
Key Tracks Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On), Please Read The Letter, Rich Woman

28 Martha Wainwright I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too 2008 Martha Wainwright
I'd been hearing about Martha for a few years before finally catching her vocals on a Snow Patrol song last year. This year, a few of her songs were iTunes Songs of the Week and I got both of them and decided to just get her album. I've yet to really catch on to it but she does offer variety to her sound from the poppiness of 'You Cheated Me' and her cover of the Eurythmics 'Love Is A Stranger' to her yearning of 'I Wish I Were'.
Key Tracks You Cheated Me, Love Is A Stranger, I Wish I Were

27 Chantal Kreviazuk Since We Met: The Best Of 2008 Sony BMG
This Best Of completely came out of nowhere one day while at HMV. Apparently it was the last album to end the contract between Chantal and Sony which, at the time, was the biggest contract for Sony for a Canadian artist back in 1996. Four studio albums and then this collection and it's done. It's easy to tell that this was just thrown together as the album cover is an old picture from a few years ago used for a single cover and the track listing, while complete, does have a few question marks in there. My big beef is using the not-so-good versions of 'Feels Like Home' and 'Leaving On A Jet Plane' instead of the soundtrack versions. Good for what it is, which are all songs I like, but I'd probably rather just put on one of her albums.
Key Tracks Time, Wayne, Dear Life

26 OneRepublic Dreaming Out Loud 2007 Mosley/Interscope
Much like the Fray and other bands similar to them but for whatever reason, OneRepublic's album stuck out with me much more. It didn't have a lot of lasting power for me but I did listen to it all the same and liked what I heard.
Key Tracks Won't Stop, Say (All I Need), All Fall Down

25 Serena Ryder Told You In A Whispered Song 2007 Serenader/EMI
An iTunes release from late 2007 to follow up her record of covers, this 5-track EP gives a glimpse of what's to come whenever Serena released her followup and it wasn't until I got the followup that I really got into these songs. Aside from an acoustic version of 'Weak In The Knees' and 'Brand New Love', the rest of the songs were lost on me... until now. Good to accompany her new album 'Is It OK' and good if you already like Serena.
Key Tracks Brand New Love, Hiding Place, Weak In The Knees

24 Madonna Hard Candy 2008 Warner Bros.
Madonna switched it up on her latest album following four records of dance/electronic and everything in between. This time around she went to the pop/hip-hop side of the dance world to provide a new upbeat record containing collaborations with Timbaland and Pharrell along with Kanye and Justin. The result is a decent mix of Madonna songs. Nothing incredible but not as limiting as 'Confession' was. At the same time though, with Madonna using today's most known producers and collaborators, she no longer really *stands out* the way she has in the past so at the end of the line, this record will likely get lost in the shuffle if it hasn't already.
Key Tracks 4 Minutes, Beat Goes On, Miles Away

23 Jason Mraz We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things 2008 Atlantic
Before Jason released his third studio album, he preceeded it with three acoustic EPs of tracks that would eventually make up the entire thing. 'We Sing', 'We Dance' and 'We Steal Things' came out each in their own week, a few weeks before the entire thing came out in studio recorded form. The album has some good stuff on here, such as 'Coyotes' or 'Details In The Fabric' but I'm thinking when I'll want to listen to Jason Mraz, I'll just choose his first two albums instead. This one left a lot to be desired, which is weird considering he got his biggest hit on a song that comes from this one with 'I'm Yours'.
Key Tracks Details In The Fabric, Coyotes, Love For A Child

22 Dragonette Galore 2007 Mercury
Dragonette didn't end up being the big splash that it seemed like they were going to be over a year ago upon the release of 'Galore'. It seems it didn't quite work out but they did end up with a pretty good electronic/pop album full of uber catchy songs. Hopefully there'll be more since they still have the buzz they had with this one.
Key Tracks Another Day, Get Lucky, You Please Me

21 Robyn Robyn 2008 Konichiwa
Originally released a few years ago in Sweden, this album marked a comeback for Robyn that eventually saw a release in North America. It didn't bring her back to the popularity she saw in the late 90s but she did get a lot of attention regardless. It seems weird hearing Robyn sing like she does in 'Konichiwa Bitches' and 'Handle Me' but 'Cobrastyle' sounds so natural, it's almost hard to believe that she's the same person that did 'Show Me Love'.
Key Tracks Cobrastyle, Handle Me, With Every Heartbeat

20 Raine Maida The Hunter's Lullaby 2007 King Noise
One of my favourite discs from last year, I did listen to this one occasionally this year still and it still works. I love the production and while the songs themselves are still too preachy, they still sound great.
Key Tracks The Less I Know, Rat Race, Careful What You Wish For

19 Jack's Mannequin The Glass Passenger 2008 Sire
I really liked the sound of Jack Mannequin's first album so I decided to see if they delivered again. Definitely. I think this album fills a void that seems to exist in my CD collection, oddly enough. As far as rock music goes, I have Green Day and MCR and as far as the lighter stuff goes, I have Jason Mraz and David Usher. But I don't have much in between and that's where this comes in.
Key Tracks Crashin, Annie Use Your Telescope, The Resolution

18 Kanye West 808s & Heartbreak 2008 Roc-A-Fella
It's weird because I only have two Kanye West CDs. His first one and his latest one. So I don't own the ones with 'Golddigger' or 'Stronger', which are his two blockbuster hits. This album is much different from what I have heard from his last two and the first one in that there really isn't much rap on here. It very much relies on the sounds and effects of sound manipulation and autotune for his vocals. I do like what I hear though despite some of the songs going on for a bit too long ('Say You Will' being nearly three minutes longer than it probably has to be) but in the end, it's a good record.
Key Tracks Love Lockdown, Robocop, Welcome To Heartbreak

17 Brandi Carlile The Story 2007 Sony/BMG
Another of my favourites from 2007 that I kept playing in 2008. Not really a whole lot to say about it now that I didn't already say last year. Brandi's 'The Story' (song) got some attention for being in some car commercial during the summer Olympics. That's about it.
Key Tracks The Story, Again Today, My Song

16 David Usher Wake Up And Say Goodbye 2008 Evil Empire
Less than a year after the release of his fifth solo album, David announces his sixth that came out in the early summer. It is a lot of the same that 'Strange Birds' had as well as 'If God Had Curves'. Not quite as memorable for me as the last album, which was one of my favourites from 2007. I think the highlights on this one are fewer than usual from David but still ok.
Key Tracks The River, Speak/Listen, Wake Up And Say Goodbye

15 Tegan and Sara The Con 2007 Superclose
My favourite CD from last year. T&S always make music that doesn't get old. I can put on any of their albums and it still feels fresh and undated. Of course the same applies to 'The Con'. Not much else here to say.
Key Tracks Call It Off, The Con, Floorplan

14 Sarah McLachlan Closer: The Best Of 2008 Nettwerk
After nearly 20 years of recording as well as tons of other miscellaneous releases, Sarah finally has a proper Best Of compilation that isn't a b-sides collection, live, remixes, or acoustic. It's weird to think that she's only recorded five studio albums (not counting her Christmas one) since 1988. Taking the hits from those, she put together this album. The version I own is the 2-disc one that contains more than the biggest hits. A few things I would change about this collection would be to have used the live version of 'Push', include the live version of 'Ice Cream' instead and put 'River' on there as well. As far as the collection itself, I think this is up there with The Best Of Sheryl Crow as one of the best artist compilations of the decade so far representing someone from the 90s-00s.
Key Tracks U Want Me 2, Fallen, Adia, Possession

13 Hunter Valentine The Impatient Romantic 2007 High Romance
A friend of mine suggested this band to me because of their similarity to Tegan and Sara. Somewhat. They have more of a straight-up pop/rock sound compared to Tegan and Sara's occasional tendency to sway from the expected norms of song construction but sometimes you just want something that's familiar sounding even if you aren't familiar with the actual songs. This album is easy to listen to and easy to enjoy.
Key Tracks Typical, Judy, Break This

12 Nicole Atkins Neptune City 2007 Sony
Another artist introduced by iTunes' Song of the Week. This time, it was 'The Way It Is'. Nicole Atkins, to me, reminds me a lot of Sarah Slean in both her voice and theatrics. I think the big difference comes down to Nicole's sound is much more larger and epic compared to Sarah's. I can hear Nicole's songs backing up a huge budget romantic Disney cartoon movie. Surely someone somewhere will hear this and get Nicole to make a huge soundtrack for their film.
Key Tracks The Way It Is, Party's Over, Maybe Tonight

11 KT Tunstall Drastic Fantastic 2007 Virgin
The last recycled album. This one took a big longer to grow on me then KT's first album did. In the end, I think I do like 'Eye To The Telescope' more but this one isn't without some favourites. With a slightly more polished sound from a more confident singer, I'm not sure I'll be as much into the next record with the direction but alas, 'Drastic Fantastic' is still fantastic.
Key Tracks The Beauty Of Uncertainty, Hopeless, I Don't Want You Now

10 Pink Funhouse 2008 LaFace
It's weird to think that up until her last album, I really didn't like Pink. So I guess to do a complete 360 is a pretty big deal. I'm certainly not her biggest fan but I think she's pretty good. I think she could have better songs as far as what her voice would sound best with but she is pretty versatile anyway so it works. This time around, 'Funhouse' seems to move Pink slightly further away from the upbeat pop sound that her last album gave despite what the lead single 'So What' indicates. Of course there are some of the "fun" songs that show off one side of Pink's persona, such as 'So What', 'Bad Influence' and 'Funhouse' but there is the pop/rock sound she's also known for in 'It's All Your Fault' and 'Ave Mary A' but she shows a softer side on 'I Don't Believe You', 'Glitter In The Air' and the folk-sounding 'Crystal Ball'. 'Please Don't Leave Me' is a highlight for me though.
Key Tracks Please Don't Leave Me, Funhouse, Crystal Ball

9 Rilo Kiley Under The Blacklight 2007 Warner Bros.
Despite being released in 2007, this album was the first CD I bought this year so it's new to me. My first impression upon hearing 'Under The Blacklight' was how polished and poppy it was considering the fanbase that Rilo Kiley seem to have. All of the songs are catchy and memorable all on their own and even after just listening to the album once, the second time around felt like I'd been listening to this album for months.
Key Tracks Under The Blacklight, Silver Lining, 15

8 Kate Maki On High 2008 Confusion Unlimited
This year, Kate released her third album. I think of all the artists in my collection, none package their music quite as easy and basic as Kate does. That's pretty much all you need to know that she's recording music for the music. This time, the folk singer/songwriter plays around with the recording stylings such as 'To Please', which is less than two and a half minutes in length but has this catchy beat on the right with a distant vocal and guitar in the left. 'Highway' is much like what her last record was in terms of musical sound. As a whole, the album is simple and would be nice to listen to in a cabin by the fireplace.
Key Tracks To Please, Blue Morning, Badminton Racquet

7 Sheryl Crow Detours 2008 A&M
I think 'Detours' is Sheryl's best album since at least 'Sheryl Crow' (1996). Going back with her producer that she recorded 'Tuesday Night Music Club' was a capital idea that resulted in some of her best material since that time. The album starts off strong with an ode to society today in a tape-recording sound with just Sheryl and guitar. That is followed up with a strong 'Tuesday Night Music Club' sounding track 'Shine Over Babylon' that instantly felt like the closing of the gap from Sheryl 1993 to Sheryl 2008. While being a political album in theme with tracks like 'Gasoline' and 'Shine Over Babylon', there's also some personal tracks such as 'Detours'. which touches on her battle with breast cancer, or 'Lullaby For Wyatt' which is about her adopted son. And of course, Sheryl takes to the lighter side of things with 'Love Is Free', which is this album's 'All I Wanna Do' or 'Soak Up The Sun'.
Key Tracks Detours, Shine Over Babylon, God Bless This Mess

6 Alanis Morissette Flavors Of Entanglement 2008 Maverick
Alanis' first single from her fifth studio album left a lot to be desired and probably didn't help announce her return or interest people in her upcoming album, which is probably why you didn't even know she had a new record out this year. For 'Flavors' (not "Flavours"...), Alanis teams up with Guy Sigsworth, Frou Frou's other half that isn't Imogen Heap, who has worked with Madonna, Britney, Bjork, and many others. The sounds is definitely there and I can hear similarities between this album and Frou Frou's 'Details'. It's hard to imagine that Alanis went from the days of 'Jagged Little Pill' to 'Flavors Of Entanglement' but it almost feels like she's coming full circle. I think this record might be her best since 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie' and probably her most consistent since the infamous Pill. This is an example where the production helped to make the album, unlike her last album, produced by John Shanks, that should have had a much harder, raw sound. Guy allows Alanis to sound raw and places that over well-developed sounds and music. It's also refreshing to know that a CD can be packaged with bonus material that is simply another disc of bonus music. None of this bonus digital stuff or DVD stuff.
Key Tracks Tapes, Incomplete, Limbo No More

5 Serena Ryder Is It OK 2008 Serenader/EMI
I first heard Serena Ryder on the radio when 'Weak In The Knees' first came out. Whatever it was about that song completely captured my attention. Serena's voice wass incredible then and she showcases it again on her new album. There's yet another version of 'Weak In The Knees' on here that admittedly doesn't compare to the first version but the studio recordings of four of the songs that were on her acoustic EP are top-notch. Despite having five of the twelve songs on here being previously available, the album still feels like a complete flow of music instead of just random songs thrown together for the sake of having a CD. The record starts off strong with 'Sweeping The Ashes' and doesn't allow you to be let down.
Key Tracks Brand New Love, Sweeping The Ashes, Hiding Place

4 Kate Nash Made Of Bricks 2007 Polydor
Apparently Kate is a poor man's Lily Allen. I honestly can't say I know much from Lily but from what I've heard, I'll choose to be a poor man. Kate's humorous style of writing shows just how blunt one can be with lyrics in songs. There's no dancing around the topic in songs like "Why you being a dickhead for/Stop being a dickhead." My favourite line on the whole CD comes from 'Foundations'; "You've gone and got sick on my trainers/I only got these yesterday." and she's all British sounding. Storytelling made fun!
Key Tracks We Get On, Mouthwash, Mariella

3 Kathleen Edwards Asking For Flowers 2008 Potty Mouth
I have to admit that when I first got Kathleen's third studio album, I was partially disappointed because it didn't seem to have the same charm as 'Back To You' had. But being who she is, I didn't give up right away and after some time and repeated listens, I grew to love the record and it fits in with 'Back To Me' and it's not shameful to place it next to the incredible 'Failer' either. Kathleen continues her country-influenced approach and this time expands her lyrical themes to those of politics, racism and tragedy as can be heard in the chilling 'Alicia Rose'. It's not all covered in oh so serious as the title of 'I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory' suggests which gives plenty of analogies such as "You're cool and cred like Fogerty/I'm Elvis Presley in the 70's". "I'm a Ford Tempo/you're a Maserati/You're the Great One/I'm Marty McSorley/You're the Concorde/I'm economy/I make the dough/but you get the glory."
Key Tracks Alicia Rose, Run, Scared At Night

2 Sarah Slean The Baroness 2008 Warner Music
It took me a long time to warm up to Sarah's new sound. What I knew from her before was a flamboyant, theatrical, poetic songstress and that was all wiped away to present basic, raw, straight-forward and very emotionally down-feeling songs. What happened to the Sarah Slean behind 'Pilgrim', 'Bank Accounts' and 'Me And Jerome'? She's been replaced by a sombre, teary Sarah that now sings about being the other woman in 'Get Home'.
I finally realized that this is an album that Sarah needed to make and what impressed me the most about this album wasn't so much the sound of it. Honestly, there's nothing spectacular about this album as it stands alone. It's that it comes after her albums 'Day One' and 'Night Bugs' and after getting to know Sarah from those days, you see a whole completely different side of her and you know it's genuine. With lyrics like "fiends and devils in the garden/take their fill and leave me scarred." from 'Hopeful Hearts', "still out on the roof/howling at the moon/another exile in the kingdom." from 'Notes From The Underground', the entirety of 'No Place At All': "no place at all to call my own/still wandering the world/and friends of mine all moving on/getting comfortable cars/getting married." and of course there's 'Get Home' where she tells her lover to go back to his wife and stop fooling around: "you know that you'll never change/and I don't play the game/with liars and cowards/like you."
However, things take a positive turn with the album's closing track 'Looking For Someone', where you know that things are looking up and you know that Sarah has hope and that despite everything, she hasn't given up on love. I think after this album, we'll see a return to the Sarah we first got to know... in fact, she's already returned, as evident by her EP 'The Baroness Redecorates'.
Key Tracks Get Home, Looking For Someone, Notes From The Underground

1 Soundtrack Juno 2007 Rhino
The movie might have been more hype than required but I really think the soundtrack for Juno was amazing. And I'll even admit, it kind of changed the way I listened to music, as ridiculous as that sounds. This is also probably the first soundtrack that I ever got as a result of hearing music from the movie. Had I not seen Juno, I wouldn't have been able to listen to the soundtrack and be able to appreciate it at all. It has also opened my eyes... or my ears, to the fact that I think my taste in music is growing stale. Looking back at the rest of my list and there's not a lot of fresh stuff on there that hasn't been on my best of lists from years past which tells me that I really need to open up what I listen to. Certainly there's nothing wrong with Kathleen, and Sarah Slean, and Tegan & Sara, and Jason Mraz, and liking all of those, but it's been awhile since I've listened to something new that I was excited about. When I first got the Juno Soundtrack, it was literally the only thing I listened to for weeks afterward.
However, with that said, don't start recommending stuff for me to listen to because for some odd reason, I have to feel some sort of connection to music before I can really like it and I have to discover it on my own. Otherwise, it feels tainted. The reason I was able to love this soundtrack as much as I do was because I liked the movie and liked the music from it. There was a background for me there.
So what is it about this collection that makes it good for me? Well, first off. Kimya Dawson. The basic recording with no mixing at all is very charming. The way the old songs from Buddy Holly and the Kinks blend with more recent recordings from Belle & Sebastian and Cat Power. I think the biggest thing about this record is the memories that, for whatever reason, come to me when I listen to it. Normally songs can bring me back to when they first came out and what I was doing at that time but listening to Juno brings me back to a few years ago... for reasons I suspect but I won't get into here but they make me nostalgic. Bonus points for anything that can do that.
Key Tracks -all-

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