The Rest of What I Listened to in 2008

Not Quite Good Enough:

Beach House-Devotion: This album sounds nice, but other than the Jad Fair cover, Some Things Last A Long Time, it just makes me want to go to sleep.
Girl Talk-Feed the Animals: I don't get this. I don't doubt Greg Gillis' industry--I heard an interview where he described his song-making process, and it's insane--but it lacks the difficulty of actual creation that mark the other records on my list. I bet the concerts are fun though.
Flight of the Concords: Good for a chuckle here and there, but not much better than an Adam Sandler record with more production value. And they have a shitty TV show.
Vampire Weekend-Vampire Weekend: Yeah, it's catchy but...that's it I think. If I want pure candy, I'll go back to a New Pornographers album or wait for AC Newman's in January. This just doesn't have enough pull on me--the songs sound nice in the background, but not one would make my top 20, I'm not even sure I could pick out an individual song that I like or hate the most. So, I have no gripes with this record, it's not a disappointment. But I'm more interested in hearing their next one.
Erykah Badu-New Amerykah, Part One: I don't get CokeMachineGlow's hard-on for this album. One great song, the rest is boring.
The Oxford Collapse: Like Beach House but faster, and just as boring.

Disappointments:

Weezer-The Red Album: No Comment.
Of Montreal-Skeletal Lamping: It takes a lot, but this album is just too weird, too schizophrenic, and the pure moments of Elephant Six melodic beauty are either buried in 18 different songs or too few and far between.
Dr. Dog-Fate: A definite step back. Not enough swamp rock, too much cutesy crap. Hurts to talk about.
Annuals-Such Fun: Sophomore slump? I thought this was going to be a great record. Their first one had hints of spectacular songwriting along the lines of The Shins, but was overproduced. This one just isn't very good other than a couple of songs.
The Raconteurs-Consolers of the Lonley: Yeah, normally I suck the Jack White teat...and I wanted to with this release, but this is pretty awful. Maybe one or two songs that don't make me cringe.
The Silver Jews-Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea: Seemingly less personal than The Tanglewood Numbers, also less interesting. This would be fine if the songs were anywhere as good as the ones on American Water or Bright Flight. Instead, it's a sad, boring album.
Tapes n Tapes-Walk it Off: Another sophomore slump here (hey, a theme!). Only Le Ruse is as catchy as anything on their debut, The Loon.
Wolf Parade-At Mount Zoomer: Language city sucks, what does that shit even mean, stop telling me this album is any good. Yeah, after their first effort it sounded like these guys could put out a number of great albums and maybe become the next great indie rock band but this shit ain't it.
Coldplay-Viva La Vida: I'm not even sure I can count this as a disappointment--they haven't released an album worth listening to in more than 5 years. At least they're trying on this one, but it's still no better than X & Y.
Cold War Kids-Loyalty to Loyalty: Ugh. This band was either going to get a lot better after 2006's Robbers and Cowards or a lot worse. Unfortunately, it was the latter.