The Observer's Top 50 of 2008

A lista dos melhores álbuns de 2008 do The Observer colocou no topo o tocante For Emma, Forever Ago, álbum de estréia de Bon Iver, à frente de outros grandes discos como os do Vampire Weekend e do TV On The Radio. Uma ótima curiosidade é America Brasil do Seu Jorge na 41ª posição da lista. Confira mais detalhes no site do The Observer.

1: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago ♫

There was no definitive album release this year, no generational lightning rod such as the Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am... from two years ago, or surprise bottling of the zeitgeist in the manner of the Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free from 2004. No rock act commanded the mainstream heights either, as even Coldplay rushed leftfield, hiring Brian Eno and some silly outfits. This is how things will be now that we are at the point, first suggested by David Bowie in 2002, where music is 'like running water or electricity'. It's all there for everyone, should they want it, making it nigh-on impossible for any single artist to capture the moment.

Nevertheless, music still has power: while not everyone heard For Emma, Forever Ago, anyone who did was seduced. Appropriately, the debut from Bon Iver, alias 27-year-old Justin Vernon, arrived from the middle of nowhere, Vernon's native Eau Claire, Wisconsin to be specific, where it was recorded in his dad's log cabin during the winter of 2006. A struggling indie musician, Vernon had retreated there to repair a broken heart, the result of splitting with the Emma of the title, emerging with nine affecting songs of love and catharsis. If that all sounds too perfect, the music itself was never less than true. An uncanny snapshot of its creator's turmoil patched together with a couple of guitars, basic drums and, crucially, an old laptop, it never resorted to cliché either. The pitch might've been backwoods primitive but the sound was contemporary, all magisterial drones and vocals tweaked until they became spectral choirs.

'There's always pain and joy to be explored, it's a matter of how willing you are to go there,' says Vernon, speaking exclusively to OMM. He admits to being baffled by the attention of the past 12 months: 'The record is out there doing its own thing and it's cool to watch. Everybody makes it their own thing. The idea of disappearing and dealing with your life is something some people want. Other people latch on to the relationship side.'

He still meets Emma from time to time. What does she think?

'She's fine with it,' he laughs. 'Now she just makes me pay for breakfast.' [Gareth Grundy]

MP3: Bon Iver - Skinny Love

2: Amadou and Mariam - Welcome to Mali ♫
3: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid ♫
4: Glasvegas - Glasvegas ♫ ♫
5: Kings of Leon - Only by the Night ♫
6: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular ♫
7: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend ♫
8: Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak ♫
9: Portishead - Third ♫
10: TV on the Radio - Dear Science ♫

11: The Bug - London Zoo
12: Duffy - Rockferry
13: The Garifuna Women's Project - Umalali
14: Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
15: EST - Leucocyte
16: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
17: Toumani Diabaté - The Mande Variations
18: Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
19: Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III
20: Foals - Antidotes
21: Monkey - Journey to the West
22: Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Enderlast
23: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
24: The Killers - Day and Age
25: Coldplay - Viva La Vida
26: Camille - Music Hole
27: The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
28: Adele - 19
29: These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
30: The Streets - Everything is Borrowed
31: The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
32: Neon Neon - Stainless Style
33: Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
34: Niña de Fuego - Buika
35: AC/DC - Black Ice
36: Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
37: Dusk + Blackdown - Margins Music
38: British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
39: Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
40: Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
41: Seu Jorge - America Brasil ♫
42: Roots Manuva - Slime and Reason
43: White Denim - Workout Holiday
44: The Week That Was - The Week That Was
45: Bellowhead - Matachin
46: The Aliens - Luna
47: Kasai Allstars - In the 7th Moon...
48: Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
49: Dido - Safe Trip Home
50: Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

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