Live Shows:
1. Monkey: Journey To The West, Sottile Theatre, Charleston SC
2. Lupe Fiasco, Congress Chi.
2. Jarvis Cocker, Pitchfork Chi.
3. Working For A Nuclear Free City, Schubas Chi.
4. M83, Empty Bottle Chi.
5. Toumani Diabate, Logan Square Chi.
6. My Bloody Valentine, Aragon Chi.
7. Radiohead, Lollapalooza
8. Kanye West Lollapalooza
9. Elbow, Park West Chi.
10. British Sea Power, Empty Bottle Chi.
11. Amadou and Mariam, Lollapalooza
12. Spiritualized, Pitchfork Chi.
13. Modeselektor, Sonotheque Chi.
14. Foals, Subterranean Chi.
15.. Dizzee Rascal, Pitchfork Chi.

My album picks seem sort of pedestrian this year…maybe I needed comforting?

+ Katy Perry, “Hot n Cold”; Heidi Montag, “Overdosin”; Little Jackie, The World Should Revolve Around Me”; Neon Neon, “Raquel”; Ladyhawke, “Back of the Van”; Cyndi Lauper, “Into the Nightlife”; Sugababes, “Every Heart Broken”; Jonas Brothers, “Burnin’ Up”; Little Boots, “Love Kills”; Chris Brown, “Forever”; etc. etc.

2008 Songs (Ditto)
Sheryl Crow – Love Is Free
Erykah Badu – Amerykahn Promise
Bruce Springsteen – Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Counting Crows – Hanging Tree
The Raconteurs – The Switch And The Spur
Gnarls Barkley – Run (I’m A Natural Disaster)
Tony Allen – Where The Streets Have No Name
R.E.M. – I’m Gonna DJ
Madonna – Give It 2 Me
Mudcrutch – June Apple
Foxboro Hottubs – Dark Side Of Night
Maroon 5 – If I Never See Your Face Again
Alanis Morissette – Incomplete
Coldplay – Lovers In Japan
Weezer – Heart Songs
Ben Folds & Regina Spektor – You Don’t Know Me
Christina Aguilera – You Are What You Are (Beautiful)
Oasis – Bag It Up
The Cure – Freakshow
Pink – Funhouse

Ten Great Albums of 2008 That Most People Didn’t Pay Attention To
1. Bauhaus – Go Away White
2. The Indelicates – American Demo
3. ¡Forward, Russia! – Life Processes
4. Liam Finn – I’ll Be Lightning
5. The Broken West – Now or Heaven
6. Darker My Love – 2
7. Operator Please – Yes Yes Vindictive (US/UK release was this year)
8. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
9. Wire – Object 47
10. The Automatic – This is a Fix

Ten Artists Whose Records I’m Waiting for in 2009
1. My Bloody Valentine (please?)
2. Arctic Monkeys
3. Silversun Pickups
4. Franz Ferdinand
5. Muse
6. Arcade Fire
7. Doves
8. Wilco
9. Rose Dougall (formerly of the Pipettes)
10. The Thermals

100 Favorite Albums list is here: [rateyourmusic.com]

10) The Rapture, “No Sex for Ben”
9) The Hold Steady, “Slapped Actress”
8) Munga, “No Fraid A”
7) Johnny Foreigner, “Lea Room”
6) Vampire Weekend, “A-Punk”
5) Lil Wayne, “A Milli”
4) Ida Maria, “Keep Me Warm”
3) The Ting Tings, “Shut Up and Let Me Go”
2) Vampire Weekend, “M79″
1) Ida Maria, “Oh My God”

@Tauwan: Are you sure you’re not cheating off my test? I see a few too many similarities in the albums & singles lists for this to be a “coincidence”…

Since I still haven’t published my list to my blog, I’ll go ahead and spill it here. [N.B. It was very hard to make a "Top 10", as the bottom rungs could have been filled by any of 15-20 albums, but here's how I felt the day I closed the polls for good, around early-December...]

1) Lil Wayne
2) P!nk
3) Kanye West
4) Ne-Yo
5) Estelle
6) Solange
7) Robyn
8) R.E.M.
9) Sugarland
10) Panic At The Disco

ALBUMS:

01/Erykah Badu/New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
02/Hot Chip/Made in the Dark
03/Of Montreal/Skeletal Lamping
04/Friendly Fires/Friendly Fires
05/Jenny Lewis/Acid Tongue
06/Solange Knowles/Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
07/TV on the Radio/Dear Science
08/The Cool Kids/The Bake Sale EP
09/Conor Oberst/Conor Oberst
10/Vampire Weekend/Vampire Weekend

SINGLES:

01/Beyonce/Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
02/Jason Mraz/I’m Yours
03/Solange Knowles/Sandcastle Disco AND I Decided, Pt. 1
04/Madonna feat. Pharrell/Give it 2 Me AND Cut Copy/Lights and Music
05/Coldplay/Viva La Vida
06/Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown/No Air
07/Panic at the Disco/Nine in the Afternoon
08/Lil Wayne/A Milli AND Lollipop
09/Estelle feat. Cee-Lo/Pretty Please (Love Me) AND Jazmine Sullivan feat. Missy Elliot/Need U Bad
10/Ne-Yo feat. Jamie Foxx and Fabolous/She Got Her Own (Miss Independent RMX)AND The Dream/I Luv Your Girl

I gotta peep this Ida Maria track. Seems like it is quite the bees knees. And a loud, giant HOLLA(!) and tip of the hat to you for placing Solange’s disc in your top ten.

1. Robin Thicke – Something Else
2. Studio – Yearbook 2
3. The Very Best – Very Best Mixtape
4. Solange – Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams
5. Anthony Hamilton – The Point of It All
6. Al Green – Lay It Down
7. Beyonce – I Am…Sasha Fierce
8. Taio Cruz – Departure
9. Rex the Dog – The Rex the Dog Show
10. Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha