Here it is folks, the end all and be all…our Top 25 Northwest Albums of 2008. While numbers 6 through 25 were highly contentious, there was unanimity as to the Top 5 Northwest Albums of 2008 and their order. There’s no doubt in our minds, that no band deserves the accolades more than The Moondoggies. Their album Don’t Be A Stranger is an instant classic in the vein of Music from Big Pink. We expect 2009 to be even bigger than 2008 for The Moondoggies, and we can’t wait to see what comes next from them, as well as the other great bands that made this years list.

1. The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger |myspace|
2. J. Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues |myspace|
3. Wild Orchid Children - S/T EP |myspace|
4. The Dutchess and The Duke - She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke |myspace|
5. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - S/T LP  |myspace|
6. Fleet Foxes - S/T LP |myspace|
7. See Me River - Time Machine |myspace|
8. Whore Moans - Hello From the Radio Wasteland |myspace|
9. Starfucker - S/T LP |myspace|
10. Jake One - White Van Music |myspace|
11. Blind Pilot  - 3 Rounds and a Sound |myspace|
12. Thee Emergency - SOLID |myspace|
12. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long |myspace| 
13. Horse Feathers - House with No Home |myspace|
14. The Pica Beats  - Bring Back the Claws |myspace|
15. Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams |myspace|
16. Das Llamas - Class Wars: K-12 |myspace|
17. The Builders and The Butchers - S/T LP (re-released nationally 7/08) |myspace|
18. Saturday Knights - Mingle |myspace|
19. The New Faces - S/T LP |myspace|
20. Damien Jurado - Caught In Trees |myspace|
21. Bark Hide and Horn - National Road |myspace|
22. Grand Archives - S/T LP |myspace|
23. Hey Marseilles - To Travels & Trunks |myspace|
24. The Hands - S/T LP  |myspace|
25. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Future of Love  |myspace|

Yeah, I thought about doing 20 albums for this year, but staggering around my house at 11 ‘o’ clock at night, I couldn’t muster the energy to think of ten more amazing albums.  Know this: they’re out there, those ten other albums, and if you had a little more energy than I, you could probably find them.  But for now here’s ten albums that are must listens.  You must listen to these albums, if you do not the ecological clock will explode to a halt and we as human beings will be wiped from the Earth.  I’m not kidding.

11.  Foals - Antidotes

10.  Thao Nyugen & The Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings And All

9.  Dr. Dog - Fate

8.  Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine

7.  The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger

6.  The Dutchess and The Duke - She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke

5.  Rodriguez - Cold Fact

4.  Man Man - Rabbit Habits

3.  Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight

2.  Black Mountain - In The Future

1.  Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

There’s other great albums that I’m entirely forgetting about right now, but that’s my right, and you can’t take it away from me.  Hope you all have a drunken New Years that involves tiny exploding firecrackers and tiny, smokey rooms.

Monotonix ::: photo by Josh

I think I can speak for all of us here at Sound on the Sound when I say, thank you for helping to make 2008 the biggest and best year SOTS has had to date. We started off the new year right with a massive birthday show at the Blue Moon that featured our “favorite band ever,” in March the entire SOTS crew headed to Austin for SXSW where we hosted our first SXSW show, the summer was filled with memorable festivals (SubPop, Sasquatch, GMF, and Bumbershoot), and our fall and winter was chalk-full of one great show after another with new and old favorites alike. None of this would be possible or nearly as enjoyable without our readers, friends, family, and of course the great bands we cover here on SOTS.

So a big thank you to all of you, we hope you spend your last moments of 2008 and the first moments of 2009 with loved ones and a great band. We would high recommend ringing in the New Year with either band featured in this final “Favorite Photos of 2008″ post–Monotonix at The Paramount or A Gun That Shoots Knives at The Blue Moon.

Have a safe and wonderful New Years Eve and we are so looking forward to spending 2009 with you and continuing to bring you the latest on the plethora of great bands who call Seattle home.

A Gun That Shoots Knives ::: photo by Abbey

Monotonix at the Comet ::: photo by Josh

Pierced Arrows ::: photo by Josh

We’ve been accused of being suckers for antics and over-the-top performances, so I wanted to share with you some softly-lit Sound on the Sound photos–to show you can win us over without dancing on tables or climbing up street-signs. Behold the best of the softer-side of Sound on the Sound’s photos of 2008. (bands may not be ’soft’, but the lighting is!)

Portugal, The Man with Wild Orchid Children ::: photo by Josh

Shim ::: photo by Abbey

Ferraby Lionheart ::: photo by Josh

J. Tillman ::: photo by Josh

Dead Confederate ::: photo by Abbey

Here’s a few of the albums that kept me in espescially good company when I wasn’t listening to my locals. (Also, when it comes to this list, “non-local” includes everything outside of Washington State, including Portland.)

For what it’s worth, the number one and two albums are virtually a tie. I’ve gone back and forth between the two of them interchanging the top spot for the entire month of December. Today’s the day I decided to post and it’s a Dead Confederate Day, tomorrow may be more Bon Iver-y. But I could stand by either as the best of 2008 with conviction.

1. Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball |myspace|
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago |myspace|
3. The Black Keys - Attack and Release |myspace|
4. Dodos -Visiter |myspace|
5. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me  |myspace|
6. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely |myspace|
7. Thao with The Get Down, Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings & All  |myspace|
8. The Builders & The Butchers - The Builders & The Butchers |myspace|
9. Starfucker - Starfucker  |myspace|
10. Noah and The Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down  |myspace|
11. Ravens & Chimes - Reichenbach Falls  |myspace|
12. Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes |myspace|
13. The Shackeltons - The Shackeltons |myspace|

p.s. Just like Josh, my most listened to album of 2008 was The Avett Brother’s Emotionalism.

Gladiators Eat Fire at King Cobra ::: Photo by Josh

From the Whore Moans CD Release show just a month ago, this is fierce. And I’m saying that in the way that an actual live Grizzly Bear is fierce, not in the way it’s meant these days (thanks Tyra). This photo in one frame captures how and visceral and intense Gladiators Eat Fire really is.

Check the rest of the shots from that night on our flickr.

Black Eyes and Neckties at Bumbershoot 2008 ::: photo by Abbey

Just as I love everything about this photo, I love everything about Black Eyes and Neckties. They were the big discovery of 2008 for me, and though their album Apparition! didn’t come out in 2008, it was doubtlessly one of my most listened to albums of the year.

See more of BENT’s inspired and insane Bumbershoot performances on our Flickr.

Ryann Donnelly of Schoolyard Heroes ::: photo by Abbey

Ryann Donnelly is one hell of a performer: transforming herself from polite and adorable off-stage to frighteningly possessed when she has the mic. She controls a crowd in a way few performers can dare dream to do and seems to be having a much-better time than most on stage. Though I’ve only been lucky enough to see her and Schoolyard Heroes perform once so far, I’m planning on bumping that number up to two with their show tomorrow at El Corazon.

Check out more great Schoolyard Heroes photos on our Flickr

Here is my list of what I consider to the be the “best” releases I’ve heard this year, full albums and EP’s, local and not, self-released or with a label. Regular readers probably won’t find too much surprising but there are a few that we may have not featured very much, probably because I just didn’t have too much to add to the already existing narrative. Most notable among that list is my number one choice From Emma, Forever Ago, by Bon Iver, AKA Justin Vernon. Each listen of this debut LP proffers a new detail to my ear and generates a renewed catharsis within my soul.

Before I start opining any further and get out of control (we’re saving that for next week’s official Northwest-themed lists), here are my favorites from the past year…

Josh’s Top 25 Releases of 2008

1. Bon Iver - From Emma, Forever Ago |myspace|
2. Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball |myspace|
3. The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger |myspace|
4. J Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues (Digital Release Only) |myspace|
5. The Whigs - Mission Control |myspace|
6. The Dutchess and the Duke - She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke |myspace|
7. Wild Orchid Children - S/T EP |myspace|
8. Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground - S/T LP |myspace|
9. Starfucker - S/T LP |myspace|
10. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours |myspace|
11. The Notwist - Devil, You + Me |myspace|
12. Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down |myspace|
13. Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes |myspace|
14. Fleet Foxes - S/T LP |myspace|
15. The Dodos - Visiter |myspace|
16 See Me River - Time Machine |myspace|
17. Jake One - White Van Music |myspace|
18. Whore Moans - Hello From the Radio Wasteland |myspace|
19. The Pica Beats - Bring Back the Claws … |myspace|
20. Thee Emergency - SOLID |myspace|
21. Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off the Lavender Bridge |myspace|
22. The Saturday Knights - Mingle |myspace|
23. Army Navy - S/T LP |myspace|
24. Horse Feathers - House with No Home |myspace|
25. Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night |myspace |

The album I listened to the most that was actually from last year but didn’t discover until this year…

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism |myspace|

You’ll notice TV on the Radio, Of Montreal, Portishead, and Deerhunter aren’t in there. Nor Lil Wayne. I’m sorry (but not that sorry) to say I’ve listened to all of these records and they just didn’t do it for me. Dear, Science is certainly an innovative record, but I didn’t connect enough to warrant the repeated listens of those listed above. Vampire Weekend’s record is another that fits that profile, a well realized album that unfortunately for me is without any lasting impact. And I’ve diligently searched for the quality in the Deerhunter album that has everyone shouting, but I’m just completely missing it.

Today you can buy the MP3 album of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago from Amazon for 5 bucks. After my ringing endorsement, and at that price, you have no good reason not to go get it.

Since there were so many incredible local releases this year, it would’ve been negligent to not have a solely local Best Songs of 2008 list. I expanded the idea of ‘local’ to go beyond Seattle and include our musical neighbors to the south, Portland. Hope you enjoy my first Best of list of 2008, more lists coming soon!

1. The Moondoggies - Changin’

2. Wild Orchid Children - Birth of a Cabin

3. The Dutchess and The Duke - Resevoir Park

4. Kay Kay and His Weathered Undergound - Night of The Star Child’s Funk

5. The Whore Moans - Nerve Tonic!

6. J. Tillman - Steel on Steel

7. The Fleet Foxes- Mykonos

8. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long

9. See Me River - Don’t Pray For Blood

10. The Hands - Praying Hands Make Fist (Or Be Chopped Off)

11. Blue Scholars - Butter & Guns

12. Bark Hide and Horn - Trumpeter Swan

13. Thee Emergency - Hopped Up For The Git Down 

14. The Builders & The Butchers - Bringin’ Home The Rain

15. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Stay in School

16. Shy In Sunshine - Recognition

17. We Wrote The Book on Connectors - Mimosas

18. Starfucker - Pop Song

19. The New Faces - Impulse

20. Hey Marseilles - Rio

(p.s.) According to my Itunes, my most listened to local track of 2008 is Kay Kay’s: Night of The Star Child’s Funk.