Ladies and
Gentlemen, the counting has finally stopped. 
Are three weeks of frantic-ish voting, and a blur of activity in
Gobshout’s forums and inboxes, the results of our inaugural Top Singles and
Albums Of The Year are in, and we don’t mind you telling you it was a close run
thing in both.  So close that we had to
get Carol ‘Could Do With The Work’ Vorderman in to double check our number
crunching.  Thankfully we had got it
right from the start, so we can hold our heads high and present what the
readers, writers and members of Gobshout declare to be the best albums and
singles of the year.   Below are the
albums. Drumroll please....

1: Bon
Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago   (Review here)

2: MGMT- Oracular Spectacular

3: Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes      (Review here)

4: Vampire Weekend- Vampire Weekend   (Review here)

5: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Dig!! Lazarus!! Dig!!

6: Kings Of Leon- Only By The Night     (Review here and here)

7: Laura Marling- Alas, I Cannot Swim      (Review here)

8: Elbow- The Seldom Seen Kid

9- Death Cab For Cutie- Narrow Stairs

10- T.V On The Radio- Dear Science   (Review here)

This was
INCREDIBLY close- only 2 points separated the top two, with Bon Iver just
coming in at the end to deny MGMT the double (a double it got from NME’s
writers in their end of year lists, as it goes). And deservedly so as not only
has Bon Iver-pronounced ‘Bon Eev-er’- brought out an album with the greatest
back story of the year (log cabin anyone?), but has produced a bona-fide
timeless classic, a collection of songs to linger far beyond 2008 in the hearts
of music fans.  A more worthy winner, we
cannot imagine.

A world
away from Bon Iver is MGMT, whose psychedelic pop rock was the soundtrack to
festivals and parties across the land, especially after their triumphant
appearance at Glastonbury that seemed to kickstart their popularity, a
popularity that has now very much gone mainstream.  Expect huge hype- and probable
disappointment- for their next album, and a wave of artists in the next year
playing a similarly mind expanding brand of pop, starting with the
hyped-to-the-hills Empire Of The Sun.

Joining
them in the debut crossover stakes this year was your number 4, Vampire Weekend,
who can stake a genuine claim to being the most widely liked band in music at
the moment, with their  Peter Gabriel
inspired afrobeat pop being so fundamentally likeable. And though we know that comes straight from the ‘there’s
plenty more fish in the sea’ book of patronising statements, we don’t mean it
to be so because we think they are genuinely great.

If their
was one band to challenge the Vampire Weekend boys for most liked band in
music, mind, it would have to be Elbow, who warmed the hearts of music-lovers
everywhere when they deservedly won this years Mercury Music Prize with the
brilliantly diverse ‘The Seldom Seen Kid.’ In light of this, and with the fact
that everyone seems to have the album
it’s perhaps surprising it didn’t finish a little higher.

Be that as
it may, we think the Gobshouter’s made a fine choice.  In terms of near misses, Foals, Metronomy,
Glasvegas and Sigur Ros were all lurking on the outskirts of the Top 10 itching
to be let in, and each made good records. 
We at Gobshout Towers  had hoped
to see Amadou and Mariam and Underground Railroad make the leap, But alasl!
Only ten could make the final list.  And
in what has been widely dubbed as a non-vintage year in music, it’s comforting
to know that the top four spots in our chart were taken by debut artists, each
ploughing a different sound. The future, it appears, is in safe hands....

The winner of the five albums of their choice
from this list was Martin Cordiner.  Well done old boy!

So who has been missed out?! Kanye? Hot Chip?
The Hold Steady? If only we could have put them all in, we’d have felt so much
better! Let us know what you think here!

Posted In Features, Jan 05 2009. Words - Gobshout