Daniel Foster

Albums of the Year

10: TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Catchier and more accessible than 2006's Return To Cookie Mountain, Dear Science sees TVOTR reach a new level of universal appeal but without compromising on progression. Drawing influences from all over the place (think Prince, Talking Heads, RHCP, Sigur Ros to name but a few), they achieve a range of styles that most artists would cut their right arm off for!

9: Jay Reatard - Matador Singles 08
On his second release of the year, Jay proves he's no one-trick pony. The same short, sharp, aggressive bursts of garage-punk-infused tracks that he's become so well-known for are given a new twist with the addition of layered acoustic guitars and clean synth sounds creating a textural collection of songs that are catchier than the common cold.'The Deerhunter' cover's pretty fantastic too.

8: Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
A brilliant record that spans the genres.Think of a voice reminiscent of Neil Young at his most fragile, the mastercraft pop-jiggery of The Shins, the disonant chord progressions of Modest Mouse and the electronic noodlings of Jimmy Tamborello and the Postal Service and you're close. Then consider he recorded the majority of Soft Airplane alone on an old tape recorder in his basement and prepare to be amazed.

7: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
OK, don't roll your eyes. Yes they're everywhere… and yes to an extent, it's over-hyped, but I just couldn't leave this out. It's one of those records that you put on and love from the off, yet there's that lasting appeal that keeps you coming back for more. Great ideas, witty lyrics and hooky tunes. This is what pop music should be!

6: Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
The ever prolific Bradford Cox and co, come up with the goods again. Microcastle grabs you from the off with hook-laden indie-rock gems in a similar - but more accessible - vein to last years Cryptograms, whereas Weird Era is well, a little weirder but absolutely worth every second. The deeply buried tunes reveal themselves gradually, becoming more familiar and appealing with each listen.

5: The Walkmen - You & Me
Grand and moody arrangements of chiming guitars, swooshing organs and bellowing horns that sound as though they've been swallowed into the ocean through a cave of Spector-filled echo. Coy and inviting, You & Me doesn't so much grab you by the throat so much as it takes you by the hand. subtle perfections in the way horns, vocals and guitars collapse into each other and become one.

4: The Dodos - Visiter
Intricately picked acoustic guitar and heartfelt vocals that meet with drums which don't just sit back and rest on their laurels, so much as romp on down the street as if in a carnival procession. Visiter is an impressive and sprawling album. There's a hell of a lot of influence in there (and a hint of schizophrenia), but they pull it off, sounding like no-one quite as much as themselves. There's still hope for folk.

3: Why? - Alopecia
Genius lyrics that pull from all corners - bright and beautiful, dark and vile, and a marriage of styles that defines what the unclassifiable genre on your iPod was made for. The guy crams what feels like a novel into a song and there's no-one out there doing this sort of thing with such conviction. Not my usual cuppa by any stretch of the imagination, but it just works oh so well.

2: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Hauntingly beautiful, subtle arrangements that evoke a strong sense of isolation, loneliness and regret. The result of Justin Vernon's self-sequestered winter in a remote log cabin is an impressionable one. It's rare that I'm still paying so much attention to a record that I've been listening to since the beginning of the year, but For Emma… is an incredible debut. Stoke up the fire, sit back and enjoy.

1: Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
It takes an impressive record to top my list. One that ticks the box all over - beautifully produced, superbly crafted tunes that get stuck in your head for days, intimate heartfelt lyrics and great ideas. For me, this is the record. The one that I reach for more often than any other. An absolute pleasure from start to finish that. Think Jim O'Rourke's Insignificance meets the creative genius of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper.

Tracks of the Year

10: MGMT - Time To Pretend
9: TV on the Radio - Crying
8: Deerhunter - Operation
7: Chad Vangaalen - Bare Feet on Wet Grip Tape
6: Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
5: The Walkmen - In the New Year
4: Dodos - Joe's Waltz
3: Why? - These Few Presidents
2: Jay Reatard - Always Wanting More
1: Department of Eagles - Phantom Other

Emperor's New Clothes, 2008

Foals - Antidotes
For all Yanis Philippakis preposterous claims and the odd catchy single, Foals' debut full-length turned out to be a little thin on the ground and ultimately, forgettable.

It's Good, But It's Not That Good 2008

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Good but overrated, take the best bits of early My Morning Jacket and a bit of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and you get pretty much the same result. Pleasant enough all the same.

Innocent Pain 2008

Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Some great tunes on there but it's padded between chapters of noise which I find hard to take. Frustrating.

Guilty Pleasure 2008

Ne-Yo - Miss Independant
That cheesy keyboard riff has a nasty habit of getting stuck in my head.