Music of 2008: list time!

2008 in musical terms has been been quality and exploratory. I recently compiled this top ten of 2008 albums for pooling with my work colleagues (the combined top three were the Kings of Leon 'Only By The Night', MGMT 'Oracular Spectacular' and Coldplay 'Viva La Vida..'):

1. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
2. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
4. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
5. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
6. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
7. The Breeders - Mountain Battles
8. Gotye - Like Drawing Blood
9. Liam Finn - I'll Be Lightning (came out in 2007, I know..)
10. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

New(ish) albums aside, last.fm provides the definitive proof of my listening habits. For posterity, I present the following top ten lists (* = new to me in 2008):

12 months
1. Calexico
2. Elbow *
3. Jakob
4. The Phoenix Foundation
5. Kings of Leon
6. The Breeders
7. The Decemberists
8. Glasvegas *
9. Iron & Wine
10. Amy Winehouse

Interesting! Just two artists new to me this year that have made my 2008 top ten.

6 months
1. Calexico
2. Elbow *
3. Kings of Leon
4. Glasvegas *
5. The Phoenix Foundation
6. The Breeders
7. Ladyhawke *
8. The Hold Steady *
9. Liam Finn *
10. Jakob

A few more new artists in this list. So what about the last 3 months?

3 months
1. Elbow *
2. Calexico
3. Kings of Leon
4. Liam Finn *
5. Glasvegas *
6. Ladyhawke *
7. The Black Keys *
8. Jakob
9. Gotye *
10. The Decemberists

If I could check out the last month, I think there would be even more new artists creeping in, not surprising seeing as I've been on a flurry of record-buying (mp3s, that is, doubtless directly contributing to the demise of my employer), thanks partly to 7digital's advent calendar. In the last few weeks, I've bought albums by MGMT (brilliant!), The Last Shadow Puppets (excellent, drama!), Santogold (pretty good), Radiohead (mopey!), Blur (a bit slow off the mark with those last two!), Portishead (scary), Bon Iver (pretty) and Neon Neon (jury's out). The latter I bought on the strength of 'I Lust You' and am currently on the first listen - it's not an instant winner but has some good reviews so I'll see how it pans out. And I only got those last two late last night so must reserve my opinion.

Time for one more? Here's my current top ten, from the last 7 days:

7 days
1. MGMT *
2. Calexico
3. The Last Shadow Puppets *
4. Santogold *
5. Liam Finn *
6. Blur
7. Gotye *
8. Thought Creature *
9. Ladyhawke *
10. Elbow *

And finally: live shows. My top 5 gigs of 2008 have been:

1. ATP vs Pitchfork, Pontins Camber Sands, May
2. The Breeders, Koko (London), April
3. Jakob (supporting Isis), Mascotte (Zurich), April
4. Leonard Cohen, O2 (London), July
5. Herbie Hancock, Royal Festival Hall (London), November

That was difficult to pick - there's been so many! Including recently a great night of entertainment at Elton John's Red Piano tour show at the O2. Coming up early in 2009 I have tickets to see Seasick Steve and (eeee!) Fleet Foxes, and plans to attend ATP: The Breeders.

What are your picks for 2008? Have you made a similar list? Links in the comments, please!