The Ten Greatest Albums of 2008

Regular readers of this blog (thank you all, you are wonderful people) will probably know that aside from food, music is the other great passion of my life. It is a rare occurrence when the house is silent whether I am working, cooking, writing, reading or even (occasionally) sleeping.

I even have a little widget in the sidebar (somewhere down there, see) that tells you exactly what tunes are supplementing my life at any given moment. ‘At the moment I am cooking to the sounds of…’

2008 has been a very good year in music and there have been a whole bunch of albums that have rocked my world. But in a long running game I play with a good friend, these have to be distilled right down to a hyper-concentrated top ten – a dense and chewy countdown of the best sounds of the year, the definitive aural odyssey of the last twelve months.

What does this have to do with food? Well, in my eyes food and cooking are inextricably linked. They each form key aspects of the creative process. They are about passion. They are about feeling and expression. They are about placing your soul on a plate and waiting for others to judge what you have made. They are not about TV phone ins and soul-less, ball-less, over-produced, mis-understood, exploitative, heavy-handed cover versions of Leonard Cohen songs. But anyway I digress. Here’s my top ten. Feel free to add you own.

10. Saturnalia by the Gutter Twins


9. The Evening Descends by Evangelicals


8. Dear Science by TV on the Radio


7. Only by the Night by Kings of Leon


6. Do You Like Rock Music by British Sea Power


5. Glasvegas by Glasvegas


4. Red of Tooth and Claw by Murder by Death


3. For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver


2. In The Future by Black Mountain


1. Keep Your Eyes Ahead by The Helio Sequence