Best Music Of 2008

kperfetto — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:13:18 -0600

December always brings a spate of year-end best-of lists. Amazon got a jump on the competition by posting theirs -- both editors' and customers' picks -- weeks ago, but more trickle in as the month winds down. PopMatters has been posting a variety of best-ofs this week, including a feature on the best records of the past year that happen to have been made by women over 45.

There are literally scores of other teenage girls and women in their early 20s who have rocketed their way to the top during the past year. The adage in the music industry now is that if a woman doesn’t have a hit by the time she’s 22 years old, she should probably look for another career.

Below is a list of the top ten albums by women 45 years and older. These records range in styles and genres, which suggests that no matter what field a female musician enters, she can continue to grow and thrive. These discs are among the best these women have ever made. That is no mean feat as these musicians are recognized as leaders in their fields with a strong repertoire.

The list goes on to include well-respected artists like Aimee Mann, Joan Baez, and Emmylou Harris.Leah from Confessions of a Music Addict liked Sia's Some People Have Real Problems, saying:

wow. sia is amazing. the ex-zero 7 contributor is proof that human beings can actually sound ethereal enough that you think they might really be angels. i can't tell you how many people i've heard declare that sia will save your life. ahhhh, sia.

You can read the rest of her list here.Flux-Rad put together a downloadable mixtape of some of her favorites from 2008 in a four-part series, starting back in October.

t’s that time of year - I begin going through all the records I’ve acquired and revisit almost all of them in an attempt to both clear away things that didn’t stick and celebrate those that did. It’s time for another mixtape, so I wanted to share some of my favorite tracks from some of my favorite records this year. There are no stray songs here - they all belong to records that I recommend completely. There will be at least two more installments here - one with some softer, and perhaps more experimental tracks, and one wildcard.

(Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4)Not comfortable with the thought of posting an entire mixtape's worth of music (nor having the technological wherewithal to do so), I used my Last.fm account to put together a playlist of some of my favorites from 2008. (It's fairly easy to do if you have a paid account. All you have to do is find your favorites, tag them "08" or "best of 2008," and you'll have a playable Last.Fm themselves have also posted a universal "best-of" from members' most played albums of 2008. On an unrelated, and sadder note, influential folk-singer Odetta died last week at age 77. From Billboard:

Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, has died. She was 77.

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Best Music Of 2008