2008’s Top Albums. Yes, I realize I never got around to fininshing 2007's list; I'll get to it some day. For now, call this the first of my very own Dean's Lists (as it were).

1. TV on the Radio: Dear Science (Interscope)
2. Orchestra Baobab: Made in Dakar (Nonesuch)
3. Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West)
4. Coner Oberst: Coner Oberst (Merge)
5. K’naan: The Dusty Foot Philosopher (iM Culture)
6. Les Amazones de Guinee: Wamato (Stern’s Africa)
7. The Roots: Rising Down (Def Jam)
8. Girl Talk: Feed the Animals (Illegal Art)
9. Robert Forster: The Evangelist (Yep Roc)
10. Raphael Saadiq: The Way I See It (Columbia)
11. Randy Newman: Harps and Angels (Nonesuch)
12. Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster… (Arts & Crafts)
13. Hayes Carll: Trouble in Mind (Lost Highway)
14. The Magnetic Fields: Distortion (Nonesuch)
15. LiL Wayne: Tha Carter III (Cash Money)
16. Love Is All: A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night (What’s Your Rupture)
17. James McMurtry: Just Us Kids (Lightning Rod)
18. Santogold: Santogold (Downtown)
19. Kate Nash: Made of Bricks (Interscope)
20. Nas: Nas (Def Jam)
21. The Raveonettes: Lust Lust Lust (Vice)
22. Old 97’s: Blame It On Gravity (New West)
23. Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse: Happier Than Me (jesushchristrocks.com)
24. Taj Mahal: Maestro (Heads Up)
25. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend (XL)