ear X-tacy Year End Staff Picks for 2008

John Timmon's Picks

MMJ "Evil Urges"
Lucinda Williams "Little Honey"
Todd Rundgren "Arena"
Wax Fang "La La Land"
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals "Cardinology"

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 Magzilla aka Maggie Baker's Picks

 1.The Vivian Girls-S/T
2.Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago
3.Department of Eagles-In Ear Park
4.Jay Reatard-Singles 06-07
5.Antony & The Johnsons-Another World
6.M83-Digital Shades
7.Mike Patton-A Perfect Place Soundtrack
8.Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds-Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
9.Lykke Li-Youth Novels
10.Black Keys-Attack and Release

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Sean Bailey 's Picks

V/A – "Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days"
Deerhunter – "Microcastle / Weird Era Cont."
V/A – "Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76"
Juana Moliana – "Un Dia"
Nimrod Workman – "I Want to Go Where Things Are Beautiful"
Hauschka – "Ferndorf"
V/A – "Awake My Soul / Help Me to Sing"
Grails – "Doomsdayer's Holiday"
Rodriguez – "Cold Fact"
Department of Eagles – "In Ear Park"
Ghostface Killah - "The Wallabee Champ" 
Young Widows - "Old Wounds" 
Bon Iver – "For Emma, Forever Ago"

Alexis' Picks

1. dungen "4"
2. nick cave and the bad seeds "dig lazarus dig!"
3. 30 rock season 2
4. pushing daisies season 1
5. the web "fruit bat republic"
6. wino " bottle of pills with a bullet chaser"
7. leonard cohen
8. No country for old men dvd
9. modest mouse "we were dead before the ship even sank" (don't care what you people think")
10. Jay-Z "American Gangster"( see above)

Ryan Harper's Picks

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
This album is still very intense. Carrying its listeners through many
layers of emotion, it makes all other releases in the same genre look
uninspired.

Muse - HAARP
I'm not big on Live releases, and this year was clogged with them. This
show, however, included a collection of their best work and the included
DVD of the performance at Wembley is not to be missed.

Young Widows - Old Wounds
From the first track to the last, the raw, cutting sound from these guys
will leave you bleeding for months. Gritty, dark, and heavy.

Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On
Don't act like you don't want to. We all have the desire to rock it like
the night can never die. The Eagles of Death Metal strive to keep the
night juice's flowing until you're spent.

Black Keys - Attack and Release
My pick of 2008. The Keys have outdone themselves on this album. Slow
Blues is broken intermittently with a rock freak-out of pent up aggression
only to settle back down into trudging croons. This album isgold from
beginning to end.

Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
The latest from epic metal leaders Amon Amarth., Twilight of the Thunder
God is heavy as it is apocalyptic. Every chapter in this tomb of
destruction is charged with enough explosive content to send our existence
reeling.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt
Isobell Cambell always works better with accompaniment. Mark Lanegan's
sulfur-lined voice is traced with elegance not heard since he worked with
PJ Harvey years ago. This album far surpasses their last attempt together;
it seems they found a much better way of projecting themselves over the
other.

TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Still changing and transforming their sound, TV on the Radio have moved
into dark-disco-synth-electro-dance-rock. And it's amazing. The production
is well controlled, never too crisp, never too dirty. These guys are our
guides to the future of what music can be.

Metalocalypse Season 2 DVD set
The boys in Dethklok made it through Season 1 of Metalocalypse. The story
is only getting more brutal. Season 2 of [adult swim]'s fan favorite show
is packed with heavier, scarier music and even more brutal tale of mayhem
brought on by the seeming oblivious/unconcerned gods of metal.

The Adventure of Baron Munchausen
My final pick is one of guilty pleasure. Terry Gilliam's tale of a man who
affects his own history as he speaks it is a classic of the late 80's. The
Adventures of Baron Munchausen has finally been put back in print, and is
sure to be a favorite for anyone who enjoys fantasy movies that are as
hard to believe for the characters in the movie as they are for the
viewers. This is a must-have!

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  Mark Kramer's Picks

1.glenn campbell-meet glen campbell
2.george strait-troubadour
3.daniel lanois-here is what is
4.jim lauderdale-honey songs
5.she & him-volume 1
6.scalett johansson-anywhere i lay my head
7.the La's-st(deluxe edition)
8.sun kil moon-april
9.keane-perfect symmetry
10.beach house-devotion

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 Jaxon Swain's Picks

 1- Link Wray "White Lightning: Lost Cadence Sessions"
2- David Bowie "Live Santa Monica '72"
3- Brian Wilson "That Lucky Old Sun"
4-John Mellencamp "Life Death Love and Freedom"
5- Calexico "Carried To Dust"
6- Alejandro Escovedo "Real Animal"
7- Black Diamond Heavies "A Touch Of Someone Else's Class"
8- Buena Vista Social Club "Live At Carnegie Hall"
9- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Dig Lazarus Dig!!!"
10- Dennis Wilson "Pacific Ocean Blue"

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 Joey Mudd's Picks

 Endless Boogie "Focus Level"
Radiohead "In Rainbows"
Black Mountain "In the Future"
Human Bell "S/T"
Wooden Shjips "Volume 1"
Department of Eagles "In Ear Park"
Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh "S/T"
Earth "Bees Made Honey In the Lion's Skull"
Portishead "3rd"
Nerves "One Way Ticket"  (reissue)

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 Jason Noble's Picks

 MINNOW  "THIRTEEN WRONGS"
BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE  "DOLORES"
YOUNG WIDOWS  "OLD WOUNDS" LP
"THE DARK KNIGHT" FILM SOUNDTRACK
JUANA MOLINA   "UN DIA"
THE MINDSCAPE OF ALAN MOORE  -DVD
TOUCH THE SOUND (DOCUMENTARY) - DVD
DEAD CHILD "ATTACK" LP
THE NEW YEAR "S/T"
MESHUGGAH "OBZEN"
MORTON FELDMAN "COPTIC LIGHT"

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 Rebecca Cornwell's Picks

 Dolly Parton - Backwoods Barbie
Marc Broussard - Keep Coming Back
P!NK - Funhouse
Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Raphael Saadiq - Way I See It
De Novo Dahl - Move Every Muscle, Move Every Sound
Various Artists - Cake Sale
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men With the Blues
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sand

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Randy Bolton's Picks

Raphael Saadiq- Way I See It
Rachel Yamagata- Elephants / Teeth Sinking Into Skin
Buena Vista Social Club- Live At Carnegie Hall
Susanna- Flower Of Evil
Joe Manning- Clever Bird
Charles Wright- Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes 1970-1971
Foreign Exchange- Leave It All Behind
MGMT- Oracular Spectacular
John Hiatt Instore
Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes

Dwight Johnson's Picks

1. Foreign Exchange "Leave It All Behind"
2. J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science "Soul Vibrations"
3. People Under The Stairs "Fun Dmc"
4. Eagles Of Death Metal "Heart On"
5. Boogaloo Joe Jones "Right On Brother"
6. Uncle Funkenstein "Together Again"
7. Amp Fiddler with Sly & Robbie "Inspiration Information"
8. Belleruche "The Express"
9. Rashaan Ahmad "The Push"
10. Thievery Corporation "Radio Retaliation