Best of 2008!!
25 December 2008 :: posted by Travis
The results are in for 2008!! You made the nominations & casted your votes. And now we have some winners!..
ETA: And hey, if you think you can do better then leave your list in the comments
Favorite Album of 2008
3. Crystal Castles – Self-titled [ MySpace | Amazon ]

2. MGMT – Oracular Spectacula [ MySpace | Amazon ]

1. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours [ MySpace | Amazon ]

Favorite Song of 2008
3. Hercules and Love Affair – “Blind” [ Web | Amazon ]

2. Cut Copy – “Hearts on Fire” [ MySpace | Amazon ]

1. MGMT – “Time to Pretend” [ MySpace | Amazon ]

Favorite Remix of 2008
3. Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite” (Crookers remix) [ Amazon ]

2. Black Kids – “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend To Dance With You” (The Twelves remix) [ Amazon ]

1. MGMT – “Kids” (Soulwax remix) [ iTunes ]

Artist of the Year
3. Cut Copy
2. MGMT
1. Justice
Remixer of the Year
3. Designer Drugs
2. Soulwax
1. The Twelves
DJ of the Year
3. The Twelves
2. Boys Noize
1. Justice
Best Record Label
3. Modular People
2. Kitsuné
1. Ed Banger
Artist to Watch Out for in 2009!!!
3. Yuksek
2. Little Boots
1. Designer Drugs






“Best Dj of the year: Justice”
bahaha. Anyone who knows why this is hilarious, you get big ups.
December 25th, 2008 at 3.12 pm
???
December 25th, 2008 at 3.16 pm
I’m just sore that someone without the mainstream publicity didn’t win, OK?! Haha, no they deserve the love. I found it funny because;
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/interview-justi.html
December 25th, 2008 at 3.29 pm
oh, i agree. but the most common denominator always wins in these kinda things.
December 25th, 2008 at 5.52 pm
the power cable is out, but there is another photo of him plugging it in right away.
December 29th, 2008 at 6.37 am
Amen. I was referring to how they mainly did their “live” tour this year as opposed to dj sets. In another interview Xavier admits to not being the best dj blah blah, etc. etc. Owell. Happy Holidays.
p.s. but seriously, does anyone know WTF Gaspard does?
December 25th, 2008 at 5.52 pm
I believe, if gaspard had a business card, it would say:
“Music Sampler/Professional Cigarette Smoker/Hair Donater”
December 27th, 2008 at 4.30 pm
I saw drunken Xavier at this korean party after treasure island and even he was making fun of gaspard cause gaspard doesn’t do shit
December 27th, 2008 at 5.47 pm
Woooot @ Designer Drugs!
December 25th, 2008 at 7.00 pm
Wtf @ Kids remix being higher than The Twelves remix????
December 25th, 2008 at 10.37 pm
I sense I’m not the only one who is disappointed by these results.
This is what happens when you let the internet decide things they don’t deserve to decide.
December 26th, 2008 at 12.58 am
no Ladyhawke?! RECOUNT FLORIDA!
December 26th, 2008 at 1.51 am
thanks guys, this came as a pleasant surprise. We are going to fucking MURDER it in 2009 (explosion sound here)!!!! Just for all of you!
-DD
December 26th, 2008 at 3.56 am
boo hoo, come on really? all those cats are porn to ours ears!!
December 26th, 2008 at 5.41 am
aside from artists to watch for 2009 this list looks like best of 2007
December 26th, 2008 at 1.54 pm
totally agree, this looks more like 2007 than 2008 to me
December 26th, 2008 at 2.36 pm
Wow, everything had a release in 2008… Did you have a time machine in 07? I had a few advances of some of the stuff in 07 but they were def the soundscape for 08.
I thought the opposite. All the 2009s look very 2008.
December 26th, 2008 at 2.37 pm
HAHA ! i’m quite disappointed for Crystal Castles…only 3rd…:( but VIVA CUT COPY : THE band to see in live in 2009 !
what else…MGMT ? why so much “blablabla” about this band ?!? i don’t understand. explain me please !!
December 26th, 2008 at 2.03 pm
ct cpy sks balls!!
December 26th, 2008 at 5.02 pm
if ’sks balls’ means ‘has the best album of the year’, yeah, totally.
December 31st, 2008 at 12.52 pm
I must admit I’m sad to see Justice and MGMT win any of these categories, let alone practically all of them. After seeing the nominations I was pleasantly surprised with some of the less mainstream artists there and figured this might produce a genuinely interesting “Best Of” list. I guess it’s like Travis said, the lowest common denominator wins. I mean case in point, all through my christmas shopping this year, about 90% of the music piped into every god damn shop was MGMT. So I guess people’s voting has achieved the same level as a crappy suburban mall! I must have underestimated the ‘lurker’ contingent of BigStereo’s readership!
I know I sound horribly elitist and lame, but still.
December 26th, 2008 at 6.15 pm
MGMT, overhyped for sure. but the album sinks into your conciseness and it’s hard to ignore. Started out blah with it, ended up loving it and now indifferent.
Doesn’t help that it’s been licensed for every tv show, movie, store, restaurant, etc… I even had a non-music friend point it out so you know it’s true.
December 26th, 2008 at 6.43 pm
indeed, the opening to Time to Pretend is surely the most ubiquitous 5 seconds of music from the entire year. It’s like Che Guevara’s face on a t-shirt.
like you say, the album isn’t even bad. I feel guilty criticising its place on this list because when it first came out it I thought it had some solid songs and hoped it would be a success. Now the success has snowballed into an avalanche through, presumably, no fault of their own. Either way it’s a shame lesser known but equally worthy bands missed out, since I think pretty much the raison d’etre of blogs is “music discovery” as it were and we (I) have been introduced to so many new artists all year.
Still, at least they haven’t released a tour DVD!
December 26th, 2008 at 8.53 pm
WHAT ABOUT THE PRESETS?!!!!
APOCALYPSO WAS GENIUS!!!
WAR OF THE AUSSIES FOR BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR ME,
PRESETS OVER CUT COPY THOUGH!!!
MUCH LOVE AND CANT WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR ON BIG!
December 26th, 2008 at 9.33 pm
Yeah, wouldn’t have been my personal list, but I understand why it turned out this way. Soulwax seem to be amazing in any year. No real head-scratchers on there for me aside from Crystal Castles – sure, Crimewave is a catchy tune but aside from that I just don’t understand the hype around them. Though I do have to give props to Alice for milking the enigmatic frontwoman thing for all it’s worth.
December 27th, 2008 at 12.14 am
I think this is a great list. Mislabeling music as lame because it appeals to the masses makes one pretentious. I suppose if Fake Blood had made one of the lists the howls of protest would have melted the server.
Whatever, Big Stereo is my first stop when making the rounds and will continue to be so. Good work.
December 27th, 2008 at 3.10 am
no miami horror? i guess everyone got tired of the madonna song, that that they didnt even bother with the rest of bravado ep, but i like the twelves rep, dj of the year shoulda went, toxic avenger flosstramus or atrak, justice, twelves and noize, “make it” based more of there studio/remix work. flossy and atrak, barely have albums/releases out
December 27th, 2008 at 5.09 am
What about YELLE?! it’s crazy you forgot her!!!!!!
December 27th, 2008 at 6.40 am
The DJ of the Year thing is a shame. So many good DJ’s…I thought Treasure Fingers or any of his Evol Intent brethren, all of the ATL/So Sweet Crew, Designer Drugs, Toxic, Flosstradamus, or a whole host of others could have been here. Villians? Classixx? Trash Yourself? All more deserving! And Yelle being forgotten entirely is also a shame. However, besides the DJ category, I thought the lists were good!
December 27th, 2008 at 10.56 am
Ed Banger had a rather quiet year I thought…. roll on 2009. :-)
December 27th, 2008 at 5.36 pm
Crystal Castles ruled 2008. Can’t wait for the 2009 follow-up album.
December 27th, 2008 at 9.03 pm
WTF!!! where the Presets ?
Fav sng 2008: Hercules and Love Affair!? blsht!
December 28th, 2008 at 9.27 am
thanks for doing those charts, travis.
all the ‘what about’ is ridiculous. bet these guys didn’t even vote. not surprised to see those results, they clearly represent what has been played in the clubs and on kids’ ipods this year.
and all the talk about gaspard and xavier is hilarious too. fucking haters.
December 28th, 2008 at 1.38 pm
“I’m just sore that someone without the mainstream publicity didn’t win, OK?! Haha, no they deserve the love….”
haha, I wasn’t hating and only making an obvious observation as to Gaspard’s role outside of the studio. (which I doubt he does much there either)
Just disappointing to see Justice win the DJotY award. I still have the right to express myself and my thoughts, yeah?
December 28th, 2008 at 11.18 pm
and oh yeah: glad to see the twelves and designer drugs way up in the charts. seems like we’re blogging the right stuff then…
December 28th, 2008 at 1.39 pm
blog house wins again!
December 28th, 2008 at 4.02 pm
FUTURE COP!?!?!
December 28th, 2008 at 7.09 pm
Designer Drugs are gonna KILL IT in ‘09.
December 28th, 2008 at 9.43 pm
Designer Drugs, yes, I agree…
but otherwise…
where are The Presets?!
December 28th, 2008 at 11.48 pm
The Presets were only nominated for album & artist of the year — and they came in a very, very distant 4th for album and 8th for artist.
I’m sure they’re happier w/ their ARIAs ;)
December 28th, 2008 at 11.55 pm
1. Ed Banger? 6 singles in 12 months and a few crappy compilations to float it? Modular came 3rd with a Presets, Cut Copy, Ladyhawke, Tough Alliance and Van She (to name a few) all producing albums.
2. Justice are not DJ’s – Boys Noize is.
3. How do you win artist of the year when you haven’t released a new single or album since 2007?
December 29th, 2008 at 8.42 am
Gaspard= Andrew Fletcher
December 29th, 2008 at 5.19 pm
I’m tired of people hating on Justice as DJs, truth is anyone who can spin tracks in public (which is basically anyone with a working brain and arm) can be a DJ. It all comes down to track selection and its hard to argue that they spin some great sets. If you are arguing Justice in 08 (they DJed mostly their own music) then I can see that, but simply saying “Justice aren’t DJs” is just ridiculous. This isn’t the DMC world championships, completely different concept altogether. I don’t know about you, but when I go out I’m not looking for flawless beat matching a precision fades haha, its all about the tracks played…just like when I see my fav bands live I’m not looking for perfect execution of every last cord & note.
In short, great job bigstereo, I just wasted 3 min of my life.
December 30th, 2008 at 1.17 am
I’d argue that it said “Best DJ”, not “Best Show” or “Best track selection”. It is possible not to be in the running for a category. And your ‘Anyone with a brain can DJ comment’ doesn’t apply to the DJ’s who play vinyl (eg: Boys Noize), because that does require skill and is the very meaning of DJ. Hence, Boys Noize should have been #1 in that category. I’m not hating on Justice. They’re good producers. It’s just that with respect to what the poll asked for, they’re irrelevant.
January 1st, 2009 at 9.46 am
what abot g l o v e s no beaufort?! / thousands of others we get music 362 dayz a jeer!!
December 30th, 2008 at 9.16 pm
lifelike.. fred falke.. any/all of the valerie guys.
twelves murdered it this year though…
and cut copy’s album was fire.
that is all.
December 31st, 2008 at 12.56 pm
WHERE IS DJDT?! where is bmx? TENDERLOINS?! why do justice continue to win things they don’t deserve? remove them, and replace with fake blood. correct me if i’m wrong, but i recall crystal castles being played out before it’s 2008 release?
December 31st, 2008 at 4.26 pm
p.s. congrats to cut copy/designer drugs/little boots.
December 31st, 2008 at 4.28 pm
Clearly another thought-provoking list.
See my list here – http://therecommender.net – for the best tracks of 2008.
Enjoy.
Mike
UK
January 4th, 2009 at 4.03 pm
we voted not for these artists!
best remixer is Breakbot!
the worst remixer is designer drugs!((
January 4th, 2009 at 6.03 pm
Andrei’s right actually. But I guess you can’t mess with democracy.
January 5th, 2009 at 11.01 am
JUST IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT HEARD YET…..JUSTICE IS WINNING EVERYTHING BECAUSE THEY ARE THE NEW GODS OF THE WORLD! HAHAHA
WHEN YOU HEAR THEIR MUSIC IT MANIPULATES YOUR FUCKING BRAIN!!
HENSE-THEY WIN EVERYTHING
HAHA
JK IM HIGH, I DONT KNOW REALLY
THEY ARE TWO LUCKY FRENCHMEN
January 7th, 2009 at 5.24 pm
Sad the Bag Raiders didn’t win ;(
January 18th, 2009 at 9.08 pm