Time

It is relative. And always not enough, at least for me. It's already February and I am still checking 2008 top albums and songs and I can't stop finding new music. What did we miss? Anything? mm, probably!
For instance, if some blogs/magazines claim last Gnarls Barkley's must be on the best albums list, I'd rather agree with the ones that say Jamie Lidell should be crowned the king of pop-soul for last year. Leaving behind electronic sounds, "Jim" (2008, Warp) takes traditional soul, funk and r&b to 2008, keeping the original flava. And if you still want some electronic feel, you can enjoy Mr Oizo's remix.
And how come we ignored Kristoffer Ragnstam for so long? He's Swedish, sings in English, and creates pop gems like this. Other youngsters as Okkervill River along Ra Ra Riot fill the charts with other artists we did talk about as Sigur Ros, Portishead, Fleet Foxes, Lykke Li, MGMT, Bon Iver or Hot Chip. Definitely a very productive year!
From Spain I would highlight 60s combo Elastic Band, have you ever heard an electronic mandolin? And also of course one of the year's revelations, Russian Red.
And last but not least, diggin' in Sweden last.fm (last) charts, I found Stockholmer songwriter Anna Ternheim sharing high positions with new Karin from The Knife's new band Fever Ray a more experimental and gloomy project.
By the way, I recently heard an instrumental version/remix? for Bitter Sweet Symphony, anyone??