MOG

As a ('credit crunch' affected) splurge of Christmas shopping swamps people for the next three weeks, the internet will be swarmed by the end-of-year awards from MOGgers, bloggers and anyone with a brain, a computer and an opinion. With 2008 almost at an end, music fans will debate such burning questions as whether trying to polish a turd for 14 years doth make a good rock record, the possibility we'll never hear a half-decent Weezer album again - at the very least - and who the f**k could be roped in by a Led Zeppelin tour sans Bonzo and Plant (and who'd kid themselves that Kennedy could do any better).

So, without further ado, here is RobinPlaysChords' first end-of-2008 list:

BEST ALBUM

10. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

Whilst not quite reaching the heady highs of Milk Man or Apple O, Deerhoof's ninth studio album bursts at the seams with noisy, off-kilter pop. No longer seen as out-and-out oddballs, the disonnance of The Man, The King, The Girl is now seen as an ingredient to their music, as opposed to the only audio meal offered.

9. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

2008 is the year that Steven Ellison cemented his place as one of hip-hop's bright young things. Taking a similar audio stance to 2007's Reset EP, Los Angeles seethes with crackling beats and hardly-there ambience that sit like cocoons in your ears, which is a rather lovely feeling to have.

8. Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight

Three years after the release of the critic-dividing The Secret Migration, Mercury Rev strike gold. It swandives and soars from note to note, taking the listener to places where only Mercury Rev could go with success, and where others couldn't tread without failure. On a level with the seminal All Is Dream.

7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Further proof that Nick and chums have been doing rather well since the depature of Blixa Bargeld. The follow-up to Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus is a voyage through a Houdini that only Cave could put into words. Warren Ellis was possibly the best addition to what is often seen as God's Own Band.

6. Moussu T & Lei Jouvents - Home Sweet Home

An album picked up in the last month off the back of the ridiculously catchy 'Labour Song' being played on Radio 3's Late Junction. A beautiful album that wears its Catalan roots on its sleeve, Home Sweet Home evokes images of a hot, dusty Marseille street, and that's possibly the perfect description for this album.

5. Onra - Chinoiseries

A French hip-hop producer goes to South Asia, buys a truckload of damaged vinyl, and then goes home to twin it with some of the best beats of the year. 'Here Come The Flutes' and 'What Up Duyet?' are prime examples of songs that display their South Asian roots, but have an international dancefloor appeal.

4. The Fun Years - Baby, It's Cold Inside

If Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas' album Songs To No One had been put in the hands of Efrim Menuck, you may be somewhere close to the sound of The Fun Years. An album of daring post-rock that only touches on the genre's templates, and instead opts to lead you into a fascinating audio collage.

3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
(Technically released in record shops on New Year's Day, thus it counts as 2008!)

With said technicality in mind, over-exposure has been unkind to some songs (especially 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'), but when they can mix up the fuzzy guitar riffs of 'Bodysnatchers' with the heart-stoppingly beautiful 'Reckoner', who the hell would complain about that? Still a masterpiece.

2. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Everybody's favourite "slow-motion" rock band made a conscientious effort to have fun, and from the thumping drums and handclaps on Gobbledigook', they certainly succeeded in doing so. 'Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur' is gloriously up-tempo pop, whilst the intimacy of 'All Alright' sends shivers down your spine.

1. Goldmund - The Malady Of Elegance
(RobinPlaysChords' album of the year)

From the delicate opening track 'Image-Autumn-Womb' onwards, Keith Kenniff's  piano lines take you to places of simple, ambient beauty. Any additional timbre gently lifts the atmosphere beyond words. A perfect record for late-Autumn/mid-Winter nights - or any night, for that matter.