By looking at the Grammy nominations, somebody can probably see that this wasn't a huge year for music. With the biggest nods going to In Rainbows by the somewhat finished Radiohead, Viva La Vida by the Radiohead-copycats Coldplay and the biggest nods going to Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne, it seems that music somewhat slowed during the year of 2008. Let's be fair, In Rainbows will never touch OK Computer or Kid A and Viva La Vida will never touch Parachutes or X&Y. As for Lil Wayne, my friends who are fans of him claim Tha Carter III is an excellent album and arguably his best. Me? I'd take Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak over it any day.

But back on track, The Grammys seem to broadcast a failed year of music to me which, in actuality, 2008 was not at all. Huge releases came out this past year that are avoided by The Grammys completely which makes me wonder why we listen to this foolish award show. Topping my list of 2008 releases was Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie. Although past their best years of Something About Airplanes and Transatlanticism, much like Radiohead and Coldplay, Narrow Stairs wasn't as big a disappointment as In Rainbows and Viva La Vida.

Obviously this wouldn't be me trying to prove The Grammys wrong with Narrow Stairs as my only piece of ammunition. Canadian music also took long strides with the releases of new City and Colour, Sebastien Grainger, Stars, Wintersleep, not to mention the immensely successful release by Feist. In fact, Bring Me Your Love by Dallas Green's City and Colour isn't the only album spawned by an Alexisonfire solo project. The rougher voiced Wade MacNeil also released an album entitled Send Flowers under his pseudonym, Black Lungs. Just because Wade's voice and electric style, as opposed to Dallas' soft folk-style, is rougher, do not expect a completely upbeat album. In some parts, this album is just as impressively depressing as Dallas' best efforts. Whatever you're looking for, both albums show promise for those who believe Alexisonfire to be a fading Canadian commodity.

Similarly, the rising influence of Wintersleep caught my eye immediatly. With there release of Welcome to the Night Sky, they handily took home the Juno for New Group of the Year. Also, Stars released In Our Bedroom After The War much earlier this year which is surely bound to one of Canada's greatest albums of 2008 and arguably better than Set Yourself On Fire which rightfully put Stars on the map.

Another reason to give hope for Canadian music was Sebastien Grainger's debut solo release. Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains, as I've said before, gives those Death From Above 1979 fans that were left wanting more plenty of what they were asking for.

Obviously Canadian bands aren't the only ones who happened to make a splash in the world music scene other than Death Cab for Cutie. America released influential indie, rock, and electronica albums. Vampire Weekend's debut self-titled release created quite a fuss within the indie clique. Only By The Night by Kings of Leon brought a Springsteen sound to the indie-rock scene and Oracular Spectacular by MGMT brought an interesting new sound to electronica. I would call those the three main up-and-coming stories of the year.

I didn't mean to sort this by country, but it seems that this has happened inadvertently. Although non-Canadian/American albums are going to be last and grouped into one section, I do not want to give them any less attention. Sigur Ros' new release, which I will not attempt to type out on this keyboard, is without a doubt the largest release from outside North America. Britain's Bloc Party released Intimacy which was surely a 'graduation' from their last album A Weekend In The City. However, as for pleasing previous Bloc Party fans, I think Intimacy is only really designed to grab everyone else's attention and build a new fanbase. In related news, Ethan Kath, who previously helped Bloc Party mix and produce some songs including Hunting For Witches, released his own electronica album with Alice Glass under the band name Crystal Castles. As an anecdote, the band received their record deal with an accidental recording of Ethan's playing around with his keyboard while Alice tested her mic. Definitely one of the most uplifting stories for underground music promotions of 2008.

If there is one thing I would ask you to take away from my somewhat lengthy 2008 music review, it's that sometimes the so-called experts of the music industry have off years and that this would be one of them. In fact, this year could be defined as the worst nominations during my lifetime. Not only do they only nod those who are mainstream, they nod the most washed-up of them. With the exception of Crystal Castles, I restricted myself to the newsmakers of 2008 music, but there are so many more that The Grammys will refuse to nod this year. This year was huge in underground music of every genre. I mean, I don't call myself an expert of music at all but it doesn't take much to figure out if Viva La Vida can get a nomination, Narrow Stairs should. In fact, let's veer away from the washed-up all together and reward the likes of Sigur Ros and Stars for their vastly successful albums now, so that they don't end up getting Grammys when other younger bands deserve them.

As far as awards going to the washed-up releases this year, I guess I shouldn't complain. In Rainbows was a let down, sure, but if any band sets the bar OK Computer high then I'll permit a bad ones to follow in years to come. Not to mention, it could be worse; Chinese Democracy could be nominated.

Here's to 2009 being an equally good music year, and an even better Grammy nomination list,

MWBII