The best album of 2008


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In no specific order:

The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement [Anything coming from Alex Turner never disappoints I think]

Oceanlab - Sirens Of The Sea

Al Green - Lay It Down

Armin Van Buuren - Imagine

Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

Benny Benassi - Rock 'N' Rave

These are albums that I can listen to without skipping something.

Probably Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

or The Killers - Day & Age

or Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death And All of His Friends

and perhaps MGMT - Oracular Spectacular.

I'm kind of surprised that this is the first post that had Coldplay.

Metallica - Death Magnetic

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Mindless Self Indulgence - If

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

The Kooks - Konk

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

And as an EP, Combichrist - Frost EP - Sent To Destroy was a pretty ****ing awesome listen, can't wait for Today We Are All Demons later this month.

Imho, this year was pretty crappy for music. I really did enjoy Heaven Shall Burn's Iconoclast, Weezer's self-titled Red Album, and Ladytron's Velocifero. Oh, and can't forget Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs. Nothing amazing, but definitely a good listen-to.

EDIT: OMFG, I almost forgot my fav album of the year, I'm stupid. Plants and Animals' Parc Avenue. Canadian indie music ftw!

Edited by Napalm Frog

2008 was a pretty good year in music in my opinion. Here's all my music from this year:

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2487/2008inmusiclz6.png

I spent an excruciating amount of time pairing down and putting these in order, but here they are, my top 10 releases of 2008:

  1. Fleet Foxes: Sun Giant EP
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    Yes, it's "only" an EP, so it may not even be fair to compare it to the other LPs on this list, but, front to back it is IMO the most solid release of the year. All 5 tracks are captivating, haunting, dynamic and just utterly beautiful. The band describes their music as "baroque harmonic pop jams", but I'd be more likely to say it's more like Space Rock meets Americana.
  2. Sigur R?s:Me? Su? ? Eyrum Vi? Spilum Endalaustt>
    Sigur_medsud_600.jpg
    I have no idea how to pronounce that album title, but does it even matter? Sigur R?s does it again. I'm not sure this is the best album that they've had in their career, but their career has been something of a marvel. The oGobbledigookok gets my nod for track of the year and the album just kind of twists, bends and floats along from there. Side 2 mostly floats.
    Fleet FFleet Foxesesi>
    Fleet_foxes.jpg
    Yeah, this is the second release from this band in the top three, but it's almost as good. And it runs a full 39 minutes. There's probably more highlights on this album as there aSun Giantnt, but tracks 6 and 11 are a little weak. Still I think it's hard to dislike anything this band has done so far.
    Du4>4i>
    DUNGEN_4_COVER_A.gif
    Maybe I just like my music when the lyrics are unintelligible? Dungen is a Swedish rock band and this album seriously pounds. Jazz-inspired throwback-hard rock has never sounded better.
    Broken Social Scene Presents... Bendan CanSomething for all of Us.....i>
    SNFAOU.jpg
    No band has probably influenced my musical taste more than Broken Social Scene. There music has always just seemed so right to me that nearly everything else I listen to I compare to them somehowPresents..... series of albums they've been working on are really no different. Brendan Canning writes an awesome bunch of songs here and the band does a great job executing them. It's great to kind of compare this to Kevin Drew&Spirit If..... and kind of see the distinct styles of the band's two primary song writers.
    Ryan Adams & the CardiCardinologygyi>
    Cardinology.jpg
    It's always great to hear an album after Ryan Adams has taken some time to put it together. After releasing 3 albums in 2006, the last one was getting a bit slCardinologygy is a return to what I expect from him: Great, dynamic, lyrically blissful, Alt. Country.
    IslArm's wayayi>
    arms_way_300x300.jpg
    This is just such a fun, pop-y and lyrically-melodramatic bunch of tracks it would be impossible to leave this of this list. I like to think of Islands as Islands:2000's::The Kinks:1960s. This is an album that makes you want to see the band live.
    Wolf PaAt Mount Zoomereri>
    WolfParadeAtMountZoomer.jpg
    Great follow up to their addictive 2005 reApologies to the Queen Maryry. Sometimes you hear albums like that and you wonder if the band can have a successful sophomore album, well Wolf Parade diFine Young Cannibalsls might be the most addictive track of the year not found on the next album...
    Vampire WeeVampire Weekendndi>
    VampireWeekendCD2.jpg
    I probably had more plays from this album during a short period of time than any other this year. Whoever decided to combined "Afro-pop" with "indie rock" made the right choice. I listened to this album until I was sick of it, then you take a break, and then you listen to it a bunch more. This is such a fun, simple album. HEY HEY HEY!
    Black Attack and Releasesei>
    pe-black_keys-attack_and_release.jpg
    If you like guitar-based-Blues and Rock, I'm not sure you cannot like how the Black Keys manage to bring the two genre's together. Sometimes I listen to them and the 12 bars can't seems to hold my attention span, other times, it just tastes like eating something rusty, in a good way. It's amazing how they get the songs to opeI Got Minene is a perfect example of this. 2 minutes in you think you have the whole song figured out and then it just expands into something that encompasses your entire head. This is such a special band, and it's a great release by them.

Rise Against - Appeal to Reason

The lone album I keep going back to over and over; just catchy as hell and easily my favorite album from them . Only track I skip is Entertainment, but only because I love the other songs so much I gotta make a cut somewhere.

Honorable Mentions: Metallica - Death Magnetic; M83 - Saturdays=Youth

Songs of the Year IMO: MGMT - Time to Pretend; M83 - Kim & Jessie; GNR - Better

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    • Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 Ergonomic Office Chair review: The Ikea of chairs by Steven Parker I've reviewed a few gaming chairs over the past three years or so and generally found them to score well in our reviews. SIHOO reached out asking if I was interested in taking a look at their flagship chair, the Doro C300 Pro V2. I never got the chance to check out its predecessor, but the V2 is described as an "Adaptive Ergonomic Chair." It became available to buy in April of this year. Let's get things rolling with a closer look at the specifications and features. Specifications Doro C300 Pro V2 Model Ergonomic Materials Mesh Back and Seat; Soft PU Coated Armrests Height adjustability 45.5 - 53 cm / 17.5" - 20.9" Seat (w+d) 52 x 43 - 47 cm / 20.5" x 16.9" - 18.5" (adjustable) Backrest 52 – 60 cm / 20.5" - 23.6" (adjustable) Lumbar support Mesh built-in (adjustable) Armrest adjustability 8D Bionic Armrests Rocking angle 105°, 120°, 135° (fixed) Neck support Mesh built-in (adjustable) Net weight 27.3 kg / 59.64 lbs Weight support 150 kg / 330 lbs Colors Black, White Warranty 5 years (upon registering) Price $499.99, $539.99 Introduction At first glance, it looks like a chair that in another life wants to be a Herman Miller; It certainly looks like my Aeron Remastered, but the Doro C300 Pro V2 has quite a few more features and costs quite a bit less. SIHOO says that it is made up of a "DynaCore" system that tracks your movement and synchronizes the headrest, backrest, lumbar support, and armrests as you shift, twist, or recline. They also say that the "SyncroFlex Backrest" molds to your spine, which kind of describes how the mesh fabric works in most ergonomic chairs, but anyway. Below are the meat and potatoes measurements for the chair. Here is the same tech sheet, but in inches. Durability I would be remiss to not talk about the various durability testing this chair underwent before coming to market, as this is claimed on the product page. First of all, the chair is BIFMA-, SGS-, and TÜV-certified. As for durability, the tests undergone were: 100,000 Castor cycles tested 120,000 Armrest cycles tested 120,000 Recline cycles tested 120,000 Gas lift cycles tested 60,000 Armrest durability cycles tested 120,000 Rotation cycles tested Nothing about weights testing, though. Now that's all disclosed, now onto my own personal findings. Assembly The Doro C300 Pro V2 came in two large boxes (1) (2), and everything was packed very well, protecting the different parts of the chair. In the box, there is a folded sheet that explains the 12 steps to assemble it; they are: Remove the bottom cover on the aluminum base; Insert the five legs into the aluminum base and use ten screws to fasten them; Insert the castors into the legs; Replace the bottom cover on the bottom of the aluminum base; Place the Class 4 Hydraulics gas cylinder into the aluminum base; Screw the bottom part of the arm rests, taking care of the orientation using two screws on each side; Use three torx screws to fasten the footrest to the bottom of the seat; Fasten the backrest to the seat using four torx bolts; Fasten the armrests to the backrest using four Torx bolts (two on each side), taking care to note the orientation; Place the chair onto the Class 4 Hydraulics gas cylinder; Insert the headrest into the top of the backrest; Use two torx screws to fasten the headrest to the backrest. There's also an online guide you can refer to. 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Also, to complicate things further, although all the parts are labeled from A to X (yes, that's 24 parts) unhelpfully, these letters do not appear on the parts themselves or the package with the bolts, screws, and washers. There's also a pair of protective gloves in the box, but I think they were made for much smaller hands than I have. Even my friend, who is 5.1, had difficulty putting them on. Once assembled, I needed to sit down. Anyway, as I said, it looks quite similar to my Herman Miller. And here is the back of it. If you look at the product page and on Amazon, it seems like a lot of thought has gone into the chair itself and what it's capable of, but there is no mention at all about the castors, and this is an area where I think the chair trips up quite quickly. I found it difficult to move the chair in any direction. I asked a friend who came to visit me earlier this week to test my findings, and she said that the wheels were "no good," so it definitely isn't just me. 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However, the armrest positions move far too easily, and I am not sure what that "elbow" function is. Maybe it is good for a short person with short arms, anyway, I never used it and kept it flat at all times. There are eight levels of adjustment for the armrests, they are: backwards, forwards, swing left/right, height up and down, tilt, and 360° rotation, which can be handy for desk clearance. As I said, the armrest pads shift far too easily, which could give off an ergonomic vibe, but who wants the armrest sliding when you are shifting weight? The height adjustability does lock into place when lifting and adjusting. Comfort This is ultimately what it boils down to at the end of the day, right? Quite a lot of reviews praise the comfort of this chair, and I don't disagree that the mesh seating is quite comfortable. I am used to the material from my daily Herman Miller. However, the backrest cannot be locked into place, and this is actually a feature; as you shift or recline yourself on the chair, the backrest moves with your body. It took some getting used to. The lumbar gives ample support, but I would have preferred an adjustable one built into the seat base, as this causes the backrest to move up and down at will. Again, as with my previous chair review, this chair is also rated for tall people, but nowhere in the product documentation does it say how tall. Being 6'2 myself, I'm happy to say that the backrest is tall and wide enough, and thought has been given to being able to adjust the neck rest, but as others have mentioned in their reviews, people as tall as 6.2ft is about the limit for the neckrest. Conclusion What I didn't like The footrest is rated for 15kg (33 lbs), which to me seems a bit light, and after looking online, it seems like a chair footrest for adults must be at least twice that rating. In all honesty, they are just hollow metal tubes, so it is not recommended to let a kid sit on them. I also feel like it doesn't really go out far enough for my height, so that kind of puts the dampener on me being able to use it regularly. I'll just have to continue to use my subwoofer as a footrest! I do not like the armrests being able to shift around as easily as they can, and they are a little too forward-positioned in the chair to comfortably sit close to my desk, because even in the lowest height position, they don't allow me to go under the desk like is possible with my Herman Miller. I also feel like this chair could have been delivered partially constructed, especially the armrests on the seat, and why the aluminum base wasn't already pre-constructed (without the castors) is baffling, considering it would have fit in one of the two boxes that way. The instructions also need to be clearer. On the pamphlet, there's an A to X listing (which is also used in the steps), but none of the physical parts use this lettering system! What I did like I'll be honest, I haven't used it for very long, just one week, and seating comfort is subjective after all! Any spills wiped straight off it, the stitching, and the lines look great, not a fray to be seen or stitch out of place. It looks kind of cool, too. My favorite feature of these seats is the nap mode. While you're not lying completely flat, it leans far back enough to make you easily doze off after a heavy gaming or working session. Overall, this chair offers plenty of comfort features. The MSRP does vary quite a bit depending on the region, at £549.99 in the UK, and €580 in Europe, and $599 before tax in the U.S. However, shipping is free, which is a bonus for such a heavy item. Is it worth it, though? At three years' warranty, I think it's a decent deal. Another firm out of Germany sent me a free replacement hydraulic gas spring for a chair that failed after almost four years, so it was well outside its two-year warranty. My advice is to always try, as you might have the same luck I did. If I could fault it at all, it would be the constant shifting of the armrests and backrest. Where to buy Although the footrest variant normally costs $539.99, it has been discounted to $469.99 on the official website in Black or White. In fact, the non-footrest variant is only $40 cheaper. On Amazon, it currently costs more at $499.99 links below. Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 for $469.99 (official website) Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 for $499.99 at Amazon US SIHOO provided a free sample without any review or pre-approval. Good to know This Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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