Tis' the season. And I ain't talking bout yuletides and elves. I'm talking about all those end of year lists that anyone with a "professional" opinion feels is necessary to cough up come December, year after year after year. Truth be told, we even feel entitled to get on this great golden soapbox ourselves here at Scene & Heard HQ, and we will soon enough before the year expires on us. But before we get to the top batch of records and movies that 2008 gave birth to, I thought it'd be fun--perhaps even, educational--to give you our TOP 5 BEST OF LISTS that we've seen so far on this year in music. What a concept, huh? And believe me, I went through quite a gamut of lists to come up with this list of lists, so do trust that this is the best of what 2008's 'best of' was.

The comforting thing is that no list really resembles what my list is shaping up like. Most rock music magazines tend to have the same a-la-cart lists, most indie blogs tend to have the same top 5, but this was an interesting year in which lots of lists seemed to veer off after newer artists and some daring, brilliant records. My list will probably be something of a conglomerate of all these lists here, although I don't really get this critical salivating for Fleet Foxes. Decent record, but it's like the number one album to make Number One on these year-end lists? No way, they're just doing what My Morning Jacket did 6 or 7 years ago. Anyway, here's the lists!

Scene & Heard's Top 5 Lists That List The Best Music Albums 0f 2008

5. NME Top 50 Albums of 2008
This British rock magazine gets a spot just because their list, expectedly, has a lot more lively records ripe with trumpets, grooves, and angular guitars than all the lo-fi and northwest folk that swept the American music underground this year (COUGH! Fleet Foxes... COUGH!). The whole of these records, from Santogold (one of Philly's own!) to Kings of Leon to TV On The Radio to number one MGMT, are all about making sound statements and living through these disastrous economic times. Although they scored The Verve's and Oasis' letdowns higher than Coldplay? Ugh...

4. Stereogum's Best Albums of 2008
Honestly, could have made the number 2 spot of this list if they DIDN'T GIVE FLEET FOXES THE NUMBER ONE SPOT! It's a great and expansive list that gives lots of proper tips of the hat to a lot of the right artists--big and small--who deserve the name check. Also, Stereogum just posts artwork and links to purchase the music...no blurbs about why they chose what they chose. Though it's cool to 'let the music do the talking,' I like to read about why something deserves more props than another on these year end lists. So, foul on the ol' Gum there too. But still, a pretty tight list.

3. Paste Magazine's Signs of Life: Best of 2008
I like Paste Magazine, and I really like their theme for this year's best of list: "Signs of Life." Kinda poetic and something to think about as the CD industry continues to die the ugliest death in the history of long, painful, squirming, gasping, economic deaths. But I dig this list for other reasons too. Like TV On The Radio gets their due, but at a much more reasonable #50, instead of #1 (see Rolling Stone, see Spin, see countless other etcs). But they also give due to Colour Revolt (#35), the brilliant Death Cab record (#18) which lots of lists seemed to develop amnesia for, Mugison, and a huge surprise of a number 1--She & Him. Not exactly something I would put at Number 1, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

2. Can You See The Sunset's 50 Favorite Albums of 2008
I look to a crap ton of music blogs for all the latest songs and artists circulating the ol' net, but Can You See The Sunset is the only music blog I read on a regular basis. Mainly because his taste in music is the closest I've found to mine in that he is a lover of most all music, but has the biggest weak spot for a good, jolting dose of punk rock. As long as the music has soul and/or an unwavering lifeforce, he unearths it, loves it, and shares it on his blog, and that's a kind of person that I can undeniably get behind and respect. So don't look to his year end list if you're looking for the stuff you'd expect to find on Spin or Rolling Stone, or Pitchfork for that matter. But his list is right on the money, and runs the gamut from grindstone folk (a surprising number one pick) to soul to punk to some decent mainstream indie. It's probably one of the least predictable and yet, most honest lists you will find this end of the year. Not to mention, he takes year ends lists really seriously. He even re-did his best of 2007 after spending an extra year with all those records, after those songs revealed their true colors.

1. eMusic's 88 Best Albums of 2008
Well, for starters, they give The Gaslight Anthem's "59 Sound" the Number One badge of approval, and that's awesome in my book. But also, the write up for the list riffs off the idea that this was the year of discovery--and I couldn't say it any better myself. And if that sentiment rings true, there is no better place to discover new music than eMusic. Their finely crafted list is limited in what it can list because there is a majority of recording artists signed to major labels who don't distribute downloads on eMusic--but eMusic gives you miracles with what they do have to work with. Paul McCartney's new Fireman record gets due. A live (and phenomenal) Otis Redding gem released this year gets due. Bon Iver, Raveonettes, and She & Him all get big props here, as well as a whole treasure trove of other surprises you never ever heard of before.

In short, 2008 was the sound of us all looking for something new. A new chord to ride, a new melody to hum, a new horizon to walk off towards.

So, in retrospect, last week's Xmas Wishlist was kinda crummy. Or lazy might be a more appropriate word. But I'm better prepared this week. What say we give this another shot? If you have friends or family like me (God help you if you do) here's some ideas of what to wrap up and slap a bow on for them this holiday season.

5. The Steel City Coffee House VIP card
This is a must-give to anyone who is a regular frequenter of Phoenixville's sweetest spot for music and caffeine. And rare, so hurry! As of yesterday, there was only 5 still available. This gets you reserved seating, advanced ticket prices on all shows, 10% off all food and drink, $25 extra on the card, AND 2 free tickets good for any show. Plus no BYO fees for VIP members and guests (when tickets purchased using the VIP Card. VIP CARD is initiated with a one time purchase of $500.00 and are reloadable in any amount. More information on the VIP card at http://steelcitycoffee.stores.yahoo.net/vipgica5.html.

4. Steel City Coffee House Gift Card
And for all those cheap skates out there not willing to shell out the $500 for that golden ticket, you could just give out a borin' ol' Steel City gift card. They are good for show tickets and can be bought at www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com and will be delivered with free shipping. Just don't tell the person you're giving this to about the VIP card. They will hate you.

3. Guitar Hero World Tour.
"A guy can dream right?" That's why they made Guitar Hero--so everyone can rock out. This is where the party is at.

2. www.urbanoutfitters.com
Go there and go crazy. I promise, you'll find something, because if it's cool, they make it.

1. DO NOT GIVE iTUNES GIFT CARDS!
I mean it! Sure, they are good for office friends or stocking stuffers, but if you're REALLY shopping for a music head, you get yourself in a record store, buster. A REAL record store--I'm not talking FYE here. Or you can browse online too. But the gift of vinyl is the way to go. The artwork is large and beautiful and a record has more thought and care wrapped up in it. It makes a much sweeter gift than a plastic card with numbers on it.

Don't know what to get your entertainment junky (see also: nerd) for Christmas? Well, take a load off pal, you've come to the right place. I present to you the 2008 Scene & Heard Wish List. Although, keep checking back here this month for our year end lists of music, movies, and etc, which will all make great stocking stuffers too.

5. Death Cab For Cutie Holiday Package
If your little music fan (or big music fan, we don't discriminate) just got into Death Cab after this year's brilliant "Narrow Stairs," they're missing out on a whole lotta good warm-hearted indie rock. This package includes all 7 releases the band put out on Barsuk, before stepping up to a major label. Does not include "Plans" or "Narrow Stairs," but is a golden deal for Death Cab beginners.

4. The Limited Edition Beatles iPod Box Set
Want to go overboard? Sure you do. I see that look in your eyes. Show the economy that you don't need to cut back! Nothing says overboard like this baby, which you can only get from Bloomingdales for the special low price of $795 (or on eBay for a lot lot more). It's all here, the treasure trove. You get all the apples--Apple's classic iPod with a Beatles logo and 120gb of storage, and all the CD's from the Apple label's discography (including "Love"). And you get a guitar pick too, for some reason. All tidied up in a sleek wooden box. Plus, there is only 2500 copies in existence. Owning one makes you super special! In all seriousness, it's the coolest box set and iPod you'll find, but only for the biggest Beatlemaniacs. Now's also a good time to mention that The Beatles remain one of the last remaining bands not available on iTunes, though it's apparently going to happen some day. But not bad, right?

3. Of course, you could just shell out for a regular ol' iPod or iPhone, which I promise won't upset any person willing to live amongst the technology of the 21st century. Always a safe bet.

2. The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray
The biggest, boldest, movie of the year that crossed over from comic books into the mainstream this year in a huge way. And yes, it MUST be on Blu-Ray, not DVD, because it's the best looking movie ever, and the action scenes are all shot in hi-def. Since it hits stores on Dec 9, there are going to be a lot of Bat fans looking for this under the tree. Do. Not. Disappoint. Them. (Yes, that is a threat.) There's also a special edition available that comes with a statuette Batpod, but...that could be a bit overboard.

1. DIY mix
That's right, the way to really impress them is to do it yourself. And you know what? You spend a nickel on a CD-R (or cassette if you really want to impress them). That's it! Just put some excellent music together and they'll love you forever. Because they'll know you care, and that you put the time in. Of course, mixmaking is quite an artform, so be careful of what you're getting yourself into and be wise and selective in your song choices. Don't think you got what it takes? That's ok, you can bake them some warm cookies. That works too.

And just for fun...
Let's go old school and bring back the full-on pajamas look. www.thecatspjs.com. May I recommend the crossword puzzle pjs?

Guns N' Roses are one of those bands that you either:
A: HATE.
B: Love AND hate. (Considering their name, not all that ironic)

And since Axl finally (FINALLY!) ponied up his 14 years-in-the-making magnum opus, Chinese Democracy, there's all kinds of love and hate beaming around the Scene & Heard offices this week. So what say we shine the ol' Top Five Tuesday light on the new album in proper Guns N' Roses fashion, shall we?

Top 5 reasons why Chinese Democracy sucks
5. Axl Rose.
4. As grandiose as this album tries to be, the long-standing jokes about the album are bigger. You're not buying an album anymore, you're buying a hyper-marketed piece of the pop culture mountain, which Dr. Pepper, Guitar Hero and Best Buy have been more than happy to fan the flames of.
3. Remember when you had your hopes so impossibly high for The Matrix sequels, and then were completely let down? Multiply that feeling times 743. Industrial Rock Axl=Flying Superman Neo.
2. This record would have blown the world away 10 years ago. Now it just blows.
1. Okay, it's not that bad of a record, but Axl... really? You spent 14 years on this? Sorry bucko, too much, too late.

Keeping that in mind, here's..
The Top 5 reasons why Chinese Democracy is a (dare I say) brilliant record.
5. Axl Rose.
4. Doing just fine without Slash & Straddlin, thank you very much.
3. The scathing title track is already banned in China. Now that's rock n' roll.
2. "If The World" is one of the sweetest songs I've ever heard. Industrial funk blues? Who knew Axl had that in him? The song alone is worth the album.
1. Listening to a Guns N' Roses album used to be like staring at the sun through sunglasses. Listening to this is like staring at the sun through a telescope.

You know what the trick is? Forget the love and hate. Pull yourself away from everything you think you know about this album. Forget how much money it cost to make, how long it took to make, how many jokes VH1 and Rolling Stone mag made about it over the years. Forget that it's "Chinese Democracy." Forget that it's a Guns N' Roses album, because it isn't. Just crank the volume up and let it be what it is.

It's a special record. Not because of it's pop culture significance, but because with it, Axl is attempting to do the same thing with heavy rock that Mozart did with classical music. Of course, Mozart was ridiculously and brilliantly prolific, while Rose spent 1/3 of Mozart's lifespan writing this grandiose record, so screw Axl. He's just a pompous metal head with a terrible dread job. (Like I said, folks. Love and hate.)

Yesterday, the temperature outside warmed enough for me to roll the windows down and ride around like a hot shot. So you know what that means? Time to step on the pedal and crank the volume on those semi-embarrassing pop punk records you worshiped for a whole 2-year window of your life as if they were your life support. Well, atleast that's the code I abide to. These warm doses of jumpy guitar gladness have gotten more spins from me than anything else I own, and these were the first bands I grew manic over. I hardly give these songs the time of day anymore, but these were the germs that brought about my entire musical sickness. And when spring comes elbowing it's way through the cold this time of year, there is nothing else I want to hear but these bouncy guitars and lyrics about mean girls.

5. Saves The Day - Through Being Cool
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned you say? Well, that's dandy and all, but I can't imagine anything worse than Chris Conley's lyrical scorn to his ex-romancer on this instant classic. This buzzing record can easily be pointed to as the root of where Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday-style lyrics eventually pooled from, but none of the imitators out-wit the original.

4. Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
If scientists could figure out a way to physically turn sunlight into 13 songs, it would sound pretty close to this.

3. Blink182 - Enema Of The State
Somewhere between pop music, surf rock, skate punk, and fart jokes is this album which is fun, serious, ridiculous, and charming all at once. It's one of those records that taught me you don't have to "grow up" to mature.

2. New Found Glory - New Found Glory
This album seemed like the newest thing in the entire world when I first bought it. For pop punk at the time, it was one of the crispest and cleanest sounding records yet, packing more pop than punk, but never sacrificing the energy or emotion.

1. Over It - Timing Is Everything
It's hard to even lump this with other pop-punk-ish records. It's more of an animated record of slick abrasive skate punk, and Pete's vocal twists and turns blow my mind to this day. It's a simple record, but it's my favorite musical grenade to pull the pin out of once in a while and blow me back a few years.

I couldn't help but fill with glee when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won the Song Oscar for "Falling Slowly" Sunday night from their movie "Once." If you don't know the past few years of Hansard's life, it's truly wound together as a fairy tale, culminating at the Oscars. He was originally only supposed to write the music for the movie, but when the lead role dropped out, the director pushed Hansard in as leading man since he wrote the music. He was weary at first about it since he had no training in acting, but next thing you know, he's dating costar Irglova, and the low-budget Once slowly takes off, from being received well at Sundance, to winning an Oscar for best original song. Go Hansard! He was no doubt, the happiest man alive on Sunday when he hoisted that golden man in the air.

This week's Top 5 are our favorite music-centered films here at Scene & Heard HQ.

5. SLC Punk
I read somewhere that this movie is what would happen if you crossed "Sid & Nancy" with a John Hughes flick. Couldn't say it any better myself.

4. Spinal Tap
The mother mock-rock-doc of em' all. It's one of those rare movies that turns it up to 11 just because it's higher than 10, if you know what I mean. And you can't talk about music movies and somehow ignore this comedic hair metal extravaganza.

3. I'm Not There
They keep saying it's a Bob Dylan biopic, but that's not exactly true. Quite the contrary, it's about the songs that have come out of the Dylan, not the Dylan that's come out of the songs. And thus, it's one of the most colorful and unique movies ever put to tape, with 6 different people all putting their own spin on Bobby and even more songwriters putting their spin on his music. It's like the Fight Club of music films.

2. High Fidelity
John Cusack owns a record shop, tries to figure out his long and troubled romantic life through Top Five lists and records (and with some help from The Boss too) while waxing intellect with his zaney music-dork employees.

1. Almost Famous
The one, the only. This fictional re-creation of Cameron Crowe's young life is colored with the life any young writer can only dream of. If you don't 'get' why people love music, this movie will change that. If you are looking for a reason to start a band, this movie will give you many. But even more so, in a movie full of rockstars it makes the vastly uncool look like the coolest people of all.

I was perusing around on some fellow blogs and came across a post that compared Fight Club's illustrious Tyler Durden to American Psycho's Patrick Bateman. And my first thought was, which one of these dudes would kick the innards out of the other, and would the results change if they were given chainsaws and dynamite?

So this week, is the week of the fiercest battles to never happen, because they would easily shred the fabric of the universe to scraps, and that would be the end of us all. Screw Alien Vs Predator! That's toddler fodder now. We'll cross parallel universes, and pit savage beasts from different dimensions against one another and offer no mercy. No one is safe! Leave your thoughts on who takes all the chips in the comments.

5. BATTLE OF THE OBLONG HEADS
E.T. Vs. Johnny 5 (the vengeful version from Short-Circuit 2's climax)
--officiated by Super Mario
While both are loveable creatures of the 80s, this is not a fight to miss. Neither one wants to fight, but on the inside, they are pure-bred war machines. ET is an alien, so he obviously wants to eat people. And Johnny was created to be a tactical war machine, hellbent on defeating all enemies in his path. One heals cuts with the touch of his glowing finger, the other has a nuclear cannon on his shoulder. When push comes to shove, this one could be the nastiest fight ever recorded.

4. RUMBLE IN THE BRONX
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Vs. The Cloverfield Monster (officiated by Rudy Guillini circa 2001)
Both hate people, but both want to make loud noises and be responsible for earth crunching explosions. One is a cartoony ghost, one is a wierd ugly thing. Both are crazed lunatics. Evacuate New York now, because Godzilla and Mothra's destruction in Tokyo is gonna look like a child's whimper compared to the havoc that's about to wreaked.

3. THE GREATEST BATTLE OF ALL TIME
Marty McFly & The Doc Vs. Neo & Morpheus Vs. The Wyld Stallyns
TWO Keanu Reaves in one fight? Can you say WHOA? He can! You know it's gonna get nasty. Even tho Neo and Morpheus are the most skilled fighters here, they can't travel through time like the other 2 tag teams here. The Doc and Marty seem to have the upper hand since they got a flux capacitor, quick wits, a talented guitarist, and a wild-eyed scientist in tow, but Bill & Ted have also outsmarted Satan himself before melvening Death. So the outcome is anyone's guess, and it's likely there will be a few time and actor paradoxes, so we'll all end up ceasing to exist in the end. WICKED!

2. THE FURIOUS BOUT OF THE FURRY ONES
Animal (The Muppet) Vs. The Zombie Sheep (from Black Sheep) (officiated by Mike Tyson)
Essentially this becomes a battle between Jim Henson's workshop and Peter Jackson's workshop. We pit the wild zaney eyed-albeit child friendly-mental institute escapee nut job against sheep that eat people. Hyper-Rabies vs. ADHD. Yikes!

1. HELL ON MIDDLE EARTH
Hillary Clinton Vs. The Dark Lord Sauron (officiated by Eric Cartman of South Park)
One of the front-runners for our next presidential election vs. the Adolf Hitler of Middle Earth. I would never underestimate what either of these creatures are capable of, and would advise everyone to fear the absolute worst with these two glaring into each others eyes. Evil has a new name.

The Writers Guild of America Strike has become the new George W. Bush. It's being blamed for everything! Heck, The Golden Globes were just CANCELED because of this ongoing dispute. It's gone on long enough now that we're really starting to feel it's tremors. As far as my television viewing goes, I'm mostly back in business now that The Colbert Report returned last night and Conan O'Brian made his return last week. But there's still a lot of prime beef missing from prime time. Which brings us this week's Top 5--Five reasons this strike needs to end, post haste!

5. I NEED A HERO!
We didn't even get through half of the slated 24 episodes of Heroes. Only 11 were filmed before the strike. All have aired. NBC states we'll still get them eventually, unlike the series finale of Scrubs which may never be aired.

4. DO NOT RESSURRECT SHOWS FROM THE 80's
Chuck has 2 episodes left in it's 13 filmed episodes. And NBC will replace it with their 21st century version of American Gladiators? OMG.

3. MORE THAN 8 HOURS IN A DAY
24's "7th Day" Season will not air until they can air it uninterrupted, although 8 episodes are complete.

2. LOSING LOST?
The infamous 4th season of Lost won't be able to film the 2nd half of it's season.

1. I DON'T WANNA GO BACK TO REALITY
What happens when programming dries up? Reality shows. What completely sucks? Reality shows. I rest my case.

For a full list of shows affected by the strike, here ya are.

In honor of the tickets we're giving away to see The Police (look in Time Out on Thursday or the Sunday paper to win), the top 5 for this week will be our favorite 5 Police songs to groove to here in the Scene & Heard office. And believe us when we say it was darn hard to leave "Mother" off this list.

The Top 5 Police tunes
5. Synchronicity I - if this fiery tune doesn't get you charged, you're probably a turtle stuck on your back. That, and completely lame.
4. Roxanne - no one felt bad for uh... hookers till this song broke the group into the limelight
3. Deathwish - a barn burning groovefest of punky awesomeness.
2. King of Pain - self-martyrdom and pity never sounded so gorgeous. Or awesome!
1. Message In A Bottle - too anthemicly powerful to not top the list. Sounds as relevant now as it did when Reagen was president. Relate it to love, or politics, or life in general, and it hits home just as hard.

For more details on how to win these tickets, read this.