Blender's 1001 Downloads: The 33 Best Albums of 2008

1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
It didn’t seem possible, but Lil Wayne found whole new ways to shock people this year. For one thing, he actually released an official album, generously cutting his label in on mixtape-fueled fan frenzy. But he also got even crazier, indulging the depraved depths of an imagination nobody can match. He kicks it like a sensei all over this instant classic, whether he’s operating on hip-hop in “Dr. Carter” or spitting Alcatraz bars in the goth guitar ballad “Shoot Me Down”—and no matter who remixes our song of the year, “A Milli,” Weezy sounds tougher than Nigerian hair.
Download “3 Peat,” “Let the Beat Build,” “Mr. Carter”

2. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
Through the magic of laptop mixology, Gregg Gillis comes on like a wedding DJ from Alpha Centauri, sampling hip-hop and rock and cheesy pop at warp speed until it turns into time-tripping group-sex fan fiction: Jay-Z meets Radiohead! Styx meet Janet Jackson! Rod Stewart meets Rich Boy! Sometimes it’s bizarrely moving, as when he loops UGK’s “Int’l Players Anthem” over a Journey piano solo. Releasing this gem online the week after he finished it, Gillis reminds copyright lawyers to stay off his back or he will attack, and you don’t want that.
Download “Set It Off,” “Play Your Part (Pt. 1),” “Still Here”

3. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
War, financial collapse, Sarah Palin. The coolest band in NYC faced a scary year by throwing a party at the edge of the abyss. Singers Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe soulfully evoked the “end of forever,” and producer Dave Sitek wrought an anxious, shape-shifting future funk. But the secret was thick, juicy songs that transcended the arty putzing of previous TVOTR records to shout down the whore of Babylon with dire urgency. 
Download “Golden Age,” “Crying,” “Family Tree”

4. Metallica, Death Magnetic
In 2008, Metallica rediscovered the furious teenage versions of themselves deep in the shag of Rick Rubin’s beard. This return to the Land of Shred doesn’t just pick up wheretheir precision-tooled metal left off years ago, it returns harder and sometimes even faster. Kirk Hammett rips like a school of piranha, James Hetfield bellows with a finesse he developed in their squishier era and the whole album crackles like a backyard lightning strike.
Download “Broken, Beat & Scarred,” “That Was Just Your Life,” “The Day That Never Comes”

5. Hot Chip, Made in the Dark
These U.K. synthesizer-rock noodlers used to work a Jekyll & Hyde dynamic: Their albums were careful, crafty; their live shows were Patrick Ewing–sweaty. On their third album—inspired, they say, by metal and R. Kelly—Hyde hits the dance floor and humps Jekyll’s girlfriend. This is sexy robot disco sporting a low-end a mile wide. Alexis Taylor coos and croons politely over the impolite thump. His proudly nerdy, left-field subjects—great friendships and the life lessons to be gleaned from old WWE matches—keep the party delightfully off-kilter.
Download “Ready for the Floor,” “One Pure Thought,” “Wrestlers”