The 50 Best Albums of 2008

29

Bon Iver FOR EMMA, FOREVER AGO Jagjaguwar

Along with Fleet Foxes, this record put beardy-boy folk on the map with stark meditations on love, regret and the ice-encrusted northern Midwest. The sentiments are grim, the production low-fi. But with his homey materials, Justin Vernon builds big sounds that warm you from within.

30

Duffy ROCKFERRY Mercury

Haters dismissed Duffy as a cleaned-up, bottle-blonde Amy Winehouse. But she was really a modern-day Dusty Springfield, with vocal delivery that's both tough and fluttery. Add a passel of melodies cribbed from old Motown and Brill Building hits, and you get the best LP to emerge from the U.K.'s R&B renaissance this year.

• View List: The 50 Best Albums of 2008