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Apsara
The emerging talent (I mean that in the English sense, not "tarento") Norimasa Fujisawa.
smartacus
The Beijing Olympic opening ceremony, even though some of it was fake.
tkoind2
2008 was more regurgitation of 60's-ish, 80's-ish and hip hop remakes lifting melodies from old ballads. It was a terribly uncreative year of plastic disposable bands that will neither set new definitions for music or last beyond their current spate of popularity.
What happened to bands that sounded unique? When you could not so easily say that X band sounds like Y band from the 80's with a little early Iggy Pop tossed in for good measure. Or 'Hey, that new rap song has a Sting melody line." Or "Wow another UK band wearing Ska clothing and singing 80's ish rock."
Music has traded in orginality and creativity for commercial certainty and generic appeal. And we are all the worst off for it.
If you want good music from 2008, go out on the net and find the tens of thousands of indies out there who don't sound like everything else and who have little or no prayer of ending up on TV or in anyone's charts. That is where the real talent and creativity in music reside today. The band you've never heard of is probably doing something original and deserving of a lot more of our attention than the generic slop the industry is spewing out year after year.
Pump24
2008 wasn't great for J-Music, yet I would give a nod to Chatmonchy. Foreign music was a slight better, with groups like Arcade Fire, Sonny J, and Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip. Of the indie-bands, the LA rockers Waxapples put out a great album.
Hard to narrow it down to one. Let's hope for a better 2009...!
R_M_s
Thats a tough one. Its been a pretty good year for foreign music...not so much for J-music though. I thought was poor year on the domestic front. Deadmau5? MGMT? Kings of Leon? Bloc Party? couldn't narrow it down to one
ptolemy
Without question the "Ponyo" song. My daughter gives it two thumbs up.
pointofview
Without question Pat Metheny.