Not all of Stereogum’s favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment’s virtual milk crate contains The Best Albums Of 2008.

In 2008 I spent more time listening to metal than anything else. (Note: To that top 20 I would currently find a way to squeeze in Nox Inferi’s Adverse Spheres, Aura Noir’s Hades Rise, and Mitochondrion’s Archaeaeon. Plus, Darkthrone jumps about five points.) That said, these are a few of the other albums I returned to frequently. It’s hard labeling them as “Outsider” because they’re very much in heavy rotation, and it’s the sort of music I’m most drawn to (i.e. I don’t find it at all inaccessible), but they’re also albums that didn’t receive as much mainstream indie hype as, say, Fleet Foxes or TV On The Radio. That’s sort of the guiding principle. As far as their link to heavier tastes, I think most of these releases touch upon a certain sonic/aesthetic darkness. Except when noted, the list is in no particular order.

[Liz Harris/Grouper]

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Not all of Stereogum’s favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment’s virtual milk crate contains Shit And Shine, Grails, and Humanfly.

Shit And Shine’s new one Kuss Mich, Meine Liebe is my favorite British-born record in recent memory: It’s a distorted, distended, brown-tinted mass of fuzz and muck sectioned via titles like “Biggest Cock In Christendom,” “The Germans Call It A Swimming Head,” “Toilet Door Tits,” and “Mr. And Mrs. Gingerbread Hawaii.” It’s all great, but we might as well get started where the record begins.

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