2008 was the year that I became officially old. And not even just because I turned thirty and instantly turned into a forgetful old git. No, it's because it was the year that a great many of the musical heroes of my formative years decided to shit on their legacies (and my memories) from a great height. In 1997, Oasis, Primal Scream, The Charlatans, Verve (it will be a cold day in hell before I recognise the 'The' - see, cantankerous old twat), Spiritualized and Portishead released records. They all did the same this year, and the first four really shouldn't have bothered. Even the Spiritualized album was an at times by numbers and patchy affair. The good outweighed the bad however, and in 'Soul on Fire' Jason Pierce wrote one of the best heartbreak-tinged lovesongs of his career. And he's had a fuck load of practice, the consistently heartbroken old git, so that's quite an accolade.

Portishead, however, showed exactly how to come back and be better than ever. Third was a triumph, a stark, intense album which while less sample driven and pretty than Dummy, was no less affecting. In these days of quick fix releases and a record buying/downloading/stealing public more devoid of patience than ever, it took a brave (and indeed obstreperous) band to make an album which required to be listened to as a whole and on repeated attempts to sink in. That said, we can't link the whole album, so here's the majestic 'Magic Doors':

Elsewhere, I couldn't help but love the Last Shadow Puppets LP. He may have become tabloid fodder in 2008, but there's little doubt that Alex Turner is one talented sod. The Age of the Understatement, a lush collection of fine Arthur Lee psychedelia and Bond strings, is made all the more impressive when you consider the following:

1) It was just a side project
2) It was written and recorded in a matter of weeks
3) He had the handicap of working with that idiot from the Rascals

With a new Arctic Monkeys LP due soonish - produced by Josh Homme no less - I suspect we'll be hearing more of this Turner kid in the coming year. Remember where you heard it first, kids.

Roots Manuva's Slime and Reason was another undoubted highlight. Probably the most consistently brilliant album of his career, it was nonetheless a typically ramshackle affair; veering between pure pop and dark confessional hip hop. At times it was the most joyfully brainless stuff he's ever done. At other times it was so self deprecatingly personal as to be a slightly disconcerting listen. But listen I did, a great many times. I must be a voyeur or something.

Hip hop as a whole was a slightly disappointing affair in 2008. It started well enough (yeah, ok, it came out at the tail end of last year, but Flashlight didn't exist then, and I've listened to it loads this year so it still counts) with Little Brother's excellent Get Back, which was an unlikely triumph bearing in mind the split with 9th Wonder and the fact that Lil' Wayne is on one of the tracks. If you like your hip hop with a healthy serving of late 80s stylings (right down to the EPMD homage on the cover), this may well be to your liking:

Elsewhere though, there were plenty of disappointments to be found. Nas and EPMD returned with largely underwhelming LPs, and I found myself returning to anything and everything MF Doom related. In terms of new content, it was a quiet year for the Metal Faced one -though his guest spots on Jake One's White Van Music are superb. Check out 'Get Er Done':

But with a distinct lack of new material, it was left to the reissues of his debut Operation Doomsday and his Nas remix Nastradoomus to fill the void.

Of course, as has been said already by Oxton Soul Boy, hip hop was alive and in fine Gallagher baiting fettle in the shape of Jay Z at Glastonbury. I found the whole furore particularly sad, as it was actually Noel Gallagher's love of old school hip hop that got me in to the music in the first place. I've always said that I find it ironic that Oasis themselves have been described as dad rock (I'm talking the first two albums here, not the ones where they actually have been dad rock) when they saved me from liking Ocean Colour Scene et al. I tell you what, listening to Noel now makes me realise that maybe I'm not so old after all.

Except I am. I've bid emotional farewells to old friends this year (for those who haven't yet watched Season 5 of The Wire, please, please don't watch this clip):

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I've found that I've eschewed a lot of new music in favour of listening to those that inspired them (seriously, why one earth would you listen to MGMT when there's a whole Prince back catalogue to work through?).

And I think about 2009, and what I'm looking forward to, and all I can think of is a new Doves LP, and potential Smiths and Stone Roses reunions. I truly hope that there will be some great new music to inspire me across the genres (I am after all a music writer, so it would help), but somehow I doubt it. I remember when all this was fields, you know?