Eef Barzelay

Naturally, no year-end music list can be definitive, just as it's impossible to rate a year in music using purely objective measures of quality. So here are the 10 albums that Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson treasured the most in 2008.

The former Clem Snide singer always mixed wryness with unmistakable warmth. In "The Girls Don't Care," he needles those for whom expressions of love run counter to a painstakingly maintained ironic distance.

Hear music from Seun Kuti, son of Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, that rivals his father's, plus insanely fun songs from the Baltimore band, Ponytail. Also on the show: English folk group The Watersons see their 1975 album For Pence and Spicy Ale reissued, new music from the influential art-folk singer Bonnie Prince Billy, a.k.a. Will Oldham, and Eef Barzelay steps away from his band Clem Snide to put out a solo album called Lose Big.

Hear a sneak preview of CDs due out this spring, including new music from My Morning Jacket, Shearwater, Elbow, Wolf Parade, and more. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with Stephen Thompson, curator for NPR's Song of the Day, KEXP DJ Cheryl Waters, and The Current DJ Mark Wheat about the releases they're most looking forward to in the coming weeks.

Great holiday music comes in many genres. But these five soft, pop-tinged selections hang together just right, making up a wintry mix of songs that, when heard collectively, simulate a soothing bath in a tub of warm cocoa.

Eef Barzelay knows how to mix humor and heartbreak. As leader of the band Clem Snide, he's sung from the perspective of folk-pop lightweight Jewel and conspiracy theorist David Icke, and he's concocted cello-tinged odes to the music of Nick Drake.

Naturally, no year-end music list can be definitive, just as it's impossible to rate a year in music using purely objective measures of quality. So here are the 10 albums that Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson treasured the most in 2008.

The former Clem Snide singer always mixed wryness with unmistakable warmth. In "The Girls Don't Care," he needles those for whom expressions of love run counter to a painstakingly maintained ironic distance.

Hear a sneak preview of CDs due out this spring, including new music from My Morning Jacket, Shearwater, Elbow, Wolf Parade, and more. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with Stephen Thompson, curator for NPR's Song of the Day, KEXP DJ Cheryl Waters, and The Current DJ Mark Wheat about the releases they're most looking forward to in the coming weeks.

Eef Barzelay knows how to mix humor and heartbreak. As leader of the band Clem Snide, he's sung from the perspective of folk-pop lightweight Jewel and conspiracy theorist David Icke, and he's concocted cello-tinged odes to the music of Nick Drake.