Some people around here don't like year-end best-of lists, but I'm not one of them. I love year-end lists. Yes, they're arbitrary and subjective. Yes, they can theoretically introduce elements of ranking and competition to artistic endeavors not really benefited by such hierarchies. (Respect to DJ/Rupture's "Top 5 Problems with Top 10 Albums of the Year Lists"—a must-read.) But fuck it, year-end lists are fun. Here, then, are some personally subjective (my faves don't have to be yours), nondefinitive (i.e., no token metal albums I didn't actually like just because I think I ought to), necessarily incomplete (for space), arbitrarily ranked (take that, hierarchy!) lists of Things I Don't Regret in 2008 (you can find the things I do regret on page 17):

1. The following albums (in no particular order): Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping, Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend, Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You, Why? - Alopecia, the Sight Below - Glider, Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair, Hot Chip - Made in the Dark, Flying Lotus - Los Angeles, No Age - Nouns, diskJokke - Staying In, M83 - Saturdays=Youth, Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours, the Hold Steady - Stay Positive, Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles, Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls, Girl Talk - Feed the Animals, Low Motion Disco - Keep It Slow, Alter Ego - Why Not?

2. The following individual tracks (again, in no particular order): the Juan Maclean - "Happy House," Lil Wayne - "A Milli," Matias Aguayo - "Minimal," Kid Cudi - "Day & Night (Crookers Remix)," MGMT - "Kids (Soulwax Remix)," Hot Chip - "One Pure Thought (Supermayer Remix)," Max Tundra - "Which Song," Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Teenagers Remix)," Hercules and Love Affair - "You Belong," Alias - "Well Water Black (featuring Why?)," Cut Copy - "Out There on the Ice," Daedelus - "Fair Weather Friends," T.I. - "Swagger Like Us," M83 - "Kim & Jessie," Why? - "Good Friday," Of Montreal - "Women's Studies Victims," Wiley - "Wearing My Rolex," Shinichi Osawa - "Star Guitar," Deadmau5 - "Sometimes Things Get, Whatever"/"Complications," Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - "La Serenissima," Pink Skull - "Gonzo's Cointreau," the Death Set - "Selective Memories."

3. The following local acts, who make me feel lucky to live in Seattle (repeat caveat re: order, apologies to the many, many folks I'll inevitably forget here): Partman Parthorse, Throw Me the Statue, the Pica Beats, Truckasauras, the Dead Science (still technically local?), Bow + Arrow, Talbot Tagora, Past Lives, Flexions, the Sight Below, Jacob London, Emerald City Soul Club, Club Pop, FCS, the Saturday Knights, the (reunited for '09) Murder City Devils.

See you in 2009!