10 Killer Under-the-Radar 2008 Albums, Starring Tickley Feather

As the few remaining days of the ought-eight slip away, thoughts only naturally turn to the year as a whole. So, for the forthcoming week, I'll be trotting out an array of this-year-in-indie-music lists that'll look at the choicest discs dished out over the past 12 months. Culminating, of course, in the unveiling of my gold-standard list of the Best Albums of 2008.

To kick such off, I've compiled a sterling litany of 10 off-the-beaten track LPs that have flown well underneath the pop-cultural radar. These shadowy ranks include the charmingly odd debut of Tickley Feather, the at-home project of one lass from Philadelphia named Annie Sachs. Discovered and disseminated by Animal Collective, via their Paw Tracks label, Sachs's debut TF LP, on cuts like "Tonight is the Nite," sounds impossibly opaque; creating a particular, peculiar, thick-and-eerie sound that begs repeat listens.

Check out the rest of the rundown, and check back in in the coming days for more numerically-listed clues to hip you to the best discs of the year-that's-been.

Photo © [Kimber VanSant]