Top local albums of 2008

1. Atmosphere, "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That [Expletive] Gold"158

2. Jeremy Messersmith, "The Silver City"136

3. Haley Bonar, "Big Star"128

4. Solid Gold, "Bodies of Water"116

5. Vampire Hands, "Me and You Cherry Red"100

6. Doomtree, "Doomtree"98

7. Muja Messiah, "Thee Adventures of a B-Boy D-Boy"70

8. Ben Weaver, "The Ax in the Oak"64

9. Heiruspecs, "Heiruspecs"60

10. Gary Louris, "Vagabonds"58

11. Dillinger Four, "CIVIL WAR"54

12. (tie) Mike Mictlan & Lazerbeak, "Hand Over Fist"50

Tapes 'N Tapes, "Walk It Off"50

14. City on the Make, "$1,000,000"46

15. (tie) Chris Koza, "The Dark, Delirious Morning"42

Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles, "Orange Peels & Rattlesnakes"42

Paul Westerberg, "49:00"42

18. The Absent Arch, "Keep Calm and Carry On"38

19. Kid Dakota, "A Winner's Shadow"34

20. (tie) Cecil Otter, "Rebel Yellow"32

Private Dancer, "Trouble Eyes"32

How the tally works: Critics rank their top albums, songs and live acts. For albums, 20 points are awarded for a No. 1 pick, 18 for No. 2, etc. Songs and live acts start at 10 points. For unranked lists, each album gets 10 points, songs and live acts get 5.