The Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator that trolls the internet to find out what's hot and to give it attention. They just released their Top 50 Artists, Songs and Albums of 2008. For the last two weeks, I haven't stopped listening to the Top 50 Albums. You can find them here.

While I consider myself a music lover, I also recognize that I have terrible taste in music. I've always gone for what's most accessible, catchy and easy to get listen to. Hype Machine's Top 50 is not made up of that kind of music, not at all. In fact, I've only heard of five of the 50 artists:

REM
Beck
Coldplay
Kanye West
Lil Wanye

All of the others are completely new to me. I've already found a few new favorites:

Frightened Rabbit
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
M83

This music takes some time and commitment to enjoy, but it's well worth it.

Of course, the best part of Hype Machine is the Bloggers that are discovering and writing about the music.

Here are a couple of quotes that will inspire you to listen to the music and appreciate how cool this site is:

"...could be the soundtrack to an early morning drive down a country road."

"Who'd have thought the classic "American" punk album would be reinvented by a New Jersey punk band rocking out the basement circuit."

"Good music to listen to while jumping on a trampoline."

"It's dark, creepy and if it happens to be raining where you are, it'll be the perfect soundtrack."

"...an album best listened to alone, or at 3am at an open-minded party."

"It's the musical equivalent of reading someone else's diary."

"It's like watching the sun rise over distant mountaintops, over and over, familiar and captivating all at once."

If you haven't heard of a lot of these bands, I highly recommend giving it a listen.