Hey folks!

As you may have heard, nominations are now open for the upcoming Best Album of 1988 tournament. Go here and list out all your 1988 faves. (And keep searching for new faves, because you until the nomination period ends, in about 3 weeks, you can go back and edit your ballot.) In 24 hours, we already have 54 ballots submitted. Wow! Great job, everyone!

If you’ve been following the Best Albums Bracket on social media over the years, then you know that I try and get a complete list of each year’s releases, leading to one of my long-time running jokes: “Every year, an infinite number of albums are released.” This year, with the help of @lanna.bsky.social, @guerrieroc.bsky.social, and many, many others, I think… we have a complete list? No, that’s impossible, you can’t actually catalog the infinite. But! We got ourselves a big list. As I have plead above, and have plead before, and will plead again, please consider finding new albums outside your wheelhouse. “But Kent, how do I do that?” Well, one way would be to consult The Big List of 1988 Releases, below.

Here is the current list of 1988 releases. If you’re just looking for a checklist, download that sucker and get to work. If you’re looking for new stuff to listen to, scan the list, or better yet, get yourself a random number generator and surprise yourself every day for the next three weeks. If you’d like to add to the list, because you know something that got missed, you can do that — just be sure to read through the “Rules and Suggestions” tab at the bottom for instructions.

ALSO: sometime on the weekend of Nov. 7-8, we will have the very first Power Point Party! This is a thing where we get together on Zoom and pitch people on nominating our favorite albums. We’d love to have you present, but if you would just like to attend and listen, that’s great too! If actively looking for new albums to listen to isn’t your bag, here’s a more passive way to do that (no judgment intended). I plan on presenting Stump’s A FIERCE PANCAKE, for the record. Here is the sign-up sheet for the Power Point Party. Stay tuned for more details.

Thanks,

Kent