About this time last year, a random Pitchfork staffer told us their favorite album of 2008 was Master of Ceremonies by Joel Alme. Never heard of him. Yet, research we did, and not surprisingly Master of Ceremonies was a sweeping, emotionally-charged masterpiece. Alme sings with a passionate recklessness, charmingly out of key at times, but with true power and meaning. His melodies are romantic and laced with strings and horns, but they never sound sappy or contrived, and they easily could. This is real stuff.