i thought i'd been suckered in by 'kids' too - and had all the appropriate concerns for my mental well-being - after two of my mates put it on their 'best of 2008' comps we've been circulating.
and there was i thinking me slurring their praises at strongrooms would prove the final bit of advocation you needed.
i actually think there's been a lot of really good indie stuff made this year. i'd like to think it's a reaction from the post-strokes disassociative indie that's plauged music for the last five years or so (which, to be fair, the strokes did very well, the libertines did alright, and everyone else did very badly), a new wave where pop's not a dirty world and the emphasis is on multi-colour riffs and big, bolshy hooks again.
it's obviously not as black and white as that- there were plenty of dire post-strokes indie bands who were nothing but hooks, it's just that now you have late of the pier and mgmt who, when the mood takes them, are genuinely great song-writers. 'kids', 'time to pretend', 'space and the woods', 'heartbeat', 'gentle furl' etc, all brilliant in my eyes. with mgmt it's probably because those songs have been kicking around since about 2005 and they've re-wrote them so many times. hopefully they don't get too bogged down in the psychedelic chat, cuz that's cobblers really.
on the other end of the uk spectrum, hot club de paris, mystery jets and friendly fires have always been good. it's also nice to see jay reatard start to gain some real recognition- he's been peddling great, hook-driven pop for a while now and he's better at it than most. that telepathe album that's coming out is good too. very indebted to gang gang dance, and i don't know if it has a lot to do with lotp/mgmt, but it's worth mentioning.
interestingly, ariel pink has apparently re-invented himself and wants to make 'clean' pop without the background noise now.