Year-End Critics' Polls '07

x-post: The title of the album Daddy Yankee put out this year is El Cartel: The Big Boss.

Punknews Bestof Lists
(http://www.punknews.org/article/27110)

20. Tegan and Sara - The Con
19. Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in the Between
18. Fake Problems - How Far Our Bodies Go
17. Joel Plaskett Emergency - Ashtray Rock
16. The National - Boxer
15. Filthy Thieving Bastards - I'm a Son of a Gun
14. The Menzingers - A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology
13. Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice
12. The Copyrights - Make Sound
11. Against Me! - New Wave
10. American Steel - Destroy Their Future
9. Big D and the Kids Table - Strictly Rude
8. Feist - The Reminder
7. Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine
6. Crime in Stereo - Is Dead
5. Career Suicide - Attempted Suicide
4. The Gaslight Anthem - Sink or Swim
3. Attack in Black - Marriage
2. Lifetime - Lifetime
1. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

Good to see Streetlight Manifesto get some love.

Jason Tate's (EIC of Absolutepunk.net) List
http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=281275

30) Steel Train - Trampoline
29) Lifetime - Lifetime
28) The Wonder Years - Get Stoked on It!
27) Sherwood - A Different Light
26) A Wilhelm Scream - Career Suicide
25) The Graduate - Anhedonia
24) New Found Glory - From The Screen To Your Stereo Part 2
23) Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice
22) The Spill Canvas - No Really, I'm Fine
21) Logh - North
20) Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
19) The Starting Line - Direction
18) Straylight Run - The Needles, The Space
17) The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
16) Against Me! - New Wave
15) Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
14) Eisley - Combinations
13) Anberlin - Cities
12) Saves the Day - Under the Boards
11) Iron and Wine - The Shepard's Dog
10) Four Year Strong - Rise or Die Trying
09) Yellowcard - Paper Walls
08) Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
07) Dustin Kensrue - Please Come Home
06) Motion City Soundtrack - Even if It Kills Me
05) Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
04) Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
03) Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
02) Cary Brothers - Who You Are
01b) Thrice - The Alchemy Index
01a) Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre

haha Say Anything was on my year-end list, I AM ON THE ABSOLUTEPUNK TIP.

if you follow the myspace link there's a bunch of other artistes who've done 07 lists, but mario's was the only one that struck me as not having an eye on just dapping collaborators/labelmates etc etc. i should check that incubus out huh?

crit lists that i guess did not bore me senseless: j-shep parts
one and two, and maybe prancehall (who i've really come to like lately! maybe it's since he left vice? if he even did.) enjoyed al's breakdown too, he can link that himself tho if he wants

Yeah, I like the Mario list, too.

oh I don't want anybody else, and when I think about you I link myself

mario's was the only one that struck me as not having an eye on just dapping collaborators/labelmates

true, although he's also friendly with Cassidy and they've done a bunch of songs together, which is the only reason I didn't give him props for singling out the otherwise underrated Cassidy album

OTM re: Alicia Keyshia

the dream is album is really good but dj drama album is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (sadly).

Didn't see anyone post this yet - the New Yorker's "records released in the past year that deserve a second listen":

Nicole Atkins, “Neptune City” (Columbia)—Atkins’s début album pays tribute to her New Jersey home town with a sound that can only be described as high chamber pop: overstuffed and sometimes overbearing arrangements that succeed because Atkins’s vocals keep the songs rooted in deeper traditions of girl group, soul, and even country. The record’s highlights include the loping “War Torn” and the ecstatic, anthemic “Brooklyn’s On Fire!”

Devendra Banhart, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” (XL)—Banhart, born in Texas and raised in Venezuela and California, makes music that interprets so many styles that it belongs in a universe of its own. On this sprawling collection, Banhart sings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and refracts Brazilian dance pop, doo-wop, and folk through a neo-hippie prism.

Bonde do Rolê, “With Lasers” (Domino)—The year’s best funk record is in Portuguese, but that doesn’t mean that it’s hard to understand. This is down-and-dirty, free-your-ass-and-your-pants-will-follow baile funk from Brazil. Executive-produced by Diplo, who is best known for his work with M.I.A., the record leaps from style to style with restless and even relentless energy.

Bill Callahan, “Woke on a Whaleheart” (Drag City)—Under the band name Smog, Bill Callahan has been making brilliantly downbeat folk pop for nearly twenty years, fitting his low voice and keen observations to bewitchingly languid arrangements. “Woke on a Whaleheart” is the first record he has released under his own name, and it’s both a continuation of Smog and a departure from it. The songs here are at once more rhythmic and more experimental, and, while a few meander, most lock into a steady groove; at least one, “Diamond Dancer,” is a high point in Callahan’s career.

Brandi Carlile, “The Story” (Sony)—The second album by Brandi Carlile, a pretty twenty-something singer, doesn’t even have a picture of her on the cover. That’s O.K., since Carlile has a powerful and fascinating voice that is reminiscent of k.d. lang. Her music has been featured on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” but Carlile’s real habitat is her records, where she writes and performs mysterious songs like “Turpentine” and “Cannonball.”

Jarvis Cocker, “Jarvis” (Rough Trade)—Cocker, the acerbic and witty front man for the defunct Brit-pop band Pulp, delivers a solo record that captures the bittersweet nature of life itself. Cocker’s melodies are sharp and inventive, and his ballads come off as tender, until you realize that he is often talking about the dark side of life, either explicitly, as on “I Will Kill Again,” or indirectly, as on “Baby’s Coming Back to Me.” She’s not.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, “100 Days, 100 Nights” (Daptone)—Sharon Jones’s third LP with the Dap-Kings is a stylistic shift rather than a leap: it moves away from the mid-sixties sounds of her earlier records and into a late-sixties mode, with rawer vocals and more spartan charts. Jones’s band is still superb, and although the songwriting remains inconsistent the peaks are as high as ever, including the fiery title track and the sexy, melancholy “Let Them Knock.”

Miranda Lambert, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (Sony)—The twenty-four-year-old country singer wrote half of her defiant and sunny 2005 début, “Kerosene,” by herself. Her second album finds her working with more outside writers and louder guitars. Lambert pulls off the shift in style because she has talent and charisma on a par with Dolly Parton, another blond beauty who was once underestimated.

Prodigy, “Return of the Mac” (Koch)—Intended as an interim mix tape, this collaboration between Mobb Deep’s lead rapper Prodigy and the producer Alchemist has turned out to be their best work in years. Departing from the claustrophobic sound of Mobb Deep albums, Alchemist opted for long samples of relaxed funk. Prodigy loosened his grip, too, and moved away from cold fatalism to a lurid sense of paranoia. It was all depressingly apt—Prodigy is now facing a three-and-a-half-year sentence for a gun-possession charge.

Various artists, “The Roots of Chicha” (Barbès Records)—Starting in the late sixties, Peruvian musicians created chicha, a working-class urban folk music, by layering psychedelic touches like electric guitars, Moog synthesizers, and Farfisa organs on the popular hip-shaking cumbia of Colombia. These vintage songs (handpicked by the Brooklyn club owner Olivier Conan) are melodic, catchy, and groovy in a way that’s unlikely ever to be repeated.

Wu-Tang Clan, “8 Diagrams” (Motown)—Getting the entire Wu-Tang Clan together isn’t quite as hard as forging democracy in the Middle East, but it belongs in the same sentence. The sprawling collective’s first album in six years finds the group’s sonic architect, RZA, in a spacier frame of mind. Luckily, it also finds some of the m.c.s rejuvenated, especially Method Man and Raekwon. The always reliable Ghostface Killah livens the first half of the record; the Beatles-interpolating “The Heart Gently Weeps” is moving, if bizarre; and songs like “Campfire” and “Stick Me for My Riches” demonstrate that the gangsta-rap genre isn’t played out.

Sixth Annual Shmoo Poll 2007 - Obner's Boarders Top 125 for 2007

Position-weighted score

No. Album Total Score

1 The National - Boxer 687
2 Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 582
3 Radiohead - In Rainbows 463
4 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 354
5 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky 346
6 Andrew Bird - armchair apocrypha 313
7 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver 288
8 Okkervil River - The Stage Names 270
9 Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin 253
10 Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank 251
11 Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? 243
12 Frank Black - Bluefinger 225
13 The White Stripes - Icky Thump 223
14 M.I.A. - Kala 222
15 Josh Ritter - the historical conquests of josh ritter 202
16 Feist - the reminder 193
17 The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 190
18 Panda Bear - Person Pitch 189
19 Babyshambles - Shotters Nation 186
20 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam 169
21 Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog 169
22 Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 157
23 Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends 155
24 Future of the Left - Curses 147
25 Kings of Leon - Because of the Times 144
26 Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala 143
27 Ike Reilly - We Belong to the Staggering Evening 132
28 Son Volt - The Search 128
29 The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism 124
30 Battles - Mirrored 122
31 Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond 115
32 Burial - Untrue 110
33 Blonde Redhead - 23 104
34 The Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On 103
35 Liars - s/t 101
36 The Good, the Bad & The Queen - The Good, the Bad & The Queen
37 John Doe - A Year in the Wilderness 98
38 Kanye West - Graduation 90
39 Deerhunter - Cryptograms 89
40 The New Pornographers - Challengers 88
41 St. Vincent - Marry Me 83
42 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living With the Living 82
43 !!! - Myth Takes 77
44 Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life 76
45 Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge 75
46 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - 100 Days and 100 Nights 74
47 Jason Isbell - Sirens Of The Ditch 73
48 Joe Henry - Civilians 69
49 Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land
50 Bruce Springsteen - Magic 67
51 The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters
52 Beirut - The Flying Cub Cup 66
53 The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour 63
54 The Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse 61
55 Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Easy Tiger 59
56 Justice - † 59
57 Jim White - Transnormal Skiperoo 58
58 Grinderman - Grinderman 57
59 White Rabbits - Fort Nightly 55
60 Against Me! - New Wave 55
61 King Khan & The Shrines - What Is? 54
62 The Apples in stereo - New Magnetic Wonder 53
63 Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch 53
64 The Field - From Here We Go To Sublime 53
65 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81 50
66 Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris 48
67 Jesu - Conquerer 47
68 Dax Riggs - We Sing of Only Blood or Love 47
69 Deadstring Brothers - Silver Mountain 47
70 Nicole Atkins - Neptune City 46
71 Interpol - Our Love to Admire 45
72 Bishop Allen - The Broken String 43
73 Magnolia Electric Co. - Sojourner 43
74 Various Artists - I'm Not There 43
75 A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place To Bury Strangers 42
76 Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth 42
77 The Blind Shake - Carmel 41
78 Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature 41
79 Low - Drums and Guns 40
80 Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil 40
81 Caribou - Andorra 39
82 Call Me Lightning - Soft Skeletons 39
83 Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
84 Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Once movie soundtrack
85 Portugal. The Man - Church Mouth 38
86 Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy 37
87 Apparat - Walls 37
88 Ween - Friends (ep) 36
89 Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum 36
90 Robert Plant / Alison Krauss - Raising Sand 35
91 Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight 35
92 nina nastasia & jim white - you follow me 34
93 Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow 34
94 The Underground Railroad to Candyland - Bird Roughs 34
95 Brokedowns - New Brains For Everyone 34
96 Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound 34
97 Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover 33
98 Ween - La Cucaracha 33
99 Editors - An End Has A Start 33
100 The Arrivals - Marvels of Industry 33
101 Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 33
102 Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future 32
103 Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity 32
104 Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals 31
105 Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! 31
106 Patti Sciafla - Play It As It Lays 31
107 Elliott Smith - New Moon 31
108 Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor 30
109 Kevin Drew - Broken Social Scene Presents...Spirit If 29
110 Buffalo Tom - Three Easy Pieces 29
111 Menomena - Friend and Foe 28
112 Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English 28
113 Patton Oswalt - Werewolves & Lollipops 28
114 Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls 27
115 Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir 26
116 Pole - Steingarten 26
117 Steve Earle - Washington Street Serenade 26
118 Blockhead - A Page From Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book 26
119 Grant Lee Phillips - Strangelet 26
120 Jason Falkner - I'm OK You're OK 25
121 The Clientele - God Save the Clientele 25
122 The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City 25
123 The Mendoza Line - 30 Year Low 25
124 Parts & Labor - Mapmaker 25
125 PJ Harvey - White Chalk 24

This Year's "Emperor's New Clothes": What act had your fellow critics going ape-pooh this year but that you think is a bunch of bullocks with no "there" there?

Jody Rosen: Panda Bear.

careful w/those stones mr. resident of glass house

To be taken with a very substantial grain of salt, since they are in the business of selling CDs--pero, still interesting (to me) for the specialized angle:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/best_of_2007

Because I just know you wouldn't find it without someone pointing it out, 2007 Pitchfork Readers Poll - digging the additional analysis further down the poll's page...

Wow, former NY Times critic Peter Watrous sure does like Cuban singer and now Florida resident Isaac Delgado in that Descarga list:

Delgado, one of the Caribbean's great singers, one of the great singers of the 20th century, the Frank Sinatra of salsa and leader of one of the great bands of his time, has moved to Florida, and the first thing he's done is record a classic salsa album that if all is well in the world, will give him a great career here for the rest of his natural life. Because there's nothing like his singing, his sense of swing, his rhythmic assuredness, his melodic invention; it's all so casual, laden with sensuality.

I own that Brandi Carlile album. It may in fact deserve a second listen. I'm not sure if it deserves a third.

What de hey

Who do people think are going to win the P&J/JP polls?

kiss out the jams: I don't think we have much musical taste in common, but I admire your thoroughness and spirit.

Who do people think are going to win the P&J/JP polls?

-- Dan S, Wednesday, January 2, 2008 2:40 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

there's already a thread for that, although I guess we could do it here, too: Oh No, Pass the Lord and Praise the Ammunition--It’s Time for the 2007 P&J / Jackin’ Pop Prognostication Thread!

Wow, the Kiss Out the Jams list is the most Xgau-obsessive year-end list I've ever seen, both tastewise and grading-scale-wise.(I'm not making fun; believe me, I've been there myself.) I am in awe, though I agree with no more of it than I agree with the Consumer Guide itself these days. (My own 150-best list is waiting in the wings, somewhere. The "any list above 20 is baloney" rule is baloney, like always. KOTJ clearly comprehends the importance of quantity in an age of bottomless abundance.)

KOTJ's list is the second (I've read) to tout Travis Morrison Hellfighters's All Y'All...can't recall the first. Thank you for reminding me of its release.

might've been mine that was linked a little earlier, i had it at #16. still kind of figuring out how much i like some of the songs, but it definitely deserves a little more recognition than it got.

careful w/those stones mr. resident of glass house

what does this even mean?

i had it at #16

'Twas you indeed.

careful w/those stones mr. resident of glass house

what does this even mean?

-- Matos W.K., Wednesday, 2 January 2008 22:07 (Yesterday) Link

Is this a reference to Mordechai's suggestion on some other thread that any list that does not include "Umbrella" has no credibility, and/or that anyone who posts on the teenpop only thread, as Mordechai does, is somehow a glass house resident (although Mordechai posts on other threads). Who knows? I'll let M. Coleman explain it himself.

Because hip-hop is so intensely self-aware, and self-reflexive, it came to be known as big-money music, a genre obsessed with its own success. If we are now entering an age of diminished commercial expectations, that will inevitably change how hip-hop sounds too.

K. Sanneh followed up his critics poll list with a big feature on his fave non-major label rap cds of '07 by Turf Talk, Prodigy, Project Pat and others, and their place in a world with smaller sales for hiphop, and more rappers on independent labels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/arts/music/30sann.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I hope it wasn't a reference to me, since I was just quoting a different critic. I assume he meant that Jody shouldn't throw stones?

how is the phrase "ape-pooh" not the most controversial thing about that quote/post?

I don't think people noticed the pic with album covers was linked to more with comments (and on my page it has a few easter eggs). Subgenre distinctions are of course contentious -- I mainly use them as a chance to talk about albums that you don't find in the overall top 13.

Avant Rock & Out Pop
1. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free)
2. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum (Graveface)
3. Parts & Labor - Mapmaker (Jagjaguwar/Brah)
4. A Place To Bury Strangers (Killer Pimp)
5. Strategy - Future Rock (Kranky)
6. Gudrun Gut - I Put A Record On (Monika)
7. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (Domino)
8. HUMANWINE - Fighting Naked (Nervous Relative)
9. Holy Fuck - LP (Young Turks)
10. Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian (Absolutely Kosher)
11. Om - Pilgrimage (Southern Lord)
12. Mammatus - The Coast Explodes (Holy Mountain)
13. Dragons of Zynth - Coronation of Thieves (GTC)

Experimental & Ambient
1. Moon Wiring Club - An Audience of Art Deco Eyes (Geophonic Audio Systems)
2. Kemialliset Ystävät (Fonal)
3. The Focus Group - We Are All Pan's People (Ghost Box)
4. Eluvium - Copia (Temporary Residence)
5. Echospace - The Coldest Season (Modern Love)
6. Morgan Packard - Airships Fill the Sky/Unsimulatable (Anticipate)
7. Porn Sword Tobacco - New Exclusive Olympic Heights (City Centre Offices)
8. Avarus - Rasvaaja (Secret Eye)
9. Pumice - Pebbles (Soft Abuse)
10. Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma (A-Zap)
11. Mouthus - Saw a Halo (Loa)
12. Charalambides - Likeness (Kranky)
13. Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (Remote/Rhythmethod)

Heavy Rock
1. Jesu - Conquerer (Hydra Head)
2. Witchcraft - The Alchemist (Rise Above)
3. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris (Interscope)
4. White Denim - Let's Talk About It EP (White Denim)
5. Dungen - Tio Bitar (Kemado)
6. Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde (Profound Lore)
7. Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet (Atlantic)
8. Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (CND)
9. 65daysofstatic - The Destruction of Small Ideas (Monotreme)
10. Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
11. Rosetta - Wake/Lift (Translation Lost)
12. Nadja - Radiance of Shadows (Alien8)
13. Oceansize - Frames (SPV)

Metal
1. Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks (Hydra Head)
2. Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works (Wea/Relapse)
3. Neurosis - Given to the Rising (Neurot)
4. High On Fire - Death Is This Communion (Relapse)
5. Dethklok - The Dethalbum (Williams Street)
6. Earthless - Rhythms From a Cosmic Sky (Tee Pee)
7. Middian - Age Eternal (Metal Blade)
8. Baroness - Red Album (3D)
9. Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters (Southern Lord)
10. Wolfpack Unleashed - Anthems of Resistance (Napalm)
11. Pharoah Overlord - The Battle of the Axehammer (Riot Season)
12. Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb (Relapse)
13. 3 Inches of Blood - Fire Up The Blades (Roadrunner)

Electro-Dreamwimp Pop
1. Sally Shapiro - Disco Romance (Paperbag)
2. The Tough Alliance - A New Chance (Sincerely Yours)
3. Maps - We Can Create (Mute)
4. Caribou - Andorra (Merge)
5. Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls (Too Pure)
6. Pram - The Moving Frontier (Domino)
7. St. Vincent - Marry Me (Beggars Banquet)
8. Cassius - 15 Again (Astralwerks)
9. White Williams - Smoke (Tigerbeat6)
10. The Frames - The Cost (Anti)
11. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer (Polyvinyl)
12. Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills (Merge)
13. Future Clouds & Radar (Star Apple Kingdom)

Electronica, Techno & Dance
1. Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
2. Apparat - Walls (Bpitch Control)
3. Matthew Dear - Asa Breed (Ghostly International)
4. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (Carpark)
5. Studio - West Coast (Information)
6. Laub - Deinetwegen (Agf Producktion)
7. Modeselektor - Happy Birthday! (Bpitch Control)
8. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (DFA)
9. Pinch - Underwater Dancehall (Tectonic)
10. Muscles - Guns Babes Lemonade (Modular)
11. !!! - Myth Takes (Warp)
12. Chloe - The Waiting Room (Kill the DJ)
13. Fennesz & Sakamoto - Cendre (Touch)

Global
1. Tinariwen - Aman Iman (World Village) - Mali
2. Islaja - Ulual Yyy (Fonal) - Finland
3. Kemialliset Ystävät (Fonal) - Finland
4. Balkan Beat Box - Nu Med (JDub) - U.S./Isreal
5. Tokyo Jihen - Variety (EMI) - Japan
6. Café Tacuba - Sino (Universal Latino) - Mexico
7. Korpiklaani - Tervaskanto (Napalm) - Finland
8. Avarus - Rasvaaja (Secret Eye) - Finland
9. Extra Golden - Hera Ma Nono (Thrill Jockey) U.S./Kenya
10. Vieux Farka Toure (World Village) - Mali
11. Fanfare Ciocarlia - Queens and Kings (Asphalt & Tango) - Romania
12. Manu Chao - La Radiolina (Because) - Spain
13. Calle 13 - Residente O Visitante (Sony) - Puerto Rico

New Americana, Country & Folk
1. Tunng - Good Arrows (Thrill Jockey)
2. James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing (Tompkins Square)
3. PJ Harvey - White Chalk (Island)
4. Wooden Shjips (Holy Mountain)
5. The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City (Thrill Jockey)
6. Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five (Zedtone)
7. Radical Face - Ghost (Morr)
8. Richard Youngs - Autumn Response (Jagjaguwar)
9. Efterklang - Parade (Leaf)
10. Caïna - Mourner (Profound Lore)
11. Nina Nastasia & Jim White - You Follow Me (Fat Cat)
12. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)
13. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing!)

Hip Hop & Rap
1. Dälek - Abandoned Language (Ipecac)
2. El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead (Definitive Jux)
3. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (Definitive Jux)
4. Shape of Broad Minds - Craft of the Lost Art (Lex)
5. Pharoahe Monch - Desire (SRC/Universal/Motown)
6. Oh No - Dr. No's Oxperiment (Stones Throw)
7. Busdriver - RoadKillOvercoat (Epitaph)
8. Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth (Rhymesayers)
9. Black Milk - Popular Demand (Fat Beats)
10. Talib Kweli - Eardrum (WB)
11. Little Brother - Get Back (ABB)
12. Cloud Cult - The Meaning Of 8 (Rebel Group)
13. Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust (Musicane)

Some of those aren't so much contentious as laughable, but you've heard and analysed such a fuckton of music over the past year that I'm certainly not going to take you up on any of it! ;-) Anyway, most of my favourites are on here somewhere!

COLOUD CULT IS HIP HOP???

Re: the Xgau thing

His model is the only one I've ever seen that affords the 3 star/"honorable mention" releases a distinction. People tend to talk more about the records they hated than ones they actually liked and I feel it's crucial to remember their existence if they're so much better than bad/overrated records being made infamous. Find a comfy place to sit down, Nada Surf!

Travis Morrison is one of the great nutjobs. One of the only artists working (and this goes double for indie) whose missteps you still root for, because they actually feel courageous. The last era with that kind of admirably blind tinkering counted Bowie, Prince, Neil Young and R.E.M. as practicioners I believe.

COLOUD CULT IS HIP HOP???

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, January 3, 2008 4:39 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Yeah, is that a list of indie-rap albums that were merely released last year?

Caina under New Americana, Country & Folk ?

That hiphop list makes me ;_;

"real" hip-hop

The trend for normally sensible critics to give accolades to crappy mainstream rap albums continues, with Jay-Z, UGK, Ghostface Killah and Kanye West topping lists. You'd think from them that hip-hop has stopped evoloving and is curled up waiting to die. And please stop encouraging Lil' Wayne. Hitting one clever lyrical turn for every ten raps does not equal brilliance. Soon the market will be flooded by amateur tapes of rappers throwing every rhyme that falls off the top of their heads with no self editing whatsoever, because they know those white critics will eat anything up. Kanye West isn't totally horrible, as he always manages a couple decent singles. But if you actually listen to what else is out there, there's really no excuse. Artists like Dälek, El-P, Aesop Rock, Shape of Broad Minds, Oh No, Busdriver and Cloud Cult are actually pushing the art of hip-hop to new horizons, chipping away at the untapped vast potential for sounds. Oh No dug into Lebanese, Italian and Greek psych rock, and it's only the tip of the iceberg. Pharoahe Monch, Brother Ali, Black Milk and Little Brother showed it's still possible to make accessible hip-hop that's still powerful and relevant. Saul Williams, well, he's like that crazy uncle who freestyles at the family picnics. He's a little embarrassing, but still he speaks the truth.

Soon the market will be flooded by amateur tapes of rappers throwing every rhyme that falls off the top of their heads with no self editing whatsoever

ok this part is RONG in a different way from the rest of it is

i mean...uh...SOON?

Hip Hop taken to new levels.

Lil' Wayne really needs to stop trying so hard to appease the white critics, maaan.

no wfb no credibility

cloud cult are a bunch of hippies from northfield.

you should check out some other cool hip hop acts like the flaming lips.

i wish wayne hadn't self-edited so much this year and instead decided to flood the market with every rhyme that fell off the top of his head.

i saw the video for "way of life" on mtv jams last night and -- although i can't claim to be any kind of big expert w/r/t to cash money or hot boys or NO stuff in general -- that wayne's getting a lot of critical props for being a WORSE rapper than he used to be.

he was great on that song, phrasing and timing was real crisp, contrasted very much w/the "i'm so hood" video i'd seen earlier that day where he's just a fucking spazz for no reason and pretty much everything abt that verse sucks dick.

OMG, deej is way classic on the thread I linked.

i saw the video for "way of life" on mtv jams last night and -- although i can't claim to be any kind of big expert w/r/t to cash money or hot boys or NO stuff in general -- that wayne's getting a lot of critical props for being a WORSE rapper than he used to be.

he was great on that song, phrasing and timing was real crisp, contrasted very much w/the "i'm so hood" video i'd seen earlier that day where he's just a fucking spazz for no reason and pretty much everything abt that verse sucks dick.

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, January 3, 2008 5:22 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I don't particularly like "Way Of Life" but I get what you're saying, there's decent punchlines and great vocal performances all over stuff from his pre-Carter solo albums, I still hear DJs play "Shine" and "The Block Is Hot" alongside his new shit and it fits together more than most people would seem to think. His new stuff is better in many ways but definitely more uneven. I kinda like his "I'm So Hood" verse for a few of the lines, but it's still at most the 4th or 5th best verse on the remix.