a bit confused at xx and wild beasts being 'old man indie' - not-quite-hip-anymore indie, yeah
i do wonder about the nme audience tho - the expansion of the too-informed-to-read-the-nme indie kid subculture presumably wears it out a little
the covers thing is a bit of a false lead i think - it's like they're trying to put people on the cover that will sell the magazine or something
― thomp, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:17 (fourteen years ago) link
It just amuses me to be called a hipster when I'm 38
We've both been writing about Sunn for about seven years each now
― justin timberlane (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:18 (fourteen years ago) link
xxposts Other than maybe (maybe) Grizzly Bear, I wouldn't really call any of those bands "old man indie" - unless I misunderstand what you mean? I think it's good the NME have finally started to get out of their pub-rock hole slightly and start embracing slightly more leftfield (and also non-Brit) stuff than they have done for the last decade or so.
― dog latin, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:19 (fourteen years ago) link
FYI, if you're posting on a rock-writer-centric message board about the XX, you're definitely a hipster to SOMEBODY.
― justin timberlane (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Karen my comments about the xx are a private running joke with a couple of ilxors (mostly done over on last.fm)
whats the joke? The XX aren't really for hipsters so its funny to say that they are?
― mdskltr (blueski), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:20 (fourteen years ago) link
and start embracing (and also non-Brit) stuff than they have done for the last decade or so.
thats kinda what was thinking upthread when i asked if it had gone pitchfork-y
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:21 (fourteen years ago) link
oh but hipsters do love them.
thought we'd established grizzly bear are dad rock not old man indie
― SKATAAAAAAAAAAA (cozwn), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:22 (fourteen years ago) link
BTW I am *really* loving the Quietus list, and there is a lot to check out. Aside from all the cool avant-garde stuff, who knew that British Sea Power had released another album, with THREE eleven-minute songs?
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:22 (fourteen years ago) link
the NME of 2009 reminds me of Select magazine circa 2000, a mixed bag with no distinctive direction
select magazine - best albums of 2000http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/select.html
1. Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of Bewilderbeast 2. Primal Scream – Xtrmntr 3. Granddaddy – The Sophtware Slump 4. Godspeed You Black Emperor 5. Coldplay – Parachutes 6. Radiohead – Kid A 7. Lambchop – Nixon 8. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 9. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Madonna 10. Doves – Lost Souls 11. Queens Of The Stone Age – Rated R 12. Black Box Recorder – The Facts Of Life 13. Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs 14. David Holmes – Bow Down To The Exit Sign 15. At The Drive In – Relationship Of Command 16. Kellies – Kaleidoscope 17. Bent – Programmed To Love 18. JJ72 – JJ72 19. Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out 20. Shellac – 1000 Hurts 21. Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030 22. The Delgados – The Great Eastern 23. Add N To (X) – Add Insult To Injury 24. Chris Morris – Blue Jam 25. Fatboy Slim – Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars 26. Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun 27. Kathryn Williams – Little Black Numbers 28. Various – Sound Of The Pirates [Mixes By Zed Bias] 29. Belle And Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant 30. The RZA – Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai OST
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
ayo, Quietus, i like and respect and visit your site, but i don't know at which point you guys thought you were People magazine and thought it would be a good idea to wrestle maximum hit counts by making your year end list a one-entry-a-click listicle. No fuckin way I'm clickin through 40 entries to find out how high you ranked a Flaming Lips album, duders.
― justin timberlane (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah 'old man indie' was a bit of a lazy zing, that's a fair cop, but a lot of these acts aren't the sort of thing I'd have expected NME to vote so high in previous years. They're mostly a bit slow and quiet for one thing.
I suppose what I'm getting at is that the (pretty rigidly defined) target readership that they've been gunning for since the first Strokes album doesn't really exist any more, and the NME doesn't know how to fill that void. (xpost, lol, I agree with DJ Martian)
― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:24 (fourteen years ago) link
xposts to hermann
not quite pitchfork-y but a vast improvement on the Connor Mac-school of Libertines clones from before. At least NME readers have probably heard of Animal Collective (albeit 9 years too late but w/e).
― dog latin, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:25 (fourteen years ago) link
oh god jj72, i had forgotten all about themxxxp
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:26 (fourteen years ago) link
I like about - at a push - 5 albums on that NME list. That must be the lowest ever for me. Plus I just cannot understand how Jamie T can be so popular.
― DavidM, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:27 (fourteen years ago) link
They are 'dad indie'
― The bugger in the short sleeves (NickB), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:27 (fourteen years ago) link
'drummer for gay dad indie'?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:28 (fourteen years ago) link
matt dc - right. i see this as positive. NME might be a bit aimless these days, but at least it's finally stopped ploughing that dead furrow.
― dog latin, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link
They are 'dad indie' = Radcliffe / Maconie Radio 2 Evening Slot Approved
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:30 (fourteen years ago) link
NME was buried by the rubbish of landfill indie and it's crawling out of the wreckage feeling lost, not knowing which way to turn, in comes a new editor in September who has played it very safe / establishment with the front cover selections.
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
It just amuses me to be called a hipster when I'm 38 We've both been writing about Sunn for about seven years each now
Sorry, I don't know what this means.
And, as for the click through thing. I earn about enough off the Quietus per month to pay my rent, so am not beyond doing the odd thing just for the clicks if it keeps my measly wages on the level.
I'll print the countdown here later when I've time to type it out.
― Doran, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Since conor mac was in charge NME seemed to want to be the magazine that first championed the biggest bands around before anyone else rather than championing the best(oasis/coldplay syndrome?). Will that change?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link
It's interesting to see Fuck Buttons so high on NME list. I actually liked the idea of the Horrors album, with the Krautrock and other fun influences. The execution just doesn't work for me. Wild Beasts are great. I kind of liked the second Arctic Monkeys album, but nothing on the new one grabbed me. Jamie T must be one of those had-to-be-there artists?
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I can't help but feel a bit disappointed after years of railing against the NME for being blinkered/condescending/full of indentikit Libertines knockoffs they are now championing the same bands as 30-something dudes off the internet. Even The Horrors are more or less respectable now. It feels like the 00s died today.
Ah well, at least Kasabian are still bafflingly high, that's some small comfort.
― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought people generally enjoyed the horrors single but were disappointed that it hadn't carried through to the album.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:40 (fourteen years ago) link
i like the sound and the production on the horrors album but the songs, i don't actually remember the songs.
― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:41 (fourteen years ago) link
NME is lying in the gutter... wrong thread, sorry
― dog latin, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:44 (fourteen years ago) link
NME and Uncut = 19NME and Mojo = 18NME and Q = 23Uncut and Mojo = 25Uncut and Q = 12Mojo and Q = 22NME, Mojo and Uncut = 14Q, Mojo and Uncut = 19NME, Q and Mojo = 15NME, Uncut and Q = 15All four = 13
The 13 are;
Animal CollectiveGrizzly BearYeah Yeah YeahsHorrors, TheWild BeastsFlorence + The MachineFever RayDirty ProjectorsFuck ButtonsManic Street PreachersArctic MonkeysRichard HawleySonic Youth
― Mitchell Stirling, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:44 (fourteen years ago) link
people were saying that in the 80s weren't they?xp
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Doran, I'm just saying in the grand scheme of things, writing about SunnO))) on an indie rock website is a hipstery thing to do. You gotta own that, homie!
I know it's not going out in Shutter Shades to see Kid Sister, but don't play innocent! :)
burt stanton out
― justin timberlane (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
So Doran's the wizard behind Quietus? Nice site! I meant whacky in a good way, in that I was amazed at how many albums in the top 20 I hadn't even heard of. I've got some more listening to do.
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:47 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm from St Helens which kind of innoculates me from ever being cool.
Just ask Johnny Vegas, Jacqui Abbott from The Beautiful South or Bernie Clifton.
sorry doran, you can have the others but I'm claiming bernie clifton for chesterfield. he may be from st helens originally, but he's lived round the corner from my grandparents for pretty much as long as I've been alive. he's MINE.
sunn o))) are deserving winners of the quietus poll, btw. that album is stunning, far beyond what I would have expected from that band. (though I would argue all the really, really great stuff on it is eyvind kang's doing...)
― m the g, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
The Horrors album is pretty good! I think, anyway. It has four or five solid-gold tracks (ok, four) (being Do You Remember, New Ice Age, I Only Think Of You and Sea Within A Sea) but that's enough for me to generally be quite pally with an album
and yeah, I really gots to get me some of those Quietus albums
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Any EOY list that doesn't have Animal Fucking Collective at #1 deserves some credit I guess.
― DavidM, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:51 (fourteen years ago) link
can't help but feel a bit disappointed after years of railing against the NME for being blinkered/condescending/full of indentikit Libertines knockoffs they are now championing the same bands as 30-something dudes off the internet. Even The Horrors are more or less respectable now. It feels like the 00s died today.
― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:38 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark
Well that's the thing - Sounds and Melody Maker might have died, but NME now has the much larger adversary of message boards, blogs, Pitchfork/Quietus etc to contend with. And there's only so much music in the world. So either they could have carried on convering landfill indie forever and ever and ever or just thought "can't beat'em, join em".
That said, I'm surprised they haven't recently done their usual thing and tried to create a scene from a sampling of one or two half-decent bands. They could have easily looked at their demographic, realised that indie-electrodribble is THE thing with the kids, and given up their entire weekly coverage to bands who sound exactly like Hadouken.
― dog latin, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:52 (fourteen years ago) link
XP: Well I guess there's more than an element of that to it Mr Weingarten. Obviously I get annoyed because I'm just into what I'm into and if there's any cross over between me and Platform or VICE it's not deliberate and I don't benefit from it.
I guess sometimes dudes off the internet with a lot of pocket money and silly taste in hats have good taste in music as well.
(I'd debate that we're an indie rock website though. Our MO is to cover music for people who are slightly older than the readers of most music websites.)
And thanks for the kind words - I only broke cover and started whingeing then because all my serotonin has been depleted by ATP and the lack of daylight.
― Doran, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:53 (fourteen years ago) link
LJ try and give an ear to that Teeth of The Sea album, it might do thangs for you - I really like it
― Dark, promiscuous five-year-old (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh no doubt, Doran. I'm just saying everyone's a hipster to SOMEBODY whether you're trying or not.
Our MO is to cover music for people who are slightly older than the readers of most music websites.)
That's a pretty great mission statement, tbh, and i'm glad someone's out there gunning for the old cranks.
― justin timberlane (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:59 (fourteen years ago) link
To be fair, the first batch up to 21 are all on one page. I don't mind clicking for the top 20. The Complex Top 100, however, is out of control. I got bored clicking through the top 100, then got distracted by the Top 100 Girls.
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Oops, real link. Beware, it's mind-numbingly addictive, kind of like that Hot Or Not site 10 yrs ago.
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:04 (fourteen years ago) link
― Dark, promiscuous five-year-old (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 16:56 (13 minutes ago) Bookmark
ooh look it is on spotify what have i become
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link
maybe a factor reflecting a more mixed bag NME top 50 is the existence of NME Radio
NME Radiohttp://www.nme.com/radio/playlist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NME_Radio
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:20 (fourteen years ago) link
A Playlist - badly drawn boy.in 2009???
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Also The Bravery.
― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:22 (fourteen years ago) link
ha that proves my opinion earlier in this thread
re:
1. Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Am really liking this, DJ Mencap!
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:28 (fourteen years ago) link
2009 consensus
viahttp://www.albumvote.co.uk/albums/best/2009.aspx
1 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! 3652 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion 3313 Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest 3194 The Horrors - Primary Colours 3085 Wild Beasts - Two Dancers 2706 Florence and the Machine - Lungs 2447 Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers 2358 Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca 2189 The XX – The XX 21810 Fever Ray - Fever Ray 19911 Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport 19212 Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 18413 Arctic Monkeys - Humbug 17614 Wilco - Wilco (The Album) 16915 Bat for Lashes - Two Suns 15416 Doves - Kingdom of Rust 14917 Kasabian – The West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum 14918 The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love 13119 The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin 11920 Bob Dylan - Together Through Life 11421 La Roux - La Roux 11222 Muse - The Resistance 11023 Madness - The Liberty of Norton Folgate 10824 The Cribs – Ignore the Ignorant 10525 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart 10426 Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream 10327 Neko Case - Middle Cyclone 10328 Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career 9729 Jamie T - Kings & Queens 9730 Bill Calahan – Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle 9631 Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions 9032 Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another 8933 Girls - Album 8734 Passion Pit - Manners 8735 Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter 8636 The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage 8337 Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You 7838 Sonic Youth - The Eternal 7739 Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk 7540 Sunn 0))) – Monoliths And Dimensions 7341 Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring 7142 The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love 7143 The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan 7144 The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead 6845 The Flaming Lips – Embryonic 6646 Jack Penate - Everything is New 6547 The Maccabees - Wall Of Arms 6448 Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 6249 U2 - No Line on the Horizon 6250 Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba – I Speak Fula 60
Sources: Q MagazineMojo MagazineUncut MagazineAmazon EditorsThe TimesThe Time New ArtistsmusicOMHNMEPlanet SoundThe Fly
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link
hang on, how is that albumvote list compiled? show me the maths on that, I'm curious about something
― Karen Tregaskin, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:40 (fourteen years ago) link
no idea of how it was compiled, just spotted the link in my RSS reader
― djmartian, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Are people seriously rating Florence + the Machine above Neko Case? I like them both, but c'mon.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link