The Pitchfork People's List - top albums 1996-2012

I know there are a million P4K threads, but this is quite a nice idea they've concoted in terms of giving people a pleasant, simple interface and display to choose favourite albums, and I thought it'd be nice for people who've put one together to share it.

Here's mine. http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/733d2938/

Mines is here;

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/733d2938/

Unfortunately all my records and CD’s have been in storage for the past 3 months while I’m moving house so my end list is probably drawn more from the Pitchfork suggestions than it would have been if I’d have had access to my collection to look through.

Yeah, our collection has been boxed up fro a fortnight - handily I had my Stylus Decade ballot list to consult, which covers a big chunk of the same time. Fear there may be late 90s stuff that fell through the cracks, though.

Pretty much every other list I saw reminded me of things I probably should’ve included but by that point I didn’t have the energy to keep on making changes and just went with what I had originally.

I’ve seen lots of complaints about the formatting on Twitter but personally I was well impressed it.

- A lot of albums I thought would have existed on their database don't.
- It's hard for me to think of my favourite albums
- This is making me realise just how long ago 1996 was.

Mine is here:
https://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/7549df59/

Order gets increasingly meaningless. As usual

Another Dead Hero - your list is the same as Nick's!

- A lot of albums I thought would have existed on their database don't.

LOL the first FIVE albums I looked for don't exist

what a redundant, repugnant website pitchfork is

Ah, copy and paste error.

Here's mines for real like.

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/413a0bed/

A lot of albums I thought would have existed on their database don't.

LOL the first FIVE albums I looked for don't exist

what a redundant, repugnant website pitchfork is

― lex pretend, Friday, 17 August 2012 09:45 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Do you have an RSS Feed that shows up every time the word Pitchfork is mentioned so you can turn up and say something generic about it?

They didn't have Hello Nasty, Dopethrone, Blur or LP5 - but they did have lots of other albums by those acts but not these major ones.

you realise theres an 'add album' button

yeah, i'm not sure i trust it.

Mercer Finn, I had completely forgotten about 'Run The Road' and how much I used to love it. Will now dig it out and give it a spin :)

I added loads - any without a cover on my list were added by me.

Can you add a picture if you add your own?

I've not seen a way to do so yet but I didn't really look.

can you add 12"s or do they have to be cds

Mmm lists.

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/304752b7/

what a redundant, repugnant website pitchfork is

― lex pretend

Yet you still tried to play along and make your own list.

Pretty sure the database is comprised of those records Pfork have reviewed, so no great surprise that lots of stuff is missing. Therefore it seems a bit silly to complain about it, when you can enter details of missing albums yourself. Or, y'know, just not bother.

fwiw i didn't bother

the procrastination impulse can only take one so far

im going to try add a 12" and a picture will let you know how i get on wish me luck

you can add what you like it doesnt have to be an album or even a record

but you can't add a pic

Here's mine so far. WTF am I missing though? http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/d173f3ce/

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/46674527/

Is there any kind of check? Like, can you add records that don't actually exist?

(don't give me terrible, terrible ideas.)

yeah you can add whatever you like pretty much

(In another lifetime I'd have posted 20 fake Shimuras records just to troll the thing, but I am so much more grown up now. Honest.)

1. Denny Vertigo - Hanging On The Edge
2. Denny Lethargy - Can't Be Arsed

I'm conflicted I don't really like record sleeves but the ones with no picture just look wrong going to have to pass on the whole thing

Wasn't going to bother with this but, eh, then I did:
http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/16b8d1d5/

Hmmm, didn't think to add In Sides by Orbital; it was early 96 and I kind of think of it as being pre-P4K.

yeah, i added it after seeing tim's list.

Finished it for now http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/d173f3ce/

they really should have used someone else's database. I guess they wanted to discourage people from adding too much non-Pitchforky stuff though

Well it is an exercise in brand reinforcement, pretty much. I think it's a great step to allow people to add their own albums; what'd be even better is if they had someone trawling the database for added albums and consolidating them into proper entries.

Quite fun, this.

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/c0498b19/

ok i have to say i really like how nike and adh's list have a 'sound' to them. when i make a list it will be all over the shop, whereas i feel i could make a playlist of their choices and learn something about a type of music i kinda half like/am half interested in. this thread could work wonders for me.

It was easy to add albums -- their catalog is deep -- but the "edit" function hasn't worked so far. It says "Loading" forever. Any cures?

No clue how to help you Alfred. Seemed pretty fast for me.

My list, with the top pretty set and the rest based mainly on a list from a few years ago:

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/01bce74f/

I like Tim's list a lot - gutted I forgot about Platinum Breakz!

This is fun!

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/090a03f3/

Even tho it's so new, gonna rep hard for DJ Rashad... and gotta have those Sparks records in there. What an Indian Summer they've had.

Nice to see "The Drift" turnin up on lists. What an album.

it's supposed to be to 2011 !

oh drat!

this is actually a lot of fun. I have liberal anxiety & aging-dude sadness that there's no rap in my top 25 tho :(

My list!

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/188fd797/

The top twenty more or less accurately reflects the last thirteen years.

The Drift and Discovery'll do well if ILX has anything to do with it.

Argh shit Fugazi!

you are making a distinction between two things that are hopelessly intertwined and inextricable and suggesting a separate-but-equal solution that assumes bringing in more women will automatically change the demographics of the artists being discussed

― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Thursday, August 23, 2012 1:10 PM

no, i'm straight-up saying that pop crit is a boy's club, and that's fucked. i consider that a much bigger - and more pragmatically addressable - problem than disparities in what critics as a whole consider worthwhile. at the same time, i'm not denying that SWM critics should push themselves out of whatever SWM-favoring boxes they may have bought into.

and i'm not leaping for any kind of panacea. i'm just placing primary emphasis on hiring practices.

you are [...] and suggesting a separate-but-equal solution that assumes bringing in more women will automatically change the demographics of the artists being discussed

― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Thursday, August 23, 2012 1:10 PM

i never said that. i suspect that in the long run, if criticism weren't such a boy's club, then yeah, the demographics of what gets covered and praised would probably shift. but i see the boy's clubbishness as a problem in itself, maybe even problem #1. like if your magazine or website regularly employs 20 critics and only 3 or 4 of them are women, then your hiring practices are completely fucked. it's evidence of massive bias.

even if the excuse is that the people interested in writing crit are mostly men, i think those doing the hiring have an obligation to do what it takes to get past that.

There are many professions with gender imbalances: engineering and nursing are two examples. Is this necessarily evidence of massive hiring bias in each case? (I don't know the situation in music journalism itself tbh.)

in engineering it's because engineering educational programs are overwhelmingly dominated by men. (because women don't like math, iirc)

You can only hire from the pool that applies. How you alter that pool is a more difficult question, I think.

recruitment issues stemming from entrenched social biases

http://www.good.is/post/a-byline-count-for-the-next-generation-how-diverse-are-the-blogs-and-magazines-most-millennials-read/

If you're like us, you think of pioneering indie music website Pitchfork as an emporium for alterna-bros. We're wrong. On a week-to-week basis, the website publishes an impressive number of female bylines—in our count, 59 percent of Pitchfork's top-level content was written by women—even though its editorial staff leans heavily on male names. Next stop: SPIN.

woops, should have deleted the "next stop: SPIN" which refers to the next graphic in the gallery

It actually doesn't, though -- the next slide is McSweeney's.

ha i just assumed! weird

i think there is bias in both engineering and nursing. not just hiring bias, but bias in the culture that produces engineers and nurses. same applies to crit. but i'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that engineering and nursing are different from music criticism in a key way: they depend on the correct application of a very precise and technical skillset. crit doesn't. you just have to write and think well, and be interested in the subject. i'm gonna go out on another limb and suggest that there are TONS of smart women out there who love music and could write well about it. i bet that if pitchfork put up an ad on their site saying that they're interested in hearing from women who'd like to write crit for them, they'd receive a massive, massive flood of applications - and that among them, there'd be at least a few good ones. if any similar organization really wanted to hire more female critics, it could do so in a heartbeat.

If you're like us, you think of pioneering indie music website Pitchfork as an emporium for alterna-bros. We're wrong. On a week-to-week basis, the website publishes an impressive number of female bylines—in our count, 59 percent of Pitchfork's top-level content was written by women—even though its editorial staff leans heavily on male names. Next stop: SPIN.

― da croupier, Thursday, August 23, 2012 1:38 PM (8 minutes ago)

by my count, 33 of the last 200 reviews published on the p4k site were written by men. about 16%. if it's true that 59% of their "top-line content" was written by women, it only makes their reservation of critical arbitration as dudespace all the more strange.

Fair point, although, if da croupier's source is to be believed, they are already employing a large percentage of women.

xpost!

hold on folks, we're just about to hit critical dudespace

Isn't that the name of an Umphrey Mcgee cover band?

corrections dept.

33 of the last 200 reviews published on p4k were written by women. about 16%.

and 11% voted in the poll

11% of less than 1% of the normal readership right?

a friend:
had a fun thing happen on twitter where I said "lol you know how you know that pitchfork list is garbage? clap your hands say yeah is like number 6 and nick cave and sleater-kinney aren't on it at all."

and one of the members of clap your hands say yeah actually responded to me saying "I'm IN the band and I agree"

Couldn't help but notice the yearly results between 1996 and 2006 are mostly packed with awesome records that I listen to on the regular, whereas the results between 2007 to the present are chock full of bullshit.

it is kind of remarkable how much acts who peaked post-'95 that would ordinarily be considered indie royalty like Sleater-Kinney and Tortoise didn't make the list, really illustrates the generation gap.

wow. yeah thats crazy

was there a list of 30+ voters only?

yeah there's a bunch of lists for 31-35, 36-40, etc

ok cool i will go have a look then

Would anyone have fun with doing a 15 years prior list?

It seems to me that the list just shows how much influence Pitchfork has over its readers. Their favorite albums and Pitchfork's favorite albums are nearly one in the same.

Pitchfork's are actually more interesting.

both of you otm

is this thing on

you asked if people on ilm would have fun making lists around arbitrary guidelines. the answer seemed too obvious to supply.

ILM polled the 80s and the 90s relatively recently, not sure what an 81-96 poll would add if that's what you're suggesting.

There hasn't been a proper 00s poll but idk how excited people would be about that.

True, I figured it may not be far enough off from other recent lists, but was curious if this thread made anyone else besides me interested in trying it out.

Many excellent albums on Rudipherous's list that I don't see on other lists: e.s.t., Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Sunny Jaim Collective, Dave Fox, Ned Rothenberg, Rahim Al Haj, Feder/Frith. Those first two are especially stunning.

Evan there is this poll Nominations for an 80s Albums That Rock Poll(inc indie/Alt,punk,metal,heavy/glam etc) CLOSES SUNDAY NIGHT MIDNIGHT UK

But its not quite what you're after. But everyone's welcome to nominate and vote.

Thanks! I appreciate the heads up.

I don't see how it wasn't obvious ahead of time that if everyone's list was combined, the consensus would seem to be praising albums that are entirely predictable.. which is always what happens when combining a large number of submissions.. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the majority of submissions looked identical to the results.

It's too bad Pitchfork didn't decide to place the most emphasis on the "more lists from the people" section which is infinitely more interesting.

68.

you can just post your singles list, you don't have to wait for them, you know

― Fareed Zaireeka (Whiney G. Weingarten)

Fine.

1. Archigram, "Carnaval"
2. Gui Boratto, "Beautiful Life"
3. The Avalanches, "Since I Left You (Cornelius Remix)"
4. Daft Punk, "One More Time"
5. Do While, "Balloons (Alternate Version)"
6. The New Pornographers, "Letter From an Occupant"
7. Ghostface Killah, "All That I Got Is You"
8. Frightened Rabbit, "The Modern Leper"
9. Efdemin, "Jean"
10. R. Kelly, "Step In The Name Of Love"
11. Mercury Rev, "Holes"
12. Madonna: "Ray of Light"
13. Ada, "Maps (Michael Mayer & Tobias Thomas Mix)"
14. Blackstreet feat. Dr. Dre, "No Diggity"
15. Lil Wayne, "A Milli"
16. All Saints, "Pure Shores"
17. Alphabeat, "Fascination"
18. Kelly Clarkson, "Since U Been Gone"
19. Amerie, "That's What U R"
20. Julianna Barwick, "The Magic Place"
21. Freelance Hellraiser, "A Stroke Of Genius"
22. Underworld, "Two Months Off"
23. T.I., "Rubber Band Man"
24. M83, "Run Into Flowers"
25. LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends"
26. Botany, "Beach Wail"
27. Beyoncé, "Single Ladies"
28. The Streets, "Blinded by the Lights"
29. Sebastian Tellier, "La Ritournelle"
30. Tim Hecker, "Hatred of Music I"
31. The Whitest Boy Alive, "Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)"
32. Big Boi ft. Gucci Mane, "Shine Blockas"
33. Yo La Tengo, "Deeper into Movies"
34. The Mountain Goats, "Love Love Love"
35. Robyn, "Call Your Girlfriend"
36. Jürgen Paape, "So Weit Wie Noch Nie"
37. Sweet Female Attitude, "Flowers"
38. Radiohead, "Pyramid Song"
39. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Maps"
40. United State of Electronica, "IT IS ON!"
41. Wayne Wonder, "No Letting Go"
42. Snow Patrol, "Spitting Games"
43. Lil Mo feat. Fabolous, "4 Ever"
44. Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra, "Eureka"
45. The Magnetic Fields, "Take Ecstasy with Me"
46. Jay-Z and Kanye West, "Otis"
47. Neutral Milk Hotel, "Holland, 1945"
48. Erase Errata, "Another Genius Idea From Our Government"
49. Missy Elliott, "Pass That Dutch"
50. Girls Aloud, "Biology"
51. Massive Attack, "Teardrop"
52. Quad City DJs, "C'Mon 'N Ride It (The Train)"
53. Smashing Pumpkins, "1979"
54. Arcade Fire, "We Used To Wait"
55. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack
56. Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull, "I Like It"
57. Tori Alamaze feat. The Clipse, "Don't Cha"
58. Bassment Jaxx, "Romeo"
59. Eluvium, "Taken"
60. Janet Jackson, "Love Me For A Little While"
61. Osymyso, "Intro-Inspection"
62. The Clientele, "Since K Got Over Me"
63. Chemical Brothers, "Hold Tight London"
64. DJ Lady Dana, "Ladies First"
65. Stanton Warriors, "Dooms Night Revisited (Dub)"
66. Tori Amos, "Professional Widow (Armand Van Helden Remix)"
67. Gant, "Sound Bwoy Burial (187 Lockdown Remix)"
68. Hot Toddy feat. Ron Basejam, "I Need Love"
69. Mat Kearney, "Nothing Left to Lose"
70. Spoon, "The Mystery Zone"
71. Black Dice, "Trip Dude Delay"
72. Donaeo, "I'm Fly"
73. The Dismemberment Plan, "You Are Invited"
74. Conway, "Lisa's Got Hives"
75. Joe feat. Mystikal, "Stutter"
76. Brian McKnight, "Anytime"
77. Dizzee Rascal, “I Luv U”
78. Radio Slave, "Grindhouse Tool"
79. How to Dress Well feat. Yuksel Arslan, "Decisions"
80. Blink 182, "All the Small Things"
81. Bonnie Pink, "Evil and Flowers"
82. Ekkehard Ehlers, "Plays John Cassavettes, Pt. 2"
83. DJ Koze, "Gekloppel B2"
84. Kenny Chesney, "There Goes My Life"
85. Gas, "Untitled" (Königsforst, Track 5)
86. Kammerflimmer Kollektief, "Unstet (Fr Jeffrey Lee Pierce)"
87. Spiritualized, "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space"
88. Destroyer, "Hey, Snow White"
89. Portabella, "Covered in Punk"
90. The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize"
91. The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"
92. Camera Obscura, "French Navy"
93. Annie, "Heartbeat"
94. Joy Orbison, "Hyph Mngo"
95. Pulp, "Cocaine Socialism"
96. Sisqo: "Thong Song"
97. Moodymann, "I Cant Kick This Feeling When It Hits"
98. Together, "So Much Love to Give"
99. Ida Maria, "Oh My God"
100. Parts & Labor, "The Gold We're Digging"

Good list

67.

I shoulda stuck this in there, somewhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7tnOra_40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXux7Ul9yI

did pitchfork weigh the #1's and the #100's all the same or differently? just wondering

differently? like one person's #1 would count for more than someone else's? how would that even work?

michael, that is a serious fucking list.

no i mean like, when they tallied up the submissions, did the people's #1's count more than their #2's and so on? or did the placements not matter? so like if someone had OK Computer at #1 it would count just as much as someone who had the same record at #99..

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they did - number 1 gets 100 points, 2 99, etc etc etc.

if only that question had been adressed in the info

kind of curious what other lists i&others wld have devised if this had been framed differently: 'top 100 albums 96-11 selected after you've gone for a run /when yr watching Transformers 3/when yr v cold and need the toilet'

my week of listening to 100% women (mb 98% in practice) has been pretty banging though! v pleased to discover lena platonos