Year-End Critics' Polls '07

i doubt rev has heard any animal collective, but i think panda's two songs on strawberry jam are better than anything on person pitch besides maybe "i'm not"

I haven't heard Animal Collective, actually. I only downloaded Person Pitch after reading that if I liked LCDSS I'd like Panda Bear. Suffice to say, that wasn't true. Maybe after the cd I'm listening to is done, I'll pull them up on the U-Toob.

xp haha

idk if you'd like them. i don't have a great handle on what indie rockier music you might like. the new album is way more song-y than panda bear if that means anything.

Indie rock albums this year I love: LCD Soundsystem, Charlotte Hatherley, Spoon, Gogol Bordello

Indie rock albums this year I like well enough: Battles, New Young Pony Club, the Hives, the White Stripes, Grinderman

Truth is, I like a lot of indie music. The National, Iron + Wine, and (well I don't know if indie has claimed them but) The Noisettes are all on my year end lists. I just don't like Animal Collective, Panda Bear, St. Vincent, or Joanna Newsom. I actually hate them, and I've put the time in listening to their albums (Newsom I listened to about half a dozen times) to try and get what's going on there. And I just don't get it.

Jinx. Oh yeah, I like the Hives + the White Stripes album. I liked a bunch of indie albums this year. Sorry for not liking whiny freak-folk.

rev you might like this but all those albums kinda groove in an SFJ-type way which doesnt surprise me since your tastes seem to skew more towards rap/r&b/reggaeton (yeah?) and animal collective are kind of like weightless on the bottom end and really compressed. def more indie pop than anything you mentioned.

newsom blows and new animal collective is def not folk, but i have no handle on what you like mordechai but it seems like you would/do hate the fuck out strawberry jam.

Thing is, I like a lot of folk. Or rather, I like music that possibly has some folk resonances. I like Iron + Wine. A ton. Woman King EP is on constant replay in my apartment. It's just that the stuff I just mentioned doesn't click for me. I wish it did because a lot of people are really passionate about it, and I wanna get in on that. But there's something really unpleasant about it. (I don't like Andrew Bird either.)

Also, vis-a-vis Band of Horses, I saw them open for Iron + Wine once and they were horrific. Like people were actually talking through their set because of how painful the music was. The only time I saw a more negative reaction was when Coco Rosie opened for Sufjan Stevens and half the place walked out.

i most def do not get how anyone could really love person pitch.

I do, my roommate doesn't. He loves Strawberry Jam though, and said that the reason I love PP so inordinately is because I also like the Beach Boys a lot more than he does. Which is probably accurate. I can understand why people dislike it though, especially given the all the adulation (I dub this the "Destroyer Effect").

I like those OM and Rockarolla lists more than anything else on the thread so far. A lot of my fave stuff (Edward Ka-Spel, Nurse With WOund, etc.) usually misses out in these polls. Good to see a list for jazz reissues also.

It's also really nice to have all this yearend stuff on one thread.

Discovering Tokyo Jihen and Lansing-Dreiden have made me more interested in looking for more current rock bands I might like, but there's such an overwhelming amount of the stuff that I don't like that it's nearly impossible. I just thought I would mention that. I need to try doing a Tokyo Jihen station of Last FM again, but I know what I'm going to get. I'm going to get a lot of j-rock and j-pop that I either don't like, or that is just okay, but that I won't love or care about.

My top ten is changing about every hour on the hour. I heard too much great music this year.

I have to commend you for having such an international scope.

FACT Magazine Top 100 Tracks of the Year!

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/da/66290

person pitch is way too distanced to even register half the time with me. the only song i really love on PP is "i'm not" cuz it's really emotional, like all those sampled voices just hanging in the air. it sounds like old choral or like gregorian chant music. it's the one song on the album that actually has some power.

is FACT like the fader of the uk?

lol @ "groove in an SFJ-type way"

I'm listening to "Peacebone" right now. (This is from their new album, yes?) The weird intro is cool, but when it gets into the actual tune it completely loses me.

I'll check out "I'm Not," Jordan. I like Gregorian Chant music when I hear it (I hang out at the Cloisters every now and then). I'll seriously give anything a shot. If you can recommend something on Strawberry Jam, I'll try that too.

The FACT list is really obnoxiously hip, and I like a lot of the things on it.

It's also really nice to have all this yearend stuff on one thread.

-- sleeve, Thursday, December 13, 2007 5:48 PM (Thursday, December 13, 2007 5:48 PM) Bookmark Link

Three hats.

from straw jam, listen to "fireworks" (it's a single) and um maybe "for reverend green". my otehr favorite songs are the panda ones but if you guys really ahte person pitch i wouldn't bother. "chores" is like that same drunk/stoned underwater beach feel of person pitch but an actual song. way punchier. i love it.

yeah this FACT list is good.

They seriously have a song called "For Reverend Green"?!

FOOOOOOOOOR RODN3Y GREEN3
AAAAAAAAND CALLE THIRTEEEEEEN
FOOOOOOOR ROOOOOOOODN3Y GREEN3
AAAAAAAAAAAND CALLE THIIRTEEEEEN

^this is the chorus

I'm listening to fireworks. I've got the same problem with this as I have with all their music... The music seems pretentiously weird (weird for the sake of weird?), and the vocals aren't strong enough to really make up for that for me. And it really goes on way too long for me. And seriously, "the frightened babies poo"?

No, I'm saying the FACT list is way too "mp3 of the week".

xp haha (Actually Kanye West has overtaken Calle 13 as my album of the year. Shit seriously gets better every listen,)

FACT is a free (half-size) print mag right? But their website has really blossomed this year. Kiran Sande does a very nice monthly round-up of all things electronic in his 'Contemporary Fix' column. He's not afraid to dismiss the hype which is refreshing.

"Fireworks" is alright except for the horrible singing (so far).

too bad about "fireworks". i had hope. i like graduation less every time i hear it. just seems way less accomplished than his other albums. still very good though. would be in my top 20 if my list expanded that far.

Actually, the background vocals are fine, it's just the lead vocals that are awful. Otherwise, it sounds a lot like Battles.

I love 'Stronger.' It's on my top 20. Too bad everyone only wants top 10 choices :(

funny that you say that it's trying to hard to be weird mord, cuz i think it kinda hits that perfect balance between weird (the percussion being actual fireworks or whatever) and an actual almost-pop song. i like the vocals a lot. the lyrics are whatever, there are little bits that hit really hard to me and others that are kinda shitty.

This "I'm Not" song is pretty fucking amazing though. Kinda reminds me of (). Good call, Jordan.

I don't think Graduation quite hits the peaks of his first two, but there isn't any fat like there is on Dropout (actually, Dropout doesn't peak quite as high as I remembered) and it isn't 75% awful like Registration. I'm pretty sure at this point it's my favorite Kanye album. I've listened to it five times in the past three days.

Okay, fuck this Animal Collective stuff. This guy needs to STFU.

Well, at least you tried, Reverend.

i think basically everything on dropout is amazing, half of late reg is amazing and graduation is kinda... more even keel and it's way less exciting in that manner. the songs are still great but it's the first ye album that sounds unimportant to me. i like it though! and "stronger" will be in my top 10. i just get nothing out of like "drunk and hot girls" or "barry bonds" or "big brother" etc.

but i got nothing out of "roses" or "bring me down" or "addiction" but besides "stronger" the best stuff on graduation isn't as good as "gone" or "drive slow" or "touch the sky" etc.

I should say, I wasn't particularly impressed with Graduation the first few times I heard it. It just seems so much more nuanced than Kanye's previous albums, or at least he seems less eager to please and less prone to shoving everything that's going on in your face at once.

This guy needs to STFU.

Okay, I think I have completely different taste in Kanye then you, judging by what you think of those particular songs.

(Except for "Addiction" (shut up and stop being such a needy ass) and "Drive Slow" (one of his best songs)

1. stronger
2. good life
3. champion
4. can't tell me nothing
5. glory
6. good morning
7. flashing lights
8. barry bonds
9. everything i am
10. i wonder
11. big brother
12. homecoming

if that gives you any idea where i'm coming from

Does that mean you don't even rate "Drunk & Hot Girls"?

I'm not going to rank them, but I think every song on the album except maybe "Good Morning" is wonderful.

And "Good Morning" itself is fine, just not particularly exemplary.

haha 13. drunk and hot girls i forgot about it. i like how kanye goes "a-ROUSED" but that's about it.

"a-ROUSED" is from "I Wonder". "Drunk & Hot Girls" is actually probably one of my three favorite songs on the album. "Barry Bonds", too. Those two and "Can't Tell Me Nothing" form this great, dark, fucked-up mid-section.