The 2009 Magazine Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion.

first I see

what everyone says again and again about as having been "better" about the 90s (don't know if that decade is a function of the 30-something age bias of ilx) was the broader coverage of all genres within very mainstream press. it seems quite ironic to me that it's the very opening up of the media - the huge amount of information available on the internet - that has driven people further and further into genre bifurcation and specification

My sense is that media sites cover a broader range of stuff in terms of actual reviews but then the end of year polls end up more focused around the site's home turf.

My pet theory for this is that writers within a single media site don't engage with one another as much as they used to because everything is handled online - I have to admit that I've made zero effort to "win over" other pitchfork writers to the stuff i've liked of late because, well, I don't know them personally, and they're not the only online community I'm involved with. I come here to talk about e.g. uk funky.

Whereas maybe if I'd written for the NME in the 90s and I really got into a dance album, the only way I'd be able to engage in discourse about it would have been to turn my fellow NME writers onto it.

i guess since lindstrøm & christabelle's been released (through rough trade only) it'd be 09-eligible. hmm.

i want to clarify that i'm not making any sort of better-in-the-90s argument; i didn't grow up reading the music press, but as far as i can tell it was just as limited and overlooked pretty much the same type of things that it does now.

It's also partly a feeling of resentment at the Pitchforkisation of the UK music press...there's been a big tilt away from club/gig/otherwise socially-experienced guitar music in favour of bedroom indie.

weird, it's almost as if people are now discovering new music via their home computers ;)

wow nice seeing AV Club put Fall Out Boy in their list, came out in December '08 and really didn't get its due on year end lists last year or this year

― some dude,

I wish I could take the giving faint praise approach--hailing one major-label emo rock among the AV Club's list of mostly the same ol' indie, with 3 rap out 25 and no r'n'b, no country, no Southern soul, no African, no Latin, no Caribbean. I'll bet metal and dance folks won't find much in the AV Club list either.

i don't actually think i'm arguing that it was "better" in the 90s (my own personal opinion is that it's just different) - but that i could see why people see 90s music coverage as being better (or at least more diverse)

and listening to it on personal portable devices that soundtrack their individual day rather than listening in any sort of more socialized setting

Yes but people are still going out to listen to that music in clubs and bars with other people, and these clubs and bars are in general not playing the Dirty Projectors.

tim otm. for all the zeitgeist created by e.g. pitchfork, there's less sense "impact" when an album comes out these days. i guess this is what sreynolds was saying in his recent blog post, that while there's a LOT of good music coming out, fans and critics aren't so inclined to jump on it all at once like they used to - it's VERY difficult for an album to rock the world now. Even though MPP has topped a lot of critics' lists, I doubt many people in my office would have even heard of them, which is a very strange phenomenon.

there are still several albums which have felt like "events" this year - the rihanna one in [articular

*particular

Yes but people are still going out to listen to that music in clubs and bars with other people, and these clubs and bars are in general not playing the Dirty Projectors.

In Chicago, Brooklyn, D.C., college towns, etc. they certainly do play stuff like that in bars. And in shops, cafes, restaurants, tv ads, on tv shows, in films, etc. (Clubbing is more niche here than U.S. indie, so it's not really applicable.) I think you UK ILxers underestimate how central some of this stuff has become these days. Maybe not DP specifically granted, they are still a bit more leftfield. (But not too leftfield to be posted on Kanye's blog, perform with the Roots/Mos Def/Talib Kewli on a late-night talk show, be covered by Solange, etc.)

lex, it might have to you - i was too busy listening to shit animal collective albums to notice.

well, that's too bad for you, but it was definitely a cultural event that had an impact on the wider world in the sense that it was noted and covered beyond the music press.

I wish I could take the giving faint praise approach--hailing one major-label emo rock among the AV Club's list of mostly the same ol' indie, with 3 rap out 25 and no r'n'b, no country, no Southern soul, no African, no Latin, no Caribbean. I'll bet metal and dance folks won't find much in the AV Club list either.

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, December 9, 2009 9:06 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hey, so many of these lists have absolutely nothing I like on them, or just the most ubiquitous and universal stuff I happen to like, so I get excited when I see a dark horse favorite get some love. I lack the capacity to get blue in the face about critical trends and demographics that a lot of folks here have.

Scott - maybe it's central in the US, and I'm not attacking the US press for covering it. I just don't think it's particularly relevant to the UK, in particular in comparison to a lot of music that's been absolutely central to the British pop 'narrative' over the last year.
The single biggest pop story of the last 12 months here has been British MCs finally breaking open the glass ceiling, having hits and becoming genuine household names here - that's barely mentioned in end-of-year round-ups.

I'd argue the very geography of being on a small island makes all the difference. Anyone who can get the cash together can get to the clubs where the stuff they're into is happening with relative ease, that's just not possible if you're at the wrong end of the United States. Maybe that encourages a proliferation of bedroom bands and regional club scenes.

The single biggest pop story of the last 12 months here...

Okay I might be overlooking that whole Michael Jackson thing in terms of big pop stories but you get my point.

scott: that leaves a whole lotta america where all that shit is basically unheard of

it's VERY difficult for an album to rock the world now

actually, thinking about this - this is the received wisdom, but i'm really not sure it's true. it's easier to avoid stuff if you don't care about it (though maybe it was as easy to avoid madonna and michael jackson in the '80s if you really wanted to?), but the way in which things like the "bad romance" video, rihanna album and so on were treated in the non-music media definitely counts as musical projects having an impact on the world.

American College types listen to Woxy, a web radio station recently relocated to Austin, Texas from Cincinnati, Ohio,

http://woxy.com/

matt, i get what you're saying about the uk cultural narrative - but if there's nothing interesting happening in uk guitar music, does the nme necessarily have to cover it? the only worthwhile leftfield british guitar bands to rival their american cousins who i can think of are 65daysofstatic and electrelane - and they didn't exactly set the pages of the NME on fire.

well, that's too bad for you, but it was definitely a cultural event that had an impact on the wider world in the sense that it was noted and covered beyond the music press.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 9 December 2009 14:23 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

What, like on MTV Hits? Or among you and your friends? The reason I ask is that, whether you like it or agree or not, only a handful of people in years to come are going to equate the release of a Rhianna album as a major event in 2009. I don't even make such claims for artists I have been following.

the "Bad Romance" video is a good example (never had my brother-in-law enthusiastically text me about a music video before that), although I'm not sure it's exactly "Billie Jean," and Rihanna's 20/20 interview has probably had far more impact/awareness than any song from her album at this point.

there was a lot of coverage of her abuse at the hands of that misogynist prick... don't think that translates into the album itself being an event.

Here's a different 2009 cultural world

Latin Beat Magazine (that I think is going online only now) top 10 lists from their contributors half way down the page. I do not think any of their critics also contribute to NME or Pitchfork--

http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/features.html

if there's nothing interesting happening in uk guitar music, does the nme necessarily have to cover it

No, but if they want people to keep buying it they'll have to move with the times and focus on what their readership is actually into. There's a reason they haven't put Animal Collective on the cover.

What, like on MTV Hits? Or among you and your friends? The reason I ask is that, whether you like it or agree or not, only a handful of people in years to come are going to equate the release of a Rhianna album as a major event in 2009. I don't even make such claims for artists I have been following.

Oh come on, over the last couple of months it has been virtually impossible to open any newspaper without Rihanna appearing in it somewhere. I'm no fan of the album but everything around it has been a massive 2009 pop event.

lol @ thinking that rihanna's impact is confined to mtv hits o_0

you probably have to take an active disinterest in her to be unaware not only that she has an album out but also what its themes are. as i said, it's been covered from so many angles, from the music to the ubiquitous tabloid photos to the "serious news" inc that amazing 20/20 interview. calls to the US national domestic abuse helpline went up by 73% after that interview - if that's not having an impact on the world at large, idk what is.

i wasn't expecting the gaga video to be the event it was until it became so, weirdly - it did actually feel like a genuine, organic wave of enthusiasm/interest was happening

why do we care abt music 'having an impact on the world at large', btw? sure we can all point to artists who mean jack shit 'in the wider context' or whatevs, who we still love and cherish and think are great great artists

i don't, particularly, but dog latin seems to

I think it's totally possible for someone to have heard about Rihanna's life all year long without really being aware that she has an album or singles out (Britney circa Blackout syndrome), its first week sales weren't huge and the singles have been pretty minor hits for someone who's hit #1 so many times.

lex - okay, so i obviously wasn't paying attention to any of that, my bad - don't even know what went on with those interviews.

but do you think the rhianna album has rocked the world - like bad, like nevermind, like sgt peppers, like nation of millions etc..? or is the recent tabloid and news furore more in sync with general interest in the celeb rather than their music? has tiger woods' recent debacle lit the world of golf on fire, or just the tabloids?

xposts

On those terms the Cheryl Cole album had a bigger UK impact.

DL I think those comparisons are just a leeeeeeeetle bit of a red herring given that the album's been out five minutes!

That said I agree with Al

"albums that rocked the world" <-- i'm having some trouble parsing what the criteria for this is based on your list

especially if press/tabloid/general population's awareness of said work as a media event is excluded from the "rockingness" criteria?

Doglatin you weren't actually there at the time for any of them, or at least not old enough to have been paying attention.

This is all a massive red herring given that the actual genuine biggest pop phenomenon of the year was Susan Boyle and the idea of any magazine we're talking about putting her on the cover or voting for her in a poll is frankly hilarious.

look - what i'm saying here is that in 09, an album just isn't going to be as ubiquitously recognised and loved as one from ten-twenty years ago. Of course the Rihanna album's going to appeal and hold personal cache to many people, same as MPP, but they're still very specific niches. There's no one or two, big year defining record, even within genre boundaries.

Sure but this implies that the version of history that has the albums you cited there as being "year-defining" was empirically true and obvious at the time - I would suggest this wasn't generally the case at all

^um sorry, grammar is fucked up there

i'd argue that the-dream/animal collective/lady gaga albums fits your "year defining" standards

maybe within genres but

Of course the Rihanna album's going to appeal and hold personal cache to many people, same as MPP, but they're still very specific niches

the rihanna niche is just that bit bigger than the other one, which is kind of what qualifies her album and its attendant campaign as an actual cultural event noticed by people who aren't necessarily invested in her

I got the impression DL was trying to suggest stuff that impacted on music in the popular phenomenon sense? xp

bad, like nevermind, like sgt peppers, like nation of millions etc..?

this is just an absurd set of examples to me. i was alive and conscious of pop culture for 3 of the 4 and none of them felt epoch-defining at the time

you might have got me to agree had you said thriller instead of bad - thriller was the only one of those that it *felt* like something huge and groundbreaking and shifting was happening - even though at the time, michael jackson was still part of a pack of artists, thriller just went exponentially massive in a way that madonna and prince didn't at the time because they released EVERY SINGLE TRACK OFF IT AS A SINGLE which seemed, even to my just coming up teen ears to be a bit of a stunt

which only goes to say that i'm agreeing that album of the year does not always seem apparent at the end of the year. the things that seem massive or epochal or paradigm shifting only really appear so with perspective

OK I didn't realize "Russian Roulette" went to #2 in the UK, that kinda explains some of the disconnect w/ Lex's opinion about the reach of the Rihanna album

Greg Kot - Top albums of 2009 - Chicago Tribune
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/12/top-albums-of-2009.html

the fact that the last time i personally noticed anyone saying or anything being said about rihanna was back when she released "umbrella", arguably diffuses her album from being a big album. and no, i didn't go out of my way to ignore her. if it was in the news, i prob didn't get the paper that day. but all in all, rihanna the person is not the same as rihanna the album, whatever that may entail. and yeah, more people will buy rihanna's album than mpp because it's that much more radio friendly. but this is all starting to get bogged down in - good god - personal taste, and we wouldn't want that now

Matt, I have been around long enough to experience "talked about" records - y'know, ones that people get excited about and take the day off to go out and buy on release day. "Kid A" is maybe the most recent example. this is never going to happen again.

erm every radiohead record has been like that

that's why the in rainbows thing worked - there was still that universal frisson

Matt, I have been around long enough to experience "talked about" records - y'know, ones that people get excited about and take the day off to go out and buy on release day. "Kid A" is maybe the most recent example. this is never going to happen again.

if i were a betting man, i'd go to ladbrokes AGAINST this one