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

(found myself wondering the other week, was it Raw or Kerrang who did the "gagging for a shagging" column? oh dear)

I think it might've been Kerrang.
You think that's bad, try reading old copies of pre-grunge Kerrang, they were unbelievably sexist and every week there was a poster of a scantily clad female rock singer or vixen type bands. I remember reading a mates late 80s/early 1990 copies and it was like another world,(yet bizarrely,until emo, this was the period of highest female readership the magazine supposedly had. Changed days now.
Grunge definitely killed off a lot of sexism in a lot of rock/metal but in particular Kerrang. Kerrang even had to change Pandora Peroxide to her "niece".

xps

R did you buy RAW when it became a britpop mag for 2 issues before dying? It was basically select (infact i think (1st issue) even was a joint issue with Select complete with cereal box cover.

Go on, get nostalgic
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/kerrang.html
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/raw.htm

lol at the difference in the RAW 1995 list

You know how you had cartoon teamups BITD like the Flintstones meet the Jetsons and stuff like that? I would be really stoked to see 'George & Lynne meets Pandora' - thinking they could answer an Adultfriendfinder ad or something. Every other shitty cartoon in the world has rafts of fan art drawn by perverts so why not

oh dear god no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

George & Lynne meets Hagar The Horrible maybe ..

But cee-oh-tee-tee, if lists are voted by individual writers, then the votes are aggregated, then there's no editorial strategy at work. Just individual tastes.
--ithappens

I got a harsh wakeup call for you, homie.

I'm not sure you do, Whiney. Well, put it this way. The publication I work for just aggregates the votes. If you know others say they do that, but in fact fiddle the results, name them. Otherwise it's just an unbacked assertion.

I can personally back it for at least five publications mentioned here. Whiney probably all of them save RAW.

You've got to name them. Sorry: I come from MSM - one of the publications whose list appears here (not RAW, so that's one list you've just unfairly accused right there), a list I voted in and have organised before now. I know everyone thinks we old media people fiddle everything and are corrupt, but we're usually not, and we have to know what we're saying are facts are facts before we say them. So "I just KNOW they're fiddled" doesn't cut it.

^^I wish this person on the world.

Hey, fine. I'm not the one making completely unbacked assertions about anyone's honesty.

Nobody is talking about honesty. We are discussing strategy. They are not mutually exclusive.

Kerrang! Albums Of The Year 1990
1. Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss
2. Wolfsbane - All Hell's Breaking Loose Down At Little Kathy Wilson's Place
3. Love/Hate - Blackout In The Red Room
4. Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker
5. Warrior Soul - Last Decade, Dead Century
6. Queensrÿche - Empire
7. Thunder - Back Street Symphony
8. King's X - Faith, Hope, Love
9. Electric Boys - Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride
10. Nelson - After The Rain

I'd forgotten how the headbangers occasionally got into some pretty odd cross-over stuff.

pfunkboy, I saw the Britpop-ified Raw in the shops but the completely different design and coverage led me to believe it was an unrelated magazine which had stolen the name and I refused to buy it out of brand loyalty. Possibly a bit ironic cz my tastes were probably more in tune with nu-Raw than the brand I thought I was being loyal to by then, but by all accounts it was a pretty lousy revamp so I guess I didn't miss out.

Wow. I owned that top nine at the time.

x-post

I cant even remember what was in the mag, I think Bluetones or something equally bad had the front cover. But it was basically Select Magazine.

What a year, eh?

1995 Albums

1.
2. Black Grape - Its Great When Your Straight... Yeah! Oasis - (Whats the Story) Morning Glory
3. Supergrass - I Should Coco
4. Tricky - Maxinquaye
5. Radiohead -The Bends
6. Pulp - Different Class
7. Blur -The Great Escape
8. Verve - A Northern Soul
9. Cast - All Change
10. Rocket From The Crypt - Hot Charity

1995 Singles

1. McAlmount & Butler - Yes
2. Black Grape - Reverand Black Grape
3. Supergrass - Alright
4. Pulp - Sorted For Es And Whizz
5. Foo Fighters - This Is A Call
6. Tricky - Black Steel
7. Goldie - Inner City Life
8. The Stone Roses -Ten Storey Love Story
9. Pulp - Common People
10. Oasis - Wonderwall

that's Black Grape at no1 btw

The fuck is Inner City Life doing in a 1995 chart?

Yeah, ithappens, i'm siding with ott here. Just because a site jukes their stats to make themselves look better (anyone who's ever worked at a magazine not some fauxhemian egalitarian blog commune knows EVERYONE DOES THIS) it doesn't make them "dishonest." Mags have chains of command for a reason. Not every contributor us created equal.

I love how whiney just posts as if he's oblivious to the other posts on another subject :)

Haha I think we're being the obnoxious ones in the context of the thread tbh

oh i wasnt saying he was obnoxious

Yeah that's my sovereign territory.

Given Pitchfork's long shadow over indie-rock criticism this decade, you could argue that listing any indie rock at all is "reflective of" the site in some fashion. But even though they may direct the discourse to an extent, they don't have a monopoly on it. Lots of people get into Pitchfork favorites without even knowing they're Pitchfork favorites.

― Nuyorican oatmeal (jaymc), Friday, December 18, 2009 10:38 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dont just mean including indie rock tho, even which electronic selections they include seem in some way informed by indie rock critic discourse, just the simple idea of making burial the center of their critical world suggests they're at the very least aware of / engaged with the kinds of arguments pfork is making

i see this on rap boards too, where dudes will rail on all day about hipsters & fuck pitchfork but then call both clipse albums BEST RAP RECORDS OF THE 2000S which, whatever yr take on those albums, its clearly a significant sign of pfork's ability to influence ppl's opinions of musical artifacts, giving some artists a 'worthy' sheen

like as much shit as folks talk they like having their opinions affirmed by 'real critics' -- i mean why else would they get all aggy about it all the time?

complaining about what a website, magazine, etc considers to be the best anything is a lot like bitching about the weather.

Not that this cancels out your point necessarily but I'm reasonably certain that FACT were onto Burial a fair bit before Pfork

Burial was one of Pitchfork's more blatant crossover ambulance chases of the decade - "we must be seen to be on top of this" - but the excellent Month in X features more than offset it.

Or maybe Pitchfork's staff thought it was among the best albums of the year, and the decade. A number of publications felt the same way. FACT magazine, for instance, made Untrue its No. 1 disc of the decade.

...well duh. i dont see how that contradicts anything im saying

I wasn't responding to your comment, Deej. I was responding to the comment above mine (by C.O.T.T.).

eMusic's Top 60 of 2009:

60. Georgia Anne Muldrow -- Umsindo
59. Lightning Dust -- Infinite Light
58. NYNDK -- The Hunting Of The Snark
57. Kurt Vile -- Childish Prodigy
56. Tanya Morgan -- Brooklynati
55. Smith Westerns -- Smith Westerns
54. Dâm Funk -- Toeachizown (CD Version)
53. Imogen Cooper -- Schubert Live Volume Two
52. The Drums -- Summertime!
51. Let's Wrestle -- In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's
50. 2562 -- Unbalance
49. The Avett Brothers -- I And Love And You
48. Roswell Rudd -- Trombone Tribe
47. The Love Language -- The Love Language
46. The Fresh & Onlys -- Grey-Eyed Girls
45. Mark Padmore -- Schubert: Winterreise
44. Polvo -- In Prism
43. Delorean -- Ayrton Senna
42. Real Estate -- Real Estate
41. Strand of Oaks -- Leave Ruin
40. Jon Wikan -- Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines
39. listenlisten -- Hymns From Rhodesia
38. Japandroids -- Post-Nothing
37. Fashawn -- Boy Meets World
36. Miguel Zenón -- Esta Plena
35. Zola Jesus -- The Spoils
34. Atlas Sound -- Logos
33. Various Artists -- Marvellous Boy
32. Playboy Tre -- Liquor Store Mascot
31. Mayer Hawthorne -- A Strange Arrangement
30. Dirty Projectors -- Bitte Orca
29. Han Bennink Trio -- Parken
28. DJ Quik & Kurupt -- BlaQKout
27. Nosaj Thing -- Drift
26. Neon Indian -- Psychic Chasms
25. Woods -- Songs of Shame
24. Funeral Mist -- Maranatha
23. Antony and the Johnsons -- The Crying Light
22. Cass McCombs -- Catacombs
21. Marin Alsop -- Adams, J.: Nixon in China (Orth, Kanyova, Hammons, Heller, Opera Colorado Chorus, Colorado Symphony, Alsop)
20. Camera Obscura -- My Maudlin Career
19. Ran Blake -- Driftwoods
18. Grizzly Bear -- Veckatimest
17. Nadia Sirota -- Sirota, Nadia: First Things First
16. Andrew Bird -- Noble Beast
15. Thao with The Get Down Stay Down -- Know Better Learn Faster
14. DOOM -- Born Like This
13. Theatre of Voices -- Lang: The Little Match Girl Passion
12. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart -- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
11. David Bazan -- Curse Your Branches
10. Passion Pit -- Manners
09. Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion
08. The Mountain Goats -- The Life Of The World To Come
07. The Big Pink -- A Brief History Of Love
06. Various Artists -- 5: Five Years of Hyperdub
05. The XX -- XX
04. Various Artists -- Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues (1968-91)
03. Mos Def -- The Ecstatic
02. St. Vincent -- Actor
01. Girls -- Album

somewhat skewed by them only listing albums they can sell, i assume.

Yeah, only albums available onsite were eligible.

Still, a lot of interesting diverstiy on that list, I think.

there is; just sayin that if they COULD have put animal collective on there...

i am aware i am currently being all http://healthhabits.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/captainobvious.jpg

argh, not AC; I mean YYY

Rt, MPP was eMusic's No. 9. YYY's not on eMusic.

Interestingly, tho, a lot of big indie albums didn't make the list, e.g., Wild Beasts; Tinariwen; The Clientele; Sonic Youth; El Perro Del Mar (all of which are available on the US site).

eMusic always has the best critics lists by the way. They're indie rock dudes for sure, but its never just rehashes of pfork stuff and it's not just OMG CHALLOPS stupid shit just to prove how they're not pfork

OTOH, The Gaslight Anthem was eMusic's No. 1 last year.

Gaslight Anthem was the Hold Steady of 08. so whatevs

that all being said, i wish my credits would fucking roll over already so maybe some of those albums they listed could get tweet-reviewed

Double-check. I think they've recently gone to a rollover policy.

i got love for emusic; I'm a subscriber. just saying that there are very specific lines to color within. In some ways that's likely a blessing.

(Plus, there's a Booster Pack sale. I didn't jump on it (yet), b/c of that crazy 7Digital sale that abruptly began and ended) (xp)

Gaslight Anthem was the Hold Steady of 08. so whatevs

Ughhhhh (*skull explodes in flames*)

Double-check. I think they've recently gone to a rollover policy.

I may have misunderstood your point, Whiney. FWIW, I meant that I think eMusic now allows you to carry over unused credits from one month to the next (this is mostly second-hand intel, but I did have one credit unused at the end of last month, and it did roll over when my downloads refreshed).

The samples and storyline for eMusic's No. 13 -- Theatre of Voices' choral work, The Little Match Girl -- are devestating, but compelling.