Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)

(massive xposts) I get the impression that a lot of critics praised Phoenix last year for "coming into their own," "confidently refining their sound," etc. -- but to me, that refinement went too far, like they seized upon a formula and just repeated it over 10 tracks. Which was disappointing in part because the eclecticism they once exhibited had always struck me as a virtue. They do the indie guitar pop thing really well, but I liked when it was mixed with disco, lounge, soft rock, etc.

united has pretty high highs, but i think it's clearly the least consistent of phoenix's albums.

i can see how the ilm contingent would prefer the united->alphabetical aesthetic over the INBLT->WAP aesthetic, but whatever, agreed that INBLT is the perfect guitar pop record.

hahahaha "adobe slacks"

at some point in the future all u anco h8rs will wonder what u were getting so worked up abt. MPP is nowhere near their strongest work, but it does a pretty good job of showing off a lot of the cool little tricks they've picked up along the way, and it is pretty great the way it brings itself to the boil

reposting for anyone who didn't catch it at the time: the singles jukebox on "my girls" http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1715

much more indebted to soul & disco then car commercial indie rock

― big hoos state of mind (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:57 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

talking about a band's non-indie rock influences when defending their indie rock-sounding stuff is a weird dead end (see also: Dirty Projectors upthread)

― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 9:01 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the diff, for me personally, is that their influences (on the recs jordan's referring to) are at least audible in the music and not just some touchstone (I'm not sure who is supposed to have influenced DP exactly according to their own account but they just sound like some particularly tuneful math rock to me, there's no audible R&B influence despite their best protestations)

the sad thing is that "adobe slacks" doesn't make it any worse of a lyric (i like this song fine though ftr)

Phoenix's lead singer bothers me. The GAPDY bands all have irritating voices, I just realized. or rather: they're doing things with their voices that I haven't fully appreciated.

(massive xposts) I get the impression that a lot of critics praised Phoenix last year for "coming into their own," "confidently refining their sound," etc. -- but to me, that refinement went too far, like they seized upon a formula and just repeated it over 10 tracks. Which was disappointing in part because the eclecticism they once exhibited had always struck me as a virtue. They do the indie guitar pop thing really well, but I liked when it was mixed with disco, lounge, soft rock, etc.

― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:04 PM (21 seconds ago) Bookmark

i can buy this sentiment, although i don't agree with it at all. it's possible because 'it's never been like that' was the first album of theirs i heard, but i like that they have these lithe, 80s soft rock kinda singles that are just incredible & then two albums of guitar pop with no fat on them at all

I actually like MPP more than any other Animal Collective album, probably because Noah took a more dominant role. It's more like a Panda Bear album in that regard, and he's the only member who caters to my tastes.

predictions for top 3? closest guess gets $100 ILX dollars, redeemable wherever ILX merchandise is sold

The problem with MPP is that it only actually works on one song, namely "My Girls"; everything else is an amorphous mess that desperately cries out for high college students to worship it like a shameless whore made out of bongs.

predictions = what rev said, he's been right about the top 5 so far

no clue really what order. heads will roll, you belong w/me, bad romance?

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6444/mercysshyt.jpg

Hopefully "Daniel," because it deserves it (or "Pearl's Dream," either/or).

yeah, always thought of phoenix as 80s soft rock and lounge but I guess they r really just indie rock

but yeah brothersport is better

Yeah, J0rdan, that was probably too harsh w/r/t Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I still like the album a lot, I'm sort of reacting against the critics who consider it the hands-down apotheosis of the band's career (in some cases, I suspect they make claims like that to justify not having paid the band any attention before 2009).

The problem with MPP is that it only actually works on one song, namely "My Girls"; everything else is an amorphous mess that desperately cries out for high college students to worship it like a shameless whore made out of bongs.

say no to Dan?

i wouldn't be surprised if 'daniel' made it & not 'heads will roll' --- or more likely that 'bad romance' doesn't make it at all

3. "Daniel" (my long shot guess of the three)
2. "You Belong with Me"
1. "Bad Romance"

if indeed it is yeahs/gaga/swift, this year's edition will be the ilx poll with the MOST songs i like-to-love on it, with 36/50! (of the ones since 04 posted upthread at any rate)

ok this is the first time I've heard any new AnCo since 05 but this is essentially a more electronic (and not nearly as good) "Banshee Beat". can't believe they got big off this, but good for them, nice guys.

or more likely that 'bad romance' doesn't make it at all

J0rdan, what are you smoking and can you please share it with all of us?

Yeah, J0rdan, that was probably too harsh w/r/t Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I still like the album a lot, I'm sort of reacting against the critics who consider it the hands-down apotheosis of the band's career (in some cases, I suspect they make claims like that to justify not having paid the band any attention before 2009).

― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:10 PM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark

i agree with this totally -- in terms of the two 'phases' of the band, it can barely hold a candle to 'it's never been like that' imo -- and those two albums have songs that are equal to their early singles

i for one am very excited to get to the part of the countdown where people who havent been keeping up with music for the whole year listen to one youtube of a song and make judgments on an artist's career. never fails to entertain

no matter what happens it's gonna be a pretty great list imo

#1 Owl City

phoenix song reminds me of why i dislike the strokes. i dont really know how to quantify that, but its an honest reaction

UNLESS THAT HAPPENS xp

well i reckon taylor swift anyway, would love if still going or holy ghost made a surprise appearance bc the singles the dfa put out over the summer were some of the best stuff released all year imo

that being said i'm bummed but not surprised "my girls" placed, though i'm a little weirded out by all the people who are like "you know i've always hated animal collective but with 'my girls' they got it right!" like really? most of the album sounds like this!

or yeah i cant imagine many of the haters were following their career at all and seeing how it fits into what they've done so far which is pretty interesting imo

3. "Daniel" (my long shot guess of the three)
2. "You Belong with Me"
1. "Bad Romance"

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 4:10 PM (2 minutes ago)

this

i agree the album is kind of a blob but my girls and brothersport are the most memorable tracks no doubt

still holding out for Tonetta777 "$VIRAL$"

don't worry "youtube output for 2009" is a lock for the albums list

man why is youtube crawling along for me today

"if i ever feel better" is on erland oye's excellent indie-bait dj kicks that moka posted about recently, he cuts the preceding song out, sings up to "there are things in my life i can't explain" acapella then drops it, sounds terrible but is awesome.

nothing to do with anything really but i hadn't posted in a while and i'm waiting for this shit to load

auto-tune the news and tonetta777 #1 and #2

Avatar will win this imo.

avatar just sounds too much like a car commercial

btw if you don't have images off in this thread it's v helpful ime - u can just click the youtubes you want to hear in new tabs

"My Girls" is on a Modeselektor mix that is really fucking classy:

http://www.amazon.com/Body-Language-Vol-8-Modeselektor/dp/B002JJE0M4

This was my first (knowing) exposure to AnCo and I was very psyched to check them out after hearing the song. I played MMP on Lala and basically went "woah, there's a bullet dodged".

I played a Panda Bear album a little later on that was even more abstract but that worked in its favor, IMO.

man than panda bear album is so boring

*that

panda bear album is prime music for listening to while high

also for listening while building application installers

When you're high Panda Bear music turns into shameless whores made out of bongs

this month i'm temping at a place where all youtube embeds are instantly blocked and invisible to me (but images aren't) -- this is my idea of ilx heaven

the vashti bunyan is the best primer imo and also a great showcase for all the best things abt freak-folk in its 2004ish heyday