(TOP 5 TODAY, MOFOS!) 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 Albums Poll Results)

its weird cos theyr dinner party music

They also weren't as championed by a host of inane indie blogs, which helps.

xpost to self

k3v otm

and no nme covers like the xx got

http://i48.tinypic.com/t02jyt.jpg

9 -- Taylor Swift - Fearless (292 points, 19 votes, 2 #1 vote/s) (dnp in p4k, 186 in p&j)

They also weren't as championed by a host of inane indie blogs, which helps.

Yeah that's more clearly stated. I was using Pfork as shorthand for the larger online indie world.

sick screencap

what an awesome photo! what an awesome album.

This was posted, rather bizarrely, on the rolling metal thread, as an example of bad music writing. So I may as well link it here
http://www.autostraddle.com/why-taylor-swift-offends-little-monsters-feminists-and-weirdos-31525

it was also posted on a taylor swift thread i think a while ago

i guess we've covered most of the singles elsewhere but these two songs are two of my favourites on the album, haven't been talked about as much, and contain maybe my absolute favourite ~moments~ on it - the end of the second verse of the title track, "in the passenger seat you put your eyes on me/ in this moment now, CAPTURE IT - REMEMBER IT--- " - the sudden commands just nailing this instantaneous thrill, capturing it like a snapshot in song in a way that you can't in life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUVSVD8HZAA

and in "hey stephen", towards the end, after the middle 8, the reason why i think taylor swift is a great singer despite her technical limitations - the way she sings "but would they write a song for you?", gives this amazingly endearing little laugh, and then sings the rest of the song with it still caught in her throat, the chorus suddenly a victory lap rather than a question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w0Z4EYXYFI

that autostraddle article - and jezebel's continued vendetta against taylor swift - are hideous - not just b/c they're dumb but b/c they're from otherwise smart and necessary sources which should damn well know better.

i mean i can understand disliking what taylor does, and occasionally have seen some well-reasoned anti-taylor commentary, but any time anyone defaults to a lazy "music for little girls" or "taylor swift is SETTING FEMINISM BACK" it just raises my ire significantly

i agree

total misreadings of the music

Taylor Swift. Her music is just... nothing.

lol

x2

someone told me that Taylor Swift is the same age now as Alanis Morissette was when she released Jagged Little Pill and it blew my mind. I'd love to see how Taylor follows up this album - my guess is more of the same + an emphasis on broken hearts but I'd be massively entertained by a 180 into angstville.

what age is she?

20

oh i thought she was 17 or 18

yeah that about sums up Taylor Swift doesn't it

taylor swift has just turned 20 and the album was released at the end of 08, so she'd have actually written it when she was 17/18. i didn't realise alanis was so young when she released JLP - she turned 21 in 1995, when it was released.

it's weird to think now that courtney love released her first album when she was 28, and tori amos when she was 29 (and both were well into their thirties by the time they'd reached their pinnacle as songwriters). guess the music industry really has been trending more and more towards youth.

I suppose she probably was 17 or 18 when writing those songs. No doubt, lyrically, her next album will be quite different. Cant see an angsty Alannis type album just yet though!
xp

"and in "hey stephen", towards the end, after the middle 8, the reason why i think taylor swift is a great singer despite her technical limitations - the way she sings "but would they write a song for you?", gives this amazingly endearing little laugh, and then sings the rest of the song with it still caught in her throat, the chorus suddenly a victory lap rather than a question."

i like this song but is that really a big thing? i mean, i have heard that in like a billion songs and not thought it was evidence to help build a case for hall of fame status ??

tori amos released Y Kant Tori Read age 29????

I had no idea she was as old as that

doesnt tori amos have a lot of prehistory like being in a hair metal band or something?

also, i don't hate JLP, but a couple of songs apart ("you oughta know" is brilliantly written) it's as juvenile as taylor swift tbh - certainly at the time morissette seemed insubstantial compared to harvey/love/amos, who'd already been around for a few years and were making similarly angry, cathartic music, but with a lot more complexity and depth

i hope that whenever taylor does go angst, she doesn't write anything as blatantly hacky as "ironic"

yeah I know that Fearless was written a few years ago, and it would be in line with Alanis' less "credible" or w/e pop albums she did before her big break. That's why I'm wondering what her follow up will be. Like I said I don't predict a radical shift but then again I have heard three Taylor Swift songs in my life so I'm not an authority on the subject.

no, amos was 28/29 when she release little earthquakes - y kant tori read was 4 years before that, i think, and i don't think anyone listening to it would have thought she'd grow into being a songwriter of much worth!

i mean, i have heard that in like a billion songs and not thought it was evidence to help build a case for hall of fame status ??

uh, just saying it was one of my favourite moments on the album

*released

Ironic was always my least favorite song on the album

god I remember being in 4th grade, sitting by my stereo with my friend Sarah, listening to a cassette of JLP trying to figure out what the song "Mary Jane" meant. I recall Sarah wondering if Mary Jane was a biblical figure. good times.

if anything, i could see taylor haters growing into liking her music once she moves onto more 'adult' tropes

anyway back to 2009

http://i48.tinypic.com/2jcis7k.png

8 -- Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (300 points, 23 votes, 3 #1 vote/s) (8 in p4k, 2 in p&j)

like an album of duets with John Mayer?
xp

one of the judges on Idol last night told someone they should be singing Phoenix, can't wait to see what hipster runoff has to say about that.

can we say some more stuff abt dj sprinkles

Can't say I'm especially enamoured of anything in the top 10 so far, but the pics are A+.

phoenix are up there with my favorite rock bands of the decade

for rock music to play when it's sunny out, i'm not sure if they can be beat

did you like them back in the "if i ever feel better" days? remember liking that, LOVED the todd edwards and buffalo bunch remixes of it

i heard them first w/ "it's never been like that" & then i worked backwards from there. i think that album is super spotty, but the two singles are amazing enough that i don't much care

"that album" = united, not "if i ever feel better" which is top 15 of the decade for me

JOrdan and musically, thanks for these amazing screencaps!

phoenix r good looking