2010 Magazine's Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion

The rock music thread is a pretty good read imo.

Someone explain "I Can Change" to me. One of my least favorite songs on the LCD Soundsystem record.

Honestly don't think that rock music threads could be much less interesting than the kind of tedious rap handwringing on show here.

And if we're going to criticize Pitchfork track listings, let's focus on how they're basically a reflection of their best albums of the year list with four or five pop/rap songs thrown into the top 20.

(800 posts later) Thanks, Jordan.

"40 Jailbreak - The Rocker"

so is this just LOLcore thin lizzy mashups or something?

idk both deej & whiney were making legit points, be it in their own special way

deej, you really think you and whiney's tiresome arguing is better than anything else going on with ilm?

― one pretty obvious guy in the obvious (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, December 14, 2010 10:38 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

im not arguing with whiney im making a point and people are disagreeing with it.

the pfork list is fine but i'd much rather see the individual albums/trax ballots of various pfork writers

"Let us endlessly speculate on people's motives for liking rap music" is becoming my least favourite line of conversation ever.

And if we're going to criticize Pitchfork track listings, let's focus on how they're basically a reflection of their best albums of the year list with four or five pop/rap songs thrown into the top 20.

This is always a failing with the indier lists here - see also P&J last year. Ideally a tracks list should go some way to highlighting the best of the vast amount of non-album based music that comes out every year. If it's just "oh here are our favourite tracks off the records in our favourite albums lists" then something's failing.

i'd much rather see the individual albums/trax ballots of various pfork writers

this is true of most publications really - the guardian's counting down its top 10 this week but i'm only tangentially interested, looking fwd more to individual ballots getting published

Ideally a tracks list should go some way to highlighting the best of the vast amount of non-album based music that comes out every year. If it's just "oh here are our favourite tracks off the records in our favourite albums lists" then something's failing.

OTMFM OTMFM. i don't even feel comfortable voting for songs like "yamaha" on a trax list, despite it being a massively important track-qua-track to my 2010, just cuz i'll be voting for love king.

"Let us endlessly speculate on people's motives for liking rap music" is becoming my least favourite line of conversation ever.

on the other hand, a lack of fresh perspectives / tastemakers making arguments for fresh aesthetic takes on rap seem fairly rare; even the source's attempt to retake some kind of narrative initiative this year w/ the 5 mics for bun b was a clumsy attempt at relevence

This is always a failing with the indier lists here - see also P&J last year. Ideally a tracks list should go some way to highlighting the best of the vast amount of non-album based music that comes out every year. If it's just "oh here are our favourite tracks off the records in our favourite albums lists" then something's failing.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, December 14, 2010 10:45 AM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Their top 20 tracks is made up of 18 artists. Of those 18 artists, I count 11 that are nearly a dead lock for their top 15 albums of the year.

bun b was given 5 mics? lol cultural relevancy of the source

Ideally a tracks list should go some way to highlighting the best of the vast amount of non-album based music that comes out every year. If it's just "oh here are our favourite tracks off the records in our favourite albums lists" then something's failing.

another valuable purpose: "90% of this album really blows, here's the one great track"

oh oops jailbreak is chris corsano. i should have known that i guess. him being local and all.

another valuable purpose: "90% of this album really blows, here's the one great track"

Yeah that too. Pitchfork tracks list would be much more interesting if they scrubbed everything by artists in their albums list. Not necessarily more representative of their taste, but still...

That's dishonest in a different direction, though...?

another valuable purpose: "90% of this album really blows, here's the one great track"

yes - will be repping for christina aguilera's "monday morning" on this basis

Scott, Jailbreak is a Heather Leigh/Chris Corsano thing on Family Vineyard. Haven't heard it, supposed to be a screamer though. lol xps

http://bit.ly/dYWwb2

chris rocks. saw him solo here last year and it was mindboggling. didn't go see rangda but maria did.

yeah corsano is ths best. that rangda is def in my top 20

so both trill og and mbdtf got 5 mics? ew. bring back benzino.

xps, but following on from my previous post: Like, if you like the song and think it's one of the best of the year, should it get penalized because it appears on an album you think is one of the best of the year? What if the song on its own stands out in a manner differently from how it blends into the album?

Yeah that too. Pitchfork tracks list would be much more interesting if they scrubbed everything by artists in their albums list. Not necessarily more representative of their taste, but still...

― Matt DC, Tuesday, December 14, 2010 10:50 AM (30 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't think it's necessary to go that far, and to a certain extent I'd expect someone's favorite tracks to be included amongst their favorite albums, but I think the ordering often seems to mirror the album list much too closely. I can see that Titus Andronicus track ending up 75 in their poll and the editors saying, 'shit, we better bump this up to reflect the fact that the album was one of our favorites.'

ok looking at albums that got an XXL is maybe even worse. Really need a proper fucking rap rag since rip hhc.

ok looking at albums that got an XXL is maybe even worse. Really need a proper fucking rap rag since rip hhc.

ok looking at albums that got an XXL is maybe even worse. Really need a proper fucking rap rag since rip hhc.

KInda odd that Rangda wasn't on the wire list, now you mention them, scott.

xps, but following on from my previous post: Like, if you like the song and think it's one of the best of the year, should it get penalized because it appears on an album you think is one of the best of the year? What if the song on its own stands out in a manner differently from how it blends into the album?

Totally, not saying they should do that, just that it'd be interesting. More so than a top 10 of tracks culled from the same Arcade Fire, Beach House and LCD Soundsystem albums they're voting for on the other list.

Okay, but I think you can actually make that argument for "Dance Yrself Clean" or "One Touch", so it seems like you're trying to have your cake and eat it too with the examples you're using.

I think a non-album track list would be awesome but that's a decidedly and intentionally different list from "best songs of the year".

I think the ordering often seems to mirror the album list much too closely.

let me be the first to guess at the pfork top ten without seeing anything in the top 50 or honorable mentions list, mostly based on the trax list, album rankings, and a few other factors:

- kanye west (two tracks in top 10, plus 10.0 rating, obv.)
- ariel pink (#1 track, breakout album, 9.0 rating, major chillwave influence)
- lcd soundsystem (tracks ranked at #3 and #12, 9.2 rating)
- robyn (best "pop" track of 2010, endless pfork hype, three highly rated albums/EPs)
- big boi (#5 track, most highly praised "actual hip-hop/rap" album of 2010 [kanye doesnt count])
- joanna newsom (#6 track, 9.0+ rating [9.2 maybe?])
- janelle monae (#10 track, "cold war" hot as well, most highly praised r&b album of 2010 while not being "traditional r&b")
- deerhunter (not sure why this got a 9.2, but it has two trax in top 30-40-ish area, incl. #11)

plus, two of the following three, making 10 total:

- beach house (another couple highly ranked trax, 9.0 rating, breakout album for a band pfork's been hyping for years)
- sleigh bells ("best new debut album") -- though this could fall in 11-15 and i wouldn't be surprised
- titus andronicus (great/praised album by an "albums band" despite no track in the top 15 or so)

highly ranked trax artists that wont rank in top 10: james blake (no full length), arcade fire (expecting top 11-25), caribou will be somewhere right under top ten (maybe 11-15?), crystal castles, girl unit, erykah badu, how to dress well

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there's no girl unit album either

that too

i mean, are there any other serious contenders for pfork top ten? i guess i could see caribou getting into 6-10 range, slim possibility, but that's about it... right?

</end important post>

― i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Tuesday, December 14, 2010 11:07 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

In my previous comment ("I count 11 that are nearly a dead lock for their top 15 albums of the year") I was referring to all of those, except I had Arcade Fire instead of Joanna Newsom.

I think Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend both have 'chances' at their top 10. I think the Walkmen, Radio Dept., No Age, and National albums will likely be high--top 20 or 25.

guys, i just can't wait for friday

In my previous comment ("I count 11 that are nearly a dead lock for their top 15 albums of the year") I was referring to all of those, except I had Arcade Fire instead of Joanna Newsom.

ahh nice, i missed that, sorry, too many posts in thread :(

wouldn't be surprised if arcade fire was a bit lower this year, maybe 16-25 range. pfork didnt rate too highly, seems like "sprawl II" kinda stole all the album's attention, plus all the other crits are going nuts over arcade fire this year, so seems like a good time for pfork to dial back the hype a bit: "guys, we like the arcade fire, i mean, we basically introduced them to the world 5 yrs ago, but they've made better albums than this one"

I think Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend both have 'chances' at their top 10.

good call on vamp week, i could see that going top ten ~~~maybe~~~

cos that's my rdme day xp

did the national have a track in pfork's entire top 100? I must've missed it -- was "bloodbuzz ohio" in there at all?? (if not, major props, btw)

Someone explain "I Can Change" to me. One of my least favorite songs on the LCD Soundsystem record.

My second favourite - the backing just works for me in that 80s quirky groove vein.

Bloobuzz was #66, considerably lower than I would have expected it to be.

pfork doing the same thing w/ the national as arcade fire -- "attn all other critics: we hyped these guys back when they were making better albums"

xpost. Years ago Q used to have a little box on the reviews page where they picked out great tracks from otherwise shitty albums. I loved that. My favourite tracks in Pitchfork and Stylus were often freak standouts from albums and EPs.

see also: christgau's column, wasnt it called "choice cuts" or something?

It's criticism as public service - "I listened to this pile of average albums just so I could tell you about a couple of great songs you wouldn't otherwise have known about."

I do miss the Stylus list.

that radio dept album needs more love.