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

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?

This makes sense, and I have this argument every year with myself. The other dilemma: ranking a single whose album made your top ten last year.

"The House That Built Me"?

XXP: There's a lot to admire in that album but it doesn't have a grip on my heart.

and "American Saturday Night."

xpost

Treblezine - The Top 50 Albums of 2010

Back to class *sigh*. Stupid work is getting in the way of my listening to the several dozen albums I haven't gotten around to yet!

TIME Magazine - Top 10 Albums

* Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
* Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
* LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening
* The National, High Violet
* Drake, Thank Me Later
* Sufjan Stevens, Age of Adz
* The Black Keys, Brothers
* Yeasayer, Odd Blood
* Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
* Beach House, Teen Dream

much more interesting:

TIME Magazine - Top 10 Buzzwords

* Vuvuzela
* Top Kill/Junk Shot/Static Kill/Top Hat
* Bedbugs
* Eyjafjallajokull
* Austerity
* Anchor Babies
* Mama Grizzlies
* Release the Kraken!
* Double-dip
* Bunga bunga

okay seriously, I didn't even know Yeaseayer or Beach House EXISTED before these lists

I knew music existed before I read these lists.

* Top Kill/Junk Shot/Static Kill/Top Hat
* Anchor Babies
* Release the Kraken!
* Bunga bunga

^^what the shit are these

My ILM passwords.

SRSLY -- wish we had those kinda surprises on year-end lists too!

xp to lex

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?

This makes sense, and I have this argument every year with myself. The other dilemma: ranking a single whose album made your top ten last year.

― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, December 14, 2010 1:28 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah, i can't really argue with that either, but that's also precisely why i think it's more interesting/rewarding to do a tracks list that's geared towards covering singles, whether it's chart fodder or stuff in non-album formats or single-driven genres, etc. if it's nearly all the same artists as your corresponding albums list it's kind of pointless.

lex -- answers here:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2035319_2034745,00.html

i mean deej makes fun of me for putting songs on my P&J ballot the year they're hits even if it's the year after they first surface, but that's just how i roll. i might be one of the only P&J voters whose whole top 10 tracks have charted on the Hot 100 most years. (xpost)

* Top Kill/Junk Shot/Static Kill/Top Hat

this was a Sonic Youth song, I think it was on Sister -- not sure why it's on a 2010 list

lex -- answers here:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2035319_2034745,00.html

haha three of those were actually really useful & interesting to know, fuck a wacky film catchphrase tho

Didn't "Tik Tok" have the longest streak at #1 on the Billboard charts for a female artist since the 70s or something crazy like that?

I think for a debut single only. (I'm guessing the precedent was "You Light Up My Life.")

great top 100, even better writing:

http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/best_songs_of_2010.php

TIME Top 10 New Species

Beaked Toad
Darwin's Bark Spider
High-Altitude Tree Ant
Mossula Katydid
Pea-Sized Pitcher Plant Frog
Ecuadorean Glass Frog
Giant Woolly Rat
Tube-Nosed Fruit Bat
Bluetooth Tarantula
Five-Foot Penguin

Boston Phoenix's 100 Essential Hip-Hop Songs of 2010: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/music/112769-100-essential-hip-hop-tracks-for-2010/. I'll C+P the list in a sec.

wonder if we could think of musicians/albums that match up well to those species names

could make a great list

xp

Full Boston Phoenix 100 Essential Hip-Hop Tracks of 2010 list:

100. Rae, Ghost & Meth - "Gunshowers"
99. Moe Pope & Rain - "Rock Me"
98. Black Rob - "Just Holler At Me First"
97. 7L & Esoteric featuring Inspectah Deck - "12th Chamber"
96. J. Cole - "Before I'm Gone"
95. Akrobatik - "Rap Royalty" (RIP Guru)
94. Asher Roth - "Muddy Swim Trunks"
93. Crown Royale - "Get It Up"
92. Grand Daddy IU - "The Veteran"
91. Reflection Eternal - "Ballad of the Black Gold"

90. Homeboy Sandman - "Calm Tornado"

89. Necro - "Asshole Anthem"
88. Nottz featuring Mayer Hawthorne - "I Still Love You"
87. Vinnie Paz - "Role of Life"
86. Mickey Factz - "Good Morning New Orleans"
85. Q-Unique - "Crack Era"
84. RADIx - "Say Yes"
83. Rakaa - "C.T.D."
82. Reef the Lost Cauze & Guns-N-Butter - "Get Me Outta Here"
81. Reks - "This or That"

80. Roc Marciano - "Raw Deal"
79. Frankie Wainwright - "Bodies Everywhere"
78. Super Chron Flight Brothers - "Reggie Miller"
77. Jaysaun - "On Your Job"
76. Kil Ripken - "Not You"
75. Gangrene - "Take Drugs"
74. Freeway & Jake One featuring Young Chris - "Microphone Killa"
73. Time Crisis featuring partyboobytrap - "Heaven"
72. Fat Joe - "I'm Gone"
71. Factor - "Lawson Graham"

70. Eternia & Moss - "Any Man"
69. Dubb Sicks - "Tha Anthem"
68. Fresh Vetz - "Hard Hatz"
67. Amadeus the Stampede - "Scars of Life"
66. Cymarshall Law & The Beatnikz - "Believe This"
65. Nas & Damian Marley - "As We Enter"
64. Dark Time Sunshine featuring Qwel, Xperience, & Solillaquists of Sound - "Instructions to Numb"
63. Click Animosity - "Via Frontlines"
62. N.B.S. - "Who Are We?" (Celtics Anthem)
61. Ceschi - "Bad Jokes"

60. Celph-Titled & Buckwild - "Where I Are"
59. Canibus - "Merchant of Metaphors"
58. Ill Bill & DJ Muggs featuring Vinnie Paz & B-Real - "Kill Devil Hills"
57. J the S - "Middle of the Storm"
56. Kidz in the Hall - "Bougie Girls"
55. Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx - "Death Penalty"
54. Dessa - "Matches to Paper Dolls"
53. Moe Green - "Iced Out Lifestyle"
52. Trademark da Skydiver - "Dead Fool"
51. Slaine featuring Jaysaun - "Goin' Down"

50. Omar Offendum - "Destiny"
49. Singapore Kane - "Tom & Jerry"
48. B. Dolan - "Marvin"
47. Tom Caruana/Method Man (Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles) - "Uh Huh"
46. MC Paul Barman - "Props"
45. Hybrid Thoughts featuring Craig G - "Back Then"
44. Snowgoons featuring M-Dot & KrumbSnatcha - "Hate on Me"
43. ChocQuibTown - "De Donde Vengo Yo"
42. Skipp Whitman - "Famous"
41. Statik Selektah & Termanology featuring Styles P - "Tell Me Lies"

40. Black EL x Durkin - "100 Miles"
39. Chiddy Bang - "Truth"
38. Public Enemy - "Say It Like It Really Is"
37. Rip Shop - "Hood Luv"
36. TruthLive - "It's Easy"
35. Masta Killa - "Brain"
34. El Da Sensei & The Returners featuring Reks & John Robinson - "Toxic Words"
33. Freddie Gibbs featuring Tek & Sean Price - "The Ghetto" (Remix)
32. Virtuoso - "Propaganda"
31. Hell Razah featuring R.A. the Rugged Man - "Return of the Renaissance"

30. M-Dot & Jean Maron featuring Masta Ace - "You Don't Know About It"
29. Eminem - "Untitled" (Recovery Bonus Track)
28. Slaine, ILL Bill & Q-Unique - "Science of the Trife"
27. Blacastan featuring Colombeyond - "Martyrs"
26. Elemental Zazen - "Lockjaw"
25. Pace Won & Mr. Green - "Liquor & Drugs"
24. The High Life - "We Came To Rock"
23. Black Milk featuring Royce da 5'9" & Elzhi - "Deadly Medley"
22. Evidence - "To Be Continued..."
21. Sage Francis - "The Best of Times"

20. E the Real featuring Louie Gonz (a/k/a Spit Supreme) - "The Network Game"
19. C-Rayz Walz - "Destroy"
18. Atmosphere - "The Best Day"
17. Capone-N-Noreaga - "Favor for a Favor"
16. KRS-One & Tru Master featuring Cappadonna - "Street Rhymer"
15. The Roots - "How I Got Over"
14. Big Boi - "General Patton"
13. Warghosts - "Chase the Dragon"
12. V8 & Shortrock - "Los Edwardos"
11. Devin the Dude - "What I Be On"

10. Defcon & Outwrite - "Superfly"
9. Ana Tijoux - "Sube"
8. Army of the Pharaohs - "Bust 'Em In"
7. Donwill - "Laura's Song"
6. Ron Contour - "Glad"
5. Raekwon, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Ice da Don, Inspectah Deck - "All Flowers"
4. El-P - "Lab Rat Bravely Escapes on Hovercraft Only To Crash Directly Outside of Gates"
3. Sean Price - "Sabado Gigante"
2. A.G. - "Henne Berri Daquiri"
1. Nas - "Foul Breeze"

i like that list. that list is me on youtube when i go home tonight.

Five-Foot Penguin

That's a lot of feet!!

i kinda thought the devin album was a drag. maybe i should listen again. and i wasn't stoned when i played it so the problem might be me.

Lots and lots of great stuff on that list, but a very circa-1997 approach to what rap should be

Scott: all the songs on the list have YouTube embeds at the link above.

cool. i will be there later.

right now i am going through my own stack of 2010 stuff for pazz & jop. wish i could just vote for specific labels. lots of little labels i love.

most of these tracks lists need to be youtube playlists - has any zine/site actually done this directly?

Lots and lots of great stuff on that list, but a very circa-1997 approach to what rap should be

― skrrr boi (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, December 14, 2010 1:43 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark

two southern rappers out of ONE HUNDRED

Stop bein' rapper racists, region haters
Spectators, dictators, behind door dick takers
It's outrageous, you don't know how sick you make us
I want to throw up like chips in Vegas
But this is Southern face it
If we too simple then y'all don't get the basics

& nothing west of detroit, from what i can tell

An East Coast "indie" paper over-privileging East Coast acts? I AM SHOCKED.

i would say that the dedication to finding 100 worthwhile tracks mainly from 200 mile radius is in its own way depressingly impressive except that the #1 is a nas song that was on a mixtape for a promo of carmelo anthony's new sneaker

take it where you can get it, i suppose

An East Coast "indie" paper over-privileging East Coast acts? I AM SHOCKED.

― "Kiss Players♥" (DJP), Tuesday, December 14, 2010 2:23 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark

ha, over-privileging vs pretending like the southern & western parts of the US fell into the ocean

& that's also a lame excuse because rap fans from other parts of the country don't act like the the east coast doesn't exist -- it's only the other way around

You lived up here at one point, didn't you? I'm more amazed that the entire list isn't all Boston than anything else.

basically that list is v.v much in character for The Phoenix

nah i've only lived in miami & missouri

it's just sad to see someone (or people) that clearly loves & follows rap but is so hermetically sealed

"Hermetically Sealed" could be Boston's motto, is the thing

i didn't know the phoenix had such a curated taste in rap

still think it's bullshit but w/e

lol, I still remember my college radio career being cut off before it even began when I went to the first meeting for the alt-rock DJs and the guys running the station announced "if you're looking for someplace to play your favorite Cure or Smiths albums, leave now; we are about REAL alternative, which means our vibrant local scene"

now, I'm not denying that Boston DOESN'T have a vibrant local scene but really, gtfo with that talk, ESPECIALLY AT FUCKING HARVARD

We had plenty of bleedover at KLA at UCLA when I started in college radio -- the Cure et al weren't banned or anything but we were encouraged to make sure we didn't JUST play that, which considering the 800 lb gorilla in the room called KROQ made perfect sense...

boston college radio: the alternative to the alternative to the humdrum.

I missed the relevant clusterf**k ;_; but I don't think it's pointless to talk about the fact that these year end lists from magazines with particular aesthetic brands tend to lapse back into consensus-think once they move beyond their primary critical focus - this is not some conspiratorial thing either, it's a product of the fact that most critics do this w/r/t their own personal tastes.

More distressing to me than the placements and rankings that result from this is much of the related writing, which by and large also seems to plunge precipitously into focus group anonymity - like, try to find a rock critic take on James Blake that doesn't sound exactly like every other rock critic take on James Blake (ironically, of course, praising his trailblazing individuality).

This isn't a comment on Wire, I think pretty much every publication suffers from this to some disagree.

Mind you year end list write-ups are particularly conducive to anonymous-feeling writing, and I expect I suffer from this as much as anyone else, so w/e.

I've just tabbed my 100th list for Sound Opinions Message Board end of year album countdown, we are now at 925 different nominated albums which is obvious just over 9 unique albums per list (with average size being 30.76 albums.)

So far so boring, but I also have the age of almost 90 of the voters, meaning I can tell you the average age of voter for each album which is pretty interesting.

I'm not posting the results, others are but I'll drop a note in here when it starts as I intend to really go to town on analysis of the votes.

Also if you have an account there, go post a list (deej!)

Did anyone else read Jennifer Kelly's piece over at Dusted today? Girl knows what's up:

http://dustedmagazine.com/features/945

"A week or so ago, when first trying to piece together how I felt about 2010, I ran across a kind of depressing discussion about which, if any, of the big records of the year would top the polls. The consensus was that there weren’t any consensus records. The ones that everyone had heard of — Arcade Fire’s Suburbs for instance, or The National’s High Violet — were not very exciting. Both were weak-ish efforts by well-liked bands, not terrible, but nothing to rally around. Grinderman’s 2, which came up as well, was quite a good record, but in a solid, middle-of-the-pack kind of way. You can’t imagine waking up feeling different about the world the morning after you’d played it. Sleigh Bells had the opposite problem, being vaguely exciting but not quite good. Nothing like Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillon, with its combination of sizzle and meat, had emerged for 2010, and it made you wonder whether the everyone-on-the-same-page enthusiasm for it last year had been some kind of anachronistic fluke. It’s a bit late to observe this but 2010 underlined it: the lowest common denominator has become so dull that not even the pack cares about it much.

In one way, that’s fine, because it’s become easier than ever to explore whatever part of the periphery you prefer. Yet, I think because music is such a social phenomenon, listening to great music, music that is 100 percent targeted to your taste, but listening in isolation, is ultimately unsatisfying. We all want a consensus, a sort of mythical community where everyone agrees with us. That’s why we sometimes have discussions, not about what the best records of the last year are, but which ones are likely to score the highest. How well-accepted a record is becomes almost as important as how it sounds. The rating process becomes a hall of mirrors in which opinions are reflected and refracted into infinity, and the actual object that they’re based on fades into insignificance. Which is how people can propose The National’s third- or fourth-best album as Record of the Year, or Arcade Fire’s pallid third. It’s all about what we think other people have heard of, what they might like, and how we can position ourselves in the midst of some dubious communal sentiment. It’s pretty dicey and almost intrinsically dishonest.

And yet the alternative, of somehow separating the records you enjoy from the circumstances under which you heard them, the people you were with, the jokes you told, the food you ate, is also untenable. There’s no such thing as an unbiased experience. What you hear is, at least in some sense, inextricably linked with who you are at the moment the record goes on. I’m still not sure why The Soft Pack’s self-titled elicited the instant “yes” that it did, or why the effect of what is essentially a very good guitar-rock record persisted for the whole year, but I’m guessing it says as much about me and where I was this year as about the album itself. I know, on the other hand, that Wetdog’s Frauhaus triggered a whole bunch of positive post-punk associations, and that though it sounds like home to me, it might not to someone who came of age later or earlier. Still all the positive associations in the world couldn’t make Alejandro Escovedo’s over-slick, over-produced, back-up singer’d, big rock Street Songs of Love from sounding like the worst kind of AAA commercialism, and the fact that I’ve spent countless hours in the car listening to The National with my son (his favorite band at one point) didn’t make High Violet any less disappointing.

So here are 10 very good albums that hit me the hardest this year. I can’t make the case that they are objectively the best, and they certainly aren’t the most popular, but all 10 are worth listening to and passing on to friends. And maybe that’s the only way to build consensus, driven by real love and in increments of one or two at a time."

Does she not know that Kanye exists?

IF ONLY there was a critically championed record in 2010 everyone was rallying around! Where are you, record?