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

for me the problem is how she moves from "music is such a social phenomenon" into we all want "a sort of mythical community where everyone agrees with us" because that community would be inherently anti-social and movements towards that community have resulted in the fragmentation/individualization of taste that has occurred over the last howevermany years

and i would suggest that arguing over music is precisely what makes it social goes against any desire for a mythical community where everyone agrees with you

"what makes it social and contradicts any desire" is how that should read

basically existing on the planet is a d*ck move that requires justification.

uh what?

"Yeah i think that it would be disingenuous to claim that there are absolutely no egotistical motives in being a critic, basically if you think that your taste is worth imposing on the wider world that's a bit of a d*ck move, and the task of good music crit is basically to justify that by being a good enough writer/thinker/tastemaker that you're ultimately on the plus side of the register."

oh yeah i thought this was understood. i definitely think i'm really cool. and i have awesome taste. and when i say it's fun to write and be a part of the pazz & jop poll that just means its fun to blab about stuff that i think is great! which is totally egotistical. but i honestly don't feel as though i'm imposing anything on anybody. i make a case and let people judge for themselves. which is why i'm generally anti-poll. but pazz & jop is a good chance to vote for stuff that nobody would ever vote for that i love. and someone might read my ballot and be curious.

a+ attitude

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QqvfSFxx5rI/SiXGBw115EI/AAAAAAAANZg/eUq9WqzAPFk/s320/Image58ilikeyourstyle.jpg

It's very A+ -- also more generous than where I think I am these days as a writer, then again I feel I simply *listen* far differently than I used to, and that act of listening influencing how/where I choose to spend my time in terms of both listening and talking/writing about it. It's not willful isolation per se, but I do often feel quite contentedly disengaged from a lot of the macrolevel battles and discussion going on -- this verges a bit more into the piece I wrote as Pazz/Jop commentary, though, so I might say more then whenever I run the full thing on my blog.

it is strange that, with the thousands of albums released every year and freely-available via the internet, that there's anything approaching a concensus about the best albums of the year. i'd more likely expect that, of a hypothetical 1K critics, there'd be maybe 700 -- 850 different no. 1 album picks.

The albums that show up most often make a top ten list.

yeah, sure. but that's a bit beside the point.

Listening to High Violet now, and god is it as awful as expected, admittedly a predictable response on my part.

respect to anyone listeing to hundreds of albums over the course of a year as ever - critics or not. even with spotify i'm only gonna manage about 100 and that's well above my norm.

word. i tried to listen to a lot of music this year & it sucked so i gave up

people who make enormous, 50+ album lists though, how many of those albums do they actually "connect" with or deeply love/would not rather just listen to their favourite couple songs off of

i only really deeply loved like, two or three albums this year. i think that's a good amount

i've "connected" with about 20 albums this year, i'd say? obv to varying degrees, but they're pretty much all keepers. then about another 20 that i'd say are definitely worth hearing. i lost track of how many albums i've heard this year a while back but i'd guess it's about 150.

that's about the same number of albums i usually "connect" with, definitely the year in which i've heard the most albums tho.

20 is unthinkable to me but it is your job i guess. beginning to feel it's such a rare feat when an album is consistently engaging throughout, or is really deeply engaging for at least many songs, & it removes from the pleasure of listening to music (especially new) to be constantly searching for that

i do a top 20 albums every year so am gonna say....

20

(but real answer is 10, and i still hate albums)

someone find me some good asian year-end lists. feel bad that half the world is excluded from this thread.

man, i love albums. i'm sick that way. i listen to thousands every year. never gets old.

Hot Tub

man, i love albums. i'm sick that way. i listen to thousands every year. never gets old.
--scott seward

Otm

Lol at aborted hot tub time machine joke still making an appearance in that post

it is strange that, with the thousands of albums released every year and freely-available via the internet, that there's anything approaching a concensus about the best albums of the year.

Too much choice = people retreat to old favorites. That's not a value judgment, either; I do it, everyone does it to some degree. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the more music there the less that gets covered.

"more music there IS"

For Scott, Top 100 Korean pop songs from Nov. '09 to Nov. '10: http://cassipeasworld.blogspot.com/2010/11/bugs-top-100-songs-for-2010.html

Also, Top 10 Anime Songs: http://www.lw-concepts.com/lw/?p=6422

Very interesting end-year chart (with sound illustration) at Pontone.

Here's the first part (50-34):
http://pontone.pl/tones-of-the-year-2010-best-50-albums-vol-1-50-34/

the next one should be out today

Pitchfork's Honorable Album Mentions:

Actress - Splazsh
Baths - Cerulean
ceo - White Magic
Curren$y - Pilot Talk / Pilot Talk II
DOM - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Glasser - Ring
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Guido - Anidea
Liars - Sisterworld
Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts
Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
Perfume Genius - Learning
Sam Amidon - I See the Sign
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
Toro y Moi - Causers of This

ceo, pilot talk 1, charlotte gainsbourg, gold panda, liars, male bonding, pantha du prince, and surfer blood were all best new music, so a little surprising to see that none of them made the actual list

Based on the list of albums she then pimps I think it's more a case of her not knowing that non-indie exists.
― Tim F

if i wanted to read the "this is my personal top 10" list from someone who clearly has little understanding/interest of anything besides the most loudly trumpeted indie rock and the occassional Wire favorite, I could visit ANYONE'S BLOG ON EARTH. The fact that this appears on Dusted instead of somerandombullshit.blogspot.com doesn't change anything
― skrrr boi (Whiney G. Weingarten)

Of all the boring personal top tens, why does this particular one draw such contempt? I don't know if she writes much outside of Dusted, but skimming through her stuff (http://dustedmagazine.com/writers/kelly), Kelly is no ignorant hack. She just has a preference for indie, psych and post-punk. Her list is hardly random -- she pretty clearly stated that they're her favorites. Since when is specializing a crime? Should we start bludgeoning the hip-hop and r&b crits who neglect country? Or call the metal writers ignorant fucks because they clearly have little understanding/interest of dance-pop? If one wanted an update on Brazilian albums here, you're all useless.

The whole indie backlash thing is kind of funny, but ultimately comes off as peevish and pointless. The way I see it, anyone who bothers to dismiss an entire genre of music most likely couldn't be bothered to listen to much of it and is in a weak-ass position to judge. Hearing and hating the Arcade Fire and the National is understandable, but ridiculing a writer for a top 20 that you probably hadn't heard more than a third of? Now that's some bullshit.

The Soft Pack certainly has no pretentions of being 'important' but it does have 7 excellent songs on it, which is more than one can say about many of the others topping this year's lists.

the most loudly trumpeted indie rock and the occassional Wire favorite

Within the realm of trumpeted indie rock in 2010, her list is reasonably atypical. If anyone finds it completely humdrum content-wise (I'm talking about the specific albums chosen, not whether or not you personally find them any good), it's because you've probably heard as many or more records this year than she has. 8 of her 10 records aren't exactly commonplace in the blogspot circles.

My issue was with her preamble not her content. Why ask "where is this year's merriweather post pavilion to unite us all" if you're not even interested in anything that falls outside of a pretty narrow sphere. It's the implied borders around "what matters", rather than what she actually likes, which gives off a blinkered indie rock critic vibe.

Resident Advisor: Top 20 albums of 2010
http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1264

20. Prins Thomas - Prins Thomas [Full Pupp]
19. The Black Dog - Music for Real Airports [Soma]
18. Lindstrom & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool [Smalltown Supersound]
17. Peter Van Hoesen - Entropic City [Time To Express]
16. ASC - Nothing Is Certain [NonPlus+]
15. Darkstar - North [Hyperdub]
14. Bonobo - Black Sands [Ninja Tune]
13. Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal [Mego]
12. Virgo - Virgo [Rush Hour]
11. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening [DFA]
10. Matthew Dear - Black City [Ghostly International]
09. Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush]
08. Scuba - Triangulation [Hotflush]
07. Four Tet - There Is Love In You [Domino]
06. Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise [Rough Trade]
05. John Roberts - Glass Eights [Dial]
04. Actress - Splazsh [Honest Jons]
03. Shed - The Traveller [Ostgut Ton]
02.Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma [Warp]
01. Caribou - Swim [City Slang]

MPP did unite, though. It united people into two opposing camps!

That John Roberts album sounds like it might be a good 'un, need to give that a shot.

Why ask "where is this year's merriweather post pavilion to unite us all" if you're not even interested in anything that falls outside of a pretty narrow sphere. It's the implied borders around "what matters", rather than what she actually likes, which gives off a blinkered indie rock critic vibe.

yeah, but "what ought to matter" is inseparable from "what you like," no matter who you are. indie rock critics aren't any more congenitally blinkered than other genre-bound voices. dance critics speak to dance partisans, rap critics to autogoon united, and so on. we all pretend, from time to time, that our private stomping grounds = that which matters. which is perfectly fine, afaic. i like kelly's list. it's personal, intelligent and engaged. i wouldn't list a single thing on it among my personal favorites, but so what? she's entitled to her enthusiasms, indie as they might seem.

yeah, but "what ought to matter" is inseparable from "what you like," no matter who you are.

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:47 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i disagree

so tell me all about the irredeemably awful (yet hugely important) shit that ppl ought to be paying attention to, iyo

imo, kanye is hugely important & kinda wack

imo, dj quik & kurupt last year was way dope but not v important

i like the kurupt & quik (mostly whatsha wan do) and the dark twisted fantayzee equally, but if i didn't like them personally, i wouldn't think of recommending them to anyone. i mean, i'm not the hague. i don't have to worry about objectivity.

and there's nothing nowhere near as good as whatsha wan do on MBDTBDMBTWDF

i'm in the middle of writing something on why there needs to be a moratorium on the word "important" because it's so awful & meaningless

i don't have to worry about objectivity.

it's not about objectivity for critics either. or at least, it shouldn't be.

if a record is "important" for whatever reason and by whichever definition you use, this really does only become apparent after time has passed.

^ supermanning it

Of all the boring personal top tens, why does this particular one draw such contempt?

i also agree with this - i don't care about the records on her list and find her tastes narrow and blinkered, yes, but no more so than ANY GIVEN PITCHFORK WRITER apart from their genre specialists

sorry, i think some things are important

i'm not gonna get into it here cuz this is stuff i'm trying to work out in a piece that's on hold while i deadline-surf elsewhere today, but what do you mean by important, really?

sorry, i think some things are important

i'm sure i will come around when they are prying my guns from my cold dead hands