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

not to try and start something, but I find it strange that our/FACT's albums of the year list gets criticised here for featuring Salem, Drake, Kanye and Darkstar in the 40 (amongst Ferraro, Rashad, Roc, Ettinger, Actress, Forest Swords, Altered Natives et al), while Resident Advisor (who i like, and in certain aspects look up to - particularly presentation) do one of the safest top 20s I can imagine, with everything either house, techno, or very house and techno-friendly, and it gets called great.

Lists get criticised more for what thye put in than what they leave out: Resident Advisor largely respecting its "brief" makes it a safer list, as well as a relatively functional one, rather like those "progressive house tracks of 2010" style lists that juno does.

FACT's aesthetic is broader obv (and of course RA the past 2 years or so has been heavily influenced by it) which makes it more likely to be taken seriously as an actual across-the-board "best of the year" list but also leaves it more exposed to criticism. Also, lol Drake etc.

What's interesting about both FACT and RA's approach to list-making is the preponderous of "we" - "we loved this record in April", "we played this over and over again all year" etc. The frequency of such statements exceeds their use in, say, Pitchfork lists, by a considerable margin.

I wonder if this is a function of both sites being grounded in dance music - there's more of an assumption of communality and commonality, of records being judged based on their reception by an audience (of dancers, of critics) rather than by an individual.

I <3 Fact the lists are always bitter sweet though. Half of it always seems to be chaff like Kanye/Drake and generic indie. Then the other half is always on it and to my taste. Its one of the most interesting lists because of it though. None of the others really challenge what I'm listing to or throw up as many curvballs. Its hard for lists to not sound generic and Fact somehow breakout of that by being a bit divisive for me at least.

I remember in about 1999 Mixmag had this end of year special where they got a group of longrunning celebrity DJs and producers to sit around and talk about what was the best album of the year. As I recall Missy Elliot, Layo & Bushwakca and Felix Da Housecat were all nommed but the end result was Basement Jaxx, more by a process of elimination than anything else (one or two participants simply refused to countenance Missy for example). The assumption that there was a "community" whose consensus ultimately would be unitary and solid was unspoken but nonetheless taken for granted. If they'd chosen people with interesting points of view it would have been a really good piece actually.

Prob. the big difference with Mixmag is that its emphasis on the obvious meant that its use of "we" was/is less remarkable (in both a positive and negative sense - it makes sense, but also is very predictable). Whereas I find it curious to read write-ups of say Hype Williams that deploy we-speak.

Boomkat do this as well obv, with even more perverse results given their aesthetic focus.

I guess I find it odd because I'm such an "I" critic - not in the sense of being more egotistical, but in the sense of feeling largely disconnected from any kind of aesthetic community that might share my taste.

Well if we're posting our own reissues charts...

1. Various Artists - Cold Waves & Minimal Electronics
2. The Fall - Strange And Frightening World Of... (Omnibus Edition)
3. Suede - Best Of
4. Omar Souleyman - Jazeera Nights
5. Einsturzende Neubauten - Strategies Against Architecture IV
6. Simian Mobile Disco - Delicacies
7. Various Artists - Down To The Sea And Back
8. Virgo - Virgo
9. Various Artists - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970's Nigeria
10. Liars - Live
11. Ruth - Polaroid/Roman/Photo
12. Various Artists - Pomegranates
13. Godflesh - Streetcleaner
14. Chris Carter - Spaces Between
15. Various Artists - The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol One
16. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
17. David Bowie - Station To Station
18. Various Artists - Disco Discharge: The Pink Pounders
19. Various Artists - The Sound Of Siam: Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz And Molam From Thailand, 1964 - 1975
20. Congotronics - Box Set
21. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream
22. Juan McLean - DJ Kicks
23. Wire - Send
24. Wooden Shjips - Vol 2
25. Chris & Cosey - Heartbeat
26. Various Artists - To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings from Istanbul
27. The Cure - Disintegration
28. Various Artists - The Exploding Disco Inevitable
29. Shackleton - Fabric 55
30. Various Artists - Rough Trade Synth Wave 10
31. Various Artists - Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla and Afro-Roots in Columbia 1975-1991
32. A Certain Ratio - Force
33. Optimo (Espacio) - Fabric 52
34. Galaxie 500 - Today
35. The Heads - Relaxing With The Heads
36. Charanjit Singh Synthesizing - Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
37. Various Artists - Isvolt
38. Bardo Pond - Alvarius
39. Jesus And Mary Chain - Upside Down
40. Judas Priest - British Steel

We being the Quietus.

There's plenty of amazing stuff on the FACT list that I wasn't even aware had come out this year, like Dadawa for example. And someone just told me about some Syl Johnson anthology which I had no idea about.

its cool that splazsh topped the wire list. that album is definitely the best permutation of the big 2010 trends that most dance music i heard this year was doing (manipulated r&b samples, warm buzz ambient, weird throbs, extreme attention to sonic detail). it sounds way cooler, really fresh and new. everything on it gets so deconstructed, at some points it almost doesn't make sense

also super lavish and perfect sounding, it's got a really lean & economical sound. maybe that's what set it apart. a lot of pulsing going on but it's not all awash in reverb or something stupid

And someone just told me about some Syl Johnson anthology which I had no idea about.

Speaking of which, there's a great writeup on Syl as part of the Dusted EOY series: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/942

Cokemachineglow:: Top 50 Albums 2010

this is one of the worst things i've ever read

Listening to Waka Flocka Flame is like hearing the voice of God (or what I imagine it to be): unbearably intense, packed with direct injunctions, and spoken in the third-person. It makes sense, then, that like the Old Testament, Flockaveli is full of commandments and terse assessments of its Creator’s chosen ones. Both are easy to dismiss as unreconstructed hogwash, yet both are nearly impossible to eradicate from the psyche of anyone who pays attention.

For both Waka and God, the indelicacy of divine order demands exegesis on the part of the follower. The Christian God transcends logic, leaving it up to Christians to parse His indelible Word for all time. In the same way, Waka Flocka is a being of impulse, one who explains nothing because, he convinces us, there is ultimately no explanation for anything. Explanations are how mere humans patch together their lives from one day to another in order to prevent the inchoate madness of the universe from driving them insane. Which means explanations change constantly. “When my little brother died, I said ‘fuck school’” is not an explanation. It is a demonstration, from its stomach-clenching delivery down to the hundreds of pages of memoir that are packed like an exploding star into its nine blunt words.

Of course, one could say that much of rap is predicated on the idea of words as innately powerful elements rather than signifiers, used intentionally to hold together, to empower tenuous existences. Waka Flocka, then, is pure rap. Vulnerabilities are directly referenced (“I fucked my money up, damn,” is how “Let’s Do It” begins) and then eradicated through a strength that is nebulous enough to seem like faith. There’s the ruthlessly self-edited simplicity of the lyrics—“Hit ‘em with the choppa / Call that shit hot lava”—that when censored, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, become even more powerful than you could possibly imagine. There’re the gigantic, unchanging loops that underpin every song; it’s like Steve Reich fed through a distortion pedal.

And finally, there’s the delivery, always urgent but never anxious. “Front yard, broad day with a SK,” he intones, measuredly, on “Hard in da Paint,” but there’s no gangster paranoia or forced social message in what comes out. The shortening of “broad daylight” into “broad day” feels more like an expansion, a celebration. Waka Flocka is a joyful creator, in full command of his idiom. It can be exceptionally uncomfortable to be in his presence, but that’s because there are volumes of knowledge, warning, celebration, and treatises on how to use gunshots as percussion inside Flockaveli. It’s enough to take into the desert for 40 days and come out glowing.

i don't really understand how people do 'best reissues' lists. is it just the best old albums that happened to get reissued this year, or is it purely about the package/remastering/added value/etc. or whether it's giving an underrated or undiscovered album it's due?

x-post

I saw Syl Johnson awhile back (2009) as part of the Numero Group Eccentric Soul tour. Still has an impressive voice

disappointing to see only 3 of my top 10 for the year appear in any of these lists. not entirely surprised by best coast and besnard lakes, but i appreciated seeing lonelady get some attention

Pitchfork's top 50 albums
50-21

50. Wavves - King of the Beach
49. Wild Nothing - Gemini
48. Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
47. Women - Public Strain
46. Matthew Dear - Black City
45. Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here
44. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow
43. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
42. Drake - Thank Me Later
41. Delorean - Subiza
40. Abe Vigoda - Crush
39. Best Coast - Crazy For You
38. Rick Ross - Teflon Don
37. Zola Jesus - Stridulum EP
36. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
35. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
34. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
33. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
32. Tyler, the Creator - Bastard
31. Woods - At Echo Lake
30. The-Dream - Love King
29. The Fresh & Onlys - Play It Strange
28. The National - High Violet
27. Four Tet - There Is Love in You
26. Twin Shadow - Forget
25. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
24. Hot Chip - One Life Stand
23. Das Racist - Sit Down, Man
22. Girls - Broken Dreams Club EP
21. The Walkmen - Lisbon

hardly any surprises. i'm not familiar with #32, disappointed the-dream/gil scott-heron/four tet/kylesa didnt do a bit better.

that Tyler the Creator never got a review from them, from what I can tell

44. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow

lol @ this even being on that list

that kylesa album is dope

yep

they killed it live too

22 strong condenders for the pfork top 20:

kanye west
ariel pink
lcd soundsystem
robyn
big boi
joanna newsom
janelle monae
deerhunter
beach house
sleigh bells
titus andronicus
arcade fire
caribou
erykah badu
no age
how to dress well
james blake
flying lotus
gonjasufi
local natives
owen pallett
vampire weekend

long shots, but a couple of these may appear:

julian lynch
broken social scene
the radio dept.
the morning benders
fang island

i swear i was minutes away from posting "hey ilxor, can you tell us what you think the top 20 will be" and then decided against it. and then like not even 5 minutes later look

hahaha you know me too well ;)

last year i predicted the entire top 20 i think! can't seem to narrow it down past 22 yet, though.

very happy to see so many of my favorites on the p4k list, as i know it'll do them some good: gil-scott heron, zola jesus, emeralds, tyler, woods, the-dream, fresh & onlys, twin shadow: all good to great. also, reading the blurbs made me want to check out forest swords, women, kylesa and abe vigoda. anyone here have opinions on those?

if i had to guess, i'd say two of these won't make it:

erykah badu
how to dress well
james blake
gonjasufi
local natives

the other 17 of those 22 are locks

contenderizer: forest swords, kylesa are both excellent

yeah i'm a hueg KFW fan and had no idea that record existed

lol

it is worth tracking down a copy tho if you like his stuff but tbh i can think of a # of more interesting releases that fucked w/ similar sounds/textures/'feelings'

p digusted that two of my records of the year are on the pfork list

fucking record isn't listed on his wiki page

hardly any surprises. i'm not familiar with #32, disappointed the-dream/gil scott-heron/four tet/kylesa didnt do a bit better.
― i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Thursday, December 16, 2010 1:12 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that Tyler the Creator never got a review from them, from what I can tell
― Dan S, Thursday, December 16, 2010 1:17 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

Bastard is the only one of those 30 that I actually listen to.

KFW'S disengenuity/disengenuousness LP for sale at his own distribution website, mimaroglu

fucking record isn't listed on his wiki page

yah i shouldnt clown you - dude released a tonne of stuff this year that i havent heard either.

srs qn 4 u tho - whats the most limited/hardest to get a hold of release youd put on a top x of 2010 list? like do you think theres a point in repping for stuff that was only put out in like a 30 cassette run or w/e? also did you hear the bj nilsen tape 'draught #1'? its crazy good & im kinda sad the wire seems to have missed it

I remember 2 years ago a couple of angry readers writing to The Wire to complain about an item in their top 50 that was released in only 200 or so copies on cdr (Christina Carter's Masque Femine), making it all but impossible to hear

i see on wikipedia that Tyler the Creator is part of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All in LA. I really liked the Earl Sweatshirt album. ...will download this

is Transference not going to make the Top 50?

I doubt it

srs qn 4 u tho - whats the most limited/hardest to get a hold of release youd put on a top x of 2010 list? like do you think theres a point in repping for stuff that was only put out in like a 30 cassette run or w/e? also did you hear the bj nilsen tape 'draught #1'? its crazy good & im kinda sad the wire seems to have missed it

― Lamp, Thursday, December 16, 2010 1:46 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I mean, for a personal list it could be as small as you like—if it hits you, it hits you. That' an imperfect science. i remember having the Father's Day CD-R on a list once.

But like when an entire staff of a magazine stumps for some tiny thing, it def feels a little disingenuous. Like when you turn from "these are my personal faves" to "this is the authoritiative best" it def seems like posturing to hang that banner on something an artist only thought was worth 200 copies.

Personally it's really hard for me to hear small run stuff anyway. Small-run noise is for serious obsessives, and i'm always fracturing my listening into like Ciara and Jamey Johnson and Salif Keita and Vado. Like there's too much to listen for me to get really bogged down in Pwin Teaks' 15 copy cassette or whatev. (though i did buy a 200-run Eluvium CD which is v nice)

wtf is a beach house anyway? never even heard the name before these lists

indie

and why are people consistently putting the caribou record over four tet's when the latter does the same things way better?

But like when an entire staff of a magazine stumps for some tiny thing, it def feels a little disingenuous. Like when you turn from "these are my personal faves" to "this is the authoritiative best" it def seems like posturing to hang that banner on something an artist only thought was worth 200 copies.

well ime stuff that gets put out in limited runs isnt necessarily stuff that 'the artist' only wanted 200 (or 50 or 500) to hear! & then there are great labels to put out limited runs for 'philosophical' (uh speaking broadly) reasons - feels unfair to 'penalize' these releases some of which are incredible.

idk i guess i do get the idea that if the entire staff of your mag is listening to the same limited run cdrs u probably need to expand your bubble but i thought it was interesting you seemed annoyed/contemptuous of the wire listing a 500 run lp (which lol is a 'bigger' release than a quarter of my top 20)

I've always suspected that there's a lot of good faith in Dan because of how good Caribou are live. I like Swim enough but it just doesn't compare to how amazing it can be watching them live (and I've seen them play in shops, bars, at festivals, on big and small stages and they've always been superb). It's kind of the opposite with Four Tet (although personally I've not really liked that much by him on record for about six years); y'know, you've bought some artisan bread from the food market, you've been to see the Rothko retrospective at the Tate, you've been shopping for first edition hardbacks in Foyles and you've got time to fit in a rave before you go to a dinner party in the evening. Oh goodie! Keiren Hebden's manning the ones and twos.

What's wrong with some Cornish acid you slags?

Keiran Hebden, sorry. And while I'm in apologizing mode... I'd like to offer my sincere apologies and condolences to American posters on behalf of the entire UK re: Piers Morgan.

Unless it was some horrific nightmare I was having this morning when the news came on my alarm radio, it appears he's taking over from Larry King on CNN. It's not like CNN is a good station or even that Larry King was a great interviewer but it still fills my heart full of woe to think of that obsequious thunder cunt in gainful employment on your television. And the only respite from this depression can be gained by imagining some strong and honourable colonials shanking him in the fucking neck with broken glass.

indie

― *plop*ism rules (deej), Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:35 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what kind of indie?

XP - Some Dude: Compilations make up the main part of our list, and for the most part these usually comprise of scenes that are new (Isvolt); genres that are new to us (Cold Waves And Minimal Tapes, Palenque Palenque); old albums that were in the main unknown due to their rarity (Virgo 4, The Spaces Between); compilations that have just been the soundtrack to our everyday work (Pink Pounders, Delicacies); great mixes (Shackleton) - although this is a real crap shoot... we forgot to include the great Ninja mix by King Cannibal and next year (touch wood) we'll probably include mix tapes or do a separate mix tape chart.

For actual greatest hits or classic albums there aren't that many and I can justify most of them being there. For example Station To Station comes with an amazing double live album from 1974 that towers above David live and no-one stans passionately for S2S... why is this? It's one of his best albums.

Out of the others? Well, I just love Bitches Brew (if it had been Live Evil, Get Up With It, Black Beauty etc they would have featured instead) and we had a big feature this year with a lot of rock stars discussing their favourite Davis albums so it felt right for the site.

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the Suede one being so high but the other two love it and play it on constant rotation so what are you going to do...

And finally who wouldn't have Streetcleaner or British Steel in their reissues of the year? Who?

xpost to Tim F I wonder if this is a function of both sites being grounded in dance music - there's more of an assumption of communality and commonality, of records being judged based on their reception by an audience (of dancers, of critics) rather than by an individual.

One thing I remember fondly about working at Mixmag and Muzik 1996-99 was exactly that communality - there were all these different specialist niches but everyone in the office could agree on the big drum'n'bass, house, techno or hip hop anthem. And because we were all going to clubs, we'd seen these tunes in action and could talk confidently about "we" in a way that I never could now. And I wasn't using internet messageboards then so I don't remember much bickering or nitpicking about whether so-and-so tune deserved its place. It was a really pleasurable consensus - for me at least.

I realised recently the only mag on the shelves that I can read without feeling pandered or sold to is Mixmag these days.

i stopped reading mixmag about 8 or 9 years ago, got sick to death of all the drug survey crap and ibiza specials all the fucking time. Has it improved? I must have a good few hundred issues up in the loft along with Muzik & Mojo. Sadly all my 90s nme/melody makers were thrown out.

no-one stans passionately for S2S

waht

Sister2Sister?

AG - I don't buy it all the time, but yeah they do an annual drug survey. Maybe not so much concentration on the Tall Paul/Ibiza scene as before, but that's the music climate for you.