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

just realized pfork ranked all the james blake EPs together on the albums list, but didnt do the same w/r/t Zola Jesus (Stridulum, Velusia/Valusia/however it was spelled, Stridulum II)

Chris Richards of the Washington Post likes Drake, Choc Quib Town, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Kanye, Soft Pack and a few more

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/12/lists_chris_richards_top_10_al.html

what band was that guy in again?

liked his beach house blurb

Me, I can’t get enough of its dark pagan delights.

I thought DeRo liked white women?

oh, jim, still the Dionysian.

unsound opinions

Trivia:

Jon Caramanica picked albums by two guys who have had hits called "Best I Ever Had" (though not this year).
Chris Richards picked albums by two guys who wrote "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" (though not this year).

what band was that guy in again?

liked his beach house blurb

― return of the nakh (J0rdan S.), Friday, December 17, 2010 2:46 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

he was in Q And Not U. hell of a nice guy, although when i talk to him we have to make an effort to avoid arguing about Drake.

i really want to hear a drake superfan explain to me what they like w/out it devolving into being about how his persona is so novel

one thing i'll give drake is that if you're really into his production aesthetic, it can be pretty novel at times for a "rap" album, but i still don't think it makes up for everything else

i really want to hear a drake superfan explain to me what they like w/out it devolving into being about how his persona is so novel

This seems perilously close to asking someone to explain why they like something without saying anything positive about it. Like, for any performer, the artistic persona they are putting forth, whether it's a theatrical "Character" (a la Janelle Monae) or a "serious musician" (a la... I don't know, YMMV on this but maybe Tori Amos? Scott Walker?) or whatever, is a large portion of why you are buying into them. "Persona" in this usage includes the genre the musician is operating in; if you are all about symphonies, you are likely not going to appreciate Speedy J's "Pullover" because the gulf between expected idiom and actual idiom is so large.

What Drake seems to be doing is carving out a specific idiom within hip-hop and R&B and a lot of people are going apeshit for it; I personally think it sounds like lazy garbage but that's kind of my default reaction to like 95% of hip-hop these days so I don't lose THAT much sleep over it.

dude's voice sounds like a front-door buzzer

hahaha

otm

I guess a lot of us underestimate most people's burning need to have a Stefan Urquelle in their lives

a Stefan who realized he could do better than Laura and now goes to strip clubs

smh at both those Robyn blurbs. Reminds me of some of the Janelle reviews that bugged Lex earlier this year - "This is like R&B but clever!"

damn, how much of a wreck was Laura if the girls from the strip club are a step UP

pussy refused to whisper the andy griffith theme

lol i mean whistle

wait'll you see my *SNORT*

the robyn thing makes less sense imo than the janelle ... janelle is an R&B artist incorporating other influences & going for different concepts (lol --- was she influenced by sun ra???) the diff between robyn & gaga in terms of 'content' is so narcissism of hipster differences i can barely see it

(lol --- was she influenced by sun ra???)

I know you're joking but the likely answer here is "yes".

i think what deej meant is that "drake's a major rap star and he's from canada! and light-skinned! and a child star! and he sings!" is a narrtive that his fans lean on to justify his importance even more than his detractors use to criticize him (why bother when we've got the monotonous flow, the grocery bag punchlines, the inane 'deep thoughts' to make fun of).

I get that; what I'm saying (which I realize is almost 180 degrees in the opposite direction of how I usually argue) is that clearly those things are important to the people championing dude otherwise they wouldn't keep mentioning them all the time, and as such it feels like deej is saying "tell me what you like about this dude without telling me about the things you like about this dude".

xpost Ha, yes, so plainly influenced by Sun Ra - she goes deep into the afrofuturist stuff.

There are significant differences between Robyn and Gaga, deej, but I think you're right about why certain critics will rave about the former and be snide about the latter.

which critics are praising him for his biography?

I mean, I get that he's praised for sounding so fucking strange but I don't get that the subtext of said complaints is, "lol well he's Canadian remember."

well at the very beginning it wasn't a subtext

There are significant differences between Robyn and Gaga, deej, but I think you're right about why certain critics will rave about the former and be snide about the latter.

robyn has weaker beats for one thing! not just a jab: you can't lose yourself in them physically, they're not "mindless" in the way the best club beats are ("mindless" not being mutually exclusive with "smart"). you get your detachment and your distance from "common" pop, basically. the same goes for her affectless, unmelismatic voice too.

idk if gaga is the comparison that best illustrates the odd doublethink going on in responses to robyn vis-à-vis other popstars, though - i like the one the alfred outlined here, to ciara: http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2261

the canadian thing was made a point by a lot of ppl who praised him for being an outsider

I know you're joking but the likely answer here is "yes".

― Tina Tina Cheneuse (DJP), Friday, December 17, 2010 3:02 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i agree - id be more willing to believe she was a sun ra head than dungeon fam were -- imo they were just riffing off pfunk stuff, at least early on

which critics are praising him for his biography?

well, Pitchfork (lol): http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14367-thank-me-later/
this one sets the framework of it being autobiographical before diving into the songs themselves: http://hiphopwired.com/2010/06/16/drake-thank-me-later-review/
also his bio is used as a selling point for the album here: http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/drake/thank-me-later/30715/
and there are several "first-ever Canadian emcee to do this" refs to his accomplishments pre-album here: http://www.culturebully.com/drake-thank-me-later-album-review

These are the first 4 Google hits on "drake thank me later review".

i agree - id be more willing to believe she was a sun ra head than dungeon fam were -- imo they were just riffing off pfunk stuff, at least early on

You would agree, though, that Parliament was unambiguously and irrefutably informed by Sun Ra, right? I mean, you're basically arguing semantics here.

this is an argument for the other thread but im not actually entirely convince they were wholly influenced by sun ra, or that he wasnt more than a nominal influence... pop cult stuff in this era was full of space age detritus -- if you have a quote wherein GC or bootsy credit sun ra w/ being a chief influence i'll stand down on that particular point, though

xpost. Hmm. I find the beat of Dancing on My Own irresistible and the vocal genuinely moving. Ditto with Hang With Me. I don't find her distancing. I just think she's catnip to thirtysomethings with fond memories of synth-pop - more retro than Gaga.

the famous clinton line re: sun ra is "This boy was definitely out to lunch--same place I eat." Though I dunno if he ever outright kissed ra's boot.

yeah the Clinton quote sounds like him saying "we get compared a lot and i respect that he was out there as much as i was but i don't actually consider him a big influence on my work"

i'm gonna work through the RA tracks list tonight (haven't been out anywhere near enough this year waaah)

lex i checked out & enjoyed the k. michelle due to your reppin - thx

which critics are praising him for his biography?

― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, December 17, 2010 4:06 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I mean, I get that he's praised for sounding so fucking strange but I don't get that the subtext of said complaints is, "lol well he's Canadian remember."

― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, December 17, 2010 4:10 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the argument i had w/ the aforementioned Post critic about Drake came from him comparing him to Timberlake circa Justified -- the outsider who was too white and too child-star-background to get taken seriously in some circles become a darling of urban radio and treated with respected by every cool platinum rapper etc. i think for some people Drake represents a new paradigm of rap stardom the same way Kanye played up the whole Benz and a backpack thing when he first came out.

I think "informed" and "influenced" are similar, but semantically different words.

"Influenced" implies (to me) that you never would have had the idea without encountering X.

"Informed" implies (again, to me) that you would have had the idea, but X had some impact on how you decided to express it.

This is why I said "informed by" and not "influenced by".

i want dan to guest edit pitchfork for a week, it'd put the fear of god into half their writers

the ppl (of my young world) who love drake don't really care about what he represents they just dig his songs + play them all the time and like to sing along. for this reason drake placing highly annoys me less than kanye where the ppl showering the album with praise have generally just listened to it a couple of times before declaring it genius. anyone who seriously thinks drake represents anything needs their head examined.

lex i checked out & enjoyed the k. michelle due to your reppin - thx

<3

yeah tpp i don't necessarily think all the kids putting "Say Something" and "Find Your Love" at the top of request line countdowns care much about Drake's background, i mean more in terms of the people who gave his album glowing reviews and are putting it on year-end lists

yeah i agree actually

also that boston rap list is a classic case of americans be thinkin' they bork borks

looool

what does that even mean?

It's the fact that Drake's commercial success has (AFAICT) actually not much to do with his "persona" that the critical leaning on it seems excessive.

And it's interesting Dan that you also cited Janelle and Tori Amos, two artists who I think also get praised and criticised in terms of their persona to an excessive degree (though certainly in both cases it's an important aspect of each artist's work). Tori is a classic case of this ultimately working against the artist because almost no-one - even among her sympathetic critics - actually plays close attention to what she's doing compositionally.

I think we've just discovered the target market that finds Salem's music "sexy".

On Sound Opinions, DeRo even said (of the Salem album): "It makes me want to run naked through the woods, doing horrible pagan things, sacrificing goats to the dark lords below."

I thought DeRo liked white women?

His wife's Hispanic!

one thing i'll give drake is that if you're really into his production aesthetic, it can be pretty novel at times for a "rap" album, but i still don't think it makes up for everything else

I don't unreservedly love the album, but I do like Drake's chill production aesthetic. There are a few lines I cringe at here and there, but tbh, I don't really pay attention to Drake himself that much when I'm listening to it.