Year-End Critics' Polls '07

here's the more exact link.

How did I miss the fact that Kevin Ayers has a new record out?

is it just me or is everyone putting the paper planes remix w/ bun b and rich boy on their lists and not the original? and if so why?????

http://www.grounduphiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/bunb3.jpg

its such a boring/lazy verse tho.

because crits are still desperate for links between M.I.A. and US rap to help fill out their thesis papers about here.

here=her

"Most/All," I do not think so. from their site: Since its inception, Metacritic has provided a cross-section of reviews from a carefully-screened group of the most respected critics

-- curmudgeon, Monday, December 17, 2007 6:34 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

from a stars of the lid review they used:
"I think that there are to many strange instruments in each song"
"It’s not like Stars of the Lid’s previous efforts where filled with booming dynamics and a wide variety of sounds"

"Most/All," I do not think so.

When you have a moment, kindly direct your exacting attention to Metacritic's 2006 aggregator and you'll see that the 2007 list, like those before it, will reflect "critic top ten lists...as they appear."

Furthermore, I said cobbling, not cobbled. In other words, ongoing process, not finished product.

eRading is fudnamental.

x-post

Ha. I am sure they very carefully selected that review. The idea of Metacritic has always seemed better to me than the actual thing. They never incorporate a wide enough musical spectrum for me.

Frieze magazine has a Jace Clayton year in review essay and a conversation between Simon Reynolds and Ann Powers

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/music_3/

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/music_2/

ilx will have its own poll this year, won't it?

-- Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, December 4, 2007

yeah, it should. someone always puts something together...

-- Bee OK, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 04:07 (1 week ago) Link

I was thinking about starting one soon, since no one has done it yet...maybe even starting it before 2008 is half over. I might make it top 25 instead of top 50, though.

Metacritic never incorporates a wide enough musical spectrum for me.

Example of what they miss(ed)?

Oh come on, the biases are obvious in the resulting list.

That's not an answer.

There is a ton of international music that doesn't have a chance--because it's not good, obviously.

Do you want genres or artists or what? When I look at that list I mostly see indie rock, metal, some other rock, electronic/"dance" music, hip-hop I guess (though I imagine hip-hop fans would complain about their selection there), and a smattering of jazz. Go read some jazz or world music or better yet, region-specific or "world" music genre specific, end of the year lists. Has all that stuff been considered and found inferior inferior to Feist or Radiohead or whomever? I don't think so.

(Or modern classical. . .)

They only scratch the surface of metal - the Dillinger Escape Plan for instance. Most of the major metal releases of the year aren't in there.

A lot of the ratings and rankings on Metacritic are horseshit, but I'm not entirely convinced that that has more to do with Metacritic's selection of publications and critics than the opinions of the publications and critics available for them to select from.

the opinions of the publications and critics available for them to select from.

I know that some newspapers reviews can be found via Lexis/Nexis and not google and vice/versa. I bet, even in this day and age, you can also find some reviews in printed form that are not online and provided to Metacritic. But it also appears that Metacritic does not reach out and try to include non-indie rock reviews.

I'd be more ineterested in what Metacritics users top of 2007 are than seeing a list where Rolling Stone voted. Rolling Stone gave a higher score to Blackout than they did Strawberry Jam, haha!

their scores on moves & games usually seem pretty accurate, books and music seem totally random/arbitrary.

Rolling Stone gave a higher score to Blackout than they did Strawberry Jam

So?

A lot of the ratings and rankings on Metacritic are horseshit,

Agreed. Not so sure I agree with the rest of Alex's post, though, or even what it means -- so, they're horseshit because the critics have the wrong opinions? I don't get that. (To me, their main limitation has always seemed to be in the kinds of albums they decide to include on their site -- and also, their tendency to subjectively, and often seemingly arbitrarily, translate non-numerical reviews into numerical scores, which doesn't always work.)

Anyway, Billboard Critic Picks (and top ten):

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/2007/albums/index.html

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If someone can point us to something from Metacritic that is taken from a Latin Beat magazine review, or a Rio De Janeiro newspaper review, I would like to see it.

Respectfully, Rockist, your argument is at best specious: what list aggregator gives international music (whatever that means) its due?

As a counterpoint: the Village Voice surveyed approximately 500 critics and its '06 list closely resembles the list of many other publications (as well as the Metacritic Aggregate). But! BUT! If one digs a little deeper and cross-references the data from which the Voice culls its list, won't one find the critics that practice their love of international music. Can't one create their own aggregate list with Ctrl-C, Ctrl-P and a spreadsheet? Too much heavy lifting?

I'm not defending Metacritic as the Alpha and Omega of music criticism (far from it!), but isn't it at least a decent place to start (even if it is, admittedly, demonstrably limited in scope, as Alex in Baltimore aptly points out)?

Are you (and curmudgeon or Simon H) honestly disappointed that something like Fabric 36 (or the modern classical or metal you dug this past year) didn't make the "big list"? If it had, doesn't that selection make the ranked music that much more likely to finds its way into the background of your local Starbucks? I, for (and likely not the only) one, am glad I only hear "my music" at my choosing and not someone else's. That I read about in certain places and not everywhere.

But let's have at it, let's make all music we individually cherish popular (i.e., well-ranked, because that's important at the end of the day) and see if we don't end up somewhere like this:

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/shirts/elitistdiagram740black.gif

PopMatters top 60 albums of the year:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/52152/the-best-albums-of-2007

Village Voice surveyed approximately 500 critics and its '06 list closely resembles... the Metacritic Aggregate).

Is this even true, though? I haven't looked at Metacritic much this year, so maybe it's opened up somewhat, but when I was running the Voice poll, Metacritic's site always skewed way more indie-rock than Pazz & Jop. Which is why I always found it laughable when people based predictions for Pazz & Jop placements on Metacritic placements -- there were way too many records that Metacritic ignored, or charted way too high based on a limited, insular number of reviews, or whatever. If that's changed, though, more power to them.

I don't like the idea that people think Metacritic is a reliable list aggregator when it clearly is not. This also ties in with what Deej was calling the priveleging of indie-rock in a posting on the SFJ thread. While I recognize that some artists may never make the "big list" (whatever that is) it still dissapoints me. I would love to hear a wide variety of sounds at my local Starbucks and on commercial radio stations and on MTV and wherever. As noted upthread, I have pestered M. Matos at Idolator this year and others (the Voice) in prior years to offer a wider spectrum.

If someone can point us to something from Metacritic that is taken from a Latin Beat magazine review, or a Rio De Janeiro newspaper review, I would like to see it.

If someone can point us something from Metacritic (a US-based publication) that suggests it's reached out to, or has been approached by Latin Beat or a Rio De Janeiro daily (in English, mind you...this isn't, after all, Metacritic.com.br), or where Metacritic promises something (such as an international perspective) that it doesn't deliver, I would like to see it.

xpost - I hope Ali Farka Toure topping Metacritic's '06 list isn't lost on Rockist, or anyone else, for that matter.

The major flaw with Metacritic is that it treats the ratings for, let's say, "Untrue" (91 with 13 reviews) and "In Rainbows" (88 with 40 reviews) without the quantity of reviews as a consideration.

major systemic flaw, that is, not taking into account the other stuff

I don't like the idea that people think Metacritic is a reliable list aggregator when it clearly is not. This also ties in with what Deej was calling the priveleging of indie-rock in a posting on the SFJ thread. While I recognize that some artists may never make the "big list" (whatever that is) it still dissapoints me. I would love to hear a wide variety of sounds at my local Starbucks and on commercial radio stations and on MTV and wherever. As noted upthread, I have pestered M. Matos at Idolator this year and others (the Voice) in prior years to offer a wider spectrum.

-- curmudgeon, Monday, December 17, 2007 4:14 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I agree. It annoys the shit out of me that Jay-Z's second worst album is the only hip hop album with "universal acclaim" on Metacritic's music page right now. But my beef is first with the many many critics who are wrong, and second with the aggregator that only slightly exaggerates the unanimity of their wrong opinions.

ilx will have its own poll this year, won't it?

-- Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, December 4, 2007

yeah, it should. someone always puts something together...

-- Bee OK, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 04:07 (1 week ago) Link

I was thinking about starting one soon, since no one has done it yet...maybe even starting it before 2008 is half over. I might make it top 25 instead of top 50, though.

-- musically, Monday, December 17, 2007 8:11 PM (57 minutes ago)

yeah, do it please! we need one on this board and for it not to come out in March 2008.

xpost - I hope Ali Farka Toure topping Metacritic's '06 list isn't lost on Rockist, or anyone else, for that matter.

It's not lost on me, and he's very much an exceptional crossover "world music" release. (See Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Spin's best albums of the 90s list, for another example.)

I have to continue this later.

It annoys the shit out of me that Jay-Z's second worst album is the only hip hop album with "universal acclaim" on Metacritic's music page right now. But my beef is first with the many many critics who are wrong, and second with the aggregator that only slightly exaggerates the unanimity of their wrong opinions.

But again, if metacritic included more hip-hop critics and publications with the (cough, cough) "right" opinions, wouldn't that go a ways toward solving the problem? Why let the aggregator off the hook?

Not letting them off the hook, just said that ultimately I care more about the data they're drawing from, not how they're drawing it. And I was being mostly tongue in cheeck about the "wrong" thing (although American Gangster really is not that good).

Because xhuxk might break a nail...

Metacritic Aggregate '06

02. Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by Tom Waits
03. Modern Times by Bob Dylan
04. Hell Hath No Fury by Clipse
05. Return To Cookie Mountain by TV On The Radio
07. Fishscale by Ghostface Killah
14. Boys And Girls In America by The Hold Steady
15. Ys by Joanna Newsom
20. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood by Neko Case

The Voice P&J '06

01. Modern Times by Bob Dylan
02. Return To Cookie Mountain by TV On The Radio
03. Fishscale by Ghostface Killah
04. Boys And Girls In America by The Hold Steady
05. St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley
06. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not by Arctic Monkeys
07. Hell Hath No Fury by Clipse
08. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood by Neko Case
09. Ys by Joanna Newsom
10. Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by Tom Waits

In 2006 many folks also boycotted the Voice poll and I believe the poll sample was smaller than in prior years.

I jusr don't understand why dblcheeksneek wants to excuse Metacritic's small aggregate.

I did?

But my beef is first with the many many critics who are wrong, and second with the aggregator that only slightly exaggerates the unanimity of their wrong opinions.

Agreed. How is it that the vast majority of music releases find positive reviews, yet not so with movies or games? Is it because, in truth, the glut of music critics is a self-perpetuating herd (i.e., justifying their existence and scratching the back of those that supply their free CDs) by constantly pumping out positive reviews?

I think it's mainly just because it's difficult to force yourself to listen to music you don't like that much in order to write a decent review of it.

Can't speak for games, but movies are clearly and obviously different in this regard.

xp Those '06 lists basically suggest that the Metacritic and P&J results are not all that similar (though, sure, they draw from some of the same critics and hence overlap somewhat. Shocker.)

¿not all that similar?

Five of Metacritic's Top 10 are in P&J's Top 10 (50%). Eight of Metacritic's Top 20 make populate P&J's Top 10 (80%). I sense there's some deliberate intellectual dishonesty afoot. Or maybe it's that word, "dissimilar." That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

If someone can point us something from Metacritic (a US-based publication) that suggests it's reached out to, or has been approached by Latin Beat or a Rio De Janeiro daily (in English, mind you...this isn't, after all, Metacritic.com.br), or where Metacritic promises something (such as an international perspective) that it doesn't deliver, I would like to see it.

On the Metacritic homepage it says: "Metacritic® compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for film, video/dvd, books, music, television and games." It does not say ""Metacritic® AN AMERICAN BASED SITE compiles reviews THAT AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES HAVE SENT US from respected critics and publications for film, video/dvd, books, music, television and games." Again, why let Metacritic off the hook? I guess dblcheeksneek answered this for himself earlier when he said he did not want his music to played in Starbucks (oh my) but he keeps defending Metacritics limitations anyway.

And Chuck, Xgau and Matos all have recognized limitations of polls and have tried to increase the number of contributors.

So that would be a "no" on the Rio/Latin Beat front.

And I guess when I said "I'm not defending Metacritic as the Alpha and Omega of music criticism (far from it!), but isn't it at least a decent place to start (even if it is, admittedly, demonstrably limited in scope, as Alex in Baltimore aptly points out)?" I was, to my surprise, in fact "defending its limitations anyway."

from an indie rap dude on a local blog that i write for sometimes:

1. El-P: I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead

It’s pretty amazing to me how slept-on this album was. I mean, it got recognition, I’m sure it sold well, it may even make it into some critics’ end-of-year lists. But I feel like this should have been a paradigm-shifter, an “oh shit” moment, hip hop’s “OK Computer.” It’s really that good. I’d never been much of a Def Jux or El-P fan before listening to this album, but I definitely am now. From the adventurous production to the creative song structure to the brilliant bar-by-bar poetry to the overall vibe—this is a damn near perfect forward-looking hip hop album, by far the most interesting thing I’ve listened to in years. Then again, I have a soft spot for vitriol, and “I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead” supplies it by the truckload.

2. K-OS: Atlantis—Hymns for Disco

K-OS is a perfect example of a artist who makes up for his technical deficiencies by writing amazing songs. He’s not a powerful singer in the traditional sense, nor is he a great emcee by any stretch of the imagination, but he flat out makes beautiful music. Pop-oriented, funky and organic, the songs on “Atlantis,” particularly “The Rain” and “Sunday Morning,” are tremendously catchy; pop music that isn’t saccharine. Unlike a lot of artists I really respect, I actually ENJOY listening to K-OS. Indie-rappers could learn a lot from K-OS. It’s not all about five syllable rhyme schemes and airtight flows; a little melody and some creativity can go a long way.

3. Nine Inch Nails’ “Year Zero” Marketing Campaign

I liked the album, especially the single “Survivalism,” but what I’ll really remember about NIN’s 2007 exploits will be how Reznor and his team marketed the album. Short films, a bunch of weird and unsettling websites, phone numbers with recorded messages, flash drives left in bathrooms at concerts—it all added up to a multimedia multiplayer mystery that ended up being just as entertaining as the music itself. I think that this is the path music is going to take in the next decade (and movies too, if you look at how the next Batman film is being marketed). In order to really stand out, artists are going to have be creative with their marketing and promotion, building buzz in new ways. “Year Zero” represented an alignment of music, visual art, technology and hype that really pushed it into new territory.

4. Saul Williams: “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust”

Speaking of Trent Reznor, he lent his production skills to the bulk of this album, Williams’ third and most cohesive to date. I may be one of about a dozen people in the world who likes Williams the punk vocalist as much as I like Williams the slam poet, but I think he really killed it here, sonically as well as lyrically. His nasal snarl works really well over Reznor’s production. I even liked the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” cover that everyone hates. Again, this is future music, mixing industrial with hip hop with spoken-word with punk in ways that most people probably aren’t ready for.

5. Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson

Is she a drug addict? Is she a culture vulture? Does she deserve or can she handle her success? While the media this year focused on Winehouse’s extracurricular activities, “Back to Black” is a pretty monstrously good album on a purely musical level. Some of the credit has to go to Winehouse’s smoky voice and unique songwriting skills, but a lot has to go to Mark Ronson, a still underappreciated producer who’s done incredible work with a wide variety of artists, from Rhymefest to Lily Allen to Mos Def to the guy from Weezer to many others. His best work to date might be on this album, as he recreates the vibe of classic ‘60s soul. Salaam Remi, another talented and underappreciated beatsmith, produced a couple tracks on the album too, but the best moments are undoubtedly Ronson’s.

6. People I Know Part One: Buss One and Child of the Black Madonna

Yeah, we’re signed to the same label; I’m not an objective observer. Call shenanigans all you want, but this rock/funk/punk/rap band is something special. Buss, formerly of award-winning hip hop band Leroy Smokes, is a passionate, charismatic frontman, moving effortlessly between rapping, wailing, singing and just bouncing all around the stage. The band is one of the loudest, hardest hip hop-oriented ensembles ever assembled, though I guess I’d hesitate before calling CotBM a hip hop band. Yes, Buss is best-known as a rapper, but he’s a rapper who can actually pull off covering Nirvana, James Brown and the White Stripes, on top of a whole lot of engaging, hard-hitting original material. And the live show is a mess, in the absolute best, most positive sense of the word.

7. People I Know Part Two: The Figureheads Debut Album

More shenanigans—I actually have a guest verse on this group’s debut, self-titled LP, so again, I’m not objective here. But the Figureheads are out-of-this-world talented. Mixing glitchy, futuristic beats with thought-provoking, precise lyrics, this group really dosen’t sound like anyone else out right now. Both emcees in the group can rap their asses off—meaningful content, mind-blowing flows and intricate rhymes, but they never use that as a crutch; they challenge their listeners. The album is surprisingly melodic, and each song transcends the “rapping about rapping” aesthetic that has infected so much of underground hip hop.

8. Radiohead: In Rainbows

Had to include this, but everything that can be written about this band, this distribution method and this album has already been written. Thom Yorke’s voice is what you’d hear if you recorded both God and the Devil into ProTools and then played them back at the same time.

9. Pass

There have been a million albums this past year that I kind of wanted to hear, but when the time came to put up the money, I just couldn’t. They’re either hyped-up mainstream hip hop epics that promise to disappoint (Kanye, Jay-Z, Common, Ghost etc.) or indie hip hop masterpieces that’ll probably leave me bored (Blu and Exile, Little Brother, Kweli, Sage Francis, etc.). I’m not saying any of these albums were bad—after all, I haven’t heard them yet and they could be amazing. I’m just saying that, on a larger level, it’s getting hard to get excited about stuff these days because the standards are so LOW. As hip hop heads, we get overly excited for any mainstream hip hop album that isn’t absolute ringtone trash, or for any underground hip hop album that makes us feel like it’s 1993 again. I’m sure some of the artists I just mentioned parenthetically put out great albums this year—eventually I’ll get around to hearing them. I just wish I could be more excited about it.

10. Assorted Odds and Ends

“International Players’ Anthem” by UGK and Outkast is ridiculous. Definitely can’t get behind the lyrics (which is what knocked this out of its own point) but Andre’s been killing it all year and the beat is bonkers. “Coffee” by Aesop Rock is also great. The guest spot from John Darni3lle of the Mountain Goats really caps it off perfectly—we’re going to see more indie-rap/indie-rock collabos next year I’m sure (Cat Power was on the El-P album too). MIA is the future of pop music. New MC’s solo album was fresh. I have a weakness for melodrama too, and A Fine Frenzy’s “Almost Lover” is the jam in that regard. “Wow” at Prodigy’s “ABC;” best Mobb Deep beat in a long minute. Finally, let me just say that Gogol Bordello is the greatest thing ever in history.

x-post to dblecheeksneek

Perhaps those sources have sent Metacritic their lists but Metacritic does not consider them 'respected.' But even if they have not, you and I have a difference of opinion on whether Metacritic should be excused for not listing a wide variety of "best" lists that are currently out there (on this thread, even) and they could utilize. Also, as I touched on upthread there is the catch 22 syndrome where some publications, websites, etc. will not reach out to Metacritic or whomever themselves, because they think Metacritic does not care about them (rightly or wrongly).

"Had to include this, but everything that can be written about this band, this distribution method and this album has already been written."

hahaha

such a sad lil' sentence for some reason

dissimilar." That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Right. So...where did Los Lobos, Tom Ze, Howe Gelb, Subtle, Sarena-Maneesh, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and the Beatles (all in Metacritic's 2006 Top 25) finish in the Idolator and Pazz & Jop polls again?

(On the other hand, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised that Alan Jackson was at #26 in Metacritic. Pretty neat -- good album, too. But still not in any way indicative of any kind of consensus, I don't think.)