Pitchfork's P2k: The Decade in Music

Two Dans, thinking alike.

yeah, breaker is awesome, I figure Breaker or sunflowers are gonna make the list.

i liked monkey but the rest of the great destroyer kinda passed me by

Nels Cline played some lap steel with Low during that set iirc. They played some 20 minute instrumental piece with him that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. (xpost)

Think I'm gonna listen to their "In The Fishtank" with the Dirty 3 right now.

Nels Cline played some lap steel with Low during that set iirc. They played some 20 minute instrumental piece with him that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. (xpost)

0_0 Wow! I would love to have seen that show.

yeah, breaker is awesome, I figure Breaker or sunflowers are gonna make the list.

Low is such a low-key band, tho. If they haven't been on the list up to now, I have little hope they'll make it in the Top 50. I'd love to see them there, tho.

Someone upthread suggested a category in these lists for bands that didn't have a huge single "statement" album or song, to avoid them getting lost in the shuffle. The example they gave was Spoon, but I think Low is an even better example. In any event, I think that would be an interesting list.

"(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace" and "Canada" from Trust are also great. That whole album is fantastic.

Sunflowers has been used in a lot of movies and tv shows though iirc and its a slow burn under the radar "oh you love that song too?" kinda thing, so I wouldn't be too surprised if you guys were surprised

i don't have a problem with them going for a fuller sound i just think a lot of the songs on destroyer feel like filler.

The Low Christmas shows they used to do at First Ave were amazing, would have pine tree forest onstage and a small church choir from Duluth and some members of a Duluth newgrass band called Trampled by Turtles.

they did Merry Xmas (War is over) by Lennon it was pretty transporting

Spoon did have a big single with 'way we get by' didn't they?

Well, looking back at the track-listing, it has more filler than I remember. But the highpoints -- e.g., Monkey, California, Silver Rider, Step, and Death Of A Salesman -- are extraordinary.

(xp)

I think Spoon's biggest hit was The Underdog, no?

"in the drugs" and "amazing grace" are wicked wicked songs. I was thinking Johnny Cash's Hurt was missing too but it'll very probably end up in the top 50.

xpost: Well, my young brother and his friends all have 'the way we get by' on their ipods but checking out on wikipedia I just found out that it was featured on the OC. No idea how good Underdog did on the charts. I thought their best selling singles were 'i turn my camera on' and 'the way we get by' but I've honestly no idea.

yeah like i said it's still a good album, they are always good IMO

But no album with "Broadway (So Many People)" can ever step to Secret Name or Things We Lost or Curtain Hits the Cast

jaymc, i'm nearly four years older than kshighway. remember, not everyone takes the same amount of time to finish lolcollege.

Low's best album is clearly "Curtain Hits the Cast." no fuckin question, imo.

"It's easy to think of a site like PF as being this single-voiced monolith (especially when many of the writers bring a similar tone, esp. in blurbs), when in reality it's just a swath of individual specialists coming together and reporting from their neck of the woods. Like you, I'm sure a good portion of their writing staff is oblivious to artists and songs that are gushed about in neighboring PF circles, and their WTF Flags were flying high as well when they read that list."

Just want to say that ^^^^^ is very true. I voted in this thing and I probably know less of the tracks that actually won than most of you. It's not quite as straightforward a process as simply tabulating everyone's individual lists, but it's not far off it either.

Low's best album is clearly "Curtain Hits the Cast." no fuckin question, imo.

secret name imo

The way the site's writers cover different niches now makes me pretty excited to see how the album list shakes out. We always talk about how album lists sometimes turn out a little unexciting, based on "consensus" stuff, right? (I'm sure that'll still be part of it, and it's sort of a good thing: a great, obvious, well-loved record shouldn't drop off the list just because nobody's excited to vote for it.) But I have this feeling that the different niches might possibly throw up some surprises, some stuff that wasn't the obvious top thing in its genre but appealed to everyone over time. Someone said they were happy to see McLusky on the singles list, and maybe that's a good example: not some big standard, but the kind of thing where people who mostly listen to dance music or rap might eventually hear it and go yeah, that's an awesome and interesting rock track. I really have no idea how it'll turn out, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some consensus accumulating not just around the big obvious indie releases, but around some lower-lying things that struck everyone as interesting.

This thread. All the inane bloodcurdling pissiness mixed with languid OTM goofiness we've come to know and love about ILM. It's like watching Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov figure out how to play together.

Anyway, all the more recent Low talk is great, and I wanted to add that "Pissing" is another standout from The Great Destroyer, plus I'd throw in "Murderer" from Drums and Guns too.

Although, I've never been able to decide which of their albums is my favourite. Definitely one of the rock bands of the decade, so consistent, so beautiful.

I'd throw in "Murderer" from Drums and Guns too.

100% agreed.

Oh god, I just listened to "Dragonfly" and (surprise, it's Low, after all) after an agonizing slow-build, that chorus, fuck: "Maybe you're right". Heartstopping.

One . . . More . . . Day . . . Left . . .

Not going to see what wins it until Sunday but on the bus earlier I got bored and tried to figure out what the top 20 will be. So, in any order

Crazy In Love
Ignition Remix
Blind
Last Nite (and maybe Hard To Explain)
Crazy
Get Your Freak On
All My Friends (and maybe one of them big early singles like Losing My Edge or Yeah)
Drop It Like Its Hot
Maps
Heartbeat?
Heartbeats?
BOB
Hey Ya
My Girls?
Gold Digger?
Paper Planes?
99 Problems?
House of Jealous Lovers?
One More Time?

Bah. That top 20 would displease me. And I think this has been a great decade for music.

I'm a rockist, I guess. Worse yet, I'm an indie rockist, I guess.

Have a suspicion there'll be a Broken Social Scene song in there. And maybe The Walkmen - "The Rat."

Couldn't think of what ridiculously big indie songs I'd missed that wasn't already on the list. If it was a britisher list I'd say Bloc Party. Wake Up by Arcade Fire seems like their signiture tune now, maybe?

Oh yeah, I forgot the rat. Love that song.

Just remembered a song I don't remember making the list that I think should have: Benga and Coki - Night. Oh well.

Oh yeah and the entry for "Someday" says it's the highest Strokes song on the list so no Hard to Explain or Last Nite.

Bah to Arcade Fire. The Rat's a great, furious rock song. But the band has been such a letdown overall that I'm not excited to see that song on the list (I wouldn't mind it, tho).

Was hoping to see something from Richard Hawley's album Cole's Corner somewhere on the list, but that possibility ended about 182 selections ago (I'd have it in my top 10, but I'm an outlier, obv.).

Couple dark horses that could sneak in:

Roscoe--Midlake
Idioteque--Radiohead (my pick for number 1)
Your Little Hoodrat Friend--The Hold Steady
Trapped In The Closet--R Kelly
Rehab--Amy Winehouse

how many people voted for this btw?

Roscoe already on the list somewhere.

If Trapped In The Closet makes it, I will be incredibly bloody happy.

Is Madvillain on the list already? I'd like to see something from them.

America's Most Blunted was in there somewhere

Here's the 24 I figured would have a chance (positions on previous Pitchfork lists in parens):

Kanye West – Through the Wire (#89, 2000-04)
Kanye West – Gold Digger (#25, 2005)
The Walkmen – The Rat (#6, 2004; #33, 2000-04)
Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On (#4, 2000-04)
Interpol – PDA (“Interpol EP” #32, 2000-04)
OutKast – B.O.B. (#1, 2000-04)
OutKast – Hey Ya (#1, 2003; #2, 2000-04)
Daft Punk – One More Time (#27, 2000-04)
Jay-Z – 99 Problems (#2, 2004; #22, 2000-04)
The Strokes – Last Nite (--)
Annie – Heartbeat (#1, 2004; #6, 2000-04)
The Knife – Heartbeats (--)
Beyonce – Crazy in Love (#2, 2003; #7, 2000-04)
Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (#36, 2005)
Hercules and Love Affair – Blind (#1, 2008)
M.I.A. – Paper Planes (#4, 2007)
Rapture – House of Jealous Lovers (#4, 2003; #9, 2000-04)
LCD Soundsystem – Losing My Edge (#3, 2000-04)
LCD Soundsystem – Yeah (#5, 2004; #19, 2000-04)
LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends (#1, 2007)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (#28, 2003; #10, 2000-04)
R. Kelly – Ignition (Remix) (#15, 2003; #12, 2000-04)
Nelly – Hot in Herre (#34, 2000-04)
Eminem – Stan (#58, 2000-04)

There are a couple of those that I wouldn't have predicted would be top 20 songs, but if they don't make the top 20, then I'll be surprised that they didn't make the top 500 at all.

Oh yeah and the entry for "Someday" says it's the highest Strokes song on the list so no Hard to Explain or Last Nite.

Ah, didn't see that. All right, scratch that. Three more to go.

That's a pretty pop/hip-hop heavy top 20 for an indie-focused music site.

I'm actually not complaining about that list. A lot of good songs on it.

Would love to see Annie's song in the top 5, but it's not gonna happen.

Has Animal Collective's My Girls made the list yet? If not, look for that one, I'd say.

I'd bet you'll lose "Yeah," "PDA," Eminem and Nelly at least. I wouldn't be surprised if "One More Time" didn't make the cut either. I'd bet they'll sneak in Portishead's "Machine Gun" and I wouldn't be surprised if Animal Collective's "My Girls" made it, too (though I'm holding out hope for "Happy House" by The Juan MacLean).

I really wish the first installment of We Are the World (as referenced here: Ryan Pitchfork crawls out of his indie cave) were archived on the Wayback Machine.

i thought p4k writers would be a little too self conscious to actually vote for my girls

Self-conscious in what sense?

I wouldn't be surprised if "One More Time" didn't make the cut either

you wouldn't be surprised if 'one more time' somehow didn't make it into their top 500 songs???

http://web.archive.org/web/20031206165508/http://pitchforkmedia.com/wearetheworld/

xp to jaymc

And how about a song from Twin Cinema? Maybe The Bleeding Heart Show or Sing Me Spanish Techno.

i just mean like, pre-empting the obvious canon building kneejerks

yeah no way is "Hot In Herre" gonna be up there

It's interesting to see which songs from 2009 have been considered great enough to make the list:

115 Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move
162 Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
206 Bat For Lashes – Daniel
228 Phoenix – 1901
334 Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others
345 Antony & The Johnsons – Aeon
357 Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire
372 Camera Obscura – French Navy
374 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Young Adult Friction
401 The Walkmen – In The New Year
475 Kid Cudi vs. Crookers – Day ‘N Night (remix)
492 St. Vincent – Strangers
497 Woods – Rain On
500 The Big Pink - Velvet

Kind of an odd list. I imagine that there are newer songs that would be included if there were more time for them to sink in.

Yeah, given that list, something from MPP's got to be in the top 20.

My Girls?