Pitchfork's P2k: The Decade in Music

off topic but why do all your display names include genitals in them now?

Dan's attending some extraordinary parties.

hahaha

Because those are the quotes I run across on Mondays that I find the funniest

"Well, what about Oakenfold or Sasha and Digweed?"

"Doesn't count. They're some of the most revered DJs in England-- not because they create house music, but because they scrounge and dig deep to find the really good stuff. It'll be a sad day for dance music when they play Basement Jaxx."

I'm speechless.

I remember reading that Basement Jaxx review when it came out; between that and Brent's Kid A review I soon decided to stop actively reading Pitchfork

^^^this

It's weird to be reminded how when Pitchfork started there was this idea that internet music journalism could take whatever form it liked, and then after a string of disastrous misfires like this it returned to a more traditional album review format, albeit longer and less regimented than the magazines. I got the same feeling reading some old Paul Morley reviews from the early 80s NME - the idea of doing something different was admirable but the result was usually hopelessly pretentious, opaque and alienating - his experimental reviews have dated so badly, although not as badly as "Shit, cat."

that 50 cent gif is blowing my mind

i totally miss the wacky p4k reviews.

The Jet review with the monkey was the best eg of an off-the-wall review. Quick, somebody find an album that sounds like that 50 Cent gif.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ojLosm2HyZg/SnXblk3HuFI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/6V6NRVytgS0/s400/slaughterhouse-cover-500x500.jpg

Slaughterhouse: Slaughterhouse
4.5

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5488/33vm8lh.gif

Good God, what a shitty list. I just did a ⌘f for B.O.B. to see what people had to say, and frankly I'm disillusioned with your lack of outrage. Actually, extend that to the whole world. I hadn't known about B.O.B.'s high placement on the previous lists, so I didn't have that to prepare me. In fact, finding out about all this at once has just added to the shell shock, and a growing dread that I've gone insane. And now on top of all that, B.O.B. is stuck in my head after me listening to it five times in a row to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Not that it's just B.O.B. mind you. The whole list is shitty. I just am singling out B.O.B. right now because I have yet to peruse everyone's comments on the other 499. I'm afraid if I don't see more dissent in those comments, I'm going to have to check myself in.

OMG STFU WILL SMITH

Nine years ago today:

Bombs Over Baghdad

Haha jesse

jesse tell us more about music you don't like.

i also said this earlier but their 2007 2008 and 2009 choices are what kills this list for me.. specifically the 2009 choices are so random and seem like they were only included because they needed music from 2009.. theres way better stuff going on right nwo than most of these..

357 Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire (this is the only 2009 choice that should be HIGHER)
500 The Big Pink - Velvet (this is actually really good)
228 Phoenix – 1901 (228 is about right, lisztomania is better)
475 Kid Cudi vs. Crookers – Day ‘N Night (remix) (475 is about right)
9 Animal Collective - My Girls (i'm not sure why this is considered the album's best song... i'm clearly missing something)
115 Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move (this is ok but should be closer to 400)
206 Bat For Lashes – Daniel (this is fine i guess.. but not for 206)
374 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Young Adult Friction (they have way better songs)
401 The Walkmen – In The New Year (they have way better songs)
345 Antony & The Johnsons – Aeon (mixed feelings.. vox are difficult to get used to.. but i get why people enjoy it)
372 Camera Obscura – French Navy (this isn't really different from their other songs)
162 Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (i dont get whats so great about this band)
334 Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others (omg snooze)
492 St. Vincent – Strangers (snooze)
497 Woods – Rain On (terrible)

I sort of agree w/you, but I can't think of what they obv. should have included instead.

metal

"pretty wings"

I really like the Grizzly Bear album. I think "Cheeleader" is the best song on it, though. To me, "My Girls" is definitely the stand-out song from MMP, but I agree that it was placed too high for such a recent track. I love "Stillness Is The Move". "Aeon" is nice. I think "1901" is great, and is my favorite track from the album. The others I don't get at all. It seems like one or two of those, at least, could have been replaced by newer stuff like "9x Outta 10" or "Pretty Wings".

xpost

(haven't heard The Big Pink)

There ya go.. "9x Outta 10" would've worked just fine.

"zero"
"you belong with me" / "love story"

But yeah it's clear p4k seems to have to wait for some kind of consensus before really repping for rap/pop/rnb traxx

"You Belong With Me" and "Love Story" are great. "Fearless" and "Fifteen", too. I'm not sure which of those tracks were released as singles in 2009. Did Pitchfork even review the Taylor Swift album? I guess it's not their kind of thing...

I'd love to see T. Finney review Taylor Swift for P4k.

Was just gonna say.

And yeah iirc "love story" was 08 but it was a bigger hit and a better candidate for this list, though I like "YBWM" better

said it earlier, but "Turnin' Me On"

I like the first five tracks off that album, with "Turnin' Me On" and "Knock You Down" my favorites. After that it sounds like a lot of filler to me.

I'm too busy/lazy to actually pitch reviews to pitchfork by and large, so most of the time it's stuff that turns up at their end which they then think I should review.

This is possibly a big contributing factor to why country etc. doesn't get reviewed on the site much: not merely are there few writers who would go out of their way to write about it, but also the record labels probably aren't sending this stuff through for consideration.

I might start a campaign to get "You Belong With Me" into the year end poll though.

Other obvious 2009 track missing, imo: Trap Goin Ham

^^^

But yeah it's clear p4k seems to have to wait for some kind of consensus before really repping for rap/pop/rnb traxx

really true and a big part of why i can't take it seriously outside of its indie rock centre, which i'm not interested in anyway. lol remember when they reviewed new amerykah like 4 months after it came out, presumably because they hadn't considered erykah badu worthy of inclusion prior to that, and then were like: shit! critical consensus! better jump on that!

lol as if erykah badu wasn't already critical consensus central.

lol remember when they reviewed new amerykah like 4 months after it came out, presumably because they hadn't considered erykah badu worthy of inclusion prior to that, and then were like: shit! critical consensus! better jump on that!

Still waiting for the inevitable review of Love Vs Money by year's end.

from a dude who discovered the-dream after his 2nd album dropped ....

Don't see why that should matter.

well if your criticizing pitchfork for being johnny come latelys...

fwiw deej was pulling rank on people who bought dream's first album more than 3 months after it was out, so everybody's an asshole here

Yeah, I never understood that either. I first heard "Livin' a Lie" and "Ditch That" on Rich Juzwiak's year-end mix back in January '08. Does that mean I'm qualified to like The-Dream??

Speaking of which, I just heard "Sippin' on Some Syrup" for what I believe is the first time, thanks to the Pitchfork list, and it's pretty great. Also now understand what "So Many Shrimp" is a reference to.

lol remember when they reviewed new amerykah like 4 months after it came out, presumably because they hadn't considered erykah badu worthy of inclusion prior to that, and then were like: shit! critical consensus! better jump on that!

also partly because I was really busy with some personal stuff and took an embarrassingly long time to turn the review around -- but hey, any good LOL-on-P4k theories that help distract from my own flakiness are appreciated and encouraged round here

the thing that's been most interesting to me in reactions to this list, actually, is that word "presumably," the guessing at motives (often sinister or cynical) for why things turn out the way they do, which ascribed motives all too rarely run in the direction of "maybe this is the stuff that they, right or wrong, actually think is good" -- this is perfectly natural, since lists are sort of a form of self-presentation and it's probably good to be skeptical about what that self-presentation is doing, but yeesh does it get weird at points. (I guess this thread has gone over some of the indie types who think the list is, e.g., "pretending" to like mega-popular pop singles most everyone likes, just to make indie folks feel uncool or bad about themselves.)

I've developing a whole taxonomy of responses, but for now two of my favorites are these types:

- "ACT X at 279? Are you kidding me? This list is such bullshit." -- absolutely no way to tell if their problem is that they hate Act X or if they think Act X should be number one

- "This is SO idiotic. 'Single by Band X' at #46? I'm never reading this site again. It should have been 'Other, Similar Single by Band X' instead." -- there's lots of this, like "I can't believe these MORONS included bands X, Y, and Z and not these other acts that are, in the grand scheme of things, practically identical substitutes" -- I mean, it's cool that listmaking gets people arguing out interesting stuff like what's the band's best single, but it seems weird to be punching your computer screen and raging about a list for praising stuff you like via a slightly different single or act

I mean, if you REALLY thought that only an EVIL MORONIC JERK could possibly like 'Someone Great' better than 'North American Scum,' it'd be kinda hard to function socially, right?

i guess after reading reaction in a few places i'm still amazed that people can sound so mad about this list, since it belies a strong emotional reaction that involves some combination of pitchfork, songs they like, and songs the hate, only no one is saying how much of each is involved.

it never occurred to me to take the list as anything other than a reflection of pitchfork's evolution over the last ten years. beyond that there have been some songs i was reminded to download, some decent writeups to read, and one or two pleasant surprises i had totally missed at the time.

The extreme reactions are, in generally, really unnecessary, yeah. Still, I think there's a fair amount of justifiable eyebrow-raising, especially in regards to songs, or versions of songs, that seem to be picked kind of arbitrarily to represent a particular artist or album. Like, why the "Get By" remix instead of the original? Does anybody actually think "Don't Feel Right" is one of the two most notable Roots songs of the decade? I'm not suggesting ill intent or conspiracy, but it definitely feels like if there wasn't an editorial hand guiding those choices, there were certainly some weird voting blocs being set up among the staff to get some picks up in the ranking.

note to self: "generally" or "in general," never both.

i guess potentially it gives away a lot of people as liking talking about talking about music more than they really like music. see also the explosion in commentary around the meta-presentation of sports at the expense of discussion about games themselves.

I don't think a lot of the songs are the best, and there are a many that surprise me, but i've heard lots of great stuff i never paid attention to before (criminally ignored T.I. save two tracks previous to this, also Bat for Lashes 'Daniel' is amazing, plus some good indie guitar stuff I never bothered with).

so lists are imperfect blah blah blah, but now that I'm about to finish listening to the list on Spotify (well, the 390 available), I think all in all it's an excellent representation of the decade, certainly in regards to trends. Also, having been tired of Jay-Z for a while, it was nice to re-evaluate his stuff. I had forgotten how good he really was.

'Crazy in Love' still boring though.

my one "serious" criticism of the list is that it never really figures out how to rectify pop singles and indie rock album tracks--they just sort of sit alongside each other not engaging in conversation.

just to be clear, I'm not picking on responses, even hatey ones, or questions like those about why something winds up there -- those are interesting questions. I just find some of the forms of it funny. (very especially the people who are clearly appalled and outraged by a selection but don't provide enough clues to figure out anything about why! it's amazing how many of those I've seen!)