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

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.

Not a magazine but here's Other Music's Best of 2010

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.

is this really true dance folx? because i quite liked the idea of the RA list as described but when i got there LCD Soundsystem, Flying Lotus, Bonobo, Four Tet and a lot of kinda dubsteppy stuff wasn't that idea.

Yeah RA increasingly resembles FACT anyway, its focus on house and techno isn't nearly as dominating as it was, say, 3 years ago.

http://musosguide.com/albums-of-2010-5-1/12630

40 Baths - Cerulean
39 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
38 Actress - Splazsh
37 Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
36 Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
35 Vampire Weekend - Contra
34 Summer Camp - Young EP
33 Field Music - Field Music (Measure)
32 Allo Darlin’ - Allo Darlin’
31 Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
30 The Phantom Band - The Wants
29 Hot Chip - One Life Stand
28 Best Coast - Crazy For You
27 Yeasayer - Odd Blood
26 Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
25 The-Dream - Love King
24 Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
23 Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
22 Sleigh Bells - Treats
21 Blood Red Shoes - Fire Like This
20 The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme
19 Caribou - Swim
18 Everything Everything - Man Alive
17 Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
16 These New Puritans - Hidden
15 Owen Pallet - Heartland
14 Robyn - Body Talk
13 Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
12 Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
11 Beach House - Teen Dream
10 Perfume Genius - Learning
9 Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
8 Four Tet - There Is Love In You
7 Foals - Total Life Forever
6 LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
5 Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
4 Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
3 Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2 Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
1 The National - High Violet

I'm still perplexed why anyone would compared Robyn and Lady Gaga, who sound/look/etc totally different and have a completely different MO. Anyway, as a fan of both, I wonder honestly if Gaga would merit if the visual component were not so strong - if she didn't make epic gonzo videos, wear meat dresses, light things on fire, etc. Robyn, on the other hand, seems to be gaining traction minus those (cool!) peripherals. Despite a thinner voice and starker beats, she doesn't seem to need them the way Gaga does.

caught up!

i guess i really need to hear those thomas koner reissues, huh? electronic AND metal people keep raving about that stuff.

Koner never clicked with me :(

my REAL top ten of the year would honestly just be labels. type, utech, editions mego, rune grammophon. love it all kinda.

sedimental, hells headbangers. okay, thats only six. but i could come up with more.

Koner never clicked with me :(

― larry longballs money (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 18 December 2010 17:22 (9 minutes ago)

la barca was nice

he's good but not especially groundbreaking

people who love him really seem to love him.

forget who listed koner on the metalsucks musicians list. isis dude, i think, and someone else.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/12/17/worst-year-ever-all-of-our-2010-year-end-shit-in-one-place/#more-50613

plus, just hearing a lot about him elsewhere too.

didn't koner remix isis a while back

i can see the crossover appeal of his heavy drone stuff

did anyone get the eleh record the wire are so fond of?

too bad its almost impossible for me to actually look at stuff on metalsucks.

i had an eleh record on vinyl and its almost like its not on when its on.

I got the Eleh, and um, it's kind of a challenge to listen to imo.

he's good but not especially groundbreaking
--nakhchivan

More like he's groundbreaking but not especially interesting. I've tried so hard with this dude!

I fuck with Eleh though

Hey, here we go...

The Wire - Avant Rock 2010

Acid Mothers Temple - In ~
Ash Pool - For Which He Plies The Lash
Expo 70 - Where Does Your Mind Go?
Michael Hurley - Blue Hills
K11 - Metaphonic Portrait 1230 AD
David Maranha - Antarctica
Bill Orcutt - Way Down South
The Orkustra - Adventures In Experimental Electric Orchestra From The San Francisco Underground
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Puffy Areolas - In The Army 1981
Rangda - False Flag
Rangers - Suburban Tours
Sun Circle - Lessness
Wooden Wand - Dream Seat
Xeno & Oaklander - Sentinelle

^ makes me wonder where I've fucken been all year

Will post up some of the other genre lists later. Any requests?

wooden wand. i remember that guy...

want to see the avant crunk list.

salem could end up inspiring people to make even better hybrid records. if someone made a miami bass + doom riffs album i would play it a lot. that necro deathmort album was one of the best things i heard last year and it was basically doom + beats. heavenly really.

need to get my annual copy of the wire, spend the long post christmas slump in front of a roaring fire with a case of port and a folder full of matthew bower .rars

I'm still perplexed why anyone would compared Robyn and Lady Gaga, who sound/look/etc totally different and have a completely different MO. Anyway, as a fan of both, I wonder honestly if Gaga would merit if the visual component were not so strong - if she didn't make epic gonzo videos, wear meat dresses, light things on fire, etc. Robyn, on the other hand, seems to be gaining traction minus those (cool!) peripherals. Despite a thinner voice and starker beats, she doesn't seem to need them the way Gaga does.

I still see them as the two leading female electropop stars, although Robyn sadly hasn't managed to have the same kind of enormous superstar success that Lady Gaga does.

i read that as matthew boner

How are Xeno and Oaklander avant rock? (It's a good list and everything...)