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

I agree with the NME's album of the year. Don't think that's happened in a very long time.

One record really missing out so far is the Knife - wasn't even in the Swedish chart upthread.

^^^this

Also dull as a lot of these lists are, I can't see 2010 having a consensus as soul-crushing as GAPDY.

So far, I'm surprised how far Joanna Newsom's stock has fallen

i'm not really - it's def the kind of album that can impress on first listen, but then gets tidied away and not thought about after that.

for the record i think that nme list is in general as dreadful as ever and full of some AWFUL records, especially near the top #smgdh #kmft

That Klaxons album must be terrible to only make #30 in the NME list.

pretty sure mcnicholas era lists were worse than that

My point isn't that Rangda should be #1 it's that these lists show how segregated music journalism has become... nearly every list so far, with minor subjective tweaks, is consensus indie rock + anointed R&B/rap/hip-hop/dance music + token world music phenom and/or reissue. That Mojo "underground" list is what really brought it home...in what universe are Harvey Milk, Sun Araw and Peter Broderick measured against each other? Whereas the top 10-20 of a lot of this these lists by and large sound very similar to my ears.

20. Deerhunter, 'Halcyon Digest'
19. MGMT, 'Congratulations'
16. Grinderman, 'Grinderman 2'
15. Yeasayer, 'Odd Blood'
14. The Fall, 'Your Future, Our Clutter'
13. Gayngs, 'Relayted'
11. The National, 'High Violet'
10. The Drums, 'The Drums'
6. Foals, 'Total Life Forever'
4. LCD Soundsystem, 'This Is Happening'
3. Beach House, 'Teen Dream'
2. Arcade Fire, 'The Suburbs'
1. These New Puritans, 'Hidden'

^^there isn't much WORSE you can actually get from a top 20 with those acts in it

like seriously if you think any of them contributed to the best music of 2010 then GOD HELP YOU

yeah rly needed some 'xallops here

NME is a lot better. The problem is that all the people saying it's a lot better are not in their target market of 15-25yos, who are deserting it in their thousands. Several issues this year have apparently barely scraped past 20,000.

fwiw i've only heard lcd of those but cmon, the fall vs mid 00s landfill indie isn't even a thing

Not a Fall fan then, Lex?

lex plz refrain from trying to engage with the fall and play nice

the fall are unlistenable, tho i'll take him/them/whatever over fucking gayngs, who seem to have fooled people with usually-reliable taste this year, and the boring-ass greyness of deerhunter and the national, and the middle-aged accountant take on rock of grinderman, and those fucking wimps the drums, and seriously why do foals still exist, and anyone repping for lcd soundsystem must have totally missed the point of them when they were good. SO MUCH H8 SO MUCH H8

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/2979-hex-enduction-hour.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ifzyv.gif

I'm surprised to see The Fall in the NME list, it must be the first time they've appeared since the mid 90's when they used to appear every single year. It must have been a while since Paul Weller made the list too, that probably has something to do with them putting him on the cover the other week.

It's a shame they left out Hot Chip, it's probably going to end up being my album of the year.

Previously in NME top 20s since 2000

Coldplay, Richard Ashcroft, Starsailor, Slipknot, Aphex Twin's 'Drukqs', The Vines, The Datsuns, The Music, The Distillers, Hot Hot Heat, Jet, Muse, Razorlight, U2, The Magic Numbers, Art Brut, The Rakes, Babyshambles, Kasabian, My Chemical Romance, Biffy Clyro, Panic! At The Disco and Jamie T

So compared to the years those came from it's much better and I can see the development in the list has been influenced by the new staff members. It could have had The Courteeners, Two Door Cinema Club, Kate Nash, The Hold Steady, Band Of Horses, Dead Weather, The Gaslight Anthem, Kele Okerke, Weezer, Brandon Flowers, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly etc etc etc collectively much worse than Lex's selections from the top 20.

I agree with Lex that the NME top 20 is mostly dull but probably for a different reason. Given it's an NME list, I'd say what was missing was youth or exuberance or star quality or noise. You know, ROCK MUSIC.

Part of the problem with the ongoing Pitchforkisation of the Brit music press is that it feels a bit cardigan-wearing, a bit daddish. Laura Marling and The Drums are the closest things in that top 10 to what the kids are actually listening to. Generally speaking they aren't listening to NME guitar music, and if they're listening to guitars at all they're listening to Kerrrang! guitars, and the NME still isn't adequately covering the other stuff they ARE listening to.

I dislike Salem and I think Zola Jesus is overrated, but seeing them in the NME top 10 is a pleasing sign of diversity that I didn't expect.

I agree that there's even more inertia creep of Britforking, very surprised to see under earlier NME blogs and on DiS the main complaint was how low Sufjan was, an album I found agonisingly tedious. Then again there is a whole generation of bands more feted by DiS than NME (Sky Larkin, LC! and others) that sound like they have been vastly more influenced by Pitchfork and therefore are in thrall to 90s US indie. Something like Everything Everything you'd could have imagined being much higher in earlier years.

There's about 20 or so US Indie/Pitchfork-y things in that and they are mainly bunched nearer #1 than #75. In 2005's top 50 there are about 5.

Lex's annual favourite, Uncut

50 Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown
49 Olof Arnalds - Innundir Skinni
48 Zola Jesus - Stridulum II
47 Solar Bears - She Was Colored In
46 Sleigh Bells - Treats
45 Toro Y Moi - Causers of This
44 Hot Chip - One Life Stand
43 Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
42 Blitzen Trapper - Destroyers of the Void
41 Steve Mason - Boys Outside
40 Trembling Bells - Abandoned Love
39 Yeasayer - Odd Blood
38 Wyatt, Atzmon, Stephen - For the Ghosts Within
37 Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea
36 The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever
35 Roky Erickson and Okkervil River - True Love Cast Out All Evil
34 Dylan LeBlanc- Pauper's Field
33 Edywn Collins - Losing Sleep
32 The Duke & The King - Long Live The Duke & The King
31 Richard Thompson - Dream Attic
30 Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
29 Afrocubism - Afrocubism
28 The Black Keys - The Black Keys
27 Voice of the Seven Thunders - Voice of the Seven Thunders
26 Los Lobos - Tin Can Trust
25 Gayngs - Related
24 Alasdair Roberts - Too Long in This Condition
23 Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
22 Spoon - Transference
21 Hans Chew - Tennessee and Other Stories
20 Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal
19 Manic Street Preachers - Postcards from a Young Man
18 Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
17 The Fall - Your Future, Our Clutter
16 Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here
15 Field Music - Field Music (Measure)
14 The National - High Violet
13 Vampire Weekend - Contra
12 These New Puritans - Hidden
11 Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Dp
10 Grinderman - Grinderman II
9 LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
8 Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate - Ali and Toumani
7 John Grant - Queen of Denmark
6 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
5 Robert Plant - Band of Joy
4 Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
3 Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation
2 Neil Young - Le Noise
1 Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

That's more like it.

You know where you are with Uncut.

Surprised that the Spoon and Hot Chip albums aren't placing higher and more frequently. Had a hunch that John Grant and These New Puritans would do well.

It's strange seeing the Manic Street Preachers appearing in all these lists, the last couple of albums seem to have turned it around for them.

They're the new Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, half-arsed vote from people with no imagination.

So far, I'm surprised how far Joanna Newsom's stock has fallen

i'm not really - it's def the kind of album that can impress on first listen, but then gets tidied away and not thought about after that.

i think j. newsom is kinda in "fans only" territory here -- fans probably love her new album, everyone else couldn't care less -- it doesn't really scream CROSSOVER INDIE ALBUM the way the first two did

61. Flying Lotus, 'Cosmogramma'
53. Kelis, 'Flesh Tone'
22. Swans, 'My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky'
12. Caribou, 'Swim'
7. Zola Jesus, 'Stridulum II'
1. These New Puritans, 'Hidden'

nice surprises on the NME list ^^

honestly surprised they ranked kanye so low (in the 30s) compared to where he's gonna place elsewhere

20 Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal
12 These New Puritans - Hidden
2 Neil Young - Le Noise

lone high points on Uncut ^^

man i really need to hear that gil scott-heron album before year's end

There was a streaming link for Gil Scott-Heron on the ilx thread for the album (that was still working the other day)

GSH album is stunning. i think deej said he couldn't decide if he really liked it or if it sounded like a moby remix album, but i don't hear the "moby remix" thing much at all, given the vocals and some of the abrasive elements buried in the arrangements.

I liked GSH when it came out but haven't found myself returning to it since.

i still get chills listening to me and the devil.

i'd bet $$ that Arcade Fire was NME number 1 with say These New Puritans at 2 until they read Q's poll last week.

I'd rate the GSH higher if it wasn't so short and, even then, padded out with interludes. It feels like an EP. New York Is Killing Me is one of the tracks of the year though.

I didn't know Robert Wyatt had done an album with Gilad Atzmon. Well, I guess no surprise since I don't pay much attention to either, but I'm somehow interested in the idea of them collaborating.

As easy as it is to hate on the NME, it is kind of great that they put TNP at number one.

Actually, it was the NME's review of Hidden that piqued my interest in the first place. Been years since that happened!

Yes, I think if Lex is outraged by TNP at number one then he really hasn't considered the alternatives.

BBC 6 Radio

(No apparent order)

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Beach House -Teen Dream
National - High Violet
Warpaint – The Fool
Everything Everything – Man Alive
Foals - Total Life Forever
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
Caribou - Swim
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Tame Impala - Inner Speaker

i like the warpaint album but dunno why it's being rated higher than the school of 7 bells one

if beach house, arcade fire and the national are this years GAPDY...BAN

Think the NME opting for TNP in the same week as the NUS leadership decides to stop being "spineless" marks some sort of Carmodic tipping point.

Is it just me that mixes up Beach House and Best Coast? I keep forgetting which one I've heard.

Think the NME opting for TNP in the same week as the NUS leadership decides to stop being "spineless" marks some sort of Carmodic tipping point.

explain?

xp: I do the same. Heard both, not sold on either.

The first track on the Beach House album is still sublime but the rest of it gets pretty boring pretty quickly.