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

Lady Gaga... or should we say, Lady Gag Gag.

http://kimberlyburton.typepad.com/memoirs_of_a_redhead/images/2007/12/15/ist2_4358818_nothing_but_net.jpg

xp Me too. Actually, I did two columns -- one with brief reviews of whatever random new albums I liked that I couldn't land reviews of anywhere else, and one on old indie 7-inches that were in my collection, in alphabetical order. (I even wrote about an old Bunny Brains 45 once!) But I'm pretty sure only the first one ran in the actual magazine; the singles one was only on line.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have me anymore, though, seeing how I like Ke$ha so much.

Ke$ha? more liek Ke$hit

"like"

you need to start listening to more posies albums. and go to my morning jacket concerts.

x-post

Worst New Artist
I avoid commercial music like the plague, to avoid hearing any. My credo for decades has been, ‘the best music is always in the underground.'

~~~hmmmmm~~~ do i really care what else this guy has to say? sorry, NO

"I avoid commercial music like the plague, to avoid hearing any."

great sentence

that sentence reads like something off of P. Scaruffi's website after the Google Translate...

My credo for decades has been, ‘the best music is always in the underground.'

Me too! In fact, I am listening to a Skin Yard album from 1986 right this second. Grunge will kill hair metal yet, mark my words.

Paul Blurt: Mall-Punk Cop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW55n1JLBUQ&feature=related

deej? whiney? any more relevant topics you guys wanna beef about?

It's the "iStock Photo" that makes it.

i dig the underground too. this is KILLING me tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhiRzu8QTkk&feature=related

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8fOfwVqyk&feature=related

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CLbkq5UIB4

but carry on. sorry.

Silent Ballet is really dragging out their countdown 'til the last minute this year. They're only to 51 of 100! As usual there's at least a couple dozen I haven't heard, and I'm too spent to go digging for them for a couple weeks. Who knew J.G. Thirlwell put out an album? Looks like another good list, even if Ufomammut is at 71. http://www.thesilentballet.com/tsbt/2010/100_91.html

lol @ me being two days out on this but ~rmde~ (omg! omg!) @ deej arguing that gangsta rap is "as popular as ever". hmmmmmmm

i wld totally marry her

oh lol

lol @ me being two days out on this but ~rmde~ (omg! omg!) @ deej arguing that gangsta rap is "as popular as ever". hmmmmmmm

― Hyrule's (Lamp), Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:42 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

why is that 'lol' and the argument is from earlier today

oh sorry misread, why are you *rmde* at that? i think i made a pretty solid case here that sales arent reflective of the popularity of the genre as a whole

or are you just trolling per usual

i mean i basically think the music critic line on rappers 'finally' getting over the 'staid' template of gangster rap is pretty much one of the most tiresome conceits of writing from writers who basically fuck with only the 1st rap artist they hear. afaik nonviolent drug offenses still impact an overwhelmingly huge number of black men & this is basically what 'gangster rap' is and has been about. yuppie rap fans trying to turn the genre into a 'post-gangster' 'art form' are imo basically doing the musical equivelent of destroying public housing, watching the poor scatter & then acting like anything has been 'fixed'

http://i40.tinypic.com/1zqzvjt.jpg

fleeing children otm

http://premiumplusmagazine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/drake-so-far-gone-retail-front1.jpg

hahahahaha

"yuppie rap fans"

1 result (0.09 seconds)

guess the 1 result ; )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsaW5wLHY64

deej i think there's obviously some merit to what you're saying, but you're still overstating your case. fact is gangsta rap was more or less the norm, or one of them, in mainstream rap 10-15 years ago, and the majority of the biggest stars qualified in one sense or another, or were kind of positioned as a much cleaner alternative (Will Smith, Nelly, etc.). now most of the biggest mainstream rappers are either as non-gangsta as possible (Kanye, Drake) or are kind of apologetic reformed ex-gangsta rappers like Jay-Z. only Lil Wayne kinda sorta still flaunts that angle of his music, but he's not nearly as associated w/ it as 50 Cent. a lot of minor and mid-level stars w/ a lot of gangsta content in their music, but nobody near that peak 50/Snoop level no matter how you measure their popularity.

eMusic posted their editorial top 80 albums, and the member-voted top 20 albums:

http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/best2010/index.html
http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/memberspoll_2010/index.html

their lists are always interesting, in part because they're limited to what's available on the site

oh for the love of god

And while Krell can't match R. Kelly's silky tenor, his reverb-laden coos are nearly as sensual

hahaha omg NO

in other news i listened to the warpaint album this morning and "reverb-laden coos" is an apt summary (though i must say, it sounds nice)

Spin - The 20 Best Songs of 2010

20 > Les Savy Fav "Let's Get Out of Here"
19 > Yeasayer "Ambling Alp"
18 > Tame Impala "Solitude Is Bliss"
17 > The Black Keys "Tighten Up"
16 > Das Racist "hahahaha jk?"
15 > Tracey Thorn "Hormones"
14 > Chiddy Bang "Opposite of Adults"
13 > Superchunk "Digging for Something"
12 > The-Dream "Make Up Bag"
11 > Dom "Living in America"
10 > Gucci Mane "Lemonade"
09 > Janelle Monae "Tightrope"
08 > Robyn "Cry When You Get Older"
07 > Kanye West "Runaway"
06 > Deerhunter "Helicopter"
05 > Neil Young "Hitchhiker"
04 > LCD Soundsystem "All I Want"
03 > Kanye West "Power"
02 > Arcade Fire "Ready to Start"
01 > Cee-Lo Green "Fuck You"

con's

arcade fire #2 zzzzzz
kanye "runaway" top ten zzzzzzz, so overrated
no big boi in top 20

pro's

cee-lo #1 -- glad to see spin got this right!
kanye "power" ranked over "runaway"
robyn "cry when you get older" -- good choice, stunning track
gucci #10 -- even if it's a "token" rap choice, this song is awesome
the-dream at #12 -- surprising track choice
#13 to #20 spots don't really look like any other tracks list this year, v. refreshing

funniest blurb

The Black Keys
"Tighten Up"
On the Keys' crossover pop-soul stroll, Dan Auerbach's grainy, nuanced croon and unassuming, scene-setting guitar show precisely why John Mayer sucks.

deej i think there's obviously some merit to what you're saying, but you're still overstating your case. fact is gangsta rap was more or less the norm, or one of them, in mainstream rap 10-15 years ago, and the majority of the biggest stars qualified in one sense or another, or were kind of positioned as a much cleaner alternative (Will Smith, Nelly, etc.). now most of the biggest mainstream rappers are either as non-gangsta as possible (Kanye, Drake) or are kind of apologetic reformed ex-gangsta rappers like Jay-Z. only Lil Wayne kinda sorta still flaunts that angle of his music, but he's not nearly as associated w/ it as 50 Cent. a lot of minor and mid-level stars w/ a lot of gangsta content in their music, but nobody near that peak 50/Snoop level no matter how you measure their popularity.

― hann am0n tana (some dude), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 13:02 (2 hours ago) Permalink

yeah i agree w/ this but thats not what im criticizing when i suggest whiney's argument was marginalizing this stuff, and that i think this kind of rap is heavily hit by downloads to a greater degree than BoB/Lupe "superstar" type shit

also yeesh jordan & whiney u dudes are overreacting what im saying is really not that controversial is it??

top 50 albums by The Needle Drop (aka, one of YouTube's biggest music reviewing personalities)

http://www.theneedledrop.com/albumslist2010.jpg

oh sorry misread, why are you *rmde* at that?

for basically the reasons some dude mentions - it seemed like you were acting as if gangster were still the predominant idiom within rap music instead of one strain among many. i mean its cool if you think it *should be* but it seems clear to even a casual observer that it simply isnt & that while gangster rap may well be fairly popular its no longer culturally dominant (which goes so far beyond show attendance or album sales or downloads anyway) in the way that it seemed to be a decade and a half ago.

yah i think there has been *some change* -- what i was arguing itt was that the change has been overstated to a large degree, that gangster rap (trap rap / crack rap / whatever its being called) is still a musically potent scene & that sales numbers are a tip of the iceberd kind of deal. that the audience for that style is going to be more effected by internet DL's than starbucks-safe BOB type 'rap'.

gorillaz? for realz? in 2010? the blur dude? really? ???

(????)

I don't think you're going to hear BOB in Starbucks until he gets Emmylou Harris to sing a hook.

i would start fucking w/ BOB if he did that tbh

afaik nonviolent drug offenses still impact an overwhelmingly huge number of black men & this is basically what 'gangster rap' is and has been about. yuppie rap fans trying to turn the genre into a 'post-gangster' 'art form' are imo basically doing the musical equivelent of destroying public housing, watching the poor scatter & then acting like anything has been 'fixed'

So there were non-violent drug offenses before Schoolly-D and NWA and Getto Boys, etc. but the rapping was different. Not to get all Bill Cosby, but it seems that once gangsta got started, it has gotten institutionalized lyric-wise over the years, although there are obviously differences (lyrically and musically and due to the internet, music-making computer tools, etc. and sociological changes due to welfare reform, recession, drug wars, etc.)

im certainly not arguing that all gangster rap is original or whatever but i would contend that the vast majority of innovation in terms of rapping style came from this world w/ a few exceptions -- mf doom comes to mind. obvi a bunch of early 90s dudes -- guru (although he was pretty street rap-oriented) q tip de la etc.

this division between 'street rap' & not is pretty artificial too obviously

drake & wiz khalifa are the first stars who really seem to break w/ that in their music -- you can say wayne & jay-z did it first in the way their music's been received though too.