Year-End Critics' Polls '08

Predictably terrible EoY list from OMM now in.

Why do I keep thinking of Stan Freberg's "Old Payola Roll Blues"?

Might as well plug the one I put together: http://idolator.com/5103876/80-08-and-heartbreak-announcing-idolators-year+end-extravaganza

link does not work matos...can't access from idolators front page either :(

works for me.

Time mag's 50 Top 10s: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10
Albums: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1864324,00.html
Songs: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863440,00.html

Resident Advisor's Top 20 labels: http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature-read.aspx?id=994

dear Time, please research concept of 'at a glance'

re: Time's Vampire Weekend paragraph

Peter Gabriel would be proud.

No he wouldn't.

Paul Simon would be prouder.

Yes he would. That's what's known as "damning with faint praise."

PopMatters Top 50 singles (kind of dire).

Time's list is quite ILXy.

no point ILM doing a list then

how did Trentemøller become the go-to token techno act?

Jim DeRogatis

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!" (Anti-)
2. David Byrne and Brian Eno, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"
3. Vivian Girls, "The Vivian Girls" (In the Red)
4. The Knux, "Remind Me in 3 Days" (Interscope)
5. Brazilian Girls, "New York City" (Verve)
6. Local H, "12 Angry Months" (Shout Factory)
7. Saul Williams, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!" (niggytardust.com/Fader)
8. Fleet Foxes, "Fleet Foxes" (Sub Pop)
9. Kanye West, "808s & Heartbreak" (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)
10. Erykah Badu, "New AmErykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War" (Motown)

http://blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/2008/12/the_best_albums_of_2008.html

Derogatis's next 40:

11. TV on the Radio, "Dear Science" (DGC/Interscope)

12. Parts & Labor, "Receivers" (Jagjaguwar)

13. Jenny Lewis, "Acid Tongue" (Warner Bros.)

14. Spiritualized "Songs in A&E" (Fontana)

15. Sigur Ros, "Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust" (XL)

16. The Black Angels, "Directions to See a Ghost" (Light in the Attic)

17. Girl Talk, "Feed the Animals" (Illegal Art)

18. Gnarls Barkley, "The Odd Couple" (Atlantic)

19. Weezer, "Weezer" (Geffen)

20. Lou Reed, "Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse" (Matador)

21. Portishead, "Third" (Mercury)

22. Q-Tip, "The Renaissance" (Universal/Motown)

23. Rise Against, "Appeal to Reason" (DGC/Interscope)

24. Flight of the Conchords, "Flight of the Conchords" (Sub Pop)

25. Ladytron, "Velocifero" (Nettwerk)

26. Bob Dylan, "Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased, 1989-2006" (Columbia)

27. Moby, "Last Night" (Mute/EMI)

28. Lykke Li, "Youth Novels" (Atlantic)

29. The Gutter Twins, "Saturnalia" (Sub Pop)

30. Wire, "Object 47" (Pink Flag)

31. Randy Newman, "Harps and Angels" (Nonesuch)

32. Sons and Daughters, "This Gift" (Domino)

33. Death Cab for Cutie, "Narrow Stairs" (Atlantic)

34. Beck, "Modern Guilt" (Interscope)

35. Tim Fite, "Fair Ain't Fair" (Anti-)

36. Deerhunter, "Microcastle" (Kranky)

37. Shot Baker, "Take Control" (Riot Fest)

38. Tokyo Police Club, "Elephant Shell" (Saddle Creek)

39. Nine Inch Nails, "The Slip" (nin.com)

40. Alejandro Escovedo, "Real Animal" (Back Porch)

41. Sia, "Some People Have Real Problems" (Hear Music)

42. Joan as Police Woman, "To Survive" (Cheap Lullaby)

43. Darker My Love, "2" (Dangerbird)

44. AC/DC, "Black Ice" (Columbia)

45. King Khan and the Shrines, "The Supreme Genius of King Khan" (Vice)

46. Disfear, "Live the Storm" (Relapse)

47. Super Furry Animals, "Hey Venus!" (Rough Trade)

48. Black Mountain, "In the Future" (Jagjaguwar)

49. Amy Ray, "Didn't It Feel Kinder" (Daemon)

50. Madonna, "Hard Candy" (Warner Bros.)

how did Trentemøller become the go-to token techno act?

Not sure what this comment is in reference to, but Trentemøller is one of the few artists that made Cologne/Berlin minimal sounds accessable to listeners not steeped in a decade of house/progressive trance. I think well selected compilation drawn from his 2003-2006 remix work would be my album of the decade.

I'm surprised his Top 10 isn't alphabetical--it usually is.

xpost; I was referring to DeRo

That said (kindly forgive the missing article above), "Miss You", which I think is the track in question in the PopMatters poll, came out in 2006.

ugh shut up dero

^

the VG blurb on his blog made me want to vomit.

offering the perfect antidote to the Miley Cyrus/"Juno" bizarro world of young femininity so often seen in the media

lolz

Time's list is quite ILXy.

ILM <3's Jonas Bros

AU Magazine (www.iheartau.com - Belfast, Northern Ireland)

50. Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - Eine Kleine Nacht Musik (Modular)
49. No Age – Nouns (Sub Pop)
48. Midnight Juggernauts – Dystopia (Charisma)
47. Ladytron – Velocifero (Nettwerk)
46. Fucked Up – The Chemistry Of Modern Life (Matador)
45. Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs (Atlantic)
44. Late Of The Pier – Fantasy Black Channel (Zarcorp)
43. Adebisi Shank – This Is The Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank (The Richter Collective)
42. British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade)
41. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing (Atp)
40. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (Lies)
39. Portishead – Third (Mercury)
38. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (XL)
37. Santogold – Santogold (Atlantic)
36. Fight Like Apes – Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion (Model Citizen)
35. Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off The Lavender Bridge (Domino)
34. Oppenheimer – Take The Whole Midrange And Boost It (Fantastic Plastic)
33. Born Ruffians – Red, Yellow And Blue (Warp)
32. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)
31. Cadence Weapon – Afterparty Babies (Big Dada)
30. V/A - Carling Supports: The Oh Yeah Sessions ‘08
29. Beck – Modern Guilt (XL)
28. 2562 – Aerial (Tectonic)
27. Pacific! – Reveries (Half Machine)
26. Los Campesinos! – Hold On, Now Youngster (Wichita)
25. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)
24. Jamie Lidell – Jim (Warp)
23. Jape – Ritual (Cooperative)
22. The Presets – Apocalypso (Universal)
21. Neon Neon – Stainless Style (Lex)
20. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark (EMI)
19. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (Rough Trade)
18. Deerhunter – Microcastle (4AD)
17. Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl)
16. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down In The Light (Domino)
15. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E (Universal)
14. Foals – Antidotes (Transgressive)
13. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Mute)
12. Hercules And Love Affair – Hercules And Love Affair (DFA)
11. David Holmes – The Holy Pictures (Canderblinks/Mercury/UMC)
10. Glasvegas – Glasvegas (Columbia)
9. Why? – Alopecia (Tomlab)
8. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid (Polydor)
7. The Dodos – Visiter (Wichita)
6. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours (Modular)
5. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires (XL)
4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Bella Union)
3. Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight (Fatcat)
2. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD)
1. TV On The Radio – Dear Science (4AD)

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/12/8/allmusics-favorite-jazz-albums-of-2008-2/

AMG's Jazz List

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/12/8/allmusics-favorite-folk-albums-of-2008/

Folk list

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/12/9/allmusics-favorite-rb-albums-of-2008/

And R&B List

listened to half of the Bon Iver yesterday - big. fucking. whoop. how can anyone be excited enough by this sort of thing to put it at the top of lists?

Yeah I am really blown away at the acclaim that album is getting. I couldn't really get through half of it.

Well Number 50 - 2008 NME album of the year - Heartbreak - Lies

http://www.nme.com/images/218_albumsofyear.jpg

1 down, 49 to go

are they doing one a week?

From The Sunday Times, Stewart Lee's "left-field" top ten:

1 One More Grain: Isle of Grain (White Heat) Daniel Patrick Quinn’s bored northern bingo-caller vocals drizzle bird’s-eye views of broken Britain over krautrock rhythms, incongruous jazz-fusion trumpet and post-punk guitar scree.

2 Matana Roberts: The Chicago Project (Central Control International) Matana Roberts blows ecstatic saxophone as hard as Albert Ayler, but carries tunes soulful enough to sell experimental jazz noise to sceptics.

3 Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh: Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh (Drag City) Espvall’s droning cello meets Batoh’s acid-blues guitar in a pervasive fog of Swedish folk and Japanese psychedelia.

4 John Edwards: Volume (PSI) John Edwards traverses the neck of his double bass in fearless free-jazz improvisations, using silence, space, sudden motions and sustained undulations.

5 Dick Gaughan: Gaughan Live! at the Trades Club (Greentrax) The Scottish folk singer and guitarist distils four decades of passion into a timeless selection, alternating a lightness of touch with smouldering, righteous fury.

6 Robert Forster: The Evangelist (Tag) The fearsomely fey former Go-Between’s first release since the death of his long-term songwriting partner, Grant McLennan, typifies his apparently effortless talent, with drawled poetry and low-slung guitars.

7 Martin Hayes/Dennis Cahill: Welcome Here Again (Green Linnet) Hayes rescues the fiddle tunes of his native Co Clare from clichéd arrangements and off-the-peg sentimentality, imbuing them with vast emotional depths and moments of considered stillness.

8 The Advisory Circle: Other Channels (Ghost Box) The electronica of 1970s public-information films and weird children’s TV conjures a forgotten suburban nightmare of prescription tranquillisers, coffee mornings, treacherous ponds and imminent nuclear war.

9 NICK PYNN Afterplanesman (Roundhill) Pynn gave his micro-suite of miniature art-folk curios a push this year. Sampled vocals and self-made instruments range across cultural, geographical and temporal boundaries to delightful effect.

10 WILD BILLY CHILDISH AND THE MUSICIANS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Thatcher’s Children (Damaged Goods) Chatham’s venerable garage-rock fundamentalists cock a 1976-style snook at Noughties values and continue to summon instant punk classics from the Thames estuary at will.

Other Sunday Times lists, featuring all the same albums as on everyone elses lists, here.

Adebisi Shank - This Is The Album (Richter Collective)

Funny how Battles did so well in lists last year, whereas Adebisi Shank is barely a blip. Adebisi Shank reminds me a bit of Battles, but I like AS better.

quietus do their thing :

30: Beach House - Devotion
29: Neon Neon - Stainless Style
28: Times New Viking - Rip It Off
27: No Age - Nouns
26: Grace Jones - Hurricane
25: Squarepusher - Just A Souvenir
24: Burial Hex - Initiations
23: Aidan John Moffat - I Can Hear Your Heart
22: Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
21: Wire - Object 47
20: Amadou and Miriam - Welcome To Mali
19: Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics
18: Simon Bookish - Everything/Everything
17: Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
16: Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
15: These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
14. Fuck Buttons - Street Horsssing
13. UFOmammut - Idolum
12. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
11. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
10. Nadja - Skin Turns To Glass
9. One More Grain - Isle Of Grain
8. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
6. Wild Beasts - Limbo Panto
5. SunnO))) - Domkirke
4. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
3. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
2. Portishead - Third
1. The Bug - London Zoo

hey these lists are getting better! esp that stewart lee one

i don't know what quietus is but i should obviously find out

k so now i have to hear this one more grain business

Unless I've missed it, I'm surprised to not see El Guincho on any of these lists considering how much buzz that album was gathering earlier this year.

Ah, apparently it was originally out last year.

http://thequietus.com -- which I very very sporadically write for (because I'm often swamped with other stuff!)

waitwaitwait -- DeRo liked a Madonna album enough to place it on a year-end list??

get that denim jacket out, the most retro-trad-rockist best albums of 2008 list from classic rock magazine, have a laugh at some of these picks

http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/3172289350/show/929916

Classic Rock magazine EOY albums

50. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
49. Todd Rundgren - Arena
48. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Dig Lazarus, Dig!!"
47. Thunder - Bang!
46. Tesla - Forever More
45. Viking Skull - Doom, Gloom, Heartache & Whiskey
44. The Jim Jones Revue - s/t
43. Girlschool - Legacy
42. Stonerider - Three Legs Of Trouble
41. Black Tide - Light From Above
40. Diagonal - s/t
39. Dirty Penny - Take It Sleezy
38. Glenn Hughes - First Underground Nuclear Kitchen
37. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs
36. Graveyard - s/t
35. Lethargy - Purification
34. Testament - The Formation Of Damnation
33. Blood Ceremony - s/t
32. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath
31. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
30. Kings Of Leon - 0nly By The Night
29. Rose Kemp - Unholy Majesty
28. The Clash - Live At Shea Stadium
27. Joe Bonamassa - Live From Nowhere In Particular
26. Endeverafter - Kiss Or Kill
25. Uriah Heep - Wake The Sleeper
24. Rose Hill Drive - Moon Is The New Earth
23. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
22. Queen & Paul Rogers - The Cosmos Rocks
21. Thin Lizzy - UK Tour 1975
20. Judas Priest - Nostradamus
19. Marillion - Happiness Is The Road
18. Pride Tiger - The Lucky Ones
17. Alice Cooper - Along Came A Spider
16. Motorhead - Motorizer
15. Black Crowes - Warpaint
14. Stone Gods - Silver Spoons & Broken Bones
13. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
12. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
11. Opeth - Watershed
10. Motley Crue - Saints Of Los Angeles
9. Journey - Revelation
8. Big Linda - I Loved You
7. Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad
6. Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge
5. Airbourne - Runnin' Wild
4. Black Stone Cherry - Folklore & Superstition
3. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
2. Metallica - Death Magnetic
1. AC/DC - Black Ice

lololololol @ the top 10

well done airbourne

lol@ the whole list

Are these lot really still going: Whitesnake, Uriah Heep, Journey.

Girlschool - the last time i heard from these lot I was still in primary school circa 1981.

too bad you're not a girl

Stuff I like from that list: Viking Skull, Graveyard, Testament, Blood Ceremony, Motorhead, Opeth, Airbourne, Metallica. GnR and AC/DC are okay. Honestly kind of surprised to see that Graveyard caught their attention. Great record.

blueski, you were still munching on farley's rusks in 1981

Motorhead & Girlschool - Please don't touch

Girlschool album this year was really good! But I can't believe they missed Rose Tattoo, Rick Springfield, Hirax, Night Ranger, Ted Nugent's live album, lots of other things (all better than their top 5, as far as I'm concerned. I never heard the Def Leppard!)

xpost

J3FF that graveyard band is fucking AWESOME! good stuff. at least some good came out of this thread.

btw i find the classic rock list like 8 zillion times more interesting and charming than most of the lists on this thread, i'd rather read kooky and eccentric lists like that than all the other year end garbage.

Yeah, me too; only complained about that list because I basically *like* it. (Agree about Graveyard, too -- I was actually loving that album way back in '07, as an import on Transubstans.)

xp Also, meant they missed the boat on HELIX, not Hirax. (Though Hirax got a good review in Decibel, I think.)

Classic Rock list is pretty much "Hell, you boys could have a pretty good weekend in Vergas with that stuff!"