Year-End Critics' Polls '08

i think the ratio of people arguing with marcello to people just pointing and laughing is at least 4:1

random youuuutuuuube of 'f ur x' for the americans! just to make this thread a happy place again

"does my girl tink me a dunce? bellin off ya bloodclaat phone when she wants"

You're all arguing with someone who called Bob Marley an "Uncle Tom" and Leona Lewis a "half-caste". And while it's usually amusing to point out the holes in the argument of people whose virulent anti-racism makes them look worse than the (relatively mild) thing they're attacking, there is no reasoning with Marcello when he gets into this state so I wouldn't bother.

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― Matt DC, Friday, December 12, 2008 7:54 AM Bookmark

Goddamn, I forgot about this shit. Marcello, I apoligize for calling you a "quasiracist dickwipe". You are a plain ol' racist dickwipe.

I cannot believe the lack of Cat Power on these. It kills Modern Guilt with a scimitar. And the lack of Ladyhawke is a bit boggling as well. And of course, Girl Talk is just the worst "music" ever made.

*SIGH*

how can you get that excited about Ladyhawke tho? couple of pleasant radio-friendly electropop songs but surely that's it. i'd sooner have Ladytron (ignored because it's the same old same old but they've refined it enough to keep me coming back to the best tracks damn them)

Thanks, lex. That was awesome.

I'm listening to Time's Up right now, as promised.

― uәʇɹɐƃu!әʍ ˙ƃ ʎәu!Ⴁʍ (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, December 12, 2008 10:46 AM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=64782

just wanted to be first in with the screen name bite.

haha

the entire ladyhawke album is killer, imho.

Ladytron? Seriously? What is this, 2003?

That Ladyhawke record would have sounded dated and knackered three years ago.

yes, that is a daft argument. i still prefer Ladytron's harder sound tho (plus they're no more ploughing the same old furrow than half the bands in these polls inc. pretty much all the bands who've been around 15 years or more).

meh. now I remember why I haven't been on this board for the last three years. *waves*

what a wimp

Living Colour had their moments, like "Cult of Personality": very apt, but shoulda had rock icons in video, not just pols). Often seemed more plod than thud. Better when ranging a little further afield (from late 80s calculations of MTV/arena metal mainstream appeal): "Memories Can't Wait", and that Ubu cover (wasn't it Time's Up reissued with a bonus disc of covers etc?) Also better and further: Vernon with Frisell,on their Smash And Scatteration; various albums with Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society ( robertchristgau.com astute on these); that most recent VR & Masque album has some great stuff too, though uneven as usual. Fleet Foxes' tapestry of harmonies and imagery=cloying. Suspect lineage of CSNY (CN=fatty tissue, though the marbling that kept SY together longer and perhaps better than Stills-Young Band--or you could just listen to Buffalo Springfield, Neil's own, Byrds, and Hollies, not to mention Stills-Young Band). Most freak folk is cloying, but the rainy day mythologies ("bored enough to fuck with it"-xgau on punks on heritage of rock) of Oregon's own Blitzen Trapper are refreshing (and see how non-spacey they really are, re-working their songs for Daytrotter Sessions, like a fair number of other bands on there don't fare so well outside of their own studio setups). Also (prob on my P&J this year)Bodies of Water, whose own tapestry of etc. is of house and lineage of Mugwumps/Mamas & Papas/maybe Fairport/Fotheringay etc, but all that's just a point of departure. As you were. thx d

TVOTR ineligible!!!!
--born in Kenya
--actually 37.5% Arab.

i cant wait to read geir calling marcello racist

thinking of imposing a "no white people" rule on my lists

even you're not that daft lex

Marcello to seek injunction (Developing...)

xps I got your back on this, daviday. Fucking Ladytron. Bollocks more like.

via bleep email

1. Hudson Mohawke - Polyfolk Dance (Sampler) (Warp)
Available exclusively on Bleep.com for the next 5 weeks, this 2-track taster of electronic blips and chopped vocals displays an alarming forecast into the talents that this young Glaswegian producer holds. Already having attracted careful observation from media who still struggle to label the movement (Aqua Crunk?/ Wonky?); combine this with his recent signing to Warp, 2009 looks like it's going to be the year of the Mohawke.

2. Lone - Lemurian (Dealmaker)
Nottingham's Matt Cutler dropped this ear tickling debut with a coolness that few matched in '08. Brimming with heavily compressed beats that fidget and ache and groove against a miasma of aqua-sonics and soul-drenched samples; if this has been the year of the wonk then Lemurian stands proud as one of its more intriguing documents. At once disconcerting and beatific, Lemurian's shoegazing loveliness is THE unique take on the sound of tomorrow.

3. Eero Johannes - Eero Johannes (Planet Mu)
Playful space-disco meets toy-town dubstep may sound horrific but Planet Mu's latest signing delivered us a caffeine frenzy magnum opus, high on invention. Across fourteen analogue coated cuts, cosmic highlife and genre tennis a-plenty ..Johannes has more melodies per minute than ten-long players cooped up in a busy pop-factory.

4. Tape - Luminarium (Hapna)
Sublime bedroom minimalism from the Swedish band, fluttering and floating into the ears like nothing else this year. Once the opening crackle and shimmering guitar trails of opening track 'Beams' is torched, Luminarium glows through sixty minutes of lush arrangements, ghostly field recordings and a cornucopia of treated acoustic instruments. Beautiful.

5. The Bug - Poison Dart (Ninja Tune)
2008's most explosive record, veteran producer Kevin Martin has comfortably crafted his finest work to date. A phuture masterpiece, London Zoo frazzles and sparks with apocalyptic rage, post-millennial tension and subsonic monster beats. No other release this year has brought together stomping lyrical resonance(in the shape of some prime M.C talent) politico-dancehall grooves and bashment boogie with such skill. In years to come London Zoo WILL become a seminal record, for the meantime just buy it on bleep.

6. Rustie - Zig Zag (Wireblock)
If you are like us, then you probably remember the first time you heard this song. Definitely not a background-music tune, Zig-Zag drags the choke-held listener through an electronic soundtrack to Apocalypse, only intensified by chord changes every time you feel you might get a chance to breathe. The Terminator soundtrack on crack.

7. Flying Lotus - L.A. EP 2 X 3 (Warp)
Following on from one of the best albums of 2008, this EP is a hand-picked selection of Flying Lotus' favourite producers to re-work tracks off the seminal Los Angeles LP. It is a selection of the freshest producers around today re-piecing together the soundbytes of FlyLo's well-inked musical stamp for 2008. Essential.

8. Toob - Push Me, Pull You (Process)
One half of Red Snapper, Richard Thair teamed up with Jake Williams for this, their glorious second album under the Toob moniker. Oscillating wildly through the genres Push Me, Pull You is a must for fans of cosmic-krautrock rhythms, crunchy breaks, 80s new-wave and keyboard hooks from every corner. Underpinning the technicolor are wonderfully deadpan vocals and subversively skewed pop-melodies. The left-field pop album of the year.

9. Loco Dice - 7 Dunham Place (Desolat)
Lush minimal techno from downtown Brooklyn that squarely confronts the genre with a freshness of approach that zings and pings its way into your consciousness. Hooky piano stabs, densely textured programming and cut-up musique-concrete mean ... Dunham Place's Nuyorican flavour attacks both the dancefloor and the heads in equal measure.

10. Ratatat - LP3 (XL Recordings)
Unimaginatively titled, but a box of kooky treasures, as you might have come to expect from Ratatat. Crying out for some ad syncs, it is both thoughtful and calm but with some more developed sounds than before, particularly the Spanish influences that come out on Gipsy Threat and Mi Viejo.

Resident Advisor's Top 15 Remixes:
01. Ricardo Villalobos - Minimoonstar (Shackleton Remix) [Perlon]
02. Sebbo - Watamu Beach (Moritz von Oswald Rework) [Desolat]
03. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind (Frankie Knuckles Vocal) [DFA]
04. Sascha Funke - Mango Cookie (DJ Koze's Pink Moon Rmx) [BPitch Control]
05. Matias Aguayo - Minimal (DJ Koze Mix) [Kompakt]
06. Sascha Dive - Deepest America (Moodymann Remix) [Ornaments]
07. TRG - Broken Heart (Martyn's DCM Remix) [Hessle Audio]
08. Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia - Dead Souls (Radio Slave Long Distance Kiss Remix) [Buzzin' Fly]
09. Ane Brun - Headphone Silence (Henrik Schwarz Remix / Dixon Edit) [Objektivity]
10. Kevin Saunderson feat. Inner City - Good Love (Luciano Remix) [KMS]
11. Radio Slave - Grindhouse (Dubfire Terror Planet Remix) [Rekids]
12. Vladislav Delay - Recovery IDea (Andy Stott Remix) [Semantica]
13. Sety - Mogane (Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts Remix) [Circus Company]
14. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final (T++ Remix) [Skull Disco]
15. Dave Aju - Crazy Place (Luciano «Likuid» Remix) [Circus Company]

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature-read.aspx?id=996

Really hoping Marcello pipes up again so I can post that Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder pic.

I will never get why everyone is loving this Flying Lotus so much

Billboard critics' top 10s:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/2008/news/billboard-critic-choice-top-10.shtml

I've been kind of surprised at the high placement of Bon Iver on like 90% of these lists. I was aware of the guy but never really heard many people talk about him in 2008.

from the billboard link:

the man that ruined Melody Maker : Mark Sutherland:

He still likes rubbish music: Ting Tings, Glasvegas, Katy Perry, Oasis

MARK SUTHERLAND
Billboard international bureau chief

1. The Ting Tings, "We Started Nothing" (Columbia). Pop wolves in indie sheep's clothing, or possibly the other way round. Either way, 2008 was way more fun for having them around.
2. Weezer, "Weezer" (DGC/Interscope). Aka "The Red Album," Rivers Cuomo's genius still sounds great in any color.
3. Glasvegas, "Glasvegas" (Columbia). Big, affecting, proper music from the year's most exciting alt-rock discovery. The new Oasis, anyone?
4. The Last Shadow Puppets, "The Age of the Understatement" (Domino). Alex Turner's Arctic Monkeys sabbatical may just be the best side project ever.
5. Those Dancing Days, "In Our Space Hero Suits" (Wichita). Five Swedish girls who sound like your favorite indie pop group playing 1960s girl groups' greatest hits. What's not to be totally smitten by?
6. Duffy, "Rockferry" (A&M/Polydor). The British voice of 2008.
7. Oasis, "Dig Out Your Soul" (Big Brother). Sounding angry for the first time since, ooh, they were turned away from the Groucho Club in 1996, probably, and all the better for it. The old Glasvegas, anyone?
8. Elbow, "The Seldom Seen Kid" (Fiction/Polydor). That rarest of beasts: a Mercury Prize-winning album that actually deserved it.
9. R.E.M., "Accelerate" (Warner Bros). The sound of a giant awakening from a 16-year slumber and knocking out a doozy of a garage rock album in about half an hour. Sometimes, fairy tales do come true.
10. Katy Perry, "One of the Boys" (Virgin). She made a record and I liked it. It felt so wrong, it felt so right. 2008 in a nutshell.

Glad to see DJ Martian still carries a grudge against Melody Maker being ruined.

"Big, affecting, proper music .. "

so thats what proper music sounds like. been wondering about that all year.

9. R.E.M., "Accelerate" (Warner Bros). The sound of a giant awakening from a 16-year slumber and knocking out a doozy of a garage rock album in about half an hour. Sometimes, fairy tales do come true.

lolz

Bon Iver xgau's Dud of the Month and richly deserved (frost flowers in nosebeard of slo-mo farmhand, yum)

geir showing up during the marcello argument was like a presidential cameo on snl

when did geir show up?

Sometimes fairy tales do come true.

It is a well-known fact that most albums released in December are usually either "best of" compilations or crowded with songs about Santa, reindeers, Christmas trees, snow and mistletoes.....

― Geir Hongro, Friday, December 12, 2008 9:23 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

much like a presidential cameo it was largely a let-down, but it was the thought that counted

^^^Geir's contribution to this thread encapsulated

Guys I missed all of Marcello's racist nonsense and am going back in time to say that, while I can barely bring myself to care about these lists anymore, that DiS intro was possibly the worst thing I've read in my entire life.

Blog Said the Gramophone have posted their 50 best songs of 2008. I love this one:

http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/best_songs_of_2008.php

omg that youtube

Other Music best of 08 topped by El Guincho, Crystal Stilts, Grouper ...

http://www.othermusic.com/2008december11update.html

Pitchfork Top 50 countdown starts

Surprised to see Weezy that low, and I've never even heard of See You In Court. Any good?

was that supposed to be a rickroll? The page is broken.

See You In Court is awesome

I've never heard Living Colour but I find TVotR boring, so I'm intrigued by this. I still don't understand why the response to Marcello's original post and visual gag was so angry and inspired such a long argument. I think the lady doth protest too much.

Aftenposten scrapped their English language website recently, so only Geir can read the blurbs.

But they never had many English language articles on music, did they?

Anyway... Not much to comment otherwise. Marcello is Marcello. The Lex is The Lex. Nothing new....

And I am not too impressed by those lists myself, but that is because 2008 wasn't a particularly good vintage, not because the lists are seriously wrong. The American dominance is actually deserved, which says more about the current state of British music. The old names are still great, but they need some new names that are a bit less "rock".

(And still song-oriented and melodic, needless to say)

boooooooooooring

http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2008/11/2008_yearend_on_1.html lots of lists

Other Music best of 08 topped by El Guincho, Crystal Stilts, Grouper ...

that el guincho album is pretty good. surprised it's not more widely cited. seems like it could've at least gotten the slot reserved for manu chao or congotronics or something.