Year-End Critics' Polls '08

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/148094-2008-pitchfork-readers-poll

this isn't a critics' poll but whatever. basically it sucks.

there were so few options in that poll that basically people were just voting for what order they wanted those 25 records to appear in on the list

yeah, i wonder how much it cost to get a slot on the ballot

The Q one is the best list. As always.
(Or, well, as always since Select disappeared)

that's interesting, geir hongro. what kind of music do you like?

jesus, was there an album that came out this year that didn't get a mention from Wire?

You'd think the Wire would have learned to spell Mike Osborne's name correctly by now.

the wire hip-hop choices are...weird.

I doubt whether the voters in that poll were in the plural case.

From P-fork's "Blind" blurb by Mark Pytlik:

"2008 was a weird year for dance singles. With a few notable exceptions, techno basically spent it on snooze, electro sounded limp and uninspired, and house failed to build on French touch with much of anything fresh. Indie rock did a pretty decent job of integrating dance music into the full-band aesthetic, while a few mainstream cheesemongers helped make up some of those losses (the otherwise awful Sam Sparro scored with "Black & Gold", and it says a lot that one of the year's best dance tracks -- "Pjanoo" -- came from Eric fucking Prydz), but it was hardly robust. Disco, however, avoided that malaise."

God I wish someone told me earlier that indie and Sam Sparro were doing more interesting things with dance music than house and techno this year. So much catching up.

Blind's an odd choice (partly because in a year so supposedly weak for house and techno this ends up #1 regardless) - pretty good as a song but the remixes are better

i accidentally read some of that. the beyonce blurb wins by percentage of wrong sentences in one paragraph (100%). and who knew there were so many shitty indie bands in the world? IGNORE.

thou dost protest every fucking day even more tiresomely than the day before methinks

also: same as every other fucking list! godddd critical consensus is a downer these days.

less than half the top 20 is indie-rock type stuff and it's mostly decent (what i've heard).

"Blind" at #1 makes this the second year that a track featuring Antony is PFM's top single.

If you take out Fleet Foxes, Deerhunter and M83 that isn't a bad top ten. Actually the Deerhunter one is okay but just bafflingly high.

the M83 is great you menk

i think that was a cool choice for no. 1 tho def a weird blurb -- those blanket statements always sound weird to me

flipping thru the bottom 50 yesterday it struck me how similar a lot of the songs sound, even across diff genres -- like the tough alliance song doesnt sound too far off from the fleet foxes song (slow ambient + with acoustic guitar) -- a bunch of diff songs on the list had that same vibe.

"mopey" is the adjective you're looking for, i think

(slow ambient + with acoustic guitar) -- a bunch of diff songs on the list had that same vibe

If you take out Fleet Foxes, Deerhunter and M83 that isn't a bad top ten

i like most of the top 10 but the idea that those tracks are the BEST of 08 is baffling. my perennial beef as ever is that this indie-centric list is paid undue attention by people when it shouldn't be treated as a barometer of anything other than mopey indie, and the stuff in it is dragged into the critical centre. it doesn't reflect my year at all, thank fuck.

it doesn't have to reflect your year. it's their list, not yours.

also: same as every other fucking list! godddd critical consensus is a downer these days.

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 17:14 (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's certainly weird that critical consensus consists of critics reaching a consensus about things, totally.

The only song in that top 10 that I think could be described as "mopey" is Portishead, ffs.

you dont expect him to have heard the songs surely? ;)

i like most of the top 10 but the idea that those tracks are the BEST of 08 is baffling

feel the same way about the Vibe list. many ok to good tracks but most of them wouldn't get in my own 100.

the beyonce blurb wins by percentage of wrong sentences in one paragraph (100%).

lol

Knowing what ta Pfork list is going to look like in general, their list isn't bad at all.

i was glad to see "happy house" and "wearing my rolex" so high though i did notice that two writers listed "can't believe it" #1 but it didn't make the top 100 ~*~*curious*~*~

It's weird to say that the pfork list looks like all the others; that's really not the case. Still there aren't too many things blowing me away as I go through it. I guess it's just that since they're less indie-centric than ever the kneejerk indie haters sound particularly retarded.

i did notice that two writers listed "can't believe it" #1 but it didn't make the top 100 ~*~*curious*~*~

the pop songs on the list puzzled me too - "love in this club", "single ladies" and "live your life"?

yah i found that really sorta random! esp love in this club -- single ladies is more understandable i think

those songs are awesome.

The 11-20 on the Pfork list is much better than the top 10.

xp: "Live Your Life" is great. I thought most, if not all, of us agreed on this.

Single Ladies is super great.

love in this club is not that awesome

i like single ladies and live your life a lot but i didn't expect pitchfork writers to be rallying around either to be quite honest - "love in this club" is lazy/borderline reprehensible and has aged so awfully that it's not even funny

I CAN BREAK THESE CUFFS

also lolwtf @ "flashing lights" - was that a single in february or something? even so it feels 2 years old

i can break these cuffs is top 10 of the decade xp

I still can't tell Crystal Castles and Cut Copy apart

Yeah, I basically agree with that except the part for it being weird for them to rally around the first two. I mean, both are huge songs that are at least pretty good. It makes sense that a certain amount of PF writers have heard and like them. Why wouldn't it?

xxxxp

"Flashing Lights" had its chart peak and video release around Jan/Feb, although honestly it was so popular as an album track in '07 that I'm surprised they didn't list it last year already. I was happy to see it, though, especially since it took the big Kanye spot on the list instead of something from 808s. I was scrolling down with dread convinced I would see "Love Lockdown" in the top 5 til I absolutely knew it wasn't there.

I still can't tell Crystal Castles and Cut Copy apart

Then you haven't listened to them.

"Love Lockdown" was #39

haha o i missed that

i was kinda surprised that an 808s album track like "street lights" or "paranoid" didn't chart

I may be wrong, but I don't think they listed more than 2 tracks by any given artist.