Year-End Critics' Polls '08

Well, I've LISTENED to them (i even relistened to the four songs they rank on the Pfork list) but they're both so incredibly boring and completely incapable of leaving any impression on me that I'm never left thinking anything beyond "I hate this music" and "people that listen to Belle And Sebastien dance to this"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, December 16, 2008 2:06 PM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh lol

Itt: Mean mugging ringtone dudes protecting lame electro bands from lazy zings

I mean you guys are right in that I was lazy and strawmanning, but seriously, given the subject matter, that's like getting up in arms when someone lumps Slipknot and Mudvayne in with "evil clown bands"

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

pfork in hurriedly pulling a few random chart-toppers into their lists at the last minute in lieu of paying attention to pop and r&b throughout the year, shocker

why do you give 2 shitz about what pfork is covering?

im not going to take as quite a cynical view as lex but i feel like the pfork lists from years past (05, 06, etc.) had pop/rap picks that were more inspired than stuff like "love in this club" and "live your life" - but i guess that could just speak to the quality of pop music this year

b/c people keep talking about it as if it's a critically impt general music publication

This is the year-end list thread where we discuss year-end lists, lex.

So both Slant and PopMatters chose Portishead as #1 album. Now I've loved Portishead for a long time, but I have to admit that Third just hasn't pulled me in the way the other two studio albums did. I'm not surprised that it is making the year-end lists, but I am a bit surprised that it is considered the very best album of the year.

Do you folks agree? Disagree?

im not going to take as quite a cynical view as lex but i feel like the pfork lists from years past (05, 06, etc.) had pop/rap picks that were more inspired than stuff like "love in this club" and "live your life" - but i guess that could just speak to the quality of pop music this year

― Bomb Sackantino (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, December 16, 2008 3:05 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i disagree, a lot of their pop picks in, say, '06 ("Ring The Alarm," "S.O.S.," the Akon "Ghetto Story" remix, "One Blood" "Bossy") or most other years seemed like kinda scattershot random samplings of the charts.

ha earlier when i said the ambient acoustic guitar + quirky singer thing was real big in the pfork list -- it wasnt just fleet foxes & tough alliance but portishead too -- all different genres supposedly but all the same song!

i dont think lex was quite otm about it being 'mopey' though -- theres a certain attempt @ profundity there i think tho

When you put it like that I would agree that the pfork list is quite lacking in stuff that rocks. Token metal picks are very two years ago?

why do you give 2 shitz about what pfork is covering?

RIP Mullah Omar

Not many metal heads at PFM, but they do have Brandon Stosuy.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/147495-column-show-no-mercy

I was pleased to see Hammers Of Misfortune made his list, along with several other musicians' lists.

i'm pretty surprised "single ladies" was on p4k's list. it should be of course. lex was OTM though, i cringed at about every sentence of its writeup.
i'm going to laugh when fleet fucking foxes is #1 album

Aren't these Pitchfork poll results from the readers not the editors?

xpost yeah I need to go through the Show No Mercy list soon, I'm not down with everything he likes but he's pretty on the ball.

k3v are you going to laugh any more than when Panda Bear was #1? Or Sufjan Stevens? This conversation is roughly equally as boring every year. As boring as Fleet Foxes or fucking "Single Ladies."

These are editors picks, "steampig67".

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/food/hk-pig-thumb.jpg

panda bear can write songs and is 100 times more interesting than that harmonizing geico commercial monkey

oh sry didn't mean to bring out any latent aggressive animal collection fan tendencies.

xxpost Thanks, I see them now.

Major love to Tom Ewing's singles list!

lol xxpost
forgot to say this, but i can say the same for beyonce

b/c people keep talking about it as if it's a critically impt general music publication

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2008

yawn.

more influential than The Guardian or Plan B anyway...

Pitchfork | The 100 Best Tracks of 2008
100 Girls - Hellhole Ratrace
99 Final Fantasy - The Butcher
98 The Magnetic Fields - The Nun's Litany
97 Buraka Som Sistema (Feat. M.I.A. and DJ Znobia) - Sound of Kuduro
96 Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream
95 Friendly Fires (Feat. Au Revoir Simone) - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
94 WHY? - Fatalist Palmistry
93 Atlas Sound - River Card
92 Born Ruffians - I Need a Life (Four Tet Remix)
91 Jamie Lidell - All I Wanna Do
90 Sic Alps - Message From the Law
89 Ponytail - Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)
88 Low Motion Disco - Things Are Gonna Get Easier
87 The Veronicas - Untouched
86 Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
85 Osborne - 16th Stage
84 Beach House - Gila
83 Titus Andronicus - Upon Viewing Brueghel's 'Landscape With the Fall of Icarus'
82 Solange - Sandcastle Disco
81 Love Is All - Wishing Well
80 The Bug (Feat. Warrior Queen) - Poison Dart
79 Ida Maria - Oh My God
78 Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
77 Telepathe - I Can't Stand It
76 Justice - DVNO (Radio Edit)
75 Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat
74 Wale - The Kramer
73 Goldfrapp - A&E
72 Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains
71 Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
70 Rihanna - Don't Stop the Music
69 Portishead - The Rip
68 Four Tet - Ribbons
67 Young Jeezy (Feat. Kanye West) - Put On
66 Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance
65 Max Tundra - Which Song
64 The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
63 The Very Best - Kamphopo
62 The Tough Alliance - Lucky
61 Q-Tip - Gettin' Up
60 Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating
59 The Dodos - Fools
58 Annie - I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
57 High Places - From Stardust to Sentience
56 Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
55 Usher (Feat. Young Jeezy) - Love in This Club
54 Lykke Li - Little Bit
53 Be Your Own Pet - Becky
52 Ricardo Villalobos - Enfants (Chants)
51 TV on the Radio - Golden Age
50 Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed
49 Jay Reatard - Always Wanting More
48 Spiritualized - Soul on Fire
47 Alphabeat - Fascination
46 M83 - Graveyard Girl
45 Antony and the Johnsons - Shake That Devil
44 Hot Chip - One Pure Thought
43 Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City)
42 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
41 No Age - Sleeper Hold
40 T.I. [ft. Rihanna] - Live Your Life
39 Kanye West - Love Lockdown
38 TV on the Radio - DLZ
37 Big Boi [ft. Raekwon and André 3000] - Royal Flush
36 Arthur Russell - I Couldn't Say It to Your Face
35 Shearwater - The Snow Leopard
34 Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love for Planet Earth
33 Animal Collective - Street Flash
32 Crystal Castles - Untrust Us
31 Aeroplane [ft. Kathy Diamond] - Whispers
30 MGMT - Time to Pretend
29 Vampire Weekend - M79
28 No Age - Eraser
27 T.I. - No Matter What
26 The Walkmen - In the New Year
25 The Hold Steady- Constructive Summer
24 Gang Gang Dance - House Jam
23 Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
22 Santogold - Lights Out
21 Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules' Theme
20 The Juan MacLean - Happy House
19 Vivian Girls - Where Do You Run To
18 Women - Black Rice
17 Wiley - Wearing My Rolex
16 The Mae Shi - Run to Your Grave
15 Amadou and Mariam - Sabali
14 Lil Wayne - A Milli
13 Kanye West - Flashing Lights
12 Cut Copy - Out There on the Ice
11 David Byrne and Brian Eno - Strange Overtones
10 Estelle - American Boy
9 Portishead - Machine Gun
8 Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep
7 Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
6 Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
5 M83 - Kim & Jessie
4 Santogold - LES Artistes
3 Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
2 Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
1 Hercules & Love Affair - Blind

copied from: http://hayatbayat.blogspot.com/2008/12/pitchfork-100-best-tracks-of-2008.html

Just saw a bunch on the R&B blog Soulbounce. Putting them up here before I start reading.

Ro: http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/12/yearend_top_10_ros_picks_of_2008.php
ill Mami: http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/12/yearend_top_10_ill_mamis_picks_of_2008.php
nOvaMatic: http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/12/yearend_top_10_novas_picks_of_2008.php
Butta: http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/12/yearend_top_10_butta_picks_of_2008.php#more
Harlem: http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/12/yearend_top_10_harlems_picks_of_2008.php

The 10 Worst Moments in Black Music: http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/12/top_10_worst_moments_in_black_music_of_2008.php

oh man the last one I linked is just brutal (one of the reasons I like that site)

weird weird Wale blurb on pfork. maybe u can be justified dropping hella n-bombs if you're actually making a point related to that somehow but in the end it was just like "hes not lecturing us about it, just mentioning that it happened, and thats good enough!!" and its like o_O?

wow thanks for posting those lists matos - lots of my own favourites and some really amazing new discoveries. that foreign exchange/muhsinah track is incredible!! so sumptuous and epic. why have i been assailed by so much talk about fleet foxes when this has existed this year.

also this is the best line from any blurb so far, re: jazmine sullivan's 'lions, tigers & bears':

It's what I envision the dance between someone's mind and heart to be like just before they fall completely in love to be like.

<3

Don't think that anyone's posted the Resident Advisor Top 20 albums of 2008 yet. Matt DC should be happy with the winner.

Nice list from RA. Deadbeat's album isn't getting enough love -- it's a real grower. And I'm still not understanding the high praise for Move D/Benjamin Brunn.

The last Deadbeat album was great, sort of flitted around in an undiscovered hinterland between minimal and dancehall. I didn't even know there was one this year.

I can't be alone in thinking that Pitchfork's honorable mention list seems like an irrepressibly silly idea. And that Torche deserved so much more than an honorable mention for Meanderthal.

Also had a song that went 'gimme gimme gimme gimme fat girl on me willy' or something similar.

(xpost)

Well, we can place records like Meanderthal, that didn't make our top 50, into a feature that will be read by hundreds of thousands of people over the next few weeks or ignore it altogether. Apologies if that's "irrepressibly silly."

ignore "them" rather

Most of the honorable mentions are in my top 50-200. I wouldn't call it silly either. Other magazines or sites have their own honorable mentions with their separate genre lists.

I think it's a great idea, and am glad to see Abe Vigoda, Philip Jeck, Torche (among others) receive the extra press.

And Harvey Milk. I just was working up a rant that Torche and Harvey Milk (and Made Out Of Babies) weren't getting enough luv.

@scottpl You guys really need to institute slideshows for these features already.

Worst Album On Kerrang Albums Of The Year List 2008

Always nice to see Torche get props and press, but wtf is this line from the blurb:

On their second album (and first for Hydra Head Records), they don't disregard the bombastic sludge that they're best known for. Instead, they cut their tar with all sorts of non-metallic things, including some that might make their more militant fans use some terms of endearment that, given the band leader's sexual orientation, could be considered at best ironic.

OK after looking a bit I had no idea Steve was gay but not really sure what this has to do with anything?

Last day of voting on Best Album On NME' s 2008 Albums Of The Year List?

from MTV: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1601434/20081217/swift__taylor.jhtml

Maybe it's the Christmas season, but indie rock appears to be in the air. The self-titled full-length debut from pastoral indie folk darlings Fleet Foxes claws back to #181 on sales of 5,900, two months after achieving their highest position to date at #67. Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut also made its way back onto the charts for the first time in two months at #189 with 5,400 units snapped up. And Bon Iver's For Emma Forever Ago slips under the wire at #198 thanks to 5,200 units moved, its strongest sales to date after debuting at #181 back in February.

Am I crazy for assuming that this has to be the direct result of various year-end lists being published? And if so, would that be the first time several indie records have gotten a measurable chart bump this time of year, seemingly for that reason?

Bon Iver was on Letterman

Very interesting. It's possible that the social emphasis on "year-end lists" is at an all-time high. Someone told me Bon Iver was on Letterman last week, so that might have something to do with their sales boost. (XPOST)

you can now disagree with the...critical mainstream consensus for 2008 albums

http://www.albumvote.co.uk/news/the-top-albums-of-2008-431.aspx
The annual list of lists to find out the definitive albums of the year chart is compiled from 6 UK sources (NME, Q, Uncut, Guardian, Observer Music Monthly, Sunday Times) and 6 American sources (Rolling Stone, Spin, Filter, Pitchfork, Blender, Time Magazine).

Each source has a top 10 list and this chart is an aggregated version of all them.

# 1. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
# 2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
# 3. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
# 4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
# 5. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III
# 6. Portishead - Third
# 7. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
# 8. Elbow - The Seldom Seen kid
# 9. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
# 10. Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
# 11. Foals - Antidotes
# 12. Santogold - Santogold
# 13. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
# 14. Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends
# 15. Cut/Copy - In Ghost Colours
# 16. Deerhunter - Microcastle
# 17. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
# 18. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
# 19. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Modern Love
# 20. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs
# 21. Amadou and Mariam - Welcome to Mali
# 22. Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
# 23. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
# 24. Metallica - Death Magnetic
# 25. Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
# 26. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
# 27. No Age - Nouns
# 28. Dr. Dog - Fate
# 29. Hercules And Love Affair – Hercules And Love Affair
# 30. John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love and Freedon
# 31. Duffy - Rockferry
# 32. Metronomy - Nights Out
# 33. Aidan John Moffat - I Can Hear Your Heart
# 34. DJ Rupture - Uproot
# 35. Robyn – Robyn
# 36. Neon Neon - Stainless Style
# 37. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
# 38. Al Green - Lay It Down
# 39. Of Montreal – Of Montreal
# 40. She And Him - Volume One

^How is this possible when the PFork list hasn't even been published yet?