Year-End Critics' Polls '08

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?

NME.com published a rumored Pitchfork list, so probably from there. (It wasn't real.)

A: they obviously used pitchfork readers poll not critics

or this

Pitchfork's 50 Highest Rated Albums of 2008
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/kenyon330/pitchforks_50_highest_rated_albums_of_2008

Whoa, who knew that Prurient's "Arrowhead" got an 8.8?!

Weird since it's like one of my least fave Prurient records, but noise is pretty subjective so I'm just glad he got the props.

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.

"I was thinking I might get my brother some cool CDs for Christmas! He has such bad taste and I know he just needs to get exposed to some cool things!"

man it'll be champagne all round at alma road this year

Bon Iver was on Letterman

Fleet Foxes were on Conan a night or two ago.

Here's Pitchfork. Second part tomorrow.

26: Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
27: Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
28: Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
29: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
30: Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster...
31: Fennesz - Black Sea
32: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
33: Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
34: Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me
35: Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
36: Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing
37: Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
38: The Bug - London Zoo
39: Times New Viking - Rip It Off
40: The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit are the Very Best
41: David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
42: Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down in the Light
43: Shearwater - Rook
44: Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
45: Lykke Li - Youth Novels
46: Beach House - Devotion
47: The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
48: High Places - High Places
49: Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night
50: Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual

Well I'm certainly stoked for the second half after reading that.

Blurt (I swear I never heard of the album winner -- or if I did, I wasn't paying attention):

http://www.blurt-online.com/features/view/240/

WOXY.com Listeners Vote Their Top 97 Of 2008
http://woxy.lala.com/blog/2008/12/18/woxycom-listeners-vote-their-top-97-of-2008/

34: Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me
35: Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

something lol about this

didn't know that Flying Lotus album was so well-liked

i don't know WHY that Flying Lotus album is so well-liked

his a milli remix is pretty great

the album is kind of a snooze though

My god - that Wale mixtape must be the worst thing ever mentioned in a year end list. No wonder it was 'self released'.

the woxy list only has one great album but still that's one more than every other list in this thread

"the kramer" is really bad, didn't listen to the rest

me and big hoos talked about this tonight - i don't get the love for wale at all. dude sounds half-asleep whenever he's rapping and he doesn't even seem to care about flowing in any way that isn't monotone. not to mention that his PROFOUND STATEMENTS are, of course, not that profound

i think the beats are palatable to people? idk - i'd rather listen to rich boy any day

ahhh pitchfork's 1-25 albums is about to release: QUICK PREDICTIONS!

top 10: TVOTR, Portishead, Cut Copy, Deerhunter, Fleet Foxes, Hercules and Love Affair for sure; wildcards: MGMT? M83? Vivian Girls? Vampire Weekend? Odds anyone? Actually Vampire Weekend should be in the "for sure" category come to think of it and of Pitchfork.

who cares, stop talking about it

http://smartpei.typepad.com/robert_patersons_weblog/images/2008/05/15/canute.jpg

Oh and perhaps No Age too.

01: Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant EP/Fleet Foxes
02: Portishead - Third
03: No Age - Nouns
04: Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
05: Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
06: TV on the Radio - Dear Science
07: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
08: M83 - Saturdays=Youth
09: Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
10: DJ/rupture - Uproot
11: Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
12: Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too
13: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
14: Air France - No Way Down
15: Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
16: Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
17: Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
18: The Mae Shi - HLLLYH
19: The Walkmen - You & Me
20: Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
21: Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
22: Santogold - Santogold
23: Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
24: Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
25: Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances

(That was the top 25 of the Pitchfork list)

wow I think I'm only surprised at how unsurprising a top 10 that was (except of course token wildcard DJ/rupture).