Year-End Critics' Polls '08

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).

Did that Mae Shi make much of a splash in the US? It was released that long ago it seems like it was totally forgotten about... I liked it but never gave it any thought re: EOY lists

surprised at no jeezy or t.i./random wale mixtape being treated as one of the token hiphop albums of the year, i guess.

shameless i know, but a bunch of random people have done their thing for quietus :

http://thequietus.com/articles/00903-the-quietus-list-of-lists

Yup, fairly predictable (maybe other than Cut Copy at 4?) though better than 26-50 was. Can anyone tell me anything about dj/rupture?

DJ Mencap, I don't remember seeing buzz about Mae Shi anywhere outside of pitchfork; maybe one of their pet faves/projects? Not sure though.

thought Gang Gang Dance would be doing much better

thought wayne was a top 5 lock

too popular

Yay Mae Shi! That album is incredible and incredibly slept-on. I put it on my Pazz And Jop ballot in 2007—which would make it pretty much the only time in my life I can rightfully say "FIRST!" about anything, for whatever that's worth

livin' the dream, whiney!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/WidowOfDestiny/Jiggle_Panda.gif

Here's Robert Christgau's list, from Slate.com. Finally some love for the Drive-By Truckers and Conor Oberst, two of my three favorites of the year.

Albums

1. Franco: Francophonic
2. Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III (Deluxe Edition)
3. Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
5. Coner Oberst: Coner Oberst
6. Randy Newman: Harps and Angels
7. Les Amazones de Guinee: Wamato
8. Hayes Carll: Trouble in Mind
9. The Roots: Rising Down
10. The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
11. Orchestra Baobab: Made in Dakar
12. Girl Talk: Feed the Animals
13. Raphael Saadiq: The Way I See It
14. Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster …
15. Steinski: What Does It All Mean: 1983-2006 Retrospective
16. Robert Forster: The Evangelist
17. T.I.: Paper Trail
18. Menya: The Ol' Reach-Around
19. Jaguar Love: Jaguar Love
20. The Rough Guide to Colombian Street Party

Singles

1. M.I.A.: "Paper Planes"
2. Lee Dorsey: "Yes We Can Can"
3. Conor Oberst: "I Don't Want To Die (In the Hospital)"
4. Los Campesinos!: "Death to Los Campesinos!"
5. Rihanna: "Disturbia"
6. Mike Doughty: "More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle"
7. Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip: "Thou Shalt Always Kill"
8. Randy Newman: "Potholes"
9. Drive-By Truckers: "The Righteous Path"
10. Nas: "Black President"

whiney that gif is hypnotizing me

6. Mike Doughty: "More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle"'

there are some decent songs on that album but wow that one is awful

I'm pretty surprised the Jamie Lidell album didn't make the Pitchfork top 50 at all.

I mean, as a neo-soul album on Warp Records that's eons better than Multiply, his last record (which I think was on the 2005 Pfork list), I'd have expected Jim to have done pretty well. It's probably the most purely enjoyable record I've heard all year, besides.

wtf is fleet foxes