Year-End Critics' Polls '08

You missed them: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/148119-2008-albums-of-the-year-individual-lists

tracks list too:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/148119-2008-albums-of-the-year-individual-lists

tracks: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/148118-2008-tracks-of-the-year-individual-lists

xpost

This is the first year in awhile that I didn't roll my eyes at PFM's #1 album pick. Not my favorite album of the year, but at least it isn't Joanna Newsom (or Panda Bear) Sufjan Stevens.

Corrected.

Thanks Matos

hmm, of montreal was on four lists, pretty high up on a few. compare this with, say, #50 ponytail, which was on two lists.

Looks like while the Fleet Foxes album was #1 overall, it was only placed #1 on a single writer's individual list. By comparison, Deerhunter and Cut Copy were placed #1 on three lists apiece, while Hercules and Love Affair, Earth and Arthur Russell all placed #1 on two writers' lists apiece.

the responsible ones:

>> Brian Howe
2. Wale: The Mixtape About Nothing

>> Eric Harvey
1. Wale: The Mixtape About Nothing

>> Jayson Greene
4. Wale: The Mixtape About Nothing

the responsible ones
the responsible ones
the responsible ones
the responsible ones
the responsible ones
the responsible ones
the responsible ones
the responsible ones

looks like the era of beanie sigel ending up on pf end of year lists is long gone huh

Sig's album was merely good.

yeahhh suggesteban, looks like an executive decision (and holding fast to their 5.9) trumped the math there on Of Montreal; it does not seem to add up, not at all

OH MY GOD MAYBE THEY DONT RUN THEIR EDITORIAL LIKE A DEMOCRACY WHAT WILL WE DO?!?!?!?!

i never cried foul, whiney.

Of Montreal were nowhere close: Only five votes, two in the top 10. Ponytail, on the other hand, were on 10 ballots, including once in the top 10. You vote for 50 albums, plus you allocate points to your top 25-- you can't just look at those lists as published and determine anything.

ok thanks scott

thought it was nice Badu was high up there, did they even review that record?

they reviewed it like 3 months after it came out or something, as they obv didn't think erykah badu was an artist worthy of their attention until it was obvious how much consensus there was around new amerykah. which says a lot about their editorial priorities!

thumbs up for the cave17 list btw, excellent top 2 and some interesting choices in there (like, raveonettes is the kind of indie that i'm not 100% down with myself, but i do love a single here and there by them and it's not what you'd expect to see on EoY lists) (and so far more welcome than fucking fleet foxezzzzzzz again). we should be talking more about the cave17 list, not the pfork one.

also impressed at cave17 getting the anthony hamilton in there - released, what, four days ago?

The Cave17 list has Flight Of The Fucking Conchords on it, so no.

haha we are DISQUALIFIED :[]

yeah, Flight of the Conchords at #4 was the weirdest thing about the list to me

btw Matos, thanking u so much for the soulbounce lists!

in re: Flight of the Conchords: We have a small staff, two people rated it very highly, end of story. Don't understand why there is any confusion. Me and my son love "Robots" because it is funny but it wasn't on my list either.

(Boring semi-defensive comment: I guess comedy records don't count unless they are hip records by hipsters like David Cross or Patton Oswalt?)

I do need to track down the A. Hamilton

xpost Comedy records count if they are funny.

I like Conchords much more on TV, but the record is well made, which apparently this year counts for a ton. (Hey, my favorite album is Ne-Yo, so I oughta know, right?)

I posted my top 100 tracks on my blog if anyone wants to look:
http://m-matos.blogspot.com/2008/12/fuck-it-ive-tweaked-it-long-enough-and.html

Wow Matos, maybe someday I'll hear like six of these

My biggest disappointment this year is not hearing more from Brazil; Gilberto Gil had 2 records out this year and CSS sure but I am just out of touch these days, my contacts down there have dried up (LOL optometry humor)

Babe, Terror is a great Brazil 08 joint, d5: http://www.myspace.com/babeterror

this not my cup of caipirinha, chris, but thanks. although we should probably keep our semi-beef alive so i can get tons of publicity for SCRAPPY LITTLE CAVE17.COM

i was hoping for albums from some of my fave rave indie brazilian people but they didnt happen yet, tudo bem

(like, raveonettes is the kind of indie that i'm not 100% down with myself, but i do love a single here and there by them and it's not what you'd expect to see on EoY lists) (and so far more welcome than fucking fleet foxezzzzzzz again).

The Pfork list would make a lot more sense if the Raveonettes album took the place of Fleet Foxes. It's a fucking great record, my #1 for a few months early in the year, and I think the comparisons to Psychocandy are on target. I'd venture to say if Lust Lust Lust was released in 1985, and Psychocandy in 2008, then Lust would be the stone cold classic Psychocandy has instead become.

I love both albums, mind you.

I really like the Raveonettes album, but that is just rong rong rong.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/sites/default/files/36.jpg
"Just your average Hasidic reggae rapper. Yeah, you heard me. This guy is a straight-up Hasidic Jew from New York who busts mad flow over dancehall and reggae beats. This is the future of music." --Sam Endicott, the Bravery in The Guardian

I'd like to add my voice to the "Wale is boring" chorus.

I saw him on MTV Jams today and it was pretty WTF.

Aw, man! Anthony Hamilton has a new one out? Is it great???

It is even better than Comin' From Where I'm From.

I really like the Raveonettes album, but that is just rong rong rong.

To be honest... there are days I think Lust is better than Psychocandy, track for track.

interesting. i think it's their weakest record. but i'll always prefer spectorish stuff to the marychainish stuff

Jody Rosen in Slate

1. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
2. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
3. Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song
4. Calle 13, Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo
5. Portishead, Third
6. Sugarland, Love on the Inside
7. Benji Hughes, A Love Extreme
8. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
9. The Cool Kids, The Bake Sale
10. Ashton Shepherd, Sounds So Good

http://www.slate.com/id/2206848/entry/2206850/

The Rosen album list plus his singles is part of a series of e-mails between he and Ann Powers and Robert Christgau on Slate

Christgau at Slate (He also talked about the Franco compilation on NPR)

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"

Christgau explains why he put Lee Dorsey on his singles list. Lee Dorsey is no longer with us but....Christgau says "Old guy that I am, I don't watch music on my computer or anywhere else, but seeing will.i.am's version just once reminded me how much I loved Dorsey's (and the Treacherous Three's, though I'll bet Michelle O. loves the Pointers'), and, therefore, I stuck it atop my singles list out of sheer orneriness."

black devil disco club is getting no mentions anywhere compared to thier last one

Speaking of Anthony Hamilton, his guest spot and a number of other tracks on the new Mint Condition are ace.

Already picked up the Franco because of Christgau's A+ and its predictably wonderful. Have to get that T.I. and Raphael Saadiq.

The Roots and The Magnetic Fields aren't doing much for me, but maybe I'm just not a fan of the way they sound. I love a few tracks each off Orchestra Baobab and Robert Forster. They play as wholes in the background so far...

black devil disco club is getting no mentions anywhere compared to thier last one

cuz it's kinda dull compared to their last one :(

Saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire last night. M.I.A.'s all over the soundtrack--a song with A.R. Rahman, "Paper Planes," and the DFA remix of "Paper Planes."

NY Times critics lists(Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Ben Ratliff,Nate Chinen) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/arts/music/21cara.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print

By JON CARAMANICA
1. JAMEY JOHNSON “That Lonesome Song” (Mercury Nashville). The second album from this stoic country singer documents a series of battles — with a woman, with alcohol and drugs, with a stubborn self. The scars and the bruises, they speak for themselves, as do the words that often seem to give out, exhausted and apologetic, halfway through.

2. THE COOL KIDS “The Bake Sale” (C.A.K.E./Chocolate Industries). All memory is invention, anyway, so why shouldn’t the most precise evocation of hip-hop’s late-1980s New York golden age come from a pair of Chicago kids in their early 20s? This debut is more than tribute, though; the rapper Mikey Rocks has calm swagger, and Chuck Inglish’s beats move in multiple directions without sacrificing crispness.

3. THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM “The ’59 Sound” (SideOneDummy). The characters in this band’s Springsteen-influenced punk songs can’t be saved; years of atrophying in dead-end towns have rendered them helpless, resigned to their fates. But with his optimistic, wooly shouts, the singer Brian Fallon makes them sound like heroes, not cautionary tales.

4. TAYLOR SWIFT “Fearless” (Big Machine). Teenage subject matter notwithstanding, there’s nothing naïve about this young singer’s music; her second album is every bit as elegantly designed as her 2006 debut. Ms. Swift is one of pop’s finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults.

5. LIL WAYNE “Tha Carter III” (Cash Money/Universal Motown). So underwhelming, so imperfect: The flaws of Lil Wayne’s sixth solo album seem so glaring because for the last two years, as he decimated the mixtape circuit with colorful, undulating rhymes, he has batted almost 1.000. Still, there’s nothing wrong with .750.

6. BON IVER “For Emma, Forever Ago” (Jagjaguwar). Bon Iver singer Justin Vernon’s croon is high-pitched and spooky; his arrangements are spare and hushed. But the small and sometimes cryptic songs on this band’s debut are deceptively tough, marching forward inexorably toward something that sounds a lot like bliss.

7. DARIUS RUCKER “Learn To Live” (Capitol Nashville). More like Hootie and the Albatrosses: Shed of the bar-band dead weight, Mr. Rucker has looked within and discovered a country classicist with a keen pop ear. And then there’s that voice, robust and honeyed and not at all, it turns out, a relic.

8. YOUNG JEEZY “The Recession” (Def Jam). This Atlanta rapper has sneered and preached and boasted and mourned. But he has never, before now, seethed. This is a harsh, captivating album about hopelessness, and Jeezy spits out unsparing observations as if they tasted bad.

9. THE ACADEMY IS ... “Fast Times at Barrington High” (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen). Five years after promised, emo finally became power-pop this year, just in time for no one to care. That’s a shame for this Chicago band, which has a slick, acidic frontman, William Beckett, and a cache of indestructible songwriting and production by S*A*M and Sluggo that even the Jonas Brothers would kill for.

10. PLIES “Da REAList” (Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic). On this, one of two great albums he released this year, Plies is staunchly literal, more of a conversationalist than a rapper. But why bother with metaphor, imagery and cadence when straight talk can be this rich?

Top Songs

SHAWTY LO, FEATURING LUDACRIS, YOUNG JEEZY, PLIES AND LIL WAYNE “Dey Know (Remix)” (Asylum)

NE-YO “Closer” (Def Jam)

LIL WAYNE “A Milli” (Cash Money/Universal Motown)

DEMI LOVATO AND JOE JONAS “This Is Me” (Hollywood)

D-BLOCK “It’s Like That” (Koch)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/arts/music/21ratl.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print Ben Ratliff has Metallica #1, then some jazz (Bennie Maupin & others) and indie (F'd up & others) and Hercules & L A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/arts/music/21pare.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print Pareles has TVOTR #1 and also includes Toumani Diabete's solo instrumental kora cd, Erykah Badu, country singer Jamey Johnson, and Laura Marling

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/arts/music/21chin.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print Nate Chinen has Lil Wayne #1, then Argentinean jazz pianist Guillermo Klein, Bon Iver, West African jazz guitarist Lionel Louke, another vote for Jamey Johnson, plus more jazz, Al Green, TVOTR, and No Age

7. DARIUS RUCKER “Learn To Live” (Capitol Nashville). More like Hootie and the Albatrosses: Shed of the bar-band dead weight, Mr. Rucker has looked within and discovered a country classicist with a keen pop ear. And then there’s that voice, robust and honeyed and not at all, it turns out, a relic.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still haven't check out the cd and missed him on those country tv award show. I'm skeptical. Plus Caramanica lists the Gaslight Anthem who I just don't get---Hold Steady fans who listen to old Jersey barband rock and add little exciting to it.