Year-End Critics' Polls '08

x-post
I think the Cool Kids are harmless. Yea, yea they not ATCQ and yea Mr. Hospitality they acted like jerks (as if there aren't millions of musicians/rappers who do that) but it just doesn't seem worth the effort or the energy to spend your time hatin' on them

"They're assholes" is really not a good criticism of someone's music. (I have no opinion of the Cool Kids at all.)

Yeah but "barely rapping over refried Clipse beats" is.

are people getting return emails after submitting P&J ballots yet?

yeah mine came w/ a jamba juice coupon too

the fun years are GREBT

sorta minimalist textural electronic music. it's easy to put it on and forget it's on, but it's really nice.

fRoots Magazine poll http://www.frootsmag.com/content/critpoll/

New Album Of 2008 winners
1. Jim Moray Low Culture (NIAG)
2. Toumani Diabate The Mandé Variations (World Circuit)
3. Rokia Traore Tchamantché (Nonesuch/Tama)
4. Umalali The Garifuna Women’s Project (Cumbancha)
5. Kasai Allstars Congotronics 3: In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic (Crammed)
6. Bellowhead Matachin (Navigator)
7. Issa Bagayogo Mali Koura (Six Degrees)
8. Eliza Carthy Dreams Of Breathing Underwater (Topic)
9. Taksim Trio Taksim Trio (Doublemoon)
10. Natacha Atlas & The Mazeeka Ensemble Ana Hina (World Village)

The Next 10:
11=Dub Colossus A Town Called Addis (Real World)
Mary Hampton My Mother’s Children (Navigator)
Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80 Many Things (Tôt Ou Tard)
Rajery, Ballaké Sissoko & Driss El Maloumi 3MA (Contre-Jour)
15=Buika Niña De Fuego (Warner Spain Classics & Jazz)
Spiers & Boden Vagabond (Navigator)
17=Lila Downs Shake Away (EMI)
Melingo Maldito Tango (Mañana)
Warsaw Village Band Infinity (Jaro)
Mariza Terra (EMI Portugal)
Runners Up (alphabetically): Amadou & Mariam Welcome To Mali (Because); Les Amazones De Guinée Wamato (Stern’s); Saban Bajramovic with Mostar Sevdah Reunion Saban (Snail); Debashish Bhattacharya Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey (Riverboat); Blue Blokes 3 Stubble (Fledg’ling); Carolina Chocolate Drops Heritage (DixieFrog); Chumbawamba The Boy Bands Have Won (No Masters); Mercan Dede 800 (Doublemoon); DeVotchKa A Mad & Faithful Telling (Anti); Chris Foster Outsiders (Green Man); Mor Karbasi The Beauty & The Sea (Mintaka); Kries Kocijani (Kopito); Jackie Oates The Violet Hour (Chudleigh Roots); Ivo Papasov Dance Of The Falcon (World Village); Karine Polwart Fairest Floo’er (Hegri Music); Rupa & The April Fishes Extraordinary Rendition (Cumbancha); Terakaft Akh Issudar (Tapsit/IRL); Riccardo Tesi Presente Remoto (Felmay); Huong Thanh & Nguyen Lê Fragile Beauty (ACT); Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet (Nettwerk).

Jim Moray's a Bristol, UK folk/indie guy who uses drum machine beats and has Bristol rapper Bubbz on one track I heard on his myspace page

But he sounds more conventionally Brit-pop-folkie on other tracks.

That Diabate solo instrumental cd is like a classical album--it's real nice I just prefer him with a band and percussion and vocals. I don't think Nonesuch is releasing the Rokia Traore or the new Amadou & mariam in the US until 2009.

Congotronics 3 seems to reach more different audiences than some of the others above--the indie folks who like Konono plus the various whirled music listeners

That Slate.com chat above between Christgau, Jody Rosen, and Ann Powers just keeps going. I think they're up to day 9 or something. Christgau went for the Franco compilation that the fRoots (FolkRoots once upon a time) folks named #one reissue. There are so many Franco reissues out there (and I already have a few) so I never got this one

Congotronics 3 is kind of a misnomer -- Kasai All-Stars are a different group from Konono No. 1, and Congotronics 2 was a comp. I think Kasai All-Stars do a more interesting thing, maybe because they are a super-group made up of three or four different crews from a different area of DR Congo.

The Slate thing is finished, each of the last three posts explicitly say that they're each writer's final word in the dialogue.

I like all three writers but nothing any of them are saying is news in the slightest, and none of them are out to change anyone else's mind or anything.

well here's mine :P

http://www.moteldemoka.com/2008/12/08/mokas-top-10-albums-2008/

1. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista (Fonal)
2. Jacaszek - Treny (Miasmah)
3. Scott Tuma - Not For Nobody (Digitalis)
4. Shed - Shedding the Past (Ostgut Ton)
5. Tape - Luminarium (Häpna)
6. Fleet Foxes - fleet foxes (Sub pop)
7. Bruno Pronsato - Why can’t we be like us (Hello? Repeat)
8. Grouper - Dragging a dead dear up the hill (Type)
9. Lykke Li - Youth Novels (LL)
10. Zdzislaw Piernik & Piotr Zbrodzki - Namanga (Vivo)

Why should they be out to change anyone's mind?

didnt say they had to, just it's more interesting when they try, like on some of the old slate film threads. this was like 'well i love you but i liked this record better, no offense' 'why none taken!' which is fine, but kinda ho-hum.

Yeah, I can see that.

La Onda Tropical Blog list http://laondatropical.blogspot.com/

Calle 13 - Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo

Choc Quib Town - Somos Pacifico

Aterciopelados - Rio

Julieta Venegas - MTV Unplugged

Acida - Greatest Hits

Bajofondo - Mar Dulce

Bostich + Fussible - Tijuana Sound Machine

Plastilina Mosh - All U Need Is Mosh

Orishas - Cosita Buena

I Like It Like That Fania Remixes

Club Fonograma's Best Songs of '08 [Latin-pop]http://clubfonograma.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-songs-of-2008-part-iv-25-01.html

25. "Hansel y Gretel's Bollywood Story", Porter (Atemahawke)
24. "Terrorize You/Disco Flor", Turbopotamos (Disco Suite)
23. "Pijamas", Babasonicos (Mucho)
22. "Algo Musical", Nejo y Dalmata feat. Arcangel (Broke & Famous)
21. "Sin las patas traseras", Bam Bam (Bam Bam)

20. "Bonita", Cabas (Amores Dificiles)
19. "Plastic Caramelo", Plastic Caramelo (Single)
18. "Mas que a nada en el mundo", Austin TV (Mas que a nada en el mundo OST)
17. "Borron y cuenta nueva", Adriana Lucia (Porro Nuevo)
16. "Laydown", Chikita Violenta (The Stars and Suns Sessions)

15. "Shiva", Austin TV (Fontana Bella)
14. "Conteo Regresivo", Gilberto Santa Rosa (Contraste)
13. "Para que celebren todos", El Guincho (Alegranza!)
12. "Bestia", Hello Seahorse! (Bestia)
11. "Ta Perdoado", Maria Rita (Samba Meu)

10. "El Idolo", Adanowsky (Etoile Eternelle)
09. "Reptilectric", Zoe (Reptilectric)
08. "Cigarettes", Russian Red (I love your glasses) (LIVE @ BUHOL)
07. "Nada", Juan Son (Mermaid Sashimi)
06. "Normal", Ximena Sarinana (Mediocre)

05. "Que Lloren", Calle 13 (Los de atras vienen conmigo)
04. "AV Corrientes", Prietto Viaja al Comos con Mariano (Prietto Viaja al Cosmos con Mariano)
03. "Microdancing", Babasonicos (Mucho)
02. "El Presente", Julieta Venegas (MTV Unplugged)
01. "Palmitos Park", El Guincho (Alegranza!)

The Venegas cd is such great pop. I think indie folks and others all would enjoy it (even if she's singing in Spanish).

I see there's a whole Top 100 on that site:

http://clubfonograma.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-songs-of-2008-part-i-100-76.html
http://clubfonograma.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-songs-of-2008-part-ii-75-51.html
http://clubfonograma.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-songs-of-2008-part-iii-50-26.html

There's some MP3s there, too. Thanks for pointing it out.

No problem (actually I just discovered thanks to a link on the soon to call it quits La Onda Tropical blog). Re: the Club Fonograma list, I'm not crazy about the song or 2 from rock-en-espanol act Porter I checked out ages ago, but the list includes Ximena Sarinana, a new pop act who appeals to some Venegas fans (and showed up on some Billboard critic lists)including me. I never did get Brazilian mpb sorta bossa-nova singer Maria Rita's latest (I like her earlier stuff) but I bet its perty.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sashafrerejones/2008/12/the-best-record.html SFJ comments and link to his lists

Rhapsody Chuck It All In blog (a/k/a me), Best Albums of the Year, Part 1 (of 3), #s 101 - 150:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/12/best-albums-of-the-year-countdown-part-1-s-101-150.html

whenever i read sasha make offhand statements i disagree w/ like 80% of them or think they're just weird generalizations or preferences stated as if they have some larger significance -- like saying rihanna hasnt really had a hit since 'umbrella', just bcuz he (i guess?) doesnt like "please dont stop the music" which, altho u can say its not as GOOD as umbrella or even quite as ubiquitous certainly qualifies as a pretty damn big HIT while he just sorta implies that you know shes just dropped the ball ever since. or that nyer entry where he says busta rhymes "peak" was his first solo single?? really random -- i was in h.s. when all those singles came out, 'eyes to see' and 'gimme some more' was as big and bigger. its not like hes 'wrong' bcuz he can just back up to 'personal preference' i guess, but he states them like they're the general consensus or some real universal truth and its not even reflective of popular consensus its just kinda o_O

and that new busta single is aite but its not even as good as 'arab money' albeit less offensive

That world music list curmudgeon posted on Christmas Eve ends up with Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet's s/t, which might be great, at least at times, considering a set they did on public radio's "Woodsongs." She lived in China, brought back some tunes and instruments to mix into her Americana; some very attentive players in the Quartet, and maybe a couple of big or recognizable names, but the main thing is the tone and and tensile lyricism of playing, singing, writing. Nothing too gushy, though you might hear it in Starbucks. Some of it didn't work, but most of it did. The show's got a webcast they mention pretty often, so the set might be archived, and worth checking out, though the host/interview is a bit gushy("My name is Michael Jonathan, I'm a folksinger and treehugger").

x-post to Deej re Sasha FJ and Busta--

Is that the one (the new one?) with the James Brown meets PE feel?

yeah i didnt mean to say new -- there is a new one tho

sasha's pick is the PE sounding track yes

when is that fucking album going to come out already, i'm sick of streams and bullshit.

alex ross from the nyer also did a list, his covering the classical recordings of the year.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2008/12/alex-rosss-ten-best-recordings.html

I LOIKE Don't routhc me butr fuck artab money wtf is that

lol

we gettin reverend money

it's weird that no one ended up caring about that song

well they changed 'aye-rab' to 'ahrab' so

for a while there i had trouble not reading every instance of "arab" as "ay-rab"

it was way catchier when it was racistier

i feel the same way about marcello posts

http://www.krazy-kreations.com/spiderman/emote_artwork/gobby_drums.gif

i always see the sfj steez as a kind of purposely antiquated throwback to old school new yorker (and beyond, i suppose) crit, if that makes sense. it's hard to break down in so many words but i guess at the heart of it is an unperturbed belief that the job of a critic is fundamentally something of a sinecure rather than that of a responsible representer of dialogues, and while personally i do prefer my critics to go out and stunt if they must insist on taking to the stage the problem with sfj is that it shows up a certain thoughtlessness in regards to his own crippled little biases. however irritating he may be though, the sly benefit of his gnomicism is that you'd have to come a bit better than over-earnestly arguing the toss over a couple of trifling points* to knock him off his lofty perch. and really who can be bothered with that.

(*he's not really saying rihanna dropped the ball but that whatever numbers 'please don't stop the music' did it carried a ball rihanna didn't inflate in the first place, unlike 'umbrella'; yeah he's deliberately folded in an extra meaning into "hitness" there, but whatever. the busta contention really is a case of personal preference since either way it bears no particular relevance right now.)

it's true about son of bazerk though!

His #1 album choice Bon Iver refers to himself as neo-soul on his myspace site. I guess that's how SFJ rationalizes that choice with his complaints from last year about indie-rockers.

nominees for a Southern soul list--albums and singles (anybody can vote?)

http://bluescritic.com/SSVoting2008.htm

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/music/2008/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122600358.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122600355.html

Ross list => apart from viols its uninspiring...

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36618
had me really o_O at the compression of time in this part:

When Nas recorded his debut and career high point, 1994’s Illmatic, he wasn’t old enough to drink. The immaturity showed: Soon after, he and Jay-Z entered into a long-running and contrived pro-wrestling-style beef that seems petty and foolish in retrospect.

Music 2008: Saying Goodbye to Pain

I read this is "Music 2008: Saying Goodbye to Palin".