Year-End Critics' Polls '08

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".

bon iver is opposite of soul

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

If only...

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.

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― I LIKE HOO_S!! (some dude), Sunday, December 28, 2008 11:02 AM Bookmark

The (wtf) dual review of The Game and Solange is really challopy, too.

Naz vs. Jay-Z was the best thread ever. What was its lifespan? 9/11 didn't stop it, I know that (Noted in passing:"Your towers fell because you're weak.")

Nas vs. Jay-Z wasn't bad either.

oh man it's such a shame that review is so boneheadedly dull cos pairing up solange & the game is actually a GREAT idea - her paulo coelho = his dr dre!!

oof yeah that's full of clangers

Beyoncé and 50 Cent can barely attract interest to their own projects, let alone ones by baby siblings and irate former collaborators. Beyoncé’s 2006 album, B’Day, and 50 Cent’s 2007 album, Curtis, were both critical and commercial letdowns.

i mean like even beyond the fact that she's already released a more recent album that's doing solid business, B'Day sold marginally less than Dangerously and generally got better reviews. certainly not a Curtis-type fiasco, anyway, but i guess whatever makes their tenuous angle work.

b'day was huge 'culturally' as well

yeah wtf, i was under the impression bday was widely thought to be her best work, and one of the best pop albums of the decade. my op at least

im sorta whatever on it personally but my impression of the consensus w/ r&b fans i know irl was that it was pretty much an artistic success

Regarding the Pfork end of year list:

Scores By Rank (Top 25)
1 - 9.0
2 - 8.8
3 - 9.2
4 - 8.8
5 - 9.2
6 - 9.2
7 - 8.8
8 - 8.5
9 - 9.1
10 - 8.8
11 - 8.7
12 - 8.6
13 - 7.8
14 - 8.6
15 - 7.8
16 - 8.5
17 - 8.8
18 - 8.1
19 - 8.5
20 - 8.6
21 - 7.6
22 - 7.1
23 - 7.0
24 - 8.5
25 - 8.5

Mean Score: 8.5
Median Score: 8.6
Highest Scoring (9.2): #3 No Age, #5 Deerhunter, #6 TV on the Radio
Lowest Scoring (7.0): #23 Hot Chip

... if anyone cares

My top 100 albums, as posted on Rhapsody

1 - 50:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/12/george-jones-once-called-1970-a-good-year-for-the-roses-and-though-the-fellow-who-made-my-very-favorite-album-this-year-ac.html

51 - 100:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/12/51-eddy-current-suppression-ring-primary-colours-goner--52-dolly-parton-backwoods-barbie-dolly--53-black.html

So you like Rick Springfield's latest better than Toby Keith's greatest hits, the Kid Creole Going Places Comp, and – Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-1979 (Soundway), to name a few others farther down in your list. Interesting.

So you like Rick Springfield's latest better than Toby Keith's greatest hits, the Kid Creole Going Places Comp, and – Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-1979 (Soundway), to name a few others farther down in your list. Interesting.

Chuck, so your Rhapsody list means you like Jamey Johnson's new one and Rick Springfield's new one better than the Toby Keith greatest hits comp you listed (and better than the Kid Creole comp and numerous others farther down in your list)? Interesting.

Oops, wrong thread

I heard one of the new Rick Springfield songs the other day, can't remember which one after looking at the tracklist, and I found it surprisingly... pleasant. But certainly wasn't something I'd actively seek out again, nor would I expect anyone to get overly excited about it. Maybe I just heard the wrong track though.

or maybe not.

Well, you can certainly never accuse Chuck of going along with the crowd.

Not that I've heard a note of it, so shall now shut up.

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bills/

Pete Margasak of the Chicago Reader has been counting down his 40 faves ten or so at a time. He's into jazz, Brazilian, whirled, and rock

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7803609.stm

Elbow's Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid is UK music critics' album of the year, a survey says.

The "poll of polls", conducted by retail chain HMV, took into account votes from media critics as well as the firm's staff and online customers.

The Seldom Seen Kid was nominated by 18 out of the 35 outlets polled, with Portishead's Third coming second on 17.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Dig, Lazarus, Dig came third, followed by Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend.

Their self-titled debuts came fourth and fifth respectively.

TV on the Radio and MGMT also featured in the top 10, as did Bon Iver, Glasvegas and Hot Chip.

The year's biggest-selling album, Duffy's Rockferry, came 28th in the list.

Last year's album of the year was LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver.

"The poll reflects an excellent, eclectic year in music," HMV rock and pop buyer Damian Evans said.

"Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, MGMT and Bon Iver have really made their mark with wonderful debut albums, underlining how vibrant the music scene is right now.

"Established artists such as Portishead and Nick Cave have also returned to great acclaim, although I suspect few people would dispute that Elbow have given us the album of the year."

POLL OF POLLS
1) The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow
2) Third - Portishead
3) Dig, Lazarus, Dig - Nick Cave
4) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
5) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
6) TV On The Radio - Dear Science
7) MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
8) Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago
9) Glasvegas - Glasvegas
10) Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
Source: HMV

Elbow's Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid is UK music critics' album of the year, a survey says.

The "poll of polls", conducted by retail chain HMV, took into account votes from media critics as well as the firm's staff and online customers.

Everyone is a critic these days...