November 17, 2009
There is no such thing a perfect list. There are lists, however, that love the Streets more than other lists. Stateside we've seen Paste hand the top spot to one of Sufjan's states and Pitchfork gave the nod to Kid A. Since all British people sound the same (just kidding?) you might assume Uncut would be similar to NME's 50 Greatest Albums Of The '00s, but once again assuming makes an ass of "u" and "me." The top 10 does have a decidedly British bent, but it's a pack of scruffy New Yorkers (and ex-New Yorkers) who grab number one. Actually, in general, NYC 2001-2003 performs much better than the Now Sound.
Continue reading NME's 50 Greatest Albums Of The '00s...
Posted at 1:32 PM by brandon in
latest by Laurent
November 10, 2009
Welcome to your music meme of the week. Turns out there are bands in Williamsburg, and New York is all over it. It's far from the first time our neighborhood's been dressed up and packaged for a major print publication, but maybe it's the first time the scene's been distilled into a playlist everybody can argue about. The criteria for inclusion on this list isn't explicitly stated, beyond the "A highly subjective ranking of the songs that define the sound of right now" subheader. And subjective it is: Passing through its 40 tracks and 39 artists ("Knife" and "Two Weeks" are by the same band, after all), it seems there wasn't much criteria at all: an artist could call Brooklyn home, but also just have just visited (see: Neon Indian). A song could have been released in 2009, but also three years ago (see: the aforementioned "Knife"). But before we jump down NY Mag's throats about their fuzzy parameters, it sort of fits with what passes for the Brooklyn scene now, a neighborhood of transplants and myriad genres that share little in common aside from a 11211 postal code. Although that won't stop the mag from framing their top pick as its focal point. After all that we've been through, I know you'll guess it.
Continue reading NYMag's 40 Songs That Define The Brooklyn Sound...
Posted at 10:18 AM by amrit in ,
Tags: Dirty Projectors | Grizzly Bear | MGMT
latest by e
November 5, 2009
Remember every list is like a snowflake. So far this year folks have been focused on the bigger picture, offering their thoughts on the best albums of the decade. Amazon's Editors, though, clearly getting ready for the Holiday season, have jumped out with the first official Best Of 2009 to get our attention. They're in the business of selling things to you, true, but even if I don't agree with a number of the inclusions, this is a pretty interesting, sometimes oddball collection of favorites. Leave it to someone driven by sales and not the hipster zeitgeist to to add variety to what will invariably be a repetitious Winter.
Continue reading Amazon Editors' Best Albums Of 2009...
Posted at 10:31 AM by brandon in
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November 2, 2009
The decade recounting started with Pitchfork handing top honors to Kid A and Uncut lusting after Jack White. Now it's Paste's turn to list their favorite albums of the '00s and, as you might expect, they add some different names to the mix. For anyone keeping track, Animal Collective beats out Grizzly Bear once again. (Coldplay beats out AC as they do daily on your father's iPod.) Otherwise, there's a rap sighting (times three). And Gentleman Jesse loves Paste. The magazine said this about the owner of the album at the top spot: "[The] music pushed boundaries between pop and classical, and the emotional weight of [the] lyrics grounded [a] feather-light voice." Hey, look, the Avett Brothers.
Continue reading Paste's 50 Best Albums Of The Decade...
Posted at 1:43 PM by brandon in
Tags: Sufjan Stevens
latest by Roland
October 8, 2009
It's 2009, so in addition to the usual year-end list, as fall turns to winter we'll be drowning in end-of-the-decade lists, too. It's only October, but you can add Uncut's Top 20 Albums Of The '00s to Pitchfork's Greatest Albums Of The '00s. (Thanks for the tip, Ben.) Putting the two side by side illustrates why it can be fun getting into list mode: Beyond putting Funeral in the Top 10, these couldn't be any more different. Of course, Uncut didn't just do 20: If you track down the magazine itself, they offer up their top 150, which is also quite different than P4K's: Ys came in at 21, Kid A at 25, Illinois at 30, Merriweather Post Pavillion at 33, and Grizzly Bear trailed at 104 with Veckatimest, scorekeepers. Also, the staff of Uncut own a time machine.
Continue reading Uncut's Top 20 Albums Of The '00s...
Posted at 5:35 PM by brandon in
latest by ofSunlandia
October 2, 2009
When we looked at Pitchfork's 20 Greatest Songs Of The '00s, we also went through the entire list and found the 15 songs they included from 2009, noting that Animal Collective was far and away the the highest placer from our current 12 months. A great song doesn't always equal a great album, but in this case, it worked out for Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and Geologist: Merriweather Post Pavillion did very well in Pitchfork's 20 Greatest Albums Of The '00s, too. (Actually, A.C. and A.C.-related projects placed multiple times across the Top 200 list -- two in the Top 20 -- basically winning the > contest by a landslide.) Since Merriweather Post Pavillion is the only '09 album in the Top 20, those of you with short memories will have lots of rediscoveries. (As far as other buzzed about '09 records, Bitte Orca made it to 56, Veckatimest to 42.) Fans of a certain kind of rap should be happy. Your Dad might be, too. Fans of any kind of metal will weep bitter tears. Finally, if we're to believe the folks at Pitchfork, 2002 and 2000 were pretty good years and 2001 wasn't any slouch either.
Continue reading Pitchfork's 20 Greatest Albums Of The '00s...
Posted at 7:06 PM by brandon in
Tags: Arcade Fire | Radiohead
latest by droobage
September 4, 2009
In the September 11th issue of Entertainment Weekly the magazine looks at "The 50 Best Songs The World's Greatest Band Ever Wrote." No, not Grizzly Bear, the Beatles. Yes, they are a band your parents know about, too. So why now? As EW puts it:
With The Beatles: Rock Band and [remastered] reissues of all their albums hitting stores, it's time for another Beatles revolution. This week's Entertainment Weekly offers fans our guide to what's new -- and to the 50 best songs the world's greatest band ever wrote as well as a gallery of rare behind-the-scenes candid photographs.
That's right, The Beatles: Rock Band's out next week on 09/09/09. Because it's that monumental. According to EW, even Paul McCartney thinks "It's very cool." (Hopefully the 45 songs on it don't include any of the ones EW pans. That would not be very cool.) We'll have to wait until we get a hold of the actual magazine (on stands today) to see everything, but for now we do have EW's Top 20 best Beatles songs as well as the top five worst. (UPDATE: All 50 are now listed.) One thing we've concluded after spending a little time with these: The magazine hates The White Album and Magical Mystery Tour. EW's worst song made Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" back in 2004, which hints at something we already knew: Yes, there will be arguments. But what else are you gonna do over a holiday weekend? Also, EW forgot to list song 19 in their blast, so you'll just have to fill that one in yourself.
Continue reading EW Lists Best, Worst Beatles Songs...
Posted at 5:27 PM by brandon in
Tags: The Beatles
latest by emcee
August 21, 2009
As you may have noticed, Pitchfork launched their P2K: The Decade In Music feature this week, opening the gate with The Top 500 Tracks Of The 2000s. Before you complain the decade isn't done just yet, the folks at Pitchfork note "[I]n early 2010, if you aren't sick to death of reading 10 million lists about the decade and the current year, come back and we'll have added an addendum with a few of our favorite songs from the next few months." No worries, we'll never be sick of lists. As far as this one, the choices are simply listed for 500 to 201; you start getting those "short critical" blurbs at 200. (And if you pull the list's top 15 tracks from this year -- there are only 15 songs from 2009 in the entire 500 -- you have at least a partial a preview of P4K's Top 20 songs of 2009 for their impending year-end list ... so far. Which we've done for you, of course.) Before we get into the choices, the entire thing also offers an interesting subtext to what's happened to music in the last decade.
Continue reading Pitchfork's 20 Greatest Songs Of The '00s (And 15 Greatest Songs Of 2009 So Far)...
Posted at 5:30 PM by brandon in
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