The top spot in this category went to everyone’s favorite meat-and-dairy-free New Yorker, Brooklyn Vegan, best known for his excellent live coverage, photography, and that guy “anonymous” who makes a lot of comments. Chris at Gorilla Vs. Bear has a great ear for new sounds and the blogosphere’s best collection of concert Polaroids, and you kindly rewarded him with the #2 spot. An interesting coup is AOL’s Spinner at #10 — otherwise, it was mostly one or two person operations. Blogs landing just beyond the top 10 were Tiny Mix Tapes, Daytrotter, Largeheartedboy, and altbro handbook Hipster Runoff. People certainly love La Blogotheque‘s Take-Away shows, but maybe folks see it as more of a video channel than a blog, because they only made it to 22.
10
Spinner
9
Fluxblog
8
My Old Kentucky Blog
7
Idolator
6
An Aquarium Drunkard
5
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends
4
I Guess I’m Floating
3
You Ain’t No Picasso
2
Gorilla Vs. Bear
1
Brooklyn Vegan
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dammit GvB, I had your back!! so close!
Congrats to BV. GvB and Fluxblog are my two personal faves from this list, so I am happy to see them still make the top ten.
HRO not making the top 10 is so FGGT
h8 stereogums and the readers s0 bad ryte now.
hro transcends blogging it is a way of life
ne that cant clearly see this is ghey and should stop using the computer.
miss u hro (via hope for #1 nxt yr)
saidthegramophone.com? catbirdseat.org?
Totally agree
is this the award for best comment section to waste time, correct grammar and not learn anything?
This is a joke, right? BROOKLYN VEGAN? Is that all you can do, New York? Where has your senses of art gone, people of New York City? Brooklyn Vegan has brought us the WORST concert photographs of all times.
“Brooklyn Vegan, best known for his excellent live coverage, photography..”
That’s a joke, and a BIG ONE.
I haven’t, in my life, seen such a poor photographic coverage on a “music blog”. Brooklyn Vegan is a parody of what a serious website about music should be. It’s not organized, Has an horrible design and has no structure what so ever. You gotta be fucking kidding me people !!!
so much hate. stop commenting as two different people (noah and ahmed are the same dude). i’m sure you’d rather have us looking at prefix, but it looks like that didn’t make the cut, huh?
Good try – Unfortunately for you, we’re just two different photographers who funded the same website my friend – I’m sure you could have figured it out if you’d given it just a little simple thought. But hey, I can’t ask you much, you enjoy BV after all… gotta be related.
my bad m. klink and m. dodson. perhaps i was distracted by that nasty french accent (and poor english grammar).
Told you, you could figure it out – it wasn’t that hard after all. Enjoyed the chat.
For the record, one of us is Belgian. Have fun playing sherlok holmes
Heh, the last three comments are very much in the spirit of BV! (Commenters, that is – I think the actually site is great.)
Surprised http://www.merryswankster.com didn’t make the list.
where the fuck is hipster fucking runoff
Yay for GvB. Fuck Brooklyn.
no HRO in the Top 10? Has to be a joke, right?
I don’t want to hate on BV. It’s a force and there’s no denying it. It’s a tastemaking site. But I also certainly agree that its actual content and form is piss poor. There is no real “coverage” in the classic sense. Or in any sense really. so should it be on the list, I guess it HAS to. but should it be #1? No way!! Sites missing on here are prefix, Earfarm, Said the Gramophone, and many others that actually put effort into their articles and write interesting pieces.
blogs are gay.
this list sucks.
no Pitchfork?
y’all still read Magnet too?
where’s soulsides.com
also, check out my blog http://www.TheShimm.com– please!
hipstersoutofmetal.blogspot.com
I can’t believe 3hive.com didn’t even make the list. It is the best mp3 music blog I’ve ever come across especially in terms of introducing interesting new music in many genres (and some overlooked worthy old music as well), navigability, organization and layout. Not to mention the fact that it’s entire focus is on providing links to legal/free mps from each band reviewed. Their descriptions of each band are usually right on and often free of the typical wanker hipster-writer-wannabe BS that pollutes most blogs and reviews–although they sometimes fall victim to that masturbatorial style of writing. 3Hive’s archive section is brilliant, too.
I can’t believe BV won the top spot–or is even on the list! I checked it out and found it to be annoyingly organized. The content was okay–containing some of the music that i like, but nothing about the layout or wording in the site made me want to stick around or delve deeper into it. Some others on the list were certainly far more deserving–especially Daytrotter.
Hey guys, here’s my top list
10. P4K
9.P4K
8.P4k
7.P4k
6.ThE FORK!
5. Pitchfork media
4. Pitchfork
3. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com
2. Pitchfork
1. Pitchfork!
Just some great sites. Trust me. I made indie rock that you guys seem to love.
Hey whoa…thanks commenter Jamie!
I didn’t know Spinner was a blog now. I remember hearing my first Red House Painters song on their music player like 8 years ago.
Too bad Daytrotter didn’t make the list. I love their studio sessions! Also, Coke Machine Glow is a great site!
Here’s an actual toplist based on popularity rather than on personal aesthetic:
http://hypem.com/toplist
the link to fuel/friends is still broken.
How did Consequence of Sound not make the top 10 – let alone a mention in the intro? No Chromewaves or Daytrotter in the top 10 either? boo!
And for the record, the hype machine doesn’t rank by popularity. It uses del.icio.us + technorati. To check popularity, you have to use one of the tracking sites that measures the amount of readers.
ZACH:
Best New Blog: MFR
This award is not to the blog that was created in ?08, rather the blog that was new to me. MFR is one of my favorite daily reads with it?s fresh take on the music scene. The writing is very strong and they may report on something that has been through the elbo.ws cycle a few times, but they put a new take on the news. Great blog?I look for them to be in the running for best blog of ?09.
Best Local Blog: Backseat Sandbar
This award goes to the blog that acts as a service to a specific area. Backseat has completely revitalized a dying music scene in Louisville, KY. Not only do they plug every local artist?they brought in Thao, Casiotone, Starfucker, No Kids and other great live acts.
Best Download Blog: RADIOBUTT
By far my trusted source for ?sampling? new tunes is RADIOBUTT. Just go there?you?ll see.
Best Blog of 08: I Guess I’m Floating
IGIF is my go to blog for all things music. The site is crisp, the writing is strong, and they just have a dying passion for music. It?s consistently a great read and they like the same stuff I do, so it?s just a good fit. They stay on top of the scene and constantly remind me why I blog myself.
HANK:
Best Mixtape Blog – Flux-Rad
Flux-Rad’s mixtapes are classic. Ranging from seasonal to best of to character based, like the recent Margot Tannenbaum mix, these mixes are like a really good lasagna: they hold together and make old ingredients seem new and new ingredients seem old. It’s a delicate art and flux rad makes it seem easy.
Best Blog for the Esoteric – Obscure Sound
Anyone who’s been around me recently has probably heard me rant that indie music is about being protectors of the esoteric. This blog does it better than most out there. They specialize in revealing minor players musical careers, shedding the light on bands with day jobs, and making the weird important. You may not like everything they put up. You may not like anything. But, odds are you’ll find most of it interesting and most importantly, relevant.
Best Written Blog – Said the Gramophone
I’m pretty critical of the blogs are written. Said the Gramophone is the one place I read daily no matter what they put up or not. It’s hands down the most well-written blog on the net. And, on top of that, they specialize in introducing you to songs that don’t get their due or should get their due. Abstract, self-deprecating, complex, associative, it’s writing to aspire to for a blogger, journalist, or more serious writer. Said the Gramophone does it easily and heaps up great tunes as well.
you missed me
I’ve seen a lot of sites in this niche, but I must say that his is one of the best. I’ll definitely be checking back for more good posts. Thanks