Most of you probably figured Pitchfork’s Top Albums list would feature some combination of Joanna Newsom, The Hold Steady, and TV On The Radio in the top three slots (at least based on their nine-point-whatever scores). Well most of you are wrong! But, aside from a hindsight bump-up to the #1, the Forkers were mostly true to their initial assessment on the year’s records. Mostly.
50. Booka Shade – Movements
49. Ellen Allien & Apparat – Orchestra Of Bubbles
48. The Long Blondes – Someone To Drive You Home
47. Matmos – The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast
46. M. Ward – Post-War
45. Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out Of This Country
44. The Pipettes – We Are The Pipettes
43. Sonic YouthRather Ripped
42. Mastodon – Blood Mountain
41. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
40. Tapes ‘N Tapes – The Loon
39. Fujiya & Miyagi – Transparent Things
38. J Dilla – Donuts
37. DJ Drama & Lil Wayne – Dedication 2
36. Brightblack Morning Light – Brightblack Morning Light
35. Herbert – Scale
34. Girl Talk – Night Ripper
33. Mission Of Burma – The Obliterati
32. Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor
31. Danielson – Ships
30. Belle And Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
29. Lily Allen – Alright, Still
28. Cat Power – The Greatest
27. Califone – Roots & Crowns
26. Hot Chip – The Warning
25. Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds
24. Peter Bjorn And John – Writer’s Block
23. Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
22. LCD Soundsystem – 45:33
21. Be Your Own Pet – Be Your Own Pet
20. Man Man – Six Demon Bag
19. T.I. – King
18. Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies
17. The Thermals – The Body, The Blood, The Machine
16. Beach House – Beach House
15. Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming
14. Tim Hecker – Harmony In Ultraviolet
13. Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That
12. Band Of Horses – Everything All The Time
11. Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye
10. Scott Walker – The Drift
09. Boris – Pink
08. Grizzly Bear – Yellow House
07. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
06. Liars – Drum’s Not Dead –
05. The Hold Steady – Boys And Girls In America
04. Ghostface Killah – Fishscale
03. Joanna Newsom – Ys
02. TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain
01. The Knife – Silent Shout
Now the slackers among you have a handy to-do list for your next torrent-trading session! Get out there and work that bandwith.
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kylie = dance punk? me = bewildered.
kylie = dance punk?
Do people actually listen to Scott Walker and Joanna Newsom? This is not to discount them as interesting artists, but do people seriously LISTEN to this, like as music? Like in your car? Or with strangers in earshot? I just don’t buy it.
Kylie Minogue is dance music, and during the dance punk trend, listening to dance music somehow became the hipster thing to do, so, by extension, Pitchfork began praising Kylie Minogue.
Not liking Timberlake = image?
What image would that be? The image of not being a TRL-watching moron?
I’m actually amazed that Pitchfork would put Justin Timberlake on this list-not because he doesn’t deserve it(I haven’t heard it), but because they are way too cool for school. Also, why are they always so obsessed with T.I. He’s just an average, boring rapper like everything else on the radio. I seriously doubt his album is better than Jay-Z’s. Also, I haven’t heard most of what’s on this list, but I know there are several albums from this year that are better than that Tapes n Tapes album- Strokes, Raconteurs, Killers, John Mayer, Thom Yorke, etc. When did PFork get too cool for Thom Yorke?
Kylie = disappeared (???)
ummm… first of all, she has been dealing with cancer. second of all, the US is not the only place in the world where people listen to music. she’s huge in other countries. but… wait. she’s a pop star. my bad, i forgot that the cool kids don’t listen to pop. although, apparently the cool kids aren’t listening to Tapes ‘n Tapes anymore. damn. i’m just so behind. a year ago you were all ready to lick their ball sweat.
but i digress. Futuresex/Lovesounds is a damn good album. just because it veers from the indie (read: narrow-minded) way of thinking does not mean that it should be excluded from any lists. Timbaland (and rightfully JT himself) did an amazing job with this one, just as Stuart Price did for Madonna the year before. When Timbaland’s work with M.I.A. comes out, is she going to be considered a sell-out? get over yourselves people. good music comes in all shapes and sizes. open up your minds a little, don’t worry about what the bloke at the cash wrap is going to think when you walk up there with something from the pop section. chances are, he owns the JT album as well. just absorb all the good music that is available. if you really don’t like it, then for the love of god, make your own damn list and put it up for others to see how effing cool you are.
When your number one album of the year is something that sounds like an album Moby put out in the 80′s, music has gotten boring as hell.
Three of the absolutely most hyped and reported on artists by pitchfork, Thome Yorke, Beck, and The Flaming Lips, werent hardly ANYWHERE to be found on any of the lists! Over hype may ruin an album for you, but I guarantee you at least a couple songs on albums like “crazy itch radio” or “at war with the mystics” are FAR more interesting and exciting as anything in Pitchfork’s dull and boring top ten lists.
I mean, I like introspective and moody concept albums as much as the next guy, but C’MON! I hate how nobody in this ring of music knows any music exists that isnt reported on by pitchfork or reviewed at metacritic.
the image of not being perceived as a TRL-watching moron? god forbid, if i get caught announcing that i like timberlake, i might as well abandon all affinity i have for tv on the radio and joanna newsom.
i was told by my grandma that they danced back in the 50′s. i was at the club last weekend and i saw people dancing there too. that dance punk trend must’ve been both enduring and ahead of its time.
I miss Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. Great album. I know p-fork didn’t love it the first time around, though. So maybe that’s why it didn’t get in here.
“not liking Justin Timberlake has a lot to do with image more than anything else.”
I think JT is a funny guy who has singing talent and some decent songs, but he tries way too damn hard to appear authentic, and in the end his shit sounds way too forced and unnatural. i think at some stage he will loosen up and just be himself, but for now i’d say he’s the one with the image problem.
Are the kids done fighting about Justin Timberlake?
The highest irony regarding future sounds is that Timberlake’s “new sound” is the same sound Basement Jaxx have been doing for years, yet their new album is nowhere to be found on pitchfork’s list.
Frankly I’m very pleased and just slightly surprised that The Knife were number one. I’m a huge fan. I was pretty certain anyway that TVOTR would be high up…I didn’t like the album much, personally, but I can see why so many people are in hysterics about it. Just a matter of taste is all.
I think the Hold Steady are severely overrated though…I agree with the Hootie & the Blowfish of indie rock comparison that was made. It’s boring and unengaging and maybe a lot of people like it but that does not make it anything special.
maybe because Crazy Itch Radio didn’t reach the “new sound” achieved by Rooty or Kish Kash
Oh, wow, I was pretty shocked at #1. I’ve never even LISTENED to the Knife. Obviously, I should…
I was very happy as to the placement of Boys and Girls in America. I really dislike the Hold Steady, but it’s better than it getting #1. Anyway, Hold Steady bashing is getting old. Let’s move forward: so, who the hell likes those Thermal bastards, really? And I hate those BYOP independent motherfuckers.
My personal top ten:
1. Return to Cookie Mountain [TV On The Radio]
2. Ys [Joanna Newsom]
3. Ships [Danielson](I was very disappointed in its placement, I admit.)
4. Writer’s Block [Peter Bjorn and John]
5. Destroyer’s Rubies [Destroyer]
6. The Life Pursuit [Belle & Sebastian]
7. FutureSex/LoveSounds [Justin Timberlake] (Jesus, at least you can dance to it. And ITA as to “My Love” being #1.)
8. Return to the Sea [Islands] (no idea why it isn’t there–they’re no Neutral Milk Hotel, but “Swans (Life After Death)” is one of my favorite songs of the year.)
9. Yellow House [Grizzly Bear]
10. Anti-Anti [Snowden](another one that should be there)
Honorary Mentions: Cat Power, The Decemberists, The Pipettes, Camera Obscura, Sunset Rubdown, Junior Boys, Yo La Tengo.
I honestly wouldn’t recommend a single album that came out this year to anyone. Most artists have completely forgotten what it means to write a solid melody, instead reveling in how dense and “innovative” they can make their arrangements. What’s interesting is that while they may appear to be “innovative” artists for doing the latter, they innovate in the most superficial dimension of music and we (as a community) fall for it hook, line, and sinker. We really should demand more out of songwriters. Where’s our generation’s Beatles?
in response to alan’s commment about the jaxx; it wasn’t in the list cause it was mediocre at best. don’t get me wrong, i love the basement jaxx. their show at webster hall last october was one of the highlights of my year, but really? crazy itch radio? i bought it, listened once, and have kind of since forgotten about it.
I was excited for music the last couple years, but have been in a new music rut for the last while. This year in music seemed to be pretty topheavy to me, and there really wasnt anything that exciting. When your top three albums are a harp player, a bloc party channeling ripoff (which isnt that good to begin with), and a dull (yes, dull) “electronica” album, I dont know how people could say there were lots of good music coming out. Most everything I enjoyed this year were from artists I already love.
“most artists have completely forgotten what it means to write a solid melody, instead reveling in how dense and ‘innovative’ they can make their arrangements.”
i half agree.
except that junior boys, asobi seksu and islands all have extremely fetching melodies
To be honest, I didn’t find this list as objectionable as ones in years past. I’ve disliked Pitchfork since they published “Journey to the Center of Kid A,” a feature story comparing Kid A to Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake.” Then, a few years later, they selected INTERPOL as their #1 record of the year. Gross. So…grain of salt?
That said, I’m glad my favorite records of the year (Destroyer, M. Ward, Yo La Tengo) made it on there. Nick Cave’s score for the film “The Proposition” would have been a nice addition.
Alan, I maybe be mistaken, (and I pray that I am) but did you just refer to TV On The Radio as ‘a bloc party channeling ripoff’??
Alan, I may be mistaken, (and I pray that I am) but did you just refer to TV On The Radio as ‘a bloc party channeling ripoff’??
Yeah, it’s all about image. I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten laid strictly because of the fact that I don’t like Justin Timberlake.
Let’s put this in perspective a little bit, people. I’ve probably met about 12 people in my entire life who would know who half the bands on this list are, so let’s not pretend that any normal person thinks we’re cool because we’re into this kind of music.
And to the idiot talking about Madonna and “blokes at the cash wrap” [sic]: What the fuck are you talking about? Seriously.
though, most of these self-congratulating indignants probably think they’re “cooler” or, at least, have “better” music taste because they’ve turned their back completely on radio.
let’s not pretend that we want our music tastes glorified by the normal person. what we really want is to completely deviate from their music choices. that starts by cursing pitchfork for actually LIKING timberlake.
We didn’t listen!!
I don’t really think TV on the Radio is channeling Bloc Party….and btw Bloc Party is good to begin with.
the original image/timberlake comment was claiming that JT’s image is repelling potential listeners; that if you are refusing to engage with that record simply because of who made it, your listening habits are therefore being dicatated by a reaction to image, same as those who are attracted to the LP solely/primarily because of who made it.
Now, you might not like the actual music on it, of course, but that’s a different matter.
I’m pretty sure TV on the Radio wasn’t channeling Bloc Party…and btw Bloc Party is good to begin with.
no, the original image/timberlake comment was claiming that people care way too much about their indie identity by hating futuresex/lovesounds without actually listening to the album.
i should know, i said it.
This message board is my source for unintentional comedy.
Seriously, I know it’s fun to talk about lists (especially P4K’s which is usually the most interesting), but I didn’t realize people still had some indie holier-than-thou attitude about non-indie music(rap, pop, unpretentious rock). It’s shocking actully, how stubborn literally 80% of the people posting here are.
Oh, and to whoever mentioned the Flaming Lips and Beck: those albums were marginal at best. I know we liked their old albums, but let’s not let that sway our opinion of the new, not very good stuff.
Carson, it’s not shocking to me at all that people still have that indier-than-thou attitude-I see it all the time. I’m actually shocked at how many people are willing to stand up and defend Timberlake or hate on PFork.
he’s the king of pop, yo
I think the main point of these year-end lists is for people to talk about them, not to be canonized as some kind of “absolute truth.” If you disagree, you disagree. My fav album of the year didn’t make the list and I don’t understand the attraction of The Knife at all. Whatevers. I don’t look to Pfork for peronal validation; I look to it for a distraction during a boring work day. It provided me with that. And so have you guys. Cheers!
Alright…I did bitch a lot about Timberlake’s single on the other stereogum blog post, but I don’t hate Pitchfork or anything.
I did just listen to the title track to the Knife’s album, and that was really wretched.
So really, if the first track on the “album of the year” is complete bullshit, I can hardly justify its inclusion in the top ten. On the other hand, I didn’t really care for the Rapture, either, so what do I know?
I honestly think that the whole point of Pitchfork embracing Timberlake and radio pop is partly a way to legitimize the indie music scene…like, “Look at us! We are mixing mainstream rap and pop music up with this indie stuff. Hey Mainstream Press, hey mainstream kids, Look! It’s all the same, it’s music, whether there is a Sony or a Matador or a Kill Rock Stars logo on the back of the record.”
I think they honestly want the worlds of pop, r&b, rock, electronic, and whatever else there is to collide in some way.
It seems as if in the 60s, there was less obsession about genre. The Who, I believe, referred to themselves as Maximum R&B, but the idea of R&B has been severely bastardized at this point. I imagine that it would have been pretty easy to play a Beatles record against a Motown record against a Stones record against a Dylan record. Now, everything is specialized, and style reigns over substance.
Anyway, I think that the intentions are great. I just think that a lot of pop music isn’t good enough to justify these attempts at synthesis. And fuck, I can guarantee that Nelly Furtado’s record trumps Timberlake’s, though I only base this on the singles I’ve heard. I think it’s safe to assume that Timberlake didn’t save his best songs to be heard only after buying the album.
As for 2007, that Deerhoof album is going to be fucking tough to beat.
this was a great year for music but there werent any obvious choices for the top spots or at least number one which makes the knife understandable , its funny though how pitchfork gave the hold steady and joanna newson both 9.4 i love both of those records but i think they were afraid that there was no hudge album this year and they tried to make those albums hudge i.e Funeral YHF, illinoise, Turn on the bright lights etc but man dose 2007 look good for the mainstream underground bands that are popular well sorta? but yea a new Wilco record a new Shins record a new Bloc Party record a new Bright Eyes record a new Arcade Fire record hmmmmm it seems to me like 2007 has better potential unless all of those albums disapoint ohyea and a new clap your hands say yea will pitchfork turn on there freinds?
how can you compare albums by singles? that’s like comparing cars by tires.
and this whole “pitchfork is pretentious by pretending they’re NOT pretentious” argument is riduculous.
not that i completely agree with the way pitchfork ranked their apples and oranges this year (or any year, for that matter) but look at their track record:
2005: (2) Amerie – 1 Thing
2004: (2) Jay-Z – 99 Problems; (3) Britney – Toxic
2003: (1) Outkast – Hey Ya; (2) Beyonce – Crazy In Love; (3) JT – Cry Me A River
this “embracing radio pop to legitimize the indie scene” ain’t a new thing they’re trying this year. maybe, MAYBE, pitchfork actually look at all these music, indie or not, and actually judge them on their own merit. a possibility, right?
Man, there’s a little too much bitching going on in this thread.
It’s Pitchfork everybody, they’ve been doing this shit to us for years. We love em, we hate em – they’re still stupidly important in deciding what we listen to.
Or maybe I’m so jolly because I actually agree with the top spots and snubs.
I mean, I agree to like a 45% ratio.
Which, accounting for the usual overrated boring crap + overrated hip hop for cred points + crap I’ve never found anywhere or cared to download.
Is pretty freaking awesome.
The Knife record is consistantly awesome. I’ve been jamming since March. Only longer than, well TVOTR. Fantastic!
Islands was cool for like 2 weeks, then I didn’t listen to it at all.
I like the top ten. Can’t say I’ve been a huge fan of Boris, but I was pleased to see all my favorites in there. Was surprised and happy to see grizzly Bear sneaking in the top ten, and a little sad Band of Horses didn’t make it, but all in all a great list!
Perhaps some of you need a lesson in how lists such as P4K’s is determined. They just take everyone’s individual list, weight those positions (and perhaps weight the person’s list depending on how much they contribute or how intregal to the site they are) and voila! Instant Top 50 list.
People take these lists so damn personally. I’m not defending P4K, but I am defending lists from dumb people who seem to believe all lists should reflect their particular taste. I can guarantee my Top 10 would vastly differ from many of you, but I’m not going to call yours crap or think mine is inferior.
It’s not about being indie or cooler than indie in Top 10, 25, and 50 lists for sites such as P4K–it’s just a chart with numbers showing what their set of writers like.
the decmeberists were placed far to high. every time i attempt to approach the though of enjoying this band something turns me off. first it was voice, but i came to accept it. After that, it was actually seeing them live. I’ve heard completely contradictary reports (though these were given to me by truer bluer fans of their) that their shows are great. The one I went to I fell asleep during. This has only happened twice in a long history of concert-going. Pretty big strike. The band seemed, not just bored, but entirely disengaged from the fact that they were playing a show. Even my girlfriend at the time, one of the truer and bluer, claimed it ruined the band for her. Finally I accepted them as purely a studio band in my eyes, that helped until “The Crane Wife,” which also makes me sleepy. I’ve tried and tried, but just can’t make it work. Lyricism for the sake of lyricism, second rate pogues rip-offs, and an overly annoying fixation on yesteryear does not a good band make. Music is for excitment. This excitment can exist quietly or barrel through your ears like a ton of bricks from a catapault, why suffer the weak stuff just because they sound smart?
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/002172.html
everyone equally as appalled last year. people still think their list is the end all be all of lists
can’t wait for next year’s discussion!
sign me up as someone who doesn’t get t.v. on the radio (terrible name btw), or pitchfork’s support of t.i. (or lupe fiasco for that matter).
i hate all things
Why no love for We’re from Barcelona?
i think it’s funny how rough trade had the knife at #97 and beirut at #1 on their year end list and p-fork had the knife at #1 and beirut at ?????……….also how did thom yorke or css not make the list? i’m also surprised to see p-fork turn a deaf ear to sufjan’s christmas songs box set? not to say that it deserved it, but i thought sufjan and pitchfork were buddy-buddies.
oh this list was hilariously bad.
2006, to me, was a year of chronically overhyped, been-there-done-that albums. except tv on the radio. and destroyer. and beirut. and bonnie prince billy. so wtf.
pitchfork totally puts the clipse and other coked up hiphop in there because they think it’ll give them street cred and makes them feel superior to all their white, shrinking violet, wanna-be-hipster readers who still think listening to arcade fire is cool.
oh this list was hilariously bad.
2006, to me, was a year of chronically overhyped, been-there-done-that albums. except tv on the radio. and destroyer. and beirut. and bonnie prince billy. so wtf.
pitchfork totally puts the clipse and other coked up hiphop in there because they think it’ll give them street cred and makes them feel superior to all their white, shrinking violet, wanna-be-hipster readers who still think listening to arcade fire is cool.
…i saw the thermals open up for cursive and i wanted to bash my head in with my beer bottle. boring.
joanna newsom’s voice makes me want to bust my eardrums with rusty nails.
big ups for TI. you have to appreesh hot tracks when you hear them.
m.ward – talk about sn00zefest
the hold steady *cringe* i used to work in the music section at a bookstore and wanted to murder anyone who asked for that cd.
belle &sebastian…i own every single EP, single, &album of theirs, then they went and released Push Barman…wtf. I chose not to buy the life pursuit after that. they broke my heart.
im glad the decemberists are on there, and i actually liked stadium arcadium.
didn’t Bring it Back come out this year too? i love the hell out of that album.
commence the hate…….now.
i love you
BORIS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ha! no sufjan! in your face!
The Knife album kicks ass. A nice surprise to see it there. But where is Voxtrot? Pitchfork loses credibility when the omit this great quartet from Austin.
No Midlake, no Neko Case, and no Jenny Lewis?
I like the Band of Horses record at #12, it really hit me the first time, but its appeal has dimished significantly with each subsequent play.
By contrast, ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ has fantastic depth and gets better with each listen. Maybe Pitchfork did cast it aside as a ‘retro-pastiche’, but I’d argue that The Knife record is exactly that, and it made number 1.
I dismissed the Joanna Newsom record as self indulgent pish the first time I heard it, but after listening to it on headphones while wandering around Tesco, I have to say, I take it all back – it’s fascinating.
Was “Black holes and revelations” that bad of an album , no one has mentioned it as a snub.. or anything for that matter. anywho it is one of my favorites this year. the list is alright, I guess.
That Clipse record is so fucking boring. 90% of the beats are hot garbage, beats the Neptunes couldn’t sell to anyone else. And wow, every song is about dealing cocaine, so edgy!
Hipsters love this album because its the closest they’ll have to black friends in their entire midwestern, white-guilt ridden life.
That Clipse record is so fucking boring. 90% of the beats are hot garbage, beats the Neptunes couldn’t sell to anyone else. And wow, every song is about dealing cocaine, so edgy!
Hipsters love this album because its the closest they’ll have to black friends in their entire midwestern, white-guilt ridden lives.
That Clipse record is so fucking boring. 90% of the beats are hot garbage, beats the Neptunes couldn’t sell to anyone else. And wow, every song is about dealing cocaine, so edgy!
Hipsters love this album because its the closest they’ll have to black friends in their entire midwestern, white-guilt ridden lives.
My favorite argument is the one where people say that Pitchfork only includes hip hop for street cred. That’s rich.
A couple of my favorite albums that got the shaft that I thought deserved placing are:
The Evens – Get Evens
Comets on Fire – Avatar (most underrated album of the year?)
Plastic Constellations – Crusades
The Game – The Doctor’s Advocate
Maritime – We, The Vehicles (didn’t expect to see it on the list, but I think it’s a really slept on album)
Also, I like the guy who said he wanted to murder Hold Steady fans and then subsequentally copped to liking Stadium Arcadium.
“Pitchfork totally puts the clipse and other coked up hiphop in there because they think it?ll give them street cred and makes them feel superior to all their white, shrinking violet, wanna-be-hipster readers who still think listening to arcade fire is cool”
OF COURSE! it all makes sense now. the only reason pitchfork celebrates hip-hop albums because they want to be black!
here i am thinking that these hip-hop albums are actually great. how dare you, pitchfork, for making me think hiphop is actually worth listening to! i’m going back to my white Hold Steady and Mountain Goats
two albums that i really loved from this year, that were not included:
WIDERNESS – Vessel States
PINK MOUNTAINTOPS – Axis of Evol
anyone else like Wilderness? I saw them live at Cakeshop NYC and they were transcendent.
also like other, very surprised about the omission of Beirut’s Gulag Orkestar.
The Clipse record is pretty boring
come to think about it, the nba only awarded Steve Nash the MVP because they were losing their white audience.
thanks, stereogum, for illuminating these conspiracies that involve race for me. all is right in the world again.
I also thought they overlooked Regina Spektor…just as good as f’in Ys.
two albums that i really loved from this year, that were not included:
WIDERNESS – Vessel States
PINK MOUNTAINTOPS – Axis of Evol
anyone else like Wilderness? I saw them live at Cakeshop NYC and they were transcendent.
also like other, very surprised about the omission of Beirut’s Gulag Orkestar.
Where’s Blind Guardian?
belle &sebastian…i own every single EP, single, &album of theirs, then they went and released Push Barman…wtf. I chose not to buy the life pursuit after that. they broke my heart.
—–That was an EP collection, not a new album. If you have everything, shouldn’t you already have known this/had it all? huh?????
its weird how subjective music can be, by the way.
having that said, my list is the only right one.
Worst. List. Ever.
What, only 4 Canadian entries?
I agree with the list for the most part, but with the wide array of experimental artists in the top 15 alone, you think they could have at least included Final Fantasy somewhere! After all he did win the Polaris prize, which is a lot more credible than the Mercury prize (The Arctic Monkeys are a more understandable ommission).
“After all he did win the Polaris prize, which is a lot more credible than the Mercury prize”
Ah, another Torontonian heard from…
Whoever it was that posted last year’s comments, f’ing BRILLIANT! People say the same shit! “Pitchfork’s list sucks. My list is the best. GOD, where is ___________?”
That being said, my list is the best.
What, no Günther? No Pleasureman?
Was it because it was a re-release?
Just a question. Has anyone who bashed Justin Timberlake on this comment board actually listened to the album or are you just bashing it because it’s Justin Timberlake? I put my money on the latter. And, concerning the Hold Steady’s album, I enjoy it with a nice beer and a smoke. Yes, Neko should be there, but seriously chill the fuck out. And finally, My number one would easily be Grizzly Bear, followed by Califone, then by TVOTR. It’s what I like.
I have The Mountain Goats at #1 this year and none of yous has even mentioned it.
Hmm. By definition alone that makes me more indie than the lot of ya’.
One to nothin’.
I think you have to take Pitchfork at face value. I enjoy having a website to go to every morning to read reviews of new albums, songs, and updated music news. I don’t always agree with them, but I enjoy reading their perspective. I think people can get sucked into the “Pitchfork culture,” and it can start to influence their opinions on music. If you look at most Best of 2006 lists that have been released, the same albums pop up time and time again in various orders. Pitchfork’s year end lists are entertaining reading and should not be taken so seriously.
Yeah, there are some great albums on there but the world seems to forget that there are great records released each year that people don’t listen to simply because Pitchfork chooses not to review them. Also, has anyone noticed that Pitchfork isn’t as harsh as it used to be? Could be in relation to them linking to sites that you can buy CDs from. Every time someone clicks on that link to buy, Pitchfork gets a cut. Unbiased reviews my ass.
Does nobody like the new Iron Maiden album? I loved it, my friends loved it, what’s the deal?
What about Jedi Mind Tricks? Their album was fucking tops!
My top album was Clipse’s (and its probably b/c I feel so goddamn guilty about slavery… or maybe liking them will make my fatish white suburban self cooler. HOT DAMN crack rap here I come!)
I read a lot of P4K this year so I can say I am not suprised by the snubs: neko, el perro (i would have liked to see her up), cold war, islands (the reviewer let on that it was weak), the avalanche, subtle (so good) etc.. Following P4K tho I am suprised that BYOP (suprisingly good imho), The Knife, J Dilla (at all), Justin Timberlake (mmm singles) are as high as they are. They snubbed JT on a BestNewMusic, but I had a feeling it would show back up. I am pleasantly suprised to see the Liars and Ghostface still holding strong through the year. And for who ever thought it was weird they dropped Girl Talk down a peg: The review is decidely “this a summer album, fun without much weight”. See Also: Face the Truth also a ‘snubbed’ summer album.
i’m glad people still care about music. now i’ll be a blowhard.
2006 was a great year, and i think the list is mostly spot on (though i think the knife album sounds a bit much like kraftwerk – but, i like kraftwerk). most of my favorite records got a nod (except the blow and islands, which were both fun but i can see how they’d be viewed as having no staying power). i also loved the che hei hatekeyama record, but was glad to see tim hecker in there.
if you don’t like ys, go listen to it with headphones, three times through and re-evaluate. it’s my tops…it’s wholly original, and stunningly emotional. IMHO – nothing else on the list comes close to it…and i do listen to it in my car.
and the post from the b&s fan who dissed on push barman was hilarious…not only is that all old stuff, it’s some of their best!
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