Pitchfork's Top 50 Of 2005
Pitchfork revealed their Top 50 Albums. Better luck next year Kanye.
50: Orthrelm OV
49: Fiery Furnaces EP
48: Okkervil River Black Sheep Boy
47: The Boy Least Likely To The Best Party Ever
46: Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine [Jon Brion Version]
45: M83 Before the Dawn Heals Us
44: Vashti Bunyan Lookaftering
43: Spoon Gimme Fiction
42: My Morning Jacket Z
41: Róisín Murphy Ruby Blue
40: Young Jeezy Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101
39: Robyn Robyn
38: Devendra Banhart Cripple Crow
37: Dominik Eulberg Kreucht & Fleucht
36: Keith Fullerton Whitman Multiples
35: The Game The Documentary
34: Silver Jews Tanglewood Numbers
33: Bloc Party Silent Alarm
32: Beanie Sigel The B.Coming
31: Konono No. 1 Congotronics
30: Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better
29: Serena Maneesh Serena Maneesh
28: Sunn O))) Black One
27: Jamie Lidell Multiply
26: The Decemberists Picaresque
25: Alan Braxe & Friends The Upper Cuts
24: The Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree
23: Ladytron The Witching Hour
22: Broadcast Tender Buttons
21: Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney Superwolf
20: The Hold Steady Separation Sunday
19: Sleater-Kinney The Woods
18: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
17: The Clientele Strange Geometry
16: Love Is All Nine Times That Same Song
15: Clipse We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2
14: Vitalic OK Cowboy
13: Various Artists Run the Road
12: New Pornographers Twin Cinema
11: Isolée We Are Monster
10: Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary
09: Cam'ron Purple Haze
08: LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem
07: Animal Collective Feels
06: Deerhoof The Runners Four
05: Antony & the Johnsons I Am a Bird Now
04: M.I.A. Arular
03: Art Brut Bang Bang Rock & Roll
02: Kanye West Late Registration
01: Sufjan Stevens Illinois
Posted at 3:23 AM
Tags: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
No Andrew Bird?!? Goddammit, Pitchfork.
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Cam'ron at #9 ?!?
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this list is seriously flawed, on the hip hop side alone:
jeezy is on it. beanie sigel is on it. cam'ron is at #9 ... unreal. and if i'm not mistaken, that's Clipse and MIA aka "galang chick". those are five projects of questionable artistic merit.
where is danger/doom? where is mariah carey? where is pharrell? where are the black-eyed peas? (if you can forgive the dipset for jacking "We Built This City", you can s.t.f.u. about how much "Humps" sucks!!) even ciara's project deserves some consideration for the production by jazzy pha...and if not, then missy elliott...
i'll give you that kanye should be on there...but it's debatable that he should even be in the top 10.
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wtf is up with pitchfork and rap. i like rap. kanye's album, common's album and the dangerdoom album have gotten alot of play this year. but it seems like they through really off the wall shit in there just to be hip to the mtv crowd or something. could you imagine these kids in their tight shirts and emo glasses at a young jeezy concert... HA
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no lucksmiths? i have a hard time believing that album isn't one of the 50 best of the year...
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What a ridiculous list! Where's Springsteen's "Devils & Dust"? I've heard of maybe 5 of these bands.
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It makes no sense. They gave The Woods 9.0 in their review, which is higher than at least one of the albums in the top 10, yet The Woods only makes #19? Huh?
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It's a solid list. I'm surprised Andrew Bird isn't on it, nor Danger Doom, but this was an amazing musical year with a truckload of good albums.
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Fiery Furnaces mere presence therein immediately throws their entire credibility into doubt.
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It would be impossible to put together a year end list that everyone agreed with. So while there are albums that I think are missing or don't belong long on a list I would make, I'm not going to waste my breathe complaining about it. Although I have to say that I agree about the rap items on this list. Some of them don't seem very noteworthy, even by pitchfork's standards. Is this a case of afirmitive action in a year end list?
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I can't believe Kanye got number 2. His album was all hype and maybe 3 good songs. Probably the worst album I got this year. Also, did anyone hear about MIAs crazy shenanigans at her Philly show a few weeks ago? Where she refused to come out because she said the soundsystem was underpowered and then started crying? Wack.
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"They gave The Woods 9.0 in their review"
They didn't give the Woods anything. A specific reviewer gave the Woods a 9.0. The end of the year list gets voted on by the entire staff, so there are always going to be differences.
"Also, did anyone hear about MIAs crazy shenanigans at her Philly show a few weeks ago? Where she refused to come out because she said the soundsystem was underpowered and then started crying? Wack."
I think you're referring to Lady Sovereign.
http://www.thebmrant.com/?p=656
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My bad Ben, I stand corrected, guess I was too quick with my fingers, and not my brain.
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holy jesus.
i understand trying to broaden your list and welcome different types of music, but they should stick to good albums while doing so...beanie siegel/the game/young jeezy...cam'ron at 9? all that and 5 unforgivable exclusions (andrew bird, the national, caribou, broken social scene and barlow) makes this one of pfork's weakest lists...art brut and mia 3/4? really!?
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I very rarely agree with Pitchfork, this list has some of the right albums just in the wrong order. But the glaring problem with their list is the Camron placement at #9??! No matter how they explain the reasoning behind it, it still just doesn't make any sense!!
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Pitchfork really don't get what is good anymore. There is no way that Art Brut released the third best album this year. The album is decent upon first listen and grows tiring very quick. It shows a very poor opinion from "the writers". There are numerous UK bands who released infinitly better albums - Dogs, Paddingtons, The Cribs, The Rakes; but Pitchfork have to go for the least commercial. Go over to http://tommyshots.blogspot.com and see the new UK bands. I hope for their sake they all sell millions and Pitchfork overlooks them all, it will do them better.
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No, The National-Alligator? WTF?
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This is the best list I've seen. Keep in mind that Pitchfork is a collection of writers, many of whom are more interested in hip-hop than others, like that guy from themack who reviews the Juelz Santana mixtapes for the singles section every so often. It's not a listing of the fifty highest reviewed albums - go to Metacritic for that. Jamie Lidell and Ladytron both could have been higher, but as a comprehensive assortment of the best albums of the year, I don't think you could do much better.
Responding to other comments above: Black Eyed Peas?
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Hey, at least they got number one right. My biggest complaints are that Twin Cinema didn't make the top ten, and that "Young Jeezy" was somehow better than My Morning Jacket. Overall it's a pretty decent list (at least Kanye wasn't number one, right?).
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My thoughts on the single biggest omission: No Rogue Wave?!? IMO, that's a Top 5 album for this year.
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As always, there's a few head-scratchers.
1. Sigur Ros = missing.
2. Andrew Bird = missing.
3. Xiu Xiu = missing.
4. Kanye & Cam'ron?! Psh. How about Edan and Common?
5. Six Organs of Admittance and Thee Silver Mt. Zion nowhere to be found, but Dominik Eulberg and Bloc Party made the list?
6. And how did Isolee make #11?
Still, I'm pleased enough with the list this year. Sufjan deserves his place at the top. Art Brut, while maybe not #3, has been too underappreciated, so I'm glad they're recognizing. Wolf Parade and CYHSY rightfully not in the top 5. And they made sure to rep Fiona Apple and Roisin Murphy, which was a pleasant surprise as I'm a huge fan of these great great albums.
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How bout Frank Black's "Honeycomb." A lovely record.
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andrew, i've taken the time to listen to Jeezy, Black Eyed Peas, and several Cam'ron/Juelz/Diplomats efforts and i can honestly tell you that Pitchfork is needlessly riding Cam's d*ck over nothing. don't let the fact that you hate the Black Eyed Peas singles cloud your judgement. do this little experiment: find a copy of "We Built This City" by Cam and The Diplomats somewhere. listen. realize that it's a rip-off of Starship. then tell me that you still take them seriously enough to tell me that one of their number should ever be in the *top 10* on any list...
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Kanye got #1 on Rolling Stone's list, narrowly beating out ... the Rolling Stones (!)
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No Ryan Adams? Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights should be on there.
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I like the placement of the hip hop records on this list. Cam might be a little high on there but it is a far better record than DangerDoom and especially that Common album. Jeezy, Beanie, Clipse, and Game all deserve to be on there.
And I LOVE that Art Brut record but there is no way it deserves to be in the top 5.
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Any 2005 year end list that ignores Kate Bush's "Aerial" is hereby deemed irrelevant.
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There is nothing funnier than a bunch of indie snob hipsters attempting to be "down" with hip hop. I laugh at the thought of a bunch of skinny white dudes with assymetrical haircuts and ironic t-shirts discussing Dip Set and whipping coke with serious looks on their faces. Needless to say, the Lil' Wayne album is much better than Cam'Ron, Late Registration was good, but not #2 of the year good, and I have neither the time nor the desire to check out half these albums b/c quite frankly, not too much music really captivated me this year. Illinois was really good, as was My Morning Jacket, but half the albums on this list didn't get a second listen.
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only 2 of those albums made my top 10
what idiots
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like a few others, i was most disappointed and confused at not seeing any broken social scene or ryan adams + cardinals "jacksonville city nights" on the list. i thought their top 50 singles was rather underwhelming too.
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no broken social scene??? what is going on pitchfork?
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I'm not sure why Art Brut is so high--I like it, but not that much. M.I.A.'s album is amazing, and I fully expected it to be in the top ten.
And really, Broken Social Scene's album is much better than a bullshit Fiery Furnaces EP.
Overall, I find it kind of dull. Nothing past Broadcast is surprising. And who didn't think Illinois would get number one? Where are those amazing albums that passed under P-fork's radar during the year? Where is Hot Chip (even though it came out last year in the UK)?
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Love Is All got number 16... but the album isn't even out yet. How is that possible?!!?
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No White Stripes "Get Behind Me Satan"?
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Malkmus and Super Furry Animals should have at least cracked the top 50. Foolz
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First of all, have you guys heard the Kanye West album, in its entirety? It has a bunch of amazing songs, in which Kanye pours his heart out on the subject. Like "Roses", Kanye raps about how his Grandma is dying and poor people pass away, even though "Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS."
Even if it did, come down to beats, Kanye blows BEP out of the water.
That being said, keep in mind that Pitchfork really takes lyrics into account, for more than just rap. That's probably why ArtBrut's at #3. They regard originality very highly too. Explaining why Illinois is at #1.
And yeah, no Broken Social Scene?
And who said Black Eyed Peas deserved to be on there?
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I laughed when I saw Sufjan at the top. Illinois is a bloated hysterical album, but the man's hip!
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Look, the list could be worse, Kanye could have been #1. And ease up on the Friedbergers. Yes, RMC missed big time (though Rob Mitchum still had it seventh on his list), but their EP is a strong record.
Sleater-Kinney should have been in the top 10 and CYHSY shouldn't have made the top 20. And no BSS is just criminal.
But is anyone really surprised? This is Pitchfork afterall. They always put out a divisive best album list. Shit, Rapture was #1 in 2003.
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no broken social scene
no common
no iron & wine
no boards of canada
no sigur ros
no doves
no dangerdoom
bloc party not even in the top 20!
and then you got young cheesy, cam'ron (who is one of the wackest rappers of our time) and beanie sigel on the list. not cool.
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No Lindsay Lohan?! Preposterous!
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With this list, I think Pitchfork has officially humped the shark.
It's all downhill from here.
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no Akron/Fmaily.
This list is weak.
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re: Broken Social Scene...I can't be the only one who thought it was kind of a snooze. fine, but not in the top 50.
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would have loved to see akron/family in there
as well as cass mccombs, sigur ros, grizzly bear, chad vangaalen, OF MONTREAL!!
oh dear pitchfork. at least it's mildly fun to complain about their lists
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I agree with Jim about the new Broken Social Scene being kind of a snooze. I just feel kind of bored listening to it... that doesn't mean I don't like it, but it's... ::shrug::
I also agree that Ryan Adams should be on this list... even if it's only Cold Roses.
Where are the Eels? Ben Folds?
The Fiery Furnaces EP (!) gets in the top 50, but Death Cab is no where to be seen.
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I think the list at popmatters.com would be more to your liking, oh readers and writers of stereogum. I especially liked the comment from the guy who had only heard of 5 bands on the entire pitchfork list. Hey, at least you're digging on The Boss.
http://www.popmatters.com/music/best2005/cds1.shtml
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Does anyone else remember all the pitchfork induced hype leading up to Silent Alarm? Aprox 4,762 features and reviews + 6 months = #38.
kiss your cred goodbye.
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no broken social scene = dissapointment
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ok that popmatters is a little better to my taste... but no cyhsy????
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Is there anything more in tune with the zeitgeist than arguing about a list.
There's a war on, people.
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so you're saying just because there's a war going on... we aren't "allowed" to have a discussion?
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Top 50 Albums about the War.
Go!
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3) Art-Brut
2) Kanye West
1) Sufjan Stevens
Hahahahahahahaha.
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where's OUT HUD?????
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Andrew Bird just barely missed the cut (51-55 or so), along w/ I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
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they seem to ignore ms. difranco. her record was pretty f-ing good, and the andrew bird disc was on her label.
and come on. no kate bush? no mary timony? dangerdoom?
good lord.
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Alls I'm sayin is my friends are dyin and alls I'm doing is discussing the fact that the Fiery Furnaces suck royal dongage. I'm guilty too, bitches.
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Well here's something thats just a little strange. If you look at all of the individual (which I what I would hope that make the final list out of), Broken Social Scene is on many of the lists, and in the top 20 or 10 in most of the lists it is on. It's also scattered in the top 30 or so for a couple lists.
But The Fiery Furnaces are barely on any of the lists...Same with a couple other albums. Or, in the case of Art Brut, it tops out a couple of the weaker lists and then doesnt show up anywhere else.
Just givin out the facts.
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http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/303
dusted, always a fan of the more out there musics. still, an interesting list.
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The Onion AV Club also gots there lists up. Pretty similar looking, although one writer made the same mistake of listing Fiery Furnaces near the word "best" which is always unfortunate.
They also give props to Eels, MMJ, and many others pitchfork forkot about.
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GREAT LIST!
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hey, y'know what would improve this list? taking out the six or so hip-hop albums and replacing them with the 39th-45th best indie rock albums of the year.
hell, then you could take the five or so electronic albums out and include the 46th-50th indie rock albums of the year. perfection.
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things are always going to be missed on a list...especially when they use a point system etc...but there are a few that i'm surprised didnt make it....most of which have been mentioned...but i'm going to to do it again...just because i'm bored at work..
rogue wave - descended like vultures
stars - set yourself on fire
feist - let it die
broken social scene - s/t
iron & wine/calexico - in the reins
bright eyes - i'm wide awake...
why? - elephant eyelash
among others i'm sure...
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and i forgot...
the national - alligator
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I am really psyched that Art Brut was ranked #3.
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The TinyMixTapes list should be up this week. It should be interesting to see what they think, since they aren't catering to their advertisers, like P4K is.
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I don't get how Common and Dangerdoom can be left off a list with so much, well, standard hip-hop fodder. I guess by ranking Madvillainy so high last year they feel they gave Doom his due? I don't know. I don't even like Adult Swim, and thought Dangerdoom was way more fun than the other rap CD's on the list (although I never heard Clipse, to be fair). And Young Jeezy over Common? Common is fantastic, and released one of his best CD's this year, and couldn't get on above Jeezy? Jeez. Y. Dammit.
I guess the rest of the list is fine (I personally love Art Brut, and had no problem with them being so high), except I don't understand how Broken Social Scene wasn't there. What a great cd! And, I know it's just a list, but I secretly look forward to it each year. Shh.
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lshismp
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Metacritic has a lot of year-end lists compiled at http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2005.shtml .
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As usual with any Pitchfork list, some hits and some misses. We've posted our shorter (and hence, more discerning) top 10 lists over at the 'Stamps if anybody wants a different take.
http://www.badmintonstamps.com/zarchive0512.html#251
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Fresh Air on npr is putting out their list today. Someone should make a list of the best lists.
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Do you guys read any of the rap reviews at Pitchfork? Sometime recently, they realized that cocaine was cool again, and that everybody raps about it. So many of their positive track reviews are all about showing they're not just indie-rock snob-fans, and that they're actually so street. It's funny to watch.
I don't know a lot about "indie" music (wtf does that even mean?), and I turn to pitchfork when looking for new things to listen to. I do know quite a bit about hip-hop, and I would never, never, ever, suggest relying on pitchfork for hip-hop reviews. So, really, it's pretty stupid that I visit that website at all.
The people on this list would probably like Nathan Rabin over at The Onion. I'm a fan of Sasha Frere-Jones in the New Yorker.
My favorite hip-hop albums of the year:
Bun-B - "Trill"
Blackalicious - "The Craft"
DJ Muggs + GZA - "Grandmasters"
The Clipse - "We Got It 4 Cheap"
Purple Ribbon All-Stars - "Got That Purp"
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catering to advertisers? i think that would have meant putting stuff like death cab on there. but seriously, just because you don't like non sad white boy music don't get all huffy about people's rap picks...
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the popmatters list was alright, but no Deerhoof, come on!
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No Gorillaz? Are they joking? Considering how much they obsess over all things Albarn...
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function outrage()
where x = band you like
and y = insult or perhaps epithet
and z = group of people you hold in contempt
then output "I can't believe Pitchfork didn't select x on their top 50 albums of the year, they're such y's and just trying to be like z"
QED!
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calm down people! there can only be 50. i was hoping it was bright eyes year too. maybe in 2006.
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honestly, why are you all getting so fucking defensive like music you made is getting left off the list? its like this - do you guys READ pitchfork? If you do its not that hard to figure out what is going to be on the top 50. that said, im surprised that architecture in helsinki, super furry animals, wilderness, gang gang dance and black mountain weren't on it at all. and to all the people talking about hip hop - what makes you so sure these are bangs and glasses hipster kids writing these? and who gives a shit even if they are? they probably grew up listening to hip hop as well as other stuff. clearly these people know a LOT about hip hop no matter who they are, and have their reasons for liking this certain type of mainstream stuff - i feel a kinship. i grew up on everything from tribe to wu tang to nas to biggie. and then got really into underground hip hop - but it got boring. its like,what now every fucking white kid that heard the new sage francis album and turned vegan thinks he can freestyle over a beat at a kegger - undie hip hop doesnt have enough personality for me - this return to the mainstream is what hip hop is all about, bragadocious fantasy - clipse, dipset, swishahouse, jeezy, etc all have a certain jous ne se quo that oh you know, slug could never pull off. mf doom seems to bridge this gap succesfully vik vaughn, operation doomsday, king geedorah, madvillain, but danger doom's cartoon network tie in was a little cheeseball. anyway...
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where the hell was "hypermagic mountain"
it wasn't lightning bolt's best, but it sure as hell trounced Cam'ron.
i also didn't see beck, but beck really doesn't need pitchfork and pitchfork doesn't need beck anymore.
oh well.
poor brians
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oh by the way
congratulations Animal Collective
too bad they couldn't be included twice
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"It should be interesting to see what they think, since they aren't catering to their advertisers, like P4K is."
haha, wow, the conspiracy theories. American Apparel insisted on including Fiona- they rip their ads from the criminal vid anyway; neighborhodies are the big cam'ron fans, etc. Incredible that people believe this stuff...
fair play to the complaints, of course-- and most of the records people are stamping their feet over did just miss (national, andrew bird, common, edan, bright eyes, bss, plus, like, lil wayne), but it's a bit distressing to see so many blanket anti-hiphop comments, which I also noticed here after the vmas. Not talking about everyone naturally, but unless I missed it I can't recall seeing anyone claim that leaving an indie rock record out for pop, doom metal, drone, techno, etc., was a dealbreaker or proof that the site has lost its way or some sort of affront to good taste, whatever that is. People rightly don't feel emboldened to make blanket dismissals of the other non-indie roc lps-- most of which I'd guess they haven't heard. But indie listeners, supposedly the most open-minded of music buyers, are pretty free to sniff at or feel threatened by hip-hop records that I'd also guess many of them haven't heard. You don't have to like the stuff, of course, but to seemingly seek to barracade it from any open-minded discussion of the pop landscape is a bit saddening.
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At least CYHSY weren't in the top 10. Thank fucking god. [insert OMG NO IRON & WINE/BSC/BRIGHT EYES ETC. here]
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I'm glad that I'm not the only one who noticed that School of the Flower didn't make the list. No Architecture in Helsinki? I have friends who would cry about that.
I am, however, really glad that Bright Eyes didn't make it.
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why do i dislike the new pornographers so much? i mean... i like mass romantic but i dont think theyve released anything better than decent since. oh, and i saw them in tucson, arizona, which apparently was the site of a horrible incident where a truck carrying a ton of chicken fat (?) got in an accident and covered congress (main street downtown) in chicken fat. they joked about it between like 5 straight songs, gave it a rest, and then brought it back like 3 more times. i really wanted to choke carl "a. fuckin' c." newman and neko case. and ac's year-end list on pitchfork made me want to choke him more.
wow... rant... but yeah like so many others i think broken social scene deserved to be on there. yes some songs are boring at first listen but there is so much going on in each song that its really hard to say that this album isnt at least as progressive or original (which usually seems to make pitchfork swoon) as fucking art brut or CYHSY or spoon.
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pf has jumped the shark. the rap selection is laughable...no andrew bird. i don't get it at all.
HA, and what's so new about crack and hip hop?? it's like pf just discovered rap yesterday and they're all like, "omg...drugs! what an interesting new development."
this is a joke.
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where is mike jones?
oh, and fuck sufjan.
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