Sigh. Kanye's album is soo good. I dunno if it'll make top 50, but it should be top 10, easy.

OTM

No, you suck.

Yeah...that's it. Classic read on me. I've been around here long enough that insulting statements like this are just comical.
I'm just pointing out probably the biggest reason why we see a much smaller turnout for the singles list, and that knowing a good number of those who choose not to vote would tip the scales more in favor of tracks such as I've mentioned and away from billboard music.
Now, I must trust the Sombie rule master, Mitch, and leave this argument for another thread. Happy New Year everyone.


Oh, and Slackmo, I always love your slams on this public forum right after reading such kind words in your personal PM's...not that I need a reminder that there's always two sides to Monsieur Slackentine.

REM does not suck.

what a retarded thing to say.

it'll place. not top ten, but respectably enough. wondering how the rest of this is gonna play out.

damn, I think I'll only get 2 of my albums on this list and they've already passed

Y'know, I just really didn't like this record. At all. And I'm usually gay for this kind of thing.




Um, of course Kanye's gonna place. Might be top ten.



Rihanna>>>>>>>>>>>>>>REM. In the 21st century, anyway.

Holy crap, that's right MMJ have yet to place. If that breaks the top 40 I will be stunned.

ditto.

i mean besides 3 songs i still dig it a good deal, but didn't even make my top 50... and is easily their weakest record to date

I wonder if Empire of the Sun or Black Milk will place. Seems doubtful at this point. At least Empire of the Sun made the singles list. Hoping for The Black Keys to be fairly high. Maybe top 30?

“they're the real fucking deal” - solace

#51.




The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
(1279 Points, 23 Votes)

US Chart Position: #70

UK Chart Position: #154

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "And because their inspirations are so internalized, the old songwriting tricks feel totally intuitive. The quiet-to-loud dynamics aren't forced, the ahh-ahh backing sighs come at the exact right moments, the church bells on the title track sound like god. These songs are simple, mostly, but they're executed perfectly. Fallon and guitarist Alex Rosamilia do this thing, mostly on the quiet bits, where their guitars wrap twinkly harmonies around each other, getting loose and intricate without being showy about it. And when the guitars turn into chorus-firepower, it just kills because it's been so long since we've heard anyone pull that off with such panache. If you've got even a tiny bit of a soft spot for that bruised-growl retro-punk, The '59 Sound is an answer to a prayer.

And then there's that title track. It's a sort of meditation on a dead friend, Fallon imagining what might've gone through his head in the final moments: "I wonder, were you scared when the metal hit the glass?" He wonders if the dead guy got to hear his favorite song on his way to whatever afterlife he might be headed toward. And then, as the song gets ready to end, there's this flattening bridge where Fallon repeats, almost to himself, over and over, "Young boys, young girls, ain't supposed to die on a Saturday night." It's simple, it's sincere, and it kills me every time." (8.6)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: 100% Vegetable Juice (#2)

Also Ranked By: Hero (#4), blackswede, RadioHitchcock(#5)

Amazon Link

I'll be giving that Grouper record another chance due to all the accolades it's gathered by fellow listeners here.

I admit that it didn't grab me much at all when I listened to it, but I didn't give it enough chances I think. Although "heavy water" is a great track

Maybe in the 21st century...but certainly not that TI song.

“The only bad thing about Glasvegas so far is that it's too late to change the band name.” - UselessRocker

#50.




Glasvegas - Glasvegas
(1285 Points, 22 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #2

Charting Singles: n/a

This Is Fake DIY Review: "Still, fair's fair, nobody is original these days, and when they're on song there's little to pull apart. 'Daddy's Gone' may feel a tad mawkish, but it still sits fairly well on daytime playlists without provoking a quick change of stations, while 'Geraldine' is possibly one of the better songs ever written about a social worker. The problem is that, for anyone not in love with their particular brand of shimmery almost-pop, too much exposure and it feels like a never ending soggy day.

Take 'Stabbed', for example. To some a spoken word monologue over music might be deeply moving, inspired and visionary, but in truth it's simply a tad uncomfortable. Even the reasonably upbeat 'Here we fucking go" of 'Go Square Go' is about schoolyard violence. Maybe repeating a swear road an infinitum is supposed to say a lot about the real world, but one can't help but imagine that will be lost on more than a few potential fans.

Don't get us wrong, there's a lot of things going right with Glasvegas, especially when peddling their FM friendly singles, but when claims as high and mighty as those banded around of late are in play there's a lot to live up to. If this is the future, then the future is most certainly gray." (6/10)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Very Metal (#1)

Also Ranked By: maxexactly (#2), Saskadelphia (#3), Lewis (#4), Sickpup (#5)

Amazon Link

I just noticed exactly where this album placed. Also, happy 49th, Paul.



“Best 49 cents I ever spent” - fenderbassman

#49




Paul Westerberg - 49:00... Of Your Time/Life
(1333 Points, 19 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Songs fade into one another like one weak radio signal on a road trip supplanted by the next as the car crosses some invisible border. Two tracks occasionally play simultaneously. Snippets of a dozen cover songs-- Beatles, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, the Partridge Family-- are squeezed into the span of a few minutes. Lyrics fade in and out of the mix, sometimes clearly, sometimes not. "I'm going to stick around and spoil your morning." "It wouldn't hurt to see your grandma every now and again." "Everyone's stupid in our classroom, even our friends." "Whether you're famous or nameless, you never go dancing in the street." "Goodnight, sweet prince." And of course: "I gotta get it outta my system!"

Best of all, the melodies and sentiments Westerberg has always been able to spin out, seemingly at will, are here in full force, sometimes fragmented, sometimes implied, sometimes more fully formed, but rarely less than heartfelt. And really, that is and always has been Westerberg's greatest gift: To go beyond the context and simply connect, however casually. On 49:00, cobwebs or no, that uncanny ability has rarely been clearer as he channels the spirit of the Stones or Faces, not to mention the Replacements, or other classic rock touchstones, though his own unique spectrum.

That something so overtly slapdash could still come off so oddly sincere is no small part of the album's appeal (see also: prime Guided By Voices). In fact, if 49:00 turns out to be the rock equivalent of a transitional hip-hop mixtape, and some of these by turns brilliant and baffling bits and pieces end up polished and expanded on a proper album, there'll still be a place for 49:00. It's music with no pretense, no purpose, no baggage, proof that when it comes to labors of love, the latter is a much more important ingredient than the former." (7.1)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Slap Nutz (#2)

Also Ranked By: Huckle, TheNameOfThisPosterIsDave (#3), Ben Thayer, Music Saves (#4), flinchy17 (#5)

If Glasvegas had opened their record with "Geraldine" instead of "Flowers and Football Tops" my experience with the band would be far less torturous and rollercoaster-y.

And, I know this is a useless comment, but y'all spend an absurd amount of time bitching about these lists as they unfurl. Was something as horrid as a quantification of your favorite records of the year, condensed into a list, and unveiled from least favorite to most favorite, forced upon you? If so, how terrible.

With a 45 minute commute back and forth to work, plus one hour of exercise each day, I'm able to hear at least 3 full albums a day(as I never listen to radio), not counting the light albums I have in the background in my office all day...so I've probably heard more new music this year than any other in my life- I'm guessing at least 90 new records. Yet, there are still so many on this list I've missed.
These last three are my biggest regrets so far.

“this guy used to be weird, what happened.” - ____________________________

#48.




Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down In The Light
(1397 Points, 20 Votes, Two #1 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Musically, these meticulously crafted songs-- produced by Mark Nevers of Lambchop-- give the impression of front-porch spontaneity, their purposefulness made to sound like serendipity. Oldham mines many of the same musical veins as he has on previous albums-- these songs are heavy with old gospel, country, folk, and other Americana sounds-- but he tweaks them in new ways, adding twists and turns that even some of his most ardent fans may not expect. The free-wheeling "Easy Does It" opens the album with a churchly jangle in which Oldham's band (which includes mainstays Paul Oldham and Emmett Kelly, along with scads of Nashville musicians) trade solos. A Bakersfield guitar passes the plate to a barrelhouse piano, which yields to a melodica, and all the while Oldham hums like he's in a jug band. It's as if the instruments were introducing themselves so you'll recognize them in later songs, but that doesn't account for the clarinet that goes off on a wild tear on "For Every Field There's a Mole", adding a jazzy element that sends the song careering in a new direction, namely a rewrite of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ("To every thing there is a season..."). Similarly, a mournful pedal steel punctuates "You Want That Picture", and the ambient woodwinds and percussive acoustic guitar give "(Keep Eye on) Other's Gain" an almost psychedelic sensibility. " (8.7)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "The Letting Go" (#76 of 2006)

Ranked Highest By: thresholdofrevelation, davidortiz(#1)

Also Ranked By: Huckle (#2), Tito the Builder (#3), phlowtron (#4)

Amazon Link

Tremendous record: Kinda like A Beatles LP with Ian Hunter upfront.

“shit is giving me serious rushes” - Bruegel

#47.




Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too
(1404 Points, 27 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "My favorite trick on the opening title track to Lindstrøm's Where You Go I Go Too was first revealed on his 2005 album with Prins Thomas: During long stretches of its near half-hour length, the arrangement does this wonderful and unsettling thing where the music simultaneously seems to expand outwards, curl in on itself, and then unexpectedly swerve off to the side. With its shimmering, strobing synthesizer melodies, dizzy layering, and measured rhythmic pulse, "Where You Go I Go Too" superficially resembles the depth of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians and the cheesy grandeur of Tangerine Dream. But, as with his recent covers of Can ("Mighty Girl") and Jon & Vangelis (last year's "Let It Happen"), its logic is all Lindstrøm: The more he embraces the work of others, the more he ends up sounding like himself.

The rest of Where You Go I Go Too transposes the ambitions of the title track into shorter settings: With its floating chords and bubbly enthusiasm, "Grand Ideas" is close to Lindstrøm's more classicist disco work and given a heightened intensity by its placement in the middle of the album, like a moment of clarity amidst the disorienting swirl. Closer "The Long Way Home" apes the title track's splendor but with a twist: The synth work of its first half is complemented by hyper-manicured guitar breaks. In its second half, the track capitulates entirely to its cornier impulses, shifting into plush and suffocatingly slow electronic disco-funk." (8.6)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Ogawa (#3)

Also Ranked By: autodafe, thresholdofrevelation, Johnny's Shack (#4)

Amazon Link

But the pfork review says they're white!

(Going to buy this now.)

paul westerberg is fucking awesome. Lindstrom, too.

two of my faves missing the top 40, shame

“they're not dramatic in a whimsical way though. And, uh, not as gay as Morrissey.” - arkin

#46.




Shearwater - Rook
(1406 Points, 23 Votes, Two #1 Votes)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "The influence of Talk Talk's later records is even more apparent here than on their earlier work, notably in Meiburg's voice as he leans more on his falsetto and exercises restraint. It's also in the instrumentation, which tends towards the drifting and heavily atmospheric. Meiburg's more than capable of hanging with Mark Hollis vocally, and this approach drives the band to considerably expand its sound. Shearwater have not only broken new ground for themselves, but added a welcome sense of variety from track to track on Rook, all in a concise 35 minutes that feels more like a double album in scope.

Hollis acolytes or not, these are hardly song-sketches; all of them are careful compositions adding new instruments, moods, and sounds around the anchor of Meiburg's voice. The edges of these otherwise lulling, hypnotic songs hint at danger and chaos, but only the brief feedback excursion of "South Col" pokes a hole in the album's fabric and hints at what more avant-garde threads the band might be capable of following. As impressive and uniformly gorgeous a record as Rook is, the band's best work is likely still to come." (8.0)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: arkin, nole.kennedy (#1)

Also Ranked By: Paper Tiger (#3), farawaysoclose (#5)

Amazon Link

EDIT:

that's what I'm talking about

EDIT: Shearwater's placement, not your comment

“Usually 30 sec samples of every song from an album is enough to let me know if I will spend more time getting into it. A couple red flags for me right off the bat:

1. The production and tone sounds alot like A Blessing and a Curse, which was just ok.
2. Cooley has a bad song.
3. Some of the production even veers into nu-country territory.
4. It doesn't rock much.” - Montana

#45.




Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
(1420 Points, 27 Votes)

US Chart Position: #37

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: " While brother-in-arms Cooley tosses off seemingly effortless odes to fast cars and booze-fueled loving, Hood is still busy being the Tony Soprano of southern rock, an imposing man's man who nonetheless opens up his rawest emotional wounds for inspection. Bathos may have burdened much of his songwriting post-SRO, but Hood sounds reborn here thanks to a newly crystallized focus-- fatherhood. In a less emotionally seasoned songwriter's hands such frequent invocations of dads and kids might seem like a gimmick, but Hood has long been amused, compelled, and inspired by the family, going back to "Zoloft", "Sink Hole", and the immortal "The Southern Thing". Here though, Hood's hearth-honed eye is specifically trained on children, the ones we try to support and protect ("The Righteous Path", "Goode's Field Road"), and the ones we sometimes tragically leave behind. Such is the self-excoriating scenario that drives the war-themed "That Man I Shot", wherein our protagonist kills an enemy combatant and can't help wondering about the little ones he may have rendered fatherless. That emotional crescendo is followed closely by the similarly pained "The Home Front", which tautly conveys the worry of a wife and mother waiting for her man to come back from battle.

It's a mostly harrowing cycle that Hood has woven in the midst of Cooley's debauched ditties (with first-time frontwoman Shonna Tucker striking an equitable balance with her three appropriately gritty but generically sung contributions), but it's not all fatherly hand-wringing, thanks at least to the succinctly-phrased ode to decompression, "Daddy Needs a Drink". Irresponsible rabble-rouser or put-upon parent, that's a sentiment every grown-ass man can appreciate." (8.2)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "Decoration Day" (#9 of 2003), "The Dirty South" (#10 of 2004), "A Blessing and a Curse" (#85 of 2006)

Ranked Highest By: Montana (#3)

Also Ranked By: Campaigner, Le Bunk (#5)

Amazon Link

God.

Nice comment vs ranked highest by.

Good album, though I'd go the cliche route and say it could benefit from having a few tracked trimmed.

EDIT: Glad to see the Lindstrom sneaking inside the top 50, too.

“Has more in common with Funkadelic than I ever would've expected.” - mouthbreather

#44.




Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
(1438 Points, 21 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: #2

UK Chart Position: #55

Charting Singles: "Honey" (#88 Hot 100, #22 R&B)

Pitchfork Review: "This album doesn't just have the personal and social ambitions of those old records-- plenty of charmless "nu-soul" records aspire to that-- but some of the sonic ones, too. Big tracks aside, it's an awfully static record, which gives it the kind of high-art "difficulty" that we critics have been known to like. The beats, by hip-hop producers like Madlib, 9th Wonder, and Shafiq Husayn, trail sneakily by, leaving Badu-- without the aid of verses, choruses, or much structure at all-- to scribble all over them in her perfect/imperfect voice. (One track, "My People", is mostly just a repeated mantra; the rest of Badu's vocal scribbling is buried far back in the mix, like an incidental decoration.) These things should pose problems; one of the chief wonders of New Amerykah is that they don't. Instead, they allow for a sense of intimacy and freedom. At the end of one already-great track, there's an offhand doodle that's one of the most amazing pieces of music I've heard all year: It's just Badu, with some chatter in the background, singing her mother's history in unison with a muted trumpet. But you can hear the two musicians working happily to stay in unison, all through a complex jazz run, even trying to match their vibratos; you can imagine the takes where they miss it and laugh a little. It makes a little joke, and it closes on a terrific line about her mother's resilience-- "Even though it was hard, you would never ever know it"-- and in the end I can't think of a nobler use for recording equipment." (7.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: Plate (#1)

Also Ranked By: 77 or 88 (#2), Huckle, boobs, Bleep Blop (#5)

Amazon Link

Okay, this is looking better now than it was this morning.

Dunno about DBT though.

Guess I should've listened to that Erykah Badu.

Definitely shouldn't've listened to that Drive By Truckers.

I dug that Erykah Badu a lot, but it never quite cohered properly for me. Definitely a worthwhile album though, and I'd like to hear her carry on in that vein with Volume 2.

I need to hear the full Badu record. The little I listened to ("Telephone") was great.
I'll probably fish this one up.

“Every song on this is stuck on my head and all the melodies are swimming around colliding with one another” - vamos

#43.




Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
(1478 Points, 22 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Pitchfork Review: "Despite these adjustments, Maggie is hardly a new animal within the Deerhoof canon. It's got all sorts of earmarks, from the token Greg Saunier Beach Boys homage "Family of Others" to the irritating hopscotch cadence of "Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back", this album's Shaggs-like "Kidz Are So Small" or "Dog on the Sidewalk". And even with all its perfectly nailed mid-tempo ballads, which filled the gooey center of the past two 'hoof releases, Maggie balks at the chance to make your knees go wobbly, keeping its allure strictly intellectual and technical rather than hot-blooded. That ethos isn't going to win a lot of hugs and kisses from fans or non-fans, but Maggie never asks for more than a firm, professional handshake, the kind of appreciation it more than deserves." (7.6)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: "The Runners Four" (#73 of 2005), "Friend Opportunity" (#47 of 2007)

Ranked Highest By: James D (#1)

Also Ranked By: Burz, Duff. (#2)

Amazon Link

Damn, just missed the top 40.

Fuck.

already? fuck you guys.

this is the LoPPs like #6 album of the year.

Lousy Pitchfork review, also.

I'd have to say that both "The Runners Four" (#73 of 2005) and "Friend Opportunity" (#47 of 2007) are better albums that ranked lower in previous year polls. Is this a statement about this year's offerings or the increased exposure of Deerhoof?

I'd say increased exposure, there were quite a few good records this year.

“Brilliant, brilliant album. Especially when high." - Alright Still

#42




MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
(1489 Points, 25 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: #60

UK Chart Position: #12

Charting Singles: "Time To Pretend" (#23 Modern Rock), "Kids" (#22 Modern Rock)

Pitchfork Review: "Most impressive on Spectacular is Vanwyngarden and Goldwasser's ability to dabble, with the shared understanding that whatever they do is Big. "Pieces of What" is an unexpected acoustic guitar piece, but it's delivered like an outtake from Suede's Dog Man Star. "4th Dimensional Transition" augments its cavernous psychedelic vocals with a jacked-up BPM count, and on "Electric Feel", MGMT pull off lithe, falsetto electro-funk surprisingly well. There's not much to the song aside from a Barry Gibb vocal and limber bassline, but within the context of the rest of Spectacular, it makes perfect sense. In fact, so does the duo's current tour pairing, as the openers for Of Montreal. Kevin Barnes' emergence as an icon of theatricalized electro-glam seems the ideal toward which the duo should strive. They're still young, of course; they've got plenty of time to figure that out." (6.8)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: phlowtron (#1)

Also Ranked By: DrJimmy, Mike Schank, tager (#3), RadioHitchcock (#4), TSLOW (#5)

Amazon Link

scandal

Alternate opening quote for MGMT that I decided against because it was kind of long and said b*derty's name twice at the end and I couldn't decide a better way to format it:

High fives to all of my BPB and Lindstrom lovin' brethren.

Go post on LOPP then.

“this shit gonna make intellectual white writers dick hard as nails when dey hear it.” - Jigga

#41.




Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
(1494 Points, 26 Votes, One #1 Vote)

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #23

Charting Singles: "Lollipop" (#1), "A Milli" (#6), "Got Money" (#10), "Mrs. Officer" (#16)

Pitchfork Review: "C3 is Wayne's most absurd album to date but it's also his most personal. "Shoot Me Down", with its "Lose Yourself"-style guitar chug and ominous hook, has the rapper looking all the way back to age 12, when he accidentally shot himself with a .44 Magnum while toying with the gun in a mirror. "Two more inches I'd have been in that casket/ According to the doctor I could've died in traffic," he rhymes on "3 Peat", possibly referring to the day in 2001 when a disgruntled groupie shot at his tour bus, planting a bullet in his chest. Such details add even more gravitas to his grizzled, elastic timbre, which suggests an impossibly hoarse (and high) David Ruffin at times. "All I ask is don't take our love for granted," sings a perfectly sympathetic Babyface alongside Wayne on the lush ballad "Comfortable", the line coming off more like a saucer-eyed plea than a threat. And the LP's best track doubles as its most crazed and pained.

"Playing With Fire" is a full-on faux-metal stunner that hearkens back to Bad Boy's cinematic peak. On it, Wayne reaches Ghostface levels of paranoid distress: "I'm doin' the same shit Martin Luther King did/ Checkin' in the same hotel, in the same suite, bitch/ Same balcony like assassinate me, bitch!" His claims of MLK grandeur are far-fetched, but his impassioned delivery makes them seem more believable than one would think possible. Apparently, those Biggie and Pac references are getting to his codeine-addled brain-- after all, at 25, Wayne is now older than both legends were when they were gunned down. The implicit danger of carrying on such a legacy only adds to the rapper's dramatic reading, and his anguish burns as hot as his punchlines." (8.7)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Albums Lists: n/a

Ranked Highest By: street samurai (#1)

Also Ranked By: stphone (#2), Bleep Blop (#4), surlacarte, scarymuppet, Man Is Matter (#5)

Amazon Link

Jigga = Nostradamus

i am i am posting on both boards simultaneously.

most stunned so far by the ridiculously low placement of glasvegas...

So Montana wants a LOPP argument in the year end thread. Awesome.