Runners Up - Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance, Fantasia - Free Yourself, Scissor Sisters, Jem - Finally Woken

10 - Alanis Morissette - So Called Chaos
9 - Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
8 - Ru Paul - Red Hot
7 - Eminem - Encore
6 - Miss Kittin - I com
5 - Bjork - Medulla
4 - Rufus Wainwright - Want Two
3 - Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me
2 - The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls
1 - Courtney Love - America's Sweetheart

1. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
2. Les Savy Fav - Inches
3. Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street
4. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
5. *Little Birdy - Big Big Love
6. *The Devoted Few - Billboard Noises
7. *Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
8. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Like Bad News
9. *Eskimo Joe - A Song is a City
10. Of Montreal - Stanic Panic in the Attic
11. Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
12. Air - Talkie Walkie
13. Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
14. *78 Saab - Crossed Lines
15. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
16. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
17. *Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set - Autumn Bone
18. *Machine Translations - Venus Traps Fly
19. *Love Outside Andromeda - Love Outside Andromeda
20. Killers - Hot Fuss
21. Deerhoof - Milk Man
22. PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
23. *Youth Group - Skeleton Jar
24. TV On the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
25. *Sarah Blasko - The Overture & The Underscore

Haven't bought Ted Leo and the Pharamacists new lp yet - sure to figure in a less than definitive list.

*Denotes Australian releases. With the exception of Nick Cave none of you guys would probably have heard of the others which is a pity. I'm pretty lucky in a way I get the best of both worlds.

I said it wasn't definitive. Haven't got Interpol's Antics yet and haven't had time to review new Jimmy Eat World - given it a couple of listens and like what I hear. F**K YOU on this one Pitchfork!

Philosopher Eric:

I respect your year-end list, you seem to really like the new Brian Wilson record. I believe that you were upset that it garnished a lower rating from Pitchfork than Franz Ferdinand.

I think it is important to remember the context of the albums, and the bias of the magazine. Pitchfork obviously favors indie, post-punk bands. Franz Ferdinand has exploded in the wake of Turn on the Bright Lights, and reminds me of early Gang of Four.

Brian Wilson, on the other hand, had the impossible task of following up on one of the greatest albums of all time. How many decades have passed since Pet Sounds? SMiLE is good, but it certainly not representative of the direction of music in the early 2000s.

My top 3:
1. Wilco - Ghost is Born
2. Arcarde Fire - Funeral
3. Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat

Wilco's new album is also in my top three of the year, and I'm its staunchest supporter around here (until now), but it sounds like Neil Young, maybe even 25-30 years ago, so that's not too-far off from "Pet Sounds". "SMiLE" is in my top five. I never thought of a connection before now. Thanks.

Has anyone heard

The Apostle of Hustle-Folkloric Feel
It has the lead guitarist from broken social scene...and a few other members.

It kindof has the same vibe of you forgot it in people...but where tha album was more rockier...this album is more folky.I am not the hugest fan of the folky sound but this album...does not beat it to death.It incorporates alot of good music and equally good singing.

Just curious to see if anyone else has gotten it yet.I know alot of people liked broken social scenes album.This album is also out on Arts and Crafts.I bought it from their website.And i am prety sure it will be an import unless you in canada.

This album is well worth the little bit of extra money.Gopick it up!I am surprised pitchfork has not jumped on this one yet!

My top nine so far:

1 Brand New - Deja Entendu
2 Jimmy Eat World - Futures
3 Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
4 Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
5 Ash - Meltdown
6 Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
7 The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
8 REM - Around The Sun
9 Hope Of The States - The Lost Riots

Still evaluating the Elliott Smith, Green Day and Kanye West albums (I think they'll all end up quite high though), and still waiting to hear the Arcade Fire album among others. My top five at the moment are extremely close and could be in a completely different order tomorrow.

In response to Linn, I would say that there are still at least two albums that have yet to come out this year that could make a lot of year-end lists; those would be Multiples by Keith Fullerton Whitman and The Beast and Dragon Are Adored by Spoon. Wasn't the LCD Soundsystem album supposed to come out this year, too?

(Hi, guys!)

quote:

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Originally posted by The_Sprawl:
Philosopher Eric:

I respect your year-end list, you seem to really like the new Brian Wilson record. I believe that you were upset that it garnished a lower rating from Pitchfork than Franz Ferdinand.

I think it is important to remember the context of the albums, and the bias of the magazine. Pitchfork obviously favors indie, post-punk bands. Franz Ferdinand has exploded in the wake of Turn on the Bright Lights, and reminds me of early Gang of Four.

Brian Wilson, on the other hand, had the impossible task of following up on one of the greatest albums of all time. How many decades have passed since Pet Sounds? SMiLE is good, but it certainly not representative of the direction of music in the early 2000s.

My top 3:
1. Wilco - Ghost is Born
2. Arcarde Fire - Funeral
3. Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat

---

Good point, Sprawl, and well-taken. I wasn't upset, as much as suprised. I respect that all magazines will have their bias, and their audience, and I've been quick to defend Pitchfork at other times, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to accept that Franz Ferdinand is the "music of the 00's." And I'm not sure that Brian Wilson is not, given the large number of heavily Beach Boys-influenced artists working today.

For my money, SMiLE isn't better than Pet Sounds, but the fact that 40 years have passed since this was 'contemporary' doesn't seem to diminish the joy and wonder present in the music.

I certainly don't begrudge Pitchfork's indie bias...but it strikes me as intellectually and critically insincere to avoid reviewing something (or to score it low) because it's not "indie" enough. It's the "indie cool" mentality writ large, but it is their target audience, so I guess there's no avoiding it.

In the end, I wonder how history will remember the two records...will Franz Ferdinand be as monumental a moment in music as the indie press thinks it is, or should be? Will SMiLE merely become a footnote in Beach Boys history? My guess is that SMiLE will have the bigger legacy, but I've been wrong about this stuff before.

And, to make a point clear, I really enjoy the FF record! It was one of the most fun records of the year for me.

Your top three is interesting...I really like the Wilco, and absolutely HATE the Fiery Furnaces, but I'm still looking to pick up The Arcade Fire. I've heard most of it, and like it, but I don't own it yet.

Smile already has a legacy, and I'm not sure that discussing the relative legacy of the two albums has to do with their objective quality, which is what the Pitchfork rating scale (and all rating scales!) purport to measure. I mean, there are "legacy" bands that really aren't that great, no? (Just a note: I'm not saying that Smile isn't great, because it is. But I don't think it's necessarily a better record than FF is here in 2004. My problem with it is Wilson's vocals, mainly, but I also wonder if I'm the only one who finds the patchwork quilt technique he used for a lot of the songs kind of irksome on Smile where it was charming before- thinking specifically of "Roll Plymouth Rock" here, but it surfaces elsewhere as well. It's still in my top 15 for the year)

quote:

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Originally posted by Vykromond:
Smile _already has_ a legacy, and I'm not sure that discussing the relative legacy of the two albums has to do with their objective quality, which is what the Pitchfork rating scale (and all rating scales!) purport to measure. I mean, there are "legacy" bands that really aren't that great, no? (Just a note: I'm not saying that Smile isn't great, because it is. But I don't think it's necessarily a better record than FF is here in 2004. My problem with it is Wilson's vocals, mainly, but I also wonder if I'm the only one who finds the patchwork quilt technique he used for a lot of the songs kind of irksome on Smile where it was charming before- thinking specifically of "Roll Plymouth Rock" here, but it surfaces elsewhere as well. It's still in my top 15 for the year)

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True enough. And the two records have almost nothing in common, except that they both came out this year, and both scored high (9.0 and 9.1) on the Pitchscale.

It's apples and oranges. And they were reviewed by two different people, at two different times, so the score differences might not really be that important. 9.0 is a pretty good review, I'd say.

quote:

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True enough. And the two records have almost nothing in common, except that they both came out this year, and both scored high (9.0 and 9.1) on the Pitchscale.

It's apples and oranges. And they were reviewed by two different people, at two different times, so the score differences might not really be that important. 9.0 is a pretty good review, I'd say.

---

I praise Pitchfork for being the champions of underground everything, but they're not worthy of the kind of idol worship these "Best of" comparisons are showing. I'd be hard-pressed to find any legitimate journalist, music or otherwise, who lives and dies by awkwardly constructed sentences so noticeably aided by a thesaurus. Or one that fabricates a story to demonize The Beastie's PR people. Or one that would consider Nine Inch Nails' 'The Downward Spiral' a country album "in so much that it sucks." Or one so pretentious to assume any album deserves a 0.0.

Do you honestly think any Pitchfork staffer can tell the difference between a 9.0 and a 9.1?

quote:

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Originally posted by m.leland:


I praise Pitchfork for being the champions of underground everything, but they're not worthy of the kind of idol worship these "Best of" comparisons are showing. I'd be hard-pressed to find any legitimate journalist, music or otherwise, who lives and dies by awkwardly constructed sentences so noticeably aided by a thesaurus. Or one that fabricates a story to demonize The Beastie's PR people. Or one that would consider Nine Inch Nails' 'The Downward Spiral' a country album "in so much that it sucks." Or one so pretentious to assume any album deserves a 0.0.

Do you honestly think any Pitchfork staffer can tell the difference between a 9.0 and a 9.1?

---

I'm not sure I'm worshipping at the temple of Pitchfork, but they do have the market cornered on starting arguments on these forums.

I think the people who write for Pitchfork are smart, well-read, and literate. And they like to show it...and sometimes sound like pretentious wankers doing so! They write as if they were writing for the New York Times, which may be the target audience. I've never seen that NiN review (I don't care about that record, but that's an asinine statement) and I've never seen a 0.0 score, but there's a certain amount of the Jack Black character from High Fidelity in some of those reviews...and you KNOW he would give almost everything a 0.0!!!!

Personally, I don't really care for overly artsy, overly literate music criticism. I like my critics to be smart, funny, and knowledgeable without being prententious, condescending, coy, or cryptic. But that's a personal preference. That being said, I do enjoy reading the 'fork, but I don't really put too much weight on the reviews.

Just a quick list:
1. Automato - Self-Titled (Coup De Grace)
2. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On A Hill (Anti)
3. Blanche - If We Can't Trust The Doctors (Cass)
4. Diplo - Florida (Big Dada)
5. Amon Tobin - Solid Steel mix (Ninja Tune)

1. Brian Wilson – SMiLE
2. Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose
3. Dizzee Rascal – Boy In Da Corner
4. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free
5. Elliott Smith – From a Basement on the Hill
6. Madvillain – Madvillainy
7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
8. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
9. Bjork – Medulla
10. Kanye West – The College Dropout
11. Drive-by Truckers – The Dirty South
12. Wilco – A Ghost Is Born
13. Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Like Bad News
14. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
15. The Walkmen – Bows & Arrows
16. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
17. Interpol – Antics
18. Junior Boys - Last Exit
19. Animal Collective – Sung Tongs
20. Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans
21. Mission Of Burma – Onoffon
22. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
23. Dizzee Rascal – Showtime
24. Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
25. Dios – Dios

Well i wasnt too impressed with music this year, rele not my taste but here are my top 10 albums of the year so far in no order.

1.Beastie Boys- To the 5 Boroughs
2. Snoop Dogg- R&G The Masterpiece
3. Eminem- Encore
4. Sum 41- Chuck
5. Marilyn Manson- Lest We Forget
6. Blink 182- Blink 182
7. Slipknot- The Subliminal Message Vol. 3
8. U2- How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Its sad i cant think of 10 cds i really liked this year. My honorary pick of worst cd this year so far that i bought is Papa Roack-Getting Away with Murder

lol i forgot Greenday- American Idiot.
lol and its sad slipknot is on there, its pretty much there just for the sake of having 10 cds on my list

Right now I am really impressed with the new Saul Williams album Fader Label. That and the Jello Biafra & The Melvins album are getting played repeatedly since I picked them up. I'll come back with a list for the whole year later, but at the moment these two have been giving me great pleasure.

rerererererevised OH

01 Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
02 The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
03 Destroyer - Your Blues
04 Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
05 The Futureheads - Futureheads
06 Minus Story - The Captain is Dead, Let the Drum Corpse Dance
07 Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
08 Frog Eyes - The Folded Palm
09 Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
10 Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
11 Interpol - Antics
12 Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
13 Death from Above 1979 - You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
14 Rogue Wave - Out of the Shadow
15 Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands / Nino Rojo
16 Arcade Fire - Funeral
17 Anne Laplantine - Dicipline
18 Brian Wilson - Smile
19 Black Dice - Creature Comforts
20 Black Moth Super Rainbow - Start a People

to be revised again over+over

The final (?) list. Nothing particularly shocking....Two reissues, Nine Inch Nails'The Downward Spiral and Talking Heads' The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, would have made the list, had they counted towards new releases.

1. The Streets A Grand Don't Come for Free
2. Elliott Smith From a Basement on the Hill
3. Tom Waits Real Gone
4. Drive-By Truckers The Dirty South
5. Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose
6. Devendra Banhart Rejoicing in the Hands
7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
8. Madvillain Madvillainy
9. Kanye West College Dropout
10. Xiu Xiu Fabulous Muscles