1. the old ceremony - the old ceremony
2. regina spektor - begin to hope
3. destroyer - destroyer's rubies
4. the hold steady - boys and girls in america
5. ghostface killah - fishscale
6. the kooks - inside in/inside out
7. guillemots - through the windowpane
8. asobi seksu - citrus
9. clipse - hell hath no fury
10. persephone's bees - notes from the underworld
11. ratatat - classics
12. jenny lewis with the watson twins - rabbit fur coat
13. cold war kids - robbers & cowards
14. roman candle - the wee hours revue
15. we are scientists - with love and squalor
16. cat power - the greatest
17. arctic monkeys - whatever people say i am, that's what i'm not
18. john mayer - continuum
19. lupe fiasco - food & liquor
20. emily haines & the soft skeleton - knives don't have your back

I didn't include tv on the radio or liars, mainly because i couldn't get into either one. i also left out seemingly formidable favorite "modern times" because, while it's good, we should have a higher standard for bob dylan, and the album didn't live up to my expectations for it after "love and theft" and "masked and anonymous."

also, i'm sure people will appreciate some love for asobi seksu, persephone's bees and cold war kids, which i haven't seen a lot of on the boards.

final note, the old ceremony and roman candle are two bands from my area that are quite good. roman candle got signed to v2 back in august and the old ceremony is currently unsigned -- they described themselves as pop noir. if anyone is interested in hearing either, you can message me and we can arrange something.

take care!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hrk2003,

1. metric - live it out
2. bat for lashes - fur and gold
3. howling bells - howling bells
4. get cape wear cape fly - The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager
5. sol seppy - the bells of 12
6. emily haines - knives don't have you back
7.css - Cansei De Ser Sexy
8. The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club - The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club
9.thom yorke - the eraser
10. the presets - beams

quote:

Originally posted by coaster27:
1. metric - live it out
2. bat for lashes - fur and gold
3. howling bells - howling bells
4. get cape wear cape fly - The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager
5. sol seppy - the bells of 12
6. emily haines - knives don't have you back
7.css - Cansei De Ser Sexy
8. The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club - The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club
9.thom yorke - the eraser
10. the presets - beams

The Gentlemen's Club are way cool in my book.

quote:

Originally posted by wuh wuh wolf:
I guess I'm in the minority when I say the Hold Steady album was a total dud?

Yeah. I guess so.

I have to grown to actively dislike the album, but it's not any hype issue. I consider myself a HUGE Hold Steady fan. Seperation Sunday is one of my top ten albums of the decade with a bullet.

However, Boys and Girls in America is so saccharine and polished that it bugs me to listen to it. It's like an exaggerated version of my reaction to Good News a few years back.

I just hope they don't just keep going like this. That would suck a whole lot.

However, I would probably love a lot of these songs live, as they are one of my favorite live bands ever.

quote:

Originally posted by nathanielkt:
I have to grown to actively dislike the album, but it's not any hype issue. I consider myself a HUGE Hold Steady fan. Seperation Sunday is one of my top ten albums of the decade with a bullet.

However, Boys and Girls in America is so saccharine and polished that it bugs me to listen to it. It's like an exaggerated version of my reaction to Good News a few years back.

I just hope they don't just keep going like this. That would suck a whole lot.

However, I would probably love a lot of these songs live, as they are one of my favorite live bands ever.

I think Boys And Girls In America is great, and I think the changes in their sound -- particularly the addition of prominent keyboards and Finn's more understated singing -- have made The Hold Steady's songs much more dynamic. They're one of the three acts I'm most excited to see at the upcoming Langerado Music Festival (first concert I've gone to in years), along with The New Pornographers and My Morning Jacket.

After seeing a number Best Of lists from leading music magazines, I think The Hold Steady is suffering from an anti-Pitchfork effect. If I understand the idea correctly, the Pitchfork Effect is where an obscure band has a breakout success after receiving a push from Pitchfork. Here, I think Pitchfork's 9.4 rating and months of advance anticipation for Boys And Girls In America made it "cool" and "hip" -- even for Pitchfork itself -- to rank other albums ahead of it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Daniel, Esq.,

1. Volcano! - Beautiful Seizure
2. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette
3. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear Is On Our Side
4. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
5. Morrissey - Ringleader of Tormentors
6. Xiu Xiu - Air Force
7. Library Tapes - Feelings For Something Lost
8. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
9. Parenthetical Girls - Safe As Houses
10. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
11. The Paper Chase - Now You're One Of Us
12. The Diableros - You Can't Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
14. Goldmund - The Heart of High Places
15. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
16. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
17. CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy
18. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
19. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

quote:

Originally posted by Besttasteinmusicever:

quote:

Decemberists - fairies, nerds
Destroyer - old-timers
Liars - hipsters

Maybe we'll find God in this pattern somewhere.


I'm not sure if I agree with the idea that Destroyer appeals to the old-timers.

Based on the TVOTR/Hold Steady/Joanna Newsom litmus test, I'm a nerdy old-timer.

A nerdy old-timer, who is not hip (to be exact).

Thanks for the clarification.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by coaster27:

2. bat for lashes - fur and gold


Interesting list. I especially like the Bat for Lashes so high on there. I love the song Trophy.

okay... so here i am, another metacritic lurker who has finally decided to join to forum.
hope i get my 30 posts in by jan 15 so this list counts.

20. Pharaoh Overlord - #4
19. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
18. Vince Gill - These Days
17. Cat Power - The Greatest
16. Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream
15. Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
14. Ratto ja Lehtisalo - Ed Benttonin Briljantti Stabilismi
13. Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites
12. Circle - Earthworm e.p.
11. The Knife - Silent Shout
10. Comets on Fire - Avatar
09. Circle - Miljard
08. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
07. Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island
06. Boris - Pink (May 16 u.s. release)
05. Joanna Newsom - Ys
04. Teddy Thompson - Separate Ways (Feb. 21 u.s. release)
03. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
02. Scott Walker - The Drift
01. Liars - Drum's Not Dead

oh, by the way...
i thought about preempting my list with "yes, everyone, there is no hip-hop on my list".
but, in a year that was practically a wasteland for good hip-hop records, i won't dignify that often-scoured topic any further here.
also... recent purchases that i haven't let soak in...
The Thermals, CSS, Be Your Own Pet, tom waits.

1.) Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
2.) Mastodon - Blood Mountain
3.) Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
4.) Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
5.) The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes
6.) Liars - Drum's Not Dead
7.) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
8.) Sparta - Threes
9.) Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors
10.) Justin Timberlake - Futersex/Lovesounds

Has anyone looked at the METACRITIC Music Year-End Coverage page? The Artic Monkeys album is cleaning up. It appears on 10 lists so far, with 5 appearances as No. 1. Some other albums are doing well across-the-board (e.g., Dylan, on 8 lists (3 as No. 1), Ghostface, on 9 lists (1 as No. 1), Joanna Newsom, on 13 lists (2 as No. 1), TV On The Radio, on 12 lists (1 as No. 1)), but no-one is close in terms of appearances as No. 1.

quote:

The Artic Monkeys album is cleaning up. It appears on 10 lists so far

which reminds me...

most over-rated albums of 2006:

arctic monkeys, ghostface killa, clipse, bob dylan.

no disrespect intended toward mr. robert zimmerman.
i love the dude. it's just that he's churning out derivative and mediocre albums that everyone has been licking up (well, since "love and theft" anyway) because they think they're supposed to.

oh well. i suppose rolling stones bigger bang is a masterpiece as well?

I'm glad to see a few posters back that agree the Hold Steady's Boys and Girls ... was the most overrated album of the year. After Separation Sunday, this has to be one of the biggest drop offs in recent memory. While Separation Sunday was one of the best, most original albums I had heard in years, "Boys and Girls ..." is MTV pop music for teenagers and even preteens. Seriously, would anyone over the age of 25 be caught dead listening to songs with lyrics like those found in "Chillout Tent" or "You can make him like you"? Anyways, I surprised by the extent of acclaim this highly disappointing album received, which I credit largely to the accessibility of their new sound to a wide range of pop music fans.

i agree about the hold steady.
if i wanted to listen to "greetings from asbury park, new jersey" i would do just that.
i really can't understand how such a juvenile album (lyrically, anyway) can appeal to "sophisticated" critics.
maybe they are living vicariously through the teenies... and imagining that this is the soundtrack to their youthful debauchery.

quote:

Originally posted by Antiquity:
"Boys and Girls ..." is MTV pop music for teenagers and even preteens. Seriously, would anyone over the age of 25 be caught dead listening to songs with lyrics like those found in "Chillout Tent" or "You can make him like you"? Anyways, I surprised by the extent of acclaim this highly disappointing album received, which I credit largely to the accessibility of their new sound to a wide range of pop music fans.

I don't know of too many MTV watching teens and preteens who've even heard of the Hold Steady. I agree that they've polished their sound a bit on this album, but lyrically they haven't changed a bit. I think you've underestimate the poignancy of the lyrics in "Chillout Tent" and "You Can Make Him Like You". I'm well over the age of 25 and I have no problem listening to either.

quote:

Originally posted by the wuss:

i really can't understand how such a juvenile album (lyrically, anyway) can appeal to "sophisticated" critics.

From the guy whose #1 album has a lead single with this cover.

quote:

Originally posted by the wuss:
i really can't understand how such a juvenile album (lyrically, anyway) can appeal to "sophisticated" critics.

I don't think there's anything juvenile about the lyrics. On the surface, I can see where one might think that. The characters are young, and all they ever seemingly do is party, do drugs, and fall in and out of love. But I think Craig Finn tells that story like few other lyricists. There's complexity in those stories. Like Springsteen's early work, he's able to find beauty, pain, and sadness in the mundane.

I'm curious as to who you think is writing good lyrics in rock these days. Good lyrics usually play a pretty big part in the music I like. I love great lyrics and for my money, Craig Finn is the best lyricist in rock right now.

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:

quote:

Originally posted by the wuss:

i really can't understand how such a juvenile album (lyrically, anyway) can appeal to "sophisticated" critics.

From the guy whose #1 album has a lead single with this cover.

Haha. That is a funny album cover, but you make a good point leland. That whole Liars album is a concept story about a battle between a drum and a mountain. I like a few songs from that album, but I wouldn't say it's because of the lyrics.