Hey guys, so I've taken it upon myself to attempt to compile album write-ups for what will end up being our eventual Top 40 list that FragileKidA is so rigorously working on tallying up. This is the final list with write-ups compiled by Chamberk last year, with extremely well-written and poignant contributions from many of our fellow members. It is my contention that this task should not be taken lightly; after an entire year of collectively listening to and falling in love with these albums, this is our chance not only to vote for our favorites, but to give our votes a special meaning, eloquently and intelligently pouring out love and admiration to our favorite albums from 2008.

It is my hope that this year we can get more enthusiasm and participation in this project, for the final result will be that much more special and lasting for us here as members, and will hopefully be seen by future members and non-members alike as evidence of our dedication to and love for music.

If you have any interest in doing a short write-up (a few sentences will suffice, approximately 100-150 words) for any of the albums that you have personally loved this year, all you need to do is PM me whatever write-ups you complete. I'll look through and read all of these in the final days before our final list is posted, and decide what write-ups to include. Naturally, nobody knows what will end up in the top 40, but I hope this doesn't deter anybody from wanting to write about an album they feel especially passionate about. I will use my best discretion in deciding what write-ups to use, taking into account seniority, forum participation, quality of the write-ups submitted, and some form of a first-come first-served rule.

If you are interested in contributing your write-ups for this year's final list, you can feel free to PM me or comment on the thread so I can gauge the amount of participation to expect. I hope to get plenty! Remember, you can do as many write-ups as you want, and I'll choose the best.

I'll update this thread periodically when it comes closer to the release date for our collective top 40 list, in case there are any albums that haven't been shown any love for write-ups.

Thus far, I am certain I will be contributing a blurb for The Hold Steady, and FragileKidA has expressed interest in writing for Okkervil River, a band I know he adores to no end. All other albums are up for grabs, and anybody can contribute for any number of albums they would like.

If there was any confusion or if there were any points that need clarifying, bring them up and I'll respond to them as soon as possible.

Until then, I hope everybody finds time to contribute, and everybody should remember to thank FKA for all of the hard work he is putting into tallying up all of our top 20 album lists!

Edit: And now, without further ado...I present the top 40 with write-ups..here.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: crob3888,

I'll be happy to do any write-ups for any Hip-Hop albums. Precisely the ones not made by Kanye West and Lil' Wayne.

I'd be down to write something. Now we just need to get more of my top 20 on the final list. :/

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I'll be happy to do any write-ups for any Hip-Hop albums. Precisely the ones not made by Kanye West and Lil' Wayne.

Well, I figure this is slightly a jab at the users for having overwhelming (and admittedly uncreative) preference for Weezy and Yeezy, but if you're serious about doing any write-ups, I'd love to get them from you. I think there's an outside chance some other hip-hop album will garner votes to sneak into the top 40.

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I'd be down to write something. Now we just need to get more of my top 20 on the final list. :/

Well, LoS, if there is any chance of you still doing a write-up or two for something that stands a chance of getting on the final list, I'd love to see it. Any album in particular you think you'd be interested in writing for?

Edit: Actually, LoS, I just took a gander at your final year end list...and I'm guessing you meant that comment as a joke? Because it seems a lot of the albums you've shown love for are going to end up on the final list...so, if there is anything you want to take a stab at writing from your top 20, just let me know, since at least part of it will end up on the final top 40, I imagine.

Mostly joking. I'd love to write about something like Girl Talk or Lil Wayne, as I have strong feelings for both.

Thanks for taking this on crob, I always enjoyed this list. Your effort will be appreciated.

I would love to do a write up of for Third, if at all possible. I know that release could be hotly contested, but it's a favourite of mine. No strong feelings if that's not possible though; I'm no MC elite. (But check out that hardcore semicolon usage. Nice.)

Are we reserving the right to review certain releases, or is it going to be a free-for-all?

Great job crob3888, I am sure you will do an awesome job. I strongly encourage anyone that is interested to give it a shot and hey, you can have your name next to an album you love!

Also, if it's OK, I would like to write about Kanye West's latest masterpiece, seeing as it was my number one.

I'd definitely like to do a write-up. I'd be honored to do the Rural Alberta Advantage, though if Troy wants to do it I'll gladly defer to him. Outside of that, I'm not sure how many of my top 20 are going to make the final list.

I'll be happy to write something Crab. Just tell me what album or albums you wish me to write on, and I'll be happy to give you a few paragraphs.

I'm sure the Q-Tip album will make the top 40. Somewhere.

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Originally posted by crob3888:

quote:

I'll be happy to do any write-ups for any Hip-Hop albums. Precisely the ones not made by Kanye West and Lil' Wayne.

Well, I figure this is slightly a jab at the users for having overwhelming (and admittedly uncreative) preference for Weezy and Yeezy, but if you're serious about doing any write-ups, I'd love to get them from you. I think there's an outside chance some other hip-hop album will garner votes to sneak into the top 40.

Not at all. I was just pointing out they were two particular Hip-Hop albums that I didn't enjoy, and so it would be pointless for me to review them. Nothing more.

Nice work, crob!

I would be delighted to write about Skeletal Lamping, which captivated me in some very strange ways. Seems to me, though, that it isn't receiving much love around here. :S

I'll write something also. M83, Crystal Castles or Fuck Buttons... I don't mind any one of those.

quote:

Originally posted by Senator_Colin:
Nice work, crob!

I would be delighted to write about Skeletal Lamping, which captivated me in some very strange ways. Seems to me, though, that it isn't receiving much love around here. :S

I liked it at first, but it ranks as the number 1 album this year that I got REALLY sick of REALLY fast. It is a victim of extremely poor production.

i would quite like tv on the radio, cut copy, vampire weekend, bon iver, beach house

Alright! Thanks for all of the enthusiasm guys, I'm glad other people here want to take this project seriously.

I guess my only question for everybody who wants to contribute is: do you guys want to reserve the right to write for a particular album, or keep it more loose and like a free-for-all, writing for whatever you want? I'd be happy with either, so long as we end up with write-ups for everything we need.

So, just to keep things straight, I've created a short list of albums and the people who are interested in doing write-ups for them. I thought that it might be interesting to have more than one person do write-ups for some of the albums, and maybe for the final post I can post both and credit both users for their contributions. So far though, most people have suggested different albums, and I hope to see write-ups for all of these soon. Thanks for all the help guys!

Me: The Hold Steady, maybe some others (TVotR, Fleet Foxes, Los Campesinos, Nick Cave, Bon Iver, etc. ...unless somebody else wants 'em...)
Turenne: Q-Tip
LoS: Girl Talk, Lil Wayne
Bushn: Portishead (good semi-colon use, btw)
Senator_Colin: Skeletal Lamping (love this record, btw)
FKA: Kanye West, Okkervil River
RL: Rural Alberta Advantage
Bafe: M83, Crystal Castles, Fuck Buttons
Theelfpat: Wolf Parade, Santogold, Born Ruffians
Santa ate a poisoned egg: Portishead, M83
Petrolfire: TVotR, Cut Copy, Vampire Weekend, Beach House (quite the task, my friend!)

Now, I know that more than one person has shown interest in writing for certain albums, (M83, Portishead, assuming some more will pop up), so its up to you guys to decide whether we should do a lock-down system where I select each member to do a particular album they are interested in, or we can just have everybody do whatever write-ups and I'll see what I think of the results. Any feedback on this?

Also, some albums likely to be in the top 40 that will need write-ups:

Fleet Foxes
Bon Iver
Deerhunter
Dodos
The Walkmen
Frightened Rabbit
Shearwater
Hercules and Love Affair
No Age

That will essentially cover around 20 albums on our list, if not a little more.

Thanks for all the eagerness to contribute guys! Hope to hear back from all of you soon.

You can lock me in for just Crystal Castles. I know there may be other people who'd like to do M83 more. As for Fuck Buttons, someone else can take on that difficult task .

Deadline?

quote:

Deadline?

Would it be unrealistic for everybody to aim for Jan 2nd, a week before the Final List thread is closed to votes? That way if there are any glaring omissions from our list, I'll have to time to get somebody on the task.

And I've thought about it, and I think it would probably be a better idea to just lock people in for certain albums in order to have some sense of accountability and responsibility for the task at hand.

Thus, the current list of Lock-In Album Write-Ups is as follows, with write-ups due by January 2nd to me, via PM:

Me: The Hold Steady, TV on the Radio
Turenne: Q-Tip
LoS: Girl Talk, Lil Wayne
Bushn: Portishead
Senator_Colin: Skeletal Lamping
FKA: Kanye West, Okkervil River
RL: Rural Alberta Advantage
Bafe: Crystal Castles
Theelfpat: Wolf Parade, Born Ruffians, Santogold
Santa Ate a Poisoned Egg: M83
Petrolfire: Cut Copy, Vampire Weekend, Beach House, TV on The Radio (I'm thinking this is very likely to be the forum's number 1, so let's both do this, and I'll post both of our write-ups on the final post as a grand statement of this album's awesomeness).

Also, if anybody wants to take on any of the albums I mentioned in my previous post above who is already taking on an album or two, go ahead and call it out. Just remember that it is your responsibility to do the write-up and get it to me in time for the final year-end post.

Thanks again guys.

Man, you are doing a GREAT job with this so far, thanks so much. I love all of your ideas and having a double blurb for the top album sounds like a fantastic idea.

I might have a special treat later to show everyone so look out for it!

I'm down for doing the Frightened Rabbit and Fleet Foxes reviews. Both will be in my top 5 of 2008 for sure.