I'll be posting my list on the 20th. I think I've heard all I needed to hear this year. There are three new additions on my list. There was one I've always wanted to add but was confused whether to add it or not cause of its release date. And another one I didn’t know if I should add because it was self released (not Radiohead). I just said fuck it, album release dates are so messed up anyways. So fuck my "red rule" (for those of you who don’t know what my "red rule" was, just read the red message in my "Starting Your Year End List" thread).

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Originally posted by The RavingLunatic Who Stole Christmas:

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Originally posted by The Doctor:
RL, have you heard Loch Lomond- Paper the walls? It's fantastic! I should have ranked it higher.

No. What's it like?

It's Beautiful chamber folk,comparable to sufjan Stevens.

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Originally posted by Chamberks Roasting on an Open Fire:

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Originally posted by The RavingLunatic Who Stole Christmas:

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Originally posted by Chamberks Roasting on an Open Fire:
You've got to admit that sometimes this site has a bit of a hive-mind tendency. I haven't seen such near-universal praise for Boxer anywhere else (and Mark and Jackson, though vocal, are definitely in the minority there.)

Don't forget me! I hate Boxer too! (Actually, I don't hate it; I just think it's massively overrated.)

Crap! I did forget you. Will you ever forgive me?

Re: the black music thing... I think it's honestly just a matter of taste. Some people here really like hip-hop and R&B. Some of us are lukewarm on it (myself). And some couldn't care less. Being lukewarm, I couldn't find a single album released this year in that genre that really and truly hooked me. Kanye was good, I suppose, but MIA completely threw me off and Ghostface didn't bring it like he did with Fishscale last year. (Plus, I heard some major bad things about 8 Diagrams, so I haven't checked it out.) Honestly, my main interest in hip-hop recently has been A Tribe Called Quest, which you can't really say is current.

And there's a lot of words that really mean nothing. You're welcome.

I used to be more interested in hip hop -- some of my favourite albums are PE's "Nation of Millions", De La Soul's "3 Ft. High", Cypress Hill's "Black Sunday", The Pharcyde's "Bizarre Ride", Basehead's "Play with Toys". Darn, I even liked Digable Planets! But in the past few years there's been almost nothing in that genre that has appealed to me, except Late Registration. I dunno if it is my taste changing or the hip hop genre has changed, or depleted itself. Anyway, I suppose this discussion does belong elsewhere.

I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

I find Boxer starts off beautifully with the great single Fake Empire, and quickly becomes morose, murky, leaden, "plodding" as someone else before me said. I really liked the textures of Alligator a lot more. And I WANT to like Boxer more, because I admire the band and think they are serious artists with great integrity, but basically I find it rather monotonous.

About black music...only M.I.A. on my list this year. I'm fairly lukewarm on hip-hop as well, and I wasn't overly amazed with what I heard from it this year; Kanye was OK, didn't really like 8 Diagrams or The Big Doe Rehab. Note I take absolutely no notice of the colour of the skin of the artists I'm listening to, just how good the music is. I'm pretty sure everyone would say the same, so I'd say it's just a matter of the taste of people on this forum, which is predominantly indie rock fans .

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Originally posted by Peewee:
I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

Dunno about this, I've said I don't like Boxer and I haven't noticed no one speaking to me. And I am totally cool!

It's been a while since I've posted, but here's my year-end list. Great year, all in all.

01. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
02. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
03. Radical Face – Ghost
04. Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends
05. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dandelion Gum
06. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
07. Burial – Untrue
08. Feist – The Reminder
09. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
10. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

11. Caribou – Andorra
12. Menomena – Friend & Foe
13. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
14. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
15. Liars – Liars
16. Radiohead – In Rainbows
17. Dan Deacon – Spider-Man of the Rings
18. The Tough Alliance – A New Chance
19. M.I.A. – Kala
20. Kanye West – Graduation

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And I WANT to like Boxer more, because I admire the band and think they are serious artists with great integrity, but basically I find it rather monotonous.

Yeah, yeah, want to, but invariably don't. Chalk me up as another in the "slow grower or no grower?" camp. I mean it's not like we'll be stoned to death by an angry mob of pro-National-ists. Will we...? (Begins to reconsider, ponders the 'it was the Scotch talking, not me' gambit.)

The discussion about black music showimg up here is an interesting one. I'll have to admit that I'm not terribly interested in what I hear, and I hear a lot teaching in an inner-city minority school. On the other hand, when I was growing up, I was all over Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Sly & the Family Stone, etc.

Maybe, you should look at it from the opposite perspective. How many rock hard gangsta types you think are cruisin' to the National or Panda Bear?

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Originally posted by Peewee:

I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

Uh oh. I'm going to have to call b.s. here for a moment. I genuinely love Boxer, and I'm too old and recalcitrant to give a good goddamn what anyone thinks of my opinion. By the same token, I'm not so fragile that my self esteem is shattered when people don't like what I like.

But, it sounds like you're saying that the standard for whether the album's position on the list reflects genuine enjoyment, or is the result of a "cabal" of cool kids, is whether you or not you happen to be "lukewarm" to it. Perhaps you simply have taste that differs from a majority of people posting. No crime, certainly, but, then no need to invoke a conspiracy, either.

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Originally posted by mark f humbug:
Maybe, you should look at it from the opposite perspective. How many rock hard gangsta types you think are cruisin' to the National or Panda Bear?

Does Kanye count?

I listen to Kanye, but I guess I musta missed his "ganstadom".

I'm trying to remember now. Was the Emperor's New Clothes a conspiracy?

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Originally posted by Donde Esta BAfé Claus?:

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Originally posted by mark f humbug:
Maybe, you should look at it from the opposite perspective. How many rock hard gangsta types you think are cruisin' to the National or Panda Bear?

Does Kanye count?

Not that they represent any kind of objective standard, and, they are definitely not especially representative of the views or tastes of this site, but, by my count, 10/50 albums in the p4k's top 50 could be considered "black" or "black influenced." I think that there is greater crossover 'out there,' that isn't necessarily reflected here.

It's definitely an interesting question, PeeWee. It seems to me that there have been different periods in the history when black and white artists have had more crossover appeal. The earliest R&R was derived from black music, but cleaned it up for white audiences. I don't think hard rock had big black audiences, but, come disco, there was crossover. Punk and post punk was pretty segregated, as was, later, grunge, but hip hop and rap found big audiences among disaffected suburban white kids. "Indie" (as genre, not as record label classification), seems lily white, although, the p4k list referenced above suggests that there is some crossover occurring, maybe with electronica and dance.

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I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

No no no no no. Now you're setting it up so that everyone who puts The Boxer up on their list will have done so just to please the heads at metacritic. This is like people who are going to put Panda Bear high up on their list post-Pitchfork.

I want no politics in my music criticism.

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You've got to admit that sometimes this site has a bit of a hive-mind tendency. I haven't seen such near-universal praise for Boxer anywhere else (and Mark and Jackson, though vocal, are definitely in the minority there.)

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I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

I always find it interesting when the people who post on these boards are called "hive-minded" or "sheeple", or something like that. People gravitate towards these boards to discuss music that most music fans have never heard of. If we were all so hive minded, wouldn't we content ourselves with a steady diet of whatever is popular at the moment? What would be the point of posting on these boards if we only wanted to share our opinion of Brittany's latest? We could do that with just about any teenager we meet on the street.

Perhaps people like Boxer because they like Boxer. It's that simple.

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About black music...only M.I.A. on my list this year

For those who would like to hear a great new black artist check out the song Les Aristes by Santogold. It's undeniably one of the best songs of the year if you like upbeat, catchy songs. Here's a link to the song. Listen to it twice and just try to tell me you don't like it:

http://www.myspace.com/santogold

Make sure to click on the song LES Aristes since it isn't always the song that comes on.

Maybe this can make one of your top songs of the year (and yes I know this is the albums section).

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Originally posted by Troy to the World!:

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You've got to admit that sometimes this site has a bit of a hive-mind tendency. I haven't seen such near-universal praise for Boxer anywhere else (and Mark and Jackson, though vocal, are definitely in the minority there.)

quote:

I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

I always find it interesting when the people who post on these boards are called "hive-minded" or "sheeple", or something like that. People gravitate towards these boards to discuss music that most music fans have never heard of. If we were all so hive minded, wouldn't we content ourselves with a steady diet of whatever is popular at the moment? What would be the point of posting on these boards if we only wanted to share our opinion of Brittany's latest? We could do that with just about any teenager we meet on the street.

Perhaps people like Boxer because they like Boxer. It's that simple.

Obviously people are going to like what they like! That's a given. I don't think anybody would put something on their list that they don't honestly enjoy. It's just that when something gets talked up around here, like Of Montreal or The National, people tend to like it more. Like last year - The Thermals got a hugely high ranking, mostly due to a couple of people talking it up. Meanwhile the Decemberists got a lukewarm reaction though everywhere else on the internet was joyous and exuberant.

Maybe all I'm saying is that we think alike.

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Originally posted by Chamberks Roasting on an Open Fire:

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Originally posted by Troy to the World!:

quote:

You've got to admit that sometimes this site has a bit of a hive-mind tendency. I haven't seen such near-universal praise for Boxer anywhere else (and Mark and Jackson, though vocal, are definitely in the minority there.)

quote:

I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

I always find it interesting when the people who post on these boards are called "hive-minded" or "sheeple", or something like that. People gravitate towards these boards to discuss music that most music fans have never heard of. If we were all so hive minded, wouldn't we content ourselves with a steady diet of whatever is popular at the moment? What would be the point of posting on these boards if we only wanted to share our opinion of Brittany's latest? We could do that with just about any teenager we meet on the street.

Perhaps people like Boxer because they like Boxer. It's that simple.

Obviously people are going to like what they like! That's a given. I don't think anybody would put something on their list that they don't honestly enjoy. It's just that when something gets talked up around here, like Of Montreal or The National, people tend to like it more. Like last year - The Thermals got a hugely high ranking, mostly due to a couple of people talking it up. Meanwhile the Decemberists got a lukewarm reaction though everywhere else on the internet was joyous and exuberant.

Maybe all I'm saying is that we think alike.

I'd hardly call Decemberist's reaction "lukewarm" considering it was the 5th most liked album of last year, where as The Thermals took 12th.

I don't know, I just think it's lazy to assume that we're all so easily susceptible to hype. I'm not above it, mind you, but to say that The Thermals got their ranking due to word of mouth? You still have to LISTEN to the album and LIKE it...lol.

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Originally posted by pak:

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Originally posted by Chamberks Roasting on an Open Fire:

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Originally posted by Troy to the World!:

quote:

You've got to admit that sometimes this site has a bit of a hive-mind tendency. I haven't seen such near-universal praise for Boxer anywhere else (and Mark and Jackson, though vocal, are definitely in the minority there.)

quote:

I too have to say I find The National cabal a bit annoying -- reminds me too much of a high school pack mentality where, if you don't wear the right clothes, you are not cool and no one will speak to you. (Pouts.) The same thing happened for me last year when everyone loved TV on the Radio so much and I was luke warm to it.

I always find it interesting when the people who post on these boards are called "hive-minded" or "sheeple", or something like that. People gravitate towards these boards to discuss music that most music fans have never heard of. If we were all so hive minded, wouldn't we content ourselves with a steady diet of whatever is popular at the moment? What would be the point of posting on these boards if we only wanted to share our opinion of Brittany's latest? We could do that with just about any teenager we meet on the street.

Perhaps people like Boxer because they like Boxer. It's that simple.

Obviously people are going to like what they like! That's a given. I don't think anybody would put something on their list that they don't honestly enjoy. It's just that when something gets talked up around here, like Of Montreal or The National, people tend to like it more. Like last year - The Thermals got a hugely high ranking, mostly due to a couple of people talking it up. Meanwhile the Decemberists got a lukewarm reaction though everywhere else on the internet was joyous and exuberant.

Maybe all I'm saying is that we think alike.

I'd hardly call Decemberist's reaction "lukewarm" considering it was the 5th most liked album of last year, where as The Thermals took 12th.

I don't know, I just think it's lazy to assume that we're all so easily susceptible to hype. I'm not above it, mind you, but to say that The Thermals got their ranking due to word of mouth? You still have to LISTEN to the album and LIKE it...lol.

I'll say now that I haven't listened to that Thermals album in at least 6 months, outside of "Pillar of Salt."

I might have mixed up the rankings, though.

1. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
2. Battles - Mirrored
3. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
4. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
5. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
6. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?
7. Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
8. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
9. Radiohead - In Rainbows
10.Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
11.Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
12.Albert Hammond Jr. - Yours To Keep
13.Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
14.The Octopus Project - Hello, Avalanche
15.The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
16.Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
17.Elliot Smith - New Moon
18.Okkervil River - The Stage Names
19.Feist - The Reminder
20.Menomena - Friend and Foe

Just a note to anyone who wants to write a blurb for an album they like for the final list: please take a look at the topic at the top of this forum and PM me some submissions!

To those of you who don't have Sunset Rubdown on their lists at all: is it because you didn't listen to it or because it just didn't make your top 20? Just curious...