Pazz & Jop 2008 Confirms Our Suspicions

mariasci | January 21, 2009 11:00 am

Well, the Village Voice‘s annual music-critics poll is here, and… it’s about what you would have suspected. In an oddly Grammy-like move, the top single, M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” is actually from 2007, and benefits from 50 carryover votes. And following the paper’s arguably racist cover from its 2006 P&J issue, TV on the Radio took the top album slot in what can only be described as a landslide, beating No. 2 Vampire Weekend by 669 points and 49 mentions. Consensus!

The rest of the albums list is a shuffled collection of the usual suspects (Portishead, Bon Iver, Lil Wayne) plus the obligatory Boomer babies, which this year includes a Dylan bootleg, My Morning Jacket, and, uh, Randy Newman? Grammier and Grammier!

The real action, of course, is in the singles list, which would’ve been considerably tighter had M.I.A. not grabbed those carryover votes. T.I. lands two songs in the top 20, which is nice, but overall there’s a feeling of confirmation rather than judgment. These are songs we all know.

Other than that, Simon Reynolds talks about Vampire Weekend, Tom Breihan talks about Lil Wayne, and various political conclusions are drawn from the popularity of certain songs. In 2009, we’re supposed to stick together. So let’s just say it’s all good, huh?

ALBUMS 1. TV On The Radio, Dear Science 2. Vampire Weekend 3. Portishead, Third 4. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Vol. 1: Fourth World War 5. Fleet Foxes 6. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III 7. Santogold 8. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago 9. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! 10. Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak 11. Deerhunter, Microcastle / Weird Era Cont. 12. Randy Newman, Harps & Angels 13. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive 14. No Age, Nouns 15. Girl Talk, Feed The Animals 16. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges 17. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular 18. Hercules & Love Affair 19. Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It 20. Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs – Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 [the rest]

SINGLES 1. M.I.A., “Paper Planes” 2. Estelle feat. Kanye West, “American Boy” 3. Beyoncé “Single Ladies” 4. MGMT, “Time To Pretend” 5. Lil Wayne, “A Milli” 6. Santogold, “L.E.S. Artistes” 7. Hercules & Love Affair, “Blind” 8. Coldplay, “Viva La Vida” 9. Kanye West, “Love Lockdown” 10. Fleet Foxes, “White Winter Hymnal” 11. Portishead, “Machine Gun” 12. Hot Chip, “Ready For The Floor” 13. T.I. feat. Rihanna, “Live Your Life” 14. T.I., “Whatever You Like” 15. Rihanna, “Disturbia” 16. Death Cab For Cutie, “I Will Possess Your Heart” 17. Adele, “Chasing Pavements” 18. MGMT, “Electric Feel” 19. Pink, “So What” 20. Vampire Weekend, “Oxford Comma” [the rest]

Pazz & Jop 2008 [Village Voice]