British music mag Uncut may advertise a mind-numbing recycled feature in the form of John Lennon’s “30 Greatest Songs” on the cover of of its year-end issue, but much like how the magazine’s reviews section stays doggedly up-to-date even as the rest of the book flogs seemingly exhausted rock icons, its year-end list names LCD Soundsystem’s Sound Of Silver the best album of the year and LCD’s “North American Scum” the best song. (Even more surprising for a mag that trades so heavily on “worthy” rock music for grown-up boys, Rihanna’s “Umbrella” sits just behind James Murphy at No. 2 on the songs list.) You know the full lists are after the jump, but an advance preview for now.
THE GOOD: PJ Harvey’s astounding White Chalk makes a surprisingly high appearance at No. 3, not that we’re complaining. Also Uncut‘s got to be the only relatively high-profile music mag in the world, other than The Wire, that would put Robert Wyatt’s art-drunk album about sobering up, Comicopera, in its Top 10.
THE BAD: People really did love that Wilco album, didn’t they? Things get a bit flabby in the AAA-friendly mid-section of the albums list with the exception of Les Savy Fav’s very fine comeback. Also the Arctic Monkeys at No. 2 seems a bit of a stretch for an album where even fans grumbled and whispered about sophomore slumps.
THE WHAAA?: As Maura wondered, how do EPs count as “songs”? With the format enjoying something of a minor resurgence, is it time to bring back the EP category across the board when it comes to best-of lists?
The most recent issue of electronic/hip-hop/indie lifestyle mag Urb features their picks for best singles, albums, remixes, and live shows of the year (the lists are so far unavailable online, as far as we can tell). Unlike just about every other paper and online rag trying to cram as much music as they can into lists that stretch to 100 albums or more, Urb only throws its weight behind 10 albums, seven singles, six remixes, and five live gigs, all unranked. It’s also the first entry in our year-end list analysis to feature Lil Wayne’s double-CD mixtape Da Drought 3, which you can probably expect to see a lot over the coming weeks. The full (brief) lists are after the jump, but for now, some cursory judgments.
THE GOOD: Quibble all you like with their picks, but it’s still nice to see a publication favor brevity when it comes to compiling their year-end wrap-up lists. Do you really care what some magazine thought was the 76th-best album of 2007? (At least with long singles lists you stand a chance of having time to listen to all 100 entries.) A not-so-well-kept secret: Even professional listeners are largely bullshitting when attempting to seriously rank albums after about No. 20 or so.
THE BAD: All that said, this list is not at all surprising if you’re even a little familiar with Urb‘s editorial remit, drawing entirely from 2007 faves widely-acknowledged by folks from the non-Paste/Harp side of indie, whether it’s hip-hop (Wayne, Kanye, the Flosstradamus/Spank Rock axis), dance rock (LCD Soundsystem, Klaxons), or miscellaneous (Battles). Many of these are excellent records of course, but the uniform hipness of it all is pretty suffocating.
THE WHAAA?: Forget placing in the Top 10: There’s no way that The Good, The Bad, And The Queen album was the best anything of ’07. Except maybe “the best way to give Tony Allen and Paul Simonon a little well-deserved extra spending money.”
Somehow we doubt this one’s gonna inspire as much comments box back-and-forth as yesterday’s Paste bomb, but our 2007 year-end analysis continues thanks to always awesome extreme-metal mag Decibel‘s Top 40 Albums Of The Year list hitting the Web. The full-list is after the jump, but first our cursory impressions.
THE GOOD: Pig Destroyer’s grindcore masterpiece rightfully (which doesn’t mean it won’t be hotly contested by those in the know) in the No. 1 spot, followed by a solid Top 40 that includes nearly a dozen records that made my own personal faves of ’07 list.
THE BAD: Even as someone who’s up to his neck in Necrofrost CD-R’s, I’m not about to start debating what should have made list/where certain albums should have placed, though I’d like to have seen some love for a few sentimental, possibly indefensible faves (Darkthrone’s wicked, near satirical F.O.A.D., for instance). It’s also kind of a bummer that I’ll never have enough free time to devote as much study to modern metal as everyone should. And Pelican are boring as hell.
THE WHAAA?: Not bad “whaa?” but it’s nice to see some less traditionally “metal” heavy music littering the list (Pissed Jeans, the poppiest Melt Banana record yet), reflecting Decibel‘s unpretentiously wide-ranging listening habits.
Harp‘s December issue may have Ween on its cover, but the magazine’s Top 50 of 2007 is headed by Okkervil River’s The Stage Names, with Band Of Horses, Iron & Wine, Future Clouds & Radar, and Feist–who’s apparently the official No. 5 pick for the triple-A set–rounding out the list’s top five. (In Rainbowswatch: It’s No. 7.) The full list is after the jump, but below we have some highlights.
THE GOOD: Grinderman squeaks in at No. 30, with Robert Wyatt’s Comicopera behind it. Also, there’s no Joss Stone in sight.
THE BAD: Rilo Kiley (No. 20) ahead of M.I.A. (No. 24)?! That is just wrong. (Damn hot pants.)
THE WHAAA? Who knew that Kings Of Leon (No. 29) put out an album this year? Anyone?
Paste came out of the gate with its Top 100 Albums Of 2007 list, and it’s topped by The National’s Boxer, with the Arcade Fire (hey, remember them?) and Bruce Springsteen right behind it. (For those of you who were wondering, Radiohead’s In Rainbows came in at No. 11.) The full list is after the jump, but here are a few impressions:
THE GOOD: The top 20 is pretty much full of the usual triple-A suspects (White Stripes, Wilco, Modest Mouse, Band Of Horses, Iron & Wine), but it’s awful nice to see Miranda Lambert’s genuinely thrilling Crazy Ex-Girlfriend get some love at No. 18.
THE BAD: The clustering of Internet-loved darlings near the list’s bottom–particularly the Menomena-Liars-Deerhunter-Dan Deacon-Art Brut run that makes up Nos. 85-81–makes one wonder if this list really needed to be 100 albums long. 2007 wasn’t that good, folks!
THE WHAAA? Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ 100 Days, 100 Nights (No. 45) being bested by the safe-as-milk Norah Jones (No. 44) and the Grey’s Anatomy-approved caterwauler Brandi Carlile (No. 41)? C’mon, Paste–we know you have a target demo, but challenging people can sometimes be fun.
Nielsen SoundScan released its full end-of-year sales report today (it adds year-end stats to the report released last week), and both Listen Up and Coolfer have rundowns of the numbers; overall, 588.2 million albums were sold in 2006, down 4.9% from the 2005 total of 618.9 million. More »
Just when we thought we were finished with our “Best Of 2006” lists, the new issue of Magnet arrived. Speaking of which, do you think Cat Power even know there was a photo shoot going on when she posed for this cover? More »
That map to your right is an illustration of the reach enjoyed by mega-weekly chain New Times Village Voice Media; this week, the network’s music editors have been releasing their end-of-year package across the nation. More »
More “Best of 2006” lists popped up over the weekend, including this round-up from Entertainment Weekly, the magazine that makes you squint to see its tiny little JPEG cover (and that doesn’t put its music selections online): THE GOOD: Two lists–one by music staffers, and one by Chris… More »
This weekend’s New York Times arts section contained all of its year-end best lists, including album and singles round-ups from staff music critics Jon Pareles, Kelefa Sanneh, and Ben Ratliff: THE GOOD: A surprisingly strong showing from Beyonce’s B’Day (Sanneh’s No. 4, Ratliff’s No. More »
