Idolator

Uncut came along as a more postmodern younger brother to Mojo's starry-eyed '60s fetishism, so it makes sense that its album of the year honors go not to Fleet Foxes, which places second, but an album whose sonic coordinates date a little later: Portishead's Third. Of course, the mag's already awarded a "best album" prize (decided by a panel of mag folk and biz insiders) to Seattle's scruff-folk darlings. But since 2002 or so, Uncut has flown the Americana flag even harder than its competing Britmags, so this victory is at least a little surprising, even if the list proper isn't: The Top 5 is as concentrated an ur-template for lists to come as any.

THE GOOD: Portishead—good choice. And hey, I like the Vampire Weekend and the DBT and the Hold Steady, sometimes a lot.
THE BAD: It's odd. Like most people I've been reading on this topic, I've felt 2008 to be pretty lackluster overall—until I go back and consolidate the stuff I've enjoyed, which is a pretty large amount. But if I wanted to attach a grand overarching narrative to the year, I'd feel pretty bad if it was the one suggested by this Uncut list. So much of it is stuff I'm basically indifferent to: TVOTR, Nick Cave, Goldfrapp, Weller, Hot Chip, MMJ, even that Malkmus record I never listen to. I'm not mad at these acts, but there's not a tremendous amount of impulsive pleasure to be had from this list. It's very boys-and-their-statements. I have a lot of room for that, lord knows, but it's also harder to hear it as something new, and while I realize that as a nostalgia-driven mag Uncut doesn't need to be about anything new, I wish their selections had a little more give to them. As it is, they feel in aggregate like polished woodcuts rather than living, breathing things.
THE WHAAAA?: Does Paul Weller (No. 10) have incriminating photos of most of the British rock press? Just wondering. And isn't it kind of universal that Goldfrapp's album (No. 17) was a giant disappointment? Oh wait, I forgot, this is the one where she started dressing all freak-folk, isn't it? Grrrreat.

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?