“New York” Sees Rainbows Everywhere It Looks

Taking time to actually cover pop music for once, New York puts forth its “Best Of 2007” as an odd list/rundown hybrid. The whole shebang is topped by Radiohead’s In Rainbows on the album front (apparently, it “had no serious rival this year”! Take that, all you old-model fuddy-duddys!) and Rihanna on the singles chart (because it made “the avant-garde irresistible”). The rest of the list is after the jump, but here are a few other high (and low) lights:

THE GOOD: Finally, someone has addressed the disappointment that was Bjork’s much-anticipated Volta, although I don’t know if it was pop music’s biggest stinker of the year. (The stench created by the industry as a whole was much, much worse, no?) THE BAD: In a year that was marked by the city getting increasingly prettied up by glossy people and glossier buildings, the messy Animal Collective is your “signature New York band,” taking over from the Strokes. Maybe the New York editors didn’t have time to track down whoever does the music for all those new condo developments’ Flash-heavy Web sites? THE WHAAAA? Pick one: Feist as an “art-rock diva”? Lil Wayne as an “open-source rapper”? Or LCD Soundsystem as “geek glam”? I’ll go with the last one, if only because to add insult to injury they were kinda robbed on that whole “signature New York band” thing. (And I’ll avoid the “… but you’re bringing me down” joke, too.)

1. BEST ALBUM: In Rainbows, Radiohead. 2. BEST SINGLE: “Umbrella,” Rihanna. 3. NEW INDIE HYBRID: Geek Glam. 4. BEST TOSSED-OFF ALBUM: American Gangster, Jay-Z. 5. OPEN-SOURCE RAPPER: Lil Wayne. 6. ART-ROCK DIVA: Feist. 7. REPLACEMENT FOR THE STROKES AS SIGNATURE NEW YORK BAND: Animal Collective. 8. BEST DANCE PARTY: Studio B. 9. BEST ONE-MAN BAND: Dan Deacon. 10. BEST REISSUE: Dirty Looks. BEST POP DEBUT: Fort Nightly, White Rabbits. STINKER: Volta, Bjork.

Best In Pop [NYMag]