The “AV Club” Is Totally Nerdy For The Arcade Fire
The Onion‘s AV Club launched its best albums of the year list today, and it’s topped by the Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, with the National, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and Band Of Horses bringing up the top five’s rear. The usual-suspect-studded full list is after the jump, but for now, some initial reactions…
THE GOOD: Tegan and Sara’s sharp, spunky The Con (No. 8) is a nice addition to the top 10, which, if I didn’t mention before, is full of the usual suspects. (Let the fighting over Wilco resume!) Also, I think this might be the first Feist-free list I’ve seen yet. THE BAD: Band Of Horses over Kala? Really? THE WHAAAA? So along with each ranking album’s spot on the chart, readers were made privy to the number of points each record received, as well as how each critic broke down his ballot. Critics were allowed to give each album they voted for a maximum of 15 points, and the albums in the Nos. 24 and 25 slots–the Murphy/Mahoney FabricLive36 and Iron & Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog–each received 20 points from two voters. Which illustrates an eternal critics’-poll conundrum, and it’s only accentuated by the fact that 2007 is shaping up to be a pretty lackluster year as far as critical consensus goes: Nos. 21-25 on the list (which also included Grinderman, Bat For Lashes’ Fur And Gold, and Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High) certainly represent more interesting choices than the swath of rock-critic-beloved meh ahead of them, but if they were voted for by two or three critics out of a 19-critic panel (which each of them were), are they really among the “best,” or were they just the most beloved by a select few (with good taste)? I guess this is where Matos’ Enthusiasm 40 comes in.
25. Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog 24. James Murphy & Pat Mahoney, FabricLive 36 23. Fall Out Boy, Infinity On High 22. Bat For Lashes, Fur And Gold 21. Grinderman 20. Rilo Kiley, Under The Blacklight 19. Against Me!, New Wave 18. Ted Leo, Living With The Living 17. Low, Drums And Guns 16. The White Stripes, Icky Thump 15. Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends 14. PJ Harvey, White Chalk 13. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank 12. Jesu, Conqueror 11. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 10. Bloc Party, A Weekend In The City 9. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky 8. Tegan and Sara, The Con 7. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black 6. M.I.A., Kala 5. Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin 4. LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver 3. Radiohead, In Rainbows 2. The National, Boxer 1. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
The best music of 2007 [AV Club]
