Best Albums of 2011 - The Lists Begin

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So, the two albums that I've seen pop up on a lot of these lists that I haven't heard yet but that I really think I need to hear are:

Yuck
Wild Flag

I can't speak to Yuck, but Wild Flag is a great, tight album. I think that you'll like it - just four women rocking out for some 40 minutes.

Also, I'm not sure where the second Bon Iver comes from in the title. On the spine of the CD, it just says "Bon Iver, Bon Iver," which I took to mean artist and title. They just happen to be the same.
 
Also, I can't agree with Mofo about Nine Types of Light trumping Dear Science. The latter is one of the more successful genre-hopping exercises that I've ever heard. You've got everything from funk to adult-contemporary balladeering on there.
 
Looks like "Midnight City" is Pitchfork's song of the year. They just updated their Spotify Playlist with the selections that would make up 50-1 on their Songs of 2011 list. It's first. Great tune. "Holocene" (and potential Grammy Record of the Year) in second, EMA's "California" (my favorite of the year) in third.
 
And it's now official. M83 have to be the front-runners for Pitchfork's Album of the Year in my mind with Bon Iver running a close second. I give M83 the edge since they considered it arguably their best album, had a great score, and electronic (and hip hop) albums always do better in the year end lists since certain reviewers on the site are heavily into those genres (hence how I predicted Silent Shout with ease back in 2006).

Pitchfork Top 10 Tracks of 2011
 
Phew. Any "Top songs of 2011" list without "Niggas In Paris" is a bad list. And for a second there when I saw "Otis" rated in the Top 50, I thought it would be their highest-ranked song off of Watch the Throne. Glad to see "Paris" in there at #12. It would definitely be in my Top 5 if I made a list. Ball so hard.
 
I'm kind of glad "Rolling In The Deep" made it into the list. As irritating as it is to hear that song every five seconds, I pretend that the song's title is a euphemism for having sex with a fat chick. Adele is pissed because the guy tricked her into a one night stand. "You had my heart and soul, and played it to the beat." :up:

Ok, maybe it should be #1.
 
If that Gucci Gucci song is the 48th best the year had to offer, then it was a horrendous year for music.

I cannot for life of me understand why people get so shitty about Otis' lyrics. Braggadocio has been a part of hip-hop forever. Why the fuck should Hov and Ye have to write songs about the 99% when I can listen to them gleefully rap about how many Benzes they own? What's the fucking problem?

I'm kind of glad "Rolling In The Deep" made it into the list. As irritating as it is to hear that song every five seconds, I pretend that the song's title is a euphemism for having sex with a fat chick. Adele is pissed because the guy tricked her into a one night stand. "You had my heart and soul, and played it to the beat." :up:

Ok, maybe it should be #1.

:lol::up:

Phew. Any "Top songs of 2011" list without "Niggas In Paris" is a bad list. And for a second there when I saw "Otis" rated in the Top 50, I thought it would be their highest-ranked song off of Watch the Throne. Glad to see "Paris" in there at #12. It would definitely be in my Top 5 if I made a list. Ball so hard.

:up:
 
And it's now official. M83 have to be the front-runners for Pitchfork's Album of the Year in my mind with Bon Iver running a close second. I give M83 the edge since they considered it arguably their best album, had a great score, and electronic (and hip hop) albums always do better in the year end lists since certain reviewers on the site are heavily into those genres (hence how I predicted Silent Shout with ease back in 2006).

Pitchfork Top 10 Tracks of 2011

Bon Iver got 9.5. Hurry Up 9.1.
 
I'm not usually one to complain about these lists, but how in the hell did "Super Bass" get to number four? Last year, Pitchfork was applauding Minaj as the savior of gangsta rap, and then they turn around and acclaim a piece of insipid, paint-by-numbers FM pop-lite as the fourth best song of the year?
 
Silent Shout got like an 8.6 or something in 2006, and still got the #1 spot.

Exactly. I knew all about Bon Iver's high score and if you go to albumoftheyear.org, you can get a list of most of P-fork's (and other publications') reviews from the year. I think the M83 one is in close enough range to pass up Bon Iver. Like I said, electronic and rap music always do better in the year-end lists than they do in the initial reviews/coverage of said albums. It's just one of those things where people that are heavily into either of those two genres are usually into it at an expense of everything else. If anything, it's probably not so much that they're overrating such albums in their year-end lists, but that they're ignoring some of the ones that fit the obvious indie rock template.
 
What's with Wilco always showing up on these lists (and high, mind you)? I have not heard the last two Wilco albums. Should I bother?
 
After two kinda lame albums, Whole Love is their best since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot IMO. Really brings together their best qualities, and the songs are performed with real intensity compared to the last couple. The acclaim is totally deserved.
 
The last Wilco album was unmemorable. The new one is fantastic.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Whole Love, and I am (was) far from a Wilco fanatic.

After two kinda lame albums, Whole Love is their best since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot IMO. Really brings together their best qualities, and the songs are performed with real intensity compared to the last couple. The acclaim is totally deserved.

Agreed. Easily in my top 5 of the year.

Yes. Except I'd say best since A Ghost is Born.
 
Re: the Pitchfork list...one day I'm going to make it to the end of that Cass McCombs song. :reject:
 
joyfulgirl said:
Yes. Except I'd say best since A Ghost is Born.

See, I don't think A Ghost is Born is a great "album." It has an excellent first half, but the second half shits the bed by completely losing its grasp on the atmosphere the first half established (not to mention that 15 minutes of nothing). There is no weak portion of The Whole Love, except maybe Capitol City/Standing O. Maybe.

Really dug the one Cass McCombs album I heard.
 
See, I don't think A Ghost is Born is a great "album." It has an excellent first half, but the second half shits the bed by completely losing its grasp on the atmosphere the first half established (not to mention that 15 minutes of nothing).

While I actually agree with you, I have a sentimental connection to AGIB, and what was going on in my life at the time, the live shows, etc., that color my opinion. I really do love The Whole Love, but my affection for the band and their music just isn't what it used to be so I don't have the passion for the music that I did up to and including AGIB. So, it's more an emotional response than anything else. But you're right, The Whole Love is probably the better record though for me the high points on AGIB are better.
 
I gotta say, I think the FORK! setting up their own Spotify list with all the songs from their Top 100 is a really cool idea. I'll bet a bunch of other sites jump on that train, and I've got the list set up right now and am going to listen to some of the tracks that I hadn't yet heard.

Before today, I'd probably heard only around 25 of their top 100.
 
joyfulgirl said:
While I actually agree with you, I have a sentimental connection to AGIB, and what was going on in my life at the time, the live shows, etc., that color my opinion. I really do love The Whole Love, but my affection for the band and their music just isn't what it used to be so I don't have the passion for the music that I did up to and including AGIB. So, it's more an emotional response than anything else. But you're right, The Whole Love is probably the better record though for me the high points on AGIB are better.

I'll also agree that AGIB's high points are better. I don't know what it is with Wilco and album openers, but At Least That's What You Said might actually be their best, even better than Misunderstood, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Art of Almost, etc. Then there's Handshake Drugs, and Muzzle of Bees and Wishful Thinking and yeah, the list goes on. I just have a thing about the more upbeat songs on that album.
 
Is it strange that I like Yankee Hotel least of the Wilco albums that I have heard (Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel, and The Whole Love)?

This would seem to challenge the oft-repeated criticism of our dear Cobbler, as I listened to the most-acclaimed album first and was turned off to the band for years as a result.
 
I'm not usually one to complain about these lists, but how in the hell did "Super Bass" get to number four? Last year, Pitchfork was applauding Minaj as the savior of gangsta rap, and then they turn around and acclaim a piece of insipid, paint-by-numbers FM pop-lite as the fourth best song of the year?

I don't know, but they mentioned Taylor in the write-up so I'm good to go.
 
iron yuppie said:
I'm not usually one to complain about these lists, but how in the hell did "Super Bass" get to number four? Last year, Pitchfork was applauding Minaj as the savior of gangsta rap, and then they turn around and acclaim a piece of insipid, paint-by-numbers FM pop-lite as the fourth best song of the year?

I see your point, but holy fuck is it a catchy song.
 
iron yuppie said:
Is it strange that I like Yankee Hotel least of the Wilco albums that I have heard (Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel, and The Whole Love)?

This would seem to challenge the oft-repeated criticism of our dear Cobbler, as I listened to the most-acclaimed album first and was turned off to the band for years as a result.

Laz's boy Christgau doesn't care for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot either. I think y'all are crazy, but I can understand that YHF may seem rather tame after all the hype. It's just a tremendously well-crafted and sequenced record, not so much the mindfuck everybody made it out to be.
 
cool about Spotify. is it possible to find these playlists on the mobile version as well?
 
I just have a thing about the more upbeat songs on that album.

You mean you don't like the upbeat songs? In general, Summerteeth excepted, I am not wild about a lot of their upbeat songs.

Is it strange that I like Yankee Hotel least of the Wilco albums that I have heard (Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel, and The Whole Love)?

This would seem to challenge the oft-repeated criticism of our dear Cobbler, as I listened to the most-acclaimed album first and was turned off to the band for years as a result.

People seem to either love YHF or hate it. I'm in the love camp and the hate camp used to really disturb me. Thankfully, I am long over that. Honestly it doesn't seem all that amazing to me now but when it first came out it blew me away. And I still love those songs probably more than any of their stuff but I can totally understand why you prefer their other records.

And yes, LM, Wilco openers are consistently great - amazingly so.
 
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