Magazine/website/record store BEST OF 2011 end-of-year list pile-up

who is this frank ocean then?

he's one of the more talented Odd Future ppl

I'll say this now: I wish Adele would just fuck off.

YEAH!

Actually, no, I don't mind that she exists, I just wish people outside of Mondeo drivers would stop trying to convince themselves she's supposed to be good.

she has a very nice voice!

she seems nice and inoffensive!

Adele is a weird case. I think she has a fantastic voice but it's clear that she is abusing the hell out of it; every recording of her I've heard has had at least one appearance of serious vocal fray, to the point where my only surprise at her cancelling her tour to have throat surgery is that she made it as long as she did before throwing in the towel. As a result, listing to her singles is this awful seesaw of going "what what a voice"/"yikes that sounds like it hurts, stop that".

isn't that the american idol effect?

everybody wails all the time, mostly for no good reason.

steve perry used to wail, too, but he chose his spots better.

I listened to the Frank Ocean album yesterday. I thought some of the production was interesting, especially considering he supposedly recorded it on a shoestring. That bit where he starts playing a Radiohead song and you think it's going to be used as a sample but his girlfriend tells him to switch it off is kind of funny. The lyrics are good, but I think it's his vocal style that lets him down - there's little dynamic or pitch change and that dogs down something that would be otherwise pretty cool. Also (and I'm absolutely not an expert here) but I've noticed a lot of avant-r'n'b producers ripping off Terius's vocal affectations - Frank does this, so does the Weeknd - and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Adele's making a shitload of money for XL, so maybe that'll go towards financing some riskier stuff?

1. James Ferraro - Far Side Virtual

I'd never even heard of this fellow before but I think I really quite like this

"nice and inoffensive" is absolutely Adele. I figured I'd check some out before dismissing her outright, and I guess the songs are pleasant, but they don't do anything. They just sit there for four minutes doing fuck all. It's soundbite music - sounds great in a snatch on TV or radio and convinces people to buy it, but you're left with just extended versions of those snatches.

isn't that the american idol effect?

Pop singers have been doing that long before "American Idol"; go back and listen to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" for example. And the problem isn't wailing all the time, it's HOW they're wailing.

Also in what universe does "Rolling in the Deep" not sit there doing anything?

i would like to know what kind of shoestring pays for the services of Tricky Stewart and James Fauntleroy

James "Little Lord" Fauntleroy

adele's lack of risk-taking and "inoffensiveness" isn't her problem (and neither is the BORING strawman of the boring square mondeo driver who only wants comforting familiarity)

dog latin you are coming out w/some real clichés right now

It's difficult to get annoyed about Adele really, I don't actually like her voice that much, I don't here very much emotion in it at all really, it's like she sings like that because that's how soul singers are supposed to sound.

I don't here very much emotion in it at all really, it's like she sings like that because that's how soul singers are supposed to sound.

Interestingly, I feel that way about pretty much every Adele song I've heard EXCEPT "Rolling in the Deep"; I feel like she connected with that one.

well, adele isn't really my regular thing, so excuse cliches (although not entirely sure which bits you're exactly referring to here). can't help feeling that way. Is Rolling In The Deep the one that's just piano accompaniment and the same verse/chorus structure all the way through?

Is that Loutallica's highest placing so far?

my (lack of) response to adele is along much the same lines as my (lack of) response to frank ocean and the weeknd. you just don't move me guyzzz and none of you are as interesting as you think you are

"someone like you" is borderline top 10 track imo

I don't mind her voice or arrangements; it's that I don't find her songs memorable.

i'm not sure if adele finds herself that interesting

"rolling in the deep" is a pretty great song - i agree with dan that that's the one time i've felt she could be as special as her hype says she is. it's been way overplayed this year though, kinda turned me off it - BUT this version of it RULES MY LIFE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idaoG74UKzg

(dan especially, watch that!)

Is that Loutallica's highest placing so far?

It's their first placing outside of SE Asia!

LOVE YOU, WIRE

I think I might love "Rolling in the Deep" if Alison Moyet in '85 had sung it.

ken stott gave it a good review in the wire

Is Rolling In The Deep the one that's just piano accompaniment and the same verse/chorus structure all the way through?

That is "Someone Like You", and criticizing a pop song for having "the same verse/chorus structure all the way through" shows a fundamental misunderstanding/misconception of what makes a pop song.

she sings like that because that's how soul singers are supposed to sound

This^^ And it goes with a number of other singers - it's like a really good impression of how a singer ought to sing rather than inhabiting a song with one's own personality, which leaves this uncanny valley effect that's really prominent with Adele. It's like someone sucking their stomach in and over-compensating their posture during a job interview. I'm always left hanging on every note, waiting for her to completely fuck everything up and come out with some wonky braying baritone canard.

Lol good trolling on the part of Wire

VT are probably stocking up on the ltd box so they can punt it on ebay to stupid wire readers

Amazon.com - Best Music of 2011

Top 10 music editors’ picks for best albums of the year
=======================================================
1. Adele, “21”
2. Bon Iver, “Bon Iver”
3. The Decemberists, “The King is Dead”
4. James Blake, “James Blake”
5. The Civil Wars, “Barton Hollow”
6. Cut Copy, “Zonoscope”
7. Cults, “Cults”
8. Little Dragon, “Ritual Union”
9. tUnE-yArDs, “W H O K I L L”
10. Foo Fighters, “Wasting Light”

Top 10 customer MP3 favorites for 2011:
=======================================
1. Lady Gaga, “Born This Way”
2. Adele, “21”
3. Original Broadway Cast, “The Book Of Mormon”
4. Coldplay, “Mylo Xyloto”
5. The Decemberists, “The King Is Dead”
6. Fleet Foxes, “Helplessness Blues”
7. She & Him, “A Very She & Him Christmas”
8. Death Cab for Cutie, “Codes and Keys”
9. The Civil Wars, “Barton Hollow”
10. Bon Iver, “Bon Iver”

gross

I think it was just a typographical error on the part of the Wire - it was meant to read "9. Ilx - Precovers Lulu'

okay wau @ X-Factor "Rolling in the Deep"

smh @ dog latin

yeah that was dope

That is "Someone Like You", and criticizing a pop song for having "the same verse/chorus structure all the way through" shows a fundamental misunderstanding/misconception of what makes a pop song.

― OH NOES, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 16:58 (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Permalink

No, come on. There are fantastic pop songs out there that don't rely on bludgeoning repetition and inertia to get the point across. I found that song infuriating because it was a pleasant idea utterly wasted. There's nothing to come back to - no uplift, no tension, no bridge, no nothing -just the same melody repeated over and over in this really uninspiring way. I call this the Beautiful South effect. You can sing the song in 20 seconds and just paste it back-to-back on itself for four minutes and boom: there's your hit. That's not songwriting - that's coming up with a catchy riff and forgetting to finish the job.

okay wau @ X-Factor "Rolling in the Deep"

misha b was voted out last weekend, having consistently come in the bottom two, because the british public are racist morons. SORRY she just wasn't "likeable" kmt

my favourite thing about misha's "rolling in the deep" might be her chorus following the rap - those low notes, so fierce

xpost not that repetition is a bad thing, I mean one of my favourite songs of the year was King Creosote's "Your Young Voice" which is essentially a one-line tone poem. But this is done very deliberately. There's no meat to that Adele song.

I don't think I've actually heard Rolling In The Deep, so I'll listen to that when I get home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dis1iGn48EE

There's no meat to that Adele song.

gonna let this one pass, i think

anyway i always forget that year end time on ilx drives me up a wall bcuz dog latin comes back and starts saying inane shit

was there much love for blaqkout in that year's non-ILM lists?

― lex pretend, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 11:03 AM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

it had a pretty healthy showing on P&J (#62) and Pitchfork (#25), certainly a larger critical profile than Book of David anyway

I think 'Rolling in the Deep' is a pretty good song, though I get the feeling I might have only heard a remix? I wasn't feeling the X Factor version until the rap, but then I was really impressed with her. I think one thing about X Factor versions is that they aren't really 'songs' but more presentations, right? Because her version doesn't really make any narrative sense at all, but as a presentation of "look, this is what I can do and this is the style I can work with" she's quite compelling.

Is that Amazon list supposed to be the 10 bestselling mp3 albums of the year? How many people bought “A Very She & Him Christmas”???

"Someone Like You" is very droning and monotonous imo, it's really a shame that THAT is the first #1 piano-and-vocals-only ballad in US pop history because it really doesn't do much with those tools