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

Then you've got Liturgy - a black metal band who dress as hipsters - and as you can imagine they have SCORN poured over them by so-called "true" black metal types who see them as an insult to their traditions. But is it bad that Liturgy (who I haven't heard yet, but understand are pretty good) get reviewed in Pitchfork, but not Weakling? I wouldn't say it's fair but if it means indie kids might be tempted to check out a bit of metal for a change, then I'm all for it.

yeah Liturgy are scorned by some for his 'essays' and youtube videos.
Weakling probably preceded pitchfork hence no coverage.

I'm so out of touch...

you should hang out in metal threads then
and get a pair of headphones

NY resolution IMO

Okay, Katy B is no 2 in the Guardian list and presumably PJ Harvey is no 1.

is that predictable for the guardian?

I suggest we stop thinking of genres and concentrate on artists instead. Questions of taxonomy are impossible to answer. Lots of listeners don't consider Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift country. Artists shape genres, not the other way around.

Many years ago, knowing little about traditional R&B other than what I heard on the radio, I bought a Luther Vandross comp -- a perfect gateway. Then I bought artists similar to Vandross. Soon whatever I considered "R&B" sounded accessible -- I "got it," so to speak.

My favorite R&B album of the year: Marsha Ambrosius' Late Nights & Early Mornings. Seek it out!

is that predictable for the guardian?

I don't know, but it's a way less boring result than it could have been.

KATY B!

it was predictable for me but that's cuz i knew who else was voting and what their tastes were (which is why i was certain that beyoncé would be top 10, too). i imagine it is not so predictable to the beloved comments box massive

*gets popcorn out*

This list has just lost its last shred of credibility.

Poor show all round for people whose taste in music is meant to be at professional levels.

Hang your head in shame, Guardian Music.

haha

just to post in character, did any metal make the list? A token album even? Mastodon?

The Lex is obviously truly invested in r'n'b and gets frustrated with critics fawning over this spruced up, watered down, crossover stuff when in his experience there's much better stuff out there

framing in the argument in this way cracks me up since there are a LOT of people who would characterize the kind of R&B that lex stumps for as spruced up, watered down, crossover stuff. that's kind of why i shy away from these "REAL R&B" convos because i'm used to being on the other end of those kinds of debates about soul music traditions and purism.

that said, R&B is having a serious identity crisis these days, critically as well as commercially and creatively, but i feel like that also makes it an exciting time with a lot of music that's great and/or worth talking about.

i dont read the guardian so i dont know what the 'comments box massive' listen to generally, but i can make a guess at radiohead,gapdyxx,fleet foxes, bon iver etc?

43 Machine Head – Unto the Locust

^ metal on the Guardian list

i didn't expect machine head to be the token metal act! I've not heard that album but it's popping up a lot. I suppose I should give it a listen. I did like a couple of their older albums

But... but... this is top of the pops fodder. This is uninteresting, unintelligent, plain boring pop music. There is really only one album issued this year that you think is better than this? Only one?

:D

pop music is boring?

Innerspeaker

15 December 2011 1:25PM
Response to rupert303, 15 December 2011 1:17PM

Hang your head in shame, Guardian Music.

Both Katy B and Beyonce are in the Hipster's Bible's (Pitchfork's) Top 30 albums of the year.

You know, just saying.....

Just sayin'

Yes nothing in the guardian list should appear in any other list.

lex do you know how many people voted?

No! Considering 2011 was one of the best years for music in years (much better than the last two anyway) this list is your worst ever...

Where on earth are Girls, Yuck and WU LYF?

where indeed!

HA HA.

(I say this not having heard the Katy B album. But I do know that Girls and Wu Lyf are shitty shit shit. Not heard Yuck either.)

lex do you know how many people voted?

not exactly sure how many, all the regular contributors i'd guess

the Katy B has been the perfect December record.

Pretty sure as part of Guardian Music's application process you have to submit a 500 word essay on how you would pleasure Thom Yorke.

Wait, remind me, why don't I write for the Grauniad agane>?

i've never heard wu lyf, but i do know that yuck and girls are among the worst music i've heard, like, ever

funnily enough I thought of you K when I read that

I mean jesus! Fucked Up release an absoutely jaw dropping call to arms concept album loaded with fight and fire and that doesnt get in the top 50 but you see fit to give this school disco faux-chav pop drivel NUMBER 2!

It fucking is a number 2 but not of the 'record of the year' kind.

whiney playing brit again?

See if Mastodon were to be #1. The comments box would explode with metal stereotyping wouldnt it?

Guardian missing the chance to troll there.

the Katy B has been the perfect December record.

i was going to say this about the andy stott or demdike stares discs, if and when it finally gets cold around here.

The Andy Stott is now out in a 2CD version with bonus tracks (which are of a similar level of quality to the rest)

i dont read the guardian so i dont know what the 'comments box massive' listen to generally, but i can make a guess at radiohead,gapdyxx,fleet foxes, bon iver etc?

― Minga Frump (Jimmy Riddle), Thursday, 15 December 2011 13:25 (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

the thing is that most ppl who comment there literally just do so to complain about stuff, so for the most part who the fuck even knows

to an extent that's because there's no real sense of community and personal interaction that you get on an actual messageboard, but I think another important factor is that they're the worst group of people on the face of the planet

I used to love pop music, and the pop music I used to love back then I still love now. But this is rubbish, and all of the other items on your list are rubbish. The rot set in about 1987 and we've had a terminal decline ever since that leaves us with just this drek to listen to. And you know it too: you can pretend all you like, but you feel the vacuum deep inside.

:D

Terrible, awful pop nonsense - and for the record I really do like good pop music. Ting Tings was a superb pop album. This is not.

^this is the best so far I think

Innerspeaker
15 December 2011 1:25PM
Response to rupert303, 15 December 2011 1:17PM

Hang your head in shame, Guardian Music.

Both Katy B and Beyonce are in the Hipster's Bible's (Pitchfork's) Top 30 albums of the year.

You know, just saying....

duly noted, person named after Tame Impala album

also: wtf @ Machine Head making one of the best metal albums of the year? They were around when I was in high school I think...?

the thing is that most ppl who comment there literally just do so to complain about stuff, so for the most part who the fuck even knows

to an extent that's because there's no real sense of community and personal interaction that you get on an actual messageboard, but I think another important factor is that they're the worst group of people on the face of the planet

― Extreme Lifestyle,

so if pj harvey wins everyone will moan its predictable safe boring ,a nadir for music journalism and rockist and if its excluded they will instead complain the guardian is out of touch, a terrible shame on music journalism, a nadir for the guardian and poppist ?

Wonder if the daily mail or the sun publish a best albums list. I would imagine the comments there would be far worse.

also: wtf @ Machine Head making one of the best metal albums of the year? They were around when I was in high school I think...?

is there any writers there who cover metal or did they just pick it out of nowhere?
Anyway having not heard it i cant comment on it, but I doubt it's one of the best but maybe it has crossover potential? Their 3rd album had some terrific pop moments on it.

Neu75

15 December 2011 2:47PM

Pop lists tend to be a bit homogenus these days.

Take 1981 for example for the #1's:

NME - Nightclubbing - Grace Jones
Melody Maker - Penthouse And Pavement - Heaven 17
Sounds - Dare - Human League

No doubt PJ Harvey's album is good but where's the variety or are the media class that decides these things are all of a similar mindset?

lex youre a part of the guardian mindset!

Heaven 17 and Human League? My god, how diverse!

lol

lex is totally right though about getting the popcorn out for the comments section. I think whoever said they dont even know why they are arguing or what about is totally right

really really fuck these people who are voting the clams casino instrumental versions of 'i'm god' and 'motivation' over the lil b vocal versions. i know lil b isn't always great but he absolutely owns those two tracks :'(

and "I'm God" is nearly two years old at this point

Yeah! Fuck all these guys who aren't voting for something even its fans admit is patchy as fuck!

Machine Head will be Dom Lawson's number one I guess. Good to see him writing for the Graun. About time they had a dedicated metal writer. (Although they did have some sterling work done by sub Jamie Thomson.)

i've listened to so little of these lists apart from the rap/r&b. even all the electronic music listed i've mostly never heard of and i've probably been out clubbing more / listened to more house music than ever before. even that RA albums list is looking like fact-music to me. hopefully their singles list will be better.

and "I'm God" is nearly two years old at this point

the instrumental version appears on one of the lists upthread

Fuck all these guys who aren't voting for something even its fans admit is patchy as fuck!

i didn't say those songs were patchy as fuck, i'm saying they are classics.

I was agreeing with you tpp

ah sorry - having a bit of a bad day