i was surprised at frank ocean on the guardian list. i’m kind of perplexed by frank ocean love in general. he is just not very special and he CAN’T SING!!!!!!!!!! is it that he’s “sensitive”? critics : frank ocean :: x factor voters : matt cardle?

― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Thursday, 15 December 2011 08:58 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

Err... You’re not gonna like this, but I don’t think it’s so much to do with his music as the fact his whole angle makes him more saleable to more rock-oriented audiences—i.e. the OFWGKTA association, lyrics about Coachella, how he calls himself a “singer-songwriter” rather than an R’n’B artist (which is what he is, really), sampling Radiohead and the Eagles, the “homegrown” element of the music. It’s R’n’B for hipsters, not popheads and sadly that’s what gets props on non-specialist lists like the Guardian’s.

i kind of knew that but it’s nice to have someone else spell it out so i don’t get “lex whingeing about the same things again” thrown back at me

i’m listening to the goapele album and it’s just so gorgeous, light and crisp and melodies for days and her voice is, like, right up in the sky. and yet critics prefer to hole up in frank ocean’s horrible bedroom

i got sent this the other day. i’ll check it out.

Frank Ocean easily my favourite album of the year. I am not a hipster, but then again I’m also not really a true r’n’b fan either.

Well, that’s the point really. I was using “hipster” in its widest sense. 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 that doesn’t have to pander to rock audiences. And he’s right—there are probably dozens of great r’n’b albums out this year that are better than Frank Ocean. But for the average rock fan, only really dipping their toe into the r’n’b ahem, “ocean”, it’s stuff like The Weeknd/F.O. etc that will act as a gateway to greater things. I think there are now plenty of indie/rock kids out there who are ready and willing to diversify and explore other styles, but for whom diving straight into the deep end of r’n’b is just a little outside their comfort zones. When an artist is presented in the way of Frank Ocean, it doesn’t feel like such a leap and hopefully this will lead to further exploration: “Well I can deal with Frank Ocean, how about The-Dream” and onwards...

Funny you should end on that note cos, mainly thanks to ILX/Lex, I really love The-Dream also. V much liked the new Anthony Hamilton as well. I think that so far I’ve had a much harder time connecting with some of the female led acts he has recommended and I think I’ll try harder on that front next year. Not keen on the Weeknd tho (I’ve only heard the ‘happy house’ one tbf)

Diddy-Dirty Money was my favourite album of last year as well, by far. Not sure if that counts as hip hop or r’n’b. Well both I guess.

I’m no r’n’b exponent either to be honest. I generally try to get as much as I can from as many styles as possible, but I admit I’m one of those people who finds a lot of r’n’b a barrier, so yeah I did like the Frank Ocean album, and admittedly the Weeknd album—but I kind of know that these are a bit boring and probably not the “right” things to listen to. I’m the equivalent of the punk rock kid who only listens to Sum 41 and Green Day I guess. It’s why it’s good to have huge advocates like the Lex around on ILM, because even though his tone can come of as maybe a bit gripey, even scolding, it galvanises people like me into checking out things that don’t necessarily pander to my preconceived values.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

I often feel like my musical tastes would v often make the Lex roll his damn eyes or kiss his teeth, but there is also so much stuff that he broadly approves of that I now unabashedly love thanks to his championing of it.

I really believe that one of the best things about music in 2011 is the fact there are no longer these big tribal barriers between styles, and you will happily see e.g. screamo kids getting into dubstep, or indie kids getting into r’n’b, and that this isn’t even an exception to the rule anymore. If you have access to an iPod and an internet connection, there’s no reason you can’t listen to any style of music, and that’s why it’s largely crossover artists—ones who bridge the gap between pop/rock/dance or commercial/underground: Katy B, Odd Future, Skrillex etc who are making an impression on people. And I know people bitch about many of these—Skrillex not being “proper dubstep” or whatever, but think about how many people are being introduced to dance music via his records and what this means for the future of music. Big tings for the rest of the decade, I guess.

I’m not all that convinced about the concept of gateway records/artists but have no problem with a thing not being a “proper version” of a thing

I suppose it does in a way explain the rapid rise and subsequent fall of certain kinds of artists though—once people either go through a door, or retreat from whence they came, leaving the artist in a limbo area

Yeah, the gateway thing doesn’t really ring true for me either. Especially when a lot of fans of, say, The Weeknd frame their enjoyment of them in terms of their opposition to mainstream R&B

xpost what kinds of artists do you mean?

Yeah, the gateway thing doesn’t really ring true for me either. Especially when a lot of fans of, say, The Weeknd frame their enjoyment of them in terms of their opposition to mainstream R&B

― Number None, Thursday, 15 December 2011 11:37 (12 seconds ago) Bookmark Permalink

Yes, but it’s still getting people out of their comfort zones. Sure a lot of Weeknd fans will say dumb shit like “It’s r’n’b music, but, like, good, y’know?”, but (and here’s hoping) they’ll stop swimming in the kiddie pool after a while and start exploring other things. That’s how tastes evolve—more often than not it’s not about being hit round the head by something that challenges every idea and value you hold about what makes something “good”.

And the people listening to The Weeknd, I’m glad to say, aren’t doing it in an ironic way. It’s not like they’re saying “ooh look at me, I’m listening to that r’n’b nonsense, what a loveable rogue I am”. It’s being treated with reverence most of the time. There was so much posturing and post-modernism going on in the last decade, particularly with the whole eighties revival thing and it’s nice to be getting away from much of that IMO.

I’m not all that convinced about the concept of gateway records/artists but have no problem with a thing not being a “proper version” of a thing

Yeah, as much as it pains me to say this, AW absolutely OTM.

Because I know that I tend to get snobby about ppl getting into, say, BRMC and me being all “that’s not proper dronerock!”—but if someone made the same protest about me previously saying that the great thing about Busted was, that they were bubblegum punk, and utterly *not* a gateway into “proper” (i.e. shit emo) punk.

Like it for what it is, but don’t pretend that you’re getting out of your paddling pool when it comes to comfort zones of Other music.

I dunno, obv this is my perception. I think the difference these days is we now have access to much more music online that it’s really easy to discover stuff via Last.FM, YouTube, Spotify etc. If you’re interested in one thing, it’s likely you’ll come across something else sooner or later. Who’s to say lots of kids didn’t get into Green Day through Busted and then into NOFX and then Black Flag and Minor Threat and Converge?

Metal Hammer Top 50 albums of 2011

50 Trap Them—Darker Handcraft
49 Primus—Green Naugahyde
48 Arabrot—Solar Anus
47 Hammers Of Misfortune—17th Street
46 Cerebral Ballzy—S/T
45 YOB—Atma
44 TessaracT—One
43 Steven Wilson—Grace For Drowning
42 Vallenfyre—A Fragile King
41 Times Of Grace—Hymns Of A Broken Man
40 The Dwarves—The Dwarves Are Born Again
39 Anvil—Juggernaut Of Justice
38 Ken Mode—Venerable
37 Altar Of Plagues—Mammal
36 Blood Ceremony—Living With The Ancients
35 Will Haven—Voir Dire
34 Skeletonwitch—Forever Abomination
33 Wormrot—Dirge
32 Nightwish—Imaginaerum
31 Devin Townsend—Ghost
30 Dream Theater—A Dramatic Turn Of Events
29 Solstafir—Svartir Sandar
28 Foo Fighters—Wasted Light
27 Trivium—In Waves
26 Jane’s Addiction—The Great Escape Artist
25 In Solitude—The World,The Flesh,The Devil
24 The Damned Things—Ironiclast
23 Pentagram—Last Rites
22 Autopsy—Macabre Eternal
21 Steel Panther—Balls Out
20 Motorhead—The World Is Yours
19 Black Stone Cherry—Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea
18 Ancient VVisdom—A Godlike Inferno
17 Primordial—Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand
16 Wolves In The Throne Room—Celestial Lineage
15 Devildriver—Beast
14 Amebix—Sonic Mass
13 The Devil’s Blood—The Thousandfold Epicentre
12 Gentleman’s Pistols—At Her Majesty’s Pleasure
11 Evile—Five Serpents Teeth
10 Graveyard—Nuclear Blast
9 Skindred—Union Black
8 Black Spiders—Sons Of The North
7 Devin Townsend Project—Deconstruction
6 Hell—Human Remains
5 Megadeth—Thirt3en
4 Opeth—Heritage
3 Anthrax—Worship Music
2 Machine Head—Unto The Locust

1 MASTODON—THE HUNTER

Why would it be a ~good~ thing if kids got “into Green Day through Busted and then into NOFX and then Black Flag and Minor Threat and Converge”

That’s just rockist bullshit. Who’s to say that it’s not equally valid if kids got into Backstreet Boys, the Jackson 5 and the Supremes through their bubblegum influences?

It’s not the path that gets you there that’s the wrong thing. It’s the inherent privileging of one over the other that is problematic.

Unlike the Lex, I have no problem with people liking indie-flavoured R&B, so long as they don’t pretend that Indie is somehow inherently *better* than R&B. It just isn’t.

I think you’re putting quite a lot of words in my mouth here TBH. Busted isn’t even part of this, as they’re not current to the trend I’m talking about.

i am really happy that people are getting into any music at all through me!

Especially when a lot of fans of, say, The Weeknd frame their enjoyment of them in terms of their opposition to mainstream R&B

yeah this is the crux of it for me—or not just mainstream r&b, just other r&b, including the traditional stuff and the genuinely weird sideways alt-stuff.

also i think it’s perfectly legit to call out grown-ass professional critics who privilege indie-r&b and either dismiss or don’t bother with much else (as opposed to just casual listeners, who—sigh—can listen to what they want, as long as they don’t make stupid arguments for it to me à la the above)

it does make me SERIOUSLY smh to see EOY write-ups of frank ocean and the weeknd framed in terms of “omg, you’ll never guess, this was a free download on the internet and yet we paid attention” because none of those people paid attention to dawn richard or nikkiya DID THEY

everything’s a free download on the internet nowadays

dog latin how many of the metal hammer list have you heard?

im surprised uncle acid and the deadbeats missed out on both Kerrang and Metal Hammers lists

xxp ha yeah I get the impression that a lot of writers are still getting to grips w/ the idea of *normal listeners* being able to lawfully acquire albums for free

JR: none of ’em. woops! i was interested to hear the arabrot album though. oh i think i’ve scraped the surface of the opeth record. seriously, i only listen to a minutiae of the amount of metal i used to—this is mostly due to who i live with and who i hang out with these days as opposed to anything else.

dog latin is getting old!

(This is where JR and I have ~differences~ but I am really uncomfortable with the way that “Metal” has been raised to that position of automatic rockist privilege that “Indie” used to occupy 20 years ago, now that “Indie” has become completely mainstream. But this is challops and I know it.)

also i think it’s perfectly legit to call out grown-ass professional critics who privilege indie-r&b and either dismiss or don’t bother with much else (as opposed to just casual listeners, who—sigh—can listen to what they want, as long as they don’t make stupid arguments for it to me à la the above)

― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Thursday, 15 December 2011 12:02 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

This isn’t particular to r’n’b either, but it’s just the way things are for a lot of genres outside the general pop/rock domain. For some reason Mastodon became the go-to metal band for non-metal critics to write about a while back. They’re a good band, but are they THE BEST? Probably not. 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.

dog latin is getting old!

― Minga Frump (Jimmy Riddle), Thursday, 15 December 2011 12:14 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

Yes, yes. Also to do with getting to listen to music for a maximum of 2–3 hours a day on weekdays, and wanting to cram as much in as possible. And having a girlfriend who’s studying, neighbours and paper-thin-walls etc. I hate listening to metal quietly, so it ends up being placed on the back burner. A real shame!

I know metal encompasses a variety of styles but interesting that it gets lists of 50 and over from its dedicated mags. Anything else with the same monolithic label (hip-hop, country, dance/electronic, even ‘indie’ lol) had lists that extensive from dedicated channels (may be examples upthread that i missed)?

This is where JR and I have ~differences~ but I am really uncomfortable with the way that “Metal” has been raised to that position of automatic rockist privilege that “Indie” used to occupy 20 years ago, now that “Indie” has become completely mainstream.

Huh?

I like Liturgy a lot and have listened to as much black metal this year as almost anything else but I don’t think you could get me to actually care about black metal ‘culture’ being ‘belittled’ if you put a gun to my head

Yes, it’s absolute bollocks isn’t it? If the music’s good, why complain?

also Weakling are kind of indie-friendly as the genre goes, P4K would prolly write about them if they reformed tomorrow tbh

xp it’s not so much that as ‘what a disaster for a bunch of mostly white male self-proclaimed misanthropes’

Well, I think it’s also because BM fans don’t see why Liturgy should be given the upper hand just because they dress in casual clothes. I can imagine there’s also a sentiment of tokenism here, Liturgy appealing to “in it for a minute” fans, or whatever.

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

:-) love that song

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.

That’s cool. He used to write for Kerrang didn’t he? and now Metal Hammer

btw as an aside doran, as you know I’ve been really critical of Metal Hammer in the past, but ive bought the last 2 issues (yeah im a sucker for lists) but they are covering some of the bands I like and its not bad, even if really expensive £4.75!!!! It’s not as good as Terrorizer or ZT or Rock-A-Rolla for me but might pick it up again if there’s someone i really like in it. Enjoyed the Subterranea section, wish the whole mag was like it though! and again it’s nice to read a magazine with loads of reviews.

also it’s first time since 2008 that hawtin/villalobos haven’t taken the top 2 places of the RA DJ chart

*sigh*

To all the rockist complainers why don’t you just accept that rock music is creatively dead and The Guardian writers are acknowledging that also proving they are not luddite old farts stuck in the past of rocks history like the great majority of posters here.

The only way this list could be ruined would be if a metal album was number 1. And I’d hope Guardian writers would have more taste than liking the whitest anti-minorities music of all time. Funny how black metal is played and listened to by exclusively white men. Metal is very much a whites only club so all of you whinging that there is no Mastodong, Wolves In The Bathroom or Shiturgy should go read kerrap or terrorizer with the other spotty oiks in their midlands estates.

I just wish Katy B or Beyonce had been number 1 to see all your collective heads explode.

if that guy is typical of the commentors on the site then fuck them

i might use wolves in the bathroom as a d/n though

Fair enough about ‘lady gag’. Im not trying to be hipster. i just find her whole persona so empty and her songs more-so. I think for reading articles linked under culture in one of the most popular newspapers in the world we can do better.

I try to read this site so maybe i can find something inspiring that relates to my life, but with gaga its just insipid i find..there is nothing there.

Btw i dont hate pop music. Blondie are my favorite band, i just cant stand meaningless bland over-hyped pop, which i find gaga to be.

‘all songs considered’ listeners taking a stand

1. Bon Iver: Bon Iver

2. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

3. Adele: 21

4. The Decemberists: The King Is Dead

5. Radiohead: The King Of Limbs

6. Black Keys: El Camino

7. Wilco: The Whole Love

8. Florence + the Machine: Ceremonials

9. Beirut: The Rip Tide

10. Foster The People: Torches

11. M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

12. Feist: Metals

13. Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean

14. tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l

15. St. Vincent: Strange Mercy

16. The Civil Wars: Barton Hollow

17. Death Cab for Cutie: Codes And Keys

18. Tom Waits: Bad As Me

19. My Morning Jacket: Circuital

20. Bright Eyes: The People’s Key

21. Jay-Z and Kanye West: Watch The Throne

22. Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto

23. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

24. Cults: Cults

25. James Blake: James Blake

Mastodong, Wolves In The Bathroom or Shiturgy

quite funneh actually.