Ten years is an unrealistic time to reassess pop culture artefacts imo, as this is when they're at a nadir in fashionability/popularity. There's a case to be made for every album on this list as being irrelevant. What'll be more interesting will be looking at this in another ten years' time and seeing which of these is being excavated by young shavers and which have been completely forgotten about.
I only bought and owned Arular, the Streets and Arcade Fire from this list. Enjoyed them all but I can't stand the majority of AF's stuff that came after, Arular was nice while it lasted and yet I cooled on MIA for subsequent releases, while I was only saying the other day it was high time I revisited AGDCFF and I've goit good nostalgic associations with it. Plus it'll annoy Lex if I vote for it, so that.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:30 (nine years ago) link
Ten years is an unrealistic time to reassess pop culture artefacts imo, as this is when they're at a nadir in fashionability/popularity.
At first glance, I thought this was a hackneyed notion but maybe theres some truth to it. Didnt FF release an album last year and no-one cared...same cant be said for Arcade Fire though, they're still pretty popular.
Dizzee easily the best here. MIA album is great too. I dunno if that Streets album has stood up, I got tired of it after a while. I will still rep for 'original pirate material' though.
― tayto fan (Michael B), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:38 (nine years ago) link
Arular without much deliberation.
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:46 (nine years ago) link
Few albums have left me feeling more burned/what-the-fucking-fuck-are-my-so-called-peers-thinking? than the M.I.A. and Dizzee Rascal discs. (I actually bought them both!) Probably gonna vote Coldplay here. Franz Ferdinand's debut was good, but their third album is the best one.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:50 (nine years ago) link
Funeral holds up better than Reflektor and Reflektor was only released a year and a half ago.
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:52 (nine years ago) link
Would be interesting to make a list of albums that actually did stand the test of time from that era, cause the only ones that really seemed to hit on in this list are Dizzee, Arcade Fire and MIA.
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:54 (nine years ago) link
kanye's "college dropout"?
― tayto fan (Michael B), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:55 (nine years ago) link
strokes "room on fire"
Bright Eyes hype most mystifying, at least MIA and Dizzee sounded new and different at the time.
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 2 March 2015 13:56 (nine years ago) link
I still listen to Electric Version regularly and I haven't even bought any other NP albums since then.
― i'm just a nose hair (how's life), Monday, 2 March 2015 13:59 (nine years ago) link
why so pessimistc y'all? pop has won, the enemy vanquished etc.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:05 (nine years ago) link
The first two Mars Volta albums (2003, 2005) hold up quite well.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:05 (nine years ago) link
I don't know if I agree with this either: <i>this is when they're at a nadir in fashionability/popularity</i>.Personally, I may be sick to death of AF, but there are a gazillion bands still trying to bottle that record.
― campreverb, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:06 (nine years ago) link
Postal Service? Kish Kash? First Yeah Yeah Yeahs album?
― Tove Lo Tove You Baby (jaymc), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:08 (nine years ago) link
The nadir is probably closer to 15 years on average, but the overall theory is pretty true imo. It's not like the bazillion current Arcade Fire wannabes are "fashionable" per se. Xp
― some dude, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:10 (nine years ago) link
Dizzee in a walk
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:22 (nine years ago) link
voted Blueberry Boat
― vacuum head tree disease (imago), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:23 (nine years ago) link
I think part of the reason the Electric Version has come unscathed is that it's reasonably solid sophomore effort that came between two albums that have probably gotten a lot more acclaim, so we never really got burnt out by it too much.
― MarkoP, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:24 (nine years ago) link
I don't know if I agree with this either: <i>this is when they're at a nadir in fashionability/popularity</i>.Personally, I may be sick to death of AF, but there are a gazillion bands still trying to bottle that record.― campreverb, Monday, March 2, 2015 2:06 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― campreverb, Monday, March 2, 2015 2:06 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Sort of, sure, it's had lasting influence on a few dull-as-fuck chamber pop acts. But on the whole, 2005 hasn't been away long enough for people to get properly nostalgic about. A lot of hot mid-2000s trends and cultural signifiers have only just finished being fully integrated into majority culture, getting co-opted by mainstream music artists and TV ads etc... It's hard to objectively reassess a genre like freakfolk for example, which in 2005 meant Devendra Banhardt or Animal Collective, but soon begat Bon Ivor and Fleet Foxes who in turn begat insufferable indie-folk ukelele couples being used in banking commercials.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:25 (nine years ago) link
Similarly, unless you were a Baile Funk aficionado, Arular sounded very fresh when it first came out. But in the context of the last ten years - the pervasiveness of Diplo collabs, Azealia Banks, Shamir, the dance-ification of mainstream hip-hop, EDM, dubstep and the popularity of more exotic dance rhythms from afro beats to footwork etc - make it seem much less remarkable.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:35 (nine years ago) link
doesnt that make it more remarkable? not so much that it was overshadowed by these trends but that it influenced/spawned them.
― tayto fan (Michael B), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:41 (nine years ago) link
Electric Version, easy.
And 2005 albums specifically that sound just as fresh as they did ten years ago (how was this ten years ago?):
Jackson & His Computer Band - S/TKanye West - Late RegistrationMary Timony - Ex HexPaavoharju - Yhä hämärääOut Hud - Let Us Never Speak Of It AgainHowling Hex - All-Night FoxGiant Drag - Hearts and UnicornsNew Pornographers - Twin CinemaDeerhoof - The Runners Four
― Ad Strawmanem (Old Lunch), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:45 (nine years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:51 (nine years ago) link
Michael B, i think a lot of the time, you have to go away to come back. Arular is harder to enjoy in 2015 because it is competing with a whole decade of music the way for which likely had some hand in paving. But in twenty years time I can see more people looking back and appreciating it on the level you're talking about, as well as for nostalgic reasons.
I spent a lot of time in charity shops this weekend, and there's a reason nearly all the CDs and a whole heap of the clothes seemed to date from roughly ten years ago. Anything half-decent from 20 years has become hot property and snapped up by vintage hunters and collectors.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:57 (nine years ago) link
IMO
1-5 years after release: newish5-10: the uncanny valley of pop where you're neither new or old (think hair metal in mid 90s)10-15: nostalgia can begin (think when spin put axl on the cover in the late 90s)15-20: somebody if not everybody misses u (rocklahoma)
So we're at the cusp where some of this still seems wack but soon it will all be sweet to reflect on
― da croupier, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:58 (nine years ago) link
^ this
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2015 15:02 (nine years ago) link
like, i couldn't imagine wanting to have a conversation about, or even really listen to, any dubstep in 2015, but i could imagine a full-blown revival in maybe just a few years time.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2015 15:05 (nine years ago) link
2003/2004/2005 surely the years that spawned a shitload of 80s synth revivalists. what records from that period are still perceived as relevant anyway? goldfrapp's black cherry? cut copy's bright like neon love? hot chip's coming on strong? chromeo's she's in control?
― cock chirea, Monday, 2 March 2015 15:08 (nine years ago) link
if green day plays "american idiot" the woos will be there, if they play "basket case" the woos will REALLY be there, but if they play "know your enemy" the woos are a little tempered
― da croupier, Monday, 2 March 2015 15:11 (nine years ago) link
Arular but I love More Adventurous as well
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 2 March 2015 15:14 (nine years ago) link
i think funeral will be the most listened to one of these in 20 more years if that's what we're voting on
― ciderpress, Monday, 2 March 2015 15:21 (nine years ago) link
it's probably my favorite here too, let's be real
― ciderpress, Monday, 2 March 2015 15:22 (nine years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 7 March 2015 00:01 (nine years ago) link
dizzee
― mattresslessness, Saturday, 7 March 2015 00:33 (nine years ago) link
where is turn on the bright lights
― flappy bird (spazzmatazz), Saturday, 7 March 2015 02:47 (nine years ago) link
i vote no confidence
― five six and (man alive), Saturday, 7 March 2015 02:54 (nine years ago) link
coldplay is the one people are still going to be playing in the future tho, sry
― five six and (man alive), Saturday, 7 March 2015 02:55 (nine years ago) link
The Arcade Fires
― nose, Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:04 (nine years ago) link
lol omg this list
i am actually voting for the coldplay album, it is my favorite of theirs by many miles and was in some ways a very important record to me
― dyl, Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:17 (nine years ago) link
Agree that Coldplay will probably be the "stands the test of time" album out of this bunch, with M.I.A. and Arcade Fire being the only ones to really compete.
Franz Ferdinand keeps on existing and I always find that charming and/or surprising. Bless their hearts.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:24 (nine years ago) link
* I am American. I acknowledge that Dizzee will probably endure longer in the UK than it ever will on this side of the ocean. It could also be lumped in with my M.I.A. and Arcade Fire runners-up grouping above.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:28 (nine years ago) link
Coldplay
― deej loaf (D-40), Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:35 (nine years ago) link
Have the people who are knocking this list heard that Rilo Kiley record? If so, fine, but if you haven't, it's fantastic.
― That shit right there is precedented. (cryptosicko), Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:36 (nine years ago) link
Rilo Kiley don't inspire much piss & vinegar out of me anymore, but in the early 00s I was a notorious hater.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:41 (nine years ago) link
Basically, Barsuk records was a one-stop shop for all things terrible.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 7 March 2015 03:42 (nine years ago) link
Electric Version. First song
― flappy bird (spazzmatazz), Saturday, 7 March 2015 04:13 (nine years ago) link
diz and MIA
― brosario nawson (m bison), Saturday, 7 March 2015 04:22 (nine years ago) link
No winehouse no credibility
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 7 March 2015 04:50 (nine years ago) link
Funeral should win in a landslide despite the ILM backlash.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 7 March 2015 05:32 (nine years ago) link
xp Back to Black wasn't out yet when this list was assembled, and don't try to tell me you're talking about Frank.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 7 March 2015 05:35 (nine years ago) link
imo the great enduring coldplay record is viva la vida tho
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:20 (nine years ago) link
only the Pet Shop Boys version of that song is worth the listen.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:21 (nine years ago) link
i prefer Viva La Vida as an album too but Rush O' Blood is definitely their big canonical blockbuster
― some dude, Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:24 (nine years ago) link
extremely confused by all the coldplay love in here
― flappy bird (spazzmatazz), Saturday, March 7, 2015 1:56 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
to clarify my mild affection for Coldplay itt is being expressed out of extreme indifference to all the other options
― some dude, Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:25 (nine years ago) link
it really is kinda weird to be saying "lol these albums don't stand the test of time!!" when I did think we'd generally agreed that "the test of time" is some rockist horseshit
― The Complainte of Ray Tabano, Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:30 (nine years ago) link
the test of time is some rockist horseshit
regardless i listened to lifted on repeat when i was 16 and doubt i could make it through a single listen now
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:32 (nine years ago) link
I'VE BEEN SENT TO MY ROOM I'VE BEEN SAT IN A CHAIR
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:35 (nine years ago) link
so i guess it didn't survive a shift in my tastes, which makes me feel disenchanted toward it bc most things do
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:40 (nine years ago) link
such a depressingly narrow and tepid selection. over the same four-year period, we also got:
William Basinski - The Disintegration LoopsClipse - Lord Willin'Orchestra Baobab - Specialist in All StylesSleater-Kinney - One BeatErykah Badu - Worldwide UndergroundJay-Dee - Vol. 2: VintageJay-Z - The Black AlbumSleep - DopesmokerYeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to TellBjörk - MedúllaDeerhoof - Milk ManElectrelane - The Power OutMadvillain - MadvillainyMastodon - LeviathanMoodymann - Black MahoganiJoanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed MenderXiu Xiu - Fabulous MusclesAmadou & Mariam - Dimanche à BamakoAntony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird NowFiona Apple - Extraordinary MachineCommon - BeDJ Quik - TraumaHigh on Fire - Blessed Black WingsBeanie Sigel - The B. ComingSleater Kinney - The WoodsSunn O))) - Black OneKanye West - Late Registration
― Soylent News Service (contenderizer), Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:46 (nine years ago) link
read music/speak spanish is a classic tho
xpost with myself
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Saturday, 7 March 2015 19:48 (nine years ago) link
"green eyes" is one of my favorites from that album lol
― dyl, Saturday, 7 March 2015 20:13 (nine years ago) link
boy in da corner has some really dated sounding stuff but much more really prescient sounding stuff, imo
― soyrev, Saturday, 7 March 2015 20:21 (nine years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 8 March 2015 00:01 (nine years ago) link
wow @ breadth
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 8 March 2015 00:06 (nine years ago) link
b but does it stand the test of space??
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Sunday, 8 March 2015 00:32 (nine years ago) link
can i suggest ban anyone who voted for death cab for cutie
also i understand the value of the streets as a punchline even if i don't agree with it but can we just ban outright ppl who want to tar the first dizzee record with the same brush
that was the last good DCFC
― Eric Burdon & War, On Drugs (Cosmic Slop), Sunday, 8 March 2015 00:48 (nine years ago) link
i liked transatlanticism a bunch in high school but the best thing i ever read about it or death cab breakup songs in general was an early-pitchfork thing that said something like "the thing about glove compartments: what you get out of them depends on what you put into them"
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 8 March 2015 01:32 (nine years ago) link
Musically the Mia record aged terribly imo
Garbage
― deej loaf (D-40), Sunday, 8 March 2015 03:59 (nine years ago) link
rong
― mh, Sunday, 8 March 2015 04:09 (nine years ago) link
I mean, I don't really like the 2015 version of that sound, but Diplo is still working the same formula he lifted from working with MIA and apparently has some level of success
― mh, Sunday, 8 March 2015 04:10 (nine years ago) link
Spin won't stand the test time.
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 8 March 2015 06:41 (nine years ago) link
Sick burn.
This thread reminded me of peak love for Bright Eyes (2002-2005?) and while I never followed the sensation, I keep wondering what happened to him, he was such a media darling. Everyone loved the dude.
Not unlike Justin Vernon today.
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 8 March 2015 06:46 (nine years ago) link
He got boring.
― That shit right there is precedented. (cryptosicko), Sunday, 8 March 2015 16:51 (nine years ago) link
got
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 8 March 2015 17:04 (nine years ago) link
goat
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 8 March 2015 17:07 (nine years ago) link
I was on board with him up until about his first solo record, and I still think that I'm Wide Awake It's Morning is a masterpiece. Since then, though, he's become far too comfortable to play to the NPR/Paste crowd. I was unable to get all the way through his most recent solo disc; he sounds positively middle-aged on it.
― That shit right there is precedented. (cryptosicko), Sunday, 8 March 2015 17:14 (nine years ago) link
dude's hype usually revolved around his youth so once that was gone you just had a elvis costello-type making real music for real millenials
― da croupier, Sunday, 8 March 2015 17:20 (nine years ago) link
read music/speak spanish remains his "politically outraged pinkerton fan" testament, beyond that i only need a few tracks
it's funny that both he and john mayer wound up walking around california in a big floppy hat
― da croupier, Sunday, 8 March 2015 17:27 (nine years ago) link