Year-End Critics' Polls 2011

Obviously publishing lists is what critics do, and if it's out on the web it's out on the web, but it would be <cool if this thread turned into everyone just posting their EOY ballot in advance.

yeah fair enough im not sure ill even post my list on my site and figured here was a good enough place. also my ilx ballot will probably look slightly different so

yikes, didn't really mean spam the thread with 4-5 poll results from metal publications we've seen lists from already—in bold even!

i was trying to post lists we hadnt seen in the Sandbox

Okayafrica’s Top 11 Music Videos of 2011

Art Melody “L’ébène Est Dans Le Noir”

Nneka “My Home”

Just A Band “Kichwateli”

Tinariwen & TV On The Radio “Tenere Taqqim Tossam”

Spoek Mathambo “Control”

Blitz The Ambassador “Native Sun”

Lexxus Legal ft. Leslyman “Fauchés”

Buraka Som Sistema “Hangover (BaBaBa)”

Mo Kolours “Biddies”

Die Antwoord “Fok Julle Naaiers”

Ruffest “Siyabenzela”

my 2011 faves. same as my pazz&jop ballot:

http://skotrok.blogspot.com/2011/12/till-world-ends-top-ten-albums-of-2011.html

some other records that i played a lot in 2011. (old stuff)

http://skotrok.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-2011-favorites-that-didnt-come-out.html

Seriously Pitchfork readers?!? Childish Gambino the most underrated album of the year? One of the worst albums lists yet too.

lol pitchfork reader polls are always hilarious and illuminating

3 radiohead songs in the top 50 tracks!

At this point I'm thinking even Stereogum readers are less ridiculous.

no i think that's childish gambino fan central

Ha, I guess I shouldn't used that site as a benchmark since I probably haven't visited it in 6 months now.

http://stereogum.com/908652/the-gummy-awards-your-top-20-indie-rock-crushes-of-2011/the-gummy-awards/

i hope his next album has an "only rapper with an emmy AND a gummy" boast

Think I posted mine in the Sandbox, but WTH:

http://charlieframe.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/my-top-40-albums-of-2011/

1 When Saints Go Machine – Konkylie
2 Jon Hopkins & King Creosote - Diamond Mine
3 Panda Bear – Tomboy
4 Console – Herself
5 Perc – Wicker And Steel
6 Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
7 Death Grips – Exmilitary
8 Various Artists – Bangs & Works Vol.II
9 Art Department – The Drawing Board
10 Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise

http://infobeautiful2.s3.amazonaws.com/top21_albums_550_2.png

Scott- I liked your 2011 essay. Have you ever seen the movie "The Gleaners & I" by Agnes Varda? You might like it - about modern-day foragers in France.

http://www.fastnbulbous.com/lucky11.htm

Top 100 with blurbs for top 13, and genre lists. Here's also my mixes:
Fast 'n' Bulbous Best of 2011 Part 1 [1GB] & Part 2 [902MB], expires Jan. 5.

I love how Pfork readers "best" and "most overrated" albums of the year lists are basically identical

they usually are in readers polls for some reason

this guy links to a bunch of eoy lists (but not several I just sent to him...afropop.org and others)

http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2011/11/2011_yearend_on.html

instead of "the 99%" and "the 1%" in music, it's just one set of 50% that listens to popular stuff and the other 50% thinking that stuff is soooo overrated

99% listens, 1% pays for it

My P&J top 10:

1. Cauldron – Burning Fortune (Earache)
2. Gentlemans Pistols – At Her Majesty’s Pleasure (Rise Above)
3. Nazareth – Big Dogz (Eagle)
4. Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres (Constellation)
5. Randy Montana – Randy Montana (Mercury)
6. John Waite – Rough and Tumble (Frontiers/No Brakes)
7. Carl Marshall – Love Who You Wanna Love (CDS ’10)
8. Blood Ceremony – Living With The Ancients (Rise Above)
9. Them Bird Things – Wildlike Wonder (Playground Music Finland ‘10)
10. Vektor – Outer Isolation (Heavy Artillery)

Posted my top 100 here:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/chuck-eddy/my-100-favorite-albums-of-2011/10150668450949338

x-post-
Carl Wilson in Slate(I'd say the emphasis on a "big one" is still relevant)
On that note, it’s worth remembering that chart pop, as diverting a zeitgeist barometer as it can be, is now simply another niche. A big one, but still a specialized sector.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_music_club/features/2011/music_club_2011/best_music_2011_bon_iver_is_unlistenable_.html

carl's posts on there are really good. really liked the last one.

xhuxk, is your list of 100 available anywhere else that doesn't require having a Facebook account?

Not yet (and as somebody who didn't have a fb account until a few months ago, I know how annoying that is), but I'll say so if that changes. Just didn't want to clog up this thread with such a long list.

Scratch that; I just posted it here:

XHUXK'S TOP 100+ ALBUMS OF 2010!

Thanks. Yeah, there's a local vegan restaurant (I'm back to vegan at the moment for (my usual) health reasons) which links to its menu but to see it requires that you log in to Facebook. That's demanding a lot of commitment from their customers.

ayo scott your 2011 albums post is so excellent, for real

ann powers is an amazing writer/thinker obv, but the 'pop music is just another niche' was something i've been thinking a lot when i read her coverage, like i kind of feel like it's being beamed in from a world that exists only in the abstract. like, i don't feel like the existing community of fans that listen to exclusively charting ish is really all that big

(any more)

or i should say, listening to a large percentage of the stuff that is charting; there are probably lots of people who still just listen to charting music, but not MOST music that charts

kind of feel that it's gone the other way in the last couple of years (would've said the same thing a few years ago)

rlly? i feel like historically there were lots of people who just liked whatever was on TRL, but now everyone's sorta more adrift

i def get the feeling that the chart pop community has strengthened and expanded recently - cf online stan culture, the nature of increasingly personality-driven pop, cross-pollination between fanbases etc

i feel like it's more of a cult thing tho -- like, it's solidified online into a 'community' and that community has grown, but that community is also fairly restricted & niche-ish, rather than broad and disconnected like it used to be

isn't the nature of pop stardom to create cults around its stars and creations?

well, i get the impression it's becoming far less restricted/niche-ish among a generation of teenage pop fans for whom classroom culture and online culture must constantly blend

isn't the nature of pop stardom to create cults around its stars and creations?

― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, January 4, 2012 5:51 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

we're talking about, like, constellations of artists. i'm suggesting that while there are people who are like 'top 40 fans,' that is a niche group now, rather than a very general and large group, and while the niche might be growing, it's still small compared w/ the peak TRL era or w/e

well, i get the impression it's becoming far less restricted/niche-ish among a generation of teenage pop fans for whom classroom culture and online culture must constantly blend

― all i see is angels in my eyes (lex pretend), Wednesday, January 4, 2012 5:56 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but those people aren't into just top 40 artists, they're into a few charting artists, and a few other artists who have a similar style; a wiz khalifa fan in my theory would be more likely to listen to mac miller even tho his singles aren't top 40 than they would ... i dunno .. hot chelle rae

that the kind of top 40 covered by Ann isn't the kind of music listened to by 'just folks,' it's the kind listened to by a niche of top 40 listeners who define themselves as 'top 40 listeners'

idk i'm spitballin

when you get on the internet do you stop being "just folks"?

i don't think it has to do w/ whether or not you're on the internet, it has to do w/ where you spend your time when you're on it. if you're reading blogs that cover Top 40 Music or gossip blogs centered around straight-up popular ppl (as opposed to, like, genre-specific gossip blogs) then you might be identifying as a 'top 40 fan who listens to top 40 music.' there's more self-definition involved when u have to choose what channels you receive your info from.

whereas it used to be u just sorta experienced pop music w/out trying. the 10-CD people, I suspect, have much more RANDOM experiences with music now -- that they might suddenly become aware of something not-top 40 that they dig, and they just sorta go w/ it, because Top 40 is now competing with other channels for their attentions

i always thought npr employed ann powers on some project bootstrap ish tbh

there's still a huge amount of ppl who consider top 40 to be pretty much all of music, or 'real' music. i think once you even get to a point where you know who ann powers is, you're less likely to be exposed to all the normals who love music but aren't really 'into' music (no better or worse than any other fan of music). i've got a few friends who exclusively listen to top 40, 'nostalgic' top 40 (mariah/janet/tlc), and a few passing trends shared between friends (stuff like mika and sara bareilles and all that, and of course disney soundtracks). it's music for driving, for computer speakers in the background, for clubs. i think this is still how most people digest music, they just don't write in blogs about it.

oh god this whole post sounds like a condescending anthropological study, sorry

I don't think that's actually true though. Now they have facebook feeds and twitter and read a wide variety of websites -- not music blogs or ann powers, but like, gossip blogs that also post music. and they come across all kinds of music that way.

deej have you heard of 'kids'

btw carl wilson linked to something i wrote in that slate piece! cool!

idk what you mean

i dunno it just seems odd that you seem to be denying the existence of the gigantic tween top 40 fanbase that is totally controlling the music industry even more than usual lately, like most of what you're saying seems to be true but mainly for people 18 & over

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/The-Dean-s-List-Christgau-s-Best-of-2011/ba-p/6657

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/Dad-Rock-Makes-a-Stand/ba-p/6659

Christgau's year-end essay

"sleeper hit" isn't really the right description for an album that debuted at #1 with 300k copies sold, stayed there for a week and then returned a few weeks later

is there a thread for best mix/ mixtape/mix album in general of 2011? couln't find one

― Sébastien, Thursday, 12 January 2012 20:20 (Yesterday) Bookmark

It's this http://dismagazine.com/disco/mixes/14817/nguzunguzu-the-perfect-lullaby/

2 albums by Wussy in the Christgau top 10. I think I listened to one song of theirs once. Maybe I should give them more listening time.

afaict the only fans Wussy has on earth are Christgau and his disciples

Yep.

Predictable from me I know, but I like checking out the various African releases he includes. Usually he has some in his top 20, but this year they seem further down. He and Jon Pareles from the NY Times give love to afropop.

Plastic People of the Universe put out an album recently?

I was not aware of that either

The Plastic People record on his list came out in mid-2010. I wonder if it's placement has to do with Havel's passing.

That sounds like something Christgau would do, though it could just be that he heard it late and liked it a lot.

Havel's death might have brought them to mind and he checked out their latest. Who knows.

there are over a dozen 2010 records that he presumably first heard in 2011 peppered throughout the list, all with "'10" noted in parentheses

He's written about the Plastic People a fair amount over the years as well (so whenever he became aware of it, it's not surprising it would make his list)

Nice year-end show here:
http://radio.maximumrocknroll.com/mrrradio1278/

Been a loyal listener ever since they introduced me to Kitchen's Floor.

James Delingpole's Records of the Year 2011

Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know (Virgin)
Kate Bush – Director’s Cut (Fish People)
Seasick Steve – You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks (Play It Again Sam)
Jack Cheshire – Copenhagen (Safety First)
David J Roch – Skin & Bones (Dram Music)
Paul Kalkbrenner – Ich Wieder (Rough Trade)
Cashier No. 9 – To The Death Of Fun (Bella Union)
Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow (Fish People)
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (Island)
Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi – Rome (Parlophone)
The Pierces – You & I (Polydor)
Other Lives – Tamer Animals (Play It Sam)

http://jamesdelingpole.com/images/logo.png

Christgau has the 2010 Extra Lens album on his list but not he 2011 Mountain Goats one. Weird.

All critics of ILM, please apply your critical faculties to voting in the end-of-year poll! If you've already done a 2011 list for somewhere else it's double-easy: just check which of your choices have been nominated and send off a ballot.

ann powers agrees with me now ...

Congrats. But what did she say or write that prompted this?

Check her fb

ah, now I get it

She is arguing that over the years now the media has gotten worse and only covers tiny subset of pop stars;

Yeah a trend her coverage has been more or less emblematic of since ... this thread

That’s not fair to her entirely ofc, I don’t think she didn’t cover interesting or niche or whatever stuff (I only followed so closely) — But it was def an underlying uhh ... dynamic I feel like I was trying to get at in this thread

She’s gotten more into roots Americana stuff since moving to Nashville ( but she’s missing out on less hyped southern soul, zydeco, blues, brass band , whatever Americana)