Acclaimed Music Top 30 Albums from 2005 poll

looking at this list, I think around 2005 was probably when I completely stopped listening to pitchfork approved music. I recognize most of these indie rock titles but I think most of them I listened to something between 0.5 and 2 times and then never again. They're probably not worse than what came in the years previous, but by this point it was just too much, I needed to go elsewhere.

xp How condescending. You're discounting the huge fanbase that they still have, and all the kids that are still discovering them and fawning over them. They were not some flash in the pan. Whether or not you like them is irrelevant.

You're right, whether I like them or not has no bearing on how terrible, utterly shit, and yes, irrelevant Animal Collective are.

Right

I don't like Pavement, but I realize that they're the same kind of band as AC: critics, fans, huge influence. They're not irrelevant.

Turrican otm.

Also, interesting how the critical enthusiasm for the follow-up to whatever their "breakthrough" was (the one with "My Girls") was almost nil. The only reason I hate them less than I used to is 'cause no one really seems to give a shit about them anymore.

that's not really true. I don't really keep up with new music but a lot of shit I hear in coffee shops etc. sounds v ac influenced.

Yeah I mean if you don't hear AC's influence in the bands that followed you're just not paying attention.

I guess I see AC as one of those bands that owes its popularity largely to P4K having to have someone to write about. Like, if you were to ask me who the most revered and/or influential acts of the era were, I'd say Kanye, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A. and maybe Broken Social Scene and New Pornographers. Several of those probably owe a good chunk of their success to P4k's endorsement of them (Carl Newman pretty much said so about his band when I interviewed him years ago), but once P4K becomes a "tastemaker" that people look towards for discovering the Next Big Thing, P4K then has to keep producing Next Big Things, which is basically what AC were.

It is possible that I am not really paying attention, I admit. Like, I couldn't really name a band that sounds influenced by AC, unless you're referring to Passion Pit or something.

Well, firstly, Pavement were actually good - there's a world of difference. Secondly, I'm fairly confident that it wasn't a case of bands being influenced by Animal Collective, more they were influenced by the fact that Pitchfork liked 'em. I guess all bands need something to aim for, and if the goal was to become a critics darling on an American web publication while sounding like arse and aiming for immortality in coffee shops, then so be it. Still shite. Nobody of any worth has ever, or will be, influenced by Animal Collective.

If this thread has taught me anything, it is that it is not yet safe to go back into coffee shops.

You're missing the point: the kids that were inspired by AC to start bands didn't give a fuck what p4k thought. Obviously the site helped them reach a wider audience, but it's not some Claps Your Hands or Tape n' Tapes shit. I'm not talking about hipsters in their 20s- the AC has always, since Feels, had a huge fanbase of teenagers and really young kids that got turned onto the band by their friends or their siblings, not a website.

Hahaha! Animal Collective are the very definition of an "internet band"! Hahahaha!

this is the obvious answer, but the "chillwave" thing was heavily influenced by Animal Collective. I say this not in defense of AC or chillwave, which is very much the easiest genre on earth to clown, especially 6 years on. But there was a whole group of acts influenced by AC in the immediate aftermath of their success. Which, btw, was real and not just a case of P4K-bots. There were plenty of acts that pitchfork tried to hype up that people didn't care for, and never became successful.

it's not some Claps Your Hands or Tape n' Tapes shit.

flappy bird otm, p4k hyped up a lot of mediocre acts who never gained real popularity. AC, whether or not you like them, don't fall in that category.

Like, if you were to ask me who the most revered and/or influential acts of the era were, I'd say Kanye, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A. and maybe Broken Social Scene and New Pornographers. Several of those probably owe a good chunk of their success to P4k's endorsement of them (Carl Newman pretty much said so about his band when I interviewed him years ago), but once P4K becomes a "tastemaker" that people look towards for discovering the Next Big Thing, P4K then has to keep producing Next Big Things, which is basically what AC were.

― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Thursday, July 21, 2016 11:14 AM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

animal collective have definitely sold more records than broken social scene and merriweather post pavilion was as big as any new pornographers record - the newest one that came out a couple of years back got to 13 on the billboard chart, same as mpp.

the other acts you cite there are legit huge and ac not in that realm at all.

My bubble was extraordinarily thick during these years because I didn't even hear about Animal Collective until MPP

others otm upthread that this list will/should look much different after critical reevaluation. 2005 does feel like the actual peak of P4K as "tastemaker," lots of acts they gave strong support to showing up here

a lot of things I like here but not much I really love, this is probably Aerial - A Sky of Honey is magnificent

as far as critical reassessment of the 00s away from the indiecentrism goes I think stuff like The National will be gone long before Animal Collective

The Decemberists would be gone before both!

A lot of these albums feel relatively recent to me still. Can't believe that MIA album is 11 years old.
And yet I see 2005 as a kind of watered-down sequel to 2004. That crest of US psychedelic indie, rock and noise from earlier in the decade coming out had peaked and was entering a phase when it was just everywhere, slowly mutating from something that was pretty cool and eccentric and happening, to the studied and obnoxious aesthetic of people like Bon Iver.
Quite a few weaker follow ups to decent albums on this list. I like LCD Soundsystem but feel like they never really nailed it when it came to full-length albums. I liked the MIA a lot at the time but I'm less and less fussed about her work now.
The one I think I'll vote for is Wolf Parade. They were like a much more tolerable Arcade Fire and that album was packed with great songs. Loved the lupine backing vocals on some of the songs too. Still dig it out on occasion and I also really love their proggy side project Sunset Rubdown

Honorary shout-outs to Feels and Gimme Fiction. Both very good. Couldn't bring myself to vote for Feels because I voted for Sung Tongs in the last poll and Feels is only half a great album in comparison

There were plenty of acts that pitchfork tried to hype up that people didn't care for, and never became successful.

Examples?

i'm trying to remember 2005 because this list is not very good

there are okay albums on it but most of it is not good

illinois and aerial are the ones that stand out

feels from what i remember just sounds like such novelty music and doesn't stand the test of time
then again i was only into ac in 2003, saw them live that year, and just grew out of them

i vaguely remember listening to picaresque and twin cinema

guilty pleasure of 2005 was silent alarm -- listened to it again earlier this year and could not believe i listened to it as much as i did back then

Lolling at people's incredulity over Animal Collective's popularity. It's almost.. as if.. people LIKED them??

and I question the musical opinions of every single last one of those people.

Sounds fun

some people like some bands, some people like other bands

careful with that logic eugene

i have heard maybe 3 albums on this list?

favorite 05 album probably JACKSON AND HIS COMPUTER BAND

animal collective have definitely sold more records than broken social scene and merriweather post pavilion was as big as any new pornographers record - the newest one that came out a couple of years back got to 13 on the billboard chart, same as mpp.

― ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Thursday, July 21, 2016 2:39 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wasn't even thinking of numbers, so fair enough to cite them, but what I was getting at was that the bands I cited all came along at a time when "P4k-approved" was becoming a thing. They were the ones that set the template, while AC arguably (very arguably, it appears) followed it.

(Sufjan kind of in the middle of all of this, as I remember thinking when the hype for Illinois started happening, "I guess this is this year's Funeral")

There were plenty of acts that pitchfork tried to hype up that people didn't care for, and never became successful.

Examples?

― Austin, Thursday, July 21, 2016 12:01 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk, tapes n tapes, menomena, sunset rubdown, man man. Looking at the list of albums that received best new music from 2006-2010, and it's full of "wait, who is that?" groups alongside bands that have built lasting fanbases. I mean, I guess you're right, to some extent all those bands achieved "success," and I'm sure part of that was due to support from pitchfork. But it's not anything close to a a 1:1 "P4K endorsement = lasting success" relationship. My broader point was that Animal Collective wasn't getting records in the Billboard top 20 solely due to pitchfork. it's because they had a real fanbase. Not every band that got BNMs had that same level of success that AC had.

AC also didn't have a "sudden breakthrough" moment. Spirit, Danse Manatee, and HCTI were well known in the noise/experimental community, then Sung Tongs was the broader critical breakthrough, and with Feels and on they had a very gradual expansion of fanbase. "Peacebone" was pretty successful as a single a year before "My Girls." And it's not as if the lion's share of AC fans got on board with MPP. You ask a bunch of people at an AC show what record they first heard, it'll be a wide range. They have an organic fanbase, and at this point they're immune to bad reviews.

In the same way that their fans are immune to their shitness?

Right, I think that's just a really obnoxious attitude to have about people that like a band. Who cares?

You, obviously.

Yeah, how weird that he would be annoyed that you're being such a rude asshole to him. How on earth could that be.

AC released 8 records, + solo albums, live albums, ep's, etc, in the decade, in a bunch of different styles, and got more and more attention until they became legitimately big. They did the work.

Arular

this is a lot of records that i used to love but now just like. twin cinema holds up the best.

okkervil river is surely the one i liked the most back in 2005 though. gotta go listen to that again.

Kate Bush or fuck off.

wow turrican sucks so hard he's making me root for flappy bird about a band i dislike

Your mother sucked hard the other night too.

There, you've got your response, you can fuck off back to Dora The Explorer's backpack now.

i liked animal collection before they were good

Guys, guys, guys. . . we're losing sight of the real issue here.

And that's that Animal Collective has indeed always been a horribly tuneless second tier act, hyped up because of aesthetics and perceived "importance."

Animal Collective almost pulled it off.

people just sucking up to P4K, obviously, wake up sheeple

That hold steady record is a lot of fun

Will revisit aerial, at the time I'm p sure I was too young to enjoy it proper

if I had seen this poll I would have voted fiona

I've never actually heard Animal Collective but I voted for them because they make some people so angry

Ha, I was gonna say! The majority of those Animal Collective votes were clearly troll votes, since there's absolutely no way it could have been on the strength of the (utterly abysmal) music, so good work :)

Koenjihyakkei also had a great album this year

really great Echolyn and Glass Hammer albums this year too, shame nobody heard them

voted hold steady, that album seems pretty obviously their peak, when their "we love these misfits and fuckups" thing felt sincere and heartfelt, and not like a stale pose. I know Boys and Girls in America is maybe more favored, and the big songs on that one have THS's best melodies. But I love the sing-speak and urgency on Separation Sunday, and how the whole thing coheres. Definitely helped me through some tough times.

2006 please, Bee.

The tasteful were clearly split between #s 3-6, what can ya do.

2006 please, Bee.

it's funny as i do open a new poll just about every Wednesday, will do the Songs ones after we wrap up Albums and after about a month break, but to make it last all summer i do take a week off here and there. this is that off week, also going to work out what i want to do on this damn Oasis poll, so 2006 will be in a weeks time.

http://memesvault.com/wp-content/uploads/Okay-Crying-Meme-08.png

lol

Acclaimed Music Top 30 Albums from 2006 poll