listing badly

This time has come to complain about Pitchfork’s year end list. Allow me to join the terrifying din. Like Ryan, I’ve never heard of The Knife. In fact, there’s a ton of stuff on the list that I haven’t listened to. I suppose I probably should, although the rankings of the stuff I recognize do not inspire confidence (nor does the seeming overrepresentation of hiphop, electronica and hard rock — three genres that I only enjoy in intermittent doses, and almost never when recommended by Pitchfork).

We don’t have the perspective to make a final judgment, but right now it seems like 2006 was kind of a thin year when compared to the last three. They say that the best music is produced when Republicans are in charge, so maybe the shifting national mood resulted in fewer great albums. Personally, I prefer to blame Canada: they’ve been propping up our indie rock economy for years, but this year were suddenly and strangely absent. I guess this is what it’s going to be like when China stops floating the national debt. Here’s hoping that our Northern neighbors have got something big planned for 2007.

Anyway, even putting aside all of my ignorance, ambivalence and vague hostility toward the p-fork list, there are a few things that I was surprised not to see show up there. Here are some albums that I thought ought to have been present, and which Amazon assures me were released in 2006:

1. Mates of State – Bring It Back
   
   I don’t expect anyone to condone my shameless lust for pop. But for those who share the same affliction, I can’t recommend this album highly enough.
2. Figurines – Skeleton
   
   Yeah, it’s a little too Modest-Mousey to get complete credit for originality. Still, it’s varied but without any clunkers, and it holds up well to repeated listens. “Silver Ponds” and “Other Plans” are going to be in my playlists for a long time to come.
3. Karmella’s Game – The Art Of Distraction
   
   This record is so catchy as to ultimately be exhausting, but it’d be hard to overstate KG’s underdog appeal. “Safely Negative” is especially good, I think. I didn’t actually expect Pitchfork to notice this record, of course, but I wish they had anyway.
4. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
   
   Is it because Crazy was leaked in 2005? Because the rest of the album is mostly solid but non-mind-blowing? Or is it because half of all commercials in 2006 used it as their score? Whatever the reason, I’m confused by Pitchfork’s refusal to acknowledge the album that contained the biggest song of 2006. They extended the courtesy to Outkast, didn’t they?
5. Malajube – Tromp L’oeil
   
   I’m probably just including it because it’s the best thing I’ve heard recently, and because I miss Canada. I’ve had a hard time finding albums to love in the second half of 2006.
6. I’m From Barcelona – Let Me Introduce My Friends
7. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
   
   I’ve got a feeling that this album trades on traditions that it has no right to claim, but I wouldn’t really know and I’m certainly not qualified to be the one bringing that criticism to bear. So it just ends up making me feel vaguely uneasy about the whole project. Pretty good tunes, though.
8. Rainer Maria – Catastrophe Keeps Us Together
   
   Throw ‘em a bone, guys.
9. Annuals – Be He Me
   
   I’m not sure where this ought to be ranked — to be honest, I’ve got to listen to it some more. But “Brother” alone puts it on my list… somewhere.

Also: no Yeah Yeah Yeahs? I started listening to it late, so I don’t know how I’d rank it, but it seems awfully good. Better than the Band of Horses album, at least.

Things on the list that I recognized and have listened to, but don’t think should be there:

• Joanna Newsom – Ys
  
  If you’re only working with five songs, you’d better make sure you’re doing so for a reason. I’m not convinced that Ms. Newsom manages this: I thought that the first half of this record meandered unforgivably before finally getting a hold of itself. I can’t help but wonder how much of the acclaim this album has received is due to its novelty. Thanks to my mom I’ve probably heard somewhat more harp music than is normal for my demographic. Ys doesn’t stand out from rest of it as much as some reviewers seem to think it does.
• Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming
  
  I love Wolf Parade. Apologies To The Queen Mary is one of my favorite CDs, and their show at the Black Cat was probably the best concert I saw in 2006. But c’mon Pitchfork — despite your assurances to the contrary, this is not a particularly compelling side project. It’s more Bell Orchestre than Postal Service: pleasant enough, but completely forgettable.
• Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That
  
  This album felt thin to me in the same way that the recent French Kicks and Pony Up albums did. It’s not the songwriting — there’s just a certain oomph that was lacking from the album performances. Someone call Timbaland.
• Pipettes – We Are The Pipettes
  
  Alright — maybe I’d leave it on. I don’t know. “Pull Shapes” is one of the best songs of the year, and if there was any justice the track would currently be in use to sell us soda and cellphones and automobiles. But after the next one or two really good tracks the songs’ quality starts to decline quickly. I’m always enthusiastic about this album when I start playing it, but I’m also always sick of it by the time it’s over. The fact that a gimmick, a couple of great songs and bunch of filler can put you in the company of the year’s forty-nine other best releases says something about 2006′s crop of music, I think.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 12:30 am and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.