The Onion’s AV Club launched its best albums of the year list today, and it’s topped by the Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, with the National, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and Band Of Horses bringing up the top five’s rear. The usual-suspect-studded full list is after the jump, but for now, some initial reactions…
THE GOOD: Tegan and Sara’s sharp, spunky The Con (No. 8) is a nice addition to the top 10, which, if I didn’t mention before, is full of the usual suspects. (Let the fighting over Wilco resume!) Also, I think this might be the first Feist-free list I’ve seen yet.
THE BAD: Band Of Horses over Kala? Really?
THE WHAAAA? So along with each ranking album’s spot on the chart, readers were made privy to the number of points each record received, as well as how each critic broke down his ballot. Critics were allowed to give each album they voted for a maximum of 15 points, and the albums in the Nos. 24 and 25 slots–the Murphy/Mahoney FabricLive36 and Iron & Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog–each received 20 points from two voters. Which illustrates an eternal critics’-poll conundrum, and it’s only accentuated by the fact that 2007 is shaping up to be a pretty lackluster year as far as critical consensus goes: Nos. 21-25 on the list (which also included Grinderman, Bat For Lashes’ Fur And Gold, and Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High) certainly represent more interesting choices than the swath of rock-critic-beloved meh ahead of them, but if they were voted for by two or three critics out of a 19-critic panel (which each of them were), are they really among the “best,” or were they just the most beloved by a select few (with good taste)? I guess this is where Matos’ Enthusiasm 40 comes in.
25. Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog
24. James Murphy & Pat Mahoney, FabricLive 36
23. Fall Out Boy, Infinity On High
22. Bat For Lashes, Fur And Gold
21. Grinderman
20. Rilo Kiley, Under The Blacklight
19. Against Me!, New Wave
18. Ted Leo, Living With The Living
17. Low, Drums And Guns
16. The White Stripes, Icky Thump
15. Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends
14. PJ Harvey, White Chalk
13. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
12. Jesu, Conqueror
11. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
10. Bloc Party, A Weekend In The City
9. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
8. Tegan and Sara, The Con
7. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black
6. M.I.A., Kala
5. Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin
4. LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver
3. Radiohead, In Rainbows
2. The National, Boxer
1. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
The best music of 2007 [AV Club]
I’m starting to think there’s some sort of Payola scandal in the works write now with the Best-of lists and the Arcade Fire, the National, Radiohead, and the LCD Soundystem…
God. I hate all but two of these records. I need to get off the planet now.
@Clevertrousers: Before you go, tell me which two!!!
@JudgeFudge: I can just about buy indie schmindie critics liking the Arcade Fire, but when Win Butler starts getting voted a top ten Hottie in a Stereogum poll I call shenanigans.
I feel like I should be more into this list, given that 60-80% of a given day’s commenting for me goes down on the AV club.
@SuperUnison: I’m a little surprised myself. I think their reviews are some of the best around, so I’m a little surprised.
I agree with a few of these, like the Against Me! album, but the indie-centricity is pretty annoying. The critics may want to open our eyes to some lesser-known bands, but why can’t they open their eyes to some decent mainstream bands? And there are definitely some less popular bands whose music doesn’t consist solely of acoustic guitars and “quirky” songwriting.
Back to Black was originally released in 2006, but a “deluxe edition” of the album came out in 2007. I still call foul and say this one shouldn’t be on any “2007″ lists.
“Band Of Horses over Kala? Really?”
I know, they’re both terrible, right.
I’m getting more terrified to submit my poll to Idolator by the day.
No Slayer?
@ramona23: Really? I thought it came out in the US in March 2007? Can we have an official Idolator verdict, for poll purposes? And while we’re at it, how exactly do you type that Justice cross thing?
@ramona23: It would count if we were on the Grammy cycle, but you’re right, it came out last year.
The U.S. and U.K. are different places. Fact!
@Matos: The more you know…
fall out boy peaked with “sugar, we’re going down.” i’m so, so very, very sorry late-to-the-punch poptimists, but their new album is balls even if you *like* fall out boy. also, if amy winehouse doesn’t count then neither does bat for lashes.
@westartedthis: that’s fine. but i do think that infinity on high is a more unexpected–and therefore interesting!–choice for a critics’ poll than the m.i.arcadiofeiststripespoonsteenationalco mash that’s been dominating the critical consensus thus far.
also, amy and bat for lashes can *both* count. see, this is why the world needs global release dates! freaking internet, man.
fallout boy shouldnt be on anyones list, ive been seeing a lot of complaints about how all these lists have too much indie rock or whatever, but i think thats partly because there wasnt much good music coming out in other genres.
Or: Sausage Party Breaks Out While Onion Critics Make Whitebread Picks
Living With the Living wasn’t only the worst Ted Leo record, it was the worst record of the year.
Glad to see more Jesu love (the record is really amazing) but the rest of that list is pretty meh.
@maura: that’s fair. but it all seems like a trick of perspective. in some alternate universe where fall out boy are still on fueled by ramen and only beloved by a handful of “maturing” hardcore kids, is it a less interesting pick? more interesting?
it just seems like fall out boy is the “crazy ex girlfriend” of mall emo. it’s a token pick. do these same critics listen to ANYTHING else that sounds like fall out boy?
@Jfrankparnell: Dude, I threw on Living With the Living the other day to make sure I still hated it, and I either have no resistance left, or it grew on me, but it wasn’t as terrible as it was in January.
@westartedthis: That’s fair too. I don’t know what these peoples’ record collections are like (although I suspect that they have fewer unlistened promos than I do, ha ha … ugh) but I can definitely see your point about tokenistic picks and how they’re kind of just the flip side of really really samey lists. Although I’d argue that since the placement of all of those records between Nos. 21-25 were listed by maybe two or three critics, the likelihood that such picks are tokenistic is at least *somewhat* lower, no?
yeah, i really don’t have the vendetta against fall out boy that some people do (and that it probably seems like i do from my earlier posts). and placing lower on the list does give credence to the idea that it was maybe one writer, or a couple writers, who placed “infinity on high” really HIGH on their lists because they really loved it (for whatever reason!). ah, guessing people’s reasons for rating whatever high or low is a fool’s game anyway.
@Freakytrigger: i’m really, really sorry about good charlotte.
Doesn’t care about black people!
A latecomer poptimist writes: Because I liked Fall Out Boy I also gave Cobra Starship and Paramore and that latest Good Charlotte album a go!