Comments on: Gang Gang Dance’s Album Of The Year, As A Matter Of “Fact”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:44:39 +0000

"I said "or close to it." I also said the category was a diverse one. (And yeah, we can quibble til the cows come home about whether artsy indie dance music counts. I'm sure there some people would argue Jay Reatard isn't artsy, too. Good for them.)"

so diverse it covers bass-heavy ragga (the bug), dutch dubstep (2565), early-90s hardcore homage (zomby), a singer-songwriter album from a veteran techno producer (brinkmann), absurdly theatrical disco (kelley polar), etc?

i came here to say thanks to the original poster rather than argue, but even if the list did end up more conservative than i'd hoped, if all those fall into the 'artsy indie' category then not a lot doesn't. anyway, peace.

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:38:09 +0000

Man, I'm a blabbermouth today. But I'm not gonna argue now, only answer questions:

1) Unlike Michaelangelo, I see no reason why a release that came out October 2007 (or, uh, a podcast "posted" then -- someday maybe I'll listen to one of those!)should not be eligible for a 2008 list. As Michaelangelo knows, the Pazz & Jop poll even had a "year of impact" rule that said literal release date didn't matter. And when silly magazines insist on ending best-of-year years long about, I dunno, early November, saving stuff for the next year might be the only way that late-year releases will ever even have a fair shot.

2) There is all sorts of grey area between "albums" and "reissues." Always has been, always will be. My recommendation, which is to say this is what I always do: If a given release is on the new-release/reissue cusp, stick it on whichever list needs the most help. (Assuming you're allowed to make both lists. If not, your job is even easier.)

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:28:16 +0000

(”Semi-household names” meaning, oh, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Portishead, Hercules and Love Affair, No Age….so the type of household is pretty limited too, I guess.)

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:22:31 +0000

Bottom line is, the list above presents an aesthetic. Just like, say, *Paste* magazine’s list presents an aesthetic, or *Decibel* presents an aesthetic. All three are aesthetics that anybody who has been paying attention to music criticism for the past quarter century has no excuse not to be completely familiar with. All three lists combine semi-household names with more obscure names in fairly unsurprising ways. I don’t get why one would, by definition, be better than the other ones.

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:02:32 +0000

I said “or close to it.” I also said the category was a diverse one. (And yeah, we can quibble til the cows come home about whether artsy indie dance music counts. I’m sure there some people would argue Jay Reatard isn’t artsy, too. Good for them.)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:51:29 +0000

"100 percent artsy indie music"

like 2562, claro intelecto and thomas brinkmann, right?

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:48:47 +0000

(Or “…All Over My FACE,” even.)

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:47:42 +0000

(Don’t remotely understand the appeal of Arthur Russell singing so-quiet-it-barely-exists lethargic fake country/folk songs, either, fwiw. I get the idea that people just want to like that stuff because it exists. And I say that as somebody with both Dinosaur L *and* Dinosaur 12-inches on my vinyl shelf, not to mention “Let’s Go Swimming.”) (Sadly, I only own “Is It All Over My Place” by Loose Joints on CD.)

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:36:05 +0000

(Well, "artsy indie music" is a diverse category I guess, in its own way. So I'm probably being at least a little cranky. But it's not any more diverse than any of the categories the list above ignores.)

(And also, I was wrong. The 2008 Jay Reatard album I like is *Singles 06 - 07*, which was way livelier, catchier, and more rocking than that CD of ho-hum Matador singles, which I barely made it through once [and even the one I liked was still a far cry from, oh, *Singles Going Steady* or *Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts* or *Pure Mania* or whatever it wishes it was]...So that means TWO albums I like. Approximately the same as every other premature year-end list I've seen so far.)

Gore on the reissues list is cute though! (I didn't even know that got reissued!)

By: Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:27:14 +0000

Album list looks pretty average to me — 100 percent artsy indie music, or close to it; not exactly diverse. No pop, no country, no metal, no r&b…which is fine, if that’s what the publication’s about, but I’m sure not gonna pat them on the back for it. Three albums I like okay (Jay Reatard, Vampire Weekend, No Age, all probably somewhere between 50 and 150 on my own list); zero albums I love. # 1 is Gang Gang Dance’s least compelling album; still perplexed why this is the one that’s suddenly getting them all the attention. And lots of albums I haven’t heard that I probably wouldn’t like much. (I did like an album by The Bug once — *Pressure*, five years ago — which wound up either sold or in storage within a year, just like most other Kevin Martin related albums I’ve enjoyed in the background for a week or two. Pretty sure there have been a dozen or so of those, and pretty sure I couldn’t tell them apart. I’d be seriously surprised if his latest Bug outing was any different, but hey, you never know right?)