Idolator

Fucking A. 2006 was the YEAR OF MIDDLING INDIE. And I predict 2007 to be the YEAR OF MIDDLING INDIE, Part Deux. But 2008, now *THAT* will be a hot year.

All respect to Matos, but the people I usually hear this 'mindie' our 'indie yuppie' complaint from are 19-year-olds and/or overcompensating hipsters. You know, dudes too embarassed to admit that listen to Iron & Wine with their girlfriends. (uh...not that I do that)

The year of middling campaign anthems.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I hate Rilo Kiley with every ounce of my being. Yet, I find the Jenny Lewis solo album remarkable in many ways. Did I vote for it out of some kind of "fallback" obligation? I don't think so. I just really like it.

But I agree with Ryan. It's probably "mindie" from here on in. (Until '08, that is)

M. Ward just barely escapes the mindie category for me because I saw him play live a few years back and it was a really fun show. But in general his music can't hold my attention for more than 30 seconds at a time.

Here's my theory on Jenny Lewis: She's a hot lady with an amazing voice who wears incredibly short dresses at her fantastically well-performed live shows, but she's only ever at half-power without Blake Sennett (Rilo Kiley partner). Rabbit Fur Coat contained the immense charm of Jenny Lewis, but it lacked the sheer skill of Blake, which left it with a few tepid moments.

Still, though, "Rise Up With Fists!" is a great track, and I think anyone who's followed Rilo Kiley for any amount of time can attest to Jenny's skill for songwriting and her knack for compelling live performances.

I'm still holding out for some of the releases listed on this Fell-Outta-Timewarp old webpage:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060214171445/http://atlas.wal...

(2008 is worth it for Xiu Xiu's "I Want You In My Ass" alone)

I thought it was my ornery curmudgeony, but I wasn't psyched about most of 2006. Off the top of my head, I only remember Art Brut and Mastodon as standouts. Oh, wait, the knife was pretty cool

I'm sure Jamie's just waiting until 2008 to release that one, but it's already in the can.

As for the Rilo Kiley problem, I came to the conclusion after hearing The Elected's album this year that all the things I don't like about RK are solely Blake Sennett's fault. The guy's a chump.

i heard 'the charging sky' on the columbus, OH NPR station, and it made me smile so big i went out and bought a copy of rabbit fur coat THAT DAY. for my girlfriend, of course... because i love kyuss forever.

Glad I'm not the only person entirely unimpressed with Jenny Lewis. It's country music, but not very good country music. It sounds like she listened to a bunch of Loretta Lynn songs and then just copied them. Sure, she hasn't experienced any of the things she sings about. Authenticity is overrated. Same with good songs, which were absent from her album. On the other hand, Ghostface is the man.

I agree 2006 was a very blah year for Indie, but by contrast was an AMAZING year for Metal.

We got amazing, even some career defining, releases from: Gwar, Slayer, Mastodon, Amon Amarth, Ihsahn (from Emperor), Iron Maiden, Celtic Frost, Deicide, Napalm Death, Gojira, Sepultura, Melvins, Isis, Helloween, Queensryche, Jon Oliva's Pain, Cannibal Corpse, and many others!

Wow, Firefox spell check HATES Metal band names!

clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

i think what poll results like these point out is that even with ubiquitous blogs tripping over themselves to crown new sensations, a lot of it all falls within the same tired boundaries. the instantaneous nature of music sharing and current crit hasn't really done anything other than flood the gene pool with way too many sound-a-like whine-os.

One listen to Rilo Kiley's "The Execution Of All Things", and it becomes pretty clear that the two weakest tracks are the ones where Blake sings. However, that doesn't mean Jenny Lewis is fantastic. I saw her perform live on some late night show with The Watson Twins, and it was basically enough for me to write her off completely (well, maybe not completely, because I still love The Wizard).

Whoh Noam, I didn't know all that stuff came out last year. Perhaps I should embrace metal... You've made it a very happy day on Planet Piss.

Music is getting chewed up and shat out with such great speed that I wonder if two decades from now, someone's gonna pull out, like, a Golden Smog album and start a movement to really digest some of the amazing stuff that's coming out these days.

It's like when the dog ate the bottle cap from my Lucky Lager (I loves me some rebuses): in one end, out the other, unchanged.

Would you believe that Los Lobos put out their best album ever last year? And that TV on the Radio album--it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Maybe the problem is we're now getting exposed to too much good stuff to aborb.

Puff. Pass.

Oh it's pretty obvious we're living through a middling time in music. And it'll probably be like this for awhile. Music fans are as fickle as they have ever been. There is no attempt to let artists/bands germinate, as instant internet access has engendered a nearly pathological desire to be ahead of the game, whatever pathetic game that is. Hence most artists feel they've got to constantly change their sound before they've even hit on anything interesting first. (How many more side projects from some Montreal indie pop/laptop dork do we really need?!) And most music fans are tired of hearing about anything remotely resembling a "next big thing" long before they've even heard it. I've no idea how this will shake out. I'm still really excited about the Rhino Rockabilly box set.

Puff. Somebody should hire an economist to study the phenomenon. It's like that New Yorker article about the diamond trade in Madagascar: People looking for a certain kind of rock will go where the rocks are, but even after a hole has been totally mined, they'll convince themselves that the hole still has plenty of special rocks in it. Pass.

Throw in a air-headed booty shaker, an obscure DJ track, and an ironically adored mainstream country record and, voila! Instant alt-weekly.

I cringe at the implication that "only" having six or eight or however many hip-hop records on the list determines how "inspiring" it is. Yes, the average anti-pop indie rock turd needs to be balanced out, but why over-compensate by overstating the importance of, say, L'il Wayne? Attention alt-weekly writers; Hip-hop does not need to be rescued. Please stop handing out passes.

Besides, I'm not going to take shit for liking Jenny Lewis from a guy who put Crazy Frog on his 2005 list.

I love My Morning Jacket. They're a band 25 years from now I'll still be listening to. And that's all I know right now.

Good one. Plus, honestly, there are a lot more important things to worry about these days than making a nice, or even historically important pop record. Most young people are clearly too scared to even leave their bedrooms these days, and the ones that do would prefer to lose themselves in the club's lights. Y'know it's total Rome is burning time, and everyone's dancing while the flames rise in America. We've got about two generations of post-Reagan youth who've been weened on the belief in total consumption, and hence patience and care for craft is pretty much going out the window. Plus, everyone's broke, and the trust fund kids that used to pay for the revolutionary music of America's mid-century are much too busy planning their "Sweet 16" parties. Or something.

It's not the music, though there is plenty of middling indie and generally mediocre music in every genre.

The problem, if there is one, is the "cool factor" that leads people to overpraise "cool" music, regardless of the intrinsic quality, and hate anything that has ever run in a promo on VH1.

There is great music out there. It's not necessarily the over-praised, over-hyped Forky/Gummy nuMOR music, but it's definitely out there.

if you feel that all 2006 was about was middling indie, then you've not been looking in the right places, i'd tell you where but you're obviously a bit thick and don't deserve it.

jenny lewis isn't the only indie totty, kate jackson from the long blondes has come on in leaps and bounds, as in: i'd like to leap on her and get her bound up...

http://www.eurobandits.com/lovingliving/issue_4/Long_Blond...

i've just re-read this post, and, frankly, i'm ashamed.

"Rabbit Fur Coat" is my favorite album of 2006.

I dunno- I love Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis. She put out a great record, but, to me, this was a weak year to begin with.

(And for the record, after seeing Jenny Lewis on tour this fall- Hot, but not as hot as I thought she'd be. But in amazing shape.)

Speaking as a critic who likes mindie but unabashedly reads Billboard/follows the Top 40 (I guess in current parlance I'm a poptimist), I get most annoyed when rock critics are lazy about singles. That's the best criticism in that paragraph by Matos - whatever you think of TVOTR, voting for "Wolf Like Me" is almost certainly lazy.

I'm not saying you can't vote for both a band's album and its best single the same year (I did it this year with MCR and...um, Timberlake). But putting together a singles list shouldn't involve going back to your albums list and taking the best tracks from seven of those records and then saving the last three slots for guilty pleasures.

Great music years are those in which both albums and singles are wowing you, and when both indie shit and mainstream shit knocks you out. I felt 2006 was meh on both counts - there were a lot of middling albums, and a better bunch of singles but only three, maybe four world-beaters ("Crazy," "My Love," "Welcome to the Black Parade"; maybe "What You Know"). And I'd agree with Matos that a lot of albums felt like fallbacks to me last year.

On the albums-and-singles-equals-greatness score, the only years this decade that came close, I feel, were 2003 and especially 2005. I guess 2001 was pretty good, too. Maybe it's an odd-numbered-years thing.

i don't know. Kind of methfacey.

Steve Hy: "Instant alt-weekly" is is different from Pitchfork how, exactly, aside from the "ironic" country record? (I assume by this you mean Jenny Lewis.) Also, no one thinks hip-hop needs rescuing. My point is that there's as much good/interesting/whatever hip-hop (and dance music, and metal, and lots of other things) as there is indie rock out there, yet indie rock overwhelms the vote. This isn't even a complaint--if I haven't figured out by now that most of the people who care enough to vote in a poll like this one are largely interested in indie, I've been in a coma. But Lil Wayne's importance isn't anymore overstated than, oh, the Hold Steady's, unless you happen not to have listened to him.

Also, the Crazy Frog album is great. I'll happily stand by that one.

also, for the record, I don't hate Jenny Lewis (or Rilo Kiley) at all. but having listened a dozen times to Rabbit Fur Coat I found it slight, and was genuinely surprised it finished so high, which is what "Really? Jenny Lewis?" meant.

what the fuck? Do any of these people actually listen to music at all?

Rabbit Fur Coat is obviously the best record of the year. Obviously. Nothing else I heard was even close. I assumed maybe people forgot about to some extent since it was out in January, but I was appalled at how LOW it finished.

I guess it should be obvious by now that the whole "indie blogger" thing is about anything but actually judging music based on its quality, but still.

If you can honestly listen to "Rabbit Fur Coat" and TV on the Radio's album back to back and come away thinking TVOTR is better music... I don't even know how to finish that sentence. Sure it's a matter of taste, but at some point it becomes like eating poop and calling it ice cream.

9th grade was about who could be more intentionally obscure. This is (supposedly) about music. Time to grow up, people.

oh and if you think "Rabbit Fur Coat" is "ironically" country in any way, you have your head up your ass.

It's genuine, heartfelt, good music. If you know anything at all about music history, you know how important real country music is and why someone like Ms. Lewis would choose to record it. i The "I like everything but country" hipster cliche needs to be taken behind the barn and shot ASAP.

and I promise I'll stop but this:

Sure, she hasn't experienced any of the things she sings about.

is a very interesting theory, considering the title track seems to be a direct re-telling of her own experiences as a child star. All the other tracks are very personal and bear no relation to Loretta Lynn in any way I can fathom.

Are you sure you listened to this album?

no one said anything was "ironically" country. Steve said people voted for country records ironically (don't ask me how that works) and I figured he meant the Jenny Lewis one.

I listened to "Rabbit Fur Coat" when it first came out and was pleasantly surprised. But 5 month later I wasn't going back to the album - it didn't demand my attention. When the time came to make a top 10 list, there were plenty of albums that had demanded my attention - many which didn't make my list. Neko Case, or Beth Orton (who was completely forgotten). By comparison, Jenny Lewis was sweet and nice - but certainly not top 10 material. Though I agree with DrJimmy11. Rabbit Fur Coat *is* better than TV on the Radio.

So, Crazy Frog wasn't slight after a dozen listens? You even listened to that record a dozen times?

P.S. Thanks for compiling the poll and letting me vote.

1. When I think of middling indie, I think of the following, totally interchangable albums (some of which I kind of like):

Islands - Return to the Sea
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Tapes n' Tapes - The Loon
Danielson - Ships
Swan Lake - Beast Moans
Annuals - Be He Me
and Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (yeah, I said it.)

2. Plenty of people who like "Wolf Like Me" aren't particular to Return to Cookie Mountain. I am one of those people.

3. The Jenny Lewis album is, at the same time, pretty good and nothing special. Jackin' Pop is the first place I've seen Neko Case, Cat Power and Jenny Lewis appear in the right order. But I think that the bigger point was: If Jenny Lewis was your favorite record of the year, you probably weren't trying hard enough.

1. When I think of middling indie, I think of the following, totally interchangable albums (some of which I kind of dig):

Islands - Return to the Sea
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Tapes n' Tapes - The Loon
Danielson - Ships
Annuals - Be He Me
Swan Lake - Beast Moans
and Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (yeah, I said it)

2. Plenty of people love "Wolf Like Me" that aren't particular to Return to Cookie Mountain. I am one of those people.

3. The Jenny Lewis is, at the same time, pretty good and nothing special. Jackin' Pop is the first place that Neko Case, Cat Power and Jenny Lewis appeared in the correct order. So that's something.

But I think the bigger point is this: If Rabbit Fur Coat is your favorite album of 2006, you probably weren't trying hard enough.

Damn you, Idolator. I actually rewrote that entire thing.

I should have known that would happen.

Wow! Con-tro-versy!! And oh so pointless.

"The music that I happen to listen to, and that happened to be released in one year long period (and was often created in the previous year) seems, to my incredibly subjective perspective, to be of inferior quality (whatever "quality" is!) to the music I happened to listen to in the previous year. From this incredibly contentious observation, I will make the following generalizations..."

It don't mean nuthin' folks. I found plenty of things to tickle my ear last year.

I think it's valid to talk about the decline of a certain style - say, mopey, garage-based rock - but to say that all popular music, including RnB, rap, pop, dance, country, etc, was crappy last year seems like a ridiculously empty comment to me.

I think what we're all forgetting is that it's ok for 2006 to have been a middling year in music. It happens. You don't get a 1997 type of year but once or twice a decade, and 2006 certainly was not that. This idea of a rising tide lifting all boats is unnecessary. You can't expect classics to be released every year and you shouldn't elevate mediocrity to anything more than it is just because of lack of competition. I wasn't lucky or respected enough to receive a ballot but I'm sure my comments would reflect a lot of those submitted; I just didn't think there were a lot of outstanding records released this year that either really excited me or had any real staying power. Let's just hope taht 2007 is better. That's really all you can ever do.

Hey, drjimmy11, how do you feel about TV on the Radio?

With all due respect to Matos and kiteless and any other person who feels this way - I don't feel this was a bad year for music. I think it was a really great year for music. Maybe there wasn't one stand out album, but there were a lot of artists and a lot of releases that were incredible. And I think a number of ballets don't merely list a bunch of indie albums. Maybe if you didn't hear amazing music, you should think about expanding your horizons. Maybe read something new, find some blogs that spotlight different genres.

brothers and sisters,

can't we just listen to music and enjoy it? we're all music dorks, and our friends think we're nuts, but i'm proud to be a part of this freak scene. whether it be indie or rawk or hip hop or jazz or jammy, it's all music, and when it's great it's truly exciting. just forget what other people think or what certain scenes seem to think is exclusive to them. yes, i bought the tapes n' tapes album solely because pfork recommended it, and you know what? i listened to it twice, and that's it. do i feel bad? not at all. i'm absolutely in love with the pussycats cover album by the walkmen, even if the fork trashed it. why? because it's fun, in sound and spirit, and that's what rock n' roll is supposed to be. who gives a shit what other people think? just enjoy music for what it is and stop worrying about some larger social mores. there was so much great music released in '06, whether it be new original material or reissues. i'm more than satisfied; i feel rejuvinated.

Yeah, I listened to the Jenny Lewis record. And I waited. Waited some more. And then it ended. Are the songs personal? Kinda besides the point when the music is this dull and derivative. Oh, "Rabbit Fur Coat" is about growing up and being forced to be an actress. Life sure is tough. Tell it like it is sister. Oh, good line "But mostly I'm a hypocrite/I sing songs about the deficit" call yourself out before someone else can. Maybe if Paris Hilton had made her tracks a little more "personal" we'd be celebrating that too.
Hell, the album's still boring as shit.

I have read, heard, or participated in this conversation every year since 2003. While some years do have more of a bumper crop than others, I don't think there's been a dearth of great records in that year or the years since.

I predict that a conversation strikingly similar to this one will be had a year from now.

Given the list of releases coming over the course of this year, I hope I'm wrong.

I have read, heard, or participated in this conversation every year since 2003. While some years do have more of a bumper crop than others, I don't think there's been a dearth of great records in that year or the years since.

I predict that a conversation strikingly similar to this one will be had a year from now.

Given the list of releases coming over the course of this year, I hope I'm wrong.

PS: While I love Cookie Mountain to pieces, there's nothing that leaps out at me as a single. Wolf and Dirty Whirl are fine choices, but on their own, I don't think either sets the world on fire. For me, at least, that album works best taken as a whole.

Crap. Sorry about the double post. Wifi dropped me.

I fail at the Internets.

Moderator types, feel free to delete one or both (and this one too!).

Pop music has sucked since the corporate overlords sucked the last of the hetero testosterone out of it. This may have occured the night Hutch hung himself.

This is why I'm thankful I'm not a music critic. I wouldn't be able to take the pressure of deciding, in real time, what counts and what doesn't. It's a heck of a lot easier to mine back catalogs and wait several months after new releases to figure out what has staying power. My biggest discoveries of 2006 were the Legendary Pink Dots and Rapeman.

I wish I had noticed this post yesterday. Matos is definitely onto something with the term "middling indie." The problem appears to be that the critics cannot accept the fact that sometimes the best music comes from non-indie sources, such as the pop charts, commercial hip-hop, European electronica, worldbeat or even mainstream country music. For example, you cannot convince me that the Jenny Lewis record is better country music than that put out by Alan Jackson this year. Or that anyone prouduced more wildly innovative music this year than Timbaland, the Neptunes/Pharell, or any number of electronica DJ/producers.

Clearly I'm insane. Because I never cared about Rilo Kiley but thoroughly enjoyed Rabbit Fur Coat this year; and I love the New Pornographers but despise - DESPISE - Neko Case's solo stuff.

To each his/her own.

I don't think most people go into the Jenny Lewis album looking for Alan Jackson-style country. That comparison is a bit off if you ask me. Just saying.

I'm sure I'm just repeating other sentiments, but I'm a little disturbed by the following:

1) The idea of racial quotas in critic's lists.
2) The idea that TVOTR and The Hold Steady are what passes for THE BEST
3) Amused that somehow this thread devolved into comparing Jenny Lewis with Alan Jackson.

Relatedly, I was really disappointed, in the end, with Rabbit Fur Coat. It could have been better. The Laura Nyro-with-Labelle production style was a little too much for me to bear. Those songs were better as crappily-taped live versions recorded at some joint in Silverlake. Now, I realize that makes me some sort of insane music nerd trainspotter completest, but I kind of don't care.

Because really, I'm trying not to barf up my breakfast over the fact that Matos seems to be completely unaware of what happens when you collect a lot of data and statistically analyze it. It's called a bell curve. Of course most of the list is going to be made up of mid-level indie crapola. Sheesh.

Er, please strike 'amused that' from point three. Thank you.

I totally agree that the Jenny Lewis songs were way better in their original pre-production incarnations. Good point. Side note: "I Never" from More Adventurous was a far, far more appealing song when it was just Jenny and a piano, before it made it to the album.

1. No one said anything about racial quotas in critics' lists.
2. At no point did I express surprise at the bell curve or loads of mid-level indie crapola. Disappointment, yes; surprise, not hardly.

The worst song will be remembered far longer than the best criticism written about it. You poor bastards.

RichGirls: This is all that lists do now - make a person punch up a myspace page and decide in fifteen seconds whether the music is crap or not. Nobody believes that whatever tops the list is really the best - it just gets some more traffic. This is the golden age for the consumer - instant access online from labels/iTunes and the CD format that has brought me the Monks, Os Mutantes, Back From The Crypt Series, Shuggie Otis, Maurice Pop, The Complete Velvet Underground and Pet Sounds. Fuck vinyl.

So, keep arguing y'all - I'll sort it out later. Long live rock.

Um, did you just say: "fuck vinyl"? This really is the most disturbing thread ever.

Matos:

1) Complaining bitterly about the percentage of hip-hop artists in the top 40 or whatever sounds like endorsing quotas to me. But then again, don't you (or some other critic(s)) complain about this like, every year? *yawn* I can't believe this needs to be said again, but most music critics are white middle-class males and, without putting limitations on listening habits, white middle class dudes are probably the last thing hip hop artist are thinking about in terms of expected audience. However, the kids hanging on the stoop and at the corner bodega in 'hood are. Thus, your 8 out of 40. I sure would be happier to see a more diverse polling pool than another "essay" flogging the tired topic that there's never enough hip-hop on the resultant list.

2) I dunno, you were compelled to write an indignant essay about the entire subject, as if this were some kind of critical revelation. Maybe surprised was the wrong word, but really, was the topic worth all this strum und drang? For reals.

I misspoke on that last point there, the whole essay wasn't on this topic -- just a few grafs. But still.