Comments on: Listless

By: hearsay » favorite songs 2008

hearsay » favorite songs 2008 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:27:12 +0000

[...] I used to do yearly mixes with a selection of my favorite tracks. It didn’t really fall into listmania, because the mixes were more organically selected than a top 10 or so. I would normally post this [...]

By: My year in lists « It All Started With Carbon Monoxide

My year in lists « It All Started With Carbon Monoxide — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:17:20 +0000

[...] addition to the blogroll The Catbirdseat posted an interesting response to this article about whether or not you still listen to your ‘best of’ albums a year [...]

By: BMIML

BMIML — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:50:41 +0000

@ChrisD: Only 60? Give yourself time. Before you know it, you’ll be reading the same PR pabulum on hundreds of feeds!

By: ChrisD

ChrisD — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:34:29 +0000

I like what BMIML said in comment #4:

“the hype cycle have turned critics and fans into termites who’re just gnawing their way into something new, without savoring what they just consumed.”

This is quite true. And while I try to resist this tendency, I also find myself hungry for more everyday. And since I subscribe to 60 or so music blog RSS feeds, I know that there’s always going to be something new to hear. The downside is that I don’t find myself connecting as fully with albums as I used to.

That said, the criteria that I used for my Top-10 this year was simply which 10 new albums did I listen to the most. Not which 10 albums were the best critically speaking. Not which 10 albums were the most groundbreaking. Just, which 10 did I listen to the most. It was a hell of a lot easier than trying to play a game of critical one-upsmanship.

By: brian

brian — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:11:14 +0000

I’d agree that a list with anecdotes is much more interesting than one born of critical opinion, though I’ve found that separating The Best from My Favorites is much more difficult in practice than in theory. Somehow, I think having stories as wistful and wonderful as Raptoravatar’s would make this easier.

By: BMIML

BMIML — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:14:09 +0000

Having said all that, I’m a little surprised that I haven’t heard a whisper about Idolator and Pazz n Jop ballots this year.

By: BMIML

BMIML — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:11:57 +0000

When the standard deviation charts surfaced a few years ago w/r/t Pazz n Jop, I couldn’t tell if people were cheering for being in line with those nebulous criteria or for wearing their weirdness like a badge of courage.

I think these lists seem less meaningful to me because we’re watching music criticism transform into something far more democratized. At this point, there’s really nothing that differentiates a Pitchfork writer from an unknown blogger in terms of what he or she hears.

What seems to have squeezed the fun out of a lot of this for me is that there’s less time than ever to actually listen to these albums in order to form a real opinion about the music. I know it sounds curmudgeonly to say so, but to a certain extent, the hype cycle have turned critics and fans into termites who’re just gnawing their way into something new, without savoring what they just consumed.

By: Evan Payne

Evan Payne — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:43:40 +0000

That’s my biggest peeve about the whole list making tradition, that it has become about the top howevermany albums of the previous year that the writer thinks you should like. I don’t care what you think I should like, I want to know what you liked!
I’m not posting a list on my site, but if I were to, one of my top ten would be Joanna Newsom – Ys, which came out in 2006! But I heard it for the first time this year, and it beat out Deerhunter – Microcastle for sure.
So, yes, if you’re suggesting we all quit trying to sell bands and start remembering to share experiences… I’m all for it.

By: catbird

catbird — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:31:16 +0000

It’d be more interesting to me to read a list where *every* entry has a personal story attached to it, the way raptoravatar describes. I feel like the lists as a sort or “buying guide” or even just “critical consensus” don’t serve much purpose in today’s rapid, always-on-internet world; chances are, we *already* know about all the “good” releases from the year– because we’ve been following along with all the writers all year long.

By: jay

jay — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:47:24 +0000

yes. i think a list of people’s favorite things that came out in a year are way more fun to read that what people think is “best” or whatever.

i also think that even more interesting is to just think about what music generally resonated the most with me in the year, regardless of when it came out. i mean, i look back at this year, and the music i listened to most is at least as much old stuff that i got into for the first time or got back into after a long hiatus as it is all the great new stuff.