Pitchfork 50 Albums of 2006

BLITZ_Molloy · 19-12-2006 6:43pm #1

Any other Pitchfork readers out there? I usually look forward to this every year. (on a side note they have a top 100 tracks feature with an absolute ton of legitimate mp3s to download).

Strange to see a techno album at number one. I enjoyed Silent Shout but I can't remember anybody going that crazy about it when it came out first. I'll admit it's grown on me alot.

I didn't like the new Liars album. All the tracks sound the same. Ditto TV on the Radio. And I'm probably the only person on the planet who doesn't like Ghostface.

Hold Steady and Clipse put out the best records this year in my humble opinion. Good to see them in the top 10. There's alot in the top 50 I haven't listened to yet though so I'll have to get Soul Seeking.

Stylus and Pop Matters will have their full lists up by friday.

John · 19-12-2006 6:55pm

Pitchfork sucks, that is all.

lodgepole · 19-12-2006 8:27pm

Pitchfork is pretty good, as long as you don't mind reviews that are very heavy on personal opinion and a little lacking in objectivity. A lot of people seem to hate them based on bad reviews of their favourite bands, but it's as good a review site for little heard music as you'll find.

Thanks for the link, it's going to occupy my next hour or so in work.

indiewindy · 19-12-2006 8:54pm

I think pitchfork is great for music news but its reviews are shocking, you just can't trust them

BLITZ_Molloy · 19-12-2006 9:18pm

What source of reviews do you guys recommend? The mainstream magazines like Q and NME are horrifically bad. Pretty much the only one I've found thats any good is Record Collector. Maybe some of the genre specific ones are good but I'm not very big on a specific genre anyway.

As far as online ones go Stylus takes pretension to horrific levels. They have some good writers as well but most of them really are up their own arses. Their singles review column and the occasional feature can be good though.

I've only started looking at Pop Matters a few weeks ago. It seems pretty good. They certainly review a hell of alot of records. And alot of reissued/classic stuff. I'm noticing alot of fence sitting though. Tons of stuff seems to be praised highly and get a 7.

Personally I don't need to 'trust' reviews. I just use these sites as a way of narrowing down the thousands of albums that get released a year into something I can download and sample. Usually end up deleting most of them, keep the 20 I like, and buy 4 or 5.

Orizio · 19-12-2006 11:36pm

Ghostface and The Clipse in the top ten?Barely top 20 in Hip-Hop this year for christ sakes...

Silent Shout's a worthy winner imo.The production was truly gorgeous
throughout.

Creamy Goodness · 19-12-2006 11:51pm

pitchfork, lol.

that is all.

John · 20-12-2006 1:01pm

BLITZ_Molloy wrote:

What source of reviews do you guys recommend?

Click the word "brainwashed" in my signature.

Makaveli · 21-12-2006 3:24pm

Orizio wrote:

Ghostface and The Clipse in the top ten?Barely top 20 in Hip-Hop this year for christ sakes...

Ghostface was in most top 10's. Just because Lupe only made it to 32 in their list... bitter.

Well the album list is better than their top 100 singles (which weren't all singles), I think I'd heard about 20 of the songs in that list.

Pitchfork sucks though.

Orizio · 21-12-2006 8:14pm

Makaveli wrote:

Ghostface was in most top 10's. Just because Lupe only made it to 32 in their list... bitter.

Well the album list is better than their top 100 singles (which weren't all singles), I think I'd heard about 20 of the songs in that list.

Pitchfork sucks though.

Nah I'm not being bitter.Fishscale was just dull and disapointing, not touching Put It On The Line or More Fish for example.These non Hip-Hop mags seems to have a particular fetish for Ghost, Rolling Stone and Wire had it as their fave Hip-Hop albums as well.Bizarre really.

Blitz_Molloy whats that Hold Steady album about?

HarryHoudini · 21-12-2006 8:34pm

Yeah, yeah, pitchfork bashing seems to be the cool thing to do these days, why, I don't know. Sure they're reviews are quite pretentious at times but they always break a good band or two.
Personally I prefer some of the music blogs out there to the dedicated sites, saidthegramophone is a great source and gorilla vs bear. These guys will make a lot of sites redundant in the not too distant future.

BLITZ_Molloy · 23-12-2006 5:04am

Yeesh.. cranky people in this thread. Accusionations abound.

I really don't get Ghostface, despite being a ridiculously big MF Doom fan. His production certainly didn't save it for me. And I'm not looking forward to GhostDoom very much.

I thought the Hold Steady album was just bar band signing about being drunk. If you want lyrical depth you go for Separation Sunday. I just like the riffs and the fact he actually sings along with the melody, instead of reciting poetry on top of the song. He's a bit of a **** singer, and there's room for improvement, but as they release a new album every year I won't have to wait forever for the next installment.

crybaby · 26-12-2006 12:35pm

Well the album list is better than their top 100 singles (which weren't all singles)

in fairness in the intro to that piece they quite clearly stated that this was NOT a top 100 singles thread but a top 100 songs thread

Makaveli · 26-12-2006 5:07pm

Yeah, still didn't make it a great list though.

Karl Hungus · 26-12-2006 7:34pm

I don't know why I bothered looking at that list, but there's some suprising albums in there like Boris' Pink.

John · 26-12-2006 9:18pm

Karl Hungus wrote:

I don't know why I bothered looking at that list, but there's some suprising albums in there like Boris' Pink.

Especially surprising as it came out in 2005. Pitchfork will feature Boris and Sunn O))) and anything released on Southern Lord because it's hip right now. Nigel Hipsters the lot of them.

lodgepole · 27-12-2006 9:24am

John wrote:

Especially surprising as it came out in 2005.

2006 in the North America.

John · 27-12-2006 12:38pm

And? It was still out for ages before Southern Lord reissued it.

garthv · 27-12-2006 12:53pm

I dunno, a lot of people used to fob off Pitchfork for their weird and usually useless taste. I have gotten may a good album thanks to pitchfork's reviews, artist who I never would of even heard of if it wasn't for the guys at Pitchfork

But after saying that.....I just looked at that top 50 and it is the worst list of music I have seen in a LONG time.

Orizio · 27-12-2006 9:15pm

BLITZ_Molloy wrote:

Any other Pitchfork readers out there? I usually look forward to this every year. (on a side note they have a top 100 tracks feature with an absolute ton of legitimate mp3s to download).

Strange to see a techno album at number one. I enjoyed Silent Shout but I can't remember anybody going that crazy about it when it came out first. I'll admit it's grown on me alot.

I didn't like the new Liars album. All the tracks sound the same. Ditto TV on the Radio. And I'm probably the only person on the planet who doesn't like Ghostface.

Hold Steady and Clipse put out the best records this year in my humble opinion. Good to see them in the top 10. There's alot in the top 50 I haven't listened to yet though so I'll have to get Soul Seeking.

Stylus and Pop Matters will have their full lists up by friday.

I'm not really mad about that Clipse album either.Its quite consistent, but badly lacking a killer track like 'Virginia' or 'I'm Not You' from Lord Willin'.There choice in singles sucked as well and they seem to have a European obsession to go along with their coke one.:rolleyes: Not touching the best in Hip-Hop this year, nevermind the music scene in general.

Pitchfork 50 Albums of 2006

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