New Times' sister paper, the Village Voice, has been running its annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll since 1971. And while it's among the last in the "best-of" national roundups, it's been one of the most influential due to the sheer number of critics who participate (albeit by invitation). Using a sort-of obscure system of point values, the end is a semi-logical tally of what everyone thought were the best albums.
via www.villagevoice.com TV on the Radio's win for best album was not exactly a stunning upset
No surprises on the winners. TV On the Radio's Dear Science took best album; M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" took best single. Neither appeared on my personal ballot because, 1) I figured enough people would vote for TV on the Radio, 2) that M.I.A. song actually came out in 2007, and if I never hear it again, ever, I'll be okay with that.
Of local interest: Torche's Meanderthal came in at an impressive number 31 on the best albums list, with 26 people (including me) voting for it. Yay.
As New Times' music editor, I voted; you can read my ballot here. You can also read a small bit of commentary from me here.
My
selection is definitely going to read as random, but that's purposely
so. I don't really believe in the nitpicking system of weighing "bests"
and assigning some records, say, 30 points, and others 10, based on
their relative worth. Also, year-end best-of lists always favor records
released in the last quarter of the year. In the end, I just wrote down
10 records that I liked! (And tried to remember some from the spring).
The
thought of picking 10 "best" singles of the year was also overwhelming,
so again, I just picked 10 I liked, without repeating artists from my
first list, just to spread the votes around some more. Not exactly
scientific, but trying to turn music criticism into anything other than
opinion is, well, funny.
It's
still fun to read and click around and see what everyone voted for.
Apparently I was the only one to vote for Friendly Fires' "Jump in the
Pool." Well, vive la difference.
