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My Pazz & Jop Ballot, 2009
Here's my Pazz & Jop ballot. My opinion is that the year doesn't actually end until December 31st, so that's when I'll start posting expanded lists, possibly with the order changed at the top. The two near misses on my albums list, by the way, were Demi Lovato and Keri Hilson; having four ace songs and lots of personality wasn't quite enough to get Demi in, and having eight ace songs and no personality wasn't enough to get Keri in (though if I'd decided to count "I Like" as part of the album - Wiki claims that it's getting added to In A Perfect World... - that might have pushed it over).
Unless Demi Lovato undergoes an artistic collapse she's going to end up mattering to me far more than Brad Paisley and Martina McBride put together. What got Brad in just ahead of her this year was that he's got a better band. Demi's rock is louder than Brad's and signifies "rock" more, but her rhythm section bashes the beats while Brad's actually rocks 'em, with more of a roll, more bounce, more dance.
Singles 2009
1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style" (Rat)
2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow" (Interscope)
3. Love And Theft "Runaway" (Lyric Street)
4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia" (Horris Records/Oglio)
5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels"
6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat" (Republic/Universal)
7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)" (no label)
8. Rich Boy "Drop" (Interscope)
9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable" (Fascination)
10. Röyksopp ft. Robyn "The Girl And The Robot" (Wall Of Sound)
Albums 2009
1. Taylor Swift Fearless (Platinum Edition) (Big Machine) 18 points
2. The-Dream Love Vs. Money (Radio Killa/Def Jam) 17 points
3. Ashley Monroe Satisfied (Columbia Nashville) 15 points
4. Rihanna Rated R (Def Jam) 10 points
5. Scooter Under the Radar Over the Top (The Dark Side Edition) (Sheffield Tunes) - 10 points
6. Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You (Capitol) 7 points
7. Martina McBride Shine (RCA) 6 points
8. Electrik Red How To Be A Lady: Volume 1 (Radio Killa/Def Jam) 6 points
9. K'naan Troubadour (A&M/Octone) 6 points
10. Brad Paisley American Saturday Night (Arista Nashville) 5 points
Rob - Seven of my top ten singles and twenty of my top forty are hip-hop or dancehall or offshoots like grime and whatever you call Das Racist (everything including late for dinner). The thing is, if you asked me at any time this year, including now, "What's happening in hip-hop?" or "What's happening in dancehall?" I'd shrug and say, "I don't know. I kinda lost touch." Hip-hop isn't dominating the Billboard singles chart the way various dance-r&b amalgams are, and I didn't know it was so strong on my list until this week. Probably a lot of fans of hip-hop would be dismayed by my top choices. (The Lonely Island? Those comedians?) But looking further down you get Jim Jones, Nicki Minaj, Busy Signal, Bounty Killer, The Bangz, Eve, Tempa T, K'naan, and so on. And this is without me even looking for the stuff.
I've got no real insight on this except if you want to start a new dance or play with new sounds or reconfigure old ones, getting someone to rap and rhyme will likely make you more creative.
My singles:
1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style": Shystie is clawing at the walls, sand and stucco coming off in her hand, and the whole world of music is rushing in, plains, fields, hard rocks, everything.
2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow": Music is a loud crowded party, but whenever Fergie speaks, all the people twist their heads to listen and to wonder. "I'm so three thousand and eight, you so two thousand and late." Huh? What?
3. Love And Theft "Runaway": A nice roll down the not-quite-happy road.
4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia": OK, this isn't on here for the rap but for the full angry rocking lost passion that Brett Anderson (she of the Donnas) brings to the "Screamager" chorus.
5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels": So, when Jamaican sex-bombs start speaking in tongues, they sound like the San Fernando Valley.
6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat": I'M ON A BOAT, MOTHERFUCKER, LOOK AT ME!
7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)": Right, I'm at the Pizza Hut. That is, I'm at the Taco Bell. I'll work this out, just give me time. I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Hah. You understand, I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. I got a lot of smells, I rolled a lot of l's. I rode a lot of Els. I rode the L and then I rode the El. To the Pizza Hut. The Taco Bell. The combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. On Jamaica Avenue.
8. Rich Boy "Drop": Voices like shifting sands.
9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable": OK, comparing someone to a "robot" to indicate disconnection and estrangement is such a, like, 1950s cliché. But it's only one song in my top ten, so give me a break.
10. Röyksopp "The Girl And The Robot" ft. Robyn as the girl: Housewife, feeling disconnected and estranged from hard-working hubby, reaches for a metaphor.
Unless Demi Lovato undergoes an artistic collapse she's going to end up mattering to me far more than Brad Paisley and Martina McBride put together. What got Brad in just ahead of her this year was that he's got a better band. Demi's rock is louder than Brad's and signifies "rock" more, but her rhythm section bashes the beats while Brad's actually rocks 'em, with more of a roll, more bounce, more dance.
Singles 2009
1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style" (Rat)
2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow" (Interscope)
3. Love And Theft "Runaway" (Lyric Street)
4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia" (Horris Records/Oglio)
5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels"
6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat" (Republic/Universal)
7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)" (no label)
8. Rich Boy "Drop" (Interscope)
9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable" (Fascination)
10. Röyksopp ft. Robyn "The Girl And The Robot" (Wall Of Sound)
Albums 2009
1. Taylor Swift Fearless (Platinum Edition) (Big Machine) 18 points
2. The-Dream Love Vs. Money (Radio Killa/Def Jam) 17 points
3. Ashley Monroe Satisfied (Columbia Nashville) 15 points
4. Rihanna Rated R (Def Jam) 10 points
5. Scooter Under the Radar Over the Top (The Dark Side Edition) (Sheffield Tunes) - 10 points
6. Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You (Capitol) 7 points
7. Martina McBride Shine (RCA) 6 points
8. Electrik Red How To Be A Lady: Volume 1 (Radio Killa/Def Jam) 6 points
9. K'naan Troubadour (A&M/Octone) 6 points
10. Brad Paisley American Saturday Night (Arista Nashville) 5 points
Rob - Seven of my top ten singles and twenty of my top forty are hip-hop or dancehall or offshoots like grime and whatever you call Das Racist (everything including late for dinner). The thing is, if you asked me at any time this year, including now, "What's happening in hip-hop?" or "What's happening in dancehall?" I'd shrug and say, "I don't know. I kinda lost touch." Hip-hop isn't dominating the Billboard singles chart the way various dance-r&b amalgams are, and I didn't know it was so strong on my list until this week. Probably a lot of fans of hip-hop would be dismayed by my top choices. (The Lonely Island? Those comedians?) But looking further down you get Jim Jones, Nicki Minaj, Busy Signal, Bounty Killer, The Bangz, Eve, Tempa T, K'naan, and so on. And this is without me even looking for the stuff.
I've got no real insight on this except if you want to start a new dance or play with new sounds or reconfigure old ones, getting someone to rap and rhyme will likely make you more creative.
My singles:
1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style": Shystie is clawing at the walls, sand and stucco coming off in her hand, and the whole world of music is rushing in, plains, fields, hard rocks, everything.
2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow": Music is a loud crowded party, but whenever Fergie speaks, all the people twist their heads to listen and to wonder. "I'm so three thousand and eight, you so two thousand and late." Huh? What?
3. Love And Theft "Runaway": A nice roll down the not-quite-happy road.
4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia": OK, this isn't on here for the rap but for the full angry rocking lost passion that Brett Anderson (she of the Donnas) brings to the "Screamager" chorus.
5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels": So, when Jamaican sex-bombs start speaking in tongues, they sound like the San Fernando Valley.
6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat": I'M ON A BOAT, MOTHERFUCKER, LOOK AT ME!
7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)": Right, I'm at the Pizza Hut. That is, I'm at the Taco Bell. I'll work this out, just give me time. I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Hah. You understand, I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. I got a lot of smells, I rolled a lot of l's. I rode a lot of Els. I rode the L and then I rode the El. To the Pizza Hut. The Taco Bell. The combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. On Jamaica Avenue.
8. Rich Boy "Drop": Voices like shifting sands.
9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable": OK, comparing someone to a "robot" to indicate disconnection and estrangement is such a, like, 1950s cliché. But it's only one song in my top ten, so give me a break.
10. Röyksopp "The Girl And The Robot" ft. Robyn as the girl: Housewife, feeling disconnected and estranged from hard-working hubby, reaches for a metaphor.
Re: mine
Hang Over OST.
The movie was funny, and hated it's characters. That they thought they were being harder, more butch, more difficult then they really were was part of the joke. From the opening with Danzig, to the queering of Elvis via El Vez, the construction of that joke was told mostly through the music.
John the Ascender--Phil Kline:
Sacred Harp singing breeds with Elizabethan ecclestical chanting, and gives birth to tape loops. Holy because of how impure it is.
The Life and the World to Come--The Mountain Goats:
I spent the year doing theology work, though I have a problematic and deeply ambiguous relationship with Christ/God. All of my feelings, of loneliness, and desire, of home-seeking, and of scapegoating, of living with the texts, and wanting to destroy the texts are here. Most important theological work of the last decade. We should play it over the loud speakers at the next Lambreth, and JD should get a private audience with the Pope.
Spoils--Alaisdair Roberts
Because of the hurdy gurdy. It makes me want to make sure that every new release of the decade features the hurdy gurdy--and yes, that includes Adam Lambert.
Marvellous Boys: Calypso from West Africa /Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, afro sounds and Ghanaian Blues--1968-1981
One of the miracles of living in the age of digital recordings is that there is no need to crate dig. These well curated sections of African pop talk more about disapora, race, the liquidity of texts, and the claiming/reclaiming of culture and history then most--but that is besides the point, they are the party records of the year.
Blueberry Pie--Nellie McKay
Earnestness is the new irony, and Doris Day knew that in the 50s. Wry, reworking/reclaiming of a lost voice is completely decimated by her version of the Black Hills of Daktoa, the loneliest version of a cowboy ballad since Rufus worked all of the homoerotic tension of Brokeback into The Maker Makes.
Crack the Skye--Mastadon:
Does it make me a hypocrite that i love the insane back story and guitar wank on this one, but hate it on Rush, or do i just prefer to be slapped rather then seduced?
It's Not Me, It's You Lily Allen--Because who hasn't been fucked up and 22, though she makes more money then you, the feelings are the same.
Natural Forces--Lyle Lovett
Could be replaced with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, or Steve Earle, though Lovett has a better band, and has wider influences. There is something to be said about the solid, workman like desires to release an album that is polished, well constructed, warm, and functional. I wish to sound as consistent as he does at his age.
Re: mine
If it's the Phil Kline I think it is who did John the Ascender (and I'm pretty sure it would be, with his tape loops and all), he was a friend of mine back in my New York days.
Re: mine