March 9, 2010

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December 18, 2009

No Surprises

I suppose we all could have guessed Pitchfork’s album of the year during the very first week of 2009. The rest of the world had 51 weeks to craft a better album than Merriweather Post Pavilion, but it seems that no one was up to the challenge. I also feel like we’ve all seen this album art a billion times, but I’m still not sick of it.

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t heard the majority of their top 50 albums or top 100 songs, much less seen the top videos. (I’ve heard about 40% of the albums and could pass judgment on maybe a dozen of them… and I consider myself a music snob. For shame.) Is it still cool to hate on Pitchfork, or has the pendulum swung back again?

Anyway, I just got into that Fuck Buttons album, it’s fucking epic. I’m also a little late on the Japandroids boat, but Post-Nothing is as promising a debut as I’ve heard in a while, if you’re into that sort of thing (noisy, angsty garage/grunge/indie revivalism, not debut albums). I’m rather embarrassed to admit that MSTRKRFT’s Fist of God is one of my more listened-to albums in the pseudo-scientific terms of play count, though it would probably place towards the bottom of a year-end list, if at all, and definitely not in the top 20.

Given the factors enumerated above (inadvertently missing out on buzz bands and a questionable secret love for garbage like MSTRKRFT), I don’t quite feel fit to generate a year-end list for 2009.

I’ve also decided that there is too much music and bands need to stop making it for a few years so I can catch up.

December 2, 2009

Assorted Links

–My subway obsession continues… though I don’t believe that any of those stations could possibly be real. (DB)

–Steven Holl’s Nanjing Museum of Art and Architecture (top) is nearly finished. I’ve been meaning to check out his Linked Hybrid (bottom) in Beijing, but haven’t had the chance…

–I just discovered Sleevage, a blog that explores album artwork new and old. (The Animal Collective and Jay-Z entries are quite interesting and relevant as year-end list time is upon us.)

–PSFK has brought an interesting phenomenon to my attention: adman George Parker cites Starbucks’ unbranding experiment in his post on a resurgent (No Logo-esque) brand backlash (astute readers will note that I just read Naomi Klein’s manifesto). I followed the link to Bryant Simon’s essay on Reuters.com, which provides a nice rundown of Starbucks’ attempt to appropriate the local, indie coffeeshop aesthetic—i.e., the rejection of its corporate encroachment and supersaturation tactics. Very interesting.

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